#16. Avengers: Endgame (Part One)
Listen to this episode ↗on Substack, where the show lives now
Part one of a two-episode Avengers: Endgame special, recorded with spoilers fully unleashed on the grounds that anyone still listening has only themselves to blame — and with Sonny cheerfully endorsing the beating administered to the guy in Asia who shouted plot points outside a theater. Sonny is the biggest booster at three and a half stars, arguing that the film's oddly structured two hours of talking and hanging out work precisely because the Marvel movies have never had ideological or intellectual pretensions; he reads the whole 11-year, 22-movie run as the story of Tony Stark growing up from vacuous playboy into a dad willing to die for his daughter and his surrogate son Peter Parker, and admits he got "a little bit sniffly." His loud exception is the lady-Avengers hero shot around Captain Marvel, which he calls grotesque pandering that only proves how overpowered the character is: "It's like Robin saying, Superman, I'm here to help you." Vic gives four stars in his Gene Shalit voice plus an A+, delighting in the trip back through old movies, Robert Redford's last screen appearance, and five minutes of John Slattery playing essentially Roger Sterling. JVL holds at a B-minus and "minimally satisfying" — he admires how the film earns universe-sized stakes through small ones (the Hawkeye cold open, the score dropping out entirely) but hates the seven endings, the discarded Doctor Strange "14 million scenarios" puzzle, and the total absence of a moment he'll remember; his daughter Favorite, who has seen almost no Marvel, loved Captain Marvel because "she's so pretty and she's so strong." Sonny walks through the record-obliterating $356 million domestic opening, $1.448 billion worldwide in a week, and a $36 million Monday, while noting that Linda Cardellini now has the number one and number three movies at the box office. The cold open is JVL presenting Vic with an actual engraved medical alert bracelet — "GOUT" in caps, "if found return to WFB," and on the back "Gout Watch, no liquor, no sweetbreads" — after which Vic recounts blowing up his 16:8 intermittent fast into a "420," gaining four pounds in 48 hours, and getting converted to $17.53 poke bowls.
From the show notes
#cdata-section -------------- In part one of this two-episode special, sponsored by DoorDash, the Sub-Beacon tackles Avengers: Endgame . JVL...
Full transcript
Guest00:00:00I still hold these people who die. I keep telling everybody they should move on. Some do, but not us. Even if there's a small chance, we owe this to everyone who's not in this room.
Vic00:00:46Hello, and welcome to another edition of The Sub-Beacon, sponsored by DoorDash. I'm Victor Matus, along with Sonny Bunch and Jonathan V. Last. I'd like to remind you The Sub-Beacon is available on iTunes and Google Play. Just look at our podcast and search for Sub-Beacon. You'll easily find us. Please subscribe, tell your friends, and leave a review. Gentlemen, how are we? JVL, what's going on? Victorino. Yes, sir.
JVL00:01:10I want us to get a little serious here.
Vic00:01:12Oh, boy.
JVL00:01:14We never do that. JVL, why are you on one knee? This is a very special episode.
Vic00:01:19Oh, boy.
JVL00:01:20I am approaching a moment where I will have been friends with you for more than half of my natural life.
Vic00:01:29That's great. Well, that's true. Your birthday's coming up. Is your birthday coming up?
JVL00:01:33And so I've been thinking about you a lot, even more than usual. And in specific, I was thinking about you in the Caribbean.
?00:01:42What?
JVL00:01:43Vic, I worry about you. What? I worry about you a lot. Okay. And I was worried about you. I just had this vision. Getting stung by a stingray? Getting stung by something. Something I couldn't get out of my head. Yeah. Of you down there in the Caribbean. Maybe getting lost. Maybe getting separated from your family. Oh, yeah. And having something happen to you and people not knowing how to take care of you. I couldn't get this out of my head.
Vic00:02:09Please elaborate. And so I... Why are you reaching down under the table?
JVL00:02:14What is that? Vic, take this.
Vic00:02:17Oh, wow.
JVL00:02:18It's so soft. I got something for you, Victorino. Oh, the pouch. To commemorate our friendship. I'm holding a pouch. He's holding a pouch. A very soft pouch.
Vic00:02:27I'm literally holding a pouch. It's a little big. It's a bracelet. Oh, my. You got me a friendship bracelet? No. Look at this. This is... Oh, my. No wonder Thomas Lassie, our friend, asked me about the bracelet. And I said, what? That elf is going down. And I said, what are you talking about? And I thought he meant my daughter's bracelet. And he said, oh, yeah. Shannon took a picture of it. And I thought, huh. And look at this. I can't believe it. But I didn't know. Thomas is going, mister, like... No, they can see it if it's in the circle of trust. That was unintentional. I love... Look at this. It says Victorino Matus. No. Victorino Lim Matus, colon, not colon, but the dots, colon, grammar-wise. Gout, in all caps. It's a medical alert bracelet. It's a medical alert bracelet. You see the red... Yes. The red medical symbol. I see. You could... There is the... Yes, the caduceus. And it says, if found, return to WFB. And on the back, it says, Gout Watch, no liquor, no sweetbreads. You are too much.
JVL00:03:30And this way, Victorino, people always know how to take care of you, wherever you are.
Sonny00:03:34Put it next to your Rolex.
Vic00:03:35Oh, it's...
Sonny00:03:36So, when they're stealing your Rolex, after you've passed out, they'll see it, and they'll know what to do with you.
Vic00:03:42By the way, this would be very Jersey of me, to have the metal bracelet along with the watch. That would be very... That's a lot of bling for a man, but thank you. And a pinky ring, too. That's not a... The only thing I'm missing... Oof-ah. Oof-ah. Is the pinky ring. Thank you. And it came in that lovely pouch. Oh, look. There's a... There's a medical info... And a medical alert card. I'm carrying that. I'm carrying that everywhere. You can put that in your wallet.
JVL00:04:04I mean... So, if the police and the emergency responders, when they go searching your wallet to find something out about you, as you're lying there yelling... Boom.
Vic00:04:11The twinge. The twinge. Then they can get that. You know what? I'm going to put two cards in there. The medical info card and my Knights of Columbus card. So, you know... Because I want the... I want the swords... I want the... Priest, and I want the swords and the plumes for the funeral. So, thank you very much.
Guest00:04:25A medical alert bracelet. This one...
Vic00:04:27No, this was genuinely a surprise. It was genuinely a surprise. Well, kind of. And I need... Thanks. Kind of. Swede. Yes. That fin... Thank you so much, JVL.
JVL00:04:36Yeah. You like that? 20 years. Not since the laminated Hermione Granger coloring book picture... I don't know where that went. Have I... Have I really nailed it? You really whipped that one out by surprise. Sonny.
Vic00:04:49How are you, Santino?
Sonny00:04:51I'm fine.
Vic00:04:52I'm fine.
Sonny00:04:53Yeah. I have nothing.
Vic00:04:54You want to cut back on Deuce Chattin. I get that vibe. I was...
Sonny00:04:57We were discussing this... We were discussing this at dinner last night with... Yeah, we had a lovely dinner. ...fan, friend of the show, Mary Catherine Hamm, and Dan. And our friend Dan. And our friend Dan. And there was some chatter about maybe bringing this down. I think it should be, actually. I've long thought this.
JVL00:05:12I've long thought that it should be two... If we... In any given show, it should be two hours a weekend. It depends on what it is. It's not. Somebody should always pass.
