DeRazzled

The Writers' Guild of America is on STRIKE! What does that mean? What's happening with the Directors' Guild and Screen Actors' Guild? We delve into all the ins and outs with our friend, fellow Ramming Speed Pictures collaborator, and card-carrying IATSE member Scott McGrath. We discuss the history of WGA strikes, the demands being made, the interplay between the different unions' negotiations, and the role AI is playing in these latest rounds of negotiations. Also, Jack walks us through his experiences playing with ChatGPT. We hope this helps some folks understand what's at stake with this strike, and we hope you enjoy.

We support the members of the WGA in their efforts for fair compensation and the protection of their craft. If you'd like to support their efforts, you can learn how through the following links:

-No Film School coverage of the strike and suggestions for how to support: https://nofilmschool.com/support-the-wga-strike-2023

-Mashable's coverage of how to donate to help those impacted: https://mashable.com/article/how-to-support-wga-writer-strike

Stuff mentioned in this episode: WGA, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, AMPTP, Batman, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Deadpool 3, Mission: Impossible, ABC, Disney, clowns, baking, Ryan Reynolds, Jon Peters, Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Conan O'Brien, David Zaslav

We return to address some of the nerdier and more bizarre aspects of 2016's Assassin's Creed and the game series that it is based on! We explore the idea of epigenetic memory more closely (or as closely as two artsy dudes who know science-minded people possibly can), consider possibilities for other time periods this series could visit, explore the genuinely weird truth of what's going on with the Macguffins in the AC universe, and finally get around to Joe's fix for this movie. We talk about which of our ancestors we would want to see the experiences of, Jack's head nearly explodes, and we manage to also turn this episode into a love letter to the John Wick films. Join us as we try to make this expensive pseudo-art film a little better.

CW: Violence, discussion of fictional conspiracy nonsense that some might consider blasphemous, mention of Henry Kissinger

Podcast Plugged in this Episode: I Hate It Let's Watch It (@ih8itletswatch on Twitter)

Stuff Mentioned in this Episode: Jack the Ripper, Robert Evans, Behind the Bastards, the Mafia, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Al Capone, Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Justin Kurzel, Sesame Street, Ron DeSantis, the Holocaust, Netflix, Resident Evil, the Third Crusade, the Renaissance, the American Revolution, the Golden Age of Piracy, the French Revolution, the Victorian Era, World War I, Ptolemaic Egypt, the Peloponnesian War, Asgard, the Islamic Golden Age, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, MK Ultra, Sandinistas, Bay of Pigs, Ben Affleck, Argo, Ajax, HBO's Watchmen, the United States Civil War, World War II, the Dulles Brothers, the Troubles, the Boxer Rebellion, Feudal Japan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Isu, Celestials, Prometheus Myth, Adam and Eve, Mayan Apocalypse, LOST, Kevin Spacey, Jeffrey Jones, Howard the Duck, Alicia Vikander, Jason Bourne, Jordana Brewster, The Fast & The Furious, Adam Arkapaw, Chad Stahelski, John Wick, Derek Kolstad, Haley Berry, Hitman: Agent 47, Timothy Oliphant, Zachary Quinto, Captain America: Civil War, The Brothers Grimsby

Our hosting switcheroo continues as Joe helms a full analysis and fix of 2016's Assassin's Creed, Justin Kurzel and Michael Fassbender's attempt to adapt the hit video game franchise to the silver screen. It didn't win any Razzies, but Jack got to do Caligula. In this 1st part, we breakdown what did and didn't work about the film, explore the connections between the film and games and briefly look into the series' history, and look into what some critics had to say. Jack laments his lack of virtual parkour skills, Joe gives a scattered overview of the games, and take a moment to laugh about cringeworthy presidential announcements. Join us as we explore what could have been a hit film series, where nothing is real and everything is permitted (as long as its PG-13, I guess).

CW: Brief mention of the alleged sexual misconduct and misogynist culture within Ubisoft, violence, Christopher Columbus, a reminder that the Uwe Boll adaptation of Bloodrayne exists.

