Mike talks to actor Sean Astin (The Goonies, Rudy, Stranger Things) about the 20th anniversary of Lord of the Rings, the hardest part about playing his character Samwise and how his co-star Elijah Wood hasn’t read the original books. Mike shares his list of the BEST and WORST movies of 2021. In the trailer park, we take a look at the Doctor Strange sequel and Uncharted starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, your
go to source for all things movies. I am your
host Movie Mike, kicking things off in a big way
in two. Coming up, my conversation with actor Sean Aston,
who you know from Lord of the Rings, Rudy the Goonies.
He's on to talk about the twentieth anniversary of Lord
of the Rings. I also have my top five movies
of the last year, and I'll give you some of
(00:21):
the worst ones as well. A lot to cover on
this brand new episode. So what's that any further ado,
let's get started. In a world where everyone and their
mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the
ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast.
A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like
(00:43):
a walking on Mtvity with classes from the Nashville Podcast Network.
Movie Movie Podcast. About to get into my conversation with
actor Sean Aston, who has been in some very iconic
roles in his life. We're gonna get into talking about
the Lord of the Rings replace Sam Wise, but that's
only one of what I would say, or is three
(01:04):
major iconic roles. Taking it back to his very first
debut as a kid. He was a teenager in the Goonies.
He played Mikey and then he was everybody's favorite underdog
and Rudy. And aside from movies, he was also recently
in Stranger Things. He has such a wide range of work.
I only wish I had more time to talk with him.
But let's get into it. Let's talk to Sean Asten. Mike,
(01:25):
how's it going good? Sorry if I'm Charity man. Oh,
you're all good? All right on now with Shaun Aston.
It's so great to talk to you. I feel like
I've been watching you my entire life. And now the
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring celebrating his
twentieth anniversary. What does it feel like to be a
part of a franchise that'll just be viewed for generations
and generations to come. Mike, it's good to see you.
(01:46):
Finally our moment has come to be part of the
general It is um Well, it just feels like there's
something no one can ever take away from you that's
really special. You know. I mean, I got a degree,
and when when I got my undergrad degree before making
this movie, and that feeling when you're when they hand
you the diploma and you know, you're wearing the cap
and gown and you're like, man, this is even if
I totally fail in life, at least I accomplish this.
(02:10):
That's what it feels like. It feels like there is
you know, when it really capped off, when it won
the Best Picture, when the Return of the King one
best Picture in the in two thousands four whatever it was,
and uh, you just felt like, you know, world culture
will forever recognize this as an important contribution and and
I have a you know, meaningful part of it. And
(02:31):
it just feels like, you know, immortality is that over
I overreach with immortality. I didn't mean to overreach. You're
gonna live forever through this movie now, well and tell
somebody figures out how to scrub all the digital bites.
But but no, Yeah, it definitely it definitely feels like, um,
(02:52):
you know, there's I don't know what permanence is in
this world anymore. You know, my love for my wife
and my children is permanent. Uh, you know, no matter
what happens to me, no matter where I go, it's permanent.
And there there's something about inhabiting this world of Middle
Earth that just transcends normal. Normal, just transcends normal. It's more,
you know, it's like in uh, it's like ins final tap,
(03:13):
It's it's eleven. It's eleven. So what was the most
grueling part about filming that movie? The first one being
fat I had? I was, I was a hundred pounds.
I just run the l A marathon and I get this.
You know, you're going into place you to read for
Sandwise Gamg and I get the books out and I'm
reading through it. It's like, you know, fat portly hobbits,
(03:34):
but not to it, and I'm like, what all it
took me to get in shape? So of course it's
not very difficult to when your weight goes up and
down to get back into the fat moroad. And I
don't mean to be just you know, disrespectful, but it's
it's hard. It's really hard to be to be heavy.
And in my life my weight goes up and down
and kind of like four to six month cycles, so
(03:55):
six months of being I'm not kidding this, you want
to know, that's what the hardest part was for me.
I mean, the the hours were hard, the the you know,
carrying that stupid backpack around, you know, the chafing your
neck and getting cut. A loom fell in my head
and knocked me out. I got a big cut on
my foot. I you know, there was there was a
lot of stuff, but like I honestly think I suffered,
like real I suffered. Um, you know, I suffered so
(04:21):
with with that. And I remember looking in the mirror
and being like, oh my god, I can't get back
in shape right now. And at one point I just
my makeup artist and I, Jeremy and I we went
to the tennis club. There's like a tennis jym you
could go to, and we got into it. We were
like playing every day for a week or something. You're
just having so much fun and just that your neurons
when you wake up after not being physically active for
(04:41):
a while. And then somebody from the news and the
Wellington whatever the national newspapers took a picture of me
coming out of the say this is before the internet,
this is before we had really the movies were known
by anybody. And on the front page of the national
newspaper is me like with a towel over my shoulder
coming out of the gym. And when I and my
heart sank when I saw it, and I walked into
(05:03):
the set the next day and Peter Jackson is there
with the paper open and he does the slow turn
and he looks at me, and I look at him,
and he's like, they call candy lollies and he's more
lollies from Mr Aston, please, And he's lonally partly kidding,
so like having to maintain fat Sam and so like
(05:24):
when Gollum says, stupid fat hobbits. You know, I'm like,
f you, dude. So your book club at Fable is
also celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the movie, and you
can go to fable dot co slash on Aston to
be a part of that. Have any of your original
Lord of the Rings costar still not read the original books? Well,
there's a major publication today. I believe it's Vanity Fair
(05:46):
with my colleague Elijah Wood on it and the the cat.
The banner is I still haven't read the books. So
he still has and did the whole I feel now
like I used to joke. And the amazing thing is
he has a better command of the story than I do.
And I've read them three times. That's not a joke,
he I every time I read them. So here's this
is this is the version. I'm gonna you can read
(06:07):
it digitally on fable dot com, but I'm gonna read
this one. And I was reading it on the plane
back for Atlanta last night, and uh, Billy BOYD, he's gonna.
I think he came in on her zoom yesterday. I
think he's gonna train the journey. So I'm gonna text
Elijah after our interview and I'm just gonna be like,
hey man, we're doing a chapter week. Of course he's
gonna be a new father for the second time. He'll
probably like, I will read two words and fall asleep.
(06:28):
But but yeah, you know it. What can I say?
What can I say? He's um. I was always asking
I would finish. I read the books cover to cover
three times while we're filming, and I didn't really enjoy
it in the sense of like disappearing into the world.
I was just like data mining. I was just plumbing
it for like what can I know? What can I know?
(06:49):
And I would i'd finished, you know, like a big
chunk of it and beautiful New Zealand with the countryside,
you know, the mountains and whatever. And we go to
the set and I look at the script and I
had to ask Elijah to explain what was happening. He
would not. He would be like, well, this is what's
going on. He would so, yeah, he gets to get
out of jail free card for me. Well, I appreciate
the time. It was great to talk to you, Mike.
You b well brother. All right, have a good one.
(07:10):
Time to get into the list now of my top
five movies of the last year, for one, and when
I would put together this list, I don't want to
focus completely on what I kind of leaned towards of
my favorite genre, but without a doubt, one was the
return of superhero movies and a genre that gets you know,
(07:32):
a lot of hate, a lot of criticism for there
being so many movies. We didn't really get a whole
lot in t aside from Birds of Prey and then
at the end Wonder Woman. There was no m CU
movie in tw and everything was weird in twenty aside
from you know, what was going on in the world,
but how it affected movies. We were living in a
(07:52):
world of things getting delayed and delayed and delayed, and
it was really one with Black Widow that was our
first taste of like alright, big movies are happening again.
