High n' Dry Podcast
Hosted by Ryan Baron North, James Crosslin, and Luke, High n' Dry tackles film and philosophy with their patented 3-part method. What makes them so special and fun? One of them is drunk, and the other two are really, really high. Welcome to a drunken chat at 3 in the morning with your best buds. Come talk movies and philosophy, and get wasted along the way. New episodes every other week! Music by AlexGrohl @ Pixabay
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High n' Dry Podcast
Kryptonite, Kindness, and Testicular Torsion: Superman
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James Gunn's Superman delivers a powerful message about radical kindness in a cynical world, earning our highest podcast rating ever with its vibrant visuals and standout performances.
• Superman embodies genuine goodness without being naive or simplistic
• David Corenswet brings warmth and authenticity to the iconic role
• Rachel Brosnahan delivers the most compelling Lois Lane in decades
• Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor parallels modern tech billionaires with superb depth
• Punk rock soundtrack enhances the film's theme of standing up against corrupt systems
• Supporting characters including Mr. Terrific and Hawkgirl add rich dimension
• Story focuses on doing what's right versus what's politically expedient
• Colorful visuals and cinematography mark a refreshing departure from previous DCEU films
• Superman chooses to follow his moral compass despite criticism and pushback
• Film demonstrates that superhero stories can be optimistic without sacrificing depth
This superhero film proves that good storytelling doesn't require moral ambiguity to be compelling—sometimes what we need most is a reminder that choosing kindness is the most radical act of all.
Podcast Introduction & Banter
Speaker 1I mean it just feels like we're ripe and ready.
Speaker 2I'm always ripe and ready. That's my superpower.
Speaker 1Being ripe and ready. Mine is that I could point at you and cause testicular torsion.
Speaker 2Ooh, very powerful. My secret is that I always have testicular torsion.
Speaker 1You're my Lex Luthor.
Speaker 2It's by design.
Speaker 1I've cultivated this testicular torsion over many years my left testicle is turning into a, like you know, in the in the peanut, where the one just kind of crawls into the corner and dies well, this one.
Speaker 2You got to do it the safe way. You got to twist it just a little bit over time and then release it. You got to find your right medium for how much twist you're putting, how much torque you're putting on the nut.
Speaker 1Hey, everyone, welcome to high and shy podcast I'm your host, ryan baron north, with me, as always, j always James Crossland, luke, and we are the only podcast keeping alive um testicular torsion as a uh, you know, a project in of itself, and code monkeys. We keep alive the television series code monkeys uh, that I can't say I am.
Speaker 2Is that like? Was that a cartoon? Is that a cartoon on Cartoon Network?
Speaker 1No, it was a pixelated joint that I think hit Comedy Central, if I remember.
Speaker 2Yeah, g4 is what this says.
Speaker 1All right. Well, I learned something new today there's a TV network.
Speaker 2It used to be. For a short period of time right there, it was the, the channel that gave rise to olivia munn, because she hosted a gaming show on that network, and then olivia munn went on to give rise to a lot of other people.
Speaker 1Yeah, she went on to steal john mulaney from his wife while they were both in rehab yep, yep that's one of john mulaney's little dark secrets right, hey look, if you're gonna have a pull something out of rehab, that definitely is one thing to do, for sure laughter is the best opiate. Yeah, but like he had like this, this general sort of like, I don't know, I feel like it messed with his image more than hers oh yeah, well, it's because all you have to do is be like, well, who wouldn't sleep with olivia munn, given the chance?
Speaker 2I, you know, I talked to shara. I was like, you know, john mul kind of shitty for leaving his wife for Olivia Munn. So I talked to her. I was like if Olivia Munn ever wants to have a child with me, can I? And she was like obviously, yes, obviously do it. Yeah, okay thank you, and I said same for you. If Olivia Munn wants to fuck you, you go for it.
Speaker 1I believe in equality. All bets are up, it's on.
Speaker 2Olivia munn is on the table, hopefully literally well, so anyway, as much as we want to talk about olivia munn for this entire podcast, I don't know what you're.
Setting Up For Superman Review
Speaker 1Well, I'll have to look it up, yeah we're gonna rate this son of a bitch all right. We're gonna give you the definitive score way beyond rotten tomatoes, fandango especially, um and we're gonna give you the definitive score out of five for the new superman film. Then we're going to jump onto the golden path, we're going to break down the film's deeper meanings and, finally, we're going to insert ourselves drugs and or alcohol into the picture. And what makes it so special and fun is that we're going to be doing it drunk and high. So, boys, uh, what are you smoking this week?
Speaker 2you go first, sir james, sure, all right. So I've got a flower this week. It's one that I've done before. It's gelato, which it's not. It's not the italian ice cream okay, it's cannabis, and it just makes you feel like an italian cream running down your throat. That's awesome. I had a night like that in Croatia.
Speaker 1So how about you look?
Speaker 2Uh, I have a candy matrix, a flower today. I don't know, I've never, I don't know anything about this, I just know it is cannabis Nice.
Speaker 1Myself as the resident alcoholic, I will be trying this bullet bourbon 10 years. It's a 10-year bullet bourbon. This was given to me by one. It was donated by a William Twaddell. He felt that I would appreciate that. Donated by a William Twaddell, he felt that I would appreciate that, and so I will be swigging that down and I will be chasing it with a mixture here that I have of old Forrester 1920 Prohibition style.
Speaker 2So you're having a rum and Coke, or is?
Speaker 1it just. This is a whiskey and Coke here 115 horsepower that I'll be using to chase this 91 horsepower.
Speaker 2I like fruit punch to chase my liquor. I like liquor.
Speaker 1I like a stronger liquor to chase my liquor. So this first one goes out to the film this week.
Speaker 2Here's Superman to Superman Cheers. I'm lucky there's no smoke alarms in this house.
Speaker 1I wish I was a smoker, because, uh, same thing.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm in the great outdoors, so not too worried about it. All right, so you're also in a wet. You're in the wet wet florida. It is moist.
Pre-Film Shots & New Listeners
Speaker 1It is moist out here I imagine the second one for those of you following along at home make sure that you pulled over to the side of the road to take your shots and or daps and hits or, or have your passenger hand them to you. That's acceptable too, as long as you do it safely, exactly. This second one goes out to our newest listeners. Our newest listeners are coming at us from Glen Olden Pennsylvania. I feel, like we get a lot of PA.
