WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema Rewind: Blade 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:08.920 Hey, Welcome to Weird House Cinema Rewind. This is Rob Lamb. 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:12.680 And I'm Joe McCormack. And on today's Weird House Cinema Rewind, 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.840 we are bringing you an episode that aired July eighth, 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.040 twenty twenty two. This was our episode on Blade. What 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:21.200 more could you ask for? 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:23.319 Yeah, it seemed fitting. You know, we were kind of 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.400 trying to ice skate Uphill this week with our workload, 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:28.200 and so we had to call on Blade to come 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.400 in and help us out a little this Friday. But 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:33.280 I think it's fitting. Blade's been on my mind a 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.200 little bit, but I'm checking out this video game Midnight 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:38.440 Suns and when you get to control Blade and turn 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.560 based combat, it's pretty fun. And we're still, I guess 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:46.560 some ways away from the next Blade movie with Marshall Ali. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.480 I understand that one has had some setbacks and changes occur, 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:53.600 but hopefully they're going to get buy back on track. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.760 They're going to shoot that like in our neighborhood, and 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.560 then it'll be ready for us sometime in like twenty 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:00.640 twenty five or something. 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:01.520 Beautiful. 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:10.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:18.400 Hey, Welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob Lamb. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:20.959 And this is Joe McCormick, and hey today, are we 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.479 getting into the Marvel Cinematic universe? Is this a Marvel 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:26.600 superhero movie? 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.880 Well, no, not quite for the first question, but yes 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.080 for the second question, because we're going to be talking 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:38.080 about the nineteen ninety eight movie Blade, a movie that 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:40.560 is kind of it is kind of the precursor to 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:44.959 the Marvel Cinematic universe, but unlike the PG era and 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:48.120 PG I guess thirteen probably era of Marvel films that 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.200 we have today, and even the darker DC films that 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:53.960 we have, and certainly those have more in common with Blade. 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.920 We're talking about a solid R here, mostly for violence 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.160 and language, a little bit of sexuality, but you know, 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.680 several different things that wouldn't fly in the Marvel movies 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:06.080 that are so popular right now. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.480 It is hilarious that this is essentially, I would say, 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:13.120 a movie for kids, but absolutely not for kids, hardcore 0:02:13.360 --> 0:02:18.240 R rated comic book movie. Like basically every other word 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:20.560 is the F word. It's relentless. 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:25.600 Yeah, Blade as a superhero has several different superpowers, but 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:27.760 one of them is definitely that he gets to say 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:29.880 the F and he gets to say the f as 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.560 many times as he wants to, as far as I 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:33.200 can tell, I don't think there's a limit. 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.680 And there's constantly blood spraying everywhere on everything. 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:40.640 Yes, yeah, there's a lot of blood in this one, 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:43.720 and a lot of attitude. So this is a movie 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:48.280 where we're once more getting pretty close up to the 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:51.320 dawn of the millennium here and in the end of 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.560 the millennium that we spend most of our time in 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:55.360 than the century we spend most of our time in. 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.480 Because this is ninety eight, I think the closest we've 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:03.200 come to to breaking the millennium point has been Deep 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:03.720 Blue Sea? 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:04.800 Is that ninety nine? 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:06.920 I think that was ninety nine, But we're pushing the 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:07.840 boundaries again here. 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.639 Well. So I was thinking about this and about how 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:16.200 Blade is not only a vampire superhero movie. It is 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.280 also very much in terms of like the cinematography, the 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:24.440 way this movie looks, and the way the fight senat 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:28.840 are staged. It is very much a millennial R rated 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.360 action thriller. And so what does that mean? I would 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:37.920 characterize it as follows sets with tons of slick, gleaming 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:44.760 surfaces and gun metal gray coloration. Everything is wet, lots 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:51.280 of casual depiction of futuristic digital devices like laptops and 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.440 cell phones doing things that they absolutely did not do 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.720 at the time in nineteen ninety eight, and no one 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.720 finding this unusual, even though the movie is set in 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:05.600 the present and just lots of wires everywhere. Beyond that, 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.400 I would say muted colors in general, with kind of 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.680 harsh white lighting, like not soft yellow lighting, harsh white 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.320 lighting reflecting off of all the slickness in the sets. 