September 23, 2025 • 22 mins
After reading all the nasty reviews, and seeing Marlon Wayans make a plea on social media to see “Him” despite the negativity, Amy and T.J. did just that… and absolutely loved it. While many reviewers claim the film fumbled, these two horror movie lovers say it scored a touchdown.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, folks.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Tuesday, September the twenty third, and we just
came from a theater seeing what is described as maybe
the worst reviewed movie of the year.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just how badly is it reviewed?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Ropes Well Him has gotten one half star out of
four from a major Roger Ebert dot com New York
Times did not like it in Indie Wire.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Whooh, they panned it as well.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
When you say they panned it, what do you mean?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
How's this for a line in a movie review? Putrid
and hollow? Justin Tipping's brain dead football horror film, which
somehow managed to secure the backing of producer Jordan Peel,
is incomprehensibly bad.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And we would like to tell you we fucking loved it.
And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes.
We were scratching our haggs. We were a little confused.
Some of the reviews, they can be bad. Some of
the reviews we heard for this one seemed.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Mean, Yes, hi, how about this a rock brained football
horror movie that's as subtle as being sacked by a
three hundred pound defensive lineman and somehow only half as
much fun.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh my goodness, that seems mean. That doesn't seem to
be a critique of the lighting, of the music, of
the acting, of the writing. That seems like they were
taking shots at this movie that has a rating on
Rotten Tomatoes.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Nine percent once in nine.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think it's on the rise if it's twenty nine,
because I think it was lower. At one point, we
have been seeing previews robes. We go to horror movies.
The only thing we see at theater is pretty much
a horror movies, so we see previews for upcoming horror movies.
We've been seeing about this one for a while. It
was intriguing. We were curious, but it wasn't one we
plan to run out and see at theaters until we're like,
(01:59):
how was everybody hating on this movie so much?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, until the bad reviews, and then we knew we
had to see it, And the truth is it's not.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Look.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
I appreciated how different it was.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
For me. It was the best way I could describe
it was a football story meets midsummer That's what it
felt like to me. So, yes, it was bizarre and
you didn't know if what you were watching were hallucinations
or some sort of demonic presence, or if it was
maybe a fever dream from a concussion. You know, you
weren't really sure, but that was intriguing and certainly entertaining.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I laughed. I was shocked.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
There weren't the typical jump scares. It wasn't terrifying or scary.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Necessary horror thriller, kind of a cur correct.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And there was some certainly some body horror in there,
but you suffered through. You know, I hate that's not
your favorite genre.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I hate tho was the movie's substance.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm and there were some folks who made comparisons to it,
but saying it wasn't anywhere near as good. But there
was you know, when you've got the audio of the
sound effects that go along with just even a simple
injection can be disgusting. So they the sound effects were
definitely a lot like a horror genre, I mean horror,
a body horror genre.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Okay, And it's hard for us to say now because
we how could you go back? But there is no
way that even if we had not heard any of
the reviews, which would naturally set low expectations, dearest, if
we had seen this movie without seeing a single review,
we would have enjoyed, Yes, this movie. We wouldn't have
(03:31):
walked out complaining. We walked out. The three of us
met you and Sabine. We were arguing, like what was that?
What did that mean? We immediately started talking about it.
To me, that makes a good movie.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
That makes art because it starts you question, wait, what
did I just see?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
And what do you think that meant? And didn't you
like this? And that was weird? But what do you
think that was? That? I think is all something I
appreciate when I walk out of a movie, that you're
having a shared experience. You watched it individually, but now
you want to talk about it and discuss it and
figure out what actually happened. It was never boring, and
a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot
of critics, and a lot of folks just who every
(04:06):
day Joe's who write audience reviews for Rotten Tomatoes. A
lot of people said it was boring, boring, yes, wow,
and too long? It was only an hour and thirty six, Yes, yes,
but yes, this was I love this one. Him is
a single idea stretched out for half the length of
an NFL broadcast. Spoiler alert, half of an eternity is
still an eternity, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I found I saw why was everybody trying to be
cute in their writing. They were trying to, in some
way take advantage of a football moving a football theme
to make all these clever little cracks and be snarky.
You can do your thing and you can be a critic.
