Season 6 Premiere: Summer Movie Grab Bag

Summer releases are here, and we’re coming in hot for the season six premiere of The Couch Critics. I’m joined by returning guest Lexi and first-timer JP, and the three of us waste absolutely no time turning a casual catch-up into a full-on debate about what makes a movie worth your ticket: story, nostalgia, performances, rewatch value, and whether it’s actually fun when the credits roll. 

We start with the Mario Galaxy sequel, where one of us loves the “it feels like playing the game” vibe and another can’t stand how little plot there is. From there we jump to The Devil Wears Prada 2, digging into why a sequel can work as drama even when the comedy falls flat, and how your love for the original changes the way you grade what comes next. If you like spoiler-friendly conversations and honest star ratings, you’re in the right place. 

Then things get weird in the best way: Sheep Detectives delivers a wholesome murder mystery with a stacked voice cast, followed by a deeper question around the Michael Jackson biopic Michael and what “sanitized” means in the era of modern musical biopics. We wrap with a split-screen argument on Mortal Kombat 2 and a rare moment of agreement on Mandalorian and Grogu, where we ask why a Star Wars theatrical release can feel like a Disney+ season without a real ending. 

If you enjoyed the chaos, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave us a review. Which movie do you think we were most wrong about?

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Transcript

Season Six Kickoff And Guests

SPEAKER_03 0:45

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of The Couch Critics. I'm your host, and it is season six. We've made it to six seasons of this show. Can't believe it. It's man, the show's been going on forever. And I still don't know how many listeners we actually have, but that's okay because sometimes I just do it to you know talk to people. You know, I'm a dad and have two young children and a wife and don't really get out that much. And speaking of my kids, never let your four-year-old lock their door because then you can't start courting when you want to. Hashtag dad life. All right. So enough of that. I'm really excited because, well, one person has been on the show multiple times, and another person, this is his very first time being on the show. So let me introduce the first timer first, my good friend JP. Hi, JP.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. Sorry, I said more and hello and not eight different voices. Hello, hello name.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

So JP is a very good friend of mine. We are part of an improv true called The Unnecessaries here in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Shameless lug. Nice. We do, we just did a show. By the time this episode is being recorded, we did a show yesterday. Very fun show, downtown Fayetteville. So if you're in the Fayetteville area, come check us out. Yeah. So that's JP. And the the person who's been on the show multiple times is my good friend Lexi. Hi Lexi.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Hello. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 2:06

I'm great. I'm comfortable. I wish they could see how I look right now.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

No, I don't. But you, so Lexi and I are both teachers. So we have literally just finished with students for the summer. We do still have at least one more week of optional teacher work days, which I'm hoping because I teach theater and I do rehearsals after school. That all that time that I've used, I can use to, you know, get out of one or two of the optional teacher work days like I did last year, which was nice.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

Yeah, my room's done. I I've gotten everything out. We've gotten everything out of my room. I'm helping my mentor get her room finished, but I'm done. I'm just riding the clock now.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

See, you're nice. You actually help people move stuff out of their rooms and stuff. I don't. I move my stuff to one side of the room, and hopefully no one I work with is listening to this. And I just sit in my room. No one I'm not I'm not moving rooms. I I was hoping I would, but not. So I'm just like just waiting, waiting for the waiting for the summer to begin.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Today is my first day of painful unemployment. Uh yesterday was my last day working at uh working in a grocery store. So that was I don't miss it. I'm not gonna miss it at all. At all. Zero. It was miserable, miserable existence living working at the fable grocery store. People tell you thank you all day long, but it's like no, I know they don't. Well, I think some of the some of the some all the some of the older folks are like, oh thank you. Nobody else has doing that job. And I'm like, oh thank you, grandmother. And it is like, you know. But uh there are some people who I I they say thanks, and I'm like, all right, I know I'm nearly 40 working at the grocery store. You don't have to rub it in. Don't patronize me. I don't know. I did try to hit one guy with a joke once, and uh he said, Don't quit my day job. That was a few years ago. And I was like, This is why I haven't quit yet. You know, no, no more who wants to work there anymore? I have I have to work on my house, so that's my plan for now.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

There you go. So those are your summer plans. Yes, Lexi has summer plans of just doing Shakespeare and Three Musketeers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

After Three Musketeers, I'm going to GalaxyCon and that's it.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

But but one thing I love about the summer is of course, this is a movie podcast. I love summer movies, and there's a plethora of movies coming out this summer, and there's a plethora of movies that we're talking about this episode. So obviously, we want to get through all of them, so we probably won't go in depth in our reviews, which is fine. If you've listened to the show before, you already know that I don't I don't do that

Mario Galaxy Sequel Debate

SPEAKER_03 4:22

anyway. So our first movie is a movie I was supposed to review last cinema Sunday, but again, hashtag dad's life, and I just didn't get to it. So we're gonna talk about Mario Galaxy to the Mario Brothers movie. Okay, so yes, J JP JP let me know his very positive feelings. So I'm gonna let JP go ahead and tell us what he thinks.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