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:20.520 And then extreme gratuitous gun violence where like rooms of 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.520 bad guys are sprayed with bullets causing huge panes of 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.680 glass to explode and shower down in slow motion, and 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.719 then finally sunglasses inside all the time. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.679 Yeah, the gun violence is interesting in this film because 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.599 it's not the thing that I think of when I 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:42.000 think of Blade, but it's it's clearly part of these movies, 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.880 you know, When I look back fondly, I'm thinking about 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:48.880 the times that he's he's kicking vampires and stabbing vampires 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:53.159 and using that katana sword and so forth. But yeah, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.479 he's also blasting room fulls of vampires. But I don't 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:58.680 know that stuff doesn't seem to I don't know with 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.760 me anyway, it doesn't resonate as much as the martial 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:01.320 arts action. 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:03.800 Oh yeah, the martial arts is clearly where it's at. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.760 Blade kicks and he you just imagine like when you're 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.120 watching this movie, like if Blade kicked, you be like 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:12.440 getting hit by a bus. 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:17.040 Yeah. Yeah, every time Blade, really, anytime anyone is hit 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.960 in this movie, I buy it. Like it does a 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.479 really good job of selling the physical violence. Now, before 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:25.279 we go and eat any deeper, I'm gonna I guess 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.839 I'll mention this. We've we've started mentioning where to watch 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:30.160 a film earlier on in the episode for folks who 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:34.360 want to go in unspoilt. But basically, you can watch 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.520 Blade everywhere. You can get it on DVD, you can 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:39.240 get it on Blu ray. I think there's a three 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:43.000 pack of Blade films out there, and there's also you 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.080 can simply go to. I think HBO Max as of 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.919 this recording in the US has all three of the 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:52.440 original Blades of streaming. So Blade one, the excellent, Blade two, 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.240 and also Blade three or Blade Trinity if you will. 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:57.760 Now, I think you're more of a connoisseur of Blade 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:02.120 than I am of my earliest experience. It's well, basically, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.760 I think i'd only ever seen this first movie before 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.000 I saw it, probably like eighth or ninth grade, so 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:11.479 not too long after it came out. I think I 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.680 watched a VHS tape of it in a friend's garage. 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:17.320 So yeah, that's the setting. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:23.719 Whistler, No, come on here for some reason put a 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.000 movie on for you. 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.880 No, he just just he had a TV in his garage. 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:31.520 I don't know why. We go in there and we 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.360 watch Blade, because that's what you do. You're in eighth grade, 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.160 it's nineteen ninety nine, and there you go. 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:41.040 So, wait, have you not seen Gamma Do Toro's Blade too? 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:42.799 No, I haven't seen any of the sequels. 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:46.160 Oh my goodness, Blade two is amazing. Blade two is 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:48.880 everything that this film brings to the table. But then 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:51.400 Gamma to Toro weirdness on top of that, so all 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:58.000 sorts of like weird, quasi catholic imagery and strangeness. So 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:00.719 I'll touch on a little bit of this as we perceive, 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:02.960 but I'll try not to get into Blade two too 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.719 much because oh, it's its own special treat. