74.2: You know who's Kick-ass? Mr. Bitey.

Okay, you cunts. Let's see what you can do now. The following feature has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America. It is intended for mature audiences and parental discretion is advised. It's showtime, folks.

Enjoy the show. Playtime's over, kid. I never play. Hi, this is Catherine Mary Stewart, and you're listening to Movie Meltdown. Get more out of life.

Go out to a. Movie. Hey, there's a dude dressed like a superhero out there fighting a bunch of guys. It's fucking awesome! Who are you?

I'm Kick-Ass. Welcome to Movie Meltdown's Out on the Town. I am, once again, Brian. Roger? I'm Roger.

I'm Misty. I'm Jay. And this is Rod. Wow. Roger is...

Actually, he's been asleep during that whole first segment. He was licking the alcohol off his shoes. Showing the tasty beverages. That does not seem like somebody who just came from kick-ass. Now I'm jazzed.

Let's talk about this more. All right. This week, as we said, is kick-ass. The year is 2010. The director is Matthew Vaughn.

And I guess our plot, as they put it on the IMDb, Dave is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan who one day decides to become a superhero, even though he has no powers, training, or meaningful reason to do so. That all sounds pretty right to me. How come nobody dressed up for this movie? He wanted to. He's like, dude, we should all dress up as superheroes.

I would have been up for that. Do you want to sit by me? Because if you do, you're going to forfeit this. Who would you have dressed up as? I'll make my own shit.

We'd have to be like they did and. Make up our own. I make my own shit, man. I got part of a Fred Flintstone costume. Oh, wow.

I got a motorcycle jersey I got in the mail the other day. We had an Ultraman mask at home. What are you calling this character? I don't know. Fred Biker?

Biker, yeah. Biker Flintstone. Motor Flint. There you go. How do you like that shirt?

Motor Flint. Awesome. We should have all wore Mexican wrestling masks or something. That would have been fun. I'm going to pass.

I do have mine, but I quit wearing them. I got my ET mask. There you go. I kick ass. So, kick ass.

Kick ass. Oh, that's what the best part of the movie that I will acknowledge was the girl because she was awesome. Hit girl. Hit girl was fantastic. Can you imagine in Halloween the next couple of years how many girls are going to be hit girl?

Not even necessarily girls. There's going to be dudes dressed up. Oh, absolutely. I will give you that. The pigtails.

Oh, my God. She was the best thing about the comic, too. I love this movie. As far as. Characters this was my second time seeing it i still think it's like the most fun movie i've seen this year.

It's awesome yeah it's funny that uh was it ebert gave it one star. What did he really yeah he hated it uh well he's insane yeah he's not insane i respect roger i didn't know he gave it one star i hadn't heard that um i think there is going to be a pretty serious split between people between liberals and conservatives. Yeah yeah because There's a guy that I saw this with at Buttnomathon. He's a good guy, but he's very conservative. We were all coming out and we loved it.

He's like, man, I don't know. This movie crossed the line. There's a lot of parents that were going to boycott it. It's just offensive. The only complaint that I heard most parents complaining about was she said cunt.

That's the biggest thing. Nobody cares about the violence. That's very American. They could have raped her in the ass and people would still only complain about her cussing. It wasn't even the cussing, just the fact that she said cunt.

She said cunt. Well, it's funny. She said fuck. That didn't bother anybody. They don't care about fuck.

Nobody cares about that. You get in trouble when you say cunt. That's just trouble every time. But what's funny is, like, I just found out today, that's what sold Matt Vaughn. Like, they presented them as this project, and he got to issue three when she says cunt, and he was like, all right, this has potential.

I want to see what this movie becomes. So it's funny that that's also the turning point for most people. It's like, oh, that's it. Never mind. I don't want anything to do with it.

There's a breed of people, but I doubt that they're the people that listen to our show that really won't enjoy this movie. I think the people. In this show will... This is an awesome. Yeah, I was going to say, I'm going to throw out a big spoiler alert, but I'm assuming everybody who listens to our show has probably already seen it, so... you know we'll throw it out there but i'm sure you've all seen it won't like.

This movie or people that enjoy dancing with the stars that's about it. Yeah your mom will not like this no your mom will not like this. You know what this movie reminds me of is when i saw galaxy quest and i knew it was like a spoof of star trek movies but then if it wasn't almost it was better than the other star trek movies that were out at the time and this is like This is kind of a spoof of comic book movies, but it actually is a pretty straight up comic book movie at the same time. And it's almost one of the best. It's got great action in it.

Lots of blood. Very violent. One of the things that impressed me most was that I did not hate. Nicolas Cage in this movie. No, the characters are all very likable.

And that's another thing. Nicolas Cage is awesome. Because usually I hate him. I cannot stand him. He makes me angry.

He hasn't done anything really worthy in a long time. And then this year he did this in Bad Lieutenant, which I haven't seen yet. I've heard pretty good things. But he's awesome in this movie. He was cracking me up.

And when he finally put on the Bad Daddy costume and suddenly was doing that Adam West thing, I was like, stop. Every couple words. And it was just so funny, I couldn't stop laughing. I mean, it was crazy. That's such a character performance.

I could have almost seen him doing that. Because I heard early that was his direction he was taking, his character. I'm like, okay, he's such a weird, quirky guy. Anyway, I can see him pulling that part of it off. The part that impressed me was when he was his normal self.

He was still a likable guy. He's ridiculous and kind of crazy, but at the same time. That laugh is awesome. He's still a real guy. He's not ridiculous and terrible like he is in a lot of his other movies.

I don't know what the switch is that's thrown in his head that makes him a good actor. He had several layers in this performance. One was the crazy dad character. who loves his daughter but just wants her to be the ultimate killing machine because he's had this terrible past. Then there's the other character. When he confronts his old partner, he almost seems a lot more normal.