So looking at all the movies I've seen in the
last year, which is over fifty doing this podcast, I
tried to watch at least one new movie a week,
(08:13):
So I looked at every single movie I watched in
the last year, everything that was rated at least A
four and above. From there, I ranked them of how
much of an impact I think they'll go out to
have later down the line, how much of me would
want to go back and watch those movies, and in
some cases, which am I excited to see continuations of
in their franchises. And at number five I put these
(08:36):
Suicide Squad from James Gunn. It was one of the
funniest experiences I had in the theaters this year because
it was everything I was looking for but didn't really
know I wanted in a superhero movie, and I honestly
felt that more people should have watched this movie. A
lot of the things surrounding it was like, why are
they already making another one of these? That just made
one a while ago called Suicide Squad that a bunch
(08:57):
of people didn't like, So I felt it already had
a whole lot going against it without any reviews having
come out from the movie. But what really made The
Suicide Squad memorable for me was all the characters in it,
from Harley Quinn to King Shark, to Peacemaker to the
big villain at the very end. They were all just
so weird and unorthodox but so fun to watch on
(09:19):
the big screen. And I kind of love what this
movie did for d C. It wasn't an answer to
the Avengers, it wasn't an answer to anything else. It
was really just being its own movie and kind of
existing in its own world of yes, these characters are
kind of misfits, but also in a whole kind of
world where all these movies are a little bit misfits.
It was the right amount of action, the right amount
(09:41):
of humor, and just so many things that were visual
to my eye while watching this movie. It just made
it visually appealing and kept my attention the entire time.
So at number five, I'm going with The Suicide Squad
at number four was first of all, the movie I
had to go back and remember that it actually came
out this year. In back in February. Judas and the
(10:02):
Black Messiah was my favorite drama of the year. A
story that's so powerful, and when you watched this movie,
you kind of realize that all these actors are in
a whole different level and you almost immediately know why
this kind of movie gets nominated for Oscars. It's a
story about this guy named William O'Neill and he infiltrates
the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in order
(10:24):
to get close to the leader in order to gain
intelligence after he was offered a plea deal by the FBI.
Such a great premise. The casting was amazing in this movie.
The cinematography was a plus because it really kind of
puts you inside the action scenes in this movie. Daniel
Khaluya winning Best Supporting Actor was probably my favorite moment
from the Oscars last year. So at number four, I'm
(10:47):
going with Judas and the Black Messiah at number three
is a movie that I and maybe a lot of
other people felt this way. Wasn't expecting to like as
much as I did with the character. I had no
real knowledge about going into this movie, but afterwards completely loved.
And at number three it is Shang Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings I've talked about on this podcast.
How moving into Phase four of the m c U.
(11:09):
It's a lot of getting introduced to new characters, getting
introduced into new movies, and even for me, as a
lifelong Marvel fan, I find myself not as excited for it,
and shang Chi was a title that was one that
I wasn't that excited about going into it. But I
realized while watching this movie the overall plan they have
(11:31):
here at Marvel and what they're trying to do it
is create new storylines, create new characters in worlds that
they haven't explored yet, something completely different, and I think
that's what they did here with shang Chi, a new
character who isn't your typical superhero. You have your Asian lead,
Asian director, and a predominantly Asian cast, which is why
(11:51):
I really loved this movie. And at the core of
shang Chi, you take away all the superhero powers, you
take away all the fighting and the action. A movie
about family. It's a movie about your relationships with your parents,
your mother, your father, And I really saw a new
character get created with a really strong backstory. The superheroes
that do the best are the ones that we can
(12:14):
relate to in some way. People with stories like Spider
Man and I think now with people like stories like
Shang Chi, it also opens up a whole new world
when you can see yourself represented in a superhero like this,
in a cast like this, to where a kid in
that theater watching this movie finally see somebody that looks
like them up there kicking but being the hero in
(12:35):
a movie, being funny, being charming. I think above all,
this is an important movie for young kids to watch,
to see a character that just doesn't look like Superman,
just doesn't look like Batman. Superheroes can be anybody. So
at number three, I'm going with Shang Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings at number two is a
movie I actually haven't had a chance to review on
(12:56):
the podcast, but I'm glad that I ended up loving
it so much that I had to put it on
my Tough five movies because it was just so good,
entertaining from start to finish, in a story that I
had no idea about, based on a true story, and
it is King Richard, which is not your average sports drama.
It is based on the life of Richard Williams, who
(13:17):
is the father and coach of Venus and Serena Williams
and Richard is played by the one and only Will Smith,
and when this movie was first announced, I thought it
was interesting that they were making a movie about their
dad and not about them, But upon watching it and
getting the full story, you realize how much that works.
It would have been a completely different movie. It was
(13:39):
based on them, and what you're able to learn about
their story through the eyes of their dad is how
much he sacrificed to get them to where they are,
and how much drive he had behind not only seeing
Venus and Serena be successful, but all of his daughters
to be successful, the sacrifices he had to make, how
much he had to stick to, you know, the entire
(14:01):
plan that he saw for them, like he had greatness
on his mind. He always knew they were going to
be champions and did not stop until they achieve that.
It's a very powerful and motivating movie, but it also
shows the flawed side of him, which I love because
a lot of the times when you make a biopick
or make a you know, any kind of biographical film
(14:21):
on somebody, you just show all the good things, maybe
a little of the bad, but you don't really get
that other side of them that maybe sometimes doesn't want
to be seen, but it's important to the story and
a lot of kind of the downfalls of him being
so driven and him you know, kind of being so
stubborn and said in his ways was really kind of
shown in this movie to where yes, you do need
(14:44):
that to get your daughters to that level, but it
can also take a toll on other parts of your
your life, like your marriage, your relationships with their coaches
and people, you know, trying to guide them and take
them another level, and you're saying that you know more
than them. So it's a lot more than him just
being their dad and him being their coach, but also
just struggling with you know, what's going on inside of him.
(15:05):
And I thought, Will Smith, that's such a great job
in this role to where I'm sure we'll see an
Oscar nomination, if not possibly an Oscar win. I think
it would be so fitting for Will Smith to win
Best Actor for the first time because of this movie.
In my heart right now, I think you should win.
He truly made that movie great. If you haven't seen
(15:26):
it yet, it's a definite must see because at number
two it's King Richard and then at number one, my
top movie of if you haven't guessed it yet, Well,
yes it is Spider Man No Way Home. Don't mean
to sound basic here, but you've listened to every capacity
of me review the movie. At this point, what else
(15:46):
can I say about it? It was my favorite movie
of the year and I'm not sorry about that. So
the only thing I have to say about it now
that I haven't said before is the cultural impact this
had on movies. And I think it's directors now getting
upset about how successful this movie has been and how
(16:07):
the only time people are going to the movie theaters
now or to see superhero movies. But I see it
completely different now. We go to the theaters to experience
things like this. There was nothing else in recent history
that gets people as excited to go to see a
movie like this and Spider Man No Way Home. The
experience of seeing it with other people in a crowd,
with cheering, that's something that's very hard to create. And
(16:29):
they're just a whole lot of factors that focus into
how much these movies make, and that experience alone is
going to get people out of their homes and into
a movie theater. So I don't think that movies in
any way are dying or that the art of film
is in danger here. I just think the movies that
are more captivating are obviously going to have big pops
(16:50):
like this. But if a movie is really great, it
will find its way to its audience. So you can't
throw it at these superhero movies that maybe your movies
aren't warming the way you expected them to. And the
success of Spider Man No Way Home doesn't take anything
away from the movie you've created. So those are my
final thoughts on that, and that is my top five
(17:10):
best movies. I'll come back and give some honorable mentions
and the worst movies I saw last year right after this,
all right, let's get into some of the worst movies
of the One at number one is the only one
I didn't finish watching because it was so bad. And
(17:31):
I think that is the equivalent now to walking out
of a theater. I don't really see anybody now spending
that much money on a movie ticket to walk out
unless you just completely hate a movie like like that
really takes a lot. And you know, if you walk
out of a movie theater within thirty minutes, they can
actually give you a refund. Don't know if you knew
that or not, but they will give you a refund
(17:52):
after that. It's all on you. But the one movie
that I didn't finish watching is that number one on
the list is the movie called Bliss. It had Owen
Wilson and Salmahiak and I think this movie it was
on Amazon, and it kind of suffers from taking a
mediocre plot and putting too big name actors into the movie,
(18:16):
throwing it on a streaming service and expecting to get
to do well. I don't think you can just throw
two big actors in a movie anymore and have to
do relatively well. This movie was so bad. I got
about thirty minutes into it and it was completely checked out.