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.440 Well, so that made me want to raise something. Germo 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:13.480 del Toro obviously loves magic, and I wonder how his 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:19.000 influence affects what I would consider the mostly materialist vampire 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.400 idiology in Blade. So Blade, the Blade universe is full 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:27.679 of vampires, but with a few exceptions, they don't really 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:31.560 seem to be supernatural. Like the vampires are not affected 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:36.000 by holy objects. They don't seem to be spiritually demonic 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.000 in nature, though they are evil. They're treated as products 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.800 of genetic mutation, you know that, like they have a 0:07:42.880 --> 0:07:45.800 virus or a mutation in their bodies. I would say 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.080 the only major exception to this is suddenly at the 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.640 end of the movie they bring in this like apparent 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.480 magic ritual that does seem to have effect, like it 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:56.360 actually works to summon a blood god. 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:58.760 Yeah, i'd say when Del Toro comes along, you know, 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:01.960 granted he was beholden to what was established in the 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.000 first film, but he seems to embrace the materialist view 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.640 of the vampire. But with the key difference being for 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:14.200 Norrington and company in this film, yeah, vampires are kind 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:18.920 of people with supernatural powers, but for Del Toro, obviously 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.600 a vampire is a monster. He is a man of monsters, 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.160 and his vampires are going to be monsters. 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:27.800 Oh yeah, that's interesting, I would say. In this yeah, 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:31.200 you're right, the vampires are just like people who are 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:36.120 universally bad and they have super strength and they drink blood. 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.000 Yeah. Though then again I should stress for del Toro, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.000 monster has different connotations perhaps than it does for other people. 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.480 Like he loves his monsters. It doesn't mean the monster 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.079 doesn't have a lot of personality and depth. In fact, 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.400 there's a good chance that the monster will have more 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:54.160 personality and depth than any human character that he might 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:54.880 be dealing with. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.760 Now, another thing that sort of sets Blade apart that 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.520 I think I noticed when I first watched it back 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:04.360 in the day was that this is a movie that 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.480 has a vampire hunter character of the classic Van Helsing type. 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.600 I would have, you know, seen movies with Peter Cushing 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.040 doing this role on TV, probably when I was younger. 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.800 But a big difference is that this is a high 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:20.480 tech vampire hunter. And this was not the first movie 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.679 to have characters like this. I mean, I'm sure there 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:26.480 were plenty. I can think of. John Carpenter's Vampires came 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.520 out earlier, and in that one, the vampire hunters have 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:32.000 all kinds of technology and stuff. Don't they now. 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.920 Actually, John Carpenter's Vampires came out the same year. I'm 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:39.000 not sure exactly like where they fall in terms of 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:39.880 each other, though. 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.400 Well either way, I mean, I'm sure this was not 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.559 the first movie to do this, but that was kind 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.200 of a change up on my expectations because the earlier 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.800 you know, the vampire hunter is more of a sort 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.120 of a holy warrior, kind of a kind of a 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.000 priest slash professor who wields a stake and a cross 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:01.800 and all that. Again, you know, you're your Peter Cushing type. Here. 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.080 It is like the toughest dude you've ever met, and 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.600 he's decked out in all kinds of with like gizmo's 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:09.600 and gadgets. He's like Batman. He's got a you know, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:11.319 utility belt full of stuff. 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.080 Yeah, he is a secular vampire hunter as opposed to 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.480 the holy man that we see certainly in the in 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.000 European traditions but also in Eastern traditions as well, stuff 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.240 like mister vampire. You know, that's the throw of a 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:25.640 holy man to deal with the vamps. I wish they 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.360 had had some rice in this movie, though, oy they 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.560 use the garlic, but they don't use any rice. 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.880 A glutinous rice dealer scene was really set Blade apart. 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:37.800 Oh, that would have been It would have been brutal. 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.320 Can you imagine the dressing down a corrupt rice dealer 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.600 would get from Wesley Snipes as Blade, Because that's one 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:48.640 more thing that really sets Blade apart is the way 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.120 Wesley Snipes completely embodies this character. I don't know what 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:54.440 so this is based on comics. I have no idea 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:56.920 what Blade is like in the comics, but it is 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:02.280 hard to imagine this character as anything other than Wesley Snipes. 