Speaker 2Yeah, I feel like pa has been listened quite a bit uh pennsylvania starting to come in hot, I guess pennsylvania.
Speaker 1Someone over there has been talking about us at like a local diner or some such. I wonder if it's oscar.
Speaker 2Hi oscar. Oscar lives in pennsylvania. Cheers.
Speaker 1Well, here's to him.
Speaker 2Cheers. The 10-year bullet does have an aged flavor, oh that's good.
Speaker 1Yes, very smooth. I mean I guess it is a 91 proof. Oh Luke, right, there is really fighting that one. That was Very smooth, I mean I guess it is a 91 proof oh, luke, right, there is really fighting that one.
Speaker 2That was not smooth.
Speaker 1It looks like a bullfighter.
Speaker 2You got to record the coughing. You can't just the audience wants to hear it, it's the reason they're crying.
Speaker 1Okay, okay, I can give it to them I can give it to them. I feel, bad.
Speaker 2I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to blow people's ears out with this violent coffee.
Speaker 1I think it adds an authenticity to it.
Speaker 2I can appreciate that. All right, I can't help because nerves in my throat are dead from all the smoking. I do, yeah, smoking Final shot.
Speaker 1Final hit this one Sweet Italian cream. Thinking about the movie, this goes out to Italian cream.
Speaker 2Sweet rich dense Italian cream.
Superman Review Begins
Speaker 1Drink some water Cold oddly. How are you this dehydrated? It comes out like pancake batter. Oh, oh shit. Well, let's dive on it. So we just saw superman. How do we feel let's rape this bad boy. Luke, you want to kick this one off?
Speaker 2yeah, because I haven't stopped fucking talking about this movie this entire week or since I saw it on thursday. All right, let's go. Can you start by giving your background with superman, because he's an intellectual property, of course, but he's had a lot of iterations and who knows which ones you've experienced and what kind of expectations you had going in, because I think a lot of people had expectations, I so I have seen the movies from the early 2000s. I never saw anything from like the 80s, but I did watch superman returns and then man of steel and and then batman versus superman, which was, I think, the like all the later. So anything in the 2000s and since that's like the supermans that I've seen.
Speaker 2The live actions, yeah, yeah, yeah, live action. Oh, and I mean I've seen cartoons too, like I watched justice league as a kid and like with superman and stuff like that. I've watched some cartoons as well, with superman, I would say, and, honestly, my bigger, I read a lot of batman comic books. Okay, so I, I am a fan of dc as a whole. That's like dc is probably my. If I had to go between marvel or dc, I'm a dc fan. I think like the characters are amazing, I think the villains are just incredible. Dc's villains are just like the best, like best, top notch, yeah. So, yeah, I I had a lot of high expectations and even from the first preview I saw of this movie, I was excited, like obviously I think a lot of superhero movies do decent previews, because it's just exciting, right right. But right away, like I noticed, the color palette was brighter and I noticed that this guy who everyone was doubting because henry cavill was everyone's superman, yeah, well, yeah, certainly, yeah, certainly the two of the 2000s.
Speaker 1He was yes 100.
Speaker 2It had the look. I get it. Henill man, that's my hall pass. When I asked Cam if I have the chance to have a baby with Henry Cavill, am I allowed? She said yeah, and I told her vice versa, you can marry him.
Speaker 1You should be offended if you didn't.
Speaker 2Yeah so.
Speaker 1I love Henry Cavill.
Speaker 2That's why I fell in love.
Speaker 2I want nothing david corden, so I is my superman like at first preview I felt that way um, wow, okay, yeah, like I really, really liked him and I really think that like he embodies just like a dude who wants to do good, um, and that's kind of like what superman is is just a guy like, yeah, he's from a different planet, but, at the end of the day, just a man who wants to do good, who was raised by people that gave him good values just on the, on the, the cavill piece of it they did pick, I think, um henry his face.
Speaker 1It embodied more darker, moodier superman yeah and that he has moody face, for sure he's. Yeah, he had moody face, but now we have sort of like he's almost he's got a little baby face going on, just a little bit, you know yeah, I would agree, I'd agree, and I feel it fit really well. But he still has the superman jawline. No fucking doubt about it, sure?
Speaker 2but, I feel, like superman isn't a gritty character in like. From my understanding of the character, he's not like a gritty character and I feel like Superman isn't a gritty character in like. From my understanding of the character, he's not like a gritty character and I feel like well, I'm going to dive into that on the go. I promise you that early portrayal of Superman I do know that there is like I played the Injustice games as well.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah. So like I know, like when we get on the golden path, we're at risk of this being a Titanic length fucking episode. I tell you that right now we'll just let you go for it, but yeah, okay.
Speaker 2But yeah, so that's my background and I was really excited for the movie going in and, with that being said, I don't think that it let me down. In all honesty, I think that the movie was exciting. The movie was exciting. I think that the acting was honestly really really good. I think that a lot of characters brought it. I think side characters even were really solid. There was a couple that weren't phenomenal for me, but it wasn't enough to take away from genuine standout performances like Lois Lane, I think. Oh my God, god, that was by far the coolest depiction of lois lane I've ever seen. Yeah, that was miss mazel. I don't know if either of you have seen marvelous mrs mazel, uh, but really good show. Yeah, yeah, for me it kind of got a little too much with the bickering and shit, but uh, the the, she was like really good in it. She played a comedian. I like the thing is. I felt like every piece of her on screen was golden. She was probably a standout even over Corn.
Speaker 1Sweat. She was fantastic oh my God. I have to agree with you.
Speaker 2Yeah, that scene where Rachel Brosnahan is her name Sorry, I just wanted to get that out there. Yeah, rachel Brosnahan hand is her name, sorry, I just wanted to get that out. Yeah. Yeah, rachel rosin, and when she that scene with uh corn sweat and her in the in the room when they're doing the interview, like I like as as a scene that's like pulled away from action, like it tends can get boring, and I'm like drawn every time.
Speaker 2Like even the side pieces of the story I thought were really good. So I really liked the acting. Cinematography was really good. The CGI I think was solid. I think that they took their time. I thought the monster fight looked pretty good and I didn't really like again, nothing took away from the movie in any way. For me the score and soundtrack were very good. They did reuse kind of a similar kind of drop repeatedly, but every time, like I was into it, like they said, it was a good execution of like a good, very intense drop. I guess it's not exactly what I'm trying to say. And then story and plot I really like.
