No one knows the rich history of Westeros better than our very own Archmaester Timothy Cuff. He’s been kind enough to continue to share his vast wealth of knowledge through his Game of Thrones History Class Podcast! Tonight we are privileged to unveil PART TWO of his ongoing series, regarding the most important and fascinating places, people, and events from “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Tim will have a minisode out every week after the new Game of Thrones episode, so stay tuned! Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this wonderful podcast! Below I have links for both iTunes and Spreaker so you can listen to it anyway you want!
In the latest episode of The World’s Best Podcast with Paul & Tim, we dive into the filmography of one of the most interesting filmmakers to come onto the scene in the past 20 years: M. Night Shyamalan. Love him or hate him, this guy is on hell of an intriguing filmmaker. He’s made some of our all-time favorite movies and some of the worst films ever made. Tim and I go through it all, the ups and the downs. The good news is, it looks like he’s on an upswing, a comeback. Here’s hoping ….
Last week, the best Batman film ever made finally came to Blu Ray. But wait, isn’t The Dark Knight already on Blu Ray?! It absolutely is, but I’m not talking about The Dark Knight. The best Batman film ever made is Batman: Mask of The Phantasm. Right now you’re thinking: “Paul! Are you fucking nuts? The Dark Knight is HANDS DOWN the best superhero movie EVER made! Are you on fucking crack, bro?” First of all, No, I’m not on crack, I’m on cocaine and a little morphine but it doesn’t affect my judgment whatsoever. Secondly, of course I love The Dark Knight! The movie is a fucking masterpiece. Not only the apex of superhero films so far, it’s the movie all other superhero movies are judged against. It’s one of the best films ever made… period.
What makes Mask of the Phantasm so special to me and what differentiates it from the Nolan films and the Burton films (I love both), is that the story focuses on Batman and his journey more than any other character. Burton’s first two Batman movies get overwhelmed with villains that overshadow Batman and in the second film Batman Returns he has a significantly less screen time then in Batman 1989. Meanwhile, Nolan and his films were a huge step in the right direction, but this still wasn’t the Batman that I knew and loved. The Joker looms so large over everything in The Dark Knight and the most important character arc in that film is Harvey Dent’s. So again, we have an excellent Batman movie that doesn’t necessarily have Batman as the focus of the story.
As many times as we’ve seen Batman on the big screen, we’ve never really a gotten theatrical film that delves deep into Batman and his psychology, what drives him, and the pain from his past that haunts him in the present. Even though we’ve had some excellent portrayals of Batman on film, we haven’t had a movie that gets inside the characters head like this film does. Mask of The Phantasm is such a exceptional Batman film because FINALLY it’s a story about… Batman.
After the massive success of Bruce Timm’s classic Batman: The Animated series, Warner Bros. wanted Timm and company to produce a feature length Batman animated movie. It was an extension of The Animated Series, taking place in the same universe as the show (kind of like how they started making the early Star Trek movies. They weren’t a reboot of the show, but a continuation, another chapter in the adventures of these characters). Even though the film was not a financial success, largely due to poor marketing, it was critically acclaimed at the time and has since been viewed as a masterpiece of the superhero genre with an enormous cult following. Like the TV show it came from, Mask of The Phantasm was dark, adult, smart, and with beautiful noir style animation and music. The movie was able to captivate an adult audience with the same emotional complexity and moving storytelling that the animated series did so well. As a cherry on top, we get to watch Mark Hamill give one of the all-time great super villain performances as The Joker in this film.
In the film, Batman must overcome a physical challenge in the form of The Phantasm and an emotional one in the form of Andrea Beaumont, an old flame who could have been the love of Bruce’s life. When a masked vigilante starts murdering mob bosses in Gotham City, Batman becomes public enemy number one when both the police and the criminal underworld think The Dark Knight is the killer. Of course, the mysterious Phantasm is the real killer. To complicate matters for Bruce, Andrea Beaumont returns to Gotham after years of living abroad. This stirs up painful memories for Bruce and a large part of the film flashes back to the days just before Bruce was about to become The Batman.