I have uh I I've seen a lot of reviews because like I am one of those people who does not care about spoilers. I like to get reviews from like a bunch of different people before I go in to see movies. So you know, I just like to know what I'm in for because I'm gonna see the movie anyways, you know. Like if it's a movie I know I'm gonna see, I'm gonna see it regardless. So, but like I I and I heard people saying, Oh, nothing happens in the movie, there's no story, blah, blah, blah. And I went through it and I was like, this was a fun Mario adventure. This was like watching a Mario game. You know what I mean? Like, that's how I felt about it. Like, I felt like it was just a fun Mario romp that took out all the boring crap that I didn't want from the first movie and made it made it just fun. Like, uh Yoshi, you know, I wanted Yoshi star. They had they took out uh old man Kong Cranky Kong, which I hated so much in the first movie. Very strong feelings about my dislike for Cranky Kong, and I didn't really care for Donkey Kong too much either. I just it's more just because he was just Seth Rogan than anything else. But yeah, I don't know. I really, I really like this new one. I liked it a whole lot. I didn't even realize that Bree Larson was uh Rosalina until like I saw somebody else's review on it. I was like, oh wow, she did really good. I like I liked everybody in it. I thought it was a really fun movie. Like, and I I love that they got Don Donald Glover play Yoshi and he just made Yoshi noises. Like, you know, like they got like a good voice actor to just go, you know, it was it was a lot of fun. I think it was a fun movie. They took all the stuff I didn't like in the first one and they just left all the good stuff I like. That's my my long and short of it. Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

Lexi, what did you think? Because I I have my thoughts. JP was very positive about it. He loved almost everything. And Lexi, what did you think of Mario Galaxy?

SPEAKER_04 6:20

He's gonna learn really quickly how I am. I hated it. Oh no, I hated it. No storyline, it had no plot. I watched that movie and it still can't tell you what the plot and I've seen it twice. One because I had to take the kid to take the start, I had to go back and watch it again anyway. So I was like, whatever. The only thing I liked was Danny Glover, Donald Glover, a child again being I liked him making Yoshi noises, but everything else that left it in the trash.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

See, see, I wasn't I wasn't that negative about it. I mean, JP and I had already had this conversation. I do think the first one is a lot better. I think it had a more coherent story. It was introducing the characters, introducing the world, and it was more fleshed out. This one I think they just did for nostalgia purposes. There are a lot of callbacks to the video games, which as a fan of the video games, I appreciated like a lot of Easter eggs, a lot of jokes here and there that you know people who played the video games will understand. I the one little gripe I had is that they revealed one of the characters before the movie came out, and I really wish they had saved. So if you haven't seen the movie, I'm gonna we're gonna spoil all these movies in this episode.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

It was done at the marketing regardless, no matter who you say.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

Right. I mean, this movie's been out for a while, so if you haven't seen it, sorry. But Star Fox was in this movie and they revealed him well before the movie came out. And I kind of wish they had saved that for the movie, especially because I still feel like they're leading up to a mega multiverse super Smash Brothers Brawl movie. And and to save him for the movie, I think Brawley would have probably would have been like, oh my gosh, I I really do like this movie. But they revealed it.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah, like what I do I like I do agree that they could have saved his reveal for the movie, but I really do like that they saved his backstory for the movie. Like the like I would watch that anime, the cool Star Fox anime that they had. I think that would be a really fun show. Like, and I if they wanted to make that show, like I'd be interested in that. Like I to me, it really just felt like a more like a a basic Mario game, because uh any Mario game, you don't play the Mario game for the plot, you play it to rescue the princess, you know. Like, and that's that's what they did at the end of the day. Like it like there was Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Peach, and they all had their thing. And honestly, not to be, you know, not to make a joke, but they minimalized Bowser's role in the movie too, literally and figuratively. And uh I appreciated that because I think I don't know, I've just got Jack Blackburnout, I think, you know, and that's just I I appreciated that. But but the puppet show, you can't say that uh you might have hated the movie that but the puppet show scene had me just oh Bowser, Bowser, it was so cute.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

I did, I did like the puppet scene, mostly because it was I like how they did like different type of animation. You mentioned like the anime section with Star Fox, and then they did a random puppet show. And I'm a fan of random, so I I appreciated that. I really did, but I still I'm still gonna say I think the first one is a little bit more superior than the second one. Hopefully they do more as they again as they expand the universe and introduce more and more Nintendo characters. I'm looking forward to what they're still going to do, even though this one was kind of underwhelming for me.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

So and I can see I can see underwhelming too. I just I just don't see the massive hate that it gets because like the first one to me was kind of boring, honestly. Like in like rewatching it, because I've watched that one multiple times too. After you know, like I I didn't really care for the Brooklyn stuff when they're just like, hey, we're people, hey, I don't Mario and Luigi look too cartoony to want to have them in I don't know, it's just it was them in the real world.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

I will say just I've never played the actual game. The only games I've played is like Mario House Party, Mario Lacart. I think I'm a young I'm from the the spice.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

Get off this episode, Alexe. Get off this episode.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

That's why you didn't like them.

SPEAKER_03 10:03

That's why you didn't like the movie.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

I didn't have the attention to it that y'all had because I was like, I don't really know the callbacks.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

So let's just go, let's just go ahead and review these movies. Um this movie. So if we were to get so on the show, we do one to five stars. That's our rating system. One obviously being terrible and five being the best thing ever. So, JP, since this is your first time on the on an episode, I'm gonna let you let us know what would you give the Mario Galaxy movie one to five stars?

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Okay, a four. Can you hear me? Yes, okay, four. It's not the best thing ever, but it is a fun movie and a lot of fun watching the movie. Awesome.