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:06.520 Wesley Snipes brings a kind of I don't know, a 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:12.040 like a weird poise and a sort of almost ironic 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.040 sense of line delivery. It's it's beautiful and it's very singular. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.040 Yeah. I will come back to this, but I think 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:24.080 Wesley Snipes is as perfect in this role as anyone 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:25.839 you can point to in a given role. Like he 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.640 everything he does as Blade is just spot on. You 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.160 buy it, you believe it. It's absolutely perfect. 0:11:33.400 --> 0:11:36.559 It's like Robert Shaw as Quint just is the character. 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.760 Yeah, absolutely, All right, before we go any further, let's 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.040 let's have it. Let's hear part of the trailer. I don't. 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.040 I don't really love this trailer, So we'll just listen 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:46.720 to a little bit of it, just to remind you 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:52.240 what you're dealing with. In nineteen ninety eight's Blade. 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:54.000 Eh, better wake up. 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:57.640 The world you live in is just a sugar coated topper. 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:10.160 There's another world. Believe it the real world. For thousands 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.760 of years, they have existed among us. You keep your 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.040 eyes open there everywhere. Chances are you're seeing him yourself 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:21.560 and didn't know it a secret nation. Our livelihood depends 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:25.200 on our ability to blend in with the lust for power. 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.560 We should be ruling the humans. These people are our food. 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:33.439 They've got their clauset everything, politics, finance, real estate. 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:35.360 There's a war going on out there. 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:39.680 He mixed the weapons I use the Warder Group. Now 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.160 one will lead them to conquer mankind. Tonight the age 0:12:43.160 --> 0:12:45.120 of man comes to an end. We're going to be. 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:49.080 Gods, and one will try to stop him dead. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.880 There were things out tonight than vampires like me. 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:59.360 Blade trailers were bad in the nineties. 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:03.400 Yeah, yeah, I don't. I don't love it. Maybe it's 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.920 different depending on an age and what one is nostalgic for. 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:08.840 But yeah, this is a trailer where I'm like, no, no, no, 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:11.360 the movie's great trailer. I can I can take it 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.240 to leave it? All right, Well, let's let's get into 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:15.880 the folks involved in this film, shall we? 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:16.880 Oh please? 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.720 All right? Starting at the top, the director is Stephen 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.880 Norrington born nineteen sixty four. This is This isn't the 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.640 first time we've discussed Stephen Norington, as he did creature 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:31.280 designs on nineteen ninety two Split Second. That really fun, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:37.360 Rutger Hower, what soft post environmental apocalypse Monster Hunter film? 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.400 Yeah? Yeah, Now, let's see. My memory is that in 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.160 Split Second we did not get much of a look 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.839 at the creature. They kind of kept it mostly obscured. 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.240 Yeah, you don't see much of it. If memory serves, 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.160 there were like a lot of last minute changes. But 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.640 it ends up working pretty well because you don't see 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:57.600 a lot of it. But when you do see more 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.800 of it, you realize it's kind of a mix between 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.360 a Xeno morph and Judge Death from the Judge Dread 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:07.720 comic books. All right. So, Norrington is a London born 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:11.559 effects makeup artist who worked on such films as Aliens, 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:16.719 Young Sherlock Holmes, Hardware, Alien three, and Jim Henson's The Storyteller, 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.560 and then he would go on to direct the film 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.840 Death Machine, which had Brad Dorif and Richard Brake in it, 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.120 and he followed this up with Blade. From here he 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.040 went on to make The Last Minute and the film 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.440 that reportedly kind of made him step back from actually 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:37.040 directing The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But I believe he 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.239 has continued to work in effects in other areas of filmmaking, 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:42.680 and every now and then catch some buzz of some 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:47.640 possible project coming together with Norrington involved. But at any rate, 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:49.960 I like his work in this film. 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.720 Oh yeah. And I'm really impressed that he did effects 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:57.200 on The Storyteller, which has marvelous special effects. I love it. 