That is fine, but there was a meanness to a
lot of this stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yes, the critics consensus, so they kind of just sum
up all of the different critiques.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
On Rotten Tomatoes said this fumbling the ball well before
the red zone.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Tim has style to spare, but botches it's promising, conceit
with rookie execution, Christ cold with puns.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Look filled with puns. Maybe people took took advantage look
and we have to give The reason I think we're
doing this is because Marlon Wayans put out a statement.
He put out something on Instagram acknowledging how bad the
reviews were. His statement I thought was classy. I think
you gave me a heads up about that he had
put something out, so I thought he was taking him
(05:22):
on in some way. I thought he was respectful and
classy in the way he addressed it.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I think so too. He said he respects the critics.
He said their job is to critique. He respects their work.
He said it.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Shapes our industry, but an opinion does not always mean
it's everyone's opinion. Some movies are ahead of the curve.
And then he went on to say innovation is not
always embraced, and art is to be interpreted and it's subjective.
He says, I've had a career of making classic movies
that weren't critically received, and those movies went on to
be classics. So don't take anyone's opinion, just go see
(05:56):
for yourself. Love to all him in theaters, and that
is what made us want to go see the movie.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
His statement was, I was leaning towards like, how can
a movie be reviewed so poorly? And it's not just
that people say it's not good or drags, or it's
poor rioting, or can't believe how it was shot or
the acting performance. So this was just everybody took a shot.
It seemed like people were dying to take a shot. Look,
the director is one thing. What is his name again?
(06:25):
Robes the direct tipping justin tipping.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Justin tipping, okay, But a lot of.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
What's been used to promote the movie is the name
of Jordan Peele?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Jordan Peele is the seen as a hit maker, if
you will, in this genre in particular, so his name
is attached to it. I don't know what the expectation
given that Jordan Peele's name was attached. I was like, oh, okay,
this kind of this idea from some of his previous movies.
I'm like, Okay, I don't exactly know what I'm saying,
but I'm going on some kind of a trip.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I feel like he's right now, kind of the Black
and Night Shyamalan. He's had some really big hits. He's
got a very creative and people will go to see
a movie with his name on it. But there are
a lot of very high expectations associated with a name
like his, and same with Shyamalan. And I do think
that they end up being perhaps their own worst enemy
(07:13):
in the fact that people have these expectations and if
something didn't feel like their last movie or they didn't
think it was good enough, it's almost easy to take
a shot at them because they've had such success.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And I ask, is it highbrow expectations?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Perhaps, like you have.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
To have some kind of an elevated horror experience. Correct, okay,
and we are. I will put our credentials up. We
are horror movie aficionado's. We love horror movies and some
of them are outstanding and excellent that are not award winning,
but our wonderful experiences to have. This was a this
we aren't from start to finish. I think I told
(07:49):
you a third or a half in the movie in
I still didn't know exactly what was happening.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And I appreciated that.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yes, And I think a lot of people didn't. They
somehow they wanted They thought it was too subtle, too obscure,
too confusing. You know, I actually wanted to read this
review by Robert Daniels in rogeriber dot com, but just
from where he started, and I did read one of
his lines towards the end of it, But he said,
I can't believe I left the house to see him.
(08:17):
I can't believe I took the train for over an
hour from the North side of Chicago to downtown to
see this movie. I can't believe I stood in line
to buy a soda and popcorn at the theater to
see him. And I especially can't believe that I sat
through the entirety of this thematically lost movie, allowed it
to live in my head on my trip back home,
(08:38):
and that I'm currently sitting on my couch writing about it.
And so he went on to say other horrible things,
but then he said, the dialogue is dreadful. The performances
are wooden, particularly Julia Fox as Isaiah's wife. And then
he refers to the young man who played Cam. He's
the lead stick stiff excuse me? He called him stiff
(08:59):
tyreek with I just couldn't disagree more because I thought
the acting was so remarkable. I thought the writing was great.
It was comedic right when I needed it to be,
needed it to be.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yes, I think, look, we are not movie critics, and
we're trying to end us. What Marlon did, he respected,
this is what you do. You critique. Now, if you
have a criticism, why does it have to be Why
did you have me waste my time on the couch? Again,
I get maybe they're trying to be snarky, maybe trying
to be funny. Is that what it is? But it
comes across as mean and unnecessary, like this is someone's art,
(09:34):
this is someone you know how hard it is to
get a movie on the big screen. Of course we do,
but this is years in the making. Everybody bust their
ass to make this special and when you do, just say,
you waste it my time getting on the train. Why
am I even breathing? Yeah, that's just it. Just see me.