Mask of The Phantasm was as close to a Batman origin story as the show ever came. In the flashbacks, Bruce is roughly in his early 20’s and has just returned to Gotham. He’s been around the world, learned all the skills and training he needs, but he’s still not sure how to carry out his mission of protecting Gotham City. This is when Bruce meets a beautiful young woman named Andrea Beaumont. He meets her in a cemetery of all places (very fitting for Batman), Bruce is there visiting his parent’s graves, looking for some kind of guidance on how he should move forward with his insane mission. Bruce sees the beautiful Andrea at her mothers grave and overhears her talking out loud to her mother who’s long since passed on. This immediately connects the two, because they both have tragedy in their past that has defined their lives. They strike up a conversation and they have immediate chemistry. Bruce asks her out and they begin dating.
As their relationship deepens, Bruce continues to experiment with his mission. There’s a key scene in the film where Bruce attempts to stop a robbery that involves group of thug’s loading stolen goods onto a truck. There’s a pretty cool action scene and Bruce is ultimately able to subdue the criminals. However, Bruce comes to an important revelation: as skilled as Bruce is, he’s still just a man in a ski mask with a couple of gadgets. In fact, when he first confronts the criminals they laugh at them, they don’t know what to make of this nut. That’s when it dawns on him: they need to be afraid of him. In that moment, the Batman persona is born.
But all this masked vigilante stuff may become a moot point. Bruce didn’t count on finding love or happiness. Ultimately a life with Andrea means more to Bruce than fulfilling the vow he made to his parents that he would rid the city of the evil that took their lives. There’s great scene in the film where Bruce agonizes over this decision, which I’ve posted below:
This settles it, Bruce proposes to Andrea. She says yes and they couldn’t be happier. But all Batman stories are stories of tragedy to one degree or another and Andrea’s father is keeping a dark secret (I won’t spoil it here but it comes in to play in a big way later in the film and it may not be what you think).
* (This is NOT what I would call a good omen for the future of their relationship)
The next day Bruce comes home greeted by a sullen Alfred who hands Bruce a note from Andrea, breaking off their engagement. This comes completely out of the blue and leaves Bruce heart broken (again Andrea’s reason for the abrupt break up come into play later in the film).
In the flashbacks, we see a Bruce Wayne who hasn’t been completely consumed by The Batman. We see him more vulnerable and open than the character is usually portrayed. Before the wall of The Batman is put up, when he won’t let anyone in. There are many reasons Batman behaves the way he does. But this was an interesting insight into one of the reasons he is cold, distant, and keeps the people closest to him at arms length. It’s this deep exploration of the psyche of Bruce Wayne that makes this movie such a stand out. Batman is the main character. It shows him at these two vastly different points in his life and give us a fantastic insight into who he is and why.
Bruce finally makes his choice and becomes The Batman. Which we see here in this excellent scene:
I WAS GONNA DO A SPOILER WARNING, BUT AT THIS POINT… FUCK IT
So, basically the reason Andrea had to abruptly end her engagement to Bruce was that Andrea’s father made some bad investments and lost a lot of money. In desperation, he turned to some very dangerous men for a loan. When these men came looking for payments on the money that Andrea’s father owed, he couldn’t pay. They threatened his life and the life of his daughter if he didn’t come up with the money by the end of the week. Fearing for his daughters life, Andrea and her father flee to Europe where they had been in hiding for several years. Eventually, the criminals who her father owed money to, track them down and a man who may or may not, be the man who becomes The Joker, killed Andrea’s father. All the men that her father owed money to, are the mob bosses that The Phantasm has been killing. Andrea Beaumont is The Phantasm. Killing these men as revenge for taking her father’s life
As I said before The Joker plays an important part in this film, of course played by the great Mark Hamill. This movie also flirts with a possible origin for The Joker. And like all of the great possible origins for The Joker, it’s left hazy and uncertain. There are several different possible explanations for who The Joker really is in the comics. In those comics and this movie, they don’t rob the character of his mystique by spelling out exactly who he is, they just give you a taste.
