Latest / Houselights: A Film Director Podcast / The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - Chris McKay | Houselights #290: Wing of Batman

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The Lego Batman Movie (2017) - Chris McKay | Houselights #290: Wing of Batman · Houselights: A Film Director Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to the ned Palty.
0:20
Speaker 2: Welcome back to House Lights, our director discussion show here
0:23
Speaker 2: on the Nerd Party Network. This week, we're continuing in
0:26
Speaker 2: the wing of Batman, dipping back into the animated films
0:30
Speaker 2: with twenty seventeen's The Lego Batman Movie. Will we nail
0:34
Speaker 2: this review on the first try? Or break out the
0:37
Speaker 2: bat themed rock songs. I'm your host, Darren bat Swag
0:42
Speaker 2: Gun Moser, and I'm joined by Wayne Island master builder
0:46
Speaker 2: John Mills. Just when you thought it was safe to
0:50
Speaker 2: reference nineteen sixty six Batman, we're back with the Lego
0:54
Speaker 2: Batman Movie. I am really glad we're not skipping this
0:57
Speaker 2: one in the Wing of Batman because it is such
1:00
Speaker 2: a different vibe than anything we've covered.
1:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah it is. But see, that's what's so great.
1:10
Speaker 3: What's tipping my hand? I did not hate this movie,
1:14
Speaker 3: so oh hey, that's you know, that's your tease for
1:16
Speaker 3: later everybody. But like, this is such a joyous exploration
1:23
Speaker 3: of everything that a Batman fan has witnessed and accepted
1:29
Speaker 3: and rolled with through the years. And it's such a wonderful,
1:35
Speaker 3: wonderful thing to have a movie like this come along
1:39
Speaker 3: and remind you not.
1:40
Speaker 4: To take it too seriously.
1:42
Speaker 3: Yes, to be like, it's okay, guys, you can just
1:45
Speaker 3: have some fun with it. And it's like, but it's
1:48
Speaker 3: also telling I think where it doesn't focus as humor
1:53
Speaker 3: because there are certain sacred cows that will not go
1:56
Speaker 3: after and it's I think that's really super interesting about
2:01
Speaker 3: you know, where they target their jokes and where they don't.
2:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this movie was greenlit after the success of
2:07
Speaker 2: the Lego Movie. And again I'm just picturing that pitch
2:12
Speaker 2: setting of like, oh, Lego movie did really well, like,
2:14
Speaker 2: let's keep this going. What do we want to do
2:16
Speaker 2: for our next installment? What about Batman? He was really
2:21
Speaker 2: popular in his three scenes, well not three scenes, he
2:24
Speaker 2: was in more than that. But you know, he's he's
2:26
Speaker 2: a secondary character. He's not a main well I guess
2:29
Speaker 2: i'll overspeak on his main plotness of the Lego Movie.
2:34
Speaker 2: But he was a standout character. I think everyone recognized
2:37
Speaker 2: that will Arnett's portrayal and it just was this gruff
2:42
Speaker 2: like Lego Batman takes himself really seriously, but that's what
2:47
Speaker 2: makes it funny because he's Lego Batman.
2:50
Speaker 4: Yes, exactly right, exactly right.
2:52
Speaker 3: And I think that our Net is able to do
2:55
Speaker 3: a I mean, his voice naturally lends itself.
2:59
Speaker 4: To what he does with the gravelly stuff here.
3:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that what's great about it is,
3:05
Speaker 3: like you said, he's taking it quote unquote seriously, but
3:08
Speaker 3: he's not taking it seriously like a guy who shows
3:12
Speaker 3: up at a comedy thing and refuses to laugh. He's
3:14
Speaker 3: going along with the He's giving the joke what it
3:17
Speaker 3: needs to power it. And there's a very important distinction there.
3:21
Speaker 3: And especially when you're talking about voice acting. Voice acting
3:26
Speaker 3: really gets overlooked a lot of times. And I mean,
3:31
Speaker 3: I'll offer, let's say there's a universe where Arnett does
3:34
Speaker 3: not play Batman. Here, what actor comes to your mind?
3:39
Speaker 3: Who else could do this specifically with the character.
3:42
Speaker 2: It's really hard because again, you talk about animated Batman
3:47
Speaker 2: and you instantly think of Kevin Conroy, like you can't
3:51
Speaker 2: not but I can't picture that voice coming out of
3:56
Speaker 2: Lego Batman, like yeah, I mean, I've heard this movie
3:59
Speaker 2: described as being inspired by like Naked Gun and Airplane,
4:03
Speaker 2: which it totally is like in its freneticness of and
4:07
Speaker 2: because it's animated, you can this doesn't this movie plot
4:11
Speaker 2: does not work as a non animated movie, because of
4:14
Speaker 2: course there's just so much on the screen that makes
4:18
Speaker 2: the joke work because it's so crazy. But yeah, I
4:22
Speaker 2: don't know another animated voice for this. It would I'd
4:28
Speaker 2: have to give this some thought, honestly, unless something comes
4:30
Speaker 2: to your mind. No.
4:32
Speaker 3: I was asking specifically because I consider it a great
4:37
Speaker 3: achievement for an actor or actress to contribute voice work,
4:42
Speaker 3: and I can't think of somebody else who could contribute
4:44
Speaker 3: something similar. That's not to throw shade at anybody that
4:48
Speaker 3: I could, like, you know, quote unquote replace or whatever,
4:50
Speaker 3: but like when I come in here and I hear
4:53
Speaker 3: Oar Nett, I can only hear Arnett. I can only
4:56
Speaker 3: hear him in this specific type of Batman role.
4:59
Speaker 4: And I can.
5:00
Speaker 3: But where I'll really tip my hat in all honesty
5:03
Speaker 3: was I didn't realize it was Michael Sarah until I
5:05
Speaker 3: saw the credits in the end, Like he did an
5:07
Speaker 3: amazing job, Like I could not recognize him in the voice,
5:11
Speaker 3: And then once I saw the credits, I was like, well, yeah, okay,
5:15
Speaker 3: I can hear it. But like that's also a great thing.
5:17
Speaker 3: And Robin is such a fun character in this where
5:21
Speaker 3: they're making fun of the concept of Robin while not
5:25
Speaker 3: making fun of the concept of Robin.