So my number one worst movie of one was Bliss.
If you haven't even heard of it and you see
it pop up on Amazon, do not waste your time.
(18:39):
At number two, it was a movie I was so
excited to see and it did not live up to
my hype. And it was Halloween Kills. I thought Michael
Myers was completely not Michael Myers in that movie. There's
a lot of just mindless killing with no real storyline
there to follow, a lot of plot holes overall, just
kind of dumb and I love Michael Myers, I love
(19:00):
scary movies. I love slasher movies. That one was not it.
At number three was The Conjuring three, and The Conjuring
the original one is one of my favorite paranormal slash
exorcism movies, a movie that really scared me upon watching
that one. Two was okay, but three was also borderline
me not wanting to finish it. Very hard to make
(19:22):
a trilogy, especially in horror, and they did not follow
through on this one. So my number three worst movie
of the year was The Conjuring Three at number four,
again a movie that played onto my nostalgia and my
urge to want to love it as much as I
did as a kid, or just kind of remembered back
lot me get as much as I did as a kid.
(19:43):
But it is space jam to a new legacy. For
a movie about the Looney Tunes and basketball, it contained
very little Looney Tunes and basketball. Everything about this movie
felt phoned in, from Lebron James performance to the voice acting,
to the animation to the writing. If there was any
(20:04):
and I get it. It was a movie made for kids,
but even a movie made for kids has to have art,
has to have a little substance. And if you're going
to play off of a movie that came out in
the nineties and now all those kids are adults, you
have to kind of play to them too. And I
don't know why I'm getting angry and talking with my
hands because you can't see me doing this. But that
(20:26):
is why I did not like Space DM two. And
there was so much hype leading up to this one.
It just fell flat. And number four is Space Jam two.
And then finally at number three is another part three
of a movie, and it is a Kissing Booth three.
I somehow made it to watch one and two. I
don't know why I expected three to be any better.
So many things that don't make sense in this movie.
(20:48):
And I also get it here probably not the target
audience for these movies, but I remember watching movies like
this when I was younger. The movie is geared towards
teens and dweens of my day. Again, at least had
a little substance. Was very little in this one. So
at number five was the Kissing Booth three. Since that
was the worst list, I decided to go in reverse
order that I normally do. Because they are all movies
(21:09):
you probably shouldn't spend any time watching, so it doesn't
really matter where I ranked them, but I did want
to get back real quick. Before we get into the
movie review is some honorable mentions of the best movies
I saw last year. One that almost made the list
was Cruella, which was a movie I didn't get to
watch in theaters. I watched it on Disney Plus paid
the thirty bucks for it and had a really good
(21:31):
time at home watching that movie. Even though it looks
so big and cinematic, like it would fit perfectly on
the big screen. The origin story of Cruella Deville was
unexpectedly really good. Emma Stone was fantastic, the wardrobe was fantastic.
I really loved that movie from Disney. Honorable mention was Cruella.
Another movie I wasn't expecting to love as much as
(21:52):
I did was Tick Tick Boom with Andrew Garfield. The
story about Jonathan Larson, who created Rent, but really doesn't
focus on that at all. Even though it is a musical,
it's not just a random burst into song and dance
for no reason. The story has a lot of substance
to it. It deals more with Jonathan Larson and his
(22:13):
anxiety is around turning thirty and deciding whether or not
this dream of being a famous playwright is really going
to be a dream he's able to live out. So
for me, also turning thirty in the past year, I
thought that really resonated with me. And knowing that Andrew
Garfield learned how to sing for this movie really made
(22:34):
me love it even more. So that's an honorable mention.
And then my final honorable mention is a movie called
Pig starring Nicolas Cage, where he plays a truffle hunter
who lives out in the middle of nowhere in Oregon
in this shed and it's him and this pig who
helps him find truffles in the forest, which he sells
to this other guy who is a supplier for restaurants.
(22:56):
And then one day his pig gets stolen and he's
on a mission to get his pig bag. It's kind
of like Taken with a pig, And it sounds like
such a bizarre premise for a movie that you realize, like,
how could that even be good? But it's a really
great drama, a movie that somehow I felt Nicholas Cage
was born to play. At this stage of his life,
(23:17):
there he goes some movies not to watch and spend
your time on, and then some other ones that you
may have missed. Let's get into a spoiler free movie
review now. I want to talk about Don't Look Up
on Netflix, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothy shallow May,
Meryl Streep, and a lot more actors. Before I get
(23:40):
into this review, here's just a little bit of the trailer.
I hear there's something you don't like the looks of.
We discovered a very large comment tone. It's headed directly
towards Earth. This comment is what we call a planet killer.
At this exact moment, I say, we sit tight and assess,
sit tight, and assess sit tight, and then assess. The
(24:04):
sit type part comes first, and you've got to digest it.
That's the assessment period. So this was actually one of
my most anticipated movies of December. So going into this
I was really wanting to like it. A movie with
Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the leads, like, how could
it really be a bad movie? But also, time and
time again that worries me. When there's so many a
(24:24):
list actors in a movie, is just boasting like, look
at all these people in this movie. You have Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jennifer Lawrence, Timothy Shallow May, Arianna grondn A, Meryl Streep,
Jonah Hill. The list really goes on and on with
cameos in this movie. And sometimes that's just like, Hey,
look at this movie. We have all these actors, how
could it be a bad movie? And you pair that
with the premise of this movie, which also just sounds
(24:48):
like something I'd want to watch. It's about these two
low level astronomers who discover this comment coming straight towards
Earth and they're trying to tell the government and everybody
that it's basically going to end in six months if
we don't do anything. And that's the premise of the movie.
Directed by Adam McKay, who has done movies like Anchorman,
(25:09):
The Other Guy, Step Brothers, The Big Short Vice, so
he is known for his comedy and satirical humor. So
what happens in this movie is Leonardo DiCaprio is an
astronomer at the University of Michigan working with Jennifer Lawrence,
who is also an astronomer studying under him, and they
discovered this comment go to try to tell the president.
So they think this earth shattering news is going to
(25:31):
really change the world, but it doesn't really do anything.
So what do they do. They go lead it to
the media, and then on comes the frenzy of how
the American people and how the entire world react to this.
So that's the surface level of this movie, but when
you watch it further dive into the overall bigger message,
it's kind of a story about how our country is
(25:53):
constantly divided, how we interpret information from scientists, how we
interpret big news events, and it's really just a take
on the state of the world, how everything gets politicized,
and how no matter the issue, we're probably going to
argue it, even the end of the world, and at
a satirical look on that. So I think that part
of the movie was interesting enough, But where I kind
(26:15):
of got taken out of it is I felt like
none of the actors really had their time to shine.
You have all these A list actors, but even Leonardo DiCaprio,
I'm kind of surprised that he took this role because
he really wasn't the Leonardo DiCaprio that I was expecting,
or the level of performance that I kind of know
going into a movie that I'm going to get. I
(26:36):
really didn't feel like him in that role really added
much to the entire movie, aside from the fact that
he was Leonardo DiCaprio. Jennifer Lawrence was okay, but I
think her character overall didn't really fit her. Maybe just
the comedic timing wasn't there. There was one reoccurring joke
that I found funny, but other than that, didn't really
love her character. Meryl Streep was fine, but I did
(26:57):
feel her performance was just a little bit phoned in.
She was playing the President of the United States, and
I just felt like that character could have been so
much bigger and bolder in this movie because it kind
of gave me vibes and reminded me of Idiocracy, which
is a movie that takes a look how society changes
in the future. I felt like this movie was kind
of in that similar realm set in a distant future,
(27:19):
but it didn't have that same charm as Idiocracy. Didn't
have that same comedic timing or overall cleverness that that
movie had. I felt like the plot itself was bigger
than the entire movie, and in order for it to work.
