13 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 242: Baywatch (2017) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) and War Machine (2017) and King Arthur: The Legend of the Sword (2017)”

1. Randy Andy Pandy was having fun
   Sitting in his seat at the muckluck one
   Up on the screen to his surprise
   Running with the film we’re three other guys
   A martial arts master with a cup of coke
   Angry with the Pandy, ready with a poke!
   “That’s my seat!” Said the man named Jay.
   So Randy Andy Pandy tossed him a parfait.
   A grumpy Karl said the sound just sucks
   And buy another chi with a big ok’d crunch.
   And then it seems the circus was in town
   The geek was there and dressed like a clown.
   Ryan wanted someone to honk his nose
   Randy Andy Pandy stepped in his toes
   Then the four sat down for the preview show.
   Three hours later it was time to go.
   Randy Andy Pandy didn’t have much fun.
   Over at the theater for the Muckluck One.

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   • Wow! This is incredible! I’m reading it during Episode 244!
     — J

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   • Holy cow, RedCap! That’s just adorable! Nice one!

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     • Thank you both. There were two typos but I already hit send before I noticed and figures.. eh, it’s fine. It just came to me in the spit of the moment anyway. Hope it makes listeners laugh.

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2. I wanted to add my review/rant below for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword I had posted yesterday on Letterboxd . I was happy to hear Karl’s overall positive review and respectable score as welll but was prepared for another negative review. I’m glad that didn’t happen 👍.

   When comparing the paltry critic consensus of a cumulative 28% on rotten tomatoes to the audience rating 75% and metacritic score of a 41 to audience rating 7.8(based on a 10 point scale) and the 7.3 IMDb score based off of a near 40,000 user rating 
it’s very clear that critically this film is not even given a chance or an understanding or even an appreciation of its quality for this Action/Adventure/Drama/Fantasy.

   It’s pathetic these days where a quality film can be so over-looked and clearly widely panned by critics. This movie wasn’t given a chance in their eyes which brings me to my primary point: It’s not their “eyes” or opinion or prolific little write-ups that matter. It’s what we as regular movie goers think and feel and that is very much evident in the scores based off the above statistics. 

   ***RANT***Critics these days don’t seem to appreciate Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy movies in general( I know the recent Get Out and It Comes at Night are a couple rare exceptions in Horror).  Look at the past several years of nominations and winners at the Academy Awards ceremonies and you will find most of the above genres, if nominated at all, are for Visual Effects or Costume categories and not for Best Picture, directing, screen writing or even some very excellent acting talent and instead Indie Dramas( while don’t get me wrong I appreciate these films as well) are acknowledged and dominate these days. ***END RANT***

   While my review so far has been largely focused on the critics score vs audience score and my frustration with critics I felt I had to point it out in defense of this movie because I don’t remember a movie that has had such a wide gap between the two score results before (I know they exist)  just not that I have personally seen. 

   Now, on to the movie itself and what I liked and what stood out for me. There was not a thing I could pick out that I didn’t like or enjoy here(and I’ve seen this twice now, the second viewing clearing up any issue I took with the first viewing). 

   Guy Ritchie’s visual style and film making talent are on full display here and even more so with the Fantasy setting to my utter enjoyment. And what I love is he pulls it off here wether it’s the subtle detail in the background that can easily be missed the first time through or the more often in-your-face awesomeness from the outstanding visuals, camera work(interesting camera angles and overhead shots), great performances and interesting characters and the unique pulse-pounding musical score.

   If you hate Guy Ritchie movies you will most likely not enjoy this movie. His common stylistic flourishes and storytelling tropes are in full use here but to great effect. 

   This is a different approach to the King Arthur we have seen in movies past. Missing is a love interest between Guinevere(actually this character was altogether left out) and Arthur which I happily enjoyed. Instead, in their place, is King Arthur’s strong connection and camaraderie with his friends and the women who protected him when he was growing up. It was a nice change compared to the many movies that feel they need a love interest. Also the mage Merlin exists but is only mentioned and in his place as “his guide” is a female character known only as “Mage”. Those are not the only differences but I’ll spare the rest so as not to spoil them. 