Speaker 2Lex luther is, uh, by far one of the coolest and most dynamic villains of all time they captured comic book lex luther oh yeah they finally showed why superman is concerned about lex luther because he can fuck with superman, like he goes toe-to-toe with that scene where superman walks in and he's yelling where's my dog? Like throwing shit around and kind of throwing a temper tantrum.
Speaker 1Well, not his dog, he's a yeah, yeah, yeah, where's? The dog which, yeah, where's uh with millie alcott, they have fantastic supergirl yeah, yeah, I loved that like I like that. They made her a party girl yeah which she was.
Acting & Character Performances
Speaker 2It was fantastic so, yeah, I think that, like that was, that was good and lex luther standing there just like going toe-to-toe with him, and even in that scene I loved the the fight sequences that they did, uh, the the overall story kind of like this, like superman doing something and because he genuinely just thinks it's right and honestly it probably did save a lot of lives and the impacts that it does have, and you know the, the people that you upset and the like. Well, so, luke, I see you're excited about.
Speaker 1So I'm excited, yeah, very excited. Let's see some scores here.
Speaker 2Sorry, I'm very sorry, I'm sorry thank you for cutting up, but yeah, so if I had to, if I ripped it down the middle, I gave a five for acting, I gave a 4.5 for cinematography solid, oh, we lost your audio luke, oh luke, you cut out.
Speaker 2Oh, I pushed my wrist okay. So, yeah, the acting was cinematography. Your cinematography was what? 4.5 cinematography at 4.5. I think that there was a couple things that took away from me, but over, like legitimately, there was nothing that took like brought the movie down at any point, like there was like the fight scenes could be a little jarring at times and I didn't necessarily enjoy that and I feel like, uh, crypto at times actually didn't look phenomenal to me, like I'd agree it looked like a cgi dog, right but it didn't.
Speaker 2I wasn't like, oh, I hate this now, like it just didn't, it just didn't uh take away. So yeah, score and soundtrack. I gave a, I listened to it the next day through on my phone and I, yeah, it's like I will say about the soundtrack.
Speaker 1I loved the return of the Teddy Bears and Iggy Pop. I mean, james, if you recall, we used to play that. Well, I mean, like you know, back and forth, depending on, like you know, where we were rolling at the time that song came up. I don't remember that song.
Speaker 2I don't know if I've ever heard that song before.
Speaker 1Oh really, we played the shit out of that. That must have been when I was just going. I loved the return of that song, Me and Iggy Pop. I think he needs to put a fucking shirt on. But hey, I think he needs to put a fucking shirt on hey support to my shirtless brothers Beach. Town. I say that wherever I am.
Speaker 2I say Beach Town, it doesn't matter, I could be in Chicago, I could be in fucking.
Speaker 1Nebraska. I also have a complicated relationship with Iggy just because I'm a David Bowie guy. But anyway, I digress.
Speaker 2I'll have to listen to some other podcast to understand what you mean by that.
Speaker 1I just threw down a lot of music history right there, especially if you're a punk rocker. But anyway, I apologize, Luke.
Speaker 2No, you're good. I gave it a five. I think it's iconic and I think that even the next day in the car, without the cinema and I, it still was hitting me the same there was no random jurassic park keyboard, that's for fucking sure yeah, yeah, that's true.
Speaker 2The music was pretty cohesive, the story and plot. I gave a 4.5 just because I think that they relied on Crypto a little too much within the story. And it's not even his dog and I'm like man. So what happens when she takes him? Are you just going to fucking die Because the only thing that saved you was this dog, my God.
Speaker 2But at the same time I still loved Crypto Don't get iconic. Like very cool to see him in the movie, but it took away from me a little bit. And then also there was like the part of the where she like dropped him to, like she was like gonna kill. But I'm like show us it like why did you have to do that? Like I was like you went that far, like let's see it like why the splash? I didn't like that transition. I some of the things just felt like it just didn't.
Speaker 1I think it was the rating I think it was.
Speaker 2The rating is the reason for that. Yeah, yeah, um, and then the rewatch ability. I gave a five because I told cam I want to watch this every christmas eve.
Speaker 1So obviously it was definitely. Really it was that. That was the highest score that you've ever given a movie on this?
Speaker 2yeah, for sure that might be. That's like one of the. I looked back, this is like one of the highest scores I've given a movie in like 18 months fucking hell.
Speaker 1All right, I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2It just did it for me james gunn did it for me.
Speaker 2Okay, he's getting better at movies and I just one last note the comic relief that he actually and again, this is signature james gunn, right, he's good at that sprinkling in, it felt natural within the movie. Um, and I know, maybe at times, but for the most part it really was like it fit the moments and I like took a note that I was like, oh wow, like I like like it was good comedic relief and in the past few superhero movies that I've seen, it's like very forced. Right, I want to remember cheesy for later. Okay, I want to talk about cheesy yeah, like gouda.
Speaker 2Who's next?
Speaker 1well, so what do you think, james? Are you?
Speaker 2next, you want me to go? Next I'll go next because I think I have I differ you're gonna, you're gonna be the sandwich yeah yeah, I'll be sandwiched. It's not not to say that I didn't like this movie, but we'll keep it a well. We'll go ahead and move along with the ratings. So acting I thought the acting was really good. I loved Mr Terrific yeah, because he originally played Darwin in the X-Men First Class and he got done dirty, yeah.
Speaker 2He did get done dirty, which was some bullshit. But that's man I don't know how to pronounce his name, it might be Eddie Katagi Is Mr Terrific. I thought he did a great job. The I don't need your help. I'm goddamn Mr Terrific.
Speaker 1He was really good, he was terrific Literally.
Speaker 2Mr Terrific was just that fucking terrific Because like he was a standout really good, he played his character so well. I left that movie. They nailed his, like the comic book mask that he, like, they nailed yeah, he he looked great out of the fucking comic book yeah, they did a great job with them and I really I'm glad they gave uh nathan fillion a green lantern. Fine it's been.
Speaker 1We've wanted him as Green Lantern on film for many many years We've wanted him as Hal Jordan, and then finally, we wait until he's 45 and give him a fucking. I think that's a great joke.