Sonny00:05:18And I have... I very rarely have anything to say, so I shall pass.
Vic00:05:21Okay. All right. I'm doing fine, but my RG diet is definitely under siege because of our beloved listeners. So yesterday, I had lunch with, as I mentioned, Thomas Lassie. And then we had this wonderful dinner.
Sonny00:05:36Where did you go, Vic?
Vic00:05:37Did you take him to the Palm? Yeah. I said, anywhere you want to go. I would have been happy to go up to the pizza... Hey, I have a question. ...burgers up here. Yes. I have a question.
JVL00:05:44Yes, Sonny. Why didn't I come to this lunch?
Sonny00:05:47Why was... Is there any reason I...
Vic00:05:49Nobody wanted... Maybe you can email Thomas Lassie.
Sonny00:05:51Nobody wanted to see me? Nobody wanted to hang out with Sonny?
Vic00:05:56In any event, I'm not going to answer that. But we have... I had a burger, and then I said, no fries, salad. No bun, I hope. Oh, I forgot to mention that. And so...
JVL00:06:10You just forgot.
Vic00:06:11And I forgot to say no bacon. No, the bacon is fine. The bacon is good for you. And it was a thick cut, no esky. No esky. Fats are good. So I had that, and then like several hours later, you know, we had this delightful dinner. And so I'm normally, as you know, on a 16... Did you do the Waco? The what? No, no, no, no. This was at Fiolamare, so it was all seafood. I had a John Dory, a delicious fish.
JVL00:06:31Wait, so Mary Catherine Hamm was in Persona JVL? Yes. Yes. Good. She was filling in for you. Yes, she was.
Vic00:06:35You know what? That is fine.
JVL00:06:37I'm glad I went to watch Flash lose 19 to 10 instead of going out to dinner with you guys.
Sonny00:06:42Ugh. It happens. Boy.
JVL00:06:44It happens. Did he...
Sonny00:06:45Was he pitching?
JVL00:06:46No. This was Little League. All he did was go two for two while they... Okay. No. Yes. But normally... Normally, I'm normally... While the rest of the team let him down.
Vic00:06:56So normally, I'm a 16 to 8 fast guy, right? You fast for 16 hours, you eat for 8.
JVL00:07:01Oh, so you didn't eat when you went to dinner.
Vic00:07:02Yesterday was 420. Yesterday was fasting for 4 hours and then eating for 20, basically, is what happened. I weighed myself. In 48 hours, I gained 4 pounds. Question. So that was not good. Question.
JVL00:07:11Yes. Isn't it true that your body actually... You want to do that to it. You want to confuse it because if you keep it fasting... A little bit of shock treatment. If you keep it fasting on a regular schedule, then your body will just get used to it. You know what? And you're going to throw in a 420 every once in a while. You're not going to believe this. I think you're right. Just a muscle confusion.
Vic00:07:29I think it is. Just because it's just like when you go to the gym. You do the same weights all the time. You're not getting anywhere. I can't get any bigger.
JVL00:07:34There. So I think, Vic, at least twice a week.
Vic00:07:37You need to do a 420 day in order to help lose weight. Yes. You know what? Throw my body off guard. To save the RG, you have to add some G. And be within 20 feet of a bathroom, just in case. Because you don't know what's the body going to... I don't know how it's going to react. I don't know what's going to happen. It's something the body does. It's something. It can be confused. Nevertheless, despite the toll... Out with you. Despite the toll... It took on my body. Like, oh, that was a good call. That's a good callback. That's a good callback. I've been feeling better since. It was still very nice to see our friends, Thomas, Dan, MK Hammer, and the Hammers back. Speaking of the Hammers back, over the weekend, Avengers Endgame clobbered the box office with $356 million, followed by Captain Marvel with $8 million. And in third place, The Curse of La Llorona. La Llorona with $7.5 million. Do you know what this means? It means Linda Cardellini is in the number one and number three movie at the box office.
JVL00:08:39Look at that.
Vic00:08:39And she has starred now in two different back-to-back number one movies. Go, Linda Cardellini.
JVL00:08:44Wait, who's Linda Cardellini in Endgame?
Vic00:08:46She's Jeremy Renner's wife, Hawkeye's wife, in the beginning.
JVL00:08:51Very briefly.
Sonny00:08:52Very briefly.
JVL00:08:53Okay.
Sonny00:08:54She's now the highest grossing actress of all time.
Vic00:08:56No, she's going to be like Stellan Skarsgård. John Ratzenberger. John Ratzenberger, Stellan Skarsgård statistics. Okay. You boys certainly have box office slots. Just go for it.
Sonny00:09:10In one week, Endgame is now the eighth highest grossing film of all time. It came out in China a couple days before the United States, so it's been out for about a week now. And it is a monster. It has grossed 1.4. 4.48 billion dollars worldwide. Is that good? That's good. That's good. I mean, it grossed as much as Black Panther did around the world in one week. It grossed as much as Avengers Age of Ultron did in one week around the world. It is a big, big movie. It is smashing. I mean, it is not just breaking records. It is smashing through them like the Hulk through a wall of tissue or something. I don't know. It is amazing. It is actually one of these things that is enjoyable to watch as a box office watcher. I mean, it beat the previous weekend best by $100 billion almost. Yeah, something like that. Hold on. Let me actually look it up. But it is just destroying everything. Yeah, it beat the previous weekend.
JVL00:10:23Which was Force Awakens. No, no.
Sonny00:10:25No, the previous best weekend was Avengers Infinity War. So Avengers Infinity. Infinity War was $10 million better than Star Wars The Force Awakens. Star Wars The Force Awakens did $27 million more than The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi did $12 million more than Jurassic World. So, you know, you look at these numbers and they're incremental, right? It's like, and Avengers Endgame did $100 million more at the domestic box office in its first weekend than the previous best Avengers Infinity War.
Vic00:10:53And do you remember people were saying like, oh, you know, the box office numbers may be affected because it's three hours long.
Sonny00:10:59Yeah, well, no, this is so people were literally doing math. They're like, well, there won't be enough showings. And I like I actually thought this was nonsense at the time. I told a friend over DMs when I had joked, I had actually joked like, oh, this movie is going to gross $300 million if people keep buying tickets like this. And like I wasn't being serious. I didn't actually think it would do that, but I thought it would be close. And he DM me. He was like, you can't be serious about this. It can't. There just aren't enough screenings. I'm like, dude, they're going to they're just going to put it on every screen. Yeah, they're just going to. Put it on every screen and they're going to keep showing it all through the night. And that's exactly what they did. And people kept coming because they couldn't get into the other screenings. I mean, there was real demand for this movie. So I look it. It destroyed the Thursday night sneaks. It destroyed it. Biggest, biggest Friday, biggest Saturday, biggest Sunday. It is already. It will almost certainly be over $2 billion by the end of next weekend.
JVL00:11:56And it is a sure thing to be number one all time.
Sonny00:11:59I don't. I don't know that.
JVL00:12:00Number one all time worldwide is Avatar with 2.78. Yes. So if it only has a multiple of two. It has. From where it is right now.
Vic00:12:10So I thought the record holder was a wrinkle in time.
