Geeky a Go Go
Geeky a Go Go
Borderlands Movie Review and More This Week on Whatcha' Watchin'!
Despite its stellar cast, the much-hyped Borderlands movie left us scratching our heads. Listen as we dissect why this cinematic adaptation, featuring big names like Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart, fell flat. From questionable editing to narrative flaws, we discuss whether Lionsgate was the right studio to helm such a big-budget project. We also explore how it compares to other successful video game adaptations, like HBO's "The Last of Us" and Amazon Prime's "Fallout," lamenting the missed opportunities that could have made Borderlands a hit.
Next, Nitro dives into his review of "House of the Dragon" Season 2. Initially perplexed by character time jumps, Nitro found the storyline captivating once it settled. Finally, we embark on a nostalgic ride with the Apple TV Plus remake of "Time Bandits," created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. With an exceptional cast and brilliant writing, this series pays homage to the original 1981 film while offering fresh, engaging storytelling. Don't miss AP’s thoughts on why this remake is a must-watch!
Show Links
Borderlands Trailer
House of the Dragon Season 2 Trailer
Time Bandits Trailer
Yecht Store, Foldable Hanger (#NotSponsored)
What’s on your queue this week? Send us a note at mailbag@geekyagogo.com for a chance to have your recommendations shared on the show!
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What do gamers do? When they see a bug, they report it. What kind of dough does a gamer use?
Speaker 2:What kind of what Dough?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what kind of dough does a gamer?
Speaker 2:use Like pizza dough.
Speaker 1:Yes, like pizza dough.
Speaker 2:What kind of dough does a gamer use?
Speaker 1:Nintendo Yo Yo.
Speaker 2:Why can't you blindfold a Pokemon? Why It'll Pikachu?
Speaker 1:All right, that's the winner. That's the winner.
Speaker 2:I choose between Queen Rhaenyra and King Aegon in House of the Dragon, season 2. Ap is taking a crash course in history with Time Bandits on this week's episode of Whatcha Watchin'. Welcome to Whatcha Watchin'. Presented by Geeky A Go-Go, a show where we dive into what's currently on our screens Big screens or little screens size matters, not here, just the quality, or lack thereof, of our cues. Anthony, we got to hang out this weekend. Yes, what did we do?
Speaker 1:well, we, we. We went to the movies, which we're going to talk about in a minute, and uh. And then we went to dinner uh, at miller's ale house dinner at Miller's Ale House, which was always a treat. I'm single this week. It's a wonderful. I think you know I don't want to be that person, but I feel like this is something that only people who are married with children can truly appreciate. When you have a week in your own space with no children, spouse, partner, you just have the whole house to yourself. It's magical. You can hang out with friends, you can sleep in, you don't have to do the dishes every five minutes. It's been a wonderful week and I'm glad I got to spend time with you, my friend, doing nerdy things.
Speaker 2:Just one thing of note. Okay, miller's ale house is mediocre at best. Okay, I wouldn't call it a treat.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It is the lack of options in in our neighborhood here. Okay, well. I should say the lack of common middle point places that we're willing to both go to.
Speaker 1:That's not rise and shine or Scotchwood Diner.
Speaker 2:We set our bars very medium, super low.
Speaker 1:Chris, what's been the highlight of your week?
Speaker 2:I was actually productive this week. I got to some making. I backed a Kickstarter that was delivered early, which is very uncommon in the Kickstarter world and it was done by a very, very famous YouTuber I think she's very, very famous, at least and her name is Simone Yetch. Oh yeah, and the Kickstarter that I backed was her product called, and I'm going to butcher this. I thought is the Coat Hingers, was her product called, and I'm going to butcher this. I thought is the Coat Hingers. Okay, I don't know if you came across that at all, but it's a hanger that folds in half right.
Speaker 2:And the problem she was trying to solve was she wanted a low-profile coat rack, basically to hang up in her shop, whatever she wanted to do, so she spent years developing this hanger that folds in half.
Speaker 2:Oh that's cool, and so basically what that does is because it's not the full triangle, you know, bumping against the wall, you don't have to have a hanger sticking that far out and it's so. It's much more lower profile because the you know, the hanger folds in half and then, you know, so you only have that part sticking away from the wall. Um, I, I thought it was super interesting. I had a very utilitarian use for it in a specific part of the house here, um, and I showed my wife and she was like go ahead back it.
Speaker 2:Um, so that was last year. Uh, there was, I think it was supposed to deliver in the fall and we got the box last week oh, wow um, so, yeah, we we fairly, fairly simple instructions, you know it.
Speaker 2:Uh, we, we opted to get, uh, the rack that comes with it. Oh, cool, um, so it was a rack and x number of hangers. I forgot exactly what I backed um, but it came. You know there's little notches to hold the metal hangers um, one for each notch, and you know a little shelf on top. You know, put our hats and gloves and things like that on top of it and put our, you know, outside winter wear that we usually put in this.