Podcast Plugged In This Episode: Doom Generation (@DoomGenPod on Twitter)

Stuff Mentioned In This Episode: Lovecraft, Marion Cotillard, Michael K. Williams, Ariane Labed, Jeremy Irons, Patsy Cline, BioShock, Mass Effect, Portal, The Witcher, Rock Band, Clive Barker's Jericho, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Michael Madsen, Henry Kissinger, Tomas de Torquemada, Javier Gutierrez, Brendan Gleeson, Spanish Inquisition, Prince of Persia, Altair Ibn-La'Ahad, Quidditch, Shroud of Turin, Macbeth, WIlliam Shakespeare, Robert DeNiro, Dirty Grandpa, Order of Assassins, Hashishin, History Hit, vikings, Crusades, Leonardo da Vinci, Marvel Comics, SHIELD, Benjamin Franklin, Arno Dorian, John L. Beiswenger, Link, John Wilkes Booth, The Lion King, Inception, Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Sony Pictures, DMC Films, genetic memory, Ambush Bug, IDW Comics, Desmond Miles, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, X-Men, Oscar Isaac, The Matrix, Popcorn with Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, Snowtown, the Cold War, Michael Lesslie, Scott Frank, Minority Report, Logan, Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, New York Minute, Accepted, The Transporter Refueled, Allegiant, Ely Catherdral, Damien Walters, Batman Begins, Sing, Passengers, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Gareth Edwards, WGA Strike, color theory, Alien Resurrection, Sigourney Weaver, Ron Perlman, Sin City, Umbrella Corp, Jackie Chan, American Horror Story, Casino Royale, Daniel Craig

Stay tuned to the end of this one, because you won't want to miss the announcement we have for you!

We find ourselves in a Freaky Friday situation as Jack takes over the 2nd Unit to share a decade-and-a-half long obsession of his: Richard Williams' animated passion project, The Thief and The Cobbler! Never truly finished by Williams and released in a variety of cuts from different companies, this is a must-listen story for anyone even remotely interested in animation (and a heartbreakingly cathartic story for anyone with creative anxiety). Join us for the tale of arguably the longest production cycle in history (sorry, Mad God), the ways people like the Weinsteins absolutely ruin films, and the heights of achievement and acclaim you can reach (and what they can cost). Then, stick around for our thoughts about how this journey makes us think about our own creativity and goals for the podcast and beyond.

CW: Spousal neglect, mention of the Weinsteins again, tyrannical working conditions

Podcast plugged in this episode: The Geeky Dad Podcast (@geekydadpodcast on Twitter)

Stuff Mentioned In This Episode: Vincent Price, Sean Connery, Steven Spielberg, Robert Zimeckis, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Miramax, Warner Bros, Wile E. Coyote, "Bumping The Lamp," Disney, Aladdin, Arabian Knight, Space Jam, Tom and Jerry, Bob Hoskins, The Pink Panther, Christopher Lloyd, Se7en, David Fincher, Stanley Kubrick, The Shining, Phil Tippett, Fred Calvert, Terry Gilliam, The Princess and the Cobbler, Don Bluth, Matthew Broderick, Toni Collette, Eddie Carrol, Jonathan Winters, Froot Loops, Hey Arnold!, Nickelodeon, The Persistence of Vision, The Animator's Survival Kit, The Venture Bros, Jackson Publick, Doc Hammer, Mike Lazzo, Dethklok: Metalocalypse, Lysistrata, Roy Disney, Michael Eisner, Salvador Dali, Destino, Wes Anderson, Garret Gilchrist, The Emoji Movie, Bugs Bunny, Loony Tunes, Alice In Wonderland

CW: This episode delves into the coercion, harassment, and sexual assaults committed by Harvey Weinstein throughout his career. If you wish to skip this portion of the episode, coverage starts at timecode 30:54 and ends at timecode 1:01:09. Further warning for sexism.

We continue our deconstruction of Joe Esterhaz's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, the winner of the 19th Annual Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture! We learn the history of the use of the Alan Smithee pseudonym for directors, cover Esterhaz's overall demeanor and public perception, and (unfortunately) shine a light on the awful deeds of Harvey Weinstein (who is in this damn movie for some reason), and attempt to fix this thoroughly flawed and confused mockumentary.