Sonny00:12:14Record bomb, maybe. Okay. So the. So anyway, there's. I think I. A more interesting question is if it beats The Force Awakens domestic total, which I think is is a bigger question. You know, The Force Awakens is nine, nine hundred fifty million, something like that. Nine thirty six. Nine thirty six. So you would it would it would have to it would have to hold pretty well. But I could see that falling, too. I mean, this I I've nobody has ever seen anything like this. And it is a it is a it's a real it's a real fascinating thing. If you're into this sort of thing, which I am. Oh, I bet I was like refreshing deadline and Scott Mendelsohn's Forbes page all weekend. Like I need more updates.
Vic00:12:58Give me give me those numbers. Give them to me. It's shattering all the records. JVL, do you have any other thoughts on this?
JVL00:13:03So it's going to I agree with Sonny. I actually think it's going to beat all of the records. Actually, you think it'll be very well. I think people seem to really like a plus from CinemaScore. People seem to really love it. I think it is packed enough that people who love it can go and see it again. I have anecdotally plenty of friends who said, like, you know, I'm going to go again next weekend.
Vic00:13:25Our friend Dan has seen it twice already.
JVL00:13:28So. I think it is highly watchable. I'm interested in what the demand for screens is going to do to new releases in week three and four. So there's nothing coming out this weekend. Right. Everybody cleared the decks. But even that turns out not to have been enough of a hedge. And I would not want to be opening a movie two weeks from now.
Sonny00:13:51So the movie that's coming out two weeks from now is Detective Pikachu, which is supposedly people think is going to be a big monster hit.
JVL00:13:59Yes. Worldwide. A global monster.
Sonny00:14:03If you're into that. Anime. JVL, I have a question. I have a serious question. Has anything you've seen about Detective Pikachu made you want to watch it in the slightest?
JVL00:14:15There is nothing that could make me want to watch this movie.
Sonny00:14:17Literally nothing. Zero. Vic is holding up a big old goose egg.
Vic00:14:22I've seen this trailer multiple times now because it's been in almost every movie that we've reviewed. It's in the trailers. It came out, obviously, before The Avengers, that trailer, and I closed my eyes. I don't want to see the stupidity again. I don't want to see it.
Sonny00:14:36But we're not the target audience for this. And several of the millennials in our office were like, yeah, Pokemon. It's got Pokemon and Ryan Reynolds. Why wouldn't I want to see that? So the question, the first real test of this movie will be the third weekend. Because I would be surprised if it dropped more than 50%. Even with its, I mean, I don't know. It will probably drop more than 50%. Yeah. Because I can't see, I just can't see it doing $180 million in its second weekend. Question.
JVL00:15:04Yeah. We are recording on Wednesday. We mentioned this. I'm not even questioning it. Do you know how much it made on Monday? $36 million? It made $36 million on a Monday. That's nuts. Right? I mean, there are movies which would kill to open for a $36 million opening weekend. People are skipping work and school to see this movie. So, again, I think. I would take the over on whatever the question is when it comes to Endgame. I think. Box office wise.
Sonny00:15:35I don't. $180 million second weekend?
JVL00:15:38That's insane. Why not?
Sonny00:15:40It's possible. Look, it's possible. I don't know.
Vic00:15:43I don't know. So, I assume we all saw that. You saw JVL over the weekend? Did anyone else see it? Who's here? Team!
?00:15:54Team!
Vic00:15:57Avengers Endgame. Is like Cannonball Run meets Back to the Future. It's a race against time. Now, I promise you no spoilers. Captain America is so old. Fashioned. Black Widow died. Her hair. Who knew? Scarlet Witch will mesmerize you with her two glowing orbs. We hardly see Captain Marvel because she's been out saving the universe. That's one busy beaver. It's a ton of tears. And a ton of laughs. I almost peed in my pants because it's three hours long. I give Avengers Endgame four stars. Four stars. Four out of four.
JVL00:16:39Boy, it's been a long time since Gene went all four, isn't it?
Vic00:16:43Well, he hasn't been around for a while. Yeah, he's been cooling his heels. That is. But no spoilers.
JVL00:16:48No spoilers.
Sonny00:16:48No spoilers. Nice on House.
JVL00:16:51You got a little furloughed.
Sonny00:16:53Come over to the studio. Yeah, they worked something out. He's gone already.
Vic00:16:56Do you want to do Sonny review?
JVL00:16:59Can we make this a spoiler-filled discussion? Yeah, we'll have to. Can we just tell people? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sonny00:17:03No, I would say that, look, no offense, but if you're listening to the show and you know what we do, then you probably shouldn't be listening if you don't want spoilers. So spoilers are here.
JVL00:17:13I had, by the way, coffee with our buddy Tom Abele yesterday. Yeah. And he was talking about how on Friday morning at his office, a bunch of the millennials came in and were like, oh, my God, I can't believe who died. And like spoiling everything on Friday morning. Oh, no. Because they had been to like a midnight. Night screen on Thursday.
Sonny00:17:30And I, who really don't care about spoilers, even I was outraged by that.
JVL00:17:34So this will be spoiler-filled. If you don't want, if you really care about this stuff, then just come back.
Vic00:17:38There was a story about the guy in Japan who walked out of the theater and was yelling out all the spoilers and then he got a beat up.
Sonny00:17:44Was it Japan or was it Korea?
Vic00:17:45It was one of those countries. One of those Asian countries. They don't take lightly to it.
Sonny00:17:50No, I saw people on Twitter acting, you know, pretend outrage like, God, can you believe how serious these fanboys are? They'll believe and commit acts of violence. They'll believe and commit acts of violence against people who cross. And I'm like, no offense, but that guy deserved everything that happened to him. That guy deserved the beating he got. If you violate social norms like that. Not even by accident. Yeah, no, no. He was like pronouncing. He was like standing there. He's like, here's what happens in the movie that you're waiting to see. And they beat the piss out of him. And that's good. More people deserve more beatings. That's the Sonny Bunch way.
Vic00:18:24We want to make sure everyone listening, that was Sonny Bunch. Sonny, do you want to give us a shout out? Do you want to give a little round up of the movie?
JVL00:18:31Sure. Avengers Infinity War ends with that.
Guest00:18:37Is he here? Do you want to do the comic book guy review?
JVL00:18:40I have a comic book guy review, but I really only prepared it as a hedge against Gene not showing up. Okay. I was worried that Gene wasn't going to show up.
Sonny00:18:47You can do that. You can do that. We can do that. Come on.
JVL00:18:50No. Nobody wants comic book guy.
Sonny00:18:52I love comic book guy.
JVL00:18:52I'm the only one who loves comic book guy.
Sonny00:18:54I don't. I mean, I'm sure there's someone out there who loves it. Yeah.
Vic00:18:59Yeah, I do. You worked on it. It's got to be good material.
Sonny00:19:03I mean, not you. Comic book guy. Excuse me. There we go. Comic book guy.
JVL00:19:08Avengers Infinity War ended with Thanos using the Infinity Gauntlet to kill half of all the heroes everywhere because he really wanted to save the universe because people didn't have enough to eat. And even though many different species understood interstellar travel, no one had figured out irrigation. And anyway, look, if you really try to nitpick Avengers Infinity War, you're going to end up with Avengers Infinity War. But the movie was great. Everybody loved it because all the heroes were fighting. And there was even, if you go to YouTube, people were crying. And Avengers Endgame is the exciting conclusion of the Infinity War. And Ant-Man and Tony Stark discover how to do time travel. But that's stupid because Disney owns Fox now. It should have been Reed Richards. And then never mind. Look, it's a really good movie. It's a really good movie because they rip off G.I. Joe and the mass device for their plot structure. But there's so much talking. And then Captain America decides he wants to dance with Peggy Carter instead of being a super. I don't know. He should have just been with Black Widow. I guess it's cool that Iron Man. Why was he hugging his dad? This is a good movie. But it's okay. Thank you, Comic Book Guy. Thank you, Comic Book Guy.
