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Author Topic: Down in Front: This week, HULK.
Teague  933 posts
Registered: Apr '06
24109_M&M Vader
Date Posted: 4/6 10:53am Subject: Down in Front: This week, HULK. - Date Edited: 11/17 4:21pm (72 edits total) Edited By: AdamBertocci
Hey folks. Some of you might recall a show called Geekza that Chris Hanel and I started a couple years ago, which had evolved into an entirely different beast by as recently as a few months ago. We'd get together over a live Talkshoe audience and discuss various aspects of pop culture through the geek filter, and good times were had by all. Some of the Geekza episodes that people enjoyed the most were in the style of commentaries, where we'd pick a movie, sync up the MP3 with the DVD, and play forth, having a rousing conversation about the film in perfect sync with the film in question.

Well. Jones is dead. I killed him. Most of the regular listener types know this.

A while back, apropos of nothing, it seemed, we dropped a commentary track for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Another college try from a few bored folks looking to relive their glory days, perhaps? Their glory days of, you know, a couple months ago? cool Not quite.

Since Geekza's demise, we've been up to no good behind the scenes - snatching up snazzier equipment, planning a PR attack on the world, and our subsequent domination of it - with a brand new show devoted entirely to commentaries. Teague "Fig" Chrystie, Michael "Dorkman" Scott, Brian Finifter, and Trey Stokes - responsible for three of IGN's ten favorite fan films of all time - reviewing and discussing movies for your enjoyment, your sexual release, and your iPod.

Right now we're in what I call "beta," where we're only announcing the show on a very few sites, waiting to see if anyone finds a kink in the chain or anything like that. In a couple of weeks, we're going to do our best to get the world's attention, and we'll take all the help we can get, so if you enjoy the show, please swear your undying allegiance to us, because we can use you.

In the meantime, check out the site, subscribe in iTunes, and pop in a DVD - we have to apologize in advance, because we love to start these things off with a depressing bang. As such.

The Phantom Menace commentary is available now!

 

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VaporTrail  9964 posts
Registered: May '02
14913_Obi-Wan
Date Posted: 4/6 12:15pm Subject: Down in Front - A brand new all-commentary show from the Geekza boys. - Date Edited: 4/6 1:20pm (2 edits total) Edited By: VaporTrail
Fig is his own energy drink.
You guys are fun to listen to, it's like a professional radio show.


You're totally right about the lightsaber reveal, too. Oh, if only we could change the prequels.
EDIT: Did you have an audience in the background?

 

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bobaandy123  887 posts
Registered: Jan '05
6893_Atari 2600, ESB
Date Posted: 4/6 1:58pm Subject: Down in Front - A brand new all-commentary show from the Geekza boys.
But can it power an aircraft carrier?

grin

 

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"I know the movies! Why don't Spielberg?!"
~Michael “Dorkman” Scott, Geekza! Episode 50
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ShadowDuelist  854 posts
Registered: Sep '06
42103_Thrawn
Date Posted: 4/6 8:02pm Subject: Down in Front - A brand new all-commentary show from the Geekza boys. - Date Edited: 4/6 8:17pm (2 edits total) Edited By: ShadowDuelist
Heh, I got sort of tangentially mentioned, even though you got it all wrong. Heres a quote of my post:

ShadowDuelist posted:
As a side note, we calculated the wattage of a lightsaber in physics class today, using the clip from TPM where Qui-Gon is melting through the blast door, and assuming the door is made of titanium. We came up with 283 Megawatts, which means you could use it to power one of these:


Still, it's cool you remembered that. Anyway, do more, it was fun to listen too.

 

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Vidina  3001 posts
Registered: Jan '06
47925_Secret Apprentice
Date Posted: 4/7 3:38pm Subject: Down in Front - A brand new all-commentary show from the Geekza boys.
Couldn't find it in iTunes, so I'll wait for it. I usually tune in on some podcast every night to fall asleep to(nothing bad meant), and my iPhone is what I'm using, and since I couldn't find you, you'll have to wait for my tune in.

Great using TPM for a first one though, I'm anxious to see what you guys thought of it, in real time :P I'll definitely subscribe to it, once it's released on iTunes.

If you've already launched it there, I'm not finding anything on you guys, searching for "Down in Front". I find all sorts of things, but not you guys.

 

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Teague  933 posts
Registered: Apr '06
24109_M&M Vader
Date Posted: 4/7 4:39pm Subject: Down in Front - A brand new all-commentary show from the Geekza boys.
We're not indexed on iTunes yet, but you can certainly subscribe to us. There are instructions at the bottom of the TPM post. grin

 

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Teague  933 posts
Registered: Apr '06
24109_M&M Vader
Date Posted: 4/12 3:05pm Subject: Down in Front - A brand new all-commentary show from the Geekza boys.
Starship Troopers, anyone?

Little known fact - Trey was the freaking creature animation supervisor for this movie. Oh yeah. You do want to listen to this.

The RSS feed is acting up a bit, so this'll auto-load into your iTunes sometimes tonight or tomorrow, if you'd rather wait for the world to make good on it what it clearly owes you instead of downloading it right now. But why would you?

Enjoy. dancing

 

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TrowaGP02a  2479 posts
Registered: Dec '04
7874_Gabe
Date Posted: 4/12 4:01pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS.
You know what, I'm totally doing this tonight.

 

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blarg
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VaporTrail  9964 posts
Registered: May '02
14913_Obi-Wan
Date Posted: 4/12 4:42pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS. - Date Edited: 4/12 4:43pm (1 edits total) Edited By: VaporTrail
Weren't the creature effects in this movie a pretty big deal when it came out? Not sure about awards or anything, but I remember at least seeing stuff about it on TV way back when.