Speaker 2I think that's a great joke that they did.
Speaker 1If we were doing Snyderverse back in the day, he would have been an awesome fucking Hal Jordan.
Speaker 2I think he was a great Guy Gardner. I think it was very funny. Guy Gardner is a piece of shit. He's a prick and Nathan Fillion can play a prick really well he can. But yeah, I think the acting was really great. I'm only going to give it a 4.5, though I thought some side characters did. Yeah, I know Yo, I'd never mind Give it a five for acting You've convinced it, it wasn't enough cinematography.
Speaker 2So I thought the cinematography was really good for a lot of it. Like you said, the cgi wasn't fantastic. I'm willing to let that slide a bit. I'm not a big I'm not a huge superman fan. I've seen a lot of his media, sure, uh, especially because I like justice league stuff and I like yeah, I like batman more like batman's. My dc guy watch all this, all this stuff. So superman's less of that for me, but I still consumed so much of his media and they. They really captured the the fortress of solitude. I loved the grandiosity of the cinematography on on the fortress of solitude rising up out of the, out of the snow. I thought that was awesome.
Speaker 2So I'm gonna give it a drug, that shot where it comes above. I thought that was all fantastic. And they did a lot of great vantage points for shots about superman, like from underneath him and stuff flying upward, and he did it with the right kind of blocking of buildings behind him and stuff to give you the right scale where I think some of the other interpretations like superman was out in an open field and shit, and I was like I don't have any scale, I don't have any, like my eye can't do enough to discern how awesome this is, yeah, how truly fast it is, yeah, yeah, and and so I'm gonna give the cinematography a 4.5. So you can see I'm differing from Luke here a lot.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, the .5s here and there sprinkled around Definitely.
Speaker 2We're almost exactly. We're different planets. So this one actually, I do have a disagreement Because the score I thought was excellent and there was actually one scene that did take it out for me and it was the diegetic scene where, like so, where the soundtrack plays in the movie. So that scene with five years time, that one I would have loved if that song wasn't in the movie. I thought that was. I thought that scene tore me out of it and I was like I'm trying to focus on Mr Fantastic Fighting and Song. I understand you want to do your James Gunn cute fight. You know, cute fight it's the thing he does for, like Guardians of the Galaxy and shit, and I didn't like it.
Speaker 1I thought that was pretty forced.
Speaker 2So I'm going to not actually knock this down to a four, but I do. I do find like the score that was done, the symphony score that was done, was really good and it felt grandiose and it had these big swells.
Speaker 1Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2Is that the word you're looking for?
Speaker 1Yes.
Speaker 2Yes, yes, that's what does an opposite drop.
Speaker 2Yeah, reverse drop, yes, yes, that's what it was. An opposite drop, yeah, reverse drop for the story and plot I liked. I liked the plot, but I didn't think it was perfect and I had to overlook a lot, even though I still enjoyed it. I'm gonna give it a four. I thought that they did a really good job of, I think, the genuineness of the plot. That it was like kind of straightforward was nice. It was nice just to have it be really straightforward, because that's kind of what they were. Well, we'll get into in the next round.
Speaker 2Superman is a straightforward person, though yeah and they did that with the story too, and it was like a straightforward movie um and then uh for rewatchability. I've I've already seen this movie again.
Speaker 2I already have tickets to see it again I saw it really yeah, I saw it in dolby first and I really love the dolby format. Uh, I've advocated for it on this show. And then I went to go see it in imax with some friends and imax it was such a tall screen. I really got that um you grandiosity in certain parts of the movie. But I realized that the movie felt less close and intimate than it did in dolby. When I saw it in dolby I thought like, oh, this is a really intimate movie. That's not about grandiosity.
Speaker 2Oh okay, so it's kind of interesting the way I perceived it differently. Uh, but yeah, so those are my scores. I don't think you gave a score for rewatchability. A five oh five yeah, because I've already seen I've already rewatched it can't.
Story, Plot & Soundtrack Analysis
Speaker 1Can't argue with that. I'll watch this movie again.
Speaker 2I've got a Dolby TV, so I'll be watching it in Dolby, I'm sure.
Speaker 1You definitely were on a different fucking planet as Luke there for sure. Well, I'm ready to dive into the Golden Path, so I'm going to shoot these scores out for me Acting. There was no one who brought it down for me. The only thing that I regretted was not seeing, uh, lawrence fishburne as perry white again. For some reason, he was always a standout for me in the origin, in the man of steel, so I miss lawrence fishburne as perry white. I I feel like lawrence Fishburne was done dirty, just like he was in the new Matrix film by not being invited back to the party.
Speaker 2Also, he was done really dirty in the John Wick films.
Speaker 1Yep, yeah, he gets done dirty all the time. That's just like what he does, he's done dirty yeah.
Speaker 2How'd you like Alan Tudyk as?
Speaker 1Gary, oh no, I thought Well, how did you like Alan Tudyk as Gary? I also loved. It. Took me a second to recognize him, but Anthony Kerrigan as Metamorpho.
Speaker 2Who's that? The guy who made his hand into?
Speaker 1Kryptonite. He was in Barryry, oh no ho hank from barry yeah oh, I didn't even realize.
Speaker 2I just thought, that could have been anyone with shit?
Speaker 1all over him, you know but I I think even that showed the the the freaking range that uh kerrigan has. I've seen him as a psychopath. I've seen him now as the goofball in Barry and then to see him cry over watching someone get shot. We don't see enough of him and I have a feeling Hollywood is anti no eyebrows and if there needs to be a movement there needs to be some posters.
Speaker 2put up something because they solve the problem. Yeah, they solve the problem. Just put shit all over his face and then and then you can do that.
Speaker 1Doesn't injustice actually?
Speaker 2it's easier to put shit all over his face because he doesn't have any hair yeah, caught up in here yeah, easy peasy.
Speaker 1Let's see, I'm going to give the acting a 4.5 only because this movie did not provide the opportunity for five level acting. There was no. You know what? I take that back. It wasn't like, iconic is what you're saying. That's what I would say, but they delivered the characters they are.
Speaker 2They did, they did.
Speaker 1And, honestly, it's Lex Luthor that's going to change my mind on that and I'm going to push it up to a five.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's the cohesiveness that we were talking about.
