iTunes Exclusive Episode Spectre

The following is a sooner orgator production. The following is a sooner orgator production. If you are hearing the sound of my voice, it means the following conditions have been met.

It means at least once in your life you have listened to the clubhouse podcast. There are one-stop shop for all things sports and entertainment, live every Sunday, night, 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific, but it also means you subscribe on iTunes because it's time for another exclusive iTunes exclusive welcome. My name is Rob.

I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast and you put James Bond on something in a morning. I'm just saying. But I'm not alone for this particular episode.

Joining me across the desk is he tends to do is a man who's affinity for the James Bond franchise almost rivals mine. He is Chad welcome sir. I wouldn't say almost rivals yours.

Also joining us for this particular edition is the official fact checker of this show. And a man who has never even touched an ass in Martin in his life. But he'll tell you he has.

He may know him as fun, don't go with his mom and even don't for him and a call and don't for a welcome sir. I have touched one. See?

Touch it? Touch that was coming. Whatever we do one of these episodes, it is normally to review something this is no exception.

You've probably figured out by now that the 152nd iTunes exclusive is going to be our review of the latest film, the 24th film in the James Bond franchise called Spectre. You hear the theme song in the background from Sam Smith called writings on the wall. Before we get, we have to think somebody who's at Ashton, Candace, everybody at Maroc.

We love Maroc. Columbia Pictures, everybody for inviting us to this thing. They're so good to us.

They really are. They're very, very good to us. Everything.

Yeah, we got to invite that for this. We're like, oh, they're good to us. All right.

So let me set this up for you. This takes place probably not that long after Skyfall ends. We find James on an off-the-book mission in Mexico City, which leads him to chase down someone who turns out to be the leader of a very mysterious organization.

But meanwhile, back at home in London, M played by Ray Fines, is fighting off a security conglomerate that's pretty much trying to absorb his department and get rid of the double oprogram. But that's probably about as deep as I want to go into this thing, because there's a lot going on here that I think that when you summarize this film, it's very, you have to walk a very thin line, because there's a lot going on that could really spoil things. I kind of want to keep things as generalizing.

I want to add a small thing. He's dealing with another villain in a handshake. Oh, yeah, yeah.

So there's a henchmen and there's everything else, but that's all I want to say. Yeah. If you know what the title means, you know where we're going, but you really don't, because there's a lot more going on here than just your cut and dry bond plot.

Well, directed by Sam Mendes, who directed Skyfall, a lot of people know him for other things like American beauty, road to prediction, revolutionary road. I mean, Mendes has skins on the wall a couple written by John Logan, a Neil Purvis, and about 60 bajillion other people, because again, there's a lot going on here. Chad, we'll start with you speaking of the screenplay from John Logan, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, Jess Butterworth, and I believe, and of course, based on characters created by Iron Flaming, let's start, we'll just, we'll just start with the screenplay.

It felt like the natural extension, I mean, all of these, all of these films have had a cohesive feel to them ever since which we haven't had before, yeah, we're, most of your James Bond are just kind of standalones, and these, these can be standalones, but what they've done with this rebooting, I even don't even want to call it rebooting, it's a different guy playing a role for me. Is they've decided, you know, what we're going to have themes run through this thing, that when you get to, to Spectre, you're going to see a lot more in common with the other three than you realize. I mean, you, there's a certain amount of, I don't know what you would call it, pay off maybe, a little bit that you get, but throughout this thing, things come into much sharper focus, you know, they've, they've kept things kind of vague.

And some things that you think you might have known, some of them are verified, some of them are not. And even the ones that you suspected, and what wasn't particularly sure on, you, you're still a little giddy when it happens, so, but I really like the way these things almost almost have the feeling of the Marvel Universe, I mean, this, this whole, it's a fair point, this whole connected universe thing, I'm really enjoying this, I like the fact that everything all kind of ties together. Done.

On me, I don't have the great credit, I admit it, I've seen the, most of the James Bond film films throughout the, my, my life, and there's some, I've seen a lot, and some, that I've only seen part of, so I'm not the real, no, every twist and turn kind of guy, okay, in a lot of people out there are like that, okay, let's just be around in there's a ton of people who know every little twist and turn there is to know, I will not are confirmed or, yeah, yeah, I'm not gonna, you know, say any names like Robert and our chat, we're Mac or Gary Murray. It's why I'm, well, Mac or Gary Murray, I've given up, but yeah, I'm not even gonna try. Yeah, probably by Greek red, but still overall, I thought this is a good extension to everything.