   I already mentioned the cool visuals but also the action is well choreographed and shot. The epic opening scene alone will attest to both.

   The characters, which there are many, have enough character development( strangely some critic reviews countered this and mention too little character development which was baffling) and stand out as unique and interesting with one even holding a past grudge that plays out so well and in an entertaining way I won’t spoil it. The bottom line is that you CARE about them. So rarely achieved in some of these large summer blockbuster type movies these days or in general.

   Charlie Hunnham’s performance as King Arthur was so enjoyable to watch as our main protagonist. He grew up in the streets so his egotistical attitude and sarcasm were understood (and there are more than a couple scenes where he is put in his place) but he wasn’t afraid to contain those characteristics in more serious scenes and that just added the needed emotional weight to those afore-mentioned scenes. His character evolves and develops through his own story arc as he struggles with the weight of who he is and what he must do and that was nice to see as I’ve seen too many one-note characters as protagonists in movies that are not as interesting. 

   The Villian portrayed by Jude Law does an excellent job as a jealous and power hungry brother to the King. And we see him also struggle with what he will do to accomplish that power to a disturbing degree. And I liked his slouch in his throne, also contrary to some critics. 

   The last thing I’ll mention, because I could go on and on, is the outstanding soundtrack or musical score by Golden Globe Nominee Daniel Pemberton that truly stands out and is one of the best I have heard in a long time (It incorporated actual breathing to interesting effect in a couple tracks). This score overall enhanced the moood and took to the next level every scene it was used in. “This isn’t your usual Hollywood epic adventure, it’s a Guy Ritchie Hollywood epic adventure,” explained Pemberton. “That means usual rules don’t apply. In fact no rules apply. All that matters is can you make a score that sounds like nothing else? That was the mission”. 

   This version of Guy Ritchie’s Arthur is a truly enjoyable, engaging, awesome and entertaining experience. Isn’t that why we go to the movies anyway? Is to be  moved, inspired, scared or just plain entertained? To sum it all up I will say this about King Arthur Legend of the Sword and all it’s parts: Mission accomplished!

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3. Hey Jay Smitty here. I was the recipient of the Bourne Legacy code however I own it already on DVD. I forgot to email you to let you know so you can save that one for another listener. I still listen and have been since 2013 I believe. Back then I posted under the user name B-Rye. I was the one that called Moonrise Kingdom kiddie-pornish back when it came out.

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4. In regards to the confusion over Baywatch having the mystery subplot and how that was never something that was apart of the original series, I suspect it’s mostly just a nod to the short lived spinoff – Baywatch Nights. In that series, Hasselhoff ditched the red bathing suit for a gun to join a small detective unit to solve crime and uhh…other stuff? Yeah, I never actually watched the series, but I was aware of it. Even Sal has standards.

   The second season might be worth watching for the unintentional comedy as they turned the series into a X-Files rip off.

   So the film seeing the lifeguards trying to solve a case does make sense, but it’s a play on Baywatch Nights, not the original Baywatch series.

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   • I was vaguely aware of Baywatch Nights going in, but knew even less about it than I did about Baywatch. It does seem like there was probably some conflation of the spinoff and the mothership in the scripting of the Baywatch movie.

     Also, we never got around to it in our review, but the Hoff does have a cameo in the new film, as does Pamela Anderson. Tough to say who comes off worse, but it’s not flattering for either of them.

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5. Enjoyed this episode, loved the special guest. You should have that guy on more often. 🙂

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   • I agree. Mark was great!

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     • I see what you did there. 😛

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6. Just wanted to give my quick review of Pirates. While Cody and Karl both seemed to despise it, I didn’t completely hate it. Don’t get me wrong, it had it’s major faults, but the two new actors were not awful and the wrapping up of the Elizabeth Swan-Will Turner story was a satisfying moment for me. I also liked Barbosa quite a bit as well as his two comedic crewmen.