He's not talking to his daughter anymore. He's talking to another adult, and he's almost a different person. And then when he puts on the big daddy costume, outfit there's another character that comes out. You know he's that's that's what's so weird about him is there's still that core of a good actor in there and what is it like why is it he can't tap into that for every movie. Maybe it's just because there were no bees in this one that's why it was okay.

Yeah but even in other stuff that's not a terrible movie like he's what was that other one that just came out it's. The material a lot of the stuff he's making doesn't require him to do very. Much Or maybe he's just not as excited about it. And this may be one that he wholeheartedly was just really on board for. Maybe.

You have a tendency to put out a little bit more, put a little bit more effort into something that you really enjoy as opposed to something that you just don't really give a crap about, you know. I thought he was good in it. I thought all the performances were good in it. I think people are going to love Hit Girl so much that it's almost going to overshadow Kick-Ass. Oh, yeah.

Completely. That kid's great, too. He was. He's such a likable everyman character. Yeah.

He's definitely. Yeah, he was really good. It is one of those, like, the story is his, so it's like you are going to have to take, like, what the movie's trying to say from him. But performance-wise, I mean, Hit-Girl deserves to overshadow him. I mean, every scene that she's in is fucking amazing.

Like, not even just the action stuff. She's just, that kid is an amazing actress. And, yeah, I mean, she owns that screen when she is on it. So, I mean, there's... And she's just so cute.

That, too. Little pigtails. That's why it works so well. So. Have you thought a little more about what you might want for your birthday?

Can I get a puppy? You want to get a dog? Yeah, a cuddly, fluffy one. And a Bratz movie star makeover Sasha. I'm just fucking with you, Daddy.

I love a Benchmade Model 42 butterfly knife. Oh, child. You always knock me for a loop. The structure of a lot of it, I think, is a lot of it's taken from Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie, at least the kick-ass story. I mean, that character, Dave, lives in a house that looks like Peter Parker's house.

Yeah. He goes to the high school. It kind of looks like that. Uncle Ben's kind of there. Yeah, kind of.

His mom dies real early on, which Peter Parker's parents were dead. You know, it's like if Spider-Man were real. um, And Dave's story is pretty realistic. It's when you get into some of the stuff that Hit Girl does that the movie does, you know, edge into comic book territory. And then at the end, too, I'm not going to say that. But again, I mean, it's still essentially a comic book movie.

I mean, it's literally a comic book movie. So, I mean, it needs to have that element. It needs to tap into that. And that's the thing. So many comic book movies over the last 10, 15 years have really just dropped the ball when it came to that.

It's like they could do the setup of the story and make it perfect to what was on the page, but when it came time to do action or deliver the goods at the end of the movie, they screw it up. And this one, every time it comes through. You really start to like Dave. And when he goes out the first time... I think, you know, he's confronted these bullies before that have taken his money and everything.

And when he goes out as kick-ass, you're kind of jazzed. You're like, oh, he's going to get some payback. You're jazzed and you're just as nervous as he is. And then we find out what it's like to be a real superhero. A guy pulls a knife out and stabs him.

He's like, oh, my God. And then he rolls into the street and he's hit by a car. And the guy just leaves. But it all works out because he gets all these metal implants where his bones are and makes him like Wolverine or something. And it also kills his nervousness, so he can't really feel pain that much anymore.

So he does kind of become a superhero. He's a minor superhero. In a weird kind of way. He's got his own special superpower. But I'm wondering how much this movie will be blamed for comic book kids picking up costumes and running out in the street and trying to become superheroes.

Jumping off buildings. I don't think any of them will go that far. I don't know. Some of them are pretty damn dumb. I don't know.

How can this be blamed any more than any other superhero movie? It happens. I mean, I did it after I saw Batman. Come on. Didn't you guys put on a cape and run out into your street in the night?

Maybe I was just me. It is going to be number one this weekend, but it's fallen below expectations. Which doesn't surprise me. These kind of geek movies never really go over with a modern audience. I've seen the trailer with people and they were like, those look shit, man.

Those costumes look terrible. I'm like, you just don't get it. You don't understand. You don't understand the concept. Or other people say, that looks like Watchmen.

You know, and I knew that wasn't going to do well either and stuff. For that same reason, you know. It's another one that, like, you know, it's comic book oriented, but it's not at all going to have crossover appeal. It's nothing but geeks, and that's it. It's just too.

Well, I mean, it's just too tapped into that world. And it's like geeks kind of understand what they're going for, that... That it's sort of a no-holds-barred kind of thing, and they're not going to pull back like most cheesy Hollywood movies do. You know, Grindhouse. Their minds have all gone to that place.

Yeah, they expect Spider-Man, you know. Every comic book geek's mind has gone through this movie. The same thing happened to Grindhouse. I mean, people were watching it and going, man, that looks terrible. You're like, well, you just don't get it.

That film looks awful. Yeah, I'm not paying $ 10 for that. I'll rent it or something. I'll pay to see Transformers, man. They spent some money on that.

That's got HD. Yeah. That's high quality. Got good graphics. She was buying.

She was buying. I think I was standing next to him at the fireworks. What I'm hearing from journalists is a lot of people are comparing this phenomenon to snakes on a plane because snakes on a plane had a lot of internet buzz. But the truth is, Snakes on a Plane never looked good. It looked like your Sci-Fi Channel movies, and we were laughing because they got Samuel L.

Jackson in on this. But I love me some Snakes on a Plane. I mean, it was a joke at its very core. I know. It's a joke, and they knew it was a joke.

This was never a joke. This was a legitimate property, and it had something to work with. Even if you take the schtick away from it, it's still a good movie, you know? Snakes on a plane? It's a ridiculous idea.

I love it. It's a good time. Oh, I thought it was awesome. I'm just saying, it's still goofy. People didn't want to go to the theater and spend their money.

I was there opening night. Me too. It was awesome. It was awesome because you were there and everybody, opening night, first show, and everybody was quoting along with the movie while you were watching. And I'm like, that's how you know.