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Lexi, what would you give Mario Galaxy? 2.5. That's actually higher than I thought you were gonna give because you made it sound like you absolutely hated it. I'm gonna, I'm gonna give it a 3.5 because I do uh obviously I could still show it to my children. I'm I don't have to worry about anything in it, you know, there because just like JP said, I had to watch it multiple times too because both of my children wanted to watch it all the time, especially my son. Like, Dad, can we watch the Mario movie? Can we watch Mario movie? I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah, sure. Said a million times already. So that is the Mario Galaxy movie.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 Reactions

SPEAKER_03 11:12

So moving on to our second movie is the sequel that I don't know if anyone actually asked for this sequel. It's The Devil Wears Prada 2. Oh no, I hadn't seen it. And I had never seen the first one, so I watched the first one and I felt like I wasted a lot of my life by watching the first one, and I wasn't looking forward to the sequel, and I still felt like I've wasted some of my life, some, because I will say the Devil Wares Prada 2 was trying way too hard to be funny. There was not one joke that I laughed at at all, but on the acting, Lexi, let me finish. If you could see her face right now, the acting aspects of the movie were pretty good. So, like you got Meryl Streep, which she's she's a good actress. I'm not saying she's bad. I don't think she's as great as everyone makes her out to be. And Hathaway was in this movie, Stanley Tucci. So you have people in here that are pretty good actors, actresses, and when they were in dramatic wise, I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed the acting in this movie. But when they tried to be funny, it which was majority of the movie, it was trying to be a comedy, and it was not funny at all. Like I didn't laugh at one single joke. And maybe it's because I didn't like the first one. Obviously, this is as a certain audience of people that obviously were like, Yay, I love the first one. I gonna need to go see the second one. And I was not one of those people, I was just like, it's on my movie list, so I'll go see it. Yeah, I didn't like it. I didn't hate it, but I did definitely did not like it. Lexi, you're the one who was super excited about this movie. I remember talking to you about the trailer. So, Lexi, I'm gonna let you tell us what you thought of the Devil Wheels Rodney.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

I told you before it started, we were gonna be opposites, and I love it, but I love the first one. The first one's one of my favorite movies. I've watched it like 50 million times.

SPEAKER_03 12:50

But nothing okay, at least in the second one, something actually happens. I felt like in the first one, nothing happened, like there was nothing that happened. Girl Streep was a jerk at the beginning, and she was a jerk at the end. And way didn't have a job at the beginning, and then she didn't have a job at the end, nothing happened.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

It's true. Is it the Princess Diaries you're talking about? No.

SPEAKER_03 13:12

I mean, it's but it's true though. At least in the second one, there was somewhat of a character, which is which is why I think I enjoyed it more, is because there was at least some character development with Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, and like something actually did happen. But other other than that, I just I was like, this sequel didn't need to happen.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

So I I would say it was the sequel that I wanted and I was happy with it. I enjoyed it, but like I said, I watched the movie so many times. It's now I will give you, I will say I didn't find it funny. It's not something I was sitting there laughing at, but I did enjoy watching it for the drama of it.

SPEAKER_03 13:46

See, I and I agree. The dramatic parts of it were very good. The acting was not bad. So, JP, have you ever seen the Devil Wars Prada or the sequel? Fucking it up right now.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

2006. Okay, yeah, it was the original movie. I hung out with a lot of theater kids in high school. I was in high school in 2006 when this movie came out, and I've known a lot of people who like this movie, but I mostly uh literally I thought it was Glenn Close. I forgot it was Meryl Streep. I was like, it's one of those. It's Glenn Close, Harry and Ellen Miren or uh yeah, no, I sorry, I didn't realize that we were I was not prepared for talking about Devil's Earth Prada. I know Devil Wears Prada has a metal band. Um I think. So it's you know.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

So Lexi and I have talked about these two movies. Um, so I think we can go ahead and review them. Lexi, what would you get the Devil Wears Prada to?

SPEAKER_04 14:37

A 4.5.

SPEAKER_03 14:38

Oh my a 4.5?

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Yeah, it's actually. That's like really close to perfection. Okay, but okay, but just because you don't appreciate it, that's one of the movies that I appreciate.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

I didn't say, I did not say, I did not, I did not say I didn't appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

Yes, it's for a certain idea. It is, it is. It's it's one of those movies, either you're gonna like it or you hate it.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Now it's the first.

SPEAKER_03 14:59

I'm in the middle. I didn't hate it, but I also didn't love it.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Devil's Advocate is the first one, no pun intended. Is Devil's Ray Protestant Advocate? Uh is it the first one a 4.5 or is it a five?

SPEAKER_04 15:10

For me, we'll always be a five.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

The first one's a five for me with no character development and no plot.

SPEAKER_04 15:16

I love that I can go watch that movie right now.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

I don't trust your opinions anymore.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Learned how to take uh the princess diaries and read them from Ann Hathaway and Anthony.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

JP, stop trying to guess the plot.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

I'm I'm gonna give I'm gonna give the Devil's Prada 2 a 2.5 because I do believe it's a sequel that doesn't need to exist. And but at the same time, I'm not gonna give it lower than that because I again I appreciated the dramatic scenes so high, early. So anyway, so that is our two movies Mario Galaxy, Devil Wars Prada

Sheep Detectives Mystery Comedy

SPEAKER_03 15:51

2. Our third movie is a random one, folks. The sheep detectives. Yes, I did go see this. My wife wanted to go see it, I wanted to go see it too. It stars Hugh Jackman, and he's a shepherd, and he dies, and so all the sheep, voiced by a plethora of famous British actors. What is murder? Yes, JP, this movie is real.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

I've seen the preview where I saw Hugh Jackman and some sheep, and then I was like, huh. And then I kind of like trailed off, like bailed out. Okay, uh explain this movie to me, please.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