I'm sorry. It maybe just it's tongue in cheek and
(09:54):
I'm not taking it the right way. But Marlon, can
we not say enough about Marlon Wayans who was so
convincing and impressive in this When we come back, folks,
we will tell you what we really think about the
performances of three of the top stars of this movie.
And all right, folks, we continue now with our difference
(10:26):
of opinion. With a lot of reviews out there for
the new movie Him, which was good enough to get
number two at the box office at thirteen or fifteen
million last.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Weeknd thirteen point five to thirteen.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Point five, a respectable number came in second at the
box office, only cost twenty seven million to make, so
not the biggest scare in the world. Looks like they
could make their money back back and do Okay, now,
this is one do you think robes because of the
attention it's gotten so much negative attention in the way
he has addressed it, This could possibly do them some good.
(10:57):
They could possibly pick up some new audience because of
how bad thing has been reviewed.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It can peque interest to see just how bad they
Someone else might think it is based on some of
these reviews, but I also think they're being compared to. Look,
a lot of folks have been writing that horror movies,
and we've talked about this, have been on a massive
hot street. They have done just gangbusters at the box office,
and we've been excited because we feel like finally people
are catching on to the genre that we love most.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
They've been huge, Sinners, Weapons, Final Destination, Conjuring big somewhere.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
They have basically been booying up a you know, a
lagging box office. And we've got more coming too, because
there's a whole bunch of new movies coming out. People
have recognized that horror movies are now.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Kind of you like.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It used to just be a niche where only a
certain type of person or a moviegoer would want to
see it, and now it seems like it's caught on
and so yes, people are looking into making big franchise
horror movies.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
And they've been doing them well.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Well, they heightened expectations. Now, yes, right, I thought this
one was in line. The way it looked, the way
it was shot, the way I mean it was a
beautiful movie at the production value at all that was
in line.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
It was remarkable.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So I don't know if maybe perhaps they're being compared
to or this movie is being compared to the ones
that came before it, and they set up these certain expectations,
not just Jordan Peel's former movies, but these other movies
we just mentioned, also coming down the Pike, One Battle
after Another, Strangers Chapter two, Black Phone two. We just
saw the trailer for that in this theater. So this
(12:38):
has been hyped up. And sometimes when people have high expectations,
the hype is so at such a certain level that
maybe unfortunately it became a victim to that as well,
what's come before it and what's coming after it, and
people just might have had unrealistic expectations of what they
thought it should be or could be.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
But are we lay people compared to professional critics who
I actually don't know what their training is. But are
we lay people and they see something or excuse me,
are they just looking through a different lens than we are.
We are simply fans. We are not trying to critique
it as we're watching. Our critique is our experience in
the theater, and our experience was a good one.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
It was a good one.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And I think for me, my critique or the way
I view it is was I entertained.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Was the acting good? Was the script good?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Was it able to make me feel things, whether it
be laughter, fear, horror, shocked, all.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
And it did all of those things and confusion.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Even sometimes because I like to be I was on
the edge of my seat, not because I was scared,
but because I was intensely watching to see what was
coming next and how this was all going to be explained.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
And that's a thriller.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Those mist thriller.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
It was a thriller with a body horror and there
was gore, So I mean it really was a thriller horror,
but probably more thriller than horror because you're trying to
figure out what is happening, what's going on.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
There is a scene when things finally turn, when he's
in a practice and there is a there are consequences
for him missing a pass right, and the consequences are
not on him, It's on somebody else that intensity. I
was like, Oh, where's this movie going?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
You saw that happened.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
I had my hand over my eyes. I did not
want to look.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I was definitely not wanting to see some of what
was happening to this poor fella who happily get to
leave volunteer whatever reason. I have no idea to be tortured,
but it was. I just thought it was never boring.
It was never so. So that's why I'm confused by
what a lot of these critics are saying. And even so,
(14:42):
they have some regular joes, you know, who write in
and I always like those actually more than the critics,
because I feel like they're kind of every man like
us going in to see these movies. So a couple
of them and this was Wow. I want to get
your take on it. Horrifying and shocking were taglines I
read about this movie. Unfortunately, there some truth to it.