5:27
Speaker 2: I've heard Robin and Lego Batman described as if you
5:31
Speaker 2: took the sixty six Adam West Robin and paired him
5:36
Speaker 2: up with a Zack Snyder Justice League Batman, Like, that's
5:40
Speaker 2: kind of the vibe you get, which is kind of true.
5:43
Speaker 2: I mean, for the first half, he's literally just doing
5:46
Speaker 2: what Batman tells him to do, move by move, which
5:50
Speaker 2: is hilarious. But he's just got that wide eyed his
5:55
Speaker 2: eyes are wide, you know, hope of this orphan that
5:58
Speaker 2: wants to get adopted. It's so funny.
6:01
Speaker 3: It is, and I think that some of the story
6:04
Speaker 3: stuff that they do is pretty darn clever, with the
6:07
Speaker 3: way they introduced Barbara Gordon and the way they But
6:09
Speaker 3: the one thing I've always struggled with with this movie
6:13
Speaker 3: is how accessible is it to a non Batman fan?
6:18
Speaker 3: Like I know, for me, all of these jokes land
6:21
Speaker 3: because for this rewatch, I watch it with my youngest
6:24
Speaker 3: and she's vague. You know, she's familiar with Batman. She's
6:26
Speaker 3: not like a huge Batman fan. She's seen you know,
6:29
Speaker 3: some of this. I haven't even shown to the Christopher
6:30
Speaker 3: Nolan stuff yet. Because frankly, I think a ten year
6:33
Speaker 3: old would be a little bit bored with them. I know,
6:36
Speaker 3: sacrilege everybody, but like they're they're a little heady for
6:40
Speaker 3: a kid, and I think that watching this with her,
6:44
Speaker 3: there were enough points where I had to say, no,
6:47
Speaker 3: that that's actually really from the comics, honey, you know,
6:49
Speaker 3: like condiment King.
6:50
Speaker 4: I'm like, no, no, that's that's actually a character.
6:53
Speaker 2: That's actually doesn't Batman say, like google it, like these
6:56
Speaker 2: are actual villains and they are, which is what's hilarious.
7:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like leafing through old comic books on the
7:04
Speaker 3: Marvel side of the fence. And Craig Surrell, friend of mine,
7:09
Speaker 3: loves to mention all the time. I think he's like
7:12
Speaker 3: Madter eating lad or something like that, and like that's
7:15
Speaker 3: his thing, is he eats Madder and it's like, well,
7:17
Speaker 3: everything's matter. It's like, yeah, he can eat anything, and
7:20
Speaker 3: like that's his superpower. And it's like that's that's kind
7:22
Speaker 3: of lame, but okay.
7:24
Speaker 2: Picturing the scene in Deadpool where he's holding tryouts for
7:28
Speaker 2: the X team and just they're really bad, like they're not, like,
7:32
Speaker 2: how is that barely a superpower?
7:34
Speaker 4: Right? Right, I'm Lucky.
7:38
Speaker 2: Mystery Men. He's like, I shovel really well, It's like, okay, sure,
7:43
Speaker 2: I mean that's a whole other thing, but yeah, well
7:46
Speaker 2: this So I also watched this with my two kids,
7:50
Speaker 2: and yeah, thinking back on what they know about Batman,
7:55
Speaker 2: they have seen a few episodes of the animated series,
8:00
Speaker 2: but that's about it. So I hadn't really thought that
8:04
Speaker 2: it hadn't come together in my mind. You know that
8:06
Speaker 2: their Batman education hasn't even really started. R you know,
8:12
Speaker 2: there's many other things that they've enjoyed and seen, but yeah,
8:15
Speaker 2: they didn't.
8:16
Speaker 4: They don't.
8:16
Speaker 2: I wasn't really worried about the references because I'm going
8:19
Speaker 2: to laugh at those jokes. But I think they're just
8:23
Speaker 2: enjoying the freneticness of the pace of the villains. And
8:30
Speaker 2: you know, I still remember I don't know if you
8:33
Speaker 2: can name your your favorite joke. I'm sure it's impossible
8:37
Speaker 2: amongst the sea, But for me, the one that really
8:40
Speaker 2: really tickled me is when Alfred tells him he has
8:43
Speaker 2: to go to Commissioner Gordon's retirement and he goes, I
8:47
Speaker 2: don't want to, and he's like no, no, no, no no,
8:49
Speaker 2: and he's like flipping himself over up the stairs. I
8:52
Speaker 2: don't know why, but first time I saw this movie,
8:55
Speaker 2: I was busting a gut on that. It was such
8:57
Speaker 2: a like the visual comm of that motion and his
9:02
Speaker 2: pouting this, and I was just like, that is so funny.
9:05
Speaker 4: I yes, And when it eventually resolves into no no no.
9:09
Speaker 2: No no no no no no no no no.
9:10
Speaker 3: No no, like I I mean, I was laughing from
9:14
Speaker 3: the beginning, of course, because you know Arnette, you know,
9:17
Speaker 3: his voice starting up.
9:18
Speaker 4: Is like blackness everything every good movie starts.
9:22
Speaker 2: In the first moment of this movie.
9:24
Speaker 4: It has you and as the Warner Brothers logo, and
9:27
Speaker 4: it's like what it brus the house, the Batman building.
9:30
Speaker 3: And it's like, you know, it's it's so great and
9:33
Speaker 3: it's so over the top. And he goes back and
9:36
Speaker 3: he watches the end of Jerry Maguire and he's laughing
9:39
Speaker 3: at the tear jerker scene like the movie had me
9:42
Speaker 3: immediately at that point, Like I was just laughing uproariously
9:47
Speaker 3: at that point. And I think that, yeah, picking a
9:49
Speaker 3: favorite is pretty pretty difficult, but I think that it's
9:54
Speaker 3: interesting because there are so many deep cut jokes.
9:57
Speaker 4: I think you hit on it earlier.
9:59
Speaker 3: Though you're talking about your kids haven't really you know,
10:01
Speaker 3: quote unquote started their Batman education.