I'm that that I mean that's that that's basically that's basically what are some of the fun British voices because that's uh you have Patrick Stewart, you have Chris O'Dowd from the IT crowd. If you've never seen that show, you need to watch it, it's hilarious. And you also have who's the who's the girl? I I think the main girl, she's not British. I don't know, but no, it is a plethora of people. I don't know the guy's name, but he was on Ted Lasso. He played the really mean soccer player where everyone thought he was mean. He said the F-word a lot, but he plays two of the the Rams. You got Emma Thompson's in this, and who else? Just just just a nice, a nice cast of British actors. I I appreciated it. I liked it. I didn't think it was the most exciting movie in the world, but I thought it was cute. I thought it was, you know, nothing really bad in it except, you know, B. Jackman's character gets murdered. But it's it's a fun movie. It is a fun movie. I do think the person that ended up being the one that did it was a little too obvious, like not at first, but then once you start actually paying attention, you're like, of course it's that guy. Oh, sorry, I just spoiled it. It was a guy. But of course it was that person. But I thought it was fun, I thought it was cute. My wife and I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Okay, I'm looking at the cast. It's got Reese Darby in it, Brian Cranston, Julia Louis Dreyfus. Yeah, it's Brian Cranston. Give them names that I know that uh if I said, Okay, uh, Chris O'Doubt. I do know Deskris O'Doubt. Okay, Regina Hall. Oh, it's not a woman she.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

Yeah, it's it's a it's a pretty it's a pretty good cast of people in this movie. But but again, it's it's a cute movie. I think it's one that I we could probably show our kids, even though again, the main character gets murdered. But I think it's safe enough that it's wholesome and cute message, all that fun stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Like I did Brian Crieson as a sheep.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

I'd the one who was a sheep.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Oh no, he's he's really good in it, too. Lexi, what'd you think of the sheep detectives? If you could see Lexi right now, it looks like she's already about to fall asleep. We're not even halfway done with the movies. And we have like not that much time left.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

That's how I was about to watch that movie. I wanted to fall asleep. Um, it was okay, it was cute. I'm not mad at the concept. I felt like it was a new concept that no one's had tried before. So I'll give it that for originality. But to say I would want to watch it again, no.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

I don't I don't see myself wanting to really watch it again, but I might like my kids might like it because they're talking animals.

SPEAKER_04 18:24

Yeah, and I would say it is it's it's a one of the few Hollywood movies that you could show your kids without it being too crazy. I'll give you that.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

But I didn't enjoy it. Based off of y'all's reviews, I think I can surmise it. For a fun Hollywood time with the family, but no counting sheep with the sheep detectives has never been easier. Get your Z and while counting some sheep with fun voices. Uh sorry, it was better when it was like a counting sheep metaphor. Okay, that's enough. That's my review. Count sheep with sheep detectives, get you some sleep.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

And with that, I will give the sheep detectives a four out of five. Because again, I like wholesome movies. Was it the most exciting movie in the world?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

No, but it is a movie I could probably you like sheep detectives better than Mario Galaxy? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 19:06

It had more of a plot and it had more, you know, it was it was a who-done it. It was a mystery movie. So, yes, JP, I also like what would you give the sheep detectives? I also like them more than a Mario movie. I'll give it a three. There you go. There you go. Sorry, JP. We're handing we're beating up your your favorite movie.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

My favorite movie of all time, Mario Galaxy.

SPEAKER_03 19:24

Of all time. Moving on.

Michael Biopic And What It Omits

SPEAKER_03 19:27

So we kind of talked about this a little bit at the beginning. Michael, the biopic about Michael Jackson. I'm gonna give a short, sweet review of this one. It was exactly what I thought it was going to be. It was exactly what the majority of the critics have said it was. It was a very sanitized version of Michael Jackson's life. Obviously, some things that they wanted to cover, they were not able to because legal reasons, who knows if they're gonna cover them in the sequel that is happening, but it wasn't the most amazing biopic in the world. I think Bohemian Rhapsody was a lot better, in my opinion, because I dive it dived more into the life of Freddie Mercury in ways that we did not know about him before. And everything in the in the Michael movie, I feel like we already knew about Michael Jackson. So it wasn't anything I didn't know before, and that's why I say that. I don't think Bohemian Rhapsody was the best in the world. And in my opinion, because I'm the big Elvis fan, I think the Elvis movie was a very good biopic, even though I knew a lot about Elvis already, so it didn't really tell me anything new. So it's kind of like a balancing act. Lexi made a face when I said that about Bohemian Rhapsody, so I have to know what she thought of it. So, Lexi, what'd you think? We saw that movie a total four times.

SPEAKER_04 20:31

Four times? Yep, I loved it. Sorry. I so here's the thing because I grew up watching the Jackson 5 biop movie, that makes I always hated the fact that people try to water down how mean his dad was. And finally they just let it be known that he grew up with a horrible father. But we never even knew that though. Like that's not something we didn't know. Okay, but look at the age gap here, okay?

SPEAKER_03 20:54

But I'm saying, any any Michael Jackson fan knows that he grew up with a bad dad.

SPEAKER_04 20:59

Yeah, but they don't in the movie, like in the other movies, they try to make him.

SPEAKER_03 21:02

But we don't need to see that. See, my my thing is Michael Jackson was such a unique Michael Jackson was such a unique person. His personality was one of the most unique personalities in the history of entertainment. And I feel like they played it really safe.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Like the stuff I want to see in a Michael Jackson movie is the stuff that you see when he walks off the stage, like stuff you haven't seen. Michael.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

What made what made him so unique? What made him like his bad?