It was a party in the theater. You know, I don't hate Snakes on a Plane, but it really, as far as living up to all the fun hype it had, it didn't really... And Kick-Ass does. Kick-Ass does more than does. It delivers beyond that, because I didn't know what to expect going in, and it more than delivered on those.

Loved it. Loved the cast. I loved everything about it. I thought the directing was good. Now, I saw it on a BNAT, and some of the music has been changed, but basically...

It still works. I loved the use of American Trilogy. That's my only complaint. Was that our movie theater dropped the ball. On this movie.

Yes, they did. They cut the sound out during the climax. Yeah, one of them. It was pretty pivotal. But then it came back, and they were playing Elvis' American Trilogy, and I was like, hell yeah.

Which is awesome. But still, we missed probably a good, what, two seconds of the movie and probably about ten seconds of audio. I was afraid they were going to have to take out the Joe Jets song, Bad Reputation, but that stayed in. That's awesome. I'm glad about that.

There were some other songs that stayed in that I thought were good. Most of the music that changed was the score because they had taken pieces of scores from other comic book movies and used them. Like the guy up on the building at the beginning, they were playing the music from Superman Returns. And then when the Red Mist was driving his car around, they were playing the Dark Knight music. Actually, that was my favorite use of another song was Crazy.

That scene is fucking hilarious. That is funny. I was just excited because... Kick-ass dance is pretty much the same way I do. Yeah, see?

That's what everybody was doing this weekend. That's what I'm calling people out for. You've seen me in the car. Yay, yay. Kick-ass does do a pretty good dance there.

I don't know. That's me. I'm going. Seizure. Shush.

There were no thumbs involved, so at least. I got that going. But there are lots of slacks at the comic stuff. Like, with no power comes no responsibility. The Red Mist uses that line, wait till they get a load of me.

His story is the making of a supervillain. Which, again, I was surprised. I didn't know he was going in as the plant. He's the mole, as it were. I think he was my least favorite part of the movie.

That was the thing. Everybody had talked him up so much that I was expecting a lot more of a likable performance out of him. And I didn't realize he's, A, not that character. He's not likable. And even then, he's, I don't know, he's just not, he just, even as a villain, he doesn't come off saving.

You can't be a villain with a speech impediment. It's just not believable. A little bit of the problem is he's just Christopher Mintz Plaza. Yeah. It's kind of the same performance he's given in two or three other movies recently.

And that's what they hired him to do. I'm just not a big fan of him. Because he was in Superbad, and we tried to watch that, and I couldn't do it. Well, I mean, just like a superhero, he's going to be a bumbling supervillain. So, I mean, what better way to even it out, you know?

Still, he had no charisma. I didn't care. I didn't like him. See, that was the thing. I wasn't even calling him out as the actor.

I think even just the role itself didn't lend itself to being, you know. He's not the main villain. really good job because the villain in comic books is always ends up being at least partially the best friend. Of the hero i mean they didn't. Set it up he does become friends with kick-ass yeah at one point even though he doesn't plan on doing yeah so. And they set it up i mean it really is that setup to then be able to tie it in and have him be the super villain somewhere down the line but but the real.

Villain in the movie is played by mark strong and He's a good villain, man. Yeah, he's an evil bastard. He's the new Alan Rickman for this generation. He was the villain in Sherlock Holmes. He's the villain in this.

He's been cast recently as the villain in Green Lantern, I think. He's kind of going to be the villain for everybody, I think, right now. Probably. I don't know. I think this just does a good job.

And it's kind of what we were saying before of, of presenting what it is to be a superhero. And it, and it does take this realistic thing. I mean, it takes the structure of like, you know, Spider-Man, but then it's like, okay, what if you don't have powers? Like it really has that setup. It's like, that's kind of the saving grace of all these other amazing superheroes is they have this power that whatever it is, it kind of saves their ass.

And he doesn't have that. Like he can't walk the streets and, And without people potentially just beating the hell out of him because he has nothing to say to him. It's different when you throw yourself into this situation and you're helping somebody, but it's him walking the streets and people are high-fiving him, but at the same time, your villain could get out and kick his ass at any given moment and he has no problem. powers just he has no spidey sense no he has. No you know you know big daddy and hit girl have taken up the same mantle of responsibility but they know that they don't have power so they're gonna carry as much weapons as possible well they're hard-blooded killers they're like the punisher.

And they but they also don't put themselves out among the people they are completely hidden from society you know they're basically assassins you know. This is naive enough to kind of walk down the street and ask everybody if they need. Help Which is actually endearing. Mr. Bitey was my favorite.

Mr. Bitey. It's why you like that character so much is because he's so naive and he's so wholehearted going into this. I'm going to save a cat. Eventually he ends up looking for a cat, Mr.

Bitey. Mr. Bitey. Here, Mr. Bitey.

Damn it, Mr. Bitey. Fuck you, Mr. Bitey. That was funny.

That is awesome. Whoever owned Mr. Bitey at home, probably. But I don't know. It took like an interesting look because we have so many superhero movies now and they always have this power that just saves their ass.

And they're just like whatever they you know, they can kind of live this normal life. But he doesn't have that. It's like he's walking the streets in any given moment that somebody can just annihilate him because he doesn't have anything. But again, that's kind of why you end up liking the character. It's almost that nobility that, you know, the fact that he's he's saddled himself with his responsibility to go protect people even though he has nothing to offer.

Them they even sets up an email account for people to email them with their problem. And i don't know it's one of those you that's i think what sells this character so much is is number one he's a nice guy in his real world but the fact that he just assumes this responsibility to take on, you know, anybody at this point, whatever wrongdoing is going on. What the fuck is wrong with you, man? You'd rather die for some piece of shit that you don't even fucking know? Three assholes laying into one guy while everybody else watches?

You want it all strong with me? Yeah, I'd rather die. To bring it on! He does it, like, it hits that point where, like, when he's protecting that guy in the parking lot, and he delivers that line, that's a hard line. Like, I was going, that could be really cheesy at this moment, and it's not.