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.440 Yeah, yeah, Storyteller is a lot of fun. 0:14:59.760 --> 0:15:03.400 Those oh the Medusa statue coming to life and all 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:07.560 the ooh, yeah, that's great stuff. Wow. I never saw 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.800 a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, But I distinctly remember the 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.280 day that my friends went to see it in the 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.720 theater and they were talking about it for the rest 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.120 of the day. It made an impression on them, and 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:20.120 it was not a good one. 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:21.720 It seemed to be one of those films that it 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:23.720 caused a lot of people involved in it were kind 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.320 kind of had to question what they were doing with 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.800 their lives at that point. Yeah, I guess, but I 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.640 don't know. But I haven't seen it. Maybe I would 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.240 actually enjoy it, I don't know. I will say that. 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.440 With Blade, however, you mentioned like some of the stylistic choices, 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.400 and I think some of those definitely are just tied 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.600 to the style of the day, but I also really 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:47.480 like some of the choices that they made in terms 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.280 of how they portrayed night and day. Like a lot 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:54.080 of the night scenes tend to feel hyper and alive, 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.960 like they're literally twitching, like they're just going to start 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:01.000 dancing at any second, while the daylight world often feels 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:05.560 languid and underwater, you know, kind of in a sense 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:10.120 that that really meshes with this idea of like creatures 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.200 of the night and creatures of that are mostly of 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.800 the night are being drawn further into that world. 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:18.920 I know exactly what you're talking about, that underwater feeling, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:22.360 and also that this movie has a lot of Again 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.360 this is as I said earlier, this is common to 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:26.440 a lot of these action movies of the time, but 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:30.440 lighting often feels harsh in this movie, like even lights 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:33.160 just coming out of the ceiling are like, oh, oh, 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:34.680 I don't like that. It feels bad. 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.920 Yeah, all right, so that's Norington, that's the director. Screenwriter 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:43.680 on this is David S. Goyer born. Yeah, this is 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:48.640 a huge name in the screenwriting world. His earliest screenplay 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.800 credit is for Death Warrant, a Jean Claude van Dam 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.240 martial arts movie from nineteen ninety and he followed that 0:16:55.360 --> 0:17:00.240 up with Albert Pyne's Kickboxer two, which did not start 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.480 Jean Claude van Dam. And he also did the Charles 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:08.320 Band produced Peter Minoogian directed horror film Demonic Toys in 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:09.400 nineteen ninety two. 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.760 Is this just a parallel to the puppet Master movies 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.600 or was it trying to sort of copycat them. 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:17.159 I think it was part of you know, this is 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:20.439 certainly getting into the area of Charles Band and company 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.119 figuring out what works and then like then continuing to 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.480 pump pump that out. I've never seen a Demonic Toys movie, 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.119 but I know they like later Demonic Toys have crossover 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:32.359 adventures with their Charles Band. 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:37.320 Properties Jetson's Meet the Flintstones, except their toys with like 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.360 drills and razors attached to them. 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:43.040 Now. He went on to work again for band Camp 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.600 on the nineteen ninety three film Arcade, but he quickly 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:49.760 moved up from there, working in TV and film projects 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:54.479 until he collaborated with Alex Proys and Lim Dobbs on 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:58.240 nineteen ninety eight Dark City. Just an xyent weird film. 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:02.080 In my opinion, Dark City is amazing that one. I 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:03.840 haven't watched it in a while, but for a long 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:05.640 time that was one of my favorite movies. 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.920 Yeah. Same here. I haven't watched it recently, but back 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:11.240 in the day, absolutely loved it. Totally blew me away 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.560 when I watched it, So it definitely made a huge 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:16.119 impression on me now. I should also mention though, that 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:20.120 same year, Goyer was also involved in the Nick Fury 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:24.720 Agent of Shield TV movie that starred David Hasselhoff. So 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:27.840 and he was already getting in and getting a little 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.040 marvelly with his screenwriting. 