To be completely honest, they don’t necessarily need The Joker to make this story work. They could’ve left the character out and the story still would’ve worked fine. But Mark Hamill is such a great Joker and this being their first big screen showing of this television program, they had to of course include Batman’s best and most iconic villain. Also, this film has one of my favorite Joker moments of all time.
During the films climax at an abandoned worlds fair, there’s a final showdown between Batman, The Joker, and The Phantasm. This is great scene because it’s a brutal, violent confrontation between mortal enemies, with Batman in the middle trying to save the soul of the woman he loves. In a final attempt to save Andrea from the path she’s on, Batman says: “But Andrea, what will vengeance solve?” To which she replies “If anyone knows the answer to that, Bruce, its you.” Wow, Andrea. Burn.
Andrea disappears to hunt The Joker, while Batman tries to get to him first. The Joker has the whole place rigged to explode and after a brutal fight with Batman, The Joker is bloody and on his knees in front of Andrea Beaumont. Andrea has the man who killed her father at her complete mercy. At this point there’s a very good chance that all three of them could die. Just as the bombs go off and everything around them is burning, this wonderful scene culminates in, in my opinion, the greatest Joker laugh in cinema history:
It’s kind of brilliant that Bruce Wayne would fall in love with a woman like Andrea Beaumont. Even before she becomes the revenge driven Phantasm, maybe there was something that she and Bruce saw in each other that they didn’t even realize on a conscious level, how similar they both were. And how willing they both are to do things that would be considered madness in the name of those they love. And that’s the tragedy of this story, had things been different, there could’ve been a real life for Bruce Wayne, a life without Batman. A life without the pain, the fear, the rage, the loneliness. This story showed us his opportunity to let go of his vendetta. The fact that he came so close is the gut punch.
The Blu-ray sales of Batman: Mask of The Phantasm are very important because if this film sells well on Blu-ray, Warner Bros. will finally release Batman: The Animated Series in its entirety on Blu-ray. Right now, the series is only available on DVD and digital download. So I encourage you, if you’re a true Batman fan go out and buy this Blu-ray. Because we want this wonderful, seminal, incredible, classic series to finally be on Blu-ray like it deserves. Plus, you’ll have one of the best Batman movies ever made to add to your Blu-ray collection. This is Batman at his best folks. If you’ve never seen either Batman: The Animated Series or Batman: Mask of The Phantasm, than I’m envious of you, because you’re in for one hell of a treat, enjoy.
Here’s our fantastic, new, weekly mini podcast we’re going to be doing for the rest of season 7 of Game of Thrones. Our resident Game of Thrones expert (Archmaester if you will) Mr. Tim Cuff, is going to pick out a detail from the latest episode and then give you some cool history and backstory from the rich world that George R.R. Martin has created. We think you guys are going to love it. And we have a great first episode. Give it a listen here:
Tim and I discuss some cool comic book and movie news in our latest podcast. Including info on new movies like Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel, and more. I’ve posted the podcast link and some of the posters and concept art below:
Here’s the mind blowingly cool COMC-CON trailer for JUSTICE LEAGUE! I can’t help, but get excited for this movie despite all the behind the scenes drama. Check out the trailer here:
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Hey, guys
Here’s a cool piece of promotional material out of COMIC-CON today. The new, very cool poster for JUSTICE LEAGUE. I like that it reminds me a lot of something the great Alex Ross would paint. I still have my fingers crossed that this movie will work out. Take a look at the poster below:
Here’s my very spoiler- lite review of Christopher Nolan’s excellent film, Dunkirk. The only thing I get into that could be viewed as semi-spoilery is how the film is structured. But I don’t get into details, character fates, or any twists and turns. Give a listen below and/or subscribe on iTunes:
So, this week is the San Diego Comic-Con, which is always exciting because we get a look at all the cool new projects coming down the pipeline in film, television, comics, etc. We can usually look forward to new trailers for big movies and first looks at major projects in comics, TV, and film. There have already been a few cool panels that have shown some interesting trailers and other promotional material.