Like, it was actually pretty heavy. Like, there was that moment of, you know, I'll give my life for this guy. I don't know who he is, but against three idiots in a parking lot, you know, that's pretty noble, and it's like you have to give him credit for it. That's why this movie is great. Not because it's a comedy, because it works as a drama at the same time.

You actually invest in the characters and you care about whether he gets killed or beat up or not. And there's some pretty severe violence that happens later on in the movie. And it's fairly disturbing and upsetting. Well, even right off the bat, like, you know, going into any superhero movie, you don't expect them to get stabbed. Yeah, I didn't expect that.

And almost died. In that car. Yeah, as that happened, I was like, holy shit, this movie has taken a turn that most superhero movies will not do. I know. So they're going, he doesn't have any body armor.

No. No. He's covered in blood throughout this movie. He's covered in blood throughout this film. Yeah.

You know, being a superhero is not easy. And again, that, and that's kind of what you take from it. It's like, that's the hero aspect is he's getting beat to hell, but he comes back every time and he still does the right thing every time. It's like, he sets out to help people regardless of the fact that he has no powers and he's probably going to get his ass kicked. I like how he like sort of accidentally ends up with an alter ego too, because like, The girl that he likes at school ends up thinking he's gay.

That's funny. And he just plays along. And then suddenly it's like that's his Peter Parker. Yeah, he's living this dual life of a fake gay guy. Which is kind of really funny.

It's just bizarre. Again, that's another subtle comic book touch there. It does give him this dual life, even though he doesn't even need one, really. He's walking the streets as kick-ass. But it works in one in his real life, which is kind of funny.

How do I get a hold of you? You just contact the mayor's office. He has a special signal that shines in the sky. It's in the shape of a giant car. Still, in the end, Hit Girl.

It's what makes the movie. I think the reason that I haven't been talking out the ass about Hit Girl is because that's what everybody's going. To be talking about. Oh, I know. But it's one of those...

She's pretty amazing. I can't not. It's like... And it was just those scenes. It was like the way...

Her performance and piece together with some of the best... action scenes ever. The people that I've talked. To that this movie bothered me, it didn't really bother them until Mark Strong started beating her up. That was hard. That's hard to watch.

She's killed 50 or 60 people before. Yeah. Well, it's just the whole idea of one grown man against a little girl. But that's why there was this exhilaration as I'm sitting in the theater, though, because basically it is like a dream project come true, because for years... I have loved The Professional.

And it's finally like, what if Matilda actually got good and got to kick people's ass? That's what this is. This is basically Matilda annihilating dudes for half of this movie. The bad guys are just beating the crap out of... kick ass and big daddy and they're going to kill him here real soon. When she comes to the rescue, that's just pretty exhilarating.

That scene is amazing. And that's what it was. All of a sudden I got this, you know, that, that, you know, feeling from, you know, watching professional years ago and liking this character so much, but she's, you know, she's so naive. She doesn't even know, what to do in this situation. She's still got that in her that she wants to destroy people that are just evil, but no training to do it.

This is a good life of training. There's a good example of Nicolas Cage just being awesome in this movie. In the scene where she's come to rescue him and he's been half burnt alive and all this kind of stuff. He can make me laugh and actually pull my heart strings at the same time where she comes up and she says, getting shot hurt a lot worse than when you shot me. And he's like, well, that's cause I use lower velocity bullets, honey bunny.

It's funny, but it's like sad at the same time. Yeah. It's a good scene. Yeah, it works. It's, I don't know.

I think, I don't know. He's so good at playing that version of her. If you're not shocked, the first time he shoots her. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

It's another. It's an amazing thing. And then she asks if he gets to shoot her twice more or if she can go get a hot fudge someday. Yeah, go bowling. Stop by the bowling alley.

They just have a great dynamic in the movie. It's like between the two of them and their home life together. It's like everything that comes into play with her character, but even with him. It's an amazing thing. to see him at work being this good again. I liked it because having read the comic book, I think that this is one of those comic book movies that it's.

Actually a little bit better. You get that dynamic in the comic book, but for some reason it just seemed a little bit better. It was more poignant or something. It was more heartfelt almost in the movie than what I got out of the comic book. I don't know how you feel about it.

That's how I felt about Sin City. I actually liked the movie better than I liked the graphic novel. And I had read the graphic novel. There was something about bringing, it's almost an exact translation, but there was something about bringing it to life that made scenes like funny that I didn't realize were funny or dramatic that I didn't really realize were dramatic. And I guess like the scene where Marv gets electrocuted didn't strike me as funny when I read it.

But then in the movie, it's hilarious. Yeah, totally. Totally. It's definitely tied to that type of thing. I mean, it's, you know, pretty close to that.

And they're getting to that point where they can actually do good versions of it. And this was kind of an interesting project because they started making the movie before the comic was finished. Before it was finished, yeah. So they had to come up with an ending when they didn't have one yet. And so the comics borrow from the movie that way.

That's kind of bizarre. Which is cool, actually. I kind of like it. Because people are usually such whiny bastards about, well, I like the way the original ended. I'm like, well, fuck it.

This is the original. So if you don't like the comic, it's your own fault. Because the movie came up with it first. So, yeah, I don't know. People just like to whine about whatever they change on anything.

It's kind of annoying. They took the squid out. Yeah, where's the squid? What? Oh, that's a.

Watchmen. Yeah, I've seen Watchmen. That's extra level of geek. I've seen the Watchmen, yeah. But in the comic, there's a giant squid.

There's a giant squid. There's a giant squid. Yeah, figure that out. That's from another dimension. I'm like, yeah, that's why they took it out.

Yeah. There's a giant squid. At the end. Nobody's going to get on board with that. Like, hmm?

Like, yeah, I agree with that call. That's not the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I don't want to compare this movie to Watchmen, though, because even though I kind of liked Watchmen... the movie. It had a lot of faults and stuff to it. It was kind of a mixed bag for me, but I thought overall it was very successful.