Podcast Plugged In This Episode: Making a Martini (@MartiniMaking on Twitter)

Stuff mentioned in this episode: Paul Verhoeven, Showgirls, #MeToo, Rose McGowan, Mel Gibson, the Directors' Guild of America (DGA), Death of a Gunfighter, Robert Totten, Don Siegel, Robert Smith, The Simpsons, kayfabe, Mick Foley, Gone With The Wind, The Birds 2, National Lampoon's Senior Trip, The Twilight Zone, Vic Morrow, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Dune, Judas Iscariot, John Wilkes Booth, Denis Villeneuve, Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Bill Cosby, The Cosby Show, Daredevil, D. G. Chichester, Metal Gear Solid 4, Hideo Kojima, Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, Gwenyth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, The 400 Blows, Shakespeare In Love, Elizabeth, Life Is Beautiful, The Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, Lucia Evans, Asia Argento, Florence Pugh, Midsommar, Mira Sorvino, Emily Nestor, Miramax, The Weinstein Company, Amy Adams, Emma de Caunes, Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, Silvio Berlusconi, Roger Ailes, Bill O'Reilly, Hannibal Burress, Rian Johnson, Kate Beckinsale, Rosanna Arquette, Helena Bonham Carter, Daryl Hannah, Eva Green, Heather Graham, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Sarah Polley, Lupita Nyong'o, Madonna, Sean Young, Uma Thurman, Forest Whitaker, Charlie Kaufman, WGA Strike, Adam Scott, Hellraiser: Bloodlines, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Dan Aykroyd, Dragnet, David Duchovny, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Kyle McLachlan, Rosie Perez

We get back to covering actual Worst Picture Winners with 1998's An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn, winner at the 19th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards! You can tell how excited we were to talk about this one by how long we talk about whether Batman's a fascist in the opening. We break down what did and didn't work about the movie, marvel at how anyone could possible cast Harvey Weinstein in an on-screen role, dig into what went wrong with this film's bizarre soundtrack, lambast Joe Esterhaz's lazy writing while defending his Wookiee-like appearance, and try to grasp how a movie like this can be so bad that the director took an Alan Smithee credit himself unironically. We come up with film aliases for ourselves, Jack recounts a bathroom crime, and Joe struggles and fails to remember the title of Comedy Central's single-season adult animated series Kid Notorious about producer Robert Evans. Get comfy, enjoy the episode, and please let us know if you know anything about Michael Ovitz.

CW: Brief mention of Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement; racism; sexism; Hollywood being obsessed with itself

Link to our stupid short film, Knife-Bricker: The Brickening: https://youtu.be/JPkpfdmvlFU

Podcast plugged in this episode: Making a Martini (@MartiniMaking on Twitter)

Things Mentioned In This Episode: Mark Waid, Alex Ross, Grant Morrison, Alan Moore, Superman: Red Son, Knife-Bricker, Caligula, the Wu-Tang Name Generator, Joe Esterhaz, the Star Wars Christmas Special, Burt Reynolds, Demolition Man, Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Jackie Chan, Richard Jeni, Ryan O'Neil, Eric Idle, Chuck D, Coolio, Spike Lee, La Brea Tar Pits, Robert Evans, Flashdance, Paul Verhoeven, Showgirls, Basic Instinct, Dark Knight Rises, The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, The Avengers, Sean Connery, Ralph Fiennes, Meet The Deedles, Spice World, Scary Spice, Ilya Kazan, the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Dalton Trumbo, Stanley Kubrick, Sparticus, Kirk Douglas, the Hollywood Blacklist, Inside Baseball, Kathleen Kennedy, Kevin Feige, Michael Eisner, Bruce Willis, Armageddon, Mercury Rising, The Siege, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Man In The Iron Mask, Gas Van Sant, Paris Texas, Milk, My Own Private Idaho, Keanu Reeves, Cinema Sins, Monty Python, Sean Penn, Jon Peters, Pinnochio, Dragnet, Dan Aykroyd, Leslie Nielsen, Miramax, Eric King, Dexter, Arthur Hiller, The Directors' Guild of America, Rugrats, Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO, Wes Anderson, Asteroid City, Hoopla

