ATH Presents: Behind the Hype

Our Jackie Chan retrospective resumes with the absolutely goofball "Rumble in the Bronx," and we mean that in the most positive way possible. Sure, the plot is awful, but you're not watching one of these for the plot. You are? Really? Anyway, the action is top notch and thoroughly exciting and the third act is absolutely hilarious, if nonsensical. You owe it to yourself to check out this movie (and our episode on it) if you haven't.

This week we continue our month on Jackie Chan with the film that fans consider to be one of his best: Police Story. Chan himself also considers it to be one of his best in terms of action and stunts, and the film itself launched many sequels. We have a bit more nuanced of a take on the film, finding some of the plotting to be ridiculous and a frustrating distraction from the truly great action scenes. Specifically, we take some umbrage with the court scenes and the appalling acceptance of shady evidence. We have a lot of fun getting into the particulars of this fun movie so hit that play button and join us for a look behind the hype of Jackie Chan's Police Story.

We're back from our hiatus and ready to jump into some serious discussion about a super serious actor who only makes super serious films. Just kidding. It's Jackie Chan month and we're kicking off perhaps our most fun month yet talking about the hilarious and wonderfully choreographed Drunken Master. What's perhaps the most impressive is how on point Chan's comedic timing is and how much charisma he exudes onscreen. If you haven't watched it yet stop what you're doing, watch it, and then join us.

We end our month of "Snyder Cuts" with THE Snyder Cut. That's right, we're talking about Zack Snyder's Justice League, which had the unfortunate task of building an entire league of superheroes in 4 hours and somehow did it better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Naturally, we had to have an extra-long podcast to discuss how this all happened and why this film is proof positive that the world has been wrong about Zack Snyder. And naturally, we had to bring Matt "Zombie Dog" Dykes back to help. Guys, let's talk about some Justice League!

It's a bird! It's a plane. No, it's our deep dive into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition. BvS is the film that really kicked the anti-Snyder sentiment into high gear, and we try to grapple with why that is while pointing out that the movie in its extended form is actually quite good. The acting is top notch, and the re-inserted scenes with Clark give him a story arc and explain just why things happen the way they happen. Don't believe the hype on this one...the movie is actually good. Let's talk about it, shall we?

Special thanks to Matt "Zombie Dog" Dykes for joining us to talk about the film. 

This week on the show we're continuing our deep dive into the "Snyder Cuts" by looking at a film that could have really used a longer cut - Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole. As you watch the film you can see why Zack Snyder directed this. Beautiful landscapes, vivid characters, punchy pop songs - it's all there! The big problem is that it's an adaptation of a popular children's book series, and like with most of these things, the problems stem from trying to cram as much stuff in as short a runtime as possible. Still enjoyable? Find out in the episode!

This week we're taking a look at perhaps one of the most hated films in the Zack Snyder filmography: Sucker Punch. It's been dismissed as exploitative, and has been derided for its depiction of women. It also features more special effects, explosions, and those darn slow-mo shots people keep making fun of all the time online. So, what if we told you that the Extended Cut solves most, if not all of those problems, and that maybe some of those problems were but projections of an already biased audience? Let's get into it, shall we?

Here at Behind the Hype we've decided that it's time to take a deep dive into one of the more divisive filmmakers out there today: Zack Snyder. People either love his work or hate it, and no matter where you fall on that spectrum you can't deny that he is a visionary filmmaker. We're going to be discussing his "Snyder Cuts" this month, starting this week with his "director's cut" of Dawn of the Dead. 

The DC isn't all that much longer than the theatrical version and it doesn't significantly change the quality of the movie, but it's an indicator of what's to come for this filmmaker and hopefully gives some insight into how he approaches his films. Special shoutout to James Gunn, who wrote the film and paired so well with Snyder. Seriously, they should work together again.

While we're sad to bring our month of Showa Era Godzilla films to a close, we're glad we picked Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as our last film to discuss. It's got ape-like aliens trying to conquer earth, interpol agents disguised as muckraking journalists, a musical number, and a monster named King Caesar who helps Godzilla kick the ever-loving ish out of the titular villain. Try not to grin like a goof-ball at any given moment. We dare you.

Also in this episode we discuss plans for next month. Here's a hint: Director's Cuts.

The next film in our month of Showa Era Godzilla films is Destroy All Monsters, which features all your favorite monsters and then some as they terrorize all the major cities of the world. But what has caused them to go on such a unified rampage? Aliens. That's right, an all-women race of aliens called the Kilaaks have bent all the monsters to their will and it's up to a fearless space captain to set things right. To say that this film is a blast is a bit of an understatement. It may not be as uniquely humorous as Son of Godzilla, but it's still a great time at the movies.