10:04
Speaker 4: But the pace is such that you're right to call
10:07
Speaker 4: out Naked Gun and Airplane as models for this movie,
10:11
Speaker 4: because those movies have the same thing of I'm not
10:14
Speaker 4: going to spend time waiting for the joke, like did
10:17
Speaker 4: the joke land? Great? Keep moving? Did the joke not land?
10:19
Speaker 2: A visual humor too, even if you didn't get the
10:22
Speaker 2: reference the visual Like I'd say a runner up for
10:25
Speaker 2: a favorite joke is when Alfred is saying, oh, he's
10:28
Speaker 2: going through one of those like introspective phases like and
10:31
Speaker 2: then just lists off every year a Batman movie came out,
10:34
Speaker 2: it's like like nineteen ninety five and nineteen ninety two
10:36
Speaker 2: and nineteen eighty nine and nineteen sixty six, and and
10:39
Speaker 2: it's just it's it's that was the love letter joke
10:44
Speaker 2: to Batman fans, Like that specific joke.
10:47
Speaker 3: Yeah, when he goes back to to sixty sixties and
10:50
Speaker 3: whatever this era was, you know, like I think that
10:54
Speaker 3: you got to give a lot of credit as well
10:56
Speaker 3: to Ray Fines for playing the right type of Alfred.
10:59
Speaker 3: And the thing is, it's weird to say he's playing
11:03
Speaker 3: the right type of Alfred for a lego Batman movie.
11:06
Speaker 3: That's that's really really odd. But my question to you
11:12
Speaker 3: is this is really frenetic, This is really funny, and
11:16
Speaker 3: it's sort of relentless in its pace. But does it
11:19
Speaker 3: have the type of lack of a better word, depth
11:23
Speaker 3: that makes it a true class like to make it
11:26
Speaker 3: really land, there has to be something.
11:28
Speaker 4: Does it have that message for you?
11:30
Speaker 3: Does it have that does it land the theme well
11:33
Speaker 3: with this about having to learn to trust other people
11:36
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, or is that sort of like
11:38
Speaker 3: does that feel like after school special tact on sort
11:40
Speaker 3: of thing was like, Okay, we got to have the message.
11:42
Speaker 2: No, I think the message is pretty well interwoven. And
11:47
Speaker 2: I think it has to be because there is so
11:50
Speaker 2: much joke energy injected into this movie that if you
11:54
Speaker 2: had no message and Batman didn't have any sort of
11:58
Speaker 2: I don't even say mess. It's more like an arc,
12:01
Speaker 2: Like Batman needs an actual story arc to go from
12:05
Speaker 2: the beginning of the movie to the end of the movie.
12:07
Speaker 2: Without that, it's visual salad of just too much going on. So, yeah,
12:14
Speaker 2: you have him on his high at the beginning, he's Batman,
12:17
Speaker 2: He's kidnapped, you know, not kidding. He's defeating you know,
12:20
Speaker 2: all the villains and just kicking their butts, and you
12:24
Speaker 2: have this high and then it comes crashing down with
12:28
Speaker 2: the joke of like I'm home and it echoes in
12:31
Speaker 2: an empty batch batcave and you're like, oh, and then
12:36
Speaker 2: the pace goes to a crawl like he's heating up
12:41
Speaker 2: his lobster thermidor, he's checking the like the he's picking
12:45
Speaker 2: inputs on his TV and it's hilarious.
12:48
Speaker 3: That's funny to me because that's the truly adult, relatable
12:52
Speaker 3: humor part where he's like, dude, not that one. Like
12:56
Speaker 3: we've all been through that, we all get it.
13:00
Speaker 2: So it crashes down, But then we get the actual plot,
13:04
Speaker 2: which is Batman doesn't need anybody Batman, you know, I'm
13:07
Speaker 2: fine on my own. We kind of get the second
13:09
Speaker 2: crush where Barbara Gordon's like, I want you to be
13:13
Speaker 2: a fully you know, team member of the police, which
13:15
Speaker 2: of course makes me think of sixty six Batman when
13:17
Speaker 2: he was.
13:19
Speaker 4: But deputized policeman.
13:21
Speaker 2: But they also nailed out where everything goes black and
13:24
Speaker 2: white and he kind of goes and do this, you know,
13:27
Speaker 2: dream state of my world is changing and falling apart.
13:30
Speaker 2: So even with the depth you get in this movie,
13:33
Speaker 2: it comes across very clearly, and even with the Joker
13:37
Speaker 2: is also kind of arcing where he's like because many
13:41
Speaker 2: people have said, you know Batman, or actually, I'll ask
13:44
Speaker 2: you this question, would you say Batman is Batman because
13:47
Speaker 2: of his villains? Kind of like this makes it out
13:50
Speaker 2: to be where if there were no villains or or
13:53
Speaker 2: they weren't part of the picture, would he literally just evaporate?
13:57
Speaker 4: Uh?
13:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that bat I think what this movie
14:01
Speaker 3: does a good job of pointing to is, yes, Batman
14:06
Speaker 3: needs his super villains to be something more in order
14:09
Speaker 3: for him to be something more than just a guy
14:11
Speaker 3: who dresses up in a costume. Like it lovingly addresses
14:15
Speaker 3: the fact that in order for a comic book to work,
14:18
Speaker 3: or a comic book movie to work, the stakes have
14:20
Speaker 3: to be stupidly high. He can't just be going around
14:23
Speaker 3: beating up muggers or that sort of thing, like that's
14:27
Speaker 3: what you know, we understand real life Batman would have
14:30
Speaker 3: to do, would have to engage in that sort of thing.
14:33
Speaker 3: But you know, we don't want to see real life.
14:36
Speaker 3: We want to see a bigger than life hero. And
14:38
Speaker 3: I think something that I found really funny is I
14:41
Speaker 3: had forgotten that the ending of this movie is essentially
14:45
Speaker 3: the ending of James Gunn's Superman, where they have to
14:47
Speaker 3: put together the city that's being ripped in part by
14:51
Speaker 3: a fisher. It's like, oh yeah, and like, you know,
14:55
Speaker 3: the fact that they stay dedicated to the joke that
14:57
Speaker 3: the way you're going to save this is through abs,
14:59
Speaker 3: you know, and it's a it's it's a it's an
15:03
Speaker 3: interesting interesting thing because I have to ask, have they
15:08
Speaker 3: had another Lego movie since this Batman one, or has
15:11
Speaker 3: this franchise?