This was horrifying, horrifyingly bad, and shockingly boring. Even the
(15:06):
slasher scenes were bad and uninspired. None of the scenes
were scary at all, while it is obvious that was
the intention only. The cinematography was good but did not
save the film. During the film, you keep wondering if
everything that happens is real or is just playing in
his head. And then I realized I just don't care.
(15:28):
Damn Wow, Okay, it's tough, right.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
People have their opinions, and again.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
They okay, he said this was not worthy of my time.
One of the worst movies I have seen this year.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Let's not do that.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I actually am fascinated people in such a time.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
That's person that's mean, that's emotional, almost not worth And again,
maybe I haven't read enough movie reviews and this is
how they talk sometimes and it's time you have to
be to get attention. He had to be done. I
don't know, or maybe that's how he genuinely feels. It
just seems hard.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
How about this one?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
This one I don't even get cheap visuals cheap okay, disagree?
A wandering plot I didn't think it was wandering, and
a disappointing amount of gore. Despite a promising premise with
a likable protagonist, the execution was fumbled but on bomp.
Several main plot points are carried by shaky cams and
(16:18):
strange montage shots that make very little sense. This movie
almost seemed almost afraid of leaning into the gore and
the actual scares, which for a movie about football and
inherently violent sports, seems like a poor choice, very disappointing.
From Jordan Peele, cheap visuals.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
A disappointing amount.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Meaning too much gore.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I think, oh, okay, so I took that weight. There
wasn't enough. You're saying that they think it too much.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Well, you know what, maybe the movie seemed almost afraid
of leaning into the gore.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Oh so they're saying is not gory enough?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yes, and they wanted more scares, more gore.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
But see, they sound like they went into it with
too many expectations.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I think everyone did. I think that's part of the problem.
But she visuals, I don't get that at all. I
thought it was absolutely well shot and compelling in terms
of the visuals.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And the compound they were at was more.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Music was great, The acting was great.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
You know, it's it's interesting, the original really awful. Preview
by Robert Daniels at Robert Roger Ebert dot com when
he said that Julia Fox was Wooden.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
I actually thought she was a steam seal, a scene
steeler in a lot of moments because she was playing
this over the top person.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yes, like this influencer who was married to you know,
the go to the big quarterback. And she was this,
you know, full lipped woman who played her role perfectly.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You and I after her first scene, we turned to
each other. Both leaned over immediately, just naturally to each other, like,
oh my gosh, she's awesome, right we love. I loved
the first appearance she made, like, oh my gosh, she's great.
I'm glass he's in there. And to hear somebody hated
look to Marlin's point, a critics' opinion doesn't mean it's
everybody else's. They have the right to their opinion. They
(18:09):
can write as snarky and comedically as they want, and
even if I find it mean at times, it's their
job and you have to respect what they do. Just
completely disagree, sweetheart, I am serious. I was nervous about
going in because we had already committed to say to
telling the audience, hey, we're going to do a review.
I was scared, like, oh shit, what if this is
like we actually don't like it. We are being as
(18:32):
genuine as we can be about this movie. I am
shocked at how bad the reviews are.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
We would never be mean, and I was prepared to
not like it as well and just say, hey, I
think we didn't have to say things so harshly. But yeah,
there were some major problems with this film. I didn't
I was prepared to be able to say that too.
I didn't know what to think. So again, I do
think when you go in with low expectations, I was
pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
We kept looking at each other waiting for it to
get bad.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I was like, this is good and I actually saw
you genuinely enjoy it, just from like a guy football
kind of a thing.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Oh it was again, I think that was I think
you said it before we even got out of the
theater football meets Midsummer.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Yes, that's what it felt like to me.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
It was a trippy little thing. You have more reviews
so well.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Someone else described it as I wait, what do they say?
It was Friday Night Lights meets Nosferatu, which I thought
was kind of funny too.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
I was like, that's another way to put it, and.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I like the kid Tarik Withers. Yes, we looked and
we saw we reconnize what is he from? Ware's he from?