This is not like that. This is a good one. Yeah, there was no big blue mane junk in this one whatsoever. Well it would have been you know big daddy junk and you don't want that so just be glad there wasn't I don't want to see the junk of anybody involved in this movie. Why does Nicolas Cage put on that what do you call those what do you call the molestash yeah he puts on the fake the wings or whatever.

Yeah maybe that's part of his secret identity. Yeah but he's wearing the mask I mean he has to go to the full extent yeah he's hardcore he changes his voice yeah yeah. Good times. Oh, man. Because I noticed that when I was watching it.

You know, the first time I was watching it, and I was like... Why does he have that biker beard mustache thing going on? But he doesn't have it when he's... And then they show him glowing him on. I'm like, oh, God.

Well, I like the voice change. Half of that, the director said he left in because he was so annoyed with Christian Bale's voice change. But he was like, no, go ahead. Keep going with that. That's pretty funny.

Well, he was there. And I told this story before on the show. But they had that reading. Because he didn't have to read for this part or anything. Because he's a cascade.

And they're all reading around the table, and they got to that part, and he started doing the Adam West thing. And nobody wanted to say anything, and Matthew Vaughn was like, this guy's the worst fucking actor. What is he doing? And he didn't get it at first. I don't know.

Every once in a while, he makes a good call. It's unusual, I suppose. Yeah, it's nice to have Nick Cage back. We'll see. Sorcerer's Apprentice.

He's got 30 movies coming out in the next year because he's having all those financial problems. Because his house didn't sell. I guess it's because of that. Maybe he just likes to work. I don't know.

He does. He's in like a zillion movies. It's been pretty steady for years. I've never been a big fan of Nicolas Cage. Which is why I'm more surprised about liking him in this than I would.

Have liked him in Valley Girl. I've never seen Valley Girl. I thought he was pretty awesome at first. And then Con Air was the turning point. That was the movie where you're like, I can't believe Nicolas Cage is doing Con Air.

And then you want to forgive him. You're like, oh, he just wants to do the acting hero thing. Once he gets this out, he'll be all right. And face off, okay, we'll let him have this. But then it just got bad.

Real bad. It got ridiculously bad. He's just one of those that just looking at him kind of pisses me off. Yeah. Well, I didn't like him for years.

I liked Raising Arizona. And then that changed it for me. I liked him in Raising Arizona. He's great in Leaving Las Vegas. It's a great drama.

Oh, yeah. I mean, he's got potential to do drama, but it's so hard. to watch, especially now in these last 10 years of slaloming downhill. It's like it's even hard to take him seriously. in anything and that's why it's so impressive in this movie because I buy him in every sense it's like I buy him as the dad I buy him as the crazy vigilante cop I. Got a friend that's like he's like oh it's Nicolas Cage he's always Nicolas Cage you hire Nicolas Cage that's what you're gonna get but I don't agree with that really there are different Nicolas Cages and you know sometimes lights are on and sometimes they're not yeah very. Minor do you get the good one but I mean it's in there still obviously I mean those National Treasure movies are okay for what they.

Are but he's there's nothing that he has to do as far as acting goes in movies I mean anyone could have been in that part you know pretty much. I don't know. This to me, this whole movie is just kind of like a big screw you to the Hollywood system. And I'm so proud of it for getting out there, period. Because not only did, you know, the creator of this comic got turned down by like every studio, basically.

I mean, in one week. And it's not like they had to stop and think about it. They were just like, no, I don't think so. So they turned him down and he finally got Matthew Vaughn on board and they went out and had a dinner party, raised the money independently through friends of theirs and put this together. And if you would have stuck with the system, the only notes he ever got back from people were, lose Hit-Girl, or make Hit-Girl 25, make her not kill anybody, or if she accidentally does, she has to feel bad about it.

That movie would suck. And I would not. This movie has an edge. It's a little subversive. That's why this movie works.

Usually a lot of people not like us won't pay for that they want to see this straight up then they want to see iron man 2. Yeah which there's nothing wrong with iron man 2 the trailer looked good it was the first thing on yeah. But it doesn't it doesn't if they had done that it wouldn't have tied in her whole upbringing with nicholas cage yeah you got that point where she comes in and basically saves kick-ass's life and he's like almost appalled the fact that she's killing yeah blood spraying everywhere and What does he bring? He brings two sticks and a taser. She's got this huge blade.

His taser can be traced, but he does shoot a guy in the head with it, so that's pretty good still. But it's, I mean, she, like, just all of that stuff. Like, even without her, they would have also pulled all the realism out of Kick-Ass' role as well. I mean, it's like he would have been reduced to being a, it would have been a fucking superhero movie, you know? It's like, it would have been a joke, and they would have played the jokes, and there would have been no drama behind it or no reality with people getting killed.

No way. It's getting an audience in the seats for this movie. The biggest enemy this movie has is there are a whole bunch of other movies that look just like it. There's Mystery Men. Even Watchmen you could probably count.

Yeah, Mystery Men. Come on, really. You can't compare. It sucks. No, but I could see watching the trailers and thinking they were in the same category.

Rob Lowe was in. I can't remember what it was called. Comic Book Heroes or something like that. And then there's one Woody Harrelson has coming out called Defendor and all this. There's just too many other movies that look like this, and it hurts.

And I think that's the difference, though, is that all of those are a joke. And this one has its level of looking. I mean, it really does look at the funny end of what's going on. I mean, what if I decide to be a superhero? That's a ridiculous idea.

So you kind of have to mine that for comedy. But what's great is it hasn't really been done. And I bet there's not a person in this room that hadn't thought of that before. I told you. I put a cape on after Batman.

I don't tell anybody. I was out on my street protecting it. Putting on a black outfit. I'm not sure you were ever going to do it. I did.

Nice, nice. Yeah, I did too. See, there you go. I had a katana. There is a crazy katana.

I had a katana. There you go. These people really exist. I did. If you go on the internet, you can find them.

There's one in Nashville, I think. Yeah. I can't remember what his name is. There's a couple out in New York. There's one in New York.