We bring the 2nd Unit back to dip our toes into Development Hell once again...kind of! As a pseudo-sequel of our Superman Lives episodes, we dig into the history of what was supposed to be Justice League: Mortal, the short-lived but fascinating first attempt at the superhero team-up. Directed by George Miller, written by Kieran and Michelle Mulroney, and starring a surprisingly young cast including Armie Hammer, Common, and Jay Baruchel, this goofy comic-book-accurate project met insurmountable obstacles on the way to production. We break down the full cast and story of this project (thanks in large part to cast interviews, articles from Collider, and the great work of the Canceled Movie Report podcast), go over a brief history of the Justice League, and explore the biggest reasons for this film's collapse: the Australian government and the 2007-2008 Writers' Guild of America strike. We marvel at the gambit of casting such young actors for such iconic adult roles, give a brief lesson on rabies symptoms, hypothesize future advancements in villainous tracking technology, have a fun discussion on currency conversion rates and tax credits, subject you to some truly awful Batman voices, remind you that Jack is still trying to track down a VHS copy of Nukie to torture Joe with, bring awareness to the pitfalls of bad acronyms/initialisms, Jack plugs his latest creative project, and we ask a question we've been wondering for some time: do the members of the Justice League all share a tailor? Suit up, settle into the Brother Eye console, and enjoy the show.

CW: Brief mention of Armie Hammer's sexual misconduct allegations, terrible Batman voices

Podcast Plugged In This Episode: The Geeky Dad Podcast (@geekydadpodcast and @RaphaelMoran on Twitter)

Things Mentioned In This Episode: Paul Dini, Grant Morrison, Elongated Man, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardiner, Superman Lives, Superman Returns, Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Christopher Reeve, Bryan Singer, Clerks 2, Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Joel Schumacher, The Dark Knight, Batman Versus Superman, JJ Abrams, MCU, Iron Man, Hulk, David Goyer, Kieran Mulroney, Michelle Mulroney, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Jason Reitman, Thank You For Smoking, Aaron Eckhardt, Juno, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, George Miller, Mad Max, Mad Max: Fury Road, Happy Feet,

CW: Sexual content, pornography, incest, violence, consent, sex work, frank discussion of human anatomy, murder, matricide, urine

We conclude our coverage of 1979's Caligula with special guest Antonio Palacios of The Cultworthy Cinema Podcast! We hear more about the wild world of 5-star Amazon reviews, beg for you to sign Joe's petition to get Caligula into Kingdom Hearts instead of the one to get a 4K release of this film, allow Jack to continue his awareness campaign for Plague Dogs, explore why it's important to make sure everyone on your set is aware of and consenting to what is happening and to know when/when not to invite family to set, touch on the work of Gore Vidal (giving Joe a chance to reference The Venture Bros), look into more of Tinto Brass's history and works, get into the nitty gritty on Bob "The Gooch" Guccione and Penthouse Magazine, manifest one of Jack's Grant Morrison references to bring up The Filth, discuss the importance of extras that really stick out, pitch Santa Sangre but with sex carnies, cover some of Caligula's actual history and acknowledge the issues with that scholarship, reinforce the importance of having breakfast, briefly cover the trouble Nero got into on tour, emphasize the importance of letting artists be artists, and continue our bewilderment at the utter lack of professionalism on spy job sites in 19 CE. And, of course, we try to fix this decidedly unsexy mess of a film. Strap in and enjoy.