Speaker 2:It's not really a mudroom kind of say, it's kind of like an in-between the garage and the house. But that's where we wanted it and we got it and it was super easy to install and wife loves it. I think it's great it. It solved the problem we had. Um, I don't know if the price point is cheap or whatnot. I remember I got it on kickstarter because it's a little bit lower. She did put out a youtube recently video recently saying I think it was actually her last video that she's losing money on this. Oh, yeah, and, but you know, for all that's worth, you know she gets it. You know there's adjustment involved and whatnot and going into the physical realm that you're not fully understanding. So the video is definitely worth a watch. I love all her videos. You know I've been following her for a very long time, but her coat hinges project I absolutely love it looks great, fantastic.
Speaker 2:I'll send pictures, we'll put it up on show notes or whatever Link to her website yetch store. It's funny, she. So her, her name is spelled very weird. Uh, I should say her, the way she spells her name is not how it's pronounced. Oh yeah, and the way she created her store is how she you pronounce her name. So it's yetch y-e-t-c-h dot store and you could. You know she's offering them for pre-order because we're out of the Kickstarter phase now, so she's pre-ordering the coat hinges and it's a wonderful product that's great.
Speaker 2:You know, like I said, we love it. It looks great. It fits the room perfectly, the area, I should say, fits it perfectly. It is quite more expensive than what I paid for on Kickstarter.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just clicked on the link, but it's really nice and, like I said, it's all in one solution and it fit the place that we needed it.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Throw the link in the show notes and we'll drive our fans to it. I'm also a fan of hers Her stupid useless robots. That's kind of how she got her break in the YouTube ecosystem, making useless robots that just do kind of asinine things like brushing teeth or slapping you awake. And I've been to her store.
Speaker 1:She has this really cool calendar called the store. She has this really cool calendar called the. I don't know what it's called, but it's a board and it has all the months and down each column is a light and it's to help kind of build daily habits. So say, you want to set a goal of working out every day. You know so every day you work out, you touch the light and it turns on, and so then you can reflect on the year and see all the lights that you've turned on. It's really cool and I like the price point. I think it's it was $365, which is, you know, it's just I love. I love how she kind of tied that all together. I have purchased it because I have too many things that I want to commit to on a daily basis, so I need like six of these calendars. But yeah, she's pretty cool. She makes some pretty neat stuff.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is called the Everyday Calendar.
Speaker 1:Everyday.
Speaker 2:Calendar or Everyday Goal Calendar. That's the item that's listed as. But yeah, if you watch her latest YouTube video as of today, which is today's August 10th, that's her video from two weeks ago. It's is the title of the videos was starting a product business a mistake. So she goes into like the things that she had to discover and you know sourcing a factory and all these things to make physical products. You know at scale, because we obviously know she could do one offs and whatever products. You know at scale because we obviously know she could do one-offs and whatever. And you know her projects take like a video or a couple videos. But yeah, I mean, she's an engineer, she does fantastic things.
Speaker 1:Very cool. What about you?
Speaker 2:You were a little handy this week too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, you know, having all of this time by myself in my house has been great. I've been working on my deck, which seems to be taking forever. I'm replacing a deck in the backyard with a new one and so now I have all of the decking ordered. It's arriving next week, so when I come back from my trip next week I'll be able to finish the deck. I was working on my pinhead model kit from 1993, screamin' Models. I haven't owned it since 1993.
Speaker 1:I bought it at Jersey Fest last year, which is a model-making convention. So that's all pretty much painted and I think it's practically done. I have a few kind of details. But it's been really fun because I normally build ships, spaceships and props and so they're more mechanical lines, things like that. This is my first real kind of organic painting of like a humanoid type of figure. So trying to like practice, different techniques to get the shading right and things like that has been kind of a fun challenge. Yeah, and then last week I was in Italy so I got to. I got to miss out on all of the shade that you and Eric were throwing at me for not seeing Deadpool Wolverine. Sorry for having a life everybody this, this is your life.
Speaker 2:Okay, this is what I geeky. Geeky stuff is your life, that is that is very true.
Speaker 1:That is very true. But, yes, italy was beautiful. I did miss um, miss seeing, uh, deadpool and wolverine opening week, but I saw it as soon as I landed. Uh in, uh earlier this week. And um, it's not on my what you're watching this week, but I I'm giving it five disco balls. It was a phenomenal movie. It was a wonderful, wonderful movie. Ryan Reynolds, hugh Jackman are just amazing performers. Emma Corrin was just, I mean, she's great in everything that she does and it was wonderful to see her.