But the content Netflix has been promoting really caught my eye in particular. As we all know Netflix has become a powerhouse in television. They’ve basically become a new network with projects like Stranger Things, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and all the other Marvel series’s. Those examples are just the tip of the iceberg, they have a few very strong animated series as well, like Guillermo Del Toro’s Trollhunters. Now it looks like they’re making a serious play for producing their own original movies. Just like their television series, these movies will be made available streaming immediately at their premiere date. The two that I thought looked really intriguing and have the potential to be very cool were “Bright” starring Will Smith and “Death Note” based on the popular Manga. Here are the trailers for both:
These are two very different projects, but they have serious talent attached to both. The production values certainly look on par with what’s put out by the major film studios. Personally, both of these movies look right up my alley. I don’t want to get into a lengthy analysis of these trailers, but I really like the idea behind “Bright”. Telling a gritty, modern day cop story, in a world where orcs, elves, and magic exist sounds cool to me. But if it’s executed poorly it could be terrible. It’s directed by David Ayer who is very hit or miss, but Max Landis who wrote the script is a excellent writer despite his reputation.
I don’t know nearly as much about “Death Note”. I’m not familiar with the source material, but the trailer was very interesting. I’m not sure what his name is, but I’ve seen the lead actor in a number of films and I’ve always really liked him. And GOOD GOD Willem Dafoe looks creepy as FUCK as that fucking death god creature.
Anyway, I thought these were both interesting projects to keep an eye on. Hopefully Netflix will turn out to be as successful at making films as they are at making television shows. The more cool content the better as far as I’m concerned. “Death Note” premieres on Netflix on 8/25 and “Bright” premieres on 12/22. I’m sure there will be more stuff coming out of Comic-Con that I’ll want comment on either here or on the podcast so keep a lookout for that. As always, thanks for reading!
I love getting surprised by pop culture. As I’ve gone into at greater length before, I feel that surprise is something that is extremely rare in the media we consume and we’re all the poorer for it. So when something great seemingly comes out nowhere, like last years “Stranger Things” on Netflix, it’s a real exciting treat. Which is why Netflix’s new series Castlevania, which premiered last Friday, is definitely a show to check out.
Based on the video game of the same name and written by the incredible Warren Ellis (writer of the modern comic book masterpiece Planetary and much more), Castlevania is a spectacular 4 epsiode horror/supernatural adventure, Anime series. The story begins in 15th century Wallachia with Dracula himself, getting a rare visit from a human woman named Lisa, who is a healer and scientist. She thinks she can do incredible things to help mankind if Dracula allows her access to the esoteric scientific knowledge that he’s accumulated over the centuries. She hopes the secret knowledge of the immortals, which blur the line between science and magic, will help humanity and society a great deal. Lisa sees Dracula and the knowledge he holds not as something dark and dangerous, but beautiful and eye opening. Dracula doesn’t have much faith in mankind, but he allows Lisa access to his library, technology, and all the wonders he’s accumulated over millennia.
Time goes by and a little Beauty and the Beast situation starts to develop. They fall in love and Dracula(still a very powerful Vampire regardless of how he lives his life) lives the life of a human with his beloved wife. Many years pass, as Dracula lives happily in the countryside with Lisa. One day he returns home from a long trip to find that that his wife has been taken by the Church and burned at the stake for witchcraft. Needless to say he is fucking PISSED. In very dramatic fashion, Dracula gives the people of Wallachia one year to either leave the country forever or die horribly at the hands of the demon army he plans to summon. A year passes and of course Dracula’s warning wasn’t heeded by the local idiots. Dracula’s demon army descends on Wallachia and it is a fucking blood bath. The demons begin moving from town to town, brutally killing anything in their path.
From here we meet Trevor Belmont. Clearly a young man who’s seen better days, we find him drunk in a shitty tavern, fighting lowlifes in a town that hasn’t been hit by the demon army yet. Belmont is forced to move on when the locals realize who he is. The Belmont Family were legendary monster hunters for centuries until they were excommunicated by the Church on a bunch of trumped up bullshit. Trevor is the last of The Belmonts and he can still kick ass and take fucking names, especially when it comes to monsters. So when he comes to the next town, already besieged by the demonic hourde, he has to decide to continue on the path he’s on or try to reclaim some of his honor by helping defeat Dracula and his army.
