Blind Spots & Second Thoughts

Heather hasn’t seen Iron Man 2

We continue Heather’s journey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2010’s Iron Man 2, starring Robert Downey Jr. , Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, and introducing Don Cheadle taking over the role of James “Rhodey” Rhodes!

Does Iron Man 2 stand as one of the weaker entries in the MCU, or has it aged gracefully? What went wrong (or right?) during production to make this movie the way that it is? How does Heather feel about Sam Rockwell (Sammy Rocks) dancing? What about the introduction of Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, to the MCU? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Notes

https://collider.com/iron-man-2-filming-problems-explained/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/20/21029908/marvel-cinematic-universe-iron-man-2-robert-downey-jr-kevin-feige-disney

Did 'Iron Man 2' Cost Jon Favreau 'The Avengers' Job?

Dan hasn’t seen Hairspray

Settle in to 1960’s Baltimore, as for the first time, Heather shows Dan a movie for the podcast. How does 2007’s musical version of Hairspray hold up? We talk about the movie’s music, motifs, and style, and the history of this adaptation of a stage musical adaptation of a John Waters original film. What did Dan think about the songs? The stacked cast including James Marsden, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, and…John Travolta in drag doing a muppet voice? Did the movie hold up? You’ll have to listen to find out!

Heather hasn’t seen The Incredible Hulk

You’re making me podcast. You wouldn’t like me when I podcast.

Get ready to Hulk-out with us as we dive into the green-skinned stepchild that is the second entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: The Incredible Hulk, starring Ed Norton, Liv Tyler, and Tim Roth playing a…thirty-nine year old?

We talk about the merits (or not) of the movie, how it pays homage to the original TV series, how Heather knows who Lou Ferrigno is but doesn’t know why, conspicuous digital camera product placement, and more. If you love this movie, hate this movie, or more likely just don’t remember this movie, listen to this podcast episode and dive into it with us.

Heather hasn’t seen Star Trek Generations

Set your podcast players to “stun”, as we dive into the first cinematic outing of Captain Picard and the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew in 1994’s Star Trek Generations. We discuss Heather’s journey from being clueless about Star Trek to fandom, how the movie got made in a rush, nepo babies in Starfleet, and French captains with Victorian British Christmas fantasies. If you’re a long time Trekker or you don’t know a Tribble from a Tellarite, this episode has something for everyone — and is quite possibly our funniest episode yet. Engage!

00:00 Intro

03:23 Rushed production

05:57 Film Clip

08:09 Initial Reactions

17:31 Who turned out the lights?

20:51 Recap

24:21 Captain Harriman was interested in politics from a young age

28:10 Kirk’s heroics

32:43 This movie does not care if you’ve never seen a Star Trek

36:13 Picard’s family died in a what now?

40:58 Android existential crisis

46:22 Still not over that fire thing

49:21 Guinan does not have a hat

54:07 Why do Klingons want to destroy the Enterprise? Also unclear.

58:09 Troi gets to fly the ship

1:00:21 Most British Frenchman ever

1:03:57 Meeting of the Captains

1:07:59 RIP Kirk (for real this time)

1:12:33 The anticlimax of it all

1:14:57 Final thoughts

Heather hasn’t seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Clear your mind and meet us in Montauk, because we’re going to be discussing the 2004 classic mind-bender of a film starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, written by Charlie Kaufmann, and directed by Michael Gondry. Does the cerebral examination of love and relationships hold up 20 years later? And what connection do Napoleon Dynamite and The Holiday have with this film?

00:00 Intro

00:42 Preconceptions

05:00 Film Clip

06:45 Initial reactions (spoilers)

16:32 The look and feel of the film

19:34 Is it a horror film?

23:02 A very British orange

25:10 Recap

28:25 The questionable ethics of memory erasure

33:35 Insecurities and accusations

38:12 Lord of the Creeps

43:29 Lack of likeable characters

49:47 I am not a concept

52:00 On trauma, memory, and nature

Heather doesn’t remember Iron Man

We take our first steps into the wide, wide universe of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008’s Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. as the titular hero. This movie, directed by Jon Favreau, kicked off the entertainment juggernaut that is the MCU, so even though Heather has technically seen the movie before, we’re going to revisit it to start our Marvel superhero journey. Fortunately, she doesn’t remember any of it.

We’ll discuss how RDJ’s charm offensive makes an offensive character likeable, if there’s chemistry between Tony Stark and his executive assistant Pepper Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), and if the movie still holds up over fifteen years later.

00:00 Intro

00:36 Preconceptions

04:38 What exactly is the MCU, anyway?

06:02 Indie film cred

10:18 Movie clip

12:56 Reactions

16:50 Grounded in reality

20:00 Stan Lee's challenge

21:41 Charm offensive

24:19 Recap

26:49 That weapons factory really tied the room together

28:38 Terrence Howard was fired for being Terrence Howard

30:05 Writer-director-actor-bodyguard

30:57 JARVIS!

31:54 Hot sake and ethical flight attendant strippers

34:22 International date line

35:20 The Ten Rings

36:54 Escape and goodbye

39:26 Have it your way (rock bottom)

40:58 No longer man-ooo-facturing weapons

42:32 SHIELD is kind of a big deal

45:06 Science-based (just not physics)

47:55 Chemistry is a science

49:07 Gwyneth Paltrow has never heard of Operation

49:48 Masking done right

51:58 Would you kiss your boss at a work event?