SPEAKER_04 21:26

I did. I also left that movie going, oh, he was definitely on the spectrum.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

I mean, he could have been. Yeah, I mean, he was a musical genius for sure.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

He was a musical genius. He was definitely, but I enjoyed it because it was I didn't want to see the negative part of his story because one, it's so many rumors, and no one actually wants to just tell the actual truth of it. So I rather have seen a good part of the story. And I think his nephew did a really good job claiming him.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Everything I've seen is like his clips of him as like as Michael look good.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

Who did who play young Michael also did really well.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Yeah, and and and here's the thing I'm not saying the performance. Is revenue, anything like that. I think what I'm in my opinion, I think the first part should be the rise of Michael Jackson. And I I don't think they're gonna do this, but my only logical connection would be that the second part would be the quote unquote fall of Michael Jackson. But I don't think they're gonna do that. I think they're still gonna just uh here, hey, here's all his hits, these songs that you love. And they might mention some things, but and again, I'm not saying I want to watch a movie that's super depressing and throws the guy under the bus. I mean, Netflix is already doing a documentary apparently covering all the things that they didn't in the biopic. And so, like, I'm not saying I want, but it's a part of his life.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

It's like if you're gonna make a biopic and you're gonna make it about his life, it's that's why I like you know, I know if you couldn't see it because it's audio, but like I like I uh for me, Bane and Rhapsody is just such a sanitized version of Pretty Mercury that you said that this is a sanitized version of the way Bane Rhapsody is. I'm just kind of like, whoa, I definitely don't see this now. Like, because if it's like if it's watered down version of what behind the rhapsody was, then uh because I I didn't care. But in my for me, the the musical biopic has been tainted forever by Walk Hard or the Dewey Cox story. Every biopic after uh has been it I I can't see the not like I see it and I see the parody aspects. Like and I'm just like and and I love Michael, like I've gotten super into like Michael Jackson, you know, like his like it's especially like after he died, it was like the same thing happened with Bowie. It's like after they did they got into all their stuff, like I knew their hits, but like I never really go got into their catalog of music and everything, and it's like one of those, like and he was just he really was like a genius, and if like I don't know, if just they they're just giving you the water down, they're just playing the hits. I don't know. Like, do we need to see that as a movie? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 23:37

Well, I will say I think Rocket Man, the Elton John bio. You've never seen that. I I actually think that's probably one of my favorites. Yeah, all right. So let's go ahead and give our rating for Michael. Lexi, I'll let you go because you obviously enjoyed it more than I did. Lexi, what would you give Michael?

SPEAKER_04 23:53

You're gonna be so mad with me. It's a good five for me. I enjoyed it. You thought it was a perfect movie. I enjoyed it. It was a perfect movie for Lexi.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Okay, so JP, you have not you have not seen the Michael movie?

SPEAKER_01 24:04

I have not. And if it's he's a like uh I don't know if it's below the quality of Benjamin Rhapsody, I don't think I will be seeing it either.

SPEAKER_03 24:12

Now I will say this the performances were very good, the acting was very good. Okay, so I'm not I'm not downing Michael Jackson's nephew, I'm not downing Coleman Domingo. I think Coleman Domingo is a fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

One of my biggest complaints with behavior was the lead, like Rami Malik, asked Freddie Mercury. I don't think was a good choice. So that that might if the the main guy playing Michael is good, then that might actually be.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Oh, yeah. The performances were great. Like there, I don't think there was any bad acting performance. I just think you have a person that is Michael Jackson, one of the most, again, unique personalities in the history of entertainment. And I don't feel like they did because this was made by his family, and so they wanted they didn't want to probably dive into as much as like someone who's like really interested in knowing more about Michael Jackson. If you're interested in knowing more about Michael Jackson, I don't think this is the movie for you. If you're a Michael Jackson fan, then I think it is the movie for you because again, it's it's it's like a jukebox musical, really. And it just here and there it it sprinkles a little bit about his life, mentions something for like two seconds and then moves on. Then in my opinion, that's what it did. But if you're going in it hoping to learn more about Michael Jackson, I don't think you will. So for that reason, I'm going to give Michael a three out of five because again, it was a fine performance-wise movie. The songs, obviously, they're Michael Jackson songs, so they're super catchy and you know almost all of them. And I did in my in my theater, I did seem to see some little kids dancing, which I thought was cute. And so, like, obviously, he has that still fan base and that pull, and it's obviously done really, really well in the box office, and they're doing a sequel. So we'll see what they do with that.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Where does it, where does the movie start? Like, at what point is like 1988?

SPEAKER_04 25:53

Yeah, with the bad the bad performance, 1988.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Yeah, like his farewell tour. I've seen the um I've seen the thriller recreation, and that was pretty that was really awesome. Like I thought that was really neat.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

Um they did a really good job with it. They really like for what they were going to do, they did a good job.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yeah, I I really did not like Freddie Mercury and the Bohemian Rhapsody movie. Like, just I found out all the stuff that with the Bohemian Rhapsody movie that they went in with it, and that just kind of put me off of the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Well, yeah, I mean you look, you look you look into it, and you like half of the stuff that they did, they rearranged when things happened and changed a lot of the history and which Holland does that all the time. But I think Rocket Man, if you've never seen Rocket Man, you need to go see that. If you're not an John fan, I still think it was a very good movie.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

I was much more of one after seeing Rocket Man, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

Yeah, it was a really, really, really good movie.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

I think the best one is Buddy Holly. Is Billy Holliday? Buddy Holiday is my favorite.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

I liked his who played Buddy Holly. Is that the one is that the one Gary I forgot? I just remember that's being Gary BC played Buddy Holly.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

I think so. I think that's one of the that's one of the ones I know I enjoyed. Or he didn't, you know. I think that was Ernest for the two that I enjoyed.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

He had a head injury, and that's why. I think Ray was the last one before Walk Hard that that was like I was able to take serious because that was like, I don't know, that was that did all the things, but the movie making fun of all of the tropes wasn't there yet. Like like Walk the Line was I hadn't seen I still haven't seen Walk the Line just because I won't I know we'll be able to just watch it without laughing.

