There was so much ground to cover after four weeks without Talk Hard! On Episode 36 we decided to dig through a ton of Hollywood news with a game of Yay or Nay.
YAY or NAY
- Daniel Craig signs on for two more Bonds - YAY:Todd & Scott NAY:Allen
- Letterman on Netflix - NAY if he keeps the prospector beard
- Seth Meyers rebooting The Munsters - NAY
- Hasselhoff wants to relaunch Knight Rider starring himself - YAY
- Macchio and Zabka launching a Cobra Kai show on YouTube RED - YAY
- Will Avatar last through all four planned sequels - NAY
- Wonder Woman a Best Picture contender - NAY
- Will Captain Marvel be the first Marvel Studios flop? - YAY
- Is Spider-Man: Homecoming the best Spider-Man movie? - YAY:Allen NAY:Todd & Scott
1893 Pepsi Taste Test
Well Pepsi's fancy new cola turned out to be all can and no flavor. At least in my opinion. It kind of tasted like Pepsi, only weaker; so I'm not sure how they can claim it's a "bold spin" on the original cola. This one is the opposite of bold. And Allen was turned off by the after-taste. However, as we said, Todd is the real cola connoisseur among us and he gave it the thumbs up. So for the official record, here were the results...
- Scott: MEH
- Allen: GROSS
- Todd: THUMBS UP
Space Cops t-shirt
We covered episodes 4-7 in great detail so there isn't much additional info I could provide here. But, I can talk about our t-shirt drawing. After we reached 100 subscribers on the Space Cops YouTube Channel, we drew the winner of a Space Cops shirt on the show (and live on Facebook). Congrats Greg Pursifull. We also announced that if you aren't Greg, you have one more chance to win a t-shirt. All you have to do is rate Talk Hard on iTunes. You get your name in the hat once for a rating (we love 5 stars, but that's up to you) and twice if you also write a review. But HURRY; the YouTube drawing was one in a hundred, this drawing is one out of the next twenty ratings.
Force Watch: The Greasy Strangler
On the pod, I don't believe I adequately explained just how PO'd this movie made me. Allow me to clarify. Anyone can make this garbage. Anyone. This isn't the product of an avant-garde genius; it's the thoroughly lazy scribblings of a man bereft of any true imagination. Do you know what's difficult in filmmaking? It's taking the audience on a journey full of text and subtext, delivering them to the destination you intended and holding their attention all the while. It takes no talent as a writer to go from scene to scene asking yourself, "What's the weirdest thing that can happen now?" and moving on. As much as the film festival circle might argue otherwise, absurdity is not a genre. People do it because it's easy. It doesn't take effort. It is difficult to move and surprise an audience in intellectually honest ways. It is difficult to construct jokes with punchlines and create genuinely funny scenarios. Absurdity relieves those burdens. You can easily shock and disgust over and over without being beholden to a plot or the need to tell a story that ultimately makes sense in any fashion. You can repeat a nonsensical phrase over and over and over in hopes that the audience's awkward discomfort leaves them no choice but to laugh. That isn't comedy. I could walk up to a lady on the street and act bizarre enough to illicit nervous laughter. That doesn't mean I'm funny; it means she was afraid for her life. She isn't going to go home and tell everyone she met a comedian. So, just in case I wasn't clear... The Greasy Strangler is hot garbage and the worst kind of idiotic drivel that passes itself off as art. Anyone who lauds this movie as such...
"Insanely compelling and funny, one of the best films of 2016" (Empire Magazine)
...is a self-important moron who believes they're the only one smart enough to "get it." Liking an unpopular band doesn't mean you have elite taste and can hear what no one else can hear, it means you like a crappy band. And finally, for the love of all that's holy, do not watch The Greasy Strangler on our account.
OH... and I kept saying the phrase from the movie wrong. It was "Hootie Tootie Disco Cutie." (Of course. Because Tootie Frootie Disco Cutie would just be stupid. I'm so embarrassed.) There are two scenes of this. THEY DO IT TWICE!! And I refuse to embed either. I can't even link them here because there's wayyyyy too much skin involved. So... yeah. Thanks for listening everybody. We'll effort another episode soon.