Speaker 1You know when you have a cohesive movie. It makes every part better, it makes every part better.
Speaker 2We literally said it in the movie. I was like we literally talked about how just having what you wanted to and then executing is.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, I was being a dick, I apologize, I'm putting it at a five cinematography. It was clear that Warner Brothers kidnapped James Gunn and they said look man, you fucked up Suicide Squad pretty hard.
Speaker 2Wait, did he do the fuck up version or was he the saving it version? I thought they were both bad. I liked the second one. I liked the retry, yeah.
Speaker 1But I think Warner Brothers, they like tied him to a chair and they like fucking Fight Club styled, wrapped a hairband around his balls and we're like dude, if you fuck up Superman, we're restarting this, and if you fuck up our flagship, we will take your testicles. And so James Gunn put out five on cinematography here. And so james gunn put out five on cinematography here. The use of sun flares, all the the wild environments, they put them in fantastic. The destruction of metropolis was beautiful.
Speaker 2It like fantastic across the board the scene where he's flying around saving people felt chaotic, but it felt like only he could be doing it in that moment like he, because he's that fat in my head I was like, yeah, only other flash, but only he could be doing this yeah, yeah, so five score.
Speaker 1I thought it was the perfect mixture of christopher reeve, superman and modernization and I absolutely like. And this is going to be just unfair because they were targeting me specifically. Superman is my favorite character. He has been for some time and punk rock is my fucking genre, so just doing that was like mighty crab joys.
Speaker 1They were tickling my nuts and uh. So yeah, I'm giving that a five. Uh, I love the fuck out of it story. It was a simplistic story, but I understand why they did it. I understand. I'm willing to forgive a lot here, but I I am part of the definitive rating of film and people, tens of people across the globe count on me to deliver, so I will be.
Speaker 2Wait a second, are you? Are you accumulating rings? Did you start the show with that many rings on? I think you're accumulating rings you have like. How would I have done that?
Speaker 1how would I have done that? You're obviously hallucinating, you fucking wizard the story I will give a four. Um, just just was. Uh they, they oversimplified, they wrapped up a few plots rather quickly. Um, I know, so you thought the pacing?
Speaker 2wasn't perfect.
Speaker 1The pacing was not perfect, especially when it came to Lois and Clark specifically, it felt like we got from A to C without a B, so I will give that a four Rewatchability. The second I get a chance. I'm buying this on all platforms. Fucking five, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2I mean, it was really. It was really clear to all of us that James Gunn had a vision and he went to any talk, to the writer himself and he talked to. You know, he had a writer's room and he had a. He knew what he wanted to do for the story, he knew what he wanted to do for blocking on the cinematography, he knew how he wanted to shoot the movie and say you know, here's what I want to. I want to give you the essence of what superman is as a story a fucking.
Speaker 1Symbol of hope, symbol of safety, symbol of peace, symbol of yeah well, we talked about it on the last episode with jurassic park, like back when steven spielberg had a fucking vision and put himself in every goddamn room that led to a final product. But I feel like we're getting into the golden path here. So if we're going to do that, it's time Our final shot, final hit, it's time to jump onto this golden path.
Final Scores & Rating Reveal
Speaker 2Well before that the score we were 0.1 off from a 5. But we are at a 4.5 out of 5 for Superman.
Speaker 1Congratulations.
Speaker 2Superman. Yes, I think that's highest rated, or do we have another 4.5?
Speaker 1I would say that's the highest raw rating before we rounded yeah, 4.7, 4.7, oh, yeah, so yeah um, yeah, almost had it.
Speaker 2Superman that would have been. I was like it might. Honestly your guys' story scores were fair. I think it deserved that Well here's to the highest rated movie on High End.
Speaker 1Podcast Cheers.
The Golden Path: Deeper Meanings
Speaker 2Luke had to run outside to smoke. Oh boy, that is the one downside. You can't just smoke everywhere. You can drink pretty much anywhere, though I do. Yeah, yeah, I can't my job listen to this fucking podcast.
Speaker 1I'd be in trouble, is that true?
Speaker 2they don't let you do that.
Speaker 1They don't let you drink that they don't let you drink. No, I mean, it's just me drinking everywhere. They don't generally appreciate that, but I'm still gonna, oh yeah.
Speaker 2I mean as long as no one can tell you're drinking Exactly.
Speaker 1It's okay. Yeah, there's been a few close calls.
Speaker 2All right, man, I think it's time for us to sit down and talk about Okay, Luke's back.
Speaker 1All right. So all right. You had to pull over again on your way to work to take another drink, another toke. Our listeners don't pull over. Fucking nerds pull over. It's time to jump onto the golden path. So let's dig into this movie. I feel like we have a fuckload to talk about. Let's get after it. You start then luke.
Speaker 2Good sir, luke, you've been dying for it uh I think that they're like if you want me to jump in, I'll jump in. There's a lot of obvious messages in the movie and, like you guys said, it is simplistic and it's um very forward storytelling I apologize for jumping back real quick.
Speaker 1So we had luke's. Uh, james, you had a great idea. We had luke's um familiarity with the character. James, what's your familiarity with the character?
Speaker 2I well, I briefly went over. I don't know how much I'd, you know, go into it. It wasn't a car, I wasn't. I've been a comic book person. I've only read one comic book and didn't like it and I was like it's not for me and uh. And then I, uh, I've, I've consumed. They release animated Justice League movies on HBO Max and I watch those. Yeah, I never watched the old Superman, but the Christopher Reeve Superman, but one of the front. One of my friends I went to the movie with was like this reminds me of Superman 2, is what they said, and so. But in the more recent ones I know lois lane is a lot feistier and I think they got that really down really well with miss mazel 100 I don't know, I don't know what she stood, and she stood toe-to-toe with, uh, superman, yeah, yeah, which who she is as a person and they're dynamic.
Speaker 2They captured it really well. I've seen superman, yeah, yeah, which who she is as a person and they're dynamic, they captured it really well. I've seen superman be a paragon of good who cries over the lost squirrel or whatever. This superman in this movie didn't cry. He was like, you know, like we could have done better. He was like a person who wasn't destroyed. He was a, a Superman that wasn't destroyed by failure and it was. It was really refreshing to see a Superman like that. I don't think it's the Superman that's always portrayed. I've seen Superman be kind of a dick sometimes, like in those versions where he goes evil or he gets jaded or it's other verse or whatever.
