It's The Rifftrax League Vs. Batman and Superman

It wasn't too long ago that the Rifftrax trio of Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett would riff for hours against bad movies. They did their best against James Cameron extra-long blockbusters like Titanic and Avatar.

However, they're not the marathon riffers they used to be. That's why they recruited a lot of help when they decided to take on Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The crew included Mike's wife Bridget, former adversaries Mary Jo Pehl, Trace Beaulieu and Frank Coniff, Sketchfest bigwigs Janey Varney and Cole Stratton, Brit riffers Ian Potter and Matthew J. Elliott, and writers Conor Lawstoka and Sean Thomason.
Or it could be the movie has too much bad for three guys to handle.

Doesn't matter, because this was one of the best riffs in years. It's also a change of pace from battling the latest Star Wars movies.
The plot, of course, is Batman and Superman having some disagreement on how to deal with the bad guys, while Earth seems to be scared of having a Man of Steel around. Add Lex Luthor as the Joker exploiting the situation, and a woman who saves the movie while the guys wonder what just happened, and you have this movie.

Each "team" takes a chunk of the movie and riffs away. Each has its own style, but Conor and Sean are just hilarious in their first movie. Unleashing them on Justice League or any B movie would be a good idea.
Also, Trace and Frank's chunk is almost like their podcast show, only with video. They're the "lucky" guys who see Batman ask Superman why he said he has to save Martha (which turns out to be the dumbest turning point in any comic book movie ever). Frank even wonders why Rifftrax hates him and Trace. Uh, you guys exposed Mike to Coleman Francis, for starters.

Anyway, let's look at the best riffs from each of the teams:
First, the Rifftrax trio's first turn

Young Bruce Wayne runs from a funeral
This must be where he's bitten by a radioactive bat

A woman says Superman caused a major disaster..."So many dead"
Santa Claus. We never should have let him down the chimney

Then Sean and Conor:

Bruce visits his parents' crypt
This is where they keep all the footage from that Nicholas Cage Superman movie

Cole and Janet:

Lex, Clark and Bruce attempt to banter
It's like if the Marx Brothers were awful

Bruce and Diana meet and talk about what he placed at Luthor's party
What's the opposite of chemistry because that's what these two have.

Matt and Ian:

Mrs.Kent to Superman:  People hate what they don't understand
Like the new Twin Peaks

They comment on how Bruce is training with tires
You can get tires delivered through Amazon Prime
I thought Wonder Woman was Amazon Prime

Bridget and Mary Jo:

Clark talks to the ghost of his dad, especially how saving his family farm seriously destroyed another nearby
Clark to Dad: Did the nightmares ever stop?
Robin Hood haunted me for years.

Lex pushes Lois Lane off a tall building. Superman saves her
I was expecting Christopher Reeve

Diana looks through the download she got from Bruce
She's googling Lynda Carter

Trace and Frank:

Batman tries to shoot Superman
Where does he get all those meaningless toys?

Then the Martha scene, where Batman yells "Why did you say that name?"
It begins with bad screen writing

Finally, the RT guys finish it off:

Superman's death scene:
I'm dying but at least I'll never have to meet Aquaman.

There's also riffs on lots of  subjects including Charlie Rose, Golden Corral (again), Steve Mnuchin, Bob's Big Boy, Casablanca, Joss Whedon, Trivago and Steve Bannon.

Actually, having a riffing "relay race" gives all the riffers a chance to shine. Maybe they can do this again when Last Jedi is likely to be released on home video next spring.
The mp3 riff of Batman v Superman is now available at the website

MST3K Redux: Hangar 18

It's been a long time since I've written a review of a Rifftrax movie, so let's take a look at this sci-fi conspiracy movie done by Rifftrax's British Invasion, Matthew J. Elliott and Ian Potter.
This was also chosen because it was one of the last movies targeted in the KTMA years, and the shortest intro Joel ever did.

First off, Elliott has written a ton of radio dramas and short stories before he got into the riffing biz. Potter is a vet of TV production for the BBC and was a curator for a media museum. How they got sucked into watching bad movies, they'd rather not say.
Their style is similar to Jonah Ray and the crew at the new MST3K, jamming in as many riffs as they can. What's great is their selection of riffs from British TV to past targets, er, movies featured on MST and Rifftrax.

So, why Hangar 18?

It's a supposed docudrama about two astronauts who witness a UFO crashing into a satellite, causing the death of a third astronaut. For some reason, the White House wants to cover this up because it's too close to an upcoming presidential election, They think no one would vote for a president who believes in UFO's, even if you also show one to the press in broad daylight.

Otherwise, it's an excuse to make a cheesy sci-fi movie that's chock full of TV actors. The cast features Darren McGavin 12 years before A Christmas Story, Gary Collins just before his talk show career started, Robert Vaughn somewhere between The Man From UNCLE and paid programming, and Pamela Bellwood a year before Dynasty. Even Phillip Abbott, best known for The FBI, is there as a general, although he's mistaken for Dr. Bellows in the KTMA version.

Even though the two versions are 28 years apart, some scenes do inspire the same response. As the space shuttle lands, and the NASA guy says "90 knots", they give the same riff, "Don Knotts" (although the Rifftrax version wraps it up nicely with "Knots Landing"). Both versions also notice the guy replacing McGavin's character looks way too much like Burt Reynolds, and the guy who witnesses the alien landing looks like John Belushi.

After that, the Rifftrax version packs in more riffs only because Joel preferred fewer riffs in the early days of MST. So, let's compare...

NASA scrambles because something's gone wrong

KTMA:  They'll never get the Disney Channel now
RT:  C'mon, guys, it's not rocket...oh, wait

The UFO kept at Hangar 18 is lit up

KTMA:  Castle Greyskull, I think
RT:  That's not the UFO. That's a Roomba

They find the dead alien pilots, as their chairs turn around

KTMA:  Uncle Fester! AHHHH!
RT:  They love my singing (The Voice)

They blow up the hangar to save the President from losing the Electoral College

KTMA:  Good thing scientists are expendable
RT:  As coverups go, this is a bit on the overt side to me.

Also, Matt and Ian came up with some doozies

They find a blonde woman inside, and the staff says she must be sent to a hospital
But enough about Courtney Love 

The two astronauts meet some guy at a rural airport
Son of Cherokee Jack, Monterey Jack

McGavin:  "The female slaves (prehistoric humans) found it a great honor to be chosen to live with and to bear the offspring of the Gods"
Their names were Ivana, Marla and Melania.

There are also riffs on David Bowie, The Grand Tour, Coronation Street, Teenage Caveman, Robert Denby, and Alan Smithee.

Matt and Ian have riffed on a lot of movies including Scared To Death and King of Kong Island. You can check them out in the "Rifftrax Presents" section of the website. They'll also be part of the dismantling of Batman v. Superman:  Dawn of Justice later this year.