Sonny00:20:29The mass device? Really? I don't even know what that is. Really? What is the mass device?
Vic00:20:33Think about the structure. Well, different parts of the world. Dividing into teams. Going out. That's a tie.
JVL00:20:38It's a cross between the G.I. Joe mass device episode and Back to the Future. I was actually going to say Inception. Yes.
Vic00:20:48Just in movie in terms of structure.
Sonny00:20:49Yes. So that's true. That's true. Sonny Bunch. Avengers Endgame picks up where Infinity War left off. Half the planet dead. Half of everything. Half of everything dead. Half of everything in the universe dead. They get together and they say, hey, we're going to go take care of this Thanos. And they go and they cut his head off. And that's the end of the movie. I actually, I was, so when that happened, I was like, oh, that's an interesting, that's an interesting choice.
Vic00:21:18It also went out of focus. So I thought, oh, this won't.
Sonny00:21:21I was like, that's an interesting choice. I wonder if we are actually done with Thanos. I wonder if the rest of the movie is just going to be about Thanos. Them trying to make the world a better place. Of course it wasn't. They had to bring everybody back. But the, so here is what is interesting to me about Avengers Endgame is that it is basically, you have that little bit of action at the beginning and then it's like two hours of talking and like hanging out and, and having fun and making jokes and cracking wise. And I kind of loved it. I kind of, I loved all of that stuff. And I'm usually not a big jokey. Uh, uh, comic book.
JVL00:22:02That's America's ass. You laughed at that?
Sonny00:22:06Uh, yeah. I thought it was funny. I did.
JVL00:22:09Well, that's surprising.
Sonny00:22:09I thought, I thought all that, I thought all that stuff was good. I, uh, I, I, I found, I found, uh.
JVL00:22:16I have flowers and sauerkraut because my wife is pregnant and pregnant ladies like to eat disgusting foods. I don't even remember that part.
Vic00:22:24I heard some line about the flowers and I missed it.
Sonny00:22:27Uh, Sonny. The, again, it's, it, it, it's a kind of strangely structured film for a big comic book movie in that it is not at all about the, the fighting for like the first two hours of the film. There's like this weird, incredibly complicated, uh, time travel plot that they actually kind of make fun of how complicated it is in a way to diffuse the fact that it doesn't make any sense, especially the bit at the end with Captain America. We'll get to that. But I, I, I thought the whole thing was very good. I thought it flowed much better than it, than it had any right to given how, uh, kind of choppy and episodic it is. It, uh, it, it is, it is three hours of fan service. It is three hours of putting characters together that you love and having them do like funny things. And then the fight starts and it's more fan service, like Captain America wielding Mjolnir. Was like the, the, I mean that, like, that is like nerd heaven, right? That's like a big, it's a big thing.
JVL00:23:35Which scene were you referring to in your review?
Sonny00:23:37Cause I thought I knew what it was. The scene I, so in my review, I mentioned that there is a, there's a, there's a shot that is so pandering and so awful and so terrible that you want to throw things at the screen. And it is when all of the, this is when after it's after Captain Marvel has smashed through the spaceship and gone. 10 million times the speed of light and has, has, you know, decimated Thanos's forces and she crashes to the ground and all of the other lady heroes like, uh, Mantis, thank God for Mantis and, uh, T'Challa's bodyguard, whatever. She has a spear, uh, with vibranium. Uh, they, they surround her and they're like, she'll have all the help she needs or whatever. And, and it's just like, this is, first off, this is, this is really, uh, a grotesque, bit of pandering to the, you know, girl power crowd, whatever. But on top of that, it just, it just emphasizes how terrible of a character Captain Marvel is because Captain Marvel doesn't actually need any of their help. She could just. There's literally nothing that they can do to help her in this situation. There's not, she, she can just fly straight through all of these, uh, villains and do whatever she wants. It's like Robin saying, Superman, I'm here to help you. No, I mean, it's, it's 100%. It would be like if Superman crashed to the ground and did like a three point stand. And then, um, green arrow and then green arrow pops up behind him. He's like, we're here, you know, I like, can I, can I just, can I just say, I was watching
Vic00:25:08a variety, um, video of a Winkley remitted Peter DeBruge and DeBruge said that that was his favorite scene. Of course it was. Of course.
Sonny00:25:18Of course it was. Is DeBruge the one who wrote, did J-Pod send you the review about the Russian male ballerina who leaves the USSR? And DeBruge's whole review is like, why would he want to leave the Soviet Union? I don't understand. Idiots. Uh, anyway, uh, so anyway, that is the shot I was referring to. That's the shot I was referring to. It was, it's such, it's, it just takes you right out of the movie and it's like, come on. But again, like even beyond that, it just emphasizes the fact that Captain Marvel is a terrible character. So anyway, I liked all of this. I love this movie as the summation of Tony Stark's story. Yeah. The best way to understand the last 11 years of Marvel movies is as the story of Tony Stark growing up, right? He grows up from vacuous playboy, billionaire, philanthropist, whatever, to a dad who is willing to sacrifice himself, not just for the world, some sort of airy notion of protecting the world, but for his, his daughter and for his surrogate son, Peter Parker, all the stuff with Peter Parker worked for me. Uh, they've built it over the last three or four of these movies. From what was from Civil War to Homecoming to Infinity War to this, I thought, I thought it was actually a impressive, uh, an impressive little pseudo arc. Um, and I, I thought the stuff with, with his daughter was great. I thought the stuff with Pepper Potts was great. It was, I was, I was a little bit, a little bit sniffly, a little bit sniffly.
Vic00:26:51There were, there were some unexpected poignant parts.
Sonny00:26:54I was totally, I was totally, totally sniffly. Uh, so I. I like, I, I love this movie as the, the, the culmination of what Marvel has been doing for the last 11 years. Like I said, it's three hours of fan service, but the Marvel movies have never been anything except that, right? The Marvel movies have never had any sort of ideological or intellectual pretensions.
Vic00:27:15I pay good money. I'm a fan. Serve me. Thank you.
Sonny00:27:18Beyond that. So once you, once you accept that that is the level it is working on, three hours of, uh, masturbatory comic book moments. Going back through all the previous films, like this shot in the elevator with, uh, you
Vic00:27:36know, yeah, crossbones, which was great.
Sonny00:27:40The shot in the elevator. Also, it's not just a, it's not just a fan service-y Marvel movie moment. It's also a call back to the big controversy in the comic books a couple of years ago when Cap said, hell Hydra, everyone was so angry about it. Um, I don't know. I loved it. I just, I, I, I three, I gave it three and a half stars.