I like where the story went in everything on that, and you get the classic Bond, you get the classic canchement, you get a lot of stuff you're used to, and it like, it, it gets a little personal too still, and you get that personal side of Bond more than a lot of the other films in the past, you take it from like moon racer to live in like die, these last couple of Craig have been real personal, where they really go into the depth of James Bond himself. Now, on the other hand, I was a little conflicted with, with the plot, okay, me personally for a guy who doesn't have all the credit and everything, and I'm the first to admit it. True.

I thought this movie was a little long. I thought they could have cut out probably 20 minutes. It is, it is a, two hour and 28 minutes, I thought it, it dragged a little bit.

Now, I'm not saying that's a horrible thing. I still like that. I thought it was a great film, and you get the classic Bond moments on just about every angle that you can expect, you get the, the martini, you get the action, you get the car A, you get the incredible invention, you get the nice little toys from Q, I mean, everything under the sun, you expect.

I just thought that it was just a little too long. The run time didn't bother me. For me, I thought the script was pretty strong.

It was, there were so much going on that this is not, you know, make sure that you, your bladder is empty and don't get the large soda, because you're going to miss stuff if you leave the room. What I like about the last four Bond films that have been, of course, the Daniel Craig series, if you want to call it that, they've gotten real cerebral with it. Yeah.

What do you mean by that, cerebral? That it's, there's a deeper story going on here than James Bond is a spy, and he's going to get the girl, he's probably going to get multiple girls, you know, people are going to die, he's going to do karate chop, you know, this series, they've made it more sophisticated, he's more complex as a character and you understand, you get to understand who he is as a person more, which doesn't discount what's been done before. There's a reason I've seen all 24 of them, and the only reason I don't own all 24 is Spectre's not available yet, but you own 23.

I own, I own every one of them on Blue Red, and I'm not buying box sets, I'm buying them all individually, because I've learned my lesson with James Bond. You buy a box set, you're going to have to buy another one when the next one comes out. So I'm not doing that anymore.

But I could watch, I could watch these movies anytime I want, and I will. But what I like about this set of Bond films is that there's more to watch, there's more to absorb, and I think Spectre as a story is great. The problem Spectre was going to have, and we all knew that going into this, is it had to follow this guy?

It's just like Quantum had to follow Casino Royale. It's like the reverse Star Trek effect, you know, and not to say that either of those two films are bad, because they're not, I really enjoy Quantum of Solace, and I enjoyed Skyfall. It's just the Bargitz set, so hi, it's almost impossible, but Mendez and the screenriders do a really good job on, you know what, we're not going to try to beat the last film.

We're just going to try to make the last film better, and I think they do here, and there's even some omages, especially in the last 45 minutes, of that 60 style of shooting that they used to do in the early films. And some of the things in there reminded me a lot of those old Sean Connery films, which I really, really dug. Now when you go, of course, when you go into the look of the film, Mendez does what Mendez does.

You know, he, we first announced that he was going to do Skyfall. We all kind of went, this is an interesting choice, you know, but the way he framed Craig alone, he just knows how to shoot this guy, and he's got to, he's at a very incredible eye. And he knows how to shoot the underground for like a maturem layer where he lives, and he, he shot it really well, and he does the same thing with this.

Well, he used a different cinematographer this time around, and he did on Skyfall. But the vision to me was very similar, it's just more, more, more, day shots than night shots. Because a lot of Skyfall takes place at night where a lot of specter takes place in the daytime, very harsh light.

And very much so. So I really thought that Mendez really complimented himself. Here's my question.

You guys, please do. And this is, you take out, you take the basic part of the film, not kind of the little tidbits, personal stuff, sure. If this was, you take the exact same film, and name the head guy Billy Bob, played by Chanum Tatum.

Who? Chanum Tatum. I got him.

Yeah, if you got a little Tatum, he's fine. And you call it Agent, Agent Zero. And you can just do it anything else, but a bond.

Yeah. Would you still give it that highest steam you're giving this film with the plot and everything just because it's James Bond. You know, that's an interesting question.

And I don't know that I can honestly answer it, because as a story, I really liked it. So if it was another film with another just a different name, different character, but everything else was the same, you give the same of steam to that film. I honestly can't answer that.

Okay. I really can. And it's an excellent question.

Yeah, and neither can I, because you have a level of expectation going in, because it's a bond film. Right. I mean, that's, you know, that you could maybe you could slap a mission impossible moniker on this, and maybe look at it the same way.

Exactly. That's the point. Like when we walked out of the dark night, we could have said, that would have made a great film.

We did say that would have made a great film, even if it was nothing to do with it. And it's still the perfect superhero. So if you take that same exact movie, but he has put Tom Cruise and caught Mr.