There's a couple in New York. I watched a short documentary on it one time. There's Mr. Mysterious and there's some guy with a silver mask. They go around doing what Kick-Ass was doing.

They walk down the streets and they ask people if they need help and stuff. They're probably all dead. Probably. See, it didn't work for me because we lived out in the middle of nowhere in the woods. Yeah, nobody needed help, so it was just me walking around the woods.

There was no Mr. Bitey for you? No, there was no Mr. Bitey. There was nobody on my street that night at all.

Are you waking back up for a second? Mr. Bitey is awesome. Is that your favorite part of the whole movie? Is that all you have to say about it?

When houses are four miles apart, there's not a whole lot of action going on. Not really. There weren't any mass slasher serial killers in the woods? No, no. I always looked for them, but I never did find them.

See, when I was a kid, we didn't play superhero games. We played Jason and chased each other around with fireplace tools. You were out in the woods, though. It made sense. My grandma wasn't happy when we told her what Jason actually was.

Yeah, I can see why. Yeah. Probably because you were going to fall and actually stab each other. Yeah, those sharp tools really aren't the best. Yeah, it's not the best for letting children play.

You shouldn't run with those. Lesson learned. There's another story right there. There's a scar to go with it. Oh, that's another thing I thought this movie did that was so well done is it tapped into our culture pretty well.

Like the fact that immediately... There's a fight going on outside. Go call the police. But they don't. What does he do?

He runs in, gets all his friends, and busts out the cell phones and starts recording it. And within minutes, it's on the internet. And it's already a viral thing. I thought that was cool. The guy runs in there and he's like, there's a guy outside dressed like a superhero fighting these guys.

And it's awesome. And it's awesome. Well, that was my thought exactly. I was like, well, it is awesome, actually. But call the cops for fuck's sakes.

Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I don't think that's... I mean, our world is in that place now. So the fact that it is existing in this reality, I think that's part of it. If it were a cheesy comic book movie, you know, people would run out and try to help them too, maybe.

But not now. They all stood around and watched and they got their video cameras out and they recorded it on their phone and they uploaded it immediately to YouTube. So. I think it tapped into that, you know, the fact that everybody is willing to record things and put it on the Internet. And he used that to his advantage.

He immediately set up a profile online as a superhero. And that's how he, you know, put the word out about them and, you know, found all his cases to go work on. He goes back to the comic book store that he normally frequents and suddenly there's all this kick-ass stuff. Kick-ass cappuccino. And costumes and figures and all that stuff.

I think it's just, yeah, it did a good job tapping into the real world that we actually exist in, which, again, is what makes it so much more realistic when they start just annihilating people. Again, I think it needs that violence. I think that's what separates it from the other stuff, is the drama and the violence that it kind of delivers on. Because by the end, yeah, I was kind of welling up. Sadly, it wasn't at the dramatic moment as much as when Hit Girl was just taking out those guys in the hallway.

I was welling up with. Yeah, I could have watched like two hours of that. I could. A violence that just really hit me, like the scene where she cuts the guy's leg off in the hotel room. And the one that really got me was the one where Big Daddy and her put the guy in the car smasher.

Oh, yeah. There's a shot of that guy getting squashed. It looks like a watermelon exploding. It's just, oh, it's horrible. What about the microwave?

Oh, that was the bad. Guys, but yeah. But still, you know. He's violent. Yeah, that was something else, too.

Does it work, just like a big microwave? I don't know. He's like, oh. The worst of money. Yeah.

As he's pantomiming, what did you do with our code? The guy's like holding his head. It's awesome. Basically, that was the director going, screw you, Last House on the Left. You think your scene's a big deal?

Watch this. I'm putting the whole motherfucker in the microwave. Yeah, this movie has so much energy to it that I think it kind of reminds me of Zombieland last year. But this is actually even better. I prefer Zombieland still.

Give me Zombieland. It's a fine line, but I would almost put this one. Just because I think it delivers a little more to it. Zombieland was just fun. Zombieland had Twinkies.

Twinkies were awesome. Really fast paced yeah but yeah it was it was a shot in the arm to zombie movies yeah the same as this is a shot in the arm to comic for all superheroes yeah it's one of those things. You've gotten dull both of these movies are the kind of movie that I think you could watch over and over and just never get tired of you know definitely I. Would but my mom borrowed Zombieland and she hasn't given it back I like that I. Like that some of your old niece watched Zombieland I'm not sure that she needs to see.

Uh no kick ass really she'll be calling everybody cunts laughing. Um, but it is that kind of movie. And again, I do think there's going to be a split in the audience based on what your moral fiber is, I guess, or whatever. If you can laugh at this or if it just offends you, I suppose. I think so.

But again, I think even more than that, I almost don't care if the people that don't like it, don't like it. I think what's more important is the fact that it got made. The fact that they said, screw you to every studio they went out. And it's not like it's a little, you know, million dollar independent movie. This is a big budget movie with real stars and a hell of a look to it.

I mean, it looks good. Every scene in it looks good. But it's still going to be number one, so that's something. Yeah. Again, just the fact that it's out there and the fact that they made the movie that they wanted to do.

They didn't compromise anywhere along the way. That's fucking awesome. This doesn't feel like a compromised movie. No, no. When I saw it, I thought we were literally the first audience who had seen it, and I can tell you that nothing was changed.

Yeah. Other than just the music, they didn't cut anything. It's all there. That's awesome. See, that's the problem with a lot of movies nowadays is they go through and change shit.

Everything. They just leave it alone. Yeah. You know? Before they even shoot it at the time.

I mean, they're giving you notes from the studio from day one, and you've changed. You're working on an entirely different movie by the time. You shoot it. Yeah, the director's mom doesn't like this scene. You need to change it.