SPEAKER_03 27:18

Walk the line was really good too, actually. Walking Phoenix did a really good job of giant gas.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

I I've gotta watch it one day. I just like I I biopics are ruined for me because of Dangle Walk Hard. If you ever do that movie on here, let me know and I'll we can I'll I'll talk for days about it. Okay, but I know you got stuff to do. So let's what's what do you got? What do you have next?

SPEAKER_03 27:35

We're on our final one, we're on our final movie of this episode, season six premiere, and it's The Mandalorian and Grogu, a Star Wars movie.

SPEAKER_04 27:44

I was doing Mortal Kombat 2. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I

Mortal Kombat 2 Lore Versus Blood

SPEAKER_03 27:49

have seen Mortal Kombat 2. Okay, Mortal Kombat 2. Okay, let's talk about it real quick. Mortal Kombat 2 sucked. All right, there's my movie. Suck just like Christmas.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

Oh, you are an appointment for that because I enjoyed that movie.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Okay, you were allowed to. I thought it was boring, I thought it was stupid. Obviously, you don't go see those movies for the acting. The acting was atrocious, the the script was horrible, the fight scenes were okay. I guess it it did it they didn't have enough fight scenes for me. I think they played it safe with the violence, and I'm not a big fan of violence. I think they played it really safe for that though. Like I was hoping for like a fight scene where the person punches somebody in like the ribs and they do like the x-ray thing and they show you the ribs breaking. I was waiting for that.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

I was waiting for that in one of the movies.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

And they didn't do any of that. I was waiting for it to obviously some of the fight scenes were cool because it did feel like it was like part of the video game. It was like one of those those cutscenes before they start fighting.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

It was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 28:40

Overall, it just it was more of the first one, and it was just really, really bad for me. And and and I want to I really want to hear like see, I want to hear why you enjoyed it so much.

SPEAKER_04 28:51

Now, I will say we did go see this one for D2. So there's that, but I enjoyed it. I liked it better than I liked the first one that came out because I didn't like the first one. I don't I did not like the first one because it just felt rubbish. A lot of people didn't like that first one because it added that new character. Which they killed. Spoiler alert. And they killed them. Cool, I did not mind. Most people did. I enjoyed this one, it was good. The fights were good. The only grief I had about it, it was not a Johnny movie to me. It was more of a katana movie. But that's my personal opinion. I think she should have been differently, but I enjoyed it. Like the call to the game, to finish him, did they wobbling? I enjoyed it. I'm excited for Street Fighter just because of that movie.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Oh, Street Fighter, I cannot wait for it. I think Street Fighter looks like a lot of fun. And again, I'm not gonna go to that movie expecting Oscar award-winning acting in that either. But uh that one, I think I'm more I I I played Street Fighter more than I played Mortal Kombat. I mean, I played more how violent Mortal Kombat was. But so yeah, I'm really excited for Street Fighter. JP, did you see Mortal Kombat 2?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

Yeah, so I'm like also super into like Mortal Kombat lore and stuff. I started playing the games like a lot around the 3D era, so like Deception and stuff. I really like Mortal Kombat 2. I have the same opinion of Mortal Kombat 2 that I have Mortal Kombat uh Mortal Kombat Galaxy of Super Mario Galaxy, where they took all the stuff I didn't like from the first movie and just took it out and left me all the stuff that I liked. You know, it was just fun fights. Uh like granted, yeah, they weren't as many like there were more fights than there were in the first movie, and they were in like fun locations, they weren't all in like, you know, just uh rocks and desert and stuff. We got Morcano, it was amazing. I I liked the I actually like the dual leads of having Johnny and Katana as the lead roles, like because like the marketing does set it up that Johnny is the lead, but like if you watch the movie from the beginning, they're they're telling you Katana's important to us to be and then they go into Johnny. Like they could they can't they could they have done it better? I yes, I think so. But like I I think all of overall it was a lot in the first one, like but that wasn't super hard to do. I do feel like I didn't I I'm not mad that they killed Cole Young, I'm just mad at how disrespectful it was with how they killed him. Because like I like that he got to kill Shang Sung. Spoilers for the movie, uh he got to kill Shao Kahn, technically, but Shao Kahn had cheat modes activated, so his kill didn't count. So it's just like I don't know. And then he just got his head squashed like a bug. I was like, oh no, no, no.

SPEAKER_04 31:21

And there's no bringing him back killed him. There's no bringing him back unless they come up a new thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Uh he pushed him into the acid afterwards, too. Like him into it.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

Yeah, you have the body to bring him back. So if they bring him back, they're gonna have to bring the they're gonna introduce something new, which probably gonna piss the fan base off again. Like they pissed everyone off the fan.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

I I did appreciate that they made Guan Chi look like a little shrimpy nobody, because I hate Guan Chi. Like he was the the bold, you know, the old white dude, white headed with the makeup and everything. Well, you gotta go and put more eyeline on. Is that what you gonna do? Kano, when when he brought Kano back, oh man, the screen just lights up everywhere. It's so fun. I love Kano. But yeah, I liked it a lot. Uh it like I said, better than the movie, better than the first one every way. Not better than the 95 Mortal Kombat movie, though. I will still say that that's the best Mortal Kombat movie is the original one. They did it right the first time. What can I say?

