jeffrey wright

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 471 – “The Batman (feat. Kenn Edwards)”

Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022), directed by Matt Reeves

Gobbledygeek episode 471, “The Batman (feat. Kenn Edwards),” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Riddle me this, riddle me that…who’s afraid of Matt Reeves’ The Bat(man)? Not Paul and Arlo, that’s for sure, at least not with Project Batman vet Kenn Edwards at their side. There’s a lot of ground to cover, beginning with: Did we need the 897th Batman movie? Of course not, but since we’re here, the gang discusses Robert Pattinson’s turn as the Caped Crusader, the film’s emphasis on detective work, whether or not the story is served by a three-hour runtime, and much, much more.

NEXT: Smile! For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo have a little dental work done with Raina Telgemeier’s autobiographical novel.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:01:10  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:10:00  –  The Batman
  • 02:24:47  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Something in the Way” by Nirvana, Nevermind (1991)
  • “The Riddler” by Method Man, Batman Forever (1995)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Paul & AJ’s Top 10 New & Returning TV Series of 2013

Last week, we brought you our favorite movies of last year (finally saw Inside Llewyn Davis, by the way, and yes, it would have made the cut). This week, we change channels to focus on TV. We’re doing things a little differently this time out, with separate top 10 lists for new shows and returning favorites. Though there were a lot of new shows I enjoyed over the past year, I’ll admit I couldn’t stretch them to 10; instead, I’ve got 8, while Paul’s just crazy enough to have a full 10.

As always, there are shows we couldn’t get around to: I haven’t seen Rectify, Top of the Lake, Broadchurch, or The Wrong Mans, all of which I’d hoped to see in time for this list. Oh, and to absolve him of all guilt, I should mention that Paul has never seen Breaking Bad. Wait, I don’t think that absolves him.

NEW SERIES

PAUL: 10. HANNIBAL (NBC)

hannibal

I wasn’t particularly interested in a television adaptation of the Thomas Harris characters. But names like Hugh Dancy, Mads Mikkelsen, and Bryan Fuller pulled me in. It’s one of the most visually stunning and hauntingly…haunting shows ever to make it to network television. It’s also one of the most shockingly violent and grotesque. All positives in my book. But I can’t put it any higher on my list because it’s crushingly depressing.

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Source Code Review

Source Code, the new film from director Duncan Jones, is a compelling blend of old-fashioned science fiction, classic ticking clock thriller, and new age theophilosophical what if.

Army Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) has had his consciousness plugged into the memory remains of a man who died in a train bombing this morning. He has eight minutes to scour the dead man’s final thoughts for clues to who planted the bomb in order to prevent an even larger bomb being detonated later. The problem is the experience of being inserted into this “source code” simulation is disorienting, and it takes several attempts, each one ultimately ending in Colter “dying” himself in the explosion, for the Captain to find his footing and start his investigation effectively.

So the old-fashioned sci-fi obviously comes from the fantastical technology that allows a man to be transported into the memories of a dead man, and to move about freely within that memory world. The ticking clock aspect of the story, equally obviously, comes from the eight minute window in which to search for a mad bomber. Though the train Colter is riding on is only a flashback of a train, and it has already been destroyed, the knowledge that back in the real world the bomber remains at large and is planning to detonate a much larger bomb in the middle of Chicago keeps ratcheting up the tension with every failed attempt.

As for the theophilosophical element…?

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