Yeah. Know that's bullshit and that this is an example this is like what you get without studio screwing things up without studio involvement changing everything along the way because there was no studio they finished this on their own and took it and said okay who wants to distribute it we got this movie that's gonna make a good amount of money and all you got to do is put it out there and obviously somebody was like okay we like money sure we'll go do that so I that's what i think people need to do it's like fuck the studio system start making your own movies find these independent producers because they're. Out there it's really hard you know the studios own everything the the distribution the I mean, the finance, they own everybody.

So it's hard to make these movies outside of this. But I think that's why I'm so proud of this one because I think this can kind of change the game a little bit. You've at least got one thing to be like, look at this. It's like this made its money and we gave it back to them. So we need somebody else to back us on this next project.

Watchmen, they didn't really– they didn't– They didn't cop out with Watchmen. They left all the violence. And everything in. And all the man jokes. But I just knew that was going to hurt our kind of films because people weren't going to go see it.

And then the studios would go, look, see? We let you have Watchmen and nobody cared. So let's make Transformers 2. Stupid. Yeah.

I don't know. I mean, I still like Watchmen, but that one I think suffered from it probably didn't need to be a movie. Yeah, that was almost impossible. Well, no, everybody I hear talk about it, and I almost agree. In this day and age of cable television, it should have been an HBO project.

I mean, if you can make all these other things, if you could have made it as long as you wanted and you could have worked in all the stuff they had to cut out... I think it would have made people happy because they still could have been violent. They still could have had the language. They could have done whatever they wanted. And it would have not had to shut it down and, you know, chop it up into, like, a three-hour little window.

At least they didn't make it a sci-fi miniseries. God, no. So it should have been, yeah, HBO or Showtime because they let them do whatever the hell they want. And you get a little more leeway. So I think that's probably what they should have done with that.

I still think the finished project is pretty good, but it does have its issues, so. I would probably call it a noble failure, if nothing else. I wouldn't even say failure. I think it's a good movie, but it's not perfect. That's where that one went wrong, is it was just trying to do too much.

This one didn't have that problem. It's got a very set story. I mean, it's a great runtime. It moves at the right pace, but yet it gives you just enough time to get invested in the characters, and I think that's why this one works. It still happens in Oranges, though, because Watchmen is not a fun movie to watch.

No, no. It's kind of hard to watch. This is a much more fun movie, but still has enough dramatize to it to make it not seem just like feather light. Yeah. Well, I think this has got a lot of weight to it, but it does make it fun.

It works in enough of a comedy that it kind of carries the rest of it through. It kicks ass. I don't know what else to say. Yeah. It's one of the best movies I've seen this year.

It is. Yeah, definitely. It's amazing. It's way more than I expected, really. All right.

I'm done. Done? Yay. Kick ass, kick sass. Kick sass.

There you go. Two thumbs up. Yep. Awesome. All right.

We will take a break and be back with the rest of the show. Two Mr. Bitey paws up. Yeah. Marching on His true name.

Popcorn freshly popped and buttered. Look good? Sure, it looks good and it tastes even better. Get some now. It rests on 13 acres of earth over the very center of hell.

The last house on the left. Here is the first motion picture to offer to the daring a look into the final maddening space between. Life and death. The Last House on the left. Caution.

To avoid fainting, keep repeating. It's only a movie. Only a movie. Only a movie. Sights and sounds far beyond anything you've tested.

The Last House on the left. Offered by Sean Cunningham Films Ltd. In color. Caution. To avoid fainting, keep repeating.

It's only a movie. Only a movie. Only a movie. Take as much as you can. Only a movie.

Hi, this is famous Hollywood producer Robert Evans. You know, I've made a lot of powerful enemies during my time in Hollywood. Like the time I. Pushed Steve McQueen in front of a moving car on the set of The Getaway because he was macking on my lady, Allie McGraw. But I've made one great friend, a boffo friend, if you will.

Since I retired. It's called Shosho, and it's the best fucking movie podcast ever. It's even better than cocaine, which I would know a lot about. Visit Shosho at shosho.podomatic.com or search Shosho, all one word, in the iTunes store. It's part of your problem, you know.

You haven't seen enough movies. All of life's riddles are answered in the movies. And now, on with the show. All right, we are back and we've got feedback. Yay!

This week is from Fozzie Bear. Now, I'm missing last week's drag queen half of the show. Well, you may consider yourself lucky because, yeah, we watched Less Than The Dust. So, yeah, you may consider yourself lucky, but to some, they seem intrigued by my choice last week. So, yeah, this week is Fozzie Bear.

Yeah, I'm glad I missed that episode. Hey guys, this is Fozzie from Twitter. I just wanted to call and comment on the Lust in the Dust episode. I've never seen Lust in the Dust, but I'm going to now because I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to drag films. A couple that you might not have seen but you might want to check out is the pinnacle of this is Girls Will Be Girls featuring three of the best drag queens you've ever seen playing roommates in a Hollywood.

The other that I always reference and make people watch is Psycho Beach Party, which I'm sure you've seen, but that's the great thing about drag queen movies when the drag queen or the cross-dresser or the man in a woman's dress is playing an actual woman in the movie, it always makes it that much funnier and that much more hilarious. So if you haven't seen those movies, check it out. And also, I'm a new fan to the show. I've been listening to you guys for a couple months. We missed each other around the weekend, but hopefully you're going to be at the next one in Cincinnati, and we'll have to say hello.

Also, I want you to come on my show, The Podcast Podcast, and we'll do an interview. Okay, thanks so much. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye. Awesome.

I love Psycho Beach Party. That movie is fantastic. One of my favorite movies is Psycho Beach Party. The other one you mentioned I haven't seen, so I'll have to look it up, I guess. If you guys are up for it.

I'm all about some surf. Definitely. The Big Kahuna. Big Kahuna. Lauren Ambrose.

I'm not much of a drag queen critic, per se, but, you know. I just like Divine. I can't even explain why. He's just entertaining. You lost me on that one.

Yeah, I know. We actually discussed that. I knew about 30 seconds in on the movie, you would have been out. You would have already been annoyed by it and pissed off. I don't know.

You can watch it somewhere down the line. It's got Tab Hunter. No, I'm good. Tab Hunter. I'm good.

