Josh’s Top 25 Films of 2017
“There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people. To see if we could become something more. So, when they needed us, we could fight the battles that they never could.”
And with that, the Infinity War Official Trailer is now in front of us, and there are so many thoughts!
1 – How viable a threat is Thanos?
He comes out very blasé and bored, doesn’t he? Remember when he puts on the glove and says, “I’ll just do it myself.” Here’s a guy who is tired of the minions failing repeatedly, so he’s now taking matters into his own hands. But if his apathetic nature is any indication, he truly believes he’s above fighting the superhero weaklings. I like this! A villain who not only believes he’s better, but by all indications, is better at fighting a war of this magnitude than his opponents. MCU needs Thanos to be the de-facto Villain. He needs to pose the greatest threat to the Avengers that any being has ever offered.
2 – Captain America Returns
Steve Rogers has had some time off from the light. What has happened to him in between Civil War and Infinity War? Does he have demons he’s battling after all these years of serving and protecting? Whatever the reasons for this apparently darker look, it’s good to have you back, Cap.
3 – Our Frightened Heroes
Every facial expression details a pain and a struggle that is at the heart of this story. Destruction is looming. How does this affect how the Avengers interact with one another? How do they all come together to defeat Thanos?
4 – Time to Die
It’s been a longstanding critique; someone needs to die in these movies. Civil War wasn’t the right time. But Infinity War is the right time. The weight of the moment requires it. Watch the trailer and see how effortlessly Thanos punches Iron Man to the ground; or how easily Vision is manhandled. The question then becomes: Who? Who takes the fall here? There’s no doubt that everyone has an opinion on this—theories will be flying for the next few months. My hope is that if someone dies that it’ not spoiled beforehand.
5 – Massive Scale
This one is easy because when you look at the cast, there is no other option but to go as big as possible. Think of all the greatest battles you’ve been on film; this one needs to be bigger, loftier, more intense. There is no other option here. The MCU has been building to this for so long that it’s time for the payoff.
One more thought…
6 – Hey, Guardians! WELCOME!
Watch the trailer here!
My name is Josh, and I’m excited for Justice League.
I know it’s cool to dog the DCEU, and hey, for the most part they deserve it! But Wonder Woman was amazing, and it’s so good that it almost absolves the powers that be of the calamities of the previous entries in the universe. Not completely, but almost!
So, with the release of the next chapter in the world of DC, let me give you five reasons why I’m pumped to see Justice League.
1 – The Wonder Woman Effect
This one’s easy, and I already mentioned it above: Wonder Woman was amazing; it’s one of my favorite films of the year. It’s about as good of a superhero movie that has ever been made, and I left the film wanting to see more. So, that’s what we get in Justice League: more Wonder Woman! All due respect to the Dark Knight, but this is Princess Diana’s world, and everyone else is just living in it. My hope is that she has a major role in this film; Gal Gadot deserves it for pulling DC out of the ashes. The fact that we get to see Wonder Woman in two movies in one calendar year is reason enough to be hopeful.
2 – They’ve learned from their mistakes
Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I have to believe that Zach Snyder and company have learned from their past mistakes and have went to great lengths to make sure that Justice League is done right. Because, why else do it? I can’t imagine that they didn’t take the criticisms of the past to heart and work to try to improve on the product. Nobody working on a film wants that film to be received poorly. And the past films, other than Wonder Woman, have been received very poorly. So, the hopeful movie lover in me wants to believe that they wanted to reverse that trend in a major way with Justice League.
3 – Above all, these are still characters we love
We can’t forget that these characters have been around a long time. Over 50 years! With that comes the obvious: a huge opportunity to put out quality characters and good stories. Because the material is right there for the taking! The lore, the history, it’s already in place; it’s just a matter of putting it on the big screen.
Two more.