15:12
Speaker 2: They had the Lego movie too, the second piece, so
15:15
Speaker 2: they had right to the first one, but that has
15:18
Speaker 2: not really been Uh it did okay, I think it
15:23
Speaker 2: lost a bit of the novelty of the first one.
15:25
Speaker 2: But uh, this was the only like this came out
15:30
Speaker 2: at just the right time when it was riding the high.
15:33
Speaker 2: Like they took the funniest part that wasn't emmet of
15:36
Speaker 2: the first movie and made its own movie. And I
15:39
Speaker 2: think that worked out great. But no, there, I mean,
15:41
Speaker 2: Lego's always had a bunch of variety movies and such,
15:45
Speaker 2: but not like this. This is like an actual theatrical release,
15:49
Speaker 2: So no, the only one I can think of it
15:50
Speaker 2: would be the Lego movie too, the second piece.
15:53
Speaker 3: So that is interesting though, because you would think this
15:56
Speaker 3: one super popular, everybody enjoys it. There hasn't been a
16:00
Speaker 3: follow up to this, like is it? Let me ask you,
16:03
Speaker 3: this is this demonstrating that there's a limited appeal to
16:09
Speaker 3: the premise of a Lego movie. Like I know there
16:12
Speaker 3: are Lego Star Wars movies. I know they are streaming
16:14
Speaker 3: ones that are released. You know, to your point, but
16:16
Speaker 3: do you think that they've mined even just Lego Batman.
16:20
Speaker 3: Do you think that they have anywhere to go with
16:22
Speaker 3: a sequel for this?
16:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like the I see your premise, but
16:27
Speaker 2: I would say it's almost not even that deep where
16:30
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's some executive who's like, Okay, how do
16:32
Speaker 2: we get keep working what worked with the original and
16:36
Speaker 2: all of that. But I think they were smart enough
16:39
Speaker 2: to just realize they put everything that there was on
16:42
Speaker 2: the table into this movie. Like I cannot see where
16:48
Speaker 2: unless some miraculous other story comes out to become the
16:53
Speaker 2: Lego Batman movie too, Like this was it? Like this
16:56
Speaker 2: is this was everything I think anyone dreamed of a
17:00
Speaker 2: Lego Batman movie, So I don't see if there's anywhere
17:02
Speaker 2: to go beyond this. And and yeah, keep him in
17:06
Speaker 2: the secondary character like he does reappear in the second
17:10
Speaker 2: Lego movie, but he's not, you know, the main character.
17:14
Speaker 2: So I think that that works.
17:15
Speaker 4: Yeah.
17:16
Speaker 3: I while I was watching this, because you know, I've
17:19
Speaker 3: seen it a few times now. While I was watching this,
17:22
Speaker 3: what was in the back of my head was, I
17:24
Speaker 3: don't see a Lego Superman movie working.
17:26
Speaker 4: I don't see a Lego wonder Woman movie working. I
17:29
Speaker 4: think this.
17:30
Speaker 3: Do you think that Batman is the only superhero that
17:32
Speaker 3: can make a Lego movie work? Like, if anybody else
17:35
Speaker 3: tries to be as tongue in cheek as this movie, like,
17:39
Speaker 3: I don't think it works. I don't think you can
17:41
Speaker 3: get away with having another character be this self effacing
17:45
Speaker 3: and fun about his legendary status that you you know,
17:49
Speaker 3: it doesn't transfer over to a Superman or a Green
17:54
Speaker 3: like a Lego Green Lantern movie. Look, I know I'm
17:57
Speaker 3: about to commit DC Comics fan blasphem, but there's a
18:00
Speaker 3: reason why they only make Superman and Batman movies, really,
18:03
Speaker 3: and why they only made two what you know, like,
18:05
Speaker 3: there's a limit to like a Lego Aquaman movie is
18:08
Speaker 3: not gonna play. That's not gonna pull anybody in. Yeah,
18:11
Speaker 3: And so it's like, do you think that this is it?
18:14
Speaker 3: Like the reason we won't get a two is because,
18:16
Speaker 3: like you said, and I think you're right, they put
18:18
Speaker 3: everything on the table here, everything ends exactly the way
18:22
Speaker 3: it's supposed to.
18:22
Speaker 4: Anything else would feel tacked on.
18:24
Speaker 3: Is it just that this is the one Lego superhero
18:27
Speaker 3: movie that works and that's the only one that would.
18:29
Speaker 2: I think so. I mean, I've heard it also described
18:32
Speaker 2: that this where the events of the first Lego movie
18:35
Speaker 2: are meant to be a story inside the children's heads
18:39
Speaker 2: that they're imagining that this is also meant to be,
18:42
Speaker 2: even though we don't see the kids at all. This
18:44
Speaker 2: is another story of children playing with their Lego and
18:49
Speaker 2: imagining all and they just have all the sets and
18:51
Speaker 2: all the toys and all the cool things, and this
18:55
Speaker 2: is that crazy story they create.
18:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't.
18:58
Speaker 2: I can't think of another. Because even if you found
19:02
Speaker 2: another superhero, let's say Spider Man, he's got a pretty big,
19:06
Speaker 2: you know, cast of villains and things like that, and
19:09
Speaker 2: you tried to tell the Lego spider Man movie, it
19:13
Speaker 2: would still feel too much like this movie, like you
19:16
Speaker 2: would need to do a non superhero movie, and I
19:19
Speaker 2: don't know what that would be. So yeah, it's I'd
19:23
Speaker 2: never thought of it that way before. But when you
19:26
Speaker 2: really think about it, this is really lightning in a
19:29
Speaker 2: bottle that it works on so many levels. It works
19:33
Speaker 2: because it's Batman, because Batman has dozens of movies that
19:36
Speaker 2: are already out and and you're playing off of all
19:40
Speaker 2: those performances ahead of time, which is what makes it funny.
19:43
Speaker 3: Well, I think. I think also Batman is the only
19:46
Speaker 3: superhero who's really known for his gadgets. Superman isn't known
19:50
Speaker 3: for his gadgets, spider Man isn't known for his gadgets.