Damn. I do need to get the complete series of Buzz and Buddy. You just want to watch the one with, what's his name? What's the Lex Luthor movie where he's a chick? Michael Rosenbaum?

Yeah. I forget what that one is. That one looks terrible. Just one of the girls. That's a whole different one.

That's the other one. No, it's up for sorority. Sorority boys. Sorority massacre. Sorority boys.

Yikes. That one looks terrible. Just one of the girls is the Corey Hamlin. Yeah, I know. Which also seems like a bad idea.

He's a cheerleader. Hot. I mean. Oh, Lord. But, yes, thank you, Fozzie.

Yeah, we did. Fozzie was at the weekend. I think we just missed him. I think he showed up to eat when we just left. So we just missed him.

But Fozzie is very cool. I actually kind of met him in passing at the Cincy show. And I am up for doing the show. He does the podcast podcast where he actually sort of highlights different podcasts and talks to the people making it and kind of what it is that they do. And it's it's pretty cool i listen to most of them so far and a lot of them are people that we know from the other shows but um a few of them are ones that i haven't heard their show and it's kind of interesting to find out about it through them so it's definitely worth checking out uh it is at the podcast podcast.com and um Yeah, you better just look up Fozzie Bear on iTunes, because I think you realized after you titled it, it's impossible to search for podcast podcast.

The lesson we all learn. But, yep, now that we are back on track, there's no excuse to not call or write in. So, whatever you've been meaning to say, hey, get it on over to us. Word. Don't be shy.

Just let your feelings rule. Don't be shy. We'd like to hear from you. So give us a call at 502-365-5565. Or you can email us at geeksatmoviemeltdown.com.

And just stop by the website for our frequent updates. That's moviemeltdown.com. And while you're there, click on the forums link and go to our message boards at Pop Syndicate. Or go to popsyndicate.com and go to the forum sections and look for Movie Meltdown. On my own.

Alright, so as for the updates and announcements, just wanted to say we did not win a rondo. I voted for us. I did too. We didn't have a chance in the head. No, I know.

I know we didn't. I mean, we lost to like dread central and rumor of radio. It's nice to be nominated. Cause when, when I saw that we were on the ballot, I was like, Holy shit. I know.

I couldn't believe it. That's, and that's kind of what I wanted to say. I just wanted to thank all our fans and friends who bothered to vote for us. Cause that's awesome. And that kind of means it's not really over.

I mean, the fact that you voted made a huge difference and I think kind of put us on the radar. We're on the geek map, so to say. So, uh, I don't know. It's just a thank you for doing it, but I think it makes it a lot more likely for us to turn up on something like that in the future. Sure, absolutely.

Yeah, the more you guys kind of get the word out and get behind us on these projects, it helps the show as a whole. So I just thank you. Now that we've been nominated, I think we actually have to be good now. Wow. I don't know about that.

Why start now? That means Roger needs a quick fall asleep. Not a chance of that. Yeah, really. Sorry, guys.

Mr. Beatty. I'll hit him with a taser in the forehead every once in a while just to wake him up. But yeah, just wanted to send a thank you out to everyone who voted for us. And if you didn't, nah, screw you.

Yeah, you know. Yeah. Okay, kids, get out your decoder pins. No, no, no, no, no, no. For you members of the Secret Circle.

What time is it, you? It is time. What time? Time for the movie lockdown Secret Circle reveal of the next two features. Holy shit.

And they might even be right. They've been off for several weeks now, so. All right, so next week, we will try to. I'm traveling back to the 80s. Pick up where we left off two weeks ago.

So next week is the Wraith. Hopefully. Hopefully, we will get back on track and pick up where we left off. And the following week, we may have to head back out into the world. Oh, God, not again.

Get some more rolling rock thrown in our feet and yeah yeah please we'll bring our own and just throw it at people yeah i don't want to drink stuff just throw it at. People well we were we were kind of the art theater this uh this week uh so we're gonna probably be heading to the multiplex for this one. If we're unlucky so yes the following week will be nightmare on elm street. I wonder if Mr. Bitey will be in this one.

I don't know. That's the only way to catch Roger's attention. Maybe the Mr. Bitey will be in it. Maybe that's what did it to Freddy's face.

Mr. Bitey. Mr. Bitey. I got my nose pierced by a cat once.

That was fun. That saved you a trip to the mall. Mr. Piercy. With Nightmare, I'm open-minded but not really expecting anything.

I got a feeling it's just not going to faze me. I probably won't hate it. I probably won't like it. It's like just another remake. But we'll see.

Pretty much. I'll try to stay open-minded. I want to at least see what they've done with this. I haven't been on board really with the idea forever. So we'll have to see what they do.

But I guess we will cue the kick-ass music and get on out of here. Yeah. Otherwise, that about does it. We will return next week. Same geek time, same geek feed.

Thanks for listening. Thank you. Bye. See you later. Hey, girl.

I don't know a damn about my reputation. You know that in the. Past it's a new generation. And a girl can do. What she wants to do.

Not me And I. Don't give a damn about my reputation I never said I wanted to improve my station And I'm only doing good when I'm living for me Don't have to please no one And I don't give a damn about my bad reputation Not. Me Not me Not me. And I'm never gonna care about my bad reputation Not me Not me Not me. Not me.

No communication And everyone. Can say what they want to. Say It never gets. Better anyway So why should I care about a bad reputation? Anyway, I knew it.

And I only feel good when I got no pay And that's how I'm gonna stay And I don't give. A damn about my bare reputation Not me Not me Not me Not me. Not me On a kick-ass and red mist, who do you think would win in a fight? I don't know I. Think Kick-Ass is cuter.

Really? Everyone would definitely fuck his brains out if I got the chance. This show is a production of Movie Meltdown, produced and edited by Brian Renfro, featuring contact music performed by Tamara Deering. To help support the show, email producer at moviemeltdown.com for ways that you can contribute or advertise with us. Talk hard!