   The problem with this film, for me, is that it has gotten so far away from what made it great, and that is the true nature of the character Jack Sparrow. It the first movie he was a savvy pirate who used comedy and drunkenness almost as a tool to through people off guard. In this movie he is basically useless, and multiple scenes are just ridiculous. I am fully in favor of suspending disbelief and buying into the “physics” or “world” the movie creates, but the opening scene with young Henry Turner and the bank scene in particular were just utterly ridiculous. Not only that, but I felt like a scene towards the end of the movie that Jack survived something that would have killed him. Not a moment where it was amazing he escaped, but the equivalent of falling from 10,000 ft in the air and dusting your pants off afterwards.

   Overall for me the film was a 5/10 and a low priority rental if you really are in the mood for some pirates; however, if that’s the case than you might as well just watch Curse of the Black Pearl, which is incredible.

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7. I’m right with Karl on King Arthur at an 8. Guy Ritchie movies are almost things to be ridden like a roller coaster or something. They can be physically exhausting to keep up with, but generally, I really like them. Some excellent visuals here, and some genuinely cool sequences, like when Arthur needs to endure a rite of passage type of experience in the middle. I love how that is depicted, as well as the various scenes Karl mentioned, where something is being described and you see it play out in quick cut shots. He does a great job of marrying the music with the action, and as Karl alluded to, in this, the music is of that old (or olde?) dramatic folk style, but given some modern arrangement and energy and edge. I think I liked Ritchie’s last film, Man from UNCLE, a bit better overall (that’s more like an 8.5 or 9), but this was quite entertaining throughout. Granted, one of my all-time favorite films is Excalibur, and this doesn’t ever reach that level of epic and timeless awesomeness. But for what it is – a Guy Ritchie 2017 rendition of the King Arthur story – it’s pretty damn fun.

   I feel like there are movies lately like this one that have a negative perception for some reason, even before anyone sees them. And that translates into a lot of the reviews and RT scores. But then I hear later from several people that eh, they were pretty decent. King Arthur and The Great Wall are examples of that this year, and also The Mummy.

   I didn’t like The Mummy nearly as much as King Arthur. There are some definite problems with it, and some dumb things about it. But really, I had a decent time watching it. I think it may help that for whatever reason, I just love that type of setting and theme (Egypt, mummies, etc.) and action/adventure films based around that. And this had some genuine thrills and chills for me, and even some humor that was unexpected in its delivery. Tom Cruise is playing a bit against type here as a conniving jerk, but he sold it for me as he usually does. Eh, I’m not gonna fight anyone who criticizes this, but for me it was a 6.5. And that’s low for me, so yeah, that reflects some measure of disappointment. But considering the general view of the film as being worse than having your eyes gouged out, I think that’s a fair rating.

   I won’t see Pirates 5 in a theater, though, because that one just sounds really bad, and I have no faith in the franchise after 3 and 4. But… I know I’ve said this before… the second film (Dead Man’s Chest) is the best in the series. I was glad to hear Cody defend that a little, but I’ll go to bat for it big-time, if need be.

   I’m sure J will be all over this soon, both here and on HMP, but I quite loved It Comes at Night. It ended up being very different than I thought, though. Similar to The Village, I think the trailer and the advertising, and to some extent even the title, can be a bit misleading and might hurt its box office take. The title does make sense in a way, but combined with the trailer and poster and such, I think it’s giving a different impression. Anyway, I don’t want to say too much about this, specifically, really, other than it is pretty intense and very human. It also left me scratching my head for a while afterwards about a couple of things. But then later I think I was able to process something important that I hadn’t quite grokked while watching it, and then it all came together in a really clever way. At least I think so… I really need to see it again at some point with a little different perspective on one aspect of it to see if I’m understanding it now. Assuming that’s the case, though, then it’s brilliant and a 9. My one hesitation that might cut it back to an 8.5 is that it might be cheating just a bit with its internal rules in order to make it work in the bigger scheme of things. Can’t say more about that, but if you’ve seen it, you probably know what I mean. Regardless, it’s pretty powerful, and a great sophomore effort from the Krisha filmmaker.

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