Mission Impossible. That's my question. I just, I honestly can't answer that question.

I mean, I don't think I'll probably, one of the most thought provoking questions. And this is not the slight dawn, but we're the best questions he's ever asked me on this show. It's, I enjoyed the film regardless that I liked it more because it was a good bond film.

Yeah. Which brings us into performance. What do you say do?

Who? You know from glorious bastards, playing Madeline Swan. She is the official bond girl along with Monica Balucci.

And I don't think I'm ruining anything here by saying all of the hype of Monica Balucci being in this film. This sentence took longer to say than she's in it. So be aware of that going in.

But I think that, let us say, do did a great job here as the official bond girl in this. Great finds. I'm still getting used to his M.

And I don't know what it is. And it's not Judy Dent, who's played the role for the better part of two decades. Because we've had how many M's now, two or three or four.

I mean, I just, there's just something about him that's not clicking S M for me yet. He's good. I'm a big, great finds fan.

But I think he's still trying to find where he fits into that M role. Okay. Big question.

Walts is the villain. I can listen to this guy read the phone book. And I still think he's trying to take over the world.

He's just that good as a villain. There's a reason why he's got two Oscars to his name already. And he's, he's just, he's the bar on this one.

Absolutely. And I don't want to go too deep because I don't want to spoil anything. But he is, he is this generation's bond villain.

He just, he's that guy. He's that no Mr. Bondi expected you to die.

He's, he even, did you notice the jacket? Yes, I did. I mean, just, oh, he's just so great.

And then you have Dave Batista, which if you're a WWE fan, you know, was Batista who played Drax and Guardians of the Galaxy. Has one word in the entire film. I was going to say in my read, read at theclubassparkass.com.

That's our website. He didn't say much. He doesn't want to work.

But he, he spoke actions with, with his actions. He has, and he really had to stretch his acting muscles quite a bit. No pun intended because he had to convey it without talking.

And I'm going to say that not because I'm a WWE fan. That's what it is. I'm just saying that he did a good job as a handshake.

He did a very good job playing hinks. I do love the fact that you had some, you realize that the card, the both cars and that chase scene are both prototypes and you can't get them. Okay, yeah, the, the car that bond drives, there's only 10 of them and the production owned all 10.

Me, the one from the first chase. From what he, yeah, when he and Hinks get a bottle of champagne. Yeah, yeah.

Now, I want to give it to Sedale. I, she's one of the best bond girls in a long time. She's a different breed.

And that's what I like about it. It's not the standard. I'm serious.

I'm elegant. All that stuff. Which she was.

But she was a down earth. Let's call it something. She, and she brought a, a silo which I lied.

She brought a strength to the role of the bond girl that we haven't seen. We've seen it before, but we haven't seen a ton of. But I also think that's part of the evolution of the franchise, because you have to keep up with the ton.

She's a fresh breath as she's grown. She's great. I mean, just a standard.

Hi, I'm cute. I'm beautiful. I'm going to stroll around.

I'm going to do the standard. What do you expect me to be evil on the side and all that stuff? No, she was the way.

She dressed. She wasn't miss, you know, dinner suit the whole time or dinner dressed the whole time. She was just, hey, this, let's get it going.

Boom, boom, boom, boom. I'm here to, I'm not here to play. I'm here to.

Unlike some bond girls, if we made her into a nuclear scientist, I would believe it. I was going to go this. I was going to go this.

The future. Um. And again, I got your.

I'm a fan of her just that role, isn't right. And as much as I'm still not sure about Reif finds his cue. I'm that much more in on Ben Wishaw As as Q.

Q as I'm so gonna use to Reif finds his M Ben Wishaw's cue. He is the perfect Q for Daniel Craig James Bond He's a good man. As much as I would love to have more John Cleese.

Don't get me wrong Wishaw is great and It's it's kind of weird because for our entire lives we saw the great Desmond Lewin who always outaged Bond by at least a decade or two But to go younger with it and and it still has that that chemistry of just oh, I'm gonna give him his twins gonna break it. You know It there was so much that I really love about this film But it's not skyfall And I think it's because it followed skyfall. I think if these two films had been reversed The gap would be closer You think so?

But just because skyfall was what it was although I did once here a friend a review of friends say it's two-thirds bond one-third home alone But Denied I mean I think that's a brilliant assessment of that film You keep waiting for him to put it to range. I know But I just And and again staying you know steering clear of spoilers this ends exactly like it needs to end And I want the next one. I want bond 25 to pick up right at the last frame of this Because this ended now.