4 – It’s a team-up blockbuster in November
We already had one to begin the month in Thor: Ragnarok, but this one feels different because of the obvious reason that the MCU has been around a long time and the DCEU is still just starting to plant its feet; with the MCU, there’s not much of an unknown at this point. With DCEU, there’s still a shred of uncertainty; namely, how will the actors mesh, and how will their storyline in this film shape the future. Either way, Justice League is a blockbuster movie. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting the same feeling I get the days leading up to the first weekend of May, and that’s a great feeling to have in November.
5 – It’s happening, so might as well go in hopeful.
Look, this movie is happening. It’s here. So I’ve just decided to go in with a hopeful attitude. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy. Maybe it’s the holiday season, or maybe it’s because the days are shorter, but I feel compelled to offer up some seasonal forgiveness. The past is in the past; let bygones be bygones. This is a fresh opportunity for the DCEU, and it’s a great chance to win over the skeptics out there. I’m hopeful that they’ve done right by the fans and that we’ll leave the theater this weekend happy with the film that we’ve just seen.
And if we don’t, well, there’s always Wonder Woman.
Hello people! Jordan here, and I’ve come to talk about the latest release of the DCU, which hits theaters this Thursday! That’s right! You probably already know that Justice League is coming to a theater near you, and If you were around when me and Josh discussed Batman V Superman, you probably remember us harking on sir Zach Snyder’s direction of the film. Ironically, I didn’t hate the film as much as Josh did. I thought there were some entertaining aspects, such as the fight with doomsday at the end and Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne. Those parts were fine. Many more were not.
One of my favorite Youtubers and filmmakers is a blogger named Casey Neistat. A few years back, he came out with a video called “Casey’s Guide To Filmmaking,” which he primarily discusses the different camera’s he uses and the ones he used to use during his decade long career on the internet. One of the side aspect of that video is a concept that I heard for the first time back went this was first uploaded, and that concept is that story is king. Casey said that no matter how great your gear is, if the story is awful, none of it matters. I’d like to branch off from this “Story Is King” concept by saying that no matter how great the characters were in their comic heyday, if you don’t tell a good story with them on screen, none of that matters. I think Zach Snyder needs to be reminded is this concept.
The writing of Zach Snyder’s last DCU film, Batman V Superman, was so all over the place that it failed to be coherent. One of the worst parts of this often random feeling movie is a dream, where Batman is in the middle of some desert fighting off a bunch of (Desert bandits? Sand soldiers? Tusken Raiders?) dudes in vests, and then Flash shows up and says…something? Then that scene ends and is never referenced again. It’s confusing, strange in comparison to the rest of the film, and most of al it does not serve the STORY that the film had been telling. Zach Snyder shot and OK’d this for the movie. The Martha scene is another awful resolution that solves the movies problems so easily that everything before it seemed over the top after that scene ended. “Your mom has the same name as my mom? Nah we cool.” The division between Batman and Superman was building up a climax conflict that should have been played out for much more of the film, but it wasn’t. It was also why the title Batman V Superman is the worst title for the film. Blown expectations ShNYYDEE!
These inconsistencies that feed into the overall story are specifically why I have a hunch that Justice League will be awful. Snyder’s just doesn’t have the directing chops to keeps his stories in this universe railed. That concerns me, and it’s also why removing him from the driver’s seat of the films was the right decision. You can’t have a guy at the helm piecing together whole movies when he couldn’t even do it for one.
Joss Whedon WILL fix the franchise, but first we have to get through the last remnants of Zach Snyder’s influence, and if Justice League’s not absolutely terrible, I will be genuinely surprised. LOOK FOR OUR REVIEW OF THE FILM MONDAY!!
To celebrate 100 episodes of the Stale Popcorn Podcast, we’re going to be doing a Funko Pop Twitter Giveaway. The rules are simple:
No purchase necessary to enter or win. Void where prohibited. Open only to legal residents of the contiguous 48 United States aged 18 or older.
