BATMAN podcast

I was a guest on Nick Nadel's new podcast MOVIES MY FRIENDS HAVE NEVER SEEN. 

Having never seen BATMAN RETURNS (1992) I was invited to watch the film and discuss it. 

Hear it here. 

(or here on iTunes )

Some highlights include: 

• My Burton-as-Penguin theory.
• "Batman Returns" is a tagline, not a title. 
• One good reason to respect Tim Burton.
• Me saying "um" a lot. 

BATMAN RETURNS was just added to Netflix Streaming, in case you want to revisit the film (or see it for the first time.) 

And here's a list of titles newly added to Netflix Streaming (We can finally see LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF.) 

A nod to the 1966 episode of the same title. 

Seriously, what does Catwoman want? 

Walken as Walken as Donald Trump as Harvey Dent Max Shreck 

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RELATED POSTS: 

Who Sang It Better? - BATMAN edition 

Kevin Geeks Out About Vincent Price: a recap

Friday’s show was one of our best geek-outs yet. The 2-hour tribute to America’s favorite horror icon included trailers, TV and movie clips, and rare footage of Vincent Price. The night's co-host, Tom Peyer (comic book writer of Silver Age: Doom Patrol, Tek Jansen), shared some stories and clips of VP playing Egghead on Batman. During out salute to Vincent Price: The Gourmet (which featured the wine-tasting contest from Tales of Terror) Lisa Beebe served TWO kinds of Vincent Price cupcakes (portrait cupcakes as well as “fly” cupcakes with a plastic fly caught in a web of icing).


Writer Eric Drysdale (The Colbert Report) edited down footage from the promotional film for Sears' Vincent Price Collection of Fine Art, followed by clips from a Price-hosted instructional VHS tape that came with the Nishika 3D Camera. (At the end of the segment, an audience member won said camera!)

Playwright Bob Satuloff screened scenes from two essential films that bookend Price's career as a horror star: House of Wax and Theater of Blood. Actor Arthur Anderson provided a video-interview where he reflected on working with Price in Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater, and he showed photos from VP’s wedding. Nathaniel Wharton (fromThe Jim Henson Legacy) shared rare musical footage of Vincent Price on The Muppet Show (featuring a song that wasn’t released on the season one DVD.) And Media Historian Heather Hendershot (dressed as one of VP’s tragic dead movie wives) read a thought-provoking essay about VP’s on-screen persona being compared to a hysterical woman. (read the essay here – scroll down, it’s a post-script following her piece about Don Knotts being a reluctant sex object.)



In the middle of the show, audience members got to share their personal memories about Vincent Price: we heard tale of VP’s verdict on an early Michael Jackson trial; we learned the real reason one professor never finished his academic art history book with Vincent Price; and we heard a first-hand account of a teenage boy writing a fan letter to Vincent Price (promising him a role in a horror movie) – which was met with a heart-warming hand-written reply from the 82-year-old actor.

The video-variety show also included some of Price's finest audio recordings: First we heard Price reading the poetry of Percy Shelley. And later, one lucky audience member got to perform a scene from Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest”, thanks to the audio-magic of the record CO-STAR WITH VINCENT PRICE (Price released a high-concept album where he delivered half the dialogue in dramatic scenes, the consumer would read the script and play the other parts. Kind of a non-ironic version of Albert Brooks' Comedy Minus One.) The night’s audience was a who’s who of geek super-stars, we had a writers from The Daily Show, DreadCentral.com, DC editors, AMCtv and indie filmmakers.


Plus the good folks at Trailers From Hell let us screen Josh Olson’s commentary track for Witchfinder General. Our friends at Blue Water Comics gave everyone in the audience not one but TWO issues of "Vincent Price Presents..." And all audience members received a complimentary pencil mustache, courtesy of super-producer M. Sweeney Lawless. Meg also crafted a first-class paper-program that featured Vincent Price haikus, Price’s recipe for Pump Room Chicken Hash, and a collection of quotes with VP talking about everything from Dracula to expressing love.
Super-producer Jay Stern edited together thematically arranged footage, like "Vincent Price Murders his Wives", "Vincent Price Drug Freak-Outs", "Vincent Price Mourns His Wives" and "Vincent Price Out of Context." And if that's not enough, we included Vincent Price tributes (a Bugs Bunny cartoon and a short subject film by Tim Burton.)

Sorry you missed it? That could be YOU munching on a humorously-decorated cupcake while watching Price play Dracula's cousin in an episode of F-Troop.

Come to our next event – KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT DUMMY DEATHS, Friday November 20 @ 8pm


KEVN GEEKS OUT - BONUS MATERIAL:

Download the Vincent Price Jukebox

VP's Shrunken Head kit

Another look at the Nishika instructional video.

More Trailers from Hell:
Adam Rifkin on The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Mick Garris talks House of Wax
Joe Dante loves Confessions of an Opium Eater
Mick Garris shares House on Haunted Hill

please note: all show photos by Matthew Glasson Photography.

For more about Kevin Geeks Out, visit our official page at the 92Y Tibeca website.

Vincent Price Impressions

Nowadays less people know Vincent Price and more people know Bill Hader's impression on Saturday Night Live. (Honestly, I love period-media comedy, and I like Bill Hader, but I think his voice is a little off. At times, his cadence and delivery sound more like Percy Dovetonsils. But I digress.)



Hader is the third Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Player to play the part. First was Dan Aykroyd in 1978. Host Carrie Fisher did a sketch that parodied the American International Pictures' Beach movies (which is a nod to VP's cameo in 1963's Beach Party). Aykroyd played him as a swishy playboy hosting a BBQ to Garret Morris' Chubby Checker. Years later, Michael McKean delivered my favorite interpretation. (Photo unavailable) He appeared in a PBS fundraiser parody, with Price reading from a cookbook (with ghoulish gusto) and promoting an upcoming appearance in some Hanna-Barbera project. This impression was my favorite interpretation, it was on YouTube, but it's since been removed, so now it's as though the sketch never happened. McKean did the gag when he hosted in 1984 and again when he became a regular cast-member in the 1990s.


Sadly Price himself never appeared on the SNL. Kind of surprising for a guy who did so many variety specials and game shows. (Hey die-hard fans, DO check out his 1972 appearance on The Dating Game where he appeared dressed as Dr. Anton Phibes, plugging the sequel and questioning some bachelors on behalf of a young lady. But don't bother with the ABC Comedy Special John Ritter: Being of Sound Mind and Body.)



One of the better Vincent Price tribute/impressions is in the 1952 Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Water Water Every Hare". You've seen Bugs go up against a Peter Lorre-esque villain, but here he faced that delicate mad scientist who sounds just like Vincent Price. For the record, that is not Mel Blanc doing the voice, but a Looney Tunes bit player named John T. Smith. As far as I can tell he never did the Vincent voice again.

But the best Vincent Price homage is still Tim Burton's 1982 animated short Vincent. A few years ago when Nightmare Before Christmas was re-released in DVD, the loving tribute was also shown (in 3D!) before the feature. Let's hope they do it again this season.

And if you feel like paying tribute to that fiendish fop, come by Kevin Geeks Out About Vincent Price!