I almost wanted it to be a little bit more silly,
have a little bit more humor, but it kind of
walked this line of like a drama, a satire, a
(27:39):
dark comedy, and just overall trying to make a statement
on the world, and they never really just combined together
to make a great movie. And out of all the
actors in the movie, the only one I felt that
really owned their character, really got into this movie, really
kind of made their role their own and shine in
this was Jonah Hill. He played the son and the
chief of after the President, and I thought he was perfect.
(28:02):
I thought, out of everybody, he had the best comedic role,
the best comedic timing, and overall just the best character
and the only one I really cared to watch when
they were on the screen. So it being that I
didn't love the overall development of this plot and the characters,
I did like the story. I thought it was fun
to explore that. I did like the story and seeing
(28:24):
how a possible end of the world situation would take
place and go down in modern times, so almost more
so than I cared about everything else going on in
the movie visually, I was just wanting to see how
that would play out, and so it could have been
this movie, it could have been any other movie. But
just seeing that play out on the big screen and
(28:44):
what they do to try to stop this comment, and
just the overall what would happen in the world and
in this country it has actually happened. That's really what
kept me watching. So if I had to write this
movie and this is a rare case in a movie
that I was excited to see and was a little
bit let down, It's in no way a bad movie,
Like I wouldn't watch this and be like, this is
(29:05):
the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It just doesn't really
live up to that expectation that I had set going
into it. Maybe my bar was a little bit high,
very rare that I'm so pumped to see a movie
and and not deliver in a movie that I was
expecting with this many a list actors from the trailer,
from the description of the movie, I was expecting an
(29:25):
easy four and a half. It went down from that
high expectation down to three out of five comments. And
this is coming from somebody who loves disaster movies. I
think it's an underrated genre, but this one just didn't
quite do it for me. It's not the worst new
thing you can watch right now, but a movie I
was expecting to, you know, be up for a lot
of awards. I don't think we'll see that. We don't
(29:45):
look up. And the only real bright spot I see
in this movie and other movies released on Netflix in
the last year is that line is really getting just
harder to see. If something comes out on Netflix or
it comes out in theaters, I think people are seeing
them in different ways. And a movie like this, even
though it didn't have a big theatrical release, a lot
of people still watch it and we're talking about it,
(30:07):
and it's proof to actors of any level. I mean,
you have Leonardo DiCaprio doing a Netflix movie. It can
be done. So overall, I think it's a solid move
for Netflix to have this level of movie and continue
to put out stuff like this. This one just didn't
quite do it for me. And now it's time for
the part of the podcast where I break down new
movie trailers of titles coming to you soon in theaters,
(30:29):
on streaming, on demand, all the things. In a segment
we call it's time to head down to Movie Mike,
coming off of Spider Man, No Way Home. Marvel dropped
the trailer to the new Doctor Strange movie. It is
called Doctor Strange Into the Multiverse of Madness. The multiverse
(30:51):
is alive and well and they're exploring this and every
single capacity. So let's take a look and listen to
this trailer. Later you show up, I made mistakes and
people were hurt. I'm not here to talk about West Pier.
Then what are you here for? I need your help,
(31:12):
that's what. What do you know about the multiverse? The
greatest threat to our universe is you. Things just got
out of hand. So this movie looks like it picks
(31:35):
up right after Spider Man No Way Home. It is
Doctor Strange dealing with the effects that is spell cast.
And at the very start of that trailer you heard
the voice of Wanda from One Division. So now Marvel
is connecting all of the TV shows from Disney Plus
back into the movies. And this is where I think
(31:55):
things get interesting. I think the question I get a
lot going into a Remarvel movie, especially with the sequel
like this is which ones do I need to watch
leading up to this? And I think any good Marvel
movie are really any movie in general, you should usually
be able to go into it and within the first
twenty minutes at least be into the movie to where
(32:18):
you understand what's going on in the thing you're watching.
Like that's what a movie takes to be a movie
like that, You can't want to expect people to watch
all these other things going into it. But I think
again that's where Marvel plays into serving their fans and
everybody like me, maybe like yourself, who do watch at
least title of it kind of has made more for
(32:41):
you and it's a little more exciting to get all
the references. But going into this one, I don't think
people are even as excited to go back and rewatch
the first Doctor Strange, or have watched One Division if
you haven't, watch What If if you haven't, or even
the last Spider Man movie. Like I think a lot
(33:01):
of what Doctor Strange is writing now is the wave
of Spider Man as the lead into this movie. It's
just why I'm excited about actually watching this movie. But
I do love Wanda Vision in there because I think
that was such a great TV show last year and
getting to see her now back on the big screen.
I think it's going to be exciting because I felt
(33:22):
like Wanda and Vision in The Avengers were so underrated
that now that people know her story, know her powers,
know what she is capable of, I can't wait to
see that back in an m CU movie. So more
so than Doctor Strange. I'm excited to see Wanda in
this movie as the Scarlet Witch, and that movie comes
(33:43):
out on May six. Next up in the trailer park
is Uncharted, a movie that's based on a video game,
starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. Let's take a listen
to this trailer. Thank you everything in here? Why the map?
(34:04):
His treasure that's never been found by billion easy? But
it's just a story I beg to different. So it's
a movie based on a video game, which you're always
hard to do, and it's a video game that I
myself haven't played. I kind of got into video games
probably in my early twenties, I stopped playing them. So
(34:25):
the video game movies I'm more excited about are from
you know, the titles that I played as a kid, Sonic,
The Hedgehog, Mario Brothers. Like those movies I get more
excited about. But the great thing about Uncharted is it's
an action game and I feel that really transfers so
well to a movie at this level. And this movie
(34:45):
is actually a prequel to the video games stars Tom
Holland as a younger Drake what you heard in that
and how he came to meet his friend in the
video game who was named Sully played by Mark Wahlberg here,
and I feel like sometimes studios just make movies and
kind of throw it under the brand of a video game,
(35:06):
and sometimes that feels like it's just kind of tacked
on and it doesn't really add anything of the franchise,
It doesn't really give anything back to the fans. Mark
Wahlberg has kind of been a part of that before.
He was in the movie Max Pain, which was based
on a video game that people loved and an adaptation
that really wasn't any good. But this movie comes out
on February, and what I'm really seeing here is Tom
(35:30):
Holland on his path to become an all out movie star,
which it is really hard to create a movie star
in this day and age, and the level that I
think Tom Holland is capable of achieving, and he has
done such a great job, and the people around him,
you know, helping him get his movies and pick his
roles of not being typecast as just Spider Man. I've
(35:54):
already seen the range of his work in the last
couple of years for movies like Cherry Devil All The
Time Time and now doing an all out big action
movie that's not a Marvel movie with this movie uncharted,
and it's so hard not to get type cast, especially
when you play a character as well known as Spider Man.
But I think he's doing an amazing job at it.
I think he's definitely one of the next A list
(36:17):
actors on the brink of that level. Of any movie
he puts out, people are gonna watch no matter what.
So those are a couple of movies to look out
for this year, this addition of Law Alright. That is
the episode for this week. But before I hop out
of here, every single week I give a shout out
to a listener of the podcast, whether it's on Twitter, Instagram,
(36:42):
or the most old school way, email me at movie
Mike d at gmail dot com. This week, I'm going
over to Twitter, and this shout out is for Ryan
gil Martin who tweeted me and said, cannot believe it's
been two years. Absolutely love listening to your podcast. Monday mornings.
Just finished listening to The Spider Man one by far
one of my favorites of years, Keep killing It. PS
(37:03):
was finally able to rate you on Spotify five stars.