57:29 Terrorism is terrifying

01:00:37 Why does Dan know what Louboutins are?

01:01:22 The big bad (not really a surprise)

01:05:57 Drink more Ovaltine

01:09:03 Crucial to make voice scary when being a bad guy

01:12:31 I am Iron Man

01:13:30 Post credits!

01:18:11 Closing thoughts

Part two and recap of Fight Club

Fight Club is a 25 year old movie that still has a lot to say, so we had a lot to say about it, too! We pick up where we left off from part one, and dive into the recap of the movie. We talk about themes of masculinity vs. femininity, decay and destruction, how the movie is relevant today, and why the Olsen Twins and Jigsaw are very relevant to Fight Club.

Make sure you listen to part one first for Heather's preconceptions about the movie, and for our initial thoughts and reactions.

00:00:00 Part Two - Intro

00:01:00 The Fear Center

00:02:56 Subliminal Brad

00:07:37 Masculinity, femininity, and healthcare

00:13:34 Out of the closet, into the support group

00:16:48 Mary Poppins power animal

00:21:31 Marla the monster and gendered soap

00:30:44 *69 and Spanish class

00:36:32 Decay, disrepair, and disgust

00:41:50 An ode to Brad Pitt's lips

00:45:21 Tyler Durden, meet Jigsaw (he owes you royalties)

00:48:28 Connecting over lack of connection

00:54:52 Pick a fight with the Olsen twins

00:57:31 Boss fight (but not in a video game)

01:02:36 Project Runway? Figure it out.

01:04:25 Setting up franchises

01:07:30 His name was Robert Paulson

01:11:10 It's called a changeover

01:13:24 It's actually a really terrible plan

01:19:02 How do you solve a problem like Marla?

01:21:55 I need you to listen to me

01:27:27 Satire ages maybe too well

Check out "Why all movies from 1999 are the same" on YouTube from Now You See It here: https://youtu.be/RuZKG77vANU?si=dQ5JD_swfI_s15Xa

Heather hasn't seen Fight Club.

We are going to break the first and second rule and talk all about David Fincher's 1999 movie Fight Club, based on the novel of the same name, starring Brad Pitt, Ed Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto, and Meat Loaf.

We talk about the big twist of the movie and if Heather knew it before seeing the movie (spoiler: she did). We'll also get into how the movie aged, how relevant it is today, what it says about fragile masculinity, and Heather's...family history with Meatloaf?

We had so much to say, in fact, that we made this a two-part episode! Part two of our thoughts on Fight Club will drop next week, with the full movie recap and lots more second thoughts.

If you haven't seen the movie and want to, we definitely recommend watching it before listening to this episode, as even the intro treads into spoiler territory.

00:00:00 - Intro

00:00:48 - How much can you know about yourself if you've never seen Fight Club?

00:05:13 - Movies that scar

00:07:49 - Movie clip

00:10:18 - Post movie discussion

00:13:11 - Who would join a Fight Club, anyway?

00:22:54 - Fight Club is a black comedy

00:29:01 - Foreshadowing the twist

00:33:59 - I am Jack's unreliable narrator

00:39:26 - Tiki torches and Hansen

00:44:57 - Paradise by the dashboard light

Heather hasn't seen Groundhog Day.

If you're ready to look at the 1993 classic Harold Ramis film starring Bill Murray with fresh eyes, then we got you, babe, as Heather has somehow managed to avoid this cultural institution. We discuss the ethics of time looping, how the language of movies has changed since 1993, and the ancestral genetic memory of character actors.

• 00:00:00 Groundhog Day
• 00:01:51 Time loop movies, all over again
• 00:04:58 Movie clip
• 00:07:00 Thoughts on the film
• 00:12:39 How would you do in a time loop?
• 00:17:34 Recap
• 00:18:30 Primal knowledge of Chris Elliot
• 00:20:04 The first loop
• 00:23:48 The PA Polka
• 00:24:32 The movie spends a lot of time talking about Groundhog Day
• 00:30:01 Seducing Rita
• 00:35:49 Nihlism
• 00:39:55 Don't commit groundhog theft
• 00:43:57 Enlightenment
• 00:47:11 It was the bartender all along
• 00:48:30 I retract my previous praise of Larry
• 00:51:07 $339.88
• 00:55:09 Final thoughts

Heather hasn't seen The Nice Guys.

Travel back with us to seedy 1977 Los Angeles and Shane Black's buddy comedy detective noir from 2016 starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe! In this episode we discuss the different classifications of firearms according to Heather, if the movie qualifies as a "romp", and what a more appropriate title would have been.

• 00:00 - What does Heather know about The Nice Guys?
• 03:38 - Nice Guys facts
• 05:41 - Film clip
• 07:56 - Thoughts: This movie is a romp.
• 15:03 - The Shane Black of it all
• 17:14 - Recap
• 23:25 - Blueface and Older Guy
• 28:27 - How Healy and March got to the party
• 32:14 - The noir of it all
• 37:08 - Downey in the dark
• 40:50 - Basinger? Basinger.
• 43:24 - Aren't you the Diner Guy?
• 47:50 - Amelia lands in their lap
• 50:19 - Jon Boy is played by Matt Bomer
• 55:58 - The auto show-down
• 59:54 - The last thing you see before you die is Richard Nixon
• 01:02:55 - Last thoughts