SPEAKER_03 32:13

I was I I'm morbid, I just was expecting more violence. Which is funny because I teach elementary children, and I probably shouldn't like more violence.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Well, it would have been I think it would have been better if more of the violence that was in the movie was consequential because a lot of it was done to Xiao Kahn, who's supposed to be like the be all end all bad guy, but he was like, I have immunity and cannot be hurt. And it was just like, oh man. And then, you know, it was also safe for Cole Young, who we all, you know, once again squished like a bug. Like they pop him like a pimple. That was bad, man. Oh. The one place he didn't have the armor, his head.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

No, it's like it's like in Dumb and Dumber when, you know, at the end of the movie where they shoot him in the in the bulletproof vest. What if he shot me in the face? Yeah, what if you shot him in the face? Well, that was a risk we were willing to take. Let's go ahead and give Mortal Kombat 2 a rating so we can move on from this atrocity. Lexi. Lexi, what would what did you think of Mortal Kombat 2? I'll give it a 4.5. Again, near perfection. JP, what would you give Mortal Kombat 2?

SPEAKER_01 33:13

I'll give it a 4, also right there with Super Mario Galaxy. Not the best things ever, but you know, good fun.

SPEAKER_03 33:21

I'm gonna give it, I guess I'll be kind of I'll give it a two. I'll give it a two. I'll give it a two. That's nice. That is nice. Compared to everything I literally just said about the movie. I'll never pay you again. I just uh did you not hear how I trashed the movie and I still gave it a two? Pretty totally two. I would have right anyways, wasn't

Mandalorian And Grogu Feels Like TV

SPEAKER_03 33:39

it? Anyway, now we can move on to our last one, which is The Mandalorian and Grogu, a Star Wars movie. So this obviously is based on The Mandalorian, which was a hit Disney Plus series, which I really enjoyed. I enjoyed all three seasons, I believe. All three seasons. I enjoyed it. I I think the character is fun, I think Grogu is cute. It's just a fun time. And then they announced they were making a movie. And the title is, you know, kind of weird. That's I hate the title.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

I hate the title of this movie so much. The title of them and it should have just been The Mandalorian, the movie. Like, honestly, like, come on.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

And and like, yeah, it should have been to me, it should have been like season four, but more cinematic, and it should have been like the end of the series. They should have ended it. My wife and I went to go see this because we're all we're both big fans of Mandalorian and Grogu. It just felt like a the TV show, it didn't feel like a movie, it didn't feel cinematic at all. It it you could tell it kind of reminded me of how like Moana 2 was supposed to be a TV show, but they still released it in in film. But you could tell it was supposed to be a TV show. That's how I felt about Mandalorian Grogu. I felt like it should have been a season four and it had no real conclusion. They fly off into space. Spoiler alert.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

With the date of Melinda Member Various. That's that's yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:53

Yeah, it just didn't feel it didn't feel like a movie to me. It now did I not enjoy it. I still enjoyed it, but it wasn't as it didn't feel like a Star Wars movie. It felt like a Star Wars TV show that they just put on this like a fathom event. That's what it felt like. It felt like a fathom event, the screening of season four.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

This this is the problem with Mandalorian as a character or as a show, I think, because you say it's like it should have been like the big like end to his show or whatever. They're not ever gonna do that because they don't even need Pedro Pascal for this character anymore. Like, you know what I mean? Like it's probably like he's he's got what 10 minutes of screen time in every other time left. Like it's it's well known at this point that the character in the costume for the most part is like two other stun doubles. That's it's not even Pedro. Like in the first scene of the Mandalorian the show where he iconic the iconic scene where the door opens and he makes like you know, walk slowly through the bar or whatever, that's not even Pedro Pascal, you know. So like I don't feel like there's uh this story is just the Mandalorian's purpose is to show you the world between episode six and episode seven. And I'm just kind of wishing we would have wrapped it up. That's where I'm at. Like, I'm just like, can we just let's start at least start introducing some horse first order concepts, you know, like something I don't want to know about Snotty from the Clone Wars cartoon movie. I don't want to see that he grew up and got all big and got swole, and you know, because I remember when he was crying on the back of Ahsoka as like a little and now he's voiced by what is it, uh the the bear or whatever from Hulu's the bear, you know, like okay, cool, so it's cool. And then Zeb and Imbo show up. Okay, cool. I know those characters. They were in my phone game in Rebels, sorry, on the Star Wars story.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

I I get no, I I I know exactly who these characters are too. Because years ago, one of our seasons was we watched all the Star Wars movies and TV shows in chronological order, so that was pretty epic. Yeah, I knew I knew all these characters, and that's the thing too. Like, but some people like most people probably don't know these characters, so like they don't they don't they're not gonna be like, oh my god, that guy.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

If you've only watched Star Wars movies, you're not gonna have any idea who Zeb is, you know what I mean? You're not gonna have any idea how big of a like how cool it is that he's still voiced by Steve Blum, you know, like or or when Cad Bain showed up in Book of Boa, I don't know. Dave Faloney is I don't know, he's he's got he's very full of his own writing, I think. That's a problem for Star Wars at this point.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Yeah, but I mean it was still it was still a fun time, Lexi. What did you think?

SPEAKER_04 37:17

So I love the TV show, so I was really excited this movie, and I did also see this one in 4D as well, and I almost fell asleep twice.

SPEAKER_03 37:24

Oh my god, and I I'm pretty sure I did too. I'm pretty sure I felt myself.

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Which is very hard to fall asleep in a 4D movie because you're constantly moving. Yeah, so so for that movie to almost put me to sleep, I do feel the same way as you did. Told you it was gonna be one that we agree on, and this was the one. I felt like it should have been a TV show. I I I don't understand why we even put it in the movies. Um money. It it should but it didn't even do well, it didn't even do well in the box. It's like the worst opening ever.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

The irony that they put about it.

SPEAKER_04 37:54

I love the world. I love Star Wars. That is one of my things. I'm a big fan. I've seen just about all the movies, all the TV shows, yada yada yada. And they could have left this one where it was at to release season four.