It was like yes This is where I need this is where I need the story to be You know there I don't know if you saw it Dom, but there's a certain point where there's a twist to to the plot Chad and I were both hands in the air. Yeah, so like seven-year-old on Christmas Well, you were like you were getting a couple times don't get me wrong on that because I'm a huge fan of this franchise And I love the direction That's to say relieving the past Yeah, there's just so much to this and one thing I said to Chad was There wasn't a lot ruined for me here or surprising me here because when you go back and you watch the trailers after you watch the film You realize they've been telling you all of this all along But the way they cut the trailers you don't you don't realize it until the movies over which I thought was a brilliant stroke too I just don't I don't know what else we can say about this I mean is there anything else you guys want to see before we get to the final analysis? Beautiful scenery there was one that's that's the bond Yeah I like it Totally agree.

I mean, there's one scene where they arrive in Austria in that first scene in Austria It's just like, oh, okay, you just got hit the nature You know level of beautifulness meter in my head and just made it explode. I mean You know is in its course it's around the globe like you expect with every James Bond and everything like that But for me like with the Greek red I didn't without the Greek red. I just thought It might have been a little too long.

I thought It don't get me wrong. I don't hate it or anything like that, but it's just For me, I thought there's some points where just could seem to a little long Fair enough. Yeah To me there is no such thing as a bond film that's too long That's just again.

You're different. Yeah, that's just me All right, let's get to the final analysis the way we do the final analysis on this show We don't you get thumbs-up thumbs down. We don't give you stars We don't give you letter grades one to ten our audience whom we affectionately refer to as the empire is better than that I'm gonna ask two questions question number one would you see this film again if the answer is no Then we're done here if the answer is yes, how far are you willing to go is the following question?

Would you pay full price would you see it at an evening show or a twilight show? Would you go during the day? Would you go early and morning on a weekend?

Would you wait for it in second run at the dollar theater? Would you venture out of your house when it's available on red box? Would you stream it from Netflix?

Would you wait for it on cable? Don would you see this film again? Yes, how far are you willing to go that name matinee matinee Okay, yeah, because I just thought don't we wrong great action everything expect from bond and all that I just thought it was a little long 20 minutes could have a good up Chad would you see this again?

Are you kidding me? Of course. I would I have to ask the question sir.

You're inspired deserves didn't know. That's right How far you want to go back to the ends of the earth Fair enough. I would see this again I would really like to see this in I max yeah Because there were some stuff that was shot four eye max in this and Especially like the the opening part with the with the What are you talking about hold on stay with me?

You know the Mexico city yeah, yeah, you talk about what have been amazing full price or I would pay full price yeah, I would absolutely pay full price for this The franchises and such good hands right now that it's almost like they can't do wrong and then you get to this thing One of the coolest credit sequences in the history of ever Much less the bond franchise And I want to say that Daniel Craig has been featured in the credit sequences more prominently than any other bond Because every every other bond has always been kind of represented in silhouette and we and we said in our show Our normal show when this song dropped by Sam Smith writings on the wall that we were We're not jumping for joy like we did when it dealt with skyfall, but we wanted to see it in the context of the film and in the context it works Yeah, it works really well and the reason I can't give it the full price is there were a couple things that were just oh That's predictable Yeah, but it's just like oh Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's yeah Yeah, that doesn't bother me because that's just what the franchise. Yeah, but that's one saying I'm just saying that's what without the special level agreed as a you know Not a huge fan. I mean, I'm a fan, but not an extreme fan But again, we still regardless how we saw this thing We got to thank Ashden, Candace, everybody up in the rock Columbia pictures thanks again for inviting us to this thing guys.

Spector Spector go check it out. Let's do the plug gentleman Visit our website WWW dot the clubhouse podcast dot com find out everything you need to know and some stuff you don't Please like our Facebook page look up the clubhouse podcast on Facebook put the word podcast on there or something completely different You can follow us on Twitter at clubhouse show you can follow me on Twitter I am a yes that Rob Urban that has spelled ER V I N I am at chat in pg69 I'm at fun don't go you can email me at dawn at the clubhouse podcast dot com email dawn for information How we can come to a live show at your particular establishment we love doing live remote shows and hanging out with the empire You can email me if you'd like questions comments concerns tell me to go pound sand I am Rob at the clubhouse podcast dot com and chat with the clubhouse podcast dot com Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that And I'm sure Jules Walmak is chomping at the bit to see this because she didn't get to come with us for the screening we went to Our normal show every Sunday night seven eastern four pacific We're your one stop shop for all things sports and entertainment so until next time For Don for Chad for the empire. I'm Rob clubhouses closed Brittany Palmer bond girl Really shouldn't be an this should be an obriner seriously The preceding was a sooner or later production You