Speaker 1:And Chris, I think you were the one who was saying this was like a nice welcome to the MCU. You nailed it. That's a hundred percent. I don't know what Eric was talking about, where he was kind of like I don't think it was a welcome to the MCU, it was a hundred thousand percent a welcome to the MCU, like on your chin, welcome to the MCU. So I can't wait to see what Marvel does with these characters and the cameoed people that were featured. And it sounds like we might be getting. Are we getting? It's been plenty of time. So I think we're getting a Gambit movie. Is that correct? Did I read that somewhere?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I mean so, as we speak, D23 is happening, I think.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I think the only thing they've announced was a Fantastic Four something.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Something or other. Yeah, several more Avengers projects, I think, were happening too. Mm-hmm, I did not see anything specifically for Gambit or any kind of X-Men mutant. Whatever the case may be, unless they're being intertwined into one of the Avengers films or whatever. We all know that massive, huge team-ups, crossover things happen in all the comics, so it remains to be seen. Maybe you know, maybe they will, Maybe Gambit will make an appearance again. Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Thoroughly enjoyed it Thor.
Speaker 2:it thoroughly enjoyed it um I mean to eric's point though, like the the the middle credits scenes of all the old behind the scenes footage from the x-men films and the wolverine films and stuff like that. That is a kind of like a send-off homage to like where they came from.
Speaker 2:So like I could see Eric's point, but I, I, I'm, I'm more of this of the side of this was welcome to the MCU and, like you know, thanks for all that you did was during the credits, just to kind of say like we got it from here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Whatever?
Speaker 1:Tomato tomato.
Speaker 2:You say tomato, I say tomato. And let's jump into what we did just the other day. Yes, we watched Borderlands. Yes, we did.
Speaker 1:And you know, what?
Speaker 2:Just take it away.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to take it away. All right, I'm going to take it away. So yes, chris and I had a mandate the other night and we got to see Borderlands opening night. I was expecting a lot more in the auditorium, but clearly there were not a lot of nerds in our area that wanted to spend their Friday night watching this. But for those of you who don't know, borderlands is based on the best-selling video game from 2K and Telltale Games, and this literally all-star sci-fi action-adventure movie follows a divided group on a mission to unlock the secrets and treasures of the planet Pandora.
Speaker 1:Cate Blanchett yes, cate Blanchett in a sci-fi action-adventure film Two things that you'd never really thought about since the Lord of the Rings, but that was like sci-fi adjacent. Anyway, cate Blanchett plays Lilith, a badass bounty hunter with a mysterious past who finds her way back to her home planet after taking a gig from one of the galaxy's wealthiest men Atlas, played by Edgar Ramirez. Her mission Find his daughter Tiny. Atlas, played by Edgar Ramirez. Her mission Find his daughter Tiny. Tina, played by Ariana Greenblatt, sounds easy, right? Well, it's not.
Speaker 1:As Lilith heads to the planet Pandora, which is something akin to Thunderdome. Upon landing, she is greeted by Jack Black's Claptrap, a feisty droid who mysteriously, is there just waiting for Lilith's long-awaited arrival. Quickly, lilith finds tiny Tina, but she also encounters the likes of Roland, played by Kevin Hart, and Krieg, played by Florian Montenou. Roland and Krieg, originally thought to have been Tina's kidnappers, are actually rescuing and I say rescuing in air quotes Tina from her father, who apparently made more air quotes Tina to be the key that unlocks the treasures of Pandora. It's pretty wacky. With very little convincing at all, lilith shirks her responsibilities to Atlas and decides to help out this ragtag band of misfits in their own search for the treasure. Do they make it? Well, yeah, of course they do. But I'm not going to spoil the rest of this for you. This show, that's the show in a nutshell. So, chris, what did you think of this hyped up adaptation of a best selling video game in cinematic format? What were your thoughts?
Speaker 2:Disclaimer here I've never played borderlands right, so I I probably should reserve judgment. However, we're talking about the medium of film here and I'm not not putting. Everyone knows I like we try to compartmentalize. We're not. We're not grading on. Should this win an academy award? I don't know what to say, man this was this was such a disappointment um holy cow. Like what did I? What did I say to you? As soon as it was over, I was like, can we expense this or something?
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to have to pay for this myself, man, just, I mean the combination of talented actors like again, they all worked really great together, right, they all, they are masters of their craft. I mean comedic timing. Jack Black was probably the star of the entire movie and he wasn't actually in it. He was a voice of a little robot creature I shouldn't say creature, actually it was a robot. He's a little droid like one wheel rolling around, thing, um just. But I mean it's.