19:53
Speaker 2: You have.
19:55
Speaker 3: I'm sure somebody's yelling at the yes they are, they're not,
19:59
Speaker 3: And but I mean, like I could see maybe like
20:02
Speaker 3: a Lego Fantastic four movie might work because read Richards
20:06
Speaker 3: invents stuff, and so you could have because that's the
20:09
Speaker 3: thing that really works as a Lego premise is the
20:13
Speaker 3: need and the ability to be a quote unquote master builder.
20:16
Speaker 3: So you have to put the things together. And they
20:18
Speaker 3: even have that referencing where it's like I'll take you
20:20
Speaker 3: through how to build the thing, and it's always, you know,
20:24
Speaker 3: a gadget or a vehicle or something key that's the
20:28
Speaker 3: deis x that he can construct on the fly. I
20:31
Speaker 3: don't see any other hero that lends themselves to that,
20:34
Speaker 3: but be that as it may, you know, it works
20:37
Speaker 3: really well in this context, along with the songs that
20:41
Speaker 3: Batman sings, and you know, actually thinking about that, I
20:45
Speaker 3: love the opening song, you know when the Joker's like,
20:47
Speaker 3: don't let him put on the music, and he puts
20:49
Speaker 3: on the song and.
20:50
Speaker 4: Like he's singing his own theme song.
20:52
Speaker 3: And I especially love when he's going through and it's
20:55
Speaker 3: like saying all the great stuff. It's like Batman, Batman,
20:58
Speaker 3: and then it's like who you know who pays his
21:00
Speaker 3: taxes all the time?
21:01
Speaker 2: Not Batman? Like, yeah, the songs are funny, you know,
21:08
Speaker 2: the music is great. Yeah, just to wrap up your
21:12
Speaker 2: previous point, I think the Lego movie and the Lego
21:15
Speaker 2: movie too, that kind of continues with you have these
21:19
Speaker 2: other master builders, you have this ensemble that works Benny,
21:23
Speaker 2: the Space Lego and the Pirate Lego, and like those
21:27
Speaker 2: will work as an ensemble. I can't think of any
21:30
Speaker 2: of those characters that would really work and be able
21:34
Speaker 2: to hold up a single franchise movie as it were,
21:38
Speaker 2: like Batman does. And it also works because it's lego
21:43
Speaker 2: because he has a bat cave that's the largest bat
21:47
Speaker 2: cave we've ever seen, and he has you know, conveyor
21:52
Speaker 2: belts of every single bat copter and bat plane and
21:56
Speaker 2: bat boat and bat sub and bat space shuttle. And
21:59
Speaker 2: that's what's also funny. So it like, those jokes don't
22:05
Speaker 2: work unless I don't know, maybe you're doing some sort
22:08
Speaker 2: of family guy spoof. Like it has to be so
22:11
Speaker 2: meta and animated for it to even come across, like
22:15
Speaker 2: you can't do it in any other type of movie.
22:18
Speaker 3: So here here's my question though, is you know when
22:21
Speaker 3: you when you look at this, when you see the
22:23
Speaker 3: way everything came together, and we're sitting here refusing praise
22:26
Speaker 3: on it justly right, we're calling out all these things
22:29
Speaker 3: at work.
22:30
Speaker 4: What isn't working here?
22:31
Speaker 3: Because I have a couple of things where I'm like, eh,
22:33
Speaker 3: you know, this is what's holding it back from perfection
22:37
Speaker 3: here or there?
22:37
Speaker 4: What holds it back from perfection? For you?
22:39
Speaker 2: Oh man? I mean I would almost say I was
22:43
Speaker 2: going to say the joker as far as his percentage.
22:48
Speaker 2: But it's the more I think about it, I feel
22:50
Speaker 2: like it actually there's just enough joker like he's he
22:53
Speaker 2: shows up when he's needed, but he's kind of off
22:56
Speaker 2: in the background enough that I don't get over done
23:00
Speaker 2: with that humor. But I guess I would just say,
23:04
Speaker 2: as much as we praise the freneticness, like man that
23:08
Speaker 2: opening number when he's swinging around the the city and
23:14
Speaker 2: and he's singing, it's like it is, it is a
23:16
Speaker 2: lot like it. I think it's one of those things
23:19
Speaker 2: where you've either bought in by that point or you
23:22
Speaker 2: are checked out. And obviously I think the majority of
23:27
Speaker 2: people who watch this bought in, but I could also
23:30
Speaker 2: see people being like just so confetti in your eye
23:34
Speaker 2: of stuff going on that they're just like, what is
23:38
Speaker 2: what am I watching? What is this?
23:40
Speaker 4: You know?
23:40
Speaker 2: I could see people who enjoy Batman eighty nine and
23:43
Speaker 2: they're like, yeah, you guys have strayed a lot from
23:47
Speaker 2: from the serious Batman.
23:49
Speaker 3: I like, I think that one of the things I
23:52
Speaker 3: love about this movie but I also recognize makes it
23:56
Speaker 3: harder to access, is actually the unleashing of all of
24:00
Speaker 3: these related Warner Brothers properties at the end with Voldemort
24:05
Speaker 3: showing up, with the Kraken showing up, with these not
24:08
Speaker 3: related to Batman villains showing up. On the one hand,
24:12
Speaker 3: it's wonderfully unrestrained imagination the way a kid would think
24:16
Speaker 3: of it, where it's like, oh, yeah, well crack, we've
24:19
Speaker 3: all played these games where it doesn't matter that Spider
24:23
Speaker 3: Man doesn't know the Mandalorian. I've got the Spider Man
24:25
Speaker 3: action figure and he's just sitting over there, he's going
24:28
Speaker 3: to come into this because you know what, in my world,
24:30
Speaker 3: I can have that crossover, absolutely, but I think that
24:34
Speaker 3: by losing the real world component, it abstracts the fact
24:39
Speaker 3: that it's happening inside a kid's head too much. And
24:42
Speaker 3: so when all of those villains show up at the end,
24:45
Speaker 3: I'm along for the ride. I love it when Kraken
24:49
Speaker 3: fires the bolt and it destroys Souron and he just
24:54
Speaker 3: like goes back and he's like, oh, he just like
24:56
Speaker 3: sneaks away because he's like oops.