Speaker 2Yeah, but yeah, I've consumed a lot.
Speaker 1So, uh, yeah, for me, before we jump back to Luke, superman is my character. I and a lot of people are surprised by that I get a lot of like, really, I mean they, they figured it was going to be like spawn or Batman, or you know one of them I really like spawn, which you wouldn't think, because I'm pretty milquetoast.
Speaker 1I love spawn but uh, if my camera can move, there are statues of superman right over there. I have his comic books. Um, I've enjoyed a lot of his iterations. I am always very bleh when the writers feel that the only way to make the character interesting is by making him evil. And it's like you don't understand superman and so right, look out of here. You don't understand him. If the only way you think that it's possible to make him interesting is to darken him, you don't get it, you miss the the point or make him weak, or make him weak.
Speaker 1Depowered. You know you miss the point. That being said, I will say one of my favorite iterations of Superman was New 52. So the nerds who are listening to the podcast will know that that was an iteration of the comic book where they restarted everything and the Superman we had there was very much our Supermanman. Just he was learning a lot. He was very. He still had a lot of emotion, he was prone to anger, but that was really the only change and one of the things I loved about him was he was coming about the first time Trump was elected and in in a lot of the black live matter protests.
Speaker 2And I think you're probably thinking Ferguson.
Speaker 1Ferguson protests. Black lives matter ones as well. It wasn't until 2020.
Speaker 2I don't think that's the end of Trump's presence.
Speaker 1That spread was about four years. Okay, so this iteration was around for a little while and this superman did lose his powers and I hate it when they do that because, like we, the only way we can make but he lost his powers because he learned a new power, which was supernova, where he explodes like a star and then he has to regain his powers for a couple of weeks and in that couple of weeks he punches a cop. I'm like hell. Yeah, this is my Superman.
Speaker 2I can punch them without destroying them. Now I got to use this while I can.
Speaker 1And they used that storyline where he was protecting protesters from police and he winds up fucking cracking a cop in the jaw and I'm like, yeah, this is my Superman. But, as I'm saying, I'm a huge fan of Superman, I love his iterations, I love the things they do with him, I love the message and he's the one I relate to the most, so I'm all about it. I have his comic books stacked up. But back to you, luke. What was your golden path?
Speaker 2So I think Superman is always a simple story. He's a character who is rooted, he's a working man in New York City and Lex Luthor is a hyper rich piece of shit, and I think that there is elon musk in yeah, there's very obvious comparison. Yeah, it's like a fucking. It's an obvious like push to just be like yeah, they're hyper rich or shitty.
Speaker 1Um, and yeah, like like when hot girl dropped net and yahoo off of it yeah, very obviously you won't kill me.
Speaker 2Yeah, oh, you're barking up the wrong. You should see the planet this chick is from. Yeah, yeah she, yeah she. You're lucky she didn't rip your fucking head off and then drop you and fuck your head and then feed it to your wife.
Speaker 2Yeah, so I I think that that's a pretty obvious, all of it's pretty obvious. Um, and then also, I think the concept of doing what is right versus what is like right for certain people, I, you know it's very obvious that, like, everybody is like, oh well, you know, you can't just do that because you, because then they're going to be mad at us and it's like but they were just about to slaughter millions because, but at the same time, there's also I feel like they were good at showing that there's implications still for decision, even if it is what's right and it's going to say like there's implications, there's always going to be implications, but, regardless of your fucking politics, there's good and there's bad.
Speaker 1there is yeah, yes, and I, I like, I feel like our society felt that it grew out of that and so everything needed to have shades of gray, everything needed to be like this watchman-esque uh, fucking moral relativity yeah, moral relativity, and we as a society felt that we grew out of.
Speaker 1Everything is good and bad and we're like we're done with superman. But then look where the fuck that got us. We elected trump for the second fucking time and now superman comes back and the whole message is fuck your politics. People were going to die, yes, and we're like, oh yeah, maybe we didn't grow out of that yeah, uh, it reminds me of henry cavill's.
Speaker 2You know, henry cavill's superman in his movie had to kill zod, like that was the thought experiment that was put before him. And that's the thing about thought experiments they're not realistic, whatever. But superman in their version, killed, thought he did the thing that he never does, which is kill people. But he had to have this moral relativity. It's something we needed at the time, because we felt that representations of the systems at play weren't accurate. Cheesy movies that were feel good or whatever weren't acknowledging the reality that there are bad actors and bad systems at play. And uh, and this movie acknowledged all of that yes, while it acknowledged it and saved the squirrel.
Speaker 2Yeah, he acknowledged it, and then he said really radical, I'm going to continue doing radical kindness like that's it's not. It's not a kindness that is fair weather. He's like no, I'm just gonna keep doing. I'm going to follow my heart. I have the power and the agency to live this way and I'm choosing. I'm choosing what I feel is the better way, and that way is always to be kind and always preserve life and do everything you can to make it happen and you make mistakes.
Speaker 1It's acknowledgement, but still saying but it's still the best way I can acknowledge that, yeah, life is rough, life is hard, life sucks, and there are people here who are pieces of shit, but I can make a choice.
Speaker 2Yeah, and he keeps having people tell him it's he's wrong or naive or yeah, and he's like I don't care what you think like, I'm going to keep being the way I am dude, and that's what fucking punk and I loved the tie-in to punk rock historically that's what it fucking is is that you know?
Speaker 2middle fingers up, I'm gonna do the right thing yeah, it's middle fingers up to this broken system and it doesn't have to be edgy and despondent and not and no, you know, and his ability to influence that onto others, because at the end, when green lantern and hot girl go to, I forget the top of my head and they do, save them and literally middle fingers, uh, during, yeah, yeah fucking stick them high, man be good yeah like doing the right thing's always the right thing.
Speaker 2Yeah, I think the radical kindness was the best message of the movie and they made it pretty clear, you know, yeah which they needed to.
Speaker 1Yeah, I don't know if anyone's looked at the fucking window lately. This was perfect timing, yeah yeah, they uh.
Radical Kindness & Social Commentary
Speaker 2It's. Uh. It's wild how many people are like you gotta boycott this movie. It's it's anti-trump and anti-is, anti-jew and all these things and it's like why aren't we aren't, why aren't we being like? Everybody should be radically kind like that, if you take all the punk rock.