Speaker 2:It was abusive laughter, uh, towards the protagonist, kate planchette's character, and I don't know. I mean if you could tell, like they just the, the, the company that that owns the, that owns Borderlands. It's like, hey, we're sitting on piles and piles of cash and if we don't do something with this, we're going to lose our IP, because we've heard of that in the history of film. It's like you know, once you option something, like you have to produce it, or within a certain time frame, where you lose the rights, right. So I think they just said you know what? We've got tons of money, let's get some A-list people, put them all together and people will look past how bad this film is because of the great cast. No, no, my friends, you cannot look past the great cast and see how bad this film is. This is literally bad. The editing Jesus Christ, it's like PTSD happening here, Super.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it doesn't even deserve a disco ball, it's just a thumbs down. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'll post that picture along with this episode. I'm sitting on it, but you know it's interesting. So it's produced by Lionsgate, lionsgate. I don't know if Lionsgate, when I think blockbuster, I don't think Lionsgate. When I think, when I think direct to streaming, I think of Lionsgate. When I think of, when I think of kind of campy horror, I think of Lionsgate. Maybe some art housey, I think of Lionsgate. I don't think big budget, blockbuster, summer movie, summer movie, and so maybe Lionsgate is just not, and I don't know if Lionsgate's done a big blockbuster like this before. Shame on me for not knowing that. I didn't do my research, but it just seems like they weren't prepared for it. I think they were taking advantage of the success of and I was thinking about this in the theater too like you had, uh, last of us, which is a phenomenal video game, and they produced that for hbo max or max, whatever it's called now, and that it was.
Speaker 1:It was well received by both critics and fans alike and there was a lot of, you know, pearl clutching going into this. So like, oh man, you know the Mandalorians playing Joel and Bella Ramsey from, but like they crushed it. They did a phenomenal job with that show and I cannot wait for season two. Fallout from Amazon Prime was wonderful, wonderful. They did a great job with that and I had not played Fallout until seeing that series. Now I'm 110 hours into it. God, it's a time suck. No wonder I'm not getting anything done around here, but it's a great game. But I was introduced to it through the series. I didn't need the game to sell me the series, game to sell me the series, and so kind of. Going back to your point, I think I played Borderlands briefly and then got rid of it because I just wasn't digging it. I'm going to have to go back through my PlayStation history to see.
Speaker 1:But I feel like to your point about this being the medium of film. You should not have to be a fan of the video game to be able to enjoy the, the movie. And both of us going into this, not having played the game, we didn't enjoy the movie. But the guy sitting next to us as we were leaving, I was like you know what did you? What did you think of it? Oh, I liked it. Oh, have you played the game? Yeah, I played the game. So, maybe, and we didn't have a deep conversation. But I'm wondering, like if this is this, if you've played the game, you'll appreciate the movie better. This, if you've played the game, you'll appreciate the movie better. But I, I'm with you. I know disco balls.
Speaker 1:For me, cate Blanchett is a phenomenal actor. A phenomenal actor. She's done great, great things. I just I don't think this was the right casting of this character. And maybe I'm just. I recognize her too much from her previous like legit work, um that that I can't separate her from this role. It just she seems out of place in this role. I would have much rather have seen jamie lee curtis playing the role of lilith as an aged bounty hunter. Uh, because jamie lee curt, she has the comedic chops, she has the action background, like she could pull that off, cate Blanchett. When I think action movie, I don't think Cate Blanchett.
Speaker 1:So I think the writing was awful, it was a little all over the place. I feel like video games of this magnitude, like Fallout, borderlands, last of Us, I mean Grand Theft Auto there's no movie of that yet. Red Dead Redemption there's no movie of that yet. But like these expansive world building games, they can't be relegated to a two hour long PG-13 movie. They should be done in a serial format A, because I think you're cramming too much into two hours where you could do a lot more with eight hours. Right, but even that I don't think could have saved this from bad writing. Eli Roth is a well-respected director, mostly in horror, if I remember correctly. I haven't. Eli Roth hasn't been on my radar for a long time, so I can't think of anything recent that he's done, although in my Shudder subscription he does the History of Horror series, so maybe that's why I'm thinking of him and this. But yeah, I'm with you, it was no bueno, no bueno.
Speaker 2:I mean a couple things there, right? So I was looking up biggest thing Lionsgate does has done Out of the top 10, one film is not the hunger games or twilight. Okay, okay, got it. And that is number 10, which is john wick. This is us highest grossing us films.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. Uh, I should say that highest grossing films in north america, because these films have also been released worldwide. So I'm just I'm going off the North America list. So out of the top 10, only one film is not a Twilight or Hunger Games film. Cate Blanchett she to your point about like not being able, not fitting the role, well, I think she did amazingly well as Hela in Thor Ragnarok, right so. But I mean, to your point, she's not really an action star, yeah, but I don't. That doesn't mean I don't think she has the width or the depth to play like silly roles or whatever. You know, we're not talking about nicholas cage level, like just give me a paycheck, kind of situation anymore, right, they keep planchette still up there.