Vic00:27:59That is huge. I, I, the indicators for me that this was going to be a big movie and a great movie where Sonny Bunch, John Part Horowitz saying that he likes it, even if you want to take out the first hour and Ann Hornaday, your colleague, Sonny at the post. She gave it four stars, four stars. Um, I was surprised that despite being three hours, I felt like, you know what? Hey, it's, it's over quicker than I, you know, I mean, some of these movies can be grueling, uh, but this one I thought. It went, it felt a little faster. That said you come out and it's three hours later and sometimes three and a half hours with trailers and potential stingers and you stay to the end with the kids. You come out, you go in the afternoon, you come out, it's nighttime, it's dinner. What did you make for dinner? You don't have anything. You don't have the meal you deserve, but guess what? You could treat yourself to the meal you deserve on demand from your favorite restaurants. Restaurants come to you with DoorDash. DoorDash connects you to all of your favorite restaurants in your city. Ordering is easy. Just use the DoorDash app and choose what you want to eat and your Dasher will bring it right to you wherever you are. Not only is that burger place you love on DoorDash already, like Five Guys, but over 310,000 other amazing restaurants are too. DoorDash connects you with door-to-door delivery in over 3,300 cities and all 50 states across the United States and Canada. Order from your local go-to's or choose from your favorite chains like Chipotle, Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, the Cheesecake Factory. We just got... We got Astro Fried Chicken and Donuts using DoorDash last week. How about you, Sonny?
Sonny00:29:34I... We had a nice little sushi meal. There's a sushi joint that I love in Alexandria that doesn't deliver any other way but DoorDash. Excellent. And we got some... We got a feast. What do you like to eat in sushi? What do I like to eat? Yeah, you like rolls, nijiri. I'm a roll guy. I'm not a nijiri or a sashimi guy. I like the normal rolls but also the fancy rolls. I'll usually get one of the volcano rolls.
Vic00:30:07That's very fancy and expensive.
Sonny00:30:09It is expensive. All right, well, great.
Vic00:30:12Anyway, don't worry about your dinner. Let dinner come to you with DoorDash right now. Our listeners can get $5 off their first order of $15 or more when you download the DoorDash app and enter promo code SUBBEACON. That's $5 off your first order when you download the DoorDash app from the App Store. And enter promo code SUBBEACON. And again, that's promo code SUBBEACON for $5 off your first order from DoorDash. Download the app and then you can start eating apps. I just made that up on the spot. Oh, that's good. Look at you. I just did that right now.
Sonny00:30:43Download the app to get some apps. I just thought of it. I like that. You know, one other thing I did like about DoorDash was I could watch the car coming to me. Oh, yes, yes. Some apps do not have that. You can see where they're dawdling.
Vic00:30:57You can see where they're dawdling.
Sonny00:30:58Yeah, you can see if they've... If they've gotten lost, if they've gone down the wrong street, which happens sometimes.
Vic00:31:02Okay, so, yes. So, Sonny loved the movie. I love the... I give it an A+.
Sonny00:31:07A+. A+. You know who else gave it an A+. The people. CinemaScore A+. There you go. No surprise there.
Vic00:31:14J.V. L. When I talked to Thomas last yesterday, I said, what did J.V. L. think of this movie? And he said, it's hard to tell. He kept his cards close to his vest. Go for it.
JVL00:31:26I have slightly complicated feelings. about it, because there are a bunch of things I did not like about the movie, but I fully understand why people do like it, if that makes sense. You know, so the things it does right, for instance, is that it is truly epic. And when you pair this with the first Infinity War, which actually I like more in hindsight than I did at the time, if you're gonna make a movie about the fate of the universe, you have to really earn it. Like, you know, this is a continual complaint of mine, is that we need smaller stakes, and because when you make everything about, like, the fate of the world hangs in it, right, it just gets boring after. The movie clearly earns that.
Sonny00:32:11Yes. I think. Yeah. Right? Oh, yeah. But you know how it does that? It does it by introducing small stakes first. That cold open with Hawkeye is what sets the tone for the whole movie. Correct.
JVL00:32:22Correct. And in fact, they do that exclusively. They portray the size. They portray the size of the big stakes by focusing on the small stakes, right? It's the Captain America survivors meeting. They don't show giant, you know, gone with the wind style pan shots where you see a city where government isn't functioning and there are 50,000 people on the line to get bread. That's right.
Sonny00:32:47It's all personal. Well, you do. I mean, you mostly see empty shots. You see, like, empty city field. Right. Or you see the trash strewn streets of San Francisco.
Vic00:32:57Shouldn't there be half the trash?
JVL00:32:58Although it is San Francisco, so there's going to be a lot of trash. I didn't think about this. I mean, if half the people were to go away, everything would stop working.
Sonny00:33:10Well, this is somebody should write a book about depopulation. It would be utter chaos, right?
JVL00:33:17All of a sudden, you lose vast sectors of the knowledge economy. Like, things just don't work. And then if you, you know, government doesn't work, your chain of command goes away. None of this stuff works. And then if five years later, you double the population after you've, like, readjusted food production and stuff, you have another massive calamity. Well, this is, I mean, the picture it is actually painting of life on Earth is unbelievably bleak. And for all the conversations we've had about how, like, the Marvel is the candy-colored universe, I was actually thinking about the things that have happened to Earth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like the destruction of New York and the dropping of three helicarriers on Washington, D.C. And then, like, it's way worse. Way worse than D.C. D.C. Yeah.
Sonny00:33:59Well, it is, it's interesting, I had not ever thought about it that way because, you know, the way they demonstrate these things is like Captain America with a bunch of sad dudes in a, in a, they don't actually show the consequences of any of these. Right. Of any of these activities, really. I mean, like, the closest they got to it was in Ultron when they smash up the African City.
JVL00:34:27Exactly. But, but I would argue. That it is more effective as, as emotional, in terms of moving the emotions of the audience is much more effective to portray larger tragedies by talking with small characters and showing their personal tragedies. And the other thing the movie does, did you notice what they did with score? There's a lot of spots in which the score just disappears. Oh, okay. And everything's quiet because they are allowed, they don't need music to manufacture emotions, right? The script is able to manufacture the emotions all on their own. And that's impressive in its, in its own. Uh, I don't know. I mean, there are what, seven endings? It's like Return of the King.
Sonny00:35:07It had a Return of the King problem where there were about seven different endings.
JVL00:35:11And I think that's a real problem for him. I mean, when you are having a giant, I understand when you're paying off and trying to tidy up and, you know. Yeah, loose ends. 11 years. All the loose ends. 22 movies. But on the other hand, you can't do that. Well, you just don't narratively, you, you were not allowed to tell that many endings and have it work. For the audience, right? You're, you're actually taking away from the whole, at that point, you're subtracting by addition. Uh, and I, I was really bugged that the Doctor Strange, I've done 14 million possible scenarios and there's only one in which it all works out and this is it. There was a lot of fan theorizing about it. It was actually one of the cool things about the end of Infinity War is that everybody came up with a theory on how he had done it and mine was that, you know, they actually have the reality. They've constructed a stone, they've constructed an altar and the answer is just like, no time travel. Like that's, yeah, that is literally, I mean, there is nothing special that he did. You've, you've set up this really cool puzzle and then just discarded it and only sort of nodded towards it at the end where Strange looks at Donnie and Donnie's like, is this the one?
Vic00:36:16Yeah, he gives him the one finger.
JVL00:36:18That, that, that is not a real. It all worked for me.
Vic00:36:22It worked for me when I saw Doc, when I saw Benedict Cumberbatch point his finger, I said, yes.
JVL00:36:27No, I mean, I, I understand that the, so he has to give it to her so that then when the Hulk goes and meets the old one, he can tell the, tell the ancient one that Strange gave it to Thanos, which would convince her to, you know, like, but it, it doesn't pay off the way I think it should have, which you're, you have just set up a who shot JR moment and then you're basically saying, yeah, who cares who shot JR? Let's go do this other stuff.