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:33.120 I did not know that existed, but in any rate, Yeah. 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:34.880 Then he moves on to Blade and Blade it's kind 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:38.560 of the perfect Goyer screenplay, when you say, especially when 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.160 you consider many of the projects that came afterwards. It's 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:45.639 a dark largely serious comic book adaptation. He followed this 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:49.120 up with screenplays for again the excellent and weird Blade two, 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:54.400 also Blade Trinity, which Goyer himself directed. Blade Trinity did 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:58.520 not continue the upward trajectory of the Blade franchise, but 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:01.280 it does have at least one great bladeism in it, 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.000 so it has that going for it. 0:19:03.119 --> 0:19:05.800 There are so many great Blade lines that I would 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:08.560 love to quote, but we can't do it without making 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.800 this episode need a parental advisory stickers. 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:14.840 Right, because again Blade will say the F and all 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:17.640 his best lines have the F in them. Yeah. Now, 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.720 Blade Trinity was said to be a difficult shoot, but 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.000 Goyer didn't give up on directing. He came back with 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:26.200 some various TV projects and the films The Invisible and 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.280 The Unborn, and on the screenwriting end of things, he 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.520 went on to work on Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, Jumper, 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:36.120 Man of Steel, the upcoming Hell Raiser Rebooty at least 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:39.280 has a story credit on that Terminator Dark Fate, and 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:44.040 the upcoming adaptation of the Sandman graphic novels. So yeah, 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:48.400 Goyer is a huge name. You can't really no matter 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:49.919 what you think of some of these films. There's no 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.800 denying it now. Of course, we should drive home that 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:56.639 Norrington and Goyer did not invent Blade. This was the 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.159 work of two comic book creators, credited to first of all, 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:04.119 Marv Wolfman. This is a character creator credit. He was 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:07.639 born nineteen forty six. He worked on Marvel Comics The 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.879 Tomb of Dracula. So this was a horror comic that 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.119 ran for seventy issues between nineteen seventy two and nineteen 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:17.960 seventy nine. It concerns vampire hunters, including you know, the 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:20.639 Van Helsings, and of course it has Dracula in it. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:25.280 Like straight up Marvel Comics version of Dracula, Blade was 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:29.920 introduced as one of these vampire hunters, and the original 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.919 incarnation was more of a like a thoroughly nineteen seventies affair, 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:37.680 like he had wooden teak daggers. I believe he had 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:40.959 like a large afro hairdow. So you know, he's very 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.520 much inspired by some of the cinema of that time period. 0:20:45.520 --> 0:20:50.040 And the other character creator, Gene call It Klan, was 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.520 born nineteen twenty six through twenty eleven. He was the 0:20:53.640 --> 0:20:57.560 artist and I think he has said in past interviews 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.639 that he based part of the look of Blade on 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:05.679 Jim Brown, as well as other famous black actors of 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:11.240 the time. Now, Colom worked on the comics Daredevil Is 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.440 where well as Howard the Duck. He also co created 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:21.240 the heroes Falcon and Carol Danvers. But going back to Wolfman, Yeah, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:23.800 the following this film there was apparently a legal dispute 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:27.000 between Wolfman and Marvel. He does get an official character 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.200 credit on Blade two. He's written some TV shows over 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.640 the years, including a few episodes of Fraggle Rock if 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.840 I am is correct on that and fun fact, there 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:40.440 was actually a previous Japanese animated adaptation of The Tomb 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:43.080 of Dracula comic came out in nineteen eighty, but I 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:46.040 do not believe it has Blade in it, though the 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.280 character does show up in the nineteen ninety Spider Man cartoon. 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:51.840 I don't know if you watched this, Joe, but you 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.320 know this was a fun cartoon. It came on the 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.880 afternoons after you got him from school, and they eventually 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:01.280 just throw every Spider Man related character in so blades 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:06.240 showing up. Morbius is showing up all these various weird 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.600 Spider Man like second and third tier characters and villains. 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:11.600