Of course, appreciate you, Ryan for listening and for leaving
that rating wherever you're listening to this now, if you
could take a few seconds and give it a rating,
whether it be on Spotify, on Apple podcasts, hit those
five stars. We can write a quick little review always
helps to keep the ship afloat here glad to be
(37:24):
back in two Hope you have a great first week
back in the year and until next week later m
Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, your
go to source for all things movies. I am your
host Movie Mike, kicking things off in a big way
in two. Coming up, my conversation with actor Sean Aston,
who you know from Lord of the Rings, Rudy the Goonies.
He's on to talk about the twentieth anniversary of Lord
of the Rings. I also have my top five movies
of the last year, and I'll give you some of
(00:21):
the worst ones as well. A lot to cover on
this brand new episode. So what's that any further ado,
let's get started. In a world where everyone and their
mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the
ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast.
A man with so much movie knowledge, he's basically like
(00:43):
a walking on Mtvity with classes from the Nashville Podcast Network.
Movie Movie Podcast. About to get into my conversation with
actor Sean Aston, who has been in some very iconic
roles in his life. We're gonna get into talking about
the Lord of the Rings replace Sam Wise, but that's
only one of what I would say, or is three
(01:04):
major iconic roles. Taking it back to his very first
debut as a kid. He was a teenager in the Goonies.
He played Mikey and then he was everybody's favorite underdog
and Rudy. And aside from movies, he was also recently
in Stranger Things. He has such a wide range of work.
I only wish I had more time to talk with him.
But let's get into it. Let's talk to Sean Asten. Mike,
(01:25):
how's it going good? Sorry if I'm Charity man. Oh,
you're all good? All right on now with Shaun Aston.
It's so great to talk to you. I feel like
I've been watching you my entire life. And now the
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring celebrating his
twentieth anniversary. What does it feel like to be a
part of a franchise that'll just be viewed for generations
and generations to come. Mike, it's good to see you.
(01:46):
Finally our moment has come to be part of the
general It is um Well, it just feels like there's
something no one can ever take away from you that's
really special. You know. I mean, I got a degree,
and when when I got my undergrad degree before making
this movie, and that feeling when you're when they hand
you the diploma and you know, you're wearing the cap
and gown and you're like, man, this is even if
I totally fail in life, at least I accomplish this.
(02:10):
That's what it feels like. It feels like there is
you know, when it really capped off, when it won
the Best Picture, when the Return of the King one
best Picture in the in two thousands four whatever it was,
and uh, you just felt like, you know, world culture
will forever recognize this as an important contribution and and
I have a you know, meaningful part of it. And
(02:31):
it just feels like, you know, immortality is that over
I overreach with immortality. I didn't mean to overreach. You're
gonna live forever through this movie now, well and tell
somebody figures out how to scrub all the digital bites.
But but no, Yeah, it definitely it definitely feels like, um,
(02:52):
you know, there's I don't know what permanence is in
this world anymore. You know, my love for my wife
and my children is permanent. Uh, you know, no matter
what happens to me, no matter where I go, it's permanent.
And there there's something about inhabiting this world of Middle
Earth that just transcends normal. Normal, just transcends normal. It's more,
you know, it's like in uh, it's like ins final tap,
(03:13):
It's it's eleven. It's eleven. So what was the most
grueling part about filming that movie? The first one being
fat I had? I was, I was a hundred pounds.
I just run the l A marathon and I get this.
You know, you're going into place you to read for
Sandwise Gamg and I get the books out and I'm
reading through it. It's like, you know, fat portly hobbits,
(03:34):
but not to it, and I'm like, what all it
took me to get in shape? So of course it's
not very difficult to when your weight goes up and
down to get back into the fat moroad. And I
don't mean to be just you know, disrespectful, but it's
it's hard. It's really hard to be to be heavy.
And in my life my weight goes up and down
and kind of like four to six month cycles, so
(03:55):
six months of being I'm not kidding this, you want
to know, that's what the hardest part was for me.
I mean, the the hours were hard, the the you know,
carrying that stupid backpack around, you know, the chafing your
neck and getting cut. A loom fell in my head
and knocked me out. I got a big cut on
my foot. I you know, there was there was a
lot of stuff, but like I honestly think I suffered,
like real I suffered. Um, you know, I suffered so
(04:21):
with with that. And I remember looking in the mirror
and being like, oh my god, I can't get back
in shape right now. And at one point I just
my makeup artist and I, Jeremy and I we went
to the tennis club. There's like a tennis jym you
could go to, and we got into it. We were
like playing every day for a week or something. You're
just having so much fun and just that your neurons
when you wake up after not being physically active for
(04:41):
a while. And then somebody from the news and the
Wellington whatever the national newspapers took a picture of me
coming out of the say this is before the internet,
this is before we had really the movies were known
by anybody. And on the front page of the national
newspaper is me like with a towel over my shoulder
coming out of the gym. And when I and my
heart sank when I saw it, and I walked into
(05:03):
the set the next day and Peter Jackson is there
with the paper open and he does the slow turn
and he looks at me, and I look at him,
and he's like, they call candy lollies and he's more
lollies from Mr Aston, please, And he's lonally partly kidding,
so like having to maintain fat Sam and so like
(05:24):
when Gollum says, stupid fat hobbits. You know, I'm like,
f you, dude. So your book club at Fable is
also celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the movie, and you
can go to fable dot co slash on Aston to
be a part of that. Have any of your original
Lord of the Rings costar still not read the original books? Well,
there's a major publication today. I believe it's Vanity Fair
(05:46):
with my colleague Elijah Wood on it and the the cat.
The banner is I still haven't read the books. So
he still has and did the whole I feel now
like I used to joke. And the amazing thing is
he has a better command of the story than I do.
And I've read them three times. That's not a joke,
he I every time I read them. So here's this
is this is the version. I'm gonna you can read
(06:07):
it digitally on fable dot com, but I'm gonna read
this one. And I was reading it on the plane
back for Atlanta last night, and uh, Billy BOYD, he's gonna.
I think he came in on her zoom yesterday. I
think he's gonna train the journey. So I'm gonna text
Elijah after our interview and I'm just gonna be like,
hey man, we're doing a chapter week. Of course he's
gonna be a new father for the second time. He'll
probably like, I will read two words and fall asleep.
(06:28):
But but yeah, you know it. What can I say?
What can I say? He's um. I was always asking
I would finish. I read the books cover to cover
three times while we're filming, and I didn't really enjoy
it in the sense of like disappearing into the world.
I was just like data mining. I was just plumbing
it for like what can I know? What can I know?
(06:49):
And I would i'd finished, you know, like a big
chunk of it and beautiful New Zealand with the countryside,
you know, the mountains and whatever. And we go to
the set and I look at the script and I
had to ask Elijah to explain what was happening. He
would not. He would be like, well, this is what's
going on. He would so, yeah, he gets to get
out of jail free card for me. Well, I appreciate
the time. It was great to talk to you, Mike.
You b well brother. All right, have a good one.
(07:10):
Time to get into the list now of my top
five movies of the last year, for one, and when
I would put together this list, I don't want to
focus completely on what I kind of leaned towards of
my favorite genre, but without a doubt, one was the
return of superhero movies and a genre that gets you know,
(07:32):
a lot of hate, a lot of criticism for there
being so many movies. We didn't really get a whole
lot in t aside from Birds of Prey and then
at the end Wonder Woman. There was no m CU
movie in tw and everything was weird in twenty aside
from you know, what was going on in the world,
but how it affected movies. We were living in a
(07:52):
world of things getting delayed and delayed and delayed, and
it was really one with Black Widow that was our
first taste of like alright, big movies are happening again.