24:58
Speaker 4: Like that's a funny joke, and it's a usual joke.
25:00
Speaker 3: But I could completely understand somebody going, well, wait, what
25:04
Speaker 3: does this have to do with Batman? Not in a
25:07
Speaker 3: deep sense where they're like stroking their their beard and
25:10
Speaker 3: clucking their tongue and saying, what is to be done
25:12
Speaker 3: with this lego Batman movie with its unrestrained character inclusions.
25:16
Speaker 2: But it could be fun.
25:18
Speaker 4: But it's also something where it's like Voldemort and crack.
25:21
Speaker 3: Even even I rewatching it, like we were both like, oh, Godzilla,
25:25
Speaker 3: it was like, oh wait, no, no, no, that's not Godzilla,
25:27
Speaker 3: you know, like that sort of thing. And you know,
25:30
Speaker 3: she hasn't even seen the Harry Potter movies, so you know.
25:34
Speaker 2: Like at a wizard who doesn't like people. Yeah, now,
25:38
Speaker 2: I think I think the fact that they encompass it
25:42
Speaker 2: within the phantom zone, which is a DC thing like,
25:46
Speaker 2: gives a lot of it eases it in. If it
25:49
Speaker 2: was all of a sudden, these guys just show up
25:50
Speaker 2: out of nowhere, I think that's maybe a step too far.
25:54
Speaker 2: But they've almost kind of written themselves into a corner
25:58
Speaker 2: because in the opening act of the movie, he captures
26:02
Speaker 2: all the villains like they're no more Batman villains. They're
26:05
Speaker 2: all in Arkham except for the Joker is the only
26:09
Speaker 2: one who got away, and so yeah, you and of
26:12
Speaker 2: course you get the whole like team up, team up
26:15
Speaker 2: with the with the villains, but uh, yeah, I see
26:18
Speaker 2: what you what you're saying, like it works, but it
26:22
Speaker 2: it also works because there's just crazy stuff going on
26:25
Speaker 2: this entire movie.
26:26
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's just that at that point, it's making
26:29
Speaker 3: a declaration that only a specific subset of the audience
26:33
Speaker 3: is going to get every joke, and so you're batting.
26:36
Speaker 4: Your batting percentage better.
26:38
Speaker 3: Be really, really high with those jokes for it to
26:43
Speaker 3: keep working for you. Now I can say with my
26:46
Speaker 3: youngest it did. She still enjoyed it all the way
26:49
Speaker 3: to the end, God bless her. But I'd be lying
26:52
Speaker 3: if I said it. You know, being my child didn't
26:56
Speaker 3: really help with that a whole lot, you know.
26:58
Speaker 2: Right, And my kids enjoyed the movie as well, which
27:01
Speaker 2: is so strange because I didn't even think as I
27:05
Speaker 2: was putting it on, Oh, were they going to be
27:07
Speaker 2: able to understand the references? Like they didn't even cross
27:10
Speaker 2: my mind. I'm like, it's lego Batman movie. Here we go, Like,
27:13
Speaker 2: I it been a while since I'd watched it, so
27:15
Speaker 2: I remember vaguely the freneticness, but and then all of
27:18
Speaker 2: a sudden, it's like, did I push play because there's
27:21
Speaker 2: nothing on the screen. Oh oh, that's right. It starts
27:23
Speaker 2: on black and very dark gray.
27:26
Speaker 4: Yes, but yes, well and.
27:28
Speaker 2: Again I think I think they nail the landing though
27:31
Speaker 2: from the when they yes, it's abs but when they
27:35
Speaker 2: pull it back together and you just have that little
27:37
Speaker 2: tiny click of like lego pieces. Yes, it's just it's
27:41
Speaker 2: it's audio humor. It's it's the pin drop in the
27:45
Speaker 2: middle of you know, the storm that's going on, which
27:48
Speaker 2: is so funny. And yeah, I think I think it works.
27:54
Speaker 2: I you know, as we're as we're rounding third, as
27:58
Speaker 2: we as we often say with with this, I want
28:01
Speaker 2: to circle back to some of the other the characters.
28:05
Speaker 2: So we talked about Alfred by Ralph Fines, which I
28:09
Speaker 2: think to your point, because this is a very different Alfred, Like,
28:12
Speaker 2: this is not like any Alfred we've seen. He's very
28:15
Speaker 2: like it's not like the animated series. It's not like
28:18
Speaker 2: the you know, Burden or any of those, but it fits.
28:22
Speaker 2: It's like very not not snooty, but very like upper
28:26
Speaker 2: crust butler trope. But we also have kind of a
28:31
Speaker 2: very different tale for Zario Dawson, who does Barbara Gordon Batgirl,
28:36
Speaker 2: where she's starting as the new commissioner instead of starting
28:39
Speaker 2: as Batgirl like, and she has a lot of agency,
28:42
Speaker 2: and she has a lot of you know, changing the
28:44
Speaker 2: course of Batman's story. So what did you think of
28:48
Speaker 2: how plot wise they're the Joker's there, But really the
28:52
Speaker 2: big thing that's shaking up Batman is the new commissioner,
28:57
Speaker 2: Barbara Gordon. Like, did that come across like I could
29:00
Speaker 2: see that happening or was it more like, oh, it's
29:03
Speaker 2: not a villain that's shaking them up.
29:05
Speaker 3: I give them credit for finding a way to make
29:07
Speaker 3: Barbara Gordon work. Without it would have been too easy
29:12
Speaker 3: for them to have Barbara Gordon exist in this bubble
29:19
Speaker 3: where they're making fun of the concept of Batgirl, especially
29:24
Speaker 3: the way she might have been portrayed in the past
29:26
Speaker 3: and the way sensibilities have changed. They instead have her
29:29
Speaker 3: just inhabit this character that works in a modern sensibility.
29:34
Speaker 3: Am I making sense Where it's like, this version of
29:37
Speaker 3: the character does not pander and point at it and say, oh, look,
29:43
Speaker 3: we updated her.
29:44
Speaker 4: It simply is the character.