Speaker 1People have been saying it they've been saying it since the fucking late 50s, and if you saw something in this film that offended you, like something superman did, that offended you because you felt that it struck your values, go fuck or introspect, you can introspect, you can always introspect and I know you're not gonna.
Speaker 2I know you're not gonna, so, mr terrific, mr terrific, didn't help right away and you know, the justice gang, uh, you know, had to be convinced to show up and even when they showed up, they did it in their own way and there's still some conflicting values. Hawkgirl still totally killed Benjamin Netanyahu and I cheered. She has her agency. She has her agency to do what she believes and I don't know. It's the fantasy though these super powerful people having the agency and just solving all the problems because they are good and chose right.
Speaker 1all of them like so we could all choose that. You know like, if we all just chose that?
Speaker 2could this is very of a time. I think that this movie will be looked back upon and perhaps rebelled against for its radical kindness. But that's the thing about being radical, you know, it's like a revolutionary kind of kindness that undermines a lot of deeply held values about authority. You know, it really undermines all of them and it is radical. Hmm.
Speaker 1Yeah, people will be upset by this level of kindness which is just so frustrating Luke.
Speaker 2No, a hundred percent. I, I, I agree. I think that, like it's uh, that that was the only very obvious message that they were pulling, like I said, was the portrayal of him wanting to do right and just being a good person, and it was really genuine too.
Speaker 1I felt like the whole movie was genuine about it.
Speaker 2Yeah, I felt like he canvassed that very well. It's the thing about a movie. When a movie can sell you on something and feel genuine, it just makes it a good movie.
Speaker 1Yeah, and this was a good movie and, honestly, just because of that, just because of that, I would argue this was one of the best superhero movies I've ever fucking seen. Yeah.
Speaker 2I did put it in my top five, for sure.
Speaker 1I would argue this was one of the best superhero movies I've ever fucking seen. Yeah, I did put it in my top five for sure. Like it had like it wasn't just a superhero movie, it had a message and God damn it Did it fucking go after it. And like I went into it, Like I did not. I like I wanted to see Henry Cavill continue to be superman. I I wanted to finish that at least and get fucking warner brothers the hell out of there or get.
Speaker 1I wanted all those things I wanted to see the end of it and I never cared for james gunn. I didn't like anything he's ever done there. There's not a single fucking thing on his roster wow, really, yeah, nothing, I didn't care for guardians.
Speaker 2I like.
Speaker 1I liked guardians of the galaxy I, I'm anti-marvel, yeah, so it's like did you?
Speaker 2did you like the original iron man? Like kind of that kind of kicked off everything I thought this captured a lot of the original iron man, which was that it was like a scrappy movie coming from behind to, and it had a cohesive message also and it was like a lesson learned and all those things before marvel realized who they were.
Speaker 1When they did the first captain america, when they did the first iron man, I was all on board, yeah. Then their movies turned to shit and then dc tried to follow them like guys. You're not marvel. That's why we, why I fucking read you instead yeah captain america is a good uh a good comparison.
Speaker 2Also, I love the first captain america yeah, he was also radically kind, radically kind. He wasn't as capable as he wasn't.
Speaker 1He wasn't able to show it as capably as Superman, though saving the squirrel, but that was what was so cool about it. He was just this little scrawny dude that, like I, hate bullies and he jumps on a grenade and all those things. Yeah, I loved that movie and I hated what Marvel did. Good comparisons here, I feel like they're. I think same deal.
Speaker 2They put them in the same light.
Speaker 1I agree, Captain America and Superman are very but then Marvel and Disney just realized that we're making more money just being a fucking theme park, right.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah. That was it's the corporate movie structure of taking everything and chopping it up so that it can be arranged at the will of some executive instead of as a cohesive vision, from shooting to editing to final production.
Speaker 1Yeah, yeah well fellas with that. I think it's time to jump in a third portion portion of this. Obviously, there's a lot we could talk about here. This was an incredible film and if you were offended by any of the good in it, you're not good yeah, it's pretty easy yeah, if you hate good, that means you're bad. So that's just how words work what about the destruction of property?
Speaker 1it's violent yeah destruction of property is violence those tanks should have been allowed to roll for those farmers yeah, and netanyahu should have never been trapped by an amazingly gorgeous hawk woman. But it's time to insert ourselves into this film. So I mean insert yourself into the DC universe. At this point we have testicular torsion man. We have like how do you arrive in this film?
Speaker 2So I'll go first. So I have a question who was the character, who was the charon, like boatsman in the extra dimension, because to me it looked like Parasite. It was not. Oh, it's not Parasite.
Speaker 1That's not Parasite. That was, I forget his name.
Inserting Themselves Into The Film
Speaker 2He called him Mr Handsome, but I don't know if that's. Oh, that's actually his name.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's Mr Handsome. Yeah, I'm him. You mean, he's just.
Speaker 2What can Mr Handsome do Do?
Speaker 1you know off the top of your head. So he was a criminal mastermind, he was a Batman villain, he. What could he do? He hold on.
Speaker 2Well so testicular torsion.
Speaker 1Oh right, mr Handsome was actually female, really. Yes God, what the fuck did mr handsome do was? Just criminal mastermind so it turns out this handsome, so it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2It doesn't matter because it turns out the whole time I'm actually clay face and so, yeah, and so we're paddling back and then I, you know, I, I take, I drop blue, I drop uh lex l Luthor off and I turn this boat around and I start talking to people and I start freeing people and undermining them. And then I start taking their identities and I go home to their husband and then I seduce their husband. It's actually Mia's clay face at the end, when everyone's released and that ballerina girl goes and hugs her mom. It's actually a very high clay face taking her spot. I've inserted myself in her spot and I just go home. She seems to have a blessed life and I just take that life for a while until I have a mental breakdown.
Speaker 1I always remember that your favorite character is Clayface, so you must be thrilled about the Clayface film that's coming out.
Speaker 2I am so excited and I also think, is I also like Mike Flanagan? I know you're not that big of a Mike Flanagan fan, I don't think, but I am, I like it, I like him and I think it's going to be good. I mean, he did do the life of Chuck. He did do the life of Chuck. And I love the life of Chuck, I liked. Fall of the House of Usher, I liked.