So looking at all the movies I've seen in the
last year, which is over fifty doing this podcast, I
tried to watch at least one new movie a week,
(08:13):
So I looked at every single movie I watched in
the last year, everything that was rated at least A
four and above. From there, I ranked them of how
much of an impact I think they'll go out to
have later down the line, how much of me would
want to go back and watch those movies, and in
some cases, which am I excited to see continuations of
in their franchises. And at number five I put these
(08:36):
Suicide Squad from James Gunn. It was one of the
funniest experiences I had in the theaters this year because
it was everything I was looking for but didn't really
know I wanted in a superhero movie, and I honestly
felt that more people should have watched this movie. A
lot of the things surrounding it was like, why are
they already making another one of these? That just made
one a while ago called Suicide Squad that a bunch
(08:57):
of people didn't like, So I felt it already had
a whole lot going against it without any reviews having
come out from the movie. But what really made The
Suicide Squad memorable for me was all the characters in it,
from Harley Quinn to King Shark, to Peacemaker to the
big villain at the very end. They were all just
so weird and unorthodox but so fun to watch on
(09:19):
the big screen. And I kind of love what this
movie did for d C. It wasn't an answer to
the Avengers, it wasn't an answer to anything else. It
was really just being its own movie and kind of
existing in its own world of yes, these characters are
kind of misfits, but also in a whole kind of
world where all these movies are a little bit misfits.
It was the right amount of action, the right amount
(09:41):
of humor, and just so many things that were visual
to my eye while watching this movie. It just made
it visually appealing and kept my attention the entire time.
So at number five, I'm going with The Suicide Squad
at number four was first of all, the movie I
had to go back and remember that it actually came
out this year. In back in February. Judas and the
(10:02):
Black Messiah was my favorite drama of the year. A
story that's so powerful, and when you watched this movie,
you kind of realize that all these actors are in
a whole different level and you almost immediately know why
this kind of movie gets nominated for Oscars. It's a
story about this guy named William O'Neill and he infiltrates
the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in order
(10:24):
to get close to the leader in order to gain
intelligence after he was offered a plea deal by the FBI.
Such a great premise. The casting was amazing in this movie.
The cinematography was a plus because it really kind of
puts you inside the action scenes in this movie. Daniel
Khaluya winning Best Supporting Actor was probably my favorite moment
from the Oscars last year. So at number four, I'm
(10:47):
going with Judas and the Black Messiah at number three
is a movie that I and maybe a lot of
other people felt this way. Wasn't expecting to like as
much as I did with the character. I had no
real knowledge about going into this movie, but afterwards completely loved.
And at number three it is Shang Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings I've talked about on this podcast.
How moving into Phase four of the m c U.
(11:09):
It's a lot of getting introduced to new characters, getting
introduced into new movies, and even for me, as a
lifelong Marvel fan, I find myself not as excited for it,
and shang Chi was a title that was one that
I wasn't that excited about going into it. But I
realized while watching this movie the overall plan they have
(11:31):
here at Marvel and what they're trying to do it
is create new storylines, create new characters in worlds that
they haven't explored yet, something completely different, and I think
that's what they did here with shang Chi, a new
character who isn't your typical superhero. You have your Asian lead,
Asian director, and a predominantly Asian cast, which is why
(11:51):
I really loved this movie. And at the core of
shang Chi, you take away all the superhero powers, you
take away all the fighting and the action. A movie
about family. It's a movie about your relationships with your parents,
your mother, your father, And I really saw a new
character get created with a really strong backstory. The superheroes
that do the best are the ones that we can
(12:14):
relate to in some way. People with stories like Spider
Man and I think now with people like stories like
Shang Chi, it also opens up a whole new world
when you can see yourself represented in a superhero like this,
in a cast like this, to where a kid in
that theater watching this movie finally see somebody that looks
like them up there kicking but being the hero in
(12:35):
a movie, being funny, being charming. I think above all,
this is an important movie for young kids to watch,
to see a character that just doesn't look like Superman,
just doesn't look like Batman. Superheroes can be anybody. So
at number three, I'm going with Shang Chi and the
Legend of the Ten Rings at number two is a
movie I actually haven't had a chance to review on
(12:56):
the podcast, but I'm glad that I ended up loving
it so much that I had to put it on
my Tough five movies because it was just so good,
entertaining from start to finish, in a story that I
had no idea about, based on a true story, and
it is King Richard, which is not your average sports drama.
It is based on the life of Richard Williams, who
(13:17):
is the father and coach of Venus and Serena Williams
and Richard is played by the one and only Will Smith,
and when this movie was first announced, I thought it
was interesting that they were making a movie about their
dad and not about them, But upon watching it and
getting the full story, you realize how much that works.
It would have been a completely different movie. It was
(13:39):
based on them, and what you're able to learn about
their story through the eyes of their dad is how
much he sacrificed to get them to where they are,
and how much drive he had behind not only seeing
Venus and Serena be successful, but all of his daughters
to be successful, the sacrifices he had to make, how
much he had to stick to, you know, the entire
(14:01):
plan that he saw for them, like he had greatness
on his mind. He always knew they were going to
be champions and did not stop until they achieve that.
It's a very powerful and motivating movie, but it also
shows the flawed side of him, which I love because
a lot of the times when you make a biopick
or make a you know, any kind of biographical film
(14:21):
on somebody, you just show all the good things, maybe
a little of the bad, but you don't really get
that other side of them that maybe sometimes doesn't want
to be seen, but it's important to the story and
a lot of kind of the downfalls of him being
so driven and him you know, kind of being so
stubborn and said in his ways was really kind of
shown in this movie to where yes, you do need
(14:44):
that to get your daughters to that level, but it
can also take a toll on other parts of your
your life, like your marriage, your relationships with their coaches
and people, you know, trying to guide them and take
them another level, and you're saying that you know more
than them. So it's a lot more than him just
being their dad and him being their coach, but also
just struggling with you know, what's going on inside of him.
(15:05):
And I thought, Will Smith, that's such a great job
in this role to where I'm sure we'll see an
Oscar nomination, if not possibly an Oscar win. I think
it would be so fitting for Will Smith to win
Best Actor for the first time because of this movie.
In my heart right now, I think you should win.
He truly made that movie great. If you haven't seen
(15:26):
it yet, it's a definite must see because at number
two it's King Richard and then at number one, my
top movie of if you haven't guessed it yet, Well,
yes it is Spider Man No Way Home. Don't mean
to sound basic here, but you've listened to every capacity
of me review the movie. At this point, what else
(15:46):
can I say about it? It was my favorite movie
of the year and I'm not sorry about that. So
the only thing I have to say about it now
that I haven't said before is the cultural impact this
had on movies. And I think it's directors now getting
upset about how successful this movie has been and how
(16:07):
the only time people are going to the movie theaters
now or to see superhero movies. But I see it
completely different now. We go to the theaters to experience
things like this. There was nothing else in recent history
that gets people as excited to go to see a
movie like this and Spider Man No Way Home. The
experience of seeing it with other people in a crowd,
with cheering, that's something that's very hard to create. And
(16:29):
they're just a whole lot of factors that focus into
how much these movies make, and that experience alone is
going to get people out of their homes and into
a movie theater. So I don't think that movies in
any way are dying or that the art of film
is in danger here. I just think the movies that
are more captivating are obviously going to have big pops
(16:50):
like this. But if a movie is really great, it
will find its way to its audience. So you can't
throw it at these superhero movies that maybe your movies
aren't warming the way you expected them to. And the
success of Spider Man No Way Home doesn't take anything
away from the movie you've created. So those are my
final thoughts on that, and that is my top five
(17:10):
best movies. I'll come back and give some honorable mentions
and the worst movies I saw last year right after this,
all right, let's get into some of the worst movies
of the One at number one is the only one
I didn't finish watching because it was so bad. And
(17:31):
I think that is the equivalent now to walking out
of a theater. I don't really see anybody now spending
that much money on a movie ticket to walk out
unless you just completely hate a movie like like that
really takes a lot. And you know, if you walk
out of a movie theater within thirty minutes, they can
actually give you a refund. Don't know if you knew
that or not, but they will give you a refund
(17:52):
after that. It's all on you. But the one movie
that I didn't finish watching is that number one on
the list is the movie called Bliss. It had Owen
Wilson and Salmahiak and I think this movie it was
on Amazon, and it kind of suffers from taking a
mediocre plot and putting too big name actors into the movie,
(18:16):
throwing it on a streaming service and expecting to get
to do well. I don't think you can just throw
two big actors in a movie anymore and have to
do relatively well. This movie was so bad. I got
about thirty minutes into it and it was completely checked out.