29:46
Speaker 3: And that's who it is in the movie, and that's it,
29:49
Speaker 3: and we're not gonna shine a spotlight on it and
29:51
Speaker 3: talk about how we've made this great stride for filmmaking
29:55
Speaker 3: by changing the character. It's simply this is just who
29:58
Speaker 3: the character is, which is my book the way you
30:01
Speaker 3: should update characters. It's just update them and be done
30:03
Speaker 3: with it. Don't point at it, don't reference it, don't
30:05
Speaker 3: make a thing about it. Just update the character and
30:08
Speaker 3: be done. And that's what comic books have always done.
30:10
Speaker 2: Definitely. Yeah, the vibe was kind of like how some
30:14
Speaker 2: characters like Harley was introduced in the Batman the Animated series,
30:19
Speaker 2: which is a much more recent telling of Batman. It's
30:23
Speaker 2: as if we had never heard of Barbara Gordon until
30:26
Speaker 2: that era, and now she's the new police commissioner. We
30:30
Speaker 2: would have accepted that immediately. So, like you said, you
30:33
Speaker 2: just say, not that this is what it is. Now,
30:35
Speaker 2: you're just saying, this is what it is, and then
30:37
Speaker 2: it just goes right in the story. And I was
30:40
Speaker 2: cracking up at all our jokes, you know, Harvard for
30:43
Speaker 2: police officers, which was really hard for police is the best. Yes,
30:50
Speaker 2: but yeah, that worked. You know, we also, like you
30:55
Speaker 2: were saying before, with Dick Grayson, you know, being a
30:57
Speaker 2: really funny take on the adopted son and not realizing
31:02
Speaker 2: for the longest time that bat Man and Bruce Wayne
31:05
Speaker 2: are still not the same people. Oh, it's just hilarious.
31:07
Speaker 3: That's the best joke in the entire thing is that
31:10
Speaker 3: everybody from Joker to Robin is like, do you know
31:13
Speaker 3: what this means?
31:14
Speaker 4: Bruce Wayne is Batman's roommate. You know, like nobody's making
31:17
Speaker 4: the connection that they're the same guy.
31:19
Speaker 2: Batman, Doug Under Wayne Manor and Bill. It's like nobody.
31:25
Speaker 3: Connection right, exactly exactly, Yeah, that you know what, I'll
31:31
Speaker 3: go back, even though I've gone back and forth, I
31:33
Speaker 3: will say that that is my favorite joke.
31:35
Speaker 4: In the movie that nobody madeens.
31:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, or and Robin thinks that he has two dads
31:44
Speaker 3: because Batman number two.
31:46
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, no, yeah.
31:49
Speaker 2: Again. The the it's so well written, the comedy is
31:53
Speaker 2: right on, and it's again, it's so interesting because I
31:57
Speaker 2: look at it and obviously the thing I mainly compare
32:00
Speaker 2: to is like the Lego movie because it's very similar
32:02
Speaker 2: in humor and stuff. But I think the Lego Batman
32:05
Speaker 2: movie works in a way that the fact that it
32:09
Speaker 2: can just go from the get and be at one
32:13
Speaker 2: hundred percent, whereas the Lego movie has to take time
32:16
Speaker 2: establishing Emmett. He's a brand new character. We don't know
32:20
Speaker 2: who he is. We don't know who many of these
32:22
Speaker 2: characters are, so you have to take a long time.
32:25
Speaker 2: So it's a very different pace and different type of story,
32:28
Speaker 2: whereas this one. Yeah, it's like we're lighting the batfuse
32:34
Speaker 2: from the first moment and we just do not let up,
32:38
Speaker 2: which I think works perfectly for this.
32:40
Speaker 4: I agree, I agree.
32:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, but we have you know, Zach Galifianakis for the Joker,
32:46
Speaker 2: which I think was a great you know, the animation
32:49
Speaker 2: on the Joker's face I think was one of the best,
32:52
Speaker 2: like just the tiny little sag of the frown or
32:55
Speaker 2: the extra large toothy smile and grit like it came
33:01
Speaker 2: across so funny and again like he wasn't trying to
33:05
Speaker 2: be another Joker. He's not trying to be Heath Ledger.
33:08
Speaker 2: He's not trying to be you know, eighty nine Batman,
33:11
Speaker 2: you know Joker. It's it's lego Joker. Yeah, and it
33:15
Speaker 2: can be that. Yeah.
33:16
Speaker 3: Galflannakis is actually just like Sarah, I didn't realize it
33:21
Speaker 3: was him until the end, and that that's a hats
33:24
Speaker 3: off moment, it really is. Because it's so easy for
33:28
Speaker 3: a celebrity voicing something just to be too much of
33:33
Speaker 3: themselves in it. And it's a sign to me. The Galflanakis,
33:37
Speaker 3: Sarah Dawson, everybody showed up to play a character even
33:43
Speaker 3: though they're not even playing the character. They were playing
33:46
Speaker 3: a spoof, a loving spoof of the character that exists
33:50
Speaker 3: within this serious Batman universe that exists within Lego.
33:55
Speaker 4: So you know, again, hats off.
33:57
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, the only other two that that stand out
34:00
Speaker 2: my mind are Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as Superman
34:03
Speaker 2: in Green Lantern, and they're just keeping the joke from
34:06
Speaker 2: the Lego movie going of them just being annoyed with
34:10
Speaker 2: each other. But I did like that scene where he
34:13
Speaker 2: gets there and he thinks it's all gonna be empty
34:15
Speaker 2: and they're having a party that he wasn't invited to,
34:17
Speaker 2: and it's like.
34:18
Speaker 4: Of course, of course, ye.
34:21
Speaker 2: Pooter computer. Yeah. So no, I think, like you said
34:27
Speaker 2: at the very beginning, the fact that this movie does
34:30
Speaker 2: not take itself too seriously. It can't, it cannot, or
34:34
Speaker 2: it would not be funny. But Batman takes everything deathly
34:39
Speaker 2: seriously in this entire movie. So yeah, let's go through
34:44
Speaker 2: final thoughts, and we'll also give our friend Tristan's rating.
34:48
Speaker 2: You might have noticed there's a one less voice this
34:51
Speaker 2: week on the Nerd Party. Tristan wasn't able to join us,
34:54
Speaker 2: but as true friendly podcast hosts, we will gladly fill
34:59
Speaker 2: in his Well, let's not absolutely accurate rating.