Speaker 1The Last of Us. So I like Doctor Sleep, I liked Midnight Mass until the ending, and even in Doctor Sleep my problem with Mike Flanagan is that he doesn't know how to end a thing.
Speaker 2Sure, clayface has no end. I'm fine with it. He is forever Dang. As long as one drop, that drop's just gotta find some mud or sludge.
Speaker 1Got your Clayface back. Luke, how do you show up in this movie?
Speaker 2I had a long think and I'd like to replace Lois Lane as the love interest in the film.
Speaker 1Hell yeah. Like just as straight up as yourself.
Speaker 2Yes, as myself. Superman is gay and loves luxurious mustaches. Yes, yes, hashtag Superman is gay.
Speaker 1You heard it here first, folks.
Speaker 2I fall in love with this man, but I also. I wouldn't change anything. I hope I deliver the same performance. She absolutely killed it and I want to be uh, I want to stand toe-to-toe I want to be that for him I want to be that for him, his rock, um. But I also want to get you know, the float up kiss sounds kind of nice. I don't know, could be fun get lifted onto that countertop.
Speaker 1Kisses up at you.
Speaker 2Yeah, but in ours I flip him around also. Lift Superman up onto the counter. He'd roll around his arm and wrap your legs around his neck.
Speaker 1The Hurricane Robin Triangle jump. Motherfucker, Superman spends all of his time being the strongest thing ever.
Speaker 2So when he comes home he wants to be manhandled. Yeah, that's why I have a stash. Is that he chose me? Because he just wants a bearded stashed man you have a kryptonite, prince albert.
Speaker 1You make him weak in the knees.
Speaker 2He doesn't know about the kryptonite so, yeah, this movie automatically becomes the people who already hated its worst nightmare. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the gay agenda. He's gay yeah, so yeah and uh, I would still 4.5 out of5.
Speaker 1Phenomenal film yeah, fantastic, and clay faces causing havoc.
Speaker 2Even better.
Speaker 1I love it no, uh, I would just show up on the uh. What did uh guy gardner keep calling the team justice? Gang yeah, I, I would show up as just some character on the justice gang who looks up to superman, comes from like a darker mental state than superman but like is trying to be to live up to superman. I'd probably be like a teleporter of some kind, but like I would show marvel the damage that a teleporter could actually do you know, is this a real character you're describing or is it?
Speaker 1no, no, like this is of your own invention. Yeah, yeah like, if I'm a fucking teleporter, I control space. Controlling space or time makes you a fucking god right. And so, yeah, I would just be the super powerful teleporter who's trying his best to live up to superman.
Speaker 2Other than that, no fucking notes, you'd just be there I would show up at the end and destroy some tanks yeah, I'd help him destroy some tanks.
Speaker 1I'd probably probably assist Mr Terrific. As soon as Superman showed up and said I need help, like let's go, I'm on it. Where do you need me to go? I'm a teleporter, that's what I do. Your name is Mr Terrific's assistant. And then I'd be like you know Luke too. Holy shit, what's he up to these days? And then Superman's like oh, nothing. And I'm like that's weird. It's weird that you paused. And then I'm going to be like hey Luke, how do you know Superman? And I'm like, all right, that's weird, are you fucking?
Speaker 2Superman For about three months, clayfish for about three months, clayface for about three months whoa James holy shit, it's Clay James.
Speaker 1I'll be like you want to help me, I guess protect Luke's boyfriend you know, clayface is an anti-hero.
Speaker 2Sometimes he's not one thing I really love about Clayface as a villain is that he's not a lot of the times he's not like spiteful, he's kind of also goofy and he's just a maligned psychotic. He just likes chaos. Yeah, don't we all?
Speaker 1He doesn't seem to really like killing that much.
Speaker 2He's not often put in a position where he's trying to kill people. He's trying to do something else.
Speaker 1You know no, I uh, and I'm excited to see the clay face movie. I think that they felt that there was like there was a pull towards it. I'm excited. Like I was not sure on James Gunn, uh-huh Nothing. I like I was not bothered by the choice in Superman. I thought he looked like Superman. The only concern I had was James Gunn, and I'll admit when I'm wrong. I was wrong Nice.
Speaker 2I hope that happens for Mike Flanagan too. I hope that, I hope, I hope he delivers an awesome movie that happens for mike flanagan too.
Final Thoughts & Conclusion
Speaker 1I hope that. I hope. I hope he delivers an awesome movie. I am excited to see this next because it looks like finally, warner brothers has said we obviously know nothing about dc, it's comics or it's heroes. We will stop fucking put our fingers in it. James gunn, do your thing, and so I'm all for it. I'm ready to see the gunniverse um. Zack snyder could pick one and suck it. He made rebel moon.
Speaker 2Obviously we can't trust him yeah, exactly so yeah, so he can go back to just fucking eating dry creatine and fuck off somewhere you know, james gunn really did make this one weird and that's nice, like the superman robots and crypto and all this is weird, weird weird shit, dude and the dimensional imp yeah, I was so excited to learn with the superman robots that it was alan tudyk. Alan tudyk is gary, yeah that was fucking awesome.
Speaker 1So, uh well, hey, folks at home, I'm glad that you made it to work after taking all those shots and hits and daps and what have you. Um, thank you for listening. If you haven't seen it, go check out superman. It is high and dry's highest rated film. So good on you, superman. It's good to have you back. It's good. That good is a thing our culture needs and realizes now. So let's fucking get after it.
Speaker 1I I hope this changes some things and I hope in Superman 2 Hawkgirl drops fucking the avatar of Trump off a building.
Speaker 2That'd be really cool too. Maybe she could throw Donald Trump into Putin and then Putin flies into Kim Jong Un let's do it.
Speaker 1It seems to me that it's pretty obvious that just like 10 people need to go um, and I hope hot girl delivers, so yeah you're right, you're my gorgeous assassin.
Speaker 2It will let you do. I'll let you kill whoever you want you go for whoever you need to you don't need you don't need my permission.
Speaker 1You do what you're going to do, you don't, and your screeches are just so sexy.
Speaker 2They did a great job.
Speaker 1Yeah, so hey, everybody, thanks for listening. We're High and Dry Podcast. I'm your host, ryan Baron, north, with me, as always, james Crosland, luke. Bye, bye.
Speaker 2Bye.