Sonny00:36:53Nah, it all worked for me.
Vic00:36:54I didn't, I didn't think about it too deeply.
JVL00:36:56I don't want to.
Vic00:36:57You know what else I didn't like?
JVL00:36:58I didn't like this. The deaths in infinity war, even though we all knew they were fake, were very affecting. I thought at least to me, right? When, when, when Peter Parker goes, Oh yeah, that, that's very when, when Sam Jackson and agent Colson go dusty, I felt a real sense of loss. Black Panther going dust here, even with the real deaths of. Black Widow, who is a character who I love, uh, and then iron man and then captain America. I was left totally cold by those. Totally hard. Disagree. Oh yeah. But again, I see why people liked it, but I'm, I'm explaining to you why those things didn't touch me at all. And part of it was maybe because of where they occur. Right. So it just sort of in the flow of the movie, right. As opposed to being the culminating end. I mean the whole, the whole. The thing of infinity war is despair. Like that whole movie is like, you know, on, you know, crushing despair where they're losing and losing and losing and losing. And then at the end half the people die. And here this is much more because there's so much lightheartedness in it and it, yeah, the deaths just didn't resonate with me.
Sonny00:38:12Uh, let me, let me shift gears slightly. Um, Tony Stark has a real character arc over these 11, 11 years, 22 movies, right? Yes. Captain America has a character arc. Yes. I think you could say, right? Where he decides, okay, I've, I've given enough. I've given enough. I'm gonna enjoy my life. Yeah. Thor on the other hand goes from kind of a drunken lout to a drunken lout over the span of these years. Thor.
JVL00:38:46No, he goes someplace else though in the middle though.
Sonny00:38:48Thor. What? No, it's not, it's not really an arc though. It's like, it's, it's like a, it's a straight line. I mean, this is my problem. So this has been my, my big problem with the. Taika Waititi shift in the character. I like what they're doing, putting him with guardians of the galaxy. I think that fat, funny Thor works very well as a guardian's character, but he's nothing like the character, the series kind of had him becoming at the beginning, right? I mean, it, it just, it is, it's, it is, there's just a, there's a flatness to it where he is. He's, he's like actually like, like dumber now.
JVL00:39:25I don't, I don't think so actually. Defend the character arc in this way, but original Thor is just sort of cocky. Uh, and then you had noble Thor who is sort of grown up and accepts responsibility. And then the guy who we now have from Ragnarok here, uh, is broken and it's weird. Like there's, there's no cockiness to it and instead it's a guy who has just been beaten by life and it turns out, didn't have, I don't think that's in keeping with the character frankly. Uh, I think there's also just, I don't like about it, but I see it as a, as an arc. I mean, he's now.
Vic00:39:57Kind of pathetic. But broken Thor is also funny Thor. Yeah. Funny Thor.
Sonny00:40:01And I think funny Thor. I think people like that a lot. And I don't think like the, the whole shot at the end with him and Chris Pratt kind of, kind of like riffing, riffing on each other forever. It did. It did keep going. It was one of those shave a minute. It was one of those family guy things that like it, it, like it goes on too long and it's not funny. And then it's actually kind of funny again at the end it goes on too long again after that overshoots. Yeah. Yeah. I'm very torn on this cuz I do kind of like where the character has ended up, but I also think that it is kind of a betrayal of what the, the character was supposed to. And I don't even mean from the comics cuz I never read Thor growing up. I don't care about him. I just like within the universe of these movies, it feels like, I don't know, it feels like it didn't, it didn't, it doesn't quite work for me. And certainly it doesn't work for me in the way that Tony and, and Steve Rogers's arcs worked.
Vic00:40:53I don't think. It's so funny. I remember watching a very, very long time. Ago. Uh, one of the golden globes and they introduced, like they had, they brought in two actors to, you know, announce the winners of whatever category. And it was from the upcoming movies of Captain America and Thor, and they brought at Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth. And I remember the rest of the audience being so like, you know, apathetic. They were like, oh, who are these young guys, whatever. And I remember everyone was like sort of skeptical and I'm like, I can't imagine they could make a whole thing out of Thor. And of course now they became huge, you know what I mean?
Sonny00:41:27It, it took a while. It, I mean the first Captain America was not a big hit. The first Thor was not a big hit. They did fine. They did fine, but they weren't, they weren't huge, enormous hits. It wasn't until the Avengers.
JVL00:41:36They're both sneaky good movies. They are great. I think, I mean.
Sonny00:41:39They're both very sneaky good movies. I, I think Thor is the best of the Thor movies. I think the first Thor. I agree. I like, I like it more than Ragnarok or Dark World. And First Avenger. And the First Avenger's okay. It's very competent. It's very, very competent. It's very, I like him. It's all heart.
Vic00:41:53Who doesn't love Tommy Lee Jones, right? Tommy Lee Jones is great and everything. Uh, but, uh, it's funny with, uh, Chris Evans, he just, uh, I'm, I'm just blanking out over here. Sorry. It's my fasting. I'm just blanking out. I'm just, I don't know what I was going to say. I just forgot it. But I did want to say this, if I could just talk about why I liked the movie, um, I liked that they were able to, I know it's fan service, but to be able to revisit all the old movies or at least some of the movies we like, it's not like we go back to, you know, uh, Ragnarok or whatever. But we get to see all the old movies, but from a different perspective. And I remember being surprised, uh, to see Tilda Swinton's character, the angel, and you realize that because of the time travel, he's four years too early, whatever it is. And then I thought it really got rolling. And then, uh, when they handed over one of the, you know, the, the Tesseract. And for me, I enjoyed seeing, uh, these actors back particularly Robert Redford, who I love his final appearance on screen.
JVL00:42:52Oh, I think.
Sonny00:42:53Right. Yeah. Supposedly. Well, supposedly old man and the gun was supposed to be his last role, but this is the last
Vic00:43:00one we're seeing. And he looked old. Yeah.
Sonny00:43:03But they did not. They did not de-age him. I wonder, I like, I actually wonder if he refused.
Vic00:43:07Did they de-age Renee Russo? She looked fantastic. She looked fantastic. And I love Renee. I love Renee Russo, Thomas crown, a fairly the weapon and this, uh, but it was great to see him. And I, I'm a, I'm a big fan as, as Sonny knows of John Slattery, uh, and it's like seeing that's how it started. That entire thing. Oh, I love that thing.
JVL00:43:27The entire father-son thing. That stuff was so on the nose.
Vic00:43:29No! That's so important. No, no, no. I love it.
Sonny00:43:33It's so important. I know that this is not your favorite genre of storytelling. The touching family moment. Yeah.
JVL00:43:39Like Field of Dreams. No, no. I disagree. I love father-son type stuff. I thought that stuff was the, the most graceless, obvious writing in the whole movie, actually. I thought that specifically the Tony and his dad stuff had nothing new or interesting to
Vic00:43:53say. What I loved is because, uh, John Slattery is always playing Roger Sterling, I think. And would, I love bad men and it's like getting five minutes of bad men in there with the
JVL00:44:02music, including with the music was like similar to bad men.
Vic00:44:05If you go back, it's.
Sonny00:44:06Oh, that's where the sauerkraut scene was.