35:03
Speaker 3: Let's not sugarcoat it. Tristan, he just felt he was
35:06
Speaker 3: too important for this episode. But fortunately we have his
35:10
Speaker 3: rating in. Do you want me to give my rating
35:12
Speaker 3: first or his rating?
35:13
Speaker 2: Well, let's give Tristan's rating first time again. He has
35:15
Speaker 2: been rating Batman pretty high, lots of fours and four
35:19
Speaker 2: and a half's I've been seeing so and that's the lands.
35:23
Speaker 3: That's the thing is he you know, I share a
35:26
Speaker 3: special bond with him, so I can speak for him here.
35:29
Speaker 3: He has been rating Batman stuff. He's very, very hardcore
35:33
Speaker 3: Batman fan. Not as big a Batman fan as either
35:35
Speaker 3: one of us, obviously, because you know, we showed up
35:37
Speaker 3: for this one and he just couldn't manage and so,
35:41
Speaker 3: you know, he was a little bit disappointed with this movie.
35:44
Speaker 3: I was surprised by it that he gave it two stars.
35:47
Speaker 3: So very disappointed with Tristan, But at the same time
35:51
Speaker 3: I respect his view, so he gave Lego Batman two stars,
35:54
Speaker 3: and that is now that's permanently out there. This show
35:57
Speaker 3: is going to be indexed by AI, and people will
35:59
Speaker 3: always know that Tristan rated this two stars.
36:01
Speaker 4: It's a shame, It's a real shame.
36:03
Speaker 2: I was very surprised he raked it on par with
36:07
Speaker 2: Batman and Robin. I did not see that coming a mile.
36:10
Speaker 4: It was shocking.
36:11
Speaker 3: I think it's because he takes Batman so serious, a
36:13
Speaker 3: little too seriously, honestly, and like this movie didn't take
36:16
Speaker 3: Batman seriously enough. I think also he was just offended
36:19
Speaker 3: by using the phantom zone. He thought that was a
36:23
Speaker 3: bridge too far. It's a little too you know, it's
36:26
Speaker 3: too serious a topic, you know, to raise about how
36:28
Speaker 3: Superman throws people into a nebulus nowhere that you know
36:32
Speaker 3: you can't make a joke about it, really, so he
36:34
Speaker 3: came in with two stars. For me, I love this movie.
36:37
Speaker 3: I think it's great. I think it's a lot of fun.
36:40
Speaker 3: I berey laughed through it again. I give it a four,
36:44
Speaker 3: a very loving four, and I do not give it
36:47
Speaker 3: a five because even though I'm laughing through the whole thing,
36:52
Speaker 3: there are jokes. Even I am like, wait, what you know. Like,
36:55
Speaker 3: it's one of those things where I think this movie
37:00
Speaker 3: was in an impossible box. It could not use the
37:04
Speaker 3: same conceit of showing the real world outside of it,
37:07
Speaker 3: but it still has to exist within the imagination of
37:11
Speaker 3: a child and the audience. And I think the removal
37:14
Speaker 3: of that indicator that it was all in the head
37:19
Speaker 3: of the child. I think that it's a damned if
37:21
Speaker 3: you do, damned if you don't scenario. It's unfortunately something
37:24
Speaker 3: that's boxed into, and I think it keeps it from
37:27
Speaker 3: really ascending to that next level that would have made
37:31
Speaker 3: it a five star.
37:32
Speaker 4: So I'm coming in at a four. What about you?
37:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm also giving it a four. The more I
37:37
Speaker 2: think about this, it's one of those movies that you
37:39
Speaker 2: don't think about like, oh yeah, like a Batman movie,
37:43
Speaker 2: But when you actually lay it out, like the fact
37:45
Speaker 2: that this happened and came together and was as funny
37:51
Speaker 2: as it is, it has no right being this funny
37:54
Speaker 2: like a Batman movie. Like if someone told me, I
37:57
Speaker 2: need you to write a Batman comedy that's going to
37:59
Speaker 2: make you bust up laughing and respect all of the
38:01
Speaker 2: Batman that came before it, but make fun of it,
38:03
Speaker 2: but also in a loving way and has a character
38:05
Speaker 2: arc that's a really tall order. But somehow the fact
38:09
Speaker 2: that it's Lego takes it one step out of itself
38:14
Speaker 2: and allows that I don't want to say meta of view,
38:17
Speaker 2: but like that outside perspective of why the jokes are
38:20
Speaker 2: funny and why our Nett's portrayal of Batman, you know,
38:25
Speaker 2: just come. He's wearing the cowl, like ninety nine percent
38:27
Speaker 2: of this movie is so even when he's just walking
38:30
Speaker 2: around at home, it's he has his cow on all
38:35
Speaker 2: the time, all.
38:36
Speaker 3: The time, right, he has to be reminded to take
38:38
Speaker 3: it off when he's in the limo ride.
38:40
Speaker 2: Right, he's like, uh, Sarah, are you forgetting something? He's
38:42
Speaker 2: like fine, It's like okay, yeah, but no. So I
38:47
Speaker 2: give it. I give it four four stars. For sure.
38:49
Speaker 2: It's a fun movie. My kids enjoyed it. And while
38:54
Speaker 2: I don't think we're gonna get a Lego Batman too,
38:57
Speaker 2: just because I don't see what that story would be,
39:00
Speaker 2: I do hope we see even more of our Net
39:03
Speaker 2: getting these types of comedy roles. I think it was
39:06
Speaker 2: they lucked out on him because he is delivering a
39:10
Speaker 2: really good performance. But not in a cartoony way. It
39:15
Speaker 2: just see he's hitting that nail on the head of
39:18
Speaker 2: serious but in an un serious situation.
39:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly right, exactly right.
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Speaker 2: All right, Well, two and two fours for the lego
39:28
Speaker 2: Batman movie. We're almost done with the Wing of Batman
39:32
Speaker 2: here in house Lights. Next week we're going to be
39:35
Speaker 2: ending the house with Matt Reeves the Batman from twenty
39:40
Speaker 2: twenty two.
39:40
Speaker 1: Next on house Lights, Join the Revolution, Join the net Party.