Speaker 2:She's still an a-lister in my opinion. Um, acting chops high, sure, um, but I mean so you mentioned the pace, um, episodic, you know, we again, that gentleman that we asked, uh, he, you asked him, you know, how do you, how do you think about it? He said it was too quick. Um, and I again, having not played the games, I don't know, I thought they were literally just shoot them up games.
Speaker 2:I didn't know if there was a story involved, I didn't know if there was any of that, any this lore, uh, whatever the case would be what the goal is to the games. But for him to say it was really quick, uh, it gives me that hint that maybe maybe there is a goal to the game. Maybe I just dismissed it as a kind of like a Fortnite kind of situation where it's not just a battle arena but it's most known for being a battle arena. Again, you hit the nail on the head Just because we haven't played the game shouldn't mean we're not going to enjoy the film, and vice versa. They should be separate and distinct. I don't know, man, like, I just keep, like I said, ptsd.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want my time back.
Speaker 1:I may have actually fallen asleep a little bit too.
Speaker 2:I definitely fell asleep. Yeah, I was nodding off Like it was yeah, like yeah, it like yeah, okay, it was quick, I get it, but it was also kind of boring yes, and to your point about being like empty and this is the second time it's happened to me when I purchased my ticket uh, more seats were purchased than people actually showed up.
Speaker 2:What did that happen? I don't know if I shared the story with, but I went and saw something recently. Oh, it was Deadpool and Wolverine. I was like, took a chance. I was like I don't know what time I'm getting out of work. Then I knew what time I was getting out of work, so I bought the next, took a chance. I was like I don't know what time I'm getting out of work. Then I knew what time I was getting out of work, so I bought the next available Showtime and I was like, oh, there's a single seat available in a decent row in the back of a theater. So I was like, okay, purchase, you know, I'm going, I'm going to see this, get there. I get there early, ready to go, waiting for the film to start. There's four seats to my right and four seats to my left. Movie starts, they're all empty and I'm like what it's like? When I bought this ticket, I was the sole seat available.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, the movie starts and no one's to my right or left and I'm like, okay, and again, not the trailers. The film started right seats are empty. 20 minutes into the film two guys show up, they start walking down the aisle and they sit to my left, the two further seats away from me. So 20 minutes in the film I have two seats to my left and four seats to my right empty. That's how it stayed for the rest of the film and I'm like what are people doing here? They're buying seats and blocking people from enjoying the film opening weekend and then not showing up like or getting refunds ridiculous.
Speaker 1:You know it's interesting. I wonder what was the movie again that that was Deadpool and Wolverine.
Speaker 1:I wonder, and I only know this because I have friends who have had movies come out on wide release or limited release, and to get to wide release they had to sell a certain amount of tickets. And so they reached out to their very expansive networks saying, hey, you know, please come to the movie, or you know, buy tickets and give them to your friends, or whatever. And I know, when their movie came out, I bought a bunch of tickets and I didn't go. But I sent him, my friend, the, the QR codes and stuff like that to say, hey, I got tickets for the, the mountainside AMC at this time. Here's, here's three of them, you know, give them out. And he's like, oh, thank you so much. And he, you know, gave them away. So I wonder if, like, if hollywood does that where they they buy seats to, to pad the numbers no, I mean in scotch plains, new jersey, on a thursday night.
Speaker 2:I mean I don't know. That's a stretch, I could understand that, but and also probably three-quarters of the screens were showing this movie that night.
Speaker 1:That's fair too, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean maybe the other theaters were packed. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Well, from a numbers perspective, this is estimated right now for the dailies yesterday, I don't know. Um it's Blake Lively, adapted from a novel Lily overcomes a traumatic childhood blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, yeah, I guess. Oh, it's drama romance $24 million. Deadpool is in its second week at $15 million on a Friday. This is just Friday yesterday. Um Borderlands $4 million, Opening Friday night $4 million, four million dollars. Opening friday night four million dollars. It ends with us a romance movie starring blake lively beat out by 20 million dollars on opening weekend. On opening night, ish, a movie that is headlined by kate blanchett, jamie lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, Jack Black. I mean what happened? There is no reason why this movie is performing that low. So I'm curious. I haven't read any of the early reviews. I know you mentioned that yesterday.
Speaker 2:Yeah, To your point. Yeah, okay, considering what you just said, I'm sure 19 of those million were Ryan Reynolds buying out seats for his wife.
Speaker 1:That would absolutely not surprise me, Honey. Our movie did okay last weekend. Here you go 100%.
Speaker 2:That's what happened.
Speaker 1:That's hysterical. Wow, yeah, so it ends with. Us is 24 million, borderlands is four million. That's just yesterday. I'm curious to see what the final box office looks like. Who knows, maybe, maybe tonight will be better, saturday night will be better, who knows, we'll see. But yeah, yeah, but that's kind of a roundabout way to get to. It doesn't deserve it. This should have been just gone straight to streaming. It was that bad. So disco balls.
