Ep. 72: Hellboy (2004)

Nate and Ryan kick-off the summer blockbuster season with Guillermo Del Toro’s 2004 adaptation of Hellboy. While the moody, lovelorn Hellboy might not exactly fit into today’s world of gigantic comics cinematic universes, Nate and Ryan talk about where Hellboy fits in the landscape of Del Toro’s monstrous heroes and how it holds up after 15 years.

How does Hellboy hold up for you? Does it rank among Del Toro’s best? Is it possible to make a Hellboy movie without Ron Perlman? Let us know!

Watch kaptainkristian’s video essay mentioned in this episode about how Guillermo Del Toro creates perfect monsters.

Ep. 28: The Incredibles

Nate and Ryan discuss Pixar’s 2004 hit The Incredibles, directed by Brad Bird.  Though Nate and Ryan don’t disagree on many Pixar movies, they have never agreed on where The Incredibles fits into the overall Pixar universe.  With Inside/Out once again proving the Pixar can entertain children while bringing adults to tears, this seemed like the perfect time to revisit the Pixar catalog.

As with most Pixar movies, The Incredibles takes a fairly straightforward, well-known concept (superhero movies), and offers a different view (superhero family) that ends up teaching the viewers more about themselves than perhaps they thought an animated film would.  Now, just how successfully this is accomplished in The Incredibles is the source of this episode’s debate.

Let us know your thoughts on The Incredibles.  Where does it rank for you among Pixar’s movies?  What is your favorite Pixar movie?  What do you like or dislike in Pixar’s movies?

Ep 22: Batman

Batman-1989-batman-confronts-the-joker

Birdman‘s Best Picture win at this year’s Oscars made Nate and Ryan want to revisit Michael Keaton’s turn as a superhero in Tim Burton’s 1989 blockbuster Batman.  This movie was a staple of Nate’s childhood, but one that Ryan only saw as an adult.  They discuss how the movie has held up over the years, especially given the large library of superhero movies that followed in Batman’s wake.

Burton’s Batman was ground-breaking for summer blockbusters.  Warner Bros. took a risk on a fairly untested director, put an actor known better as a comedian in the cowl, and cast a heavyweight Oscar winner as the villain.  The formula worked, and thanks to Burton’s Batman, for better or worse, we have the glut of superhero movies we know today.  With it came gems like Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, along with some movies that should probably be forgotten.

Let us know your thoughts on Batman.  What did you think of Burton’s take?  Where does Michael Keaton rank in your list of best movie Batmen?  Do you remember Batmania?  We’d love firsthand accounts.