That’s the basic set up for the show and it is one hell of good watch. At this point I should probably say that I am not an Anime guy and I was not familiar with the video game that this show is based on at all.
This show is an attempt to basically do an American Anime, so the visuals of the show are very much in that style. But even if Anime isn’t for you, the animation on this show is absolutely spectacular. There were so many impressive visuals that stood out as things I’d never seen in animation before.
The voice cast is very strong across the board. Especially Richard Armitage (The Hobbit Trilogy, Hannibal TV Series) as Trevor Belmont. I really liked Belmont as the hero in this story. He has a dry sense of humor that makes him surprisingly funny at times. He’s a great protagonist because not only because of his roguish charm and aristocratic humor, he’s also a person who struggles with morality. The choice between stepping up and helping people versus looking out for number one is a big part of his journey throughout the season. Which gives the character a lot of depth that you may not expect see in something like this.
Dracula is played here by Graham McTavish (Preacher, Outlander), even though he’s not in in the season a whole lot, he managed to make a big impression with the screen time he had. I’m pretty familiar with this actor’s work and I had no idea he played this part until I looked up the voice cast online. Which definitely highlights his ability as a voice actor. He does a great job of going from someone who could be a very tender and loving husband to a vicious, vindictive killer. Despite the horrific things he’s doing, Dracula is still somewhat sympathetic. I mean, these people burned his fucking wife ALIVE! That’s not something you just let slide. It’s not like it was just the Church either, the whole fucking town came out to cheer it on! Like it was their super fucked up version of the big homecoming football game! I guess when you don’t have TV you have to find different ways to stay entertained…
There are a few more important characters who pop up that are key to the season and the show moving forward. But I don’t want to go into them too much because the season is so short, I want to leave out as many spoilers I can. I will say that Trevor Belmont will have some interesting allies and enemies going into season 2.
My only complaint was that the show is so goddamn short. It was only four hours. It felt like more of a movie than a TV show season. Luckily Netflix has already ordered a second season which will have 8 episodes instead of 4. It’s really going to suck having to wait for season 2, because this is hand-drawn animation which can takes much longer to produce than more modern animation styles. So we may not see season 2 for quite some time. Which makes me wish that season 2 wasn’t just going to be eight episodes. If there’s going to be such a large gap between seasons, the more episodes the better.
Bottom line this is another really strong show for Netflix. The fantastic animation, voice work, over-the-top violence, and the great hero and villain are all huge asset for the show. Also, I’m a sucker for anything with really cool looking monsters and supernatural adventures.
If you’re a fan of horror, fantasy, action adventure and a little comedy this is definitely a show you’ll dig. It’s probably not for everybody, but I loved it and can’t recommend it enough. The whole seasons available on Netflix right now so make sure you go and check it out.
On a side note, I wanted to mention that I’d love to get some feedback and engage with my readers. So please feel free to leave comments or questions in the comments section below or on our Facebook page. I’d love to hear from you! Also, check out the latest episode of “The World’s Best Podcast with Paul and Tim”. You can listen to it here on the site, our Facebook page, or iTunes.
No one knows the rich history of Westeros better than our very own Archmaester Timothy Cuff. He’s been kind enough to continue to share his vast wealth of knowledge through his Game of Thrones History Class Podcast! Tonight we are privileged to unveil PART TWO of his ongoing series, regarding the most important and fascinating places, people, and events from “A Song of Ice and Fire”. Tim will have a minisode out every week after the new Game of Thrones episode, so stay tuned! Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this wonderful podcast! Below I have links for both iTunes and Spreaker so you can listen to it anyway you want!
This show is an attempt to basically do an American Anime, so the visuals of the show are very much in that style. But even if Anime isn’t for you, the animation on this show is absolutely spectacular. There were so many impressive visuals that stood out as things I’d never seen in animation before.
If you’re a fan of horror, fantasy, action adventure and a little comedy this is definitely a show you’ll dig. It’s probably not for everybody, but I loved it and can’t recommend it enough. The whole seasons available on Netflix right now so make sure you go and check it out.
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