Vic00:44:07That's right. Yeah. Oh, see, it was so sweet. It was so sweet. Uh, okay. So, so that I, I love that going back into, I thought that I thought that worked again. Just don't think too carefully about how it works because the whole time loop thing, you know, Terminator does, it'll make it crazy.
Sonny00:44:22I mean, they, they make fun of that. That in the movie. They're like all of these movie rule, all of these movie time travel rules, they don't apply here. It's different. Well, different how it's different. We're just, we're gonna do it different.
Vic00:44:33I was surprised about a lot of big name characters who didn't have that much screen time and obviously they could save them for future movies, but it was a wonderful opportunity of to see the, the acting chops of Chris Hemsworth, who I think is really good, especially with
Sonny00:44:47comedy. So the, uh, a friend of ours, uh, Jim Treacher had one of the things he, he, he has said, and I think is a. Basically right. Is that because the, the MCU movies have basically been a season of television, the guys who are running this whole thing have understood better what to do with some of their characters. So like they realized about halfway through this thing that Chris Hemsworth is incredibly funny and that he actually can do comic stuff incredibly well. Uh, and so that is why, you know, that's why you have the shift in Ragnarok and, and beyond, which I, I mean, I'm more, I, I think it's obviously accurate. Uh, cause Hemsworth is hilarious. He is, he is, he is legitimately funny.
Vic00:45:28Uh, and also Jeremy Renner is a great, uh, I thought was great. And uh, did you like Jamie, did you like Nebula, Karen Gillan? I thought she was really good.
JVL00:45:36And I've, I've always liked the character of Nebula and I've liked Karen Gillan's Nebula and Gamora. I love the Nebula Gamora stuff. Yeah. I go to the sisters. I can't have too much of that. It's a great arc.
Sonny00:45:46Yeah. I, I was, I, I caught like 10 minutes of the first guardians of the galaxy because all of the Marvel movies have been on all of the TV channels. And this, this last weekend, uh, and there, and it's, it's funny to watch how Nebula has changed just slightly how Karen Gillan's portrayal of her has changed just slightly. So the, the scene I was watching was the scene where, uh, Nebula and, uh, uh, what's his name? Ronan, the accuser go to Thanos and it's that scene where, and Thanos does the whole, my favorite daughter and you know, Nebula's rolling her eyes. And then she's kind of like almost sashaying around it's, it's a very different physicality to the role. At the beginning than, than she has now. It's just interesting to watch. I don't have, I don't have a real point here.
JVL00:46:28It's just, I like her a lot.
Sonny00:46:31I don't know. You're not going to see it again. Do you think this is a satisfying conclusion to the previous 21 Marvel movies?
JVL00:46:40I think it is minimally satisfying. Okay. So for me, it clears the bar of satisfying conclusion in the, at the lowest possible level, which is fine is why for me, it's like a B minus.
Sonny00:46:52Like I could live with that. Would you give this a thumbs up or a thumbs down?
JVL00:46:57Yeah, I would tilt a thumbs up, I guess. Right. I mean, Ty goes to the runner. Okay. I have two questions. Go ahead.
Vic00:47:05Cause I have all sorts of more stuff to talk about. And it's strictly about the movies. Cause you know, we'll, uh, we have more to talk about on a future episode. In part two. In part two. So good. Part two. That's how good this is.
JVL00:47:15Uh, was Natalie Portman old, uh, did they splice that in? So here's the question. Did Natalie Portman actually show up to film anything? Yes. That's my question.
Sonny00:47:25I don't believe so. I asked somebody who would know and he did not know for sure. One way or the other.
JVL00:47:30I do not believe that she's in the credits.
Sonny00:47:33She's in the credits. She showed up to the premiere. She showed up to the premiere. Okay. I am. If I had to wager gun to my head, I would bet that that was footage that they did not use. That was an out. Yes. Because she doesn't do anything. She doesn't do anything. And she doesn't interact with anyone on the screen.
Vic00:47:49Do we get the impression that she just didn't like the movies and doesn't want to have anything to do with it? Sure.
Sonny00:47:56It looks like that to me. There was a... Doesn't it? Well, there was a... Yes. When she was not back for the third one, there had been some talk about her dissatisfaction with the films and she had wanted a woman director and they couldn't get one. And they... Oh, they couldn't find a lady director anywhere in all of Hollywood? Couldn't get a lady director and I think she was just kind of done with the series. She just wasn't into it.
JVL00:48:18Yeah. No. She clearly seemed to... She was the only person not in Infinity War. Yeah. That's right.
Vic00:48:24Not in Infinity War except for her. Oh, there's like the image of her like, "Oh yeah, she's secured." Yeah. That's kind of sad. Okay. Second question is if I could go back to the number two movie at the box office, Captain Marvel. The stinger at the end, the pager goes off and then she appears. Captain Marvel appears at the Avenger headquarters.
Sonny00:48:43The stinger at the end of Infinity War is the pager going off.
Vic00:48:46Yes.
Sonny00:48:47The stinger at the end of Captain Marvel is her showing up.
Vic00:48:49That's right. So the pager stops. I mean, the pager stops beeping and then it's like, "Well, I got to figure out who... You know what this is." Boom. And she's there. What happens then? We don't see that in this movie, in Endgame. What do you mean? So does that mean that they know who she is already then? Is that what we're saying? I think she... Like War Machine and Black Widow, they know Captain Marvel. We're just in media wrestling.
Sonny00:49:14Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She shows up at the end of Captain Marvel. Okay. She shows up with the Avengers, right? And then they tell her to go rescue Tony. And then they tell her to go get Tony. Okay. That's how I understood that all to happen.
Vic00:49:25Correct. And then somewhere along the line, she was told to get a haircut?
Sonny00:49:28Is that what happened? Apparently.
JVL00:49:31She needed some new fashion. So my daughter, favorite, went and saw Endgame. Okay. She has not seen any Marvel movies other than the original Avengers. Okay. She is not into any of this. She went purely because her best friend wanted to go, and so she went with her best friend. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And she came home, and I said, "So what did you think?" And she said, "It's the greatest movie I've ever seen," despite having no context for anything. Mm-hmm. And so I said to her, "What was your favorite part?" And she said, "It was Captain Marvel." Of course. And I said, "Really? What did you-" It works. "What did you like about Captain Marvel?" And she said, "She's so pretty, and she's so strong." Well, she does actually have some makeup on in this film. That's what I like, too, about her. And I said- Agreed. So she's so strong. I said, "So tell me, what are her powers?" And Favorite said, "She's so strong, she can do anything." And that's what I love about her.
Vic00:50:29Oh, true. It's all true. The power is hotness. Girl power. Mission accomplished. Yes.
JVL00:50:35Girl power. Right job, Marvel. Absolutely. We sit there and say, "Gosh, this is ridiculous." No question. Yeah. Yeah. And the target demo is- But here's the thing. So Favorite then said to me, "So what was your favorite part?" She said, "Did you like the movie?" And I said, "Yeah. I sort of liked it." She said, "What was your favorite part?" And I literally, I stopped, and I couldn't- There is nothing in that movie, there's no line, there's no scene, there's no moment that I pluck out and think, "Yeah, this thing was so perfect and so iconic that I will remember this for forever." In the way that people going dusty, you remember forever. There are line after line in the original Avengers that you will remember forever. You know, like this- I disagree.