So my number one worst movie of one was Bliss.
If you haven't even heard of it and you see
it pop up on Amazon, do not waste your time.
(18:39):
At number two, it was a movie I was so
excited to see and it did not live up to
my hype. And it was Halloween Kills. I thought Michael
Myers was completely not Michael Myers in that movie. There's
a lot of just mindless killing with no real storyline
there to follow, a lot of plot holes overall, just
kind of dumb and I love Michael Myers, I love
(19:00):
scary movies. I love slasher movies. That one was not it.
At number three was The Conjuring three, and The Conjuring
the original one is one of my favorite paranormal slash
exorcism movies, a movie that really scared me upon watching
that one. Two was okay, but three was also borderline
me not wanting to finish it. Very hard to make
(19:22):
a trilogy, especially in horror, and they did not follow
through on this one. So my number three worst movie
of the year was The Conjuring Three at number four,
again a movie that played onto my nostalgia and my
urge to want to love it as much as I
did as a kid, or just kind of remembered back
lot me get as much as I did as a kid.
(19:43):
But it is space jam to a new legacy. For
a movie about the Looney Tunes and basketball, it contained
very little Looney Tunes and basketball. Everything about this movie
felt phoned in, from Lebron James performance to the voice acting,
to the animation to the writing. If there was any
(20:04):
and I get it. It was a movie made for kids,
but even a movie made for kids has to have art,
has to have a little substance. And if you're going
to play off of a movie that came out in
the nineties and now all those kids are adults, you
have to kind of play to them too. And I
don't know why I'm getting angry and talking with my
hands because you can't see me doing this. But that
(20:26):
is why I did not like Space DM two. And
there was so much hype leading up to this one.
It just fell flat. And number four is Space Jam two.
And then finally at number three is another part three
of a movie, and it is a Kissing Booth three.
I somehow made it to watch one and two. I
don't know why I expected three to be any better.
So many things that don't make sense in this movie.
(20:48):
And I also get it here probably not the target
audience for these movies, but I remember watching movies like
this when I was younger. The movie is geared towards
teens and dweens of my day. Again, at least had
a little substance. Was very little in this one. So
at number five was the Kissing Booth three. Since that
was the worst list, I decided to go in reverse
order that I normally do. Because they are all movies
(21:09):
you probably shouldn't spend any time watching, so it doesn't
really matter where I ranked them, but I did want
to get back real quick. Before we get into the
movie review is some honorable mentions of the best movies
I saw last year. One that almost made the list
was Cruella, which was a movie I didn't get to
watch in theaters. I watched it on Disney Plus paid
the thirty bucks for it and had a really good
(21:31):
time at home watching that movie. Even though it looks
so big and cinematic, like it would fit perfectly on
the big screen. The origin story of Cruella Deville was
unexpectedly really good. Emma Stone was fantastic, the wardrobe was fantastic.
I really loved that movie from Disney. Honorable mention was Cruella.
Another movie I wasn't expecting to love as much as
(21:52):
I did was Tick Tick Boom with Andrew Garfield. The
story about Jonathan Larson, who created Rent, but really doesn't
focus on that at all. Even though it is a musical,
it's not just a random burst into song and dance
for no reason. The story has a lot of substance
to it. It deals more with Jonathan Larson and his
(22:13):
anxiety is around turning thirty and deciding whether or not
this dream of being a famous playwright is really going
to be a dream he's able to live out. So
for me, also turning thirty in the past year, I
thought that really resonated with me. And knowing that Andrew
Garfield learned how to sing for this movie really made
(22:34):
me love it even more. So that's an honorable mention.
And then my final honorable mention is a movie called
Pig starring Nicolas Cage, where he plays a truffle hunter
who lives out in the middle of nowhere in Oregon
in this shed and it's him and this pig who
helps him find truffles in the forest, which he sells
to this other guy who is a supplier for restaurants.
(22:56):
And then one day his pig gets stolen and he's
on a mission to get his pig bag. It's kind
of like Taken with a pig, And it sounds like
such a bizarre premise for a movie that you realize, like,
how could that even be good? But it's a really
great drama, a movie that somehow I felt Nicholas Cage
was born to play. At this stage of his life,
(23:17):
there he goes some movies not to watch and spend
your time on, and then some other ones that you
may have missed. Let's get into a spoiler free movie
review now. I want to talk about Don't Look Up
on Netflix, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Timothy shallow May,
Meryl Streep, and a lot more actors. Before I get
(23:40):
into this review, here's just a little bit of the trailer.
I hear there's something you don't like the looks of.
We discovered a very large comment tone. It's headed directly
towards Earth. This comment is what we call a planet killer.
At this exact moment, I say, we sit tight and assess,
sit tight, and assess sit tight, and then assess. The
(24:04):
sit type part comes first, and you've got to digest it.
That's the assessment period. So this was actually one of
my most anticipated movies of December. So going into this
I was really wanting to like it. A movie with
Leonardo DiCaprio as one of the leads, like, how could
it really be a bad movie? But also, time and
time again that worries me. When there's so many a
(24:24):
list actors in a movie, is just boasting like, look
at all these people in this movie. You have Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jennifer Lawrence, Timothy Shallow May, Arianna grondn A, Meryl Streep,
Jonah Hill. The list really goes on and on with
cameos in this movie. And sometimes that's just like, Hey,
look at this movie. We have all these actors, how
could it be a bad movie? And you pair that
with the premise of this movie, which also just sounds
(24:48):
like something I'd want to watch. It's about these two
low level astronomers who discover this comment coming straight towards
Earth and they're trying to tell the government and everybody
that it's basically going to end in six months if
we don't do anything. And that's the premise of the movie.
Directed by Adam McKay, who has done movies like Anchorman,
(25:09):
The Other Guy, Step Brothers, The Big Short Vice, so
he is known for his comedy and satirical humor. So
what happens in this movie is Leonardo DiCaprio is an
astronomer at the University of Michigan working with Jennifer Lawrence,
who is also an astronomer studying under him, and they
discovered this comment go to try to tell the president.
So they think this earth shattering news is going to
(25:31):
really change the world, but it doesn't really do anything.
So what do they do. They go lead it to
the media, and then on comes the frenzy of how
the American people and how the entire world react to this.
So that's the surface level of this movie, but when
you watch it further dive into the overall bigger message,
it's kind of a story about how our country is
(25:53):
constantly divided, how we interpret information from scientists, how we
interpret big news events, and it's really just a take
on the state of the world, how everything gets politicized,
and how no matter the issue, we're probably going to
argue it, even the end of the world, and at
a satirical look on that. So I think that part
of the movie was interesting enough, But where I kind
(26:15):
of got taken out of it is I felt like
none of the actors really had their time to shine.
You have all these A list actors, but even Leonardo DiCaprio,
I'm kind of surprised that he took this role because
he really wasn't the Leonardo DiCaprio that I was expecting,
or the level of performance that I kind of know
going into a movie that I'm going to get. I
(26:36):
really didn't feel like him in that role really added
much to the entire movie, aside from the fact that
he was Leonardo DiCaprio. Jennifer Lawrence was okay, but I
think her character overall didn't really fit her. Maybe just
the comedic timing wasn't there. There was one reoccurring joke
that I found funny, but other than that, didn't really
love her character. Meryl Streep was fine, but I did
(26:57):
feel her performance was just a little bit phoned in.
She was playing the President of the United States, and
I just felt like that character could have been so
much bigger and bolder in this movie because it kind
of gave me vibes and reminded me of Idiocracy, which
is a movie that takes a look how society changes
in the future. I felt like this movie was kind
of in that similar realm set in a distant future,
(27:19):
but it didn't have that same charm as Idiocracy. Didn't
have that same comedic timing or overall cleverness that that
movie had. I felt like the plot itself was bigger
than the entire movie, and in order for it to work.
