Episode 037 - Let's Put a Smile on that Face!

"You're the one pointing the gun Harvey; so point it at the people responsible." After Batman & Robin laid a huge egg at the box office, Batman vanished from theaters for nearly ten years until he was rebooted in 2005's Batman Begins, from mostly indie auteur Christopher Nolan. Ten years and billions in box office later, his Dark Knight Trilogy is lauded as a pinnacle in superhero cinema and cinema in general, earning the first and only Academy Award win for acting for a superhero film. As the Joker so rightly says- and Justin also eagerly points out- "You've changed things. Forever. There's no goin' back." While it has become somewhat fashionable of late to hate on Nolan's Batman, rest assured that no one here is going to drag them through too much mud.

This episode was far too big to do alone, however, so we called on our friends and brothers in podcasting, the Countdown Movie and TV reviews podcast, to help us rate these films and discuss their finer (and lesser) points. We are also joined in-studio by a good friend of mine and a big fan of Batman, Mr. Brentley Oliver! Thank you very much to Paul, Wayne, and Brentley for being on the show and helping us out with today's show.

Also this week, we're going to take a look at Bryan Singer's oft-derided Superman Returns, and attempt to answer the questions that have nagged this film and its production for a decade. Was it a sequel? Reboot? Remake? No matter what it was, the most important thing to note is it was not a success, which killed Superman as a franchise until Zack Snyder's Man of Steel was released in 2013. Yet, it does have its redeeming qualities for most of us, so we'll examine all of it here.

Next week's episode will be our final show before the release of Batman v. Superman, and since Justin is seeing it early, we're recording a week early to avoid any spoilers. We'll be reviewing 10 Cloverfield Lane as well as the latest trailer for Captain America: Civil War, and we're taking a look back at Man of Steel and responding to YOUR criticisms of that film in a very special retrospective.  

Thanks as always for listening, and please head to twitter and check out #PodernFamily for more great shows like the promos you heard today. Thank you for your support, and we'll see you at the movies!

How to find us:

We're still in the process of turning www.epicfilmguys.com into our main hub, and you can definitely link to anything through there. Most importantly, if you are a fan of the show, please head over to iTunes and rate us and leave a review! With every review we'll be better able to reach a wider audience that we are proud to include you in. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/epic-film-guys-podcast/id1027239734. Listen to us weekly at http://epicfilmguys.podbean.com, or at Stitcher and Spreaker. Thank you for your support!

We are huge fans of the Countdown Movie and TV reviews podcast here at Epic Film Guys, and I'm extremely thankful that Paul & Wayne joined us for this incredible episode. Please check them out, subscribe, and rate them on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/countdown-movie-tv-reviews/id979577413. 

Podcasts promoted in this episode: 

Join Tom, Jake, and Travis for a dissection of all things dork on the Drunken Dork Podcast, a podcast about Pop Culture News n' Booze! Find them on iTunes and subscribe at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drunken-dork-podcast/id910040832.

A huge shout-out and thank you to Emily and James and the Classy Little Podcast for their support. Check out their latest episode, Cheers to Mistakes! You can check them out and rate them at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/classy-little-podcast/id1019422584.

Over at the Secret Society Club, Scotty and Lucas share your secrets so you don't have to! Submit anonymously and hear other user-submitted secrets with LIVE reactions! Find them at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/secret-society-club/id1048359008.

Other Tidbits:

View our website! http://www.epicfilmguys.com! You can find links to all of our social media and all of our previous podcasts over there.

Join the discussion about the latest film news over at http://www.facebook.com/epicfilmguys!

Follow us on Twitter (Nick) and Instagram (Justin) @EpicFilmGuys!

Also, check out our video reviews over at www.youtube.com/epicfilmguysny. 

Intro music "Watch the World Burn" by Hans Zimmer.

Outro music "Epic Film Guys Theme" courtesy of Eric Askew.