I'll try to give it a listen.
I don't have a copy of it handy (which I totally should, DVD's only $5), but I've seen it enough to follow along like I did with TPM.

 

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Teague  933 posts
Registered: Apr '06
24109_M&M Vader
Date Posted: 4/12 5:16pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS.
It's weird how well these work as stand-alone discussions of the movies in question.

Lemme know how it goes, free-heading and all.

 

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MasterZap  4502 posts
Registered: Aug '02
6098_Clone
Date Posted: 4/15 2:19am Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS.
Starship Troopers is one of my favourite movies, and I just don't get the people that didn't "get" it, but I assume it's kinda like a corrolary to Poe's Law... i.e. that there is no satire so "obvious" that you don't need to spell it out to at least some people.

/Z

 

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DorkmanScott  13952 posts
Title: Manager Emeritus
 Registered: Mar '01
44356_Fan Films - Ryan vs Dorkman
Date Posted: 4/15 12:59pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS. - Date Edited: 4/15 1:08pm (2 edits total) Edited By: DorkmanScott
MasterZap posted:
Starship Troopers is one of my favourite movies, and I just don't get the people that didn't "get" it, but I assume it's kinda like a corrolary to Poe's Law... i.e. that there is no satire so "obvious" that you don't need to spell it out to at least some people.

The problem is that it isn't like Starship Troopers is a movie that's so over-the-top that it can be "obvious."

Armageddon came out the next year, and I think you would be hard-pressed to demonstrate that Troopers was "obviously" more ridiculous an action movie than Armageddon. Ditto Face/Off, Con Air, Volcano, Alien: Resurrection, The Jackal, or Anaconda, which all came out in '97 with Troopers. Not to mention the mother of all unintentional farces, Batman & Robin.

None of those movies were being absurd "on purpose," but they were all pretty absurd. So when Starship Troopers is exactly the same level of absurd in a year like that, how is it supposed to be "obvious" that this is the one out of the lot that's doing it intentionally?

I would say that the appropriate corollary to Poe's Law would actually be "It is impossible to make a straight-faced satire of Hollywood action movies so ridiculous that it cannot be mistaken for the real thing." Especially in hindsight, as Starship Troopers seems pretty straightforward compared to the ludicrous things that characters say and do in action movies now.

EDIT: Also, as Fig pointed out, these commentaries actually have very few occasions where you would have to be watching the film to understand what we're talking about. For the most part we actually say what's happening before using it as a launching point of discussion. So if anyone out there is hesitant to get on board because they don't really have two hours to re-watch a movie, I don't think it's strictly necessary. As long as you're generally familiar with the film, the conversations mostly hold up on their own.

 

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bobaandy123  887 posts
Registered: Jan '05
6893_Atari 2600, ESB
Date Posted: 4/15 6:14pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS.
I've listened to both standalone. Both were very funny and made sense even without the movie.

 

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"I know the movies! Why don't Spielberg?!"
~Michael “Dorkman” Scott, Geekza! Episode 50
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FX_guy  950 posts
Registered: Jun '02
44378_Fan Films - Pink Five
Date Posted: 4/15 6:20pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS. - Date Edited: 4/15 6:24pm (1 edits total) Edited By: FX_guy
Don't forget The Last Action Hero, a movie that mocked other action movies, including itself.

It too had a hard time making fun of the silly cliches of the action genre, many audiences seemed to assume it was just another cliched action movie, and it bombed. Of course, its competition at the boxoffice that summer was Jurassic Park, and that probably didn't help.

I think Zap's right, it's sort of a Poe's Law corollary... it's hard to make an action movie deliberately dumb enough to be dumber than the movies that were meant to be taken seriously.

 

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DorkmanScott  13952 posts
Title: Manager Emeritus
 Registered: Mar '01
44356_Fan Films - Ryan vs Dorkman
Date Posted: 4/15 7:23pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS. - Date Edited: 4/15 7:27pm (3 edits total) Edited By: DorkmanScott
FX_guy posted:
Don't forget The Last Action Hero, a movie that mocked other action movies, including itself.

It too had a hard time making fun of the silly cliches of the action genre, many audiences seemed to assume it was just another cliched action movie, and it bombed.

See, that's one that I find myself not comprehending how people couldn't understand it's a satire -- because unlike Troopers, it was making constant winks to the audience.

The incoherently angry (black) police chief demanding his badge, Ahnold's acknowledged invulnerability, "There's always a guy in there," the kid knowing and calling out for us the predictable plot twists five scenes in advance. Danny DeVito played a cartoon cat! If Troopers had had a sense of clear self-awareness like that, then I would understand Zap's insistence regarding the obviousness of its satirical nature.

Considering the box office bombitude, though, I think the real issue is that most people never even bothered to walk through the theatre door to watch LAH, only seeing that it starred the Governator and was directed by McTiernan, writing it off and thus never discovering that it was certainly supposed to be ridiculous.

While on the subject, we should totally do a Last Action Hero ep.

 

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VaporTrail  9964 posts
Registered: May '02
14913_Obi-Wan
Date Posted: 4/15 7:51pm Subject: Down in Front: This week, STARSHIP TROOPERS.
I think the propaganda messages are the most satirical part of the movie. The story on it's own seems to be taking itself pretty seriously.

The attitude and culture of the military in general is a reflection of the propaganda, but as much as we know the ads are all full of it, so do they ("Just doin' my part"), but they still seem to believe in the underlying message.

 

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