Tweet requirements:
One (1) eligible person who follows @StalePopcornPod, likes, retweets, and responds to the giveaway tweet with their favorite movie of 2017 will be randomly selected from all eligible entries on November 18, 2017. Deadline to enter contest will be 11/18/17 at approximately 2:00PM CST and announced during our 101st episode, airing Monday, November 20th, 2017.
@StalePopcornPod will direct message the potential winner following the selection to provide information on redeeming the prize. Inability to contact @StalePopcornPod with the proper information within 48 hours will result in the prize being forfeited and awarded to an alternate possible winner.
Likes/Retweets/Comments must be made public on Twitter. No software-generated, robotic, scripted, programmed, or other automated online entries are permitted.
The winner will be decided at random using the tool www.competitionagency.com
All requirements for giveaway eligibility must be met, otherwise the participant is disqualified.
Legal stuff:
Limit one (1) entry per person. All entries discovered to have been submitted by the same individual using multiple accounts will be disqualified. Your entry must meet all of the criteria mentioned.
Ineligible responses include responses that fail to comply with Offical Rules, as well as those that may be construed as threatening, abusive, harassing, defamator, hateful, embarrassing to another person, deceptive, obscene, contains racial slurs, or is not within the spirit of the Giveaway, as determined by the owners of the Stale Popcorn Podcast.
Stale Popcorn Podcast is not responsibile and shall not be liable for any condition caused by events that may cause the Giveaway to be disrupted, or any damage to prize during shipping or delivery.
Stale Popcorn Podcast reserves the right in its sole discertion to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Giveaway. Stale Popcorn Podcast reserves the right to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Giveaway, to be acting in violation of the Official Rules, to be acting in violation of the terms of Twitter, or to be acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner.
Some opinions are better expressed in written format.
We’re heading into our 90th episode next week, and as always, we’ll talk about something in the movie-sphere that we find interesting and relevant (in this case, we’ll step away from movies and discuss the Netflix series “The Defenders”). And if you’ve ever listened to our episodes, we typically get long winded. We don’t keep it simple at the Stale Popcorn Podcast. If something is easy and needs to be made convoluted, we’re your podcast!
With that out of the way, I feel there is an opportunity here to dive into more content, because sometimes what we want to express simply doesn’t fit into the flow of our weekly show and is better served for another arena.
Therefore, it is my goal to bring written content to the site. We typically have a rough outline of topics we want to tackle on the show, but we try to keep it as consistently comparable as we can; you probably won’t hear us talking about the latest Disney movie and then also talking about the goriest film we’ve ever seen in the same episode, because they don’t fit together. And since some topics don’t stretch into 30 minute podcasts, we leave them on the cutting room floor. There is no telling how many topics we have abandoned because they just didn’t mesh with what we’re trying to do on our weekly podcast.
There are a few topics I want to take a run at soon, so get ready for some Stale Popcorn reading very soon. In the meantime, we just posted our 89th episode for your listening pleasure. On that episode, we discuss the Big 4 in the Netflix Marvel Series, and in typical SPP fashion, we go off on some tangents and find some way to re-align with our main topic. So, give that a listen, and as always, let us know what you think by connecting with us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
See you soon!
– Josh
Josh jumps up on his soapbox to discuss the latest news that his city of Owensboro, Kentucky is getting a new theater from a familiar chain, while another theater is closing. And he’s not happy. Jordan then reviews the Jordan Peele thriller, “Get Out.” Enjoy the chaos!
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Mentioned In Todays Episode
Malco Theater
Get Out Cast
M. Night Shymalan
The Village
Nintendo Switch
Jurassic World 2 begins filming
Shriek 5 confirmed
Dr. Strange release
Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement
Matt Reeves directing The Batman
Shooting Stars Meme
Bernie’s Jokes
Tiny Trumps
Today Jordan and Josh go through all of 2017 Oscar Nominees and discuss who they think will win each category and as well as who they want to win. Enjoy!