Speaker 1:Zero, zero, wah, wah wah, I think is that the first time we have not given. Yeah, wow, Sorry, Jamie Lee.
Speaker 2:Borderlands has improved since I saw the review, the tomato meter oh, so have you. Did you see the tomato meter? I haven't looked at the tomato meter yet. Tomato meter for Borderlands is 10% tomato meter and 51% audience score. When I saw it it was 7% tomato meter. Wow, and I kind of hinted to you. I was like I'm not going to spoil it. But I glimpsed by accident and I saw the meter and I was like we should just go home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'm happy they improved.
Speaker 2:They got to double digits Good for them.
Speaker 1:That's great. Good for them, good for them.
Speaker 2:I think that's the lowest scoring. Is this review bombing too? I think they earned this.
Speaker 1:It's definitely earned. I cannot imagine it's review bombed, and I mean typically the I don't have it up, but is the critics? You said the audience.
Speaker 2:The tomato meter would be actual like critic review.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, exactly yeah, that's the 10%, so that's not a review bombing no, it's not Okay. Sorry, Jamie Lee Curtis.
Speaker 2:All of them. They still have a wonderful place in our hearts. They do Don't do Borderlands 2. Okay, no matter how much money Lionsgate give you guys don't do it, stop it.
Speaker 1:No, terrible. Hire good writers. Hire good writers, yeah, I guess so or, hire good writers. Hire good writers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess. So, okay, All right, let's move on to our normal Whatcha Watchin'. I'll start it off. This week I finished because the last episode aired was House of the dragon, season two. Um, I don't know why I I I up until me doing my homework for the show and, and having watched this for two seasons, I've always called it house of dragon, house of dragons, house of Dragon, house of Dragons. The title of the TV show is House of the Dragon.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm not going to go into like a breakdown of what it is. I mean, everyone knows this is a Game of Thrones spinoff. If you've been living under a rock, too bad for you. If you don't subscribe to Max, shame on you. This is what we do here. We watch things okay, um. So yeah, house of the dragon, season two. Um, I'll tell you this, I was completely confused starting this season. Oh, I am terrible with names. I think I have to like hang out with somebody at least three, four, five times before I can remember people's names and put names to faces and stuff like that. And when you have time progression or time jumps in the show and the actors change because we have children and then you know young adults and then adults or whatever the case may be. You know, you know children to adults. I'm like, who is that Like? I recognize people by like hey, you know, the guy with the dragon, that one.
Speaker 2:That's how I describe, you know, characters and shows, yeah, um, so we have, you know, in season one we have babies that are, that are teenagers now, and, and, uh, young adults who are adults, um, and so we I'm like I I watched the first couple episodes. I'm like who are these people? Like what, what is going on here? I have no like were I watched the first couple episodes and I'm like who are these people? Like, what is going on here? I have no idea. Were they in the last season? Like I just, and it's been some time since the last season has been out, and even though you watch the recap and everyone that I know that has read these books, they hate George RR Martin, for, for this is he has extremely similar names for characters, right?
Speaker 2:and so like I'm looking at the cast list here and there's like there's Amand and then there's Damon, and so it's like and then there's Renice and there's Rhaenyra and I'm like, why do? They have to be so similar. It's like a big Greek wedding or something like that. Name everybody, george, right, this is my cousin, nick, and you point at the room.
Speaker 1:This is my cousin Nick.
Speaker 2:That's what Game of Thrones house of the dragon is, um. So, like I, I took a few episodes and like, okay, now I know who that is, that's this person's child and that's the okay. It starts making sense right after like halfway through the series, season um. And then I, finally it clicks and I'm like, okay, now I'm enjoying this because now I know who everybody is. And then, why are these things happening? And so we're going through it and I'm like, okay, season's over. Did I like it? I did um. However, game of thr Thrones has scarred society to the point where I am waiting for this to turn bad, okay.
Speaker 2:I'm like but whenever someone says Game of Thrones to me, people, if you think back, the meme on social media was the finely drawn horse for season one and then, as you're going progressively further and further into the horse, it ends up being worse drawn and worse drawn and then you get to the end and it's like a five-year-old crayon drawing. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the wheels to fall off the bus.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the unfortunate thing about this series for me. I'm enjoying it, I like the story, I think it's good. You know, I don't know what else to say about it. Right, yeah, lots of things are happening. They're still infighting, dragons are being killed, people are upset, people you know. Royalty is dying off. They're turning into commoners for help, or they call them lowborn the lowborn.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the lowborn are common people, common folk, and then the highborn are, you know, the royalty, and so, yeah, there's lots of things happening, and bending knee and all these things, the terms that we learned in Game of Thrones there's all these things happening. So, yeah, we come to the end of Season 2, and we're setting the stage for all-out war. So, yeah, I'm excited to see Season 3. I don't know if it was season three will be the last or season four will be the last. I forgot, I read it somewhere, um, but yeah, I think I think it's doing okay, we're still, we're still a finely drawn horse. Okay, yep, yep in meme, speak here. Okay, all right, um, so, yeah, i'm'm going to give House of the Dragon. Do you have any questions for me before I do this? I don't, because I know you're not into it.
