Download Space Junk Radio for June 17, 2005

This week on Space Junk Radio, face your worst fears as we delve into the darkness of Batman Begins. Also on the show: a discussion about thought-controlled cell phones, and music from Belle & Sebastian plus another cool Bloc Party remix.

» Stream it on MySpace
» Download the MP3 (26.3 MB)
» Subscribe to the podcast feed



  • Goon

    what can I say about batman one liners:

    I guess ‘cheese’ is subjective…

  • Goon

    uh…

    its weird when once in a while you guys on the show will essentially totally rip on a movie, and then you get to the rating, and you all give it a good score… I dont know how Chian can say he thought Bale sucked as Batman and still give it a B+

    or is it that it was all otherwise great, but you just want to talk about what didnt work that made you drop the score down? that you dont want to talk about what works? whats your method for deciding your score?

  • Goon

    Cannes, for the record, is pronounced CANS,
    not CON or CONS

    ghostbusters… btw Ghostbusters 1 and 2 are getting rereleased in a 2 pack with new packaging:

    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0009RCPY8/ref=ase_joblosmovieempor/102-7985280-3672953?v=glance&s=dvd

  • Goon

    got a link for the Polysics remix?

  • Sean

    Maybe it’s just that with a movie like this everyone has been giving it so much praise that we don’t want to rehash the stuff that’s already been said.

    For myself personally, I don’t think I was ripping on it that much, but maybe I didn’t defend it enough. I loved Christian Bale in this movie, loved the character development, loved the thematic stuff, and loved the direction for the most part.

    The movie lost minor points for being too long, having some cheesy writing, and too much mindless action in the second half.

  • Goon

    well, you specifically didnt rip on it so much… I find when Rohan (is that how you spell his name?) is on he’s the one that will stand up for everything, whether playing devils advocate or just keeping someone from harping too much on one negative thing. I know I personally could use a Rohan that activates itself as a preview before I post, you know:

    AUTOMATIC ROHAN SAYS “LIGHTEN UP”

    not that I dont love hearing Jay go off, especially when i agree with him which is most of the time, we all love hearing people nitpick at things when they think they were the only once that noticed…

    its just weird that sometimes things get trashed and they get good reviews, and a few other times in the past you’ve talked up movies and only given them a 2.5 or something at best. I guess its a matter of what you’re expectations were, that you’d be kinder to a movie you werent expecting anything from?

  • Sean

    Yes, Roman loves to stick up for bad movies! I hear what you’re saying though, and I think expectations have a huge influence on reviews… as much as you try to look past them, it’s pretty difficult.

    Here’s a link for that Bloc Party remix:
    Bloc Party – Luno (Polysics Remix)

  • Goon

    thanks

    something messed up in the link though… theres a
    in the middle of the filename you have to delete…
    for anyone else, copy/paste this and it should work:

    http://wilma.nmsu.edu/~mvann/Gigabyte/luno.mp3

  • Chian

    Bail sucked as the batman character! but after awhile i didn’t give and crap about it.

    but like Sean said, the first half of the movie sold me.

    Last 1/4’s of the movie was made for the people with A.D.D who’s main purpose is to see kabooomes and batman kicking the crap out of everyone.

    I guess once someone stats a negative point that is true, shit starts to snow ball. makes it much more funner then listening to the same ole crap.

    aha all hail the mighty ROHAN!

  • Goon

    Sorry Roman. I should know your name by now.

    I like the gruff Batman to counter how fake and over the top he plays Bruce Wayne as a cover, especially when he’s screaming at Scarecrow… he’s doing everything he can to not confuse the two, just as he should. I’m getting sick of superheroes playing it too cool with people they need information from.

    in the complete opposite direction, I think one of the dumbest moments in superhero movie history is in Superman where he’s in Lex Luthor’s lair and he’s just like “oh yeah, so you’re destroying the world, huh? Lets go for a walk and discuss this further. Can you get me a drink?”

    Likewise, I have no problem with the Batman costume… when you see individual screenshots of it I think it looks goofy, but in motion in the movie I think it looks fine.

    how can you not have a Batman movie without having kabooms and car chases and kicking the crap out of everyone? especially with Batman who has no powers? Its easier to drive a Spiderman action sequence because he’s all flippy and he’s strong. in the Batman movie the first fight scene where shits blowing up was kinda lame, and the regular fight scenes are confusing, but the car chases and explosions everywhere else are fine…

    I cant think of any action scene in any other Batman movie thats better than anything here… in fact, Burtons movies are in comparison way too slow and action deprived. Schumacher made Gotham look retarded and had to shoot every scene tilted diagonally but at least he tried to have good action scenes…

  • Goon

    another thing thats important to remember is how they purposely went out of their way to let us know the ‘real’ Bruce Wayne/Batman is kind of a douchebag, and I think this is being reflected by the way he yells at everyone. Fighting crime is an emotional release for him.

  • Sean

    My only problem with the action was that it’s like they tried to make up for the slower, introspective first half by throwing twice as much explosions into the second half. And the fact that the plot driving most of it was kind of lame. The shaky cam stuff didn’t bother me that much, like I said, I think it kind of works for Batman in a lot of scenes.

  • Goon

    I thought the plot with that weapon thing was confusing, but the general ‘poison the water supply’ plot is fine. the crimefighting/action is secondary to what the real story is, the birth of Batman. and by that i dont just mean his training, but the way he fumbles around, gets punked by villains that are below him and has to use develop other resources to overcome his shortcomings…

    I dont really see the ‘save the city/world’ plot as being any better or worse than the Spiderman/X-men movies…

    I was talking to a comic nerd friend (who hasnt seen the movie yet but knows the 1939 comics and the Frank Miller Dark Knight Returns comics that this is put together from) and he basically asserts that he sure hopes the screaming is over the top to him, becuase Batman is just starting, he’s letting all his anger out, he’s not used to it, its all new to him…

    its not like he’s been doing this for 10 years and can handle everything thats thrown at him. he’s stressed. he’s pissed. he’s angrier than he ever is at any stage of his crimefighting career.

  • chian

    SANDWICHES!

  • JAY C.

    My review split the four in half. Two for the first half of the movie, two for the second half. I gave the first half two out of two. I gave the second half .5 out of two. So 2.5. I thought that score was pretty relative to my review.