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy
Mentioned In Todays Episode
Jordan’s Hair
Rosie O’Donnell as Steve Bannon
Song that Jordan Mixed
The Energy Bus(Book)
Ben Affleck leaving DC
Donald Glover to play Simba
2017 Oscar Nominees
Today Jordan and Josh reflect on there experiences with the Best Picture nominees and how it has given them prospective. They also talk about conflict in story and whether it’s important to story structure. We also give our first review of a 2017 film, Lego Batman! Enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy
Mentioned In Todays Episode
Deadpan Romantic Poster
Moonlight trailer
Spore short
Lego Batman Cast
Today Jordan and Josh talk about two more best film nominees, Hacksaw Ridge and Lion. We give our reviews of the film and give our take on how they stack up against the other nominees. Enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy
Mentioned In Todays Episode
The Oscar Director’s Roundtable
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Hacksaw Ridge cast
Lion cast
Today Jordan and Josh assess every category of the Academy awards, from Best Picture to Best Costume Design. Enjoy!
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy
Mentioned In Todays Episode
Amy Adams
John Goodman
Meryl Streep In Florence Foster Jenkins
2017 Academy Award Nominees
Today Jordan and Josh give you their most anticipated films of 2017. They, like everyone, are very excited for Star Wars Episode VIII and MCU movies, and since it is already common knowledge that these films are coming out this year, we decided to focus on films that may be going under the radar that we think could turn out to be great films. Enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy
Mentioned In Todays Episode
The Buffalo Bills
Bill Clinton looks at Ivonca Trump
George Bush’s pancho
Daredevil on Netflix
The Circle Trailer
Power Rangers Trailer
The Mummy Trailer
The Dark Tower IMDB
Dunkirk Trailer
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Ghost In The Shell Trailer
Today we talk about a film that is looking to build up quite a trophy room during award season, in fact it’s already grabbed several Golden Globes. We finally got our chance to check out La La Land for ourselves. One of us loves it WAY more than the other, and we give our reasons why. We hope you enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy
Mentioned In Todays Episode
Today’s episode is very, very full! We give our reviews for Fences, Manchester By The Sea, AND Hidden Figures. We talk about where we thought these films ranked upon our “best of 2016” list, and we get lots of compliments from Vincent D’Onofrio. No joke. Enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy.
Mentioned In Todays Episode
V For Vendetta
“I Hate Sand” from Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones
Fences Cast
Manchester By The Sea Cast
Hidden Figures Cast
Today, Jordan and Josh look back at the films in 2016 and give their lists for the top 10 Movies of the year. We also let you guys know what films we thought were the worst of the year, and we discuss what kind of year that we think 2017 will be for film. Enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy.
Mentioned In Todays Episode
Episode 7: Deadpool, Zoolander 2, Chipmunks
Episode 6: The 5th Wave, Goosebumbs
Episode 13: Batman V Superman
Episode 26: TMNT: Out Of The Shadows, Angry Birds
Episode 30: Ghostbusters, Secret Life Of Pets
Sing Street Trailer
Manchester By The Sea Trailer
Episode 46: Dr. Strange
Fences Trailer
Episode 35: Kubo And The Two Strings
Episode 11: 10 Cloverfield Lane
Episode 23: Warcraft, Me Before You
Episode 49: Moana
Episode 28: The BFG, Swiss Army Man
Episode 47: Arrival
Episode 52: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Episode 18: Captain America Civil War
Carrie Fisher
Today we talk about J-Law and Chris Pratt’s newest Sci-Fi film Passengers. We also have enjoy some more Star Wars talk, including some of our thoughts on the classic films, as well as a small discussion about classic Nintendo consoles and games. Enjoy.
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Our theme song is “Thing Of Gold” By Snarky Puppy.
Mentioned In Todays Episode
Rogue One Poster
Force Awakens Poster
Star Wars Original Trilogy
NES Classic
Final Fantasy 6
Crono Trigger
Earth Bound
Donkey Kong Country
NES Contra
Passengers Cast
The Martian
Ep47: Arrival