Speaker 1:I'm not into it. I watched the first episode of the first season and I was a big fan of Game of Thrones and I'm with you. They completely threw it out the window the last season, which was a shame because they had done such a. So this was Benioff and Weiss, right who? Who? Who wrote and directed and were showrunners for Game of Thrones. They did it. They did a phenomenal job of building that world that George RR Martin had written. They built it for the screen and then they completely threw it, threw it away on that last season, which was a shame, and so I just couldn't come back to it. I lost so much interest in it. After the last few episodes of the last season of Game of Thrones I was like, yeah, I'm over this world, I'm moving on with my life.
Speaker 2:I don't care if there's a prequel, whatever that's how the entire world ended up being and, like I said, that's the unfortunate thing about this series. I'm waiting for that. I don't know if it'll get there. I think they're keeping this short on purpose, instead of stringing people along for 15 million books that still haven't been finished. From what I understand, the, the, the fire, whatever it's called yeah, how, song of ice and fire saga, whatever I don't know what it is. Um, so yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna end it with three and a half disco balls all right, all right, and that's the entire season, right, the entirety of season two. Yeah, three and a half disco balls. The entire season two of the house of the dragons the house of the dragon house of the dragon got it okay, all right, so I will continue to not watch that. But I'm glad that you are cautiously optimistic that they're not going to screw it up.
Speaker 2:Fingers crossed, fingers crossed, all right. Anthony, what about you? What are you watching?
Speaker 1:I'm watching Time Bandits on Apple TV+ and it is a treat. I was a big fan of the original Michael Palin, palin and terry gillam movie from 1981. Uh, that was the year I was bored, so obviously I didn't see it in theaters, but, uh, but we had it on vhs or I don't know. Remember my first exposure to it, uh, but the movie from the 80s is just a wonderful movie. If you can find it streaming somewhere, uh, it actually looks like it might be streaming on Max the original. It has. You know, you want to talk about an all-star cast. It has cameos from like Sean Connery, shelley Duvall, john Cleese, catherine Hellman, ian Holm, obviously Michael Palin from Monty Python, terry Gillum from Monty Python, kenny Baker's in it, who is R2-D2, famously R2-D2. This is not a reboot of that universe, it is a complete remake of that universe. And normally normally, I think we all us nostalgia junkies get nervous when someone takes our beloved youth and tinkers with it. And so when I first saw that Time Bandits was being created as an Apple TV Plus series, I was like what are they going to do to it? It's been a treat, they've done a really good job with it. It is different but similar it stars. So actually, let me start with who makes it.
Speaker 1:Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi who I mean. They have a rich history together. What we Do in the Shadows. Jemaine Clement is from Flight of the Conchords, you know, back on HBO years and years ago. He's also in what we Do in the Shadows. Taika Waititi is an amazing director, a very talented actor. He's directing an upcoming Star Wars film possibly. He's directed episodes of the Mandalorian. He directed Jojo Rabbit. He's directed what we Do in the Shadows. He's directed so many great things and so, knowing that they're involved, great things. And so knowing that they're involved, you know, did you see? Our Flag Means Death on HBO, yeah, it's a really good show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a really good show, so it has a lot of the similar vibes, as A Flag Means Death. Taika Waititi has a very unique style to his projects and it doesn't. It shines in Time Bandits. It stars Lisa kudrow uh, she's the only like big star, uh and she plays penelope, who is the leader of the time bandits. There's a bunch of other actors that I've seen in things. I just I could not tell you what I've seen them in, but what I will say is, um so soline.
Speaker 1:There's this group of bandits who steal a map from the supreme being, who is God, and they are on a mission to. They just go from era to era, stealing things to build their wealth. There's a deeper reason that they've stolen the map, but I'm not going to spoil that for you. So God is played by Taika Waititi as well, so he makes several cameos throughout the series and he's trying to get his people to find the map while the bandits have stolen the map. On the other side of the spectrum is Jemaine Clement, who plays Pure Evil, which is the analog to the map. On the other side of the spectrum is Jemaine Clement, who plays pure evil and which is are the analog to the devil, and he wants the map as well so he can destroy everything, and so he has people chasing the time bandits to to get the map.