I almost wanted it to be a little bit more silly,
have a little bit more humor, but it kind of
walked this line of like a drama, a satire, a
(27:39):
dark comedy, and just overall trying to make a statement
on the world, and they never really just combined together
to make a great movie. And out of all the
actors in the movie, the only one I felt that
really owned their character, really got into this movie, really
kind of made their role their own and shine in
this was Jonah Hill. He played the son and the
chief of after the President, and I thought he was perfect.
(28:02):
I thought, out of everybody, he had the best comedic role,
the best comedic timing, and overall just the best character
and the only one I really cared to watch when
they were on the screen. So it being that I
didn't love the overall development of this plot and the characters,
I did like the story. I thought it was fun
to explore that. I did like the story and seeing
(28:24):
how a possible end of the world situation would take
place and go down in modern times, so almost more
so than I cared about everything else going on in
the movie visually, I was just wanting to see how
that would play out, and so it could have been
this movie, it could have been any other movie. But
just seeing that play out on the big screen and
(28:44):
what they do to try to stop this comment, and
just the overall what would happen in the world and
in this country it has actually happened. That's really what
kept me watching. So if I had to write this
movie and this is a rare case in a movie
that I was excited to see and was a little
bit let down, It's in no way a bad movie,
Like I wouldn't watch this and be like, this is
(29:05):
the dumbest thing I've ever seen. It just doesn't really
live up to that expectation that I had set going
into it. Maybe my bar was a little bit high,
very rare that I'm so pumped to see a movie
and and not deliver in a movie that I was
expecting with this many a list actors from the trailer,
from the description of the movie, I was expecting an
(29:25):
easy four and a half. It went down from that
high expectation down to three out of five comments. And
this is coming from somebody who loves disaster movies. I
think it's an underrated genre, but this one just didn't
quite do it for me. It's not the worst new
thing you can watch right now, but a movie I
was expecting to, you know, be up for a lot
of awards. I don't think we'll see that. We don't
(29:45):
look up. And the only real bright spot I see
in this movie and other movies released on Netflix in
the last year is that line is really getting just
harder to see. If something comes out on Netflix or
it comes out in theaters, I think people are seeing
them in different ways. And a movie like this, even
though it didn't have a big theatrical release, a lot
of people still watch it and we're talking about it,
(30:07):
and it's proof to actors of any level. I mean,
you have Leonardo DiCaprio doing a Netflix movie. It can
be done. So overall, I think it's a solid move
for Netflix to have this level of movie and continue
to put out stuff like this. This one just didn't
quite do it for me. And now it's time for
the part of the podcast where I break down new
movie trailers of titles coming to you soon in theaters,
(30:29):
on streaming, on demand, all the things. In a segment
we call it's time to head down to Movie Mike,
coming off of Spider Man, No Way Home. Marvel dropped
the trailer to the new Doctor Strange movie. It is
called Doctor Strange Into the Multiverse of Madness. The multiverse
(30:51):
is alive and well and they're exploring this and every
single capacity. So let's take a look and listen to
this trailer. Later you show up, I made mistakes and
people were hurt. I'm not here to talk about West Pier.
Then what are you here for? I need your help,
(31:12):
that's what. What do you know about the multiverse? The
greatest threat to our universe is you. Things just got
out of hand. So this movie looks like it picks
(31:35):
up right after Spider Man No Way Home. It is
Doctor Strange dealing with the effects that is spell cast.
And at the very start of that trailer you heard
the voice of Wanda from One Division. So now Marvel
is connecting all of the TV shows from Disney Plus
back into the movies. And this is where I think
(31:55):
things get interesting. I think the question I get a
lot going into a Remarvel movie, especially with the sequel
like this is which ones do I need to watch
leading up to this? And I think any good Marvel
movie are really any movie in general, you should usually
be able to go into it and within the first
twenty minutes at least be into the movie to where
(32:18):
you understand what's going on in the thing you're watching.
Like that's what a movie takes to be a movie
like that, You can't want to expect people to watch
all these other things going into it. But I think
again that's where Marvel plays into serving their fans and
everybody like me, maybe like yourself, who do watch at
least title of it kind of has made more for
(32:41):
you and it's a little more exciting to get all
the references. But going into this one, I don't think
people are even as excited to go back and rewatch
the first Doctor Strange, or have watched One Division if
you haven't, watch What If if you haven't, or even
the last Spider Man movie. Like I think a lot
(33:01):
of what Doctor Strange is writing now is the wave
of Spider Man as the lead into this movie. It's
just why I'm excited about actually watching this movie. But
I do love Wanda Vision in there because I think
that was such a great TV show last year and
getting to see her now back on the big screen.
I think it's going to be exciting because I felt
(33:22):
like Wanda and Vision in The Avengers were so underrated
that now that people know her story, know her powers,
know what she is capable of, I can't wait to
see that back in an m CU movie. So more
so than Doctor Strange. I'm excited to see Wanda in
this movie as the Scarlet Witch, and that movie comes
(33:43):
out on May six. Next up in the trailer park
is Uncharted, a movie that's based on a video game,
starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. Let's take a listen
to this trailer. Thank you everything in here? Why the map?
(34:04):
His treasure that's never been found by billion easy? But
it's just a story I beg to different. So it's
a movie based on a video game, which you're always
hard to do, and it's a video game that I
myself haven't played. I kind of got into video games
probably in my early twenties, I stopped playing them. So
(34:25):
the video game movies I'm more excited about are from
you know, the titles that I played as a kid, Sonic,
The Hedgehog, Mario Brothers. Like those movies I get more
excited about. But the great thing about Uncharted is it's
an action game and I feel that really transfers so
well to a movie at this level. And this movie
(34:45):
is actually a prequel to the video games stars Tom
Holland as a younger Drake what you heard in that
and how he came to meet his friend in the
video game who was named Sully played by Mark Wahlberg here,
and I feel like sometimes studios just make movies and
kind of throw it under the brand of a video game,
(35:06):
and sometimes that feels like it's just kind of tacked
on and it doesn't really add anything of the franchise,
It doesn't really give anything back to the fans. Mark
Wahlberg has kind of been a part of that before.
He was in the movie Max Pain, which was based
on a video game that people loved and an adaptation
that really wasn't any good. But this movie comes out
on February, and what I'm really seeing here is Tom
(35:30):
Holland on his path to become an all out movie star,
which it is really hard to create a movie star
in this day and age, and the level that I
think Tom Holland is capable of achieving, and he has
done such a great job, and the people around him,
you know, helping him get his movies and pick his
roles of not being typecast as just Spider Man. I've
(35:54):
already seen the range of his work in the last
couple of years for movies like Cherry Devil All The
Time Time and now doing an all out big action
movie that's not a Marvel movie with this movie uncharted,
and it's so hard not to get type cast, especially
when you play a character as well known as Spider Man.
But I think he's doing an amazing job at it.
I think he's definitely one of the next A list
(36:17):
actors on the brink of that level. Of any movie
he puts out, people are gonna watch no matter what.
So those are a couple of movies to look out
for this year, this addition of Law Alright. That is
the episode for this week. But before I hop out
of here, every single week I give a shout out
to a listener of the podcast, whether it's on Twitter, Instagram,
(36:42):
or the most old school way, email me at movie
Mike d at gmail dot com. This week, I'm going
over to Twitter, and this shout out is for Ryan
gil Martin who tweeted me and said, cannot believe it's
been two years. Absolutely love listening to your podcast. Monday mornings.
Just finished listening to The Spider Man one by far
one of my favorites of years, Keep killing It. PS
(37:03):
was finally able to rate you on Spotify five stars.
Of course, appreciate you, Ryan for listening and for leaving
that rating wherever you're listening to this now, if you
could take a few seconds and give it a rating,
whether it be on Spotify, on Apple podcasts, hit those
five stars. We can write a quick little review always
helps to keep the ship afloat here glad to be
(37:24):
back in two Hope you have a great first week
back in the year and until next week later m
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