Vic00:51:16I could go right to New York 2012, going back in time, seeing Robert Redford and, of course, John Slattery, and so he meets his father. I like that scene. I like when Loki gets the Tesseract, he disappears, because their whole plot, they have a plan of how to get this done, and, of course, none of it goes right. It does in the end, with the exception of, well, somebody has to die, but I like that idea.
JVL00:51:38I like the whole, "Here's the plan." Wait, how did they get the Tesseract in the end? Since Loki disappeared with it?
Vic00:51:41They went back to 1970. They went back even further.
JVL00:51:43Yeah. So does this free up Tom Hiddleston to still be alive?
Sonny00:51:47That's a great question. I assume that Tom Hiddleston disappearing with the Tesseract is how they have the entry point into the Loki series that's going to be on the Marvel channel, or the Disney channel. Is it going to be with Tom Hiddleston?
JVL00:52:00Yeah. Because I'm here for anything Tom Hiddleston wants to do.
Sonny00:52:02Yeah, anything. Same. Same.
JVL00:52:05I'll come and watch.
Sonny00:52:06Yeah, yeah. Same. Okay. The Night Manager. Good. I loved Smart Hulk. Yeah. The scenes with Mark Ruffalo in the diner. Yeah, Smart Hulk is great. I mean, I'm just trying...
JVL00:52:17It's a way to evolve the character while keeping the character, and also... To make Mark Ruffalo himself unnecessary. Well, you still need him to... No, you don't. You think Edward Norton could play that? I think the entire thing can be done CGI'd now, and you just have somebody doing voice work. I mean, this is actor contract insurance.
Vic00:52:38What was wrong with... Can I just say this quickly? What was wrong with Eric Bana?
?00:52:41What's that?
JVL00:52:42Eric Bana wasn't the problem. The problem was the conception of the character.
Sonny00:52:46Yeah. Right?
Vic00:52:48The whole thing just didn't work. Did you know Gene Sheldon actually reviewed a movie with Eric Bana, and it was not a good movie? No. And Gene Sheldon was... Not a Bana year. Oh. God.
JVL00:52:59Okay.
Sonny00:53:00But I mean, were there things in it that you just...
JVL00:53:02Even today, you think back on it now, a week after, 'cause we're now one week past when you saw it, that you reach back to and think, "That was a moment."
Sonny00:53:11Yeah. I mean, Tony dying on the battleground, and Peter Parker coming up and being like, "We did it. We did it, Mr. Stark." And then realizing that... I don't know. Tom Holland was here. Yeah. Realizing that this is the end of Tony Stark. Okay.
Vic00:53:31Captain America in the elevator. Great stuff. Loved it. A plus. And that is a great scene. That is a great scene. I thought it was gonna replay when the soldiers... 'Cause you expect it to go one way, and then it goes the other way.
Sonny00:53:39'Cause that dude is there. The other dude is there, too. It subverted your expectations. See?
Vic00:53:43Okay. A plus. Okay. All right. Were there other thoughts?
Sonny00:53:48Well, we're gonna do... Yes. Okay. Let everyone know. We're gonna have more to discuss in part two of The Sub-Beacon on Endgame, coming next week, because as you know, there's nothing in the theaters this weekend. No, there's nothing. There's nothing. So we're not... Nothing. I assume we probably don't wanna talk about Under the Silver Lake for 40 minutes next week, so... Oh, my gosh. That's actually something? That's a thing.
Vic00:54:06I've watched it. Mm. Okay. I have a... Corrections, shout-outs. Additions, shout-outs. Last week, we talked about our friend Sam Huffines and his tequila, Classe Azul. This week, it is listener and friend and artist extraordinaire Doug TenApple, who sends us his latest book. "Big Foot Bill," and he sent you a copy, JVL. Look at this.
JVL00:54:27What?
Vic00:54:28He sent all of us a copy. We all got a copy.
Sonny00:54:30Look at that. It's funny. This is beautiful. It's funny. So I saw it when you handed it to me. Yes. I was like, "Oh, this looks like Earthworm Jim." Yes. And I was like, "Oh, that... Oh!"
Vic00:54:40So you know that makes sense. So this is his new book. It's Doug... Check it out, everybody. It's "Big Foot Bill: Shadow of the Mothman," and again, as Sonny just mentioned, we know Doug from Earthworm Jim, and even before that, he was in Veggie Tales.
Sonny00:54:52And I think... I think I saw somewhere that Earthworm Jim is actually coming back to a video game platform
Vic00:54:58by... Excellent. Thank you, Doug. Doug, this is beautiful. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's beautifully bound. Holy moly. And of course, beautifully illustrated, isn't it? Yeah. Wonderful. So that's yours, JV.
JVL00:55:09And I think there's a couple of little...
Vic00:55:10This is like an archival version of the book. And it's signed. And it's signed and all sorts of... What? Oh, my gosh. There's like an iron-on patch.
?00:55:16The whole deal.
JVL00:55:17All right. Thank you, Doug. Thank you, Doug. Oh, and a trading card. I'm gonna open this up.
Vic00:55:22The whole deal. All right. So that's all the time we're giving to this episode. Questions, comments, complaints, compliments, tweet us @VictorinoMatus, @SonnyBunch. Again, be sure to subscribe to us on iTunes or Google Play. Just type in Sub-Beacon on a podcast. We're there. Leave a review. Tell your friends. Until next time. I have one. Yeah? If you don't have an outtake. It's very short, but...
Sonny00:55:52Didn't you want to talk about Pokeball?
Vic00:55:53Pokeballs? I did. We can add that, too. So, I mean, that's the thing. So as bad as I've been eating for this whole... What is a Pokeball? Great question. JVL, I'm surprised you don't know this. So for the last 48 hours, I ate a lot. However...
Sonny00:56:08It's all been fish, except for that burger.
Vic00:56:09Thanks to Sonny Bunch. Thanks to Sonny Bunch, he has turned me on to Pokeball, which is like Hawaiian sushi. It's like sushi in a bowl, in the salad, in rice, whatever else you want to mix in it. Sushi in a bowl. Sonny, where did you discover Pokeball? Poke?
Sonny00:56:24Well, there's a restaurant in Shirlington. There's a Hawaiian place, and they have kind of a more classic Pokeball, which is like just the fish and like some rice or something. It's not mixed up like Pokebar, which is the place in Roslyn that we go to. Love it. But it's great, isn't it? It only costs $500 a meal. Can you eat it with poi? No.
Vic00:56:47No, there's nothing. That's the only thing Hawaiian about it is the fact that it's this raw fish in a salad. There's nothing else. There's no other Hawaiian element. Spam. There's no spam. There's no pineapples, I don't think. Maybe, but in any event, you get a choice of your protein. Is it crazy expensive?
JVL00:57:01Yes. How expensive is it? Compared to, say, chopped or roti.
Vic00:57:05Oh, well, okay. It's similar to chopped.
JVL00:57:07More expensive than chopped.
Vic00:57:08It's probably $10. The cheapest poke is the most expensive chopped, if that makes sense. So $13.
Sonny00:57:12The cheapest poke is probably about 10% more expensive than the most expensive chopped that I get. Wow. And the most expensive one, the large, if you get a large--
Vic00:57:23Four scoops of protein.
Sonny00:57:24Four scoops of protein. If you get a large-- Four salmons. It's like almost $20.
Vic00:57:28It's insane. $17.53, but I'm sure my omega-3s are in full power mode.
Sonny00:57:36I'm sure they're fine.
Spot something wrong in this episode? Suggest a correction →
Comments
Loading…