Speaker 1:The time bandits stumble upon the home of Kevin, our youthful protagonist. I think he's like 11 or 12 years old, so that's very similar to the original movie and they take them along this journey and so every episode they're in a different era of time. So this past episode I think we're up to episode six they were in Cairo in the time of the Egyptians and the pyramids and things like that. Previous episode they were in 1930s, New York City Prohibition era. Before that they were. Where were they? They were like in Viking times. So it's just a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:The writing is beautiful, Like the writing is just spectacular. But not only is the writing spectacular, the acting and the delivery of it is spectacular as well. There's a lot of and you see this a lot in Taika Waititi projects where there's just like a lot of very natural dialogue and natural reaction between actors, action between actors, which I think when you have that type of, that type of acting, is reacting right and and the what separates good story delivery through live cinema or theater, theater is the reaction and they, the cast just does a fantastic job of, you know, spitfire delivery. The cast just does a fantastic job of, you know, spitfire delivery, staying on top of it being natural and nuanced. I just I'm loving this show so much so I I'm giving it Well before I, before I, before I bestow upon it, some disco balls. Do you have any questions about it? Have you seen it yet?
Speaker 2:I have not, I'm trying to. So I did see the original 1981 film, um, however it's, it's been lost in the mush that it is of all the things that we've watched is time man. It's the one where, at some point, they there's a battle with, like, some kind of corporation or bankers or something like that at some point no, I don't believe so um, then I'm completely forgetting the film I think, I think you're thinking of um, you know what I'm talking about. It's's in the realm of the Monty Python.
Speaker 1:It is so it's, it's not life of Brian, it's, it's not. It's the opening scene of the movie. I know exactly what you're talking about. There's a board meeting going on and a ship is flying down the the. Yes, that is a Monty Python movie and, oh my God, I cannot think of the name of it for the life of me, it's not life of Brian.
Speaker 2:No, it's the meaning of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But, yes, ok, but it has.
Speaker 1:But yes, there is a scene in Time Bandits, the original, where they are on a ship with an ogre and and they throw him overboard and the ogre's wife is played by oh my God, I'm going to forget her name Kathleen. Uh, I'm sorry. Uh, catherine, uh, helmand, who was Mona on? Who's the boss? Um, but, yeah, I I really enjoying this show. I think they've done proud of the legacy of time bandits. Uh, it, I. It would have been nice to have some nods like maybe this was a new batch of bandits who've stolen the map. But it stands on its own. It's a good remake. Very happy with it. I'm going to give it. I'm going to give it. I don't know how many more episodes we have to go. We're at episode six. I'm going to give it four disco balls for for just to be cautiously optimistic, um, you know, because you can go into a slump, and that can you know, in the latter part of a series. But uh, yeah, I'm giving it four disco balls right now. Very enjoyable show awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what it's? The meaning of life. The meaning of life, it was the meaning of life.
Speaker 1:The meaning of life. It was the meaning of life.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, yeah. So when I think Time Bandits, I keep thinking about those ships. Yeah, because I think the cover art for the original film was the ship.
Speaker 1:It is yes.
Speaker 2:So that's why I'm making that connection there. So I've completely forgotten Time Bandits Well go check it out completely forgotten Time. Bandits and then replace it with the meaning of life Board meeting, Battle. Okay, but yes, I will one rewatch the original, although I don't need to. I know that and I will try to find a way to watch the new remake because, I mean, Taika and Jermaine are just treasures, they can't mess anything up.
Speaker 1:Everything they've done.
Speaker 2:I love. So, yeah, definitely going to do that.
Speaker 1:Cool. What was the rating? Again, I gave it four disco balls Nice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so then it's a definite watch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it looks like Rotten Tomatoes were at 79%, so it is fresh 48% audience score. I'm curious if there's some review bombing At this point. After the acolyte disaster of review bombings, I could care less about audience opinion at this point. So yeah, check it out opinion at this point.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, check it out. As, as I've said before, I don't, I don't let anyone else yuck my yum. Right, it's if, if, if you enjoy it, good for you. Yeah, I did, I did or I did not. I don't care about what reviews say, critics, all this stuff. It's like you got to put it in the box that it belongs in, right, we're not, we're not shooting for academy awards here. Folks, if, is it entertaining to you? Um, so, yeah, cool, I'm happy. I'm happy to hear that that taika and jermaine are carrying that. That, uh, not necessarily monty python, but python's uh work, work of art from the 19, from 1981, awesome, cool, and I'm gonna take us out once. I find my script cool. All right, here we go.
Speaker 2:Do you want more geeky-Go? Well, make sure you're following us on all the socials at Geeky A Go-Go and share with us what you're watching. Want cool stuff, like our nifty sticker here that I have right here in the corner of my image? Well, and want to connect with us with a higher level, like our Discord channel? Head on over to patreoncom slash geeky go. Go and support the show. You'll get awesome swag and other perks. If you haven't done so already. Make sure you're following the show on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Thanks so much for listening. Peace out, everybody, bye-bye. Bye, eric, you suck.