#pissbae

Podcasts Plugged In This Episode: Doom Generation (@DoomGenPod on Twitter); The Cultworthy Cinema Podcast, The Cultworthy Classic, and The Milf & Me (@thecultworthy on Twitter)

Things mentioned in this episode: Caligula, Tiberius, Nero, Rome, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Tinto Brass, Gore Vidal, Bob Guccione, Penthouse Magazine, Penthouse Publishing, Kingdom Hearts, Goofy, Madam Kitty (1976), The Venture Bros., Grant Morrison, The Filth, Santa Sangre (1989), Golden Hour, Jeffrey Toobin, Zoom, Pulp Fiction (1994), Leon The Professional (1994), Paul Verhoeven, Phil Tippett, Final Draft, Goldschlager, Joe D'Amato, Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980)

One of the new features we wanted for season 2 is for us to pick something we want to cover regardless of it being a Razzie movie. Jack picked 1979's Caligula, which should be completely unsurprising if you've been listening to our show. To help us with this herculean task, we enlisted (perhaps conscripted) our friend Antonio Palacios (The Cultworthy Cinema Podcast, The Cultworthy Classic Podcast, and The Milf & Me Podcast), which probably counts as torture because we're somehow the second show to ask him to cover this. We take a surprise detour into the WILD world of Amazon movie reviews, learn the story of how Antonio first discovered this film (or, "How To Ruin Porn For Teenage Boys"), consider whether Tiberian punishments would be a good thing for some of today's politicians, ponder just how many penises it takes to destroy a film's messaging, get lost in the weeds over which pornographic scenes were added in post, hypothesize over inconsistencies in the production resulting from differences between director Tinto Brass's work and producer Bob Guccione's, take a moment to appreciate this film's poor editor, learn the secret origins of John Madden's teleprompter technique, cover the pitfalls of casting and dubbing over inexperienced non-English speaking actors for an English-language film, empathize with Helen Mirren's clear desire to be literally anywhere else on Earth, discuss the unsimulated sex in this film, address the ways historical inaccuracies can make for poor cinematic choices, and marvel at the weird ways this movie is reminiscent of certain Square-Enix RPGs. This one's not for the faint of heart. Get comfortable and prepare to never find anything sexy again.

CW: sexual content, discussion of depictions of unsimulated sex/pornography, incest, violence, consent, sex work, frank discussion of human anatomy and cameras getting awfully close to things, horses with human jobs

Podcasts Plugged In This Episode: The Cultworthy Cinema Podcast, Cultworthy Classic Podcast, and The Milf & Me Podcast (@thecultworthy on Twitter, or visit thecultworthy.com); Making a Martini (@MartiniMaking on Twitter)

In our efforts to add some more variety to the show, Jack leads us on a whirlwind historical tour through the directorial works of acclaimed Monty Python member Terry Gilliam and his likely unprecedented run of just absolutely horrendous luck. We cover his entire non-Python feature filmography:

Jabberwocky (1977)

Time Bandits (1981)

Brazil (1985)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

The Fisher King (1991)

12 Monkeys (1995)

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Tideland (2005)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

The Zero Theorem (2013)

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)

Jack tries to get through all of this while trying to outrun his birthday hangover. We cover how not to watch Brazil, the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Gilliam and likely an entire generation of poli-sci majors, the use of "gorilla" versus "guerilla," Gilliam's weaponization of the press and the consequences of his own actions, the importance of perspective when you're told you made someone feel unsafe, when a producer becomes a PROBLEM and why you should always get things in writing, the impact and loss of the massive talents of Robin Williams and Heath Ledger, the importance of context with focus groups, further evidence that horses are awful, a tangent about great WWE matches between the Undertaker and Mankind, the goddamn Weinstein Brothers, Matt Damon and whether or not he just has a thing for nose prosthetics, the invention of the "Dress Pattern Makers" film credit, Joe's favorite cheese, Gilliam's political inconsistencies in the face of the Me Too movement, an unexpected rant about Scientology, and the absolutely maddening events that lead to the documentary Lost In La Mancha (2002) and how none of that could account for the influence/interference of producer Paolo Branco. We also delve into some of our own film set misfortunes in our time as Ramming Speed Pictures. Take a seat away from any ladders or easily-breakable mirrors and enjoy this wild ride. Who knows, maybe one of these films will go just swimmingly!

CW: Full spoilers for Brazil, descriptions of alleged unsafe working conditions and child endangerment, sexism, misogyny, discussion of the sexual assaults committed by Harvey Weinstein, mention of the deaths of Robin Williams, Heath Ledger, and Hunter S. Thompson.

Podcast Plugged In This Episode: Doom Generation (@DoomGenPod on Twitter)