SPEAKER_01 38:04

You know what? If you had put this movie along with the last three episodes of the Book of Boba Fett, that would have been like another season of The Mandalorian.

SPEAKER_02 38:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Like I think that should have would have been the fourth season. Like they would have, if you would have divided the third season up with those three projects, like that would have been the third and fourth season. Like, I think that I don't know. Pointless for pointless sake. It's it's weird, it's not a good way to come out after seven years of no Star Wars movie. That's that's the way I see it.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

Yeah, I don't I don't understand. Like, obviously, they thought the Mandalorian was popular enough. Yeah, like the third season ended what two years ago? Yeah, it's been a while since since anyone's ever heard anything about the Mandalorian. So I don't think the fan base was there anymore. And so unfortunately, yeah, it did it did pretty bad at the box.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

Does this mean in two years we're gonna get a cool mall shadow lord movie because that show was awesome and um and then in two years they're gonna be like, I don't care anymore though. So here's my dark wall movie finally.

SPEAKER_03 38:58

Yeah, it's sad because you know, someone said that they wanted to go see it, and then they were really sad because no one like the audience wasn't getting really excited when they saw the Lucasfilm logo like they used to when Star Wars was crazy popular, and like, yeah, but there wasn't a scroll, there wasn't like any hype music, it was just started, and it's just unfortunately it didn't, it didn't really excite me that much. So, and unfortunately, this is the last movie we're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

It starts, but it never gets going. Is that that's like the the way I see it?

SPEAKER_03 39:28

Kind of feels like it kind of feels like the the first Devil Wars Rada, you know, it's just starts and doesn't move forward. Okay, no. So we'll I'm not sure what you do. It's called a quite bag.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

See, it's it's like you know, it's like the twins or the devil.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

It's like Christmas torque, trash, it belongs in the trash.

SPEAKER_03 39:44

Oh my god, Mandalorian. We're moving forward, we're not talking about Christmas movies anymore.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

All right.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

Let's go ahead and rate Mandalorian and Grogu. JP, what would you like to give it?

SPEAKER_01 39:52

I would like to give it a Book of Boba Fett out of the Mandalorian seasons one through three.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

That bad, huh?

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Yeah. I mean, and just I mean, I sleep. I see it, I go.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

The the book of Boba Fett was was pretty bad, except when The Mandalorian showed up and saved it.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Or when Cad Bain was on screen. That's true.

SPEAKER_03 40:09

But the fact that they had to make one episode that didn't have Boba Fett in it at all.

SPEAKER_01 40:13

Why was it the whole show about Cad Bain? Come on. Okay, sorry. I can't.

SPEAKER_03 40:17

Lexi, what would you give The Mandalorian and Grogu?

SPEAKER_01 40:20

A one.

SPEAKER_03 40:22

A wow. Ouch.

SPEAKER_04 40:23

I got the almost sleep watching it in F4G.

SPEAKER_03 40:26

I wouldn't give it a one. I'm gonna give it obviously I'm gonna give it higher than Mortal Kombat 2 because I was really nice with that rating. I'm gonna give The Mandalorian Grogu because again, it is a movie that I think is pretty safe. It's not that bad, you know. So I'm gonna give it a three out of five. I give a lot of movies threes this episode.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Right down the middle. We've got a lot of average movies coming out. I'm hoping that the summer movies will be good, like Spider-Man and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Well, I yeah, that's the one I'm really looking forward to probably the most is Spider-Man. Maybe Supergirl too, but Spider-Man.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

Definitely Spider-Man. Uh also, yeah, Supergirl as well. Uh I keep forgetting about Supergirl, but like the more I see about trailers for it, the less I kind of want to see it. I don't know. We're I just want to see more faces than I know, and I kind of don't see anything. Space stuff.

Ratings Roundup And Pokemon Season Tease

SPEAKER_03 41:07

But that, my friends, is the season six premiere of the Couch Critics. Yay! And in case you in case you didn't hear before, what we're gonna be doing this season, it's gonna be a much shorter season, probably. We're gonna be talking about the worst to best Pokemon movies. And the reason I'm doing this is because I have started my Pokemon nostalgia trip by trying to collect all the original 150 Pokemon cards. And so I was like, hey, I should just we should talk about Pokemon. And so that's what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 41:38

But then you receive your connection with the people that the Pokemon movie VHS is like that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 41:42

Luckily, luckily, they're almost all on Prime. So I have Amazon Prime, so yeah, and I will reveal the title because I don't feel like trying to pronounce it right now, but I'm gonna reveal the title of the apparently worst, because we're starting with the worst, the worst Pokemon movie. And so half of like majority of them I had never seen because a lot of them have to deal with like the new generation of Pokemon, and I grew up with when there were literally only 150.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah, see, I stopped about five five or six generations, and I think last time they played was Sun and Moon, and then I've been like it's all been you know rocket science to me. I I'm the old man laying at the cloud ever since then.

SPEAKER_03 42:21

So thank you, JP, for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Anyways, you're welcome. Thank you for having me on. I would love to come back and talk about Pokemon movies with USM colleagues.

SPEAKER_03 42:30

Yes, of course.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

Or other movies, any other movie.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

And Lexi, thank you for coming on as well. You're so welcome, Nathan. Thank you so much. That sounds nothing like her. Unfortunately, she she had she got dropped from the Zoom call, so she's not with us. But yeah, so if you want to hear more about Pokemon, know what know what we're talking about next on the next cinema Sundays, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, The Couch Critics. That's where we are, because we are the Couch Critics. For every movie, get us closer.