He was the guy who played the in the recent
reimagining of I Know What You Did Last Summer. So
he was in another movie.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
It was the Ryan Felippe of the New of the
New franchise.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
It was and he I thought he was solid and
unlike his feel, his look at motion at times, his
toughen it at times, his vulnerability. He was a kid
at times, a man a time. I loved it. I
look and you know look full disclosure. We have a
special place in our heart for Marlon Wayans. We just
do best I've ever seen him in a movie.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I thought he was remarkable, as in you know, people
talked about Sinners and the acting performances in that movie.
I thought he was on par with that. That's how
good he was. And it was such a departure from
anything else I've ever seen him in. I thought he
was phenomenal. And by the way, in some of these reviews,
even though they didn't like the movie, they did point
out the acting chops of Marlon White that he was yes,
(20:22):
and several other outlets did point out variety some of
the other they were lukewarm on the movie itself. They
weren't as harsh as some of these other ones, but
they did give nods to the acting. And so when
I do see other people talk about the wooden stiffness,
I'm like, what did you see the same movie I did,
because I just thought it was We see a lot
of bad acting.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
We watch a lot.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Of silly horror movies campy, and they're not even intentionally campy.
Some of them are just campy and they were trying
to be good, and we still enjoy those.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
But I would never say that the acting is good.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
The whole point is sometimes we like to watch movies
with bad acting, but because it's just fun.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
But this acting was stellar.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Stellar, love and credit, and we commend Marlon Wayns for
what he did for being able to speak about it.
This is his art, you know. He put a lot
into this role, and he knows what's being said about
it and to just say, you know what, I respect
you won't do your thing, but it doesn't mean it's
(21:23):
everybody's opinion. Go see it, and for whatever reason, maybe
that works, sweetheart. I'm not sure if we would have
seen this movie had he not put out that Instagram.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeh.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
So kudos to Marlon Wayans.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
We've always loved him and certainly really respect his acting
capabilities from this movie. And like he said, art is subjective,
and so hey, if it gets you talking, if it
gets you feeling something, even if you're annoyed that you
saw it, Hey you felt something, you experienced something. But
if you haven't seen it and you can handle a
(21:53):
little bit of gore and you love a thriller, we
highly recommend this film.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You will not be board. That is our recommendation. But folks,
we always appreciate. Again, we didn't expect this, but uh,
movie review what it's just full and ever what are
we gonna be?
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Oh, well, definitely thumbs up.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
We're gonna thought, well, we should come up with a
grading system sometimes we should if.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
We if we do enough of these, we we could
come up with our own system. But this is definitely
a you should go see it.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
We would recommend this for sure. Folks, We always appreciate
you hanging with us and listening to us. For my
dear Amy Robot, I'm t J. Holmes. We'll see y'all soon,
and yes, go see him
Hey there, folks.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Tuesday, September the twenty third, and we just
came from a theater seeing what is described as maybe
the worst reviewed movie of the year.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Just how badly is it reviewed?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Ropes Well Him has gotten one half star out of
four from a major Roger Ebert dot com New York
Times did not like it in Indie Wire.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
Whooh, they panned it as well.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
When you say they panned it, what do you mean?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
How's this for a line in a movie review? Putrid
and hollow? Justin Tipping's brain dead football horror film, which
somehow managed to secure the backing of producer Jordan Peel,
is incomprehensibly bad.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
And we would like to tell you we fucking loved it.
And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes.
We were scratching our haggs. We were a little confused.
Some of the reviews, they can be bad. Some of
the reviews we heard for this one seemed.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Mean, Yes, hi, how about this a rock brained football
horror movie that's as subtle as being sacked by a
three hundred pound defensive lineman and somehow only half as
much fun.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Oh my goodness, that seems mean. That doesn't seem to
be a critique of the lighting, of the music, of
the acting, of the writing. That seems like they were
taking shots at this movie that has a rating on
Rotten Tomatoes.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Nine percent once in nine.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I think it's on the rise if it's twenty nine,
because I think it was lower. At one point, we
have been seeing previews robes. We go to horror movies.
The only thing we see at theater is pretty much
a horror movies, so we see previews for upcoming horror movies.
We've been seeing about this one for a while. It
was intriguing. We were curious, but it wasn't one we
plan to run out and see at theaters until we're like,
(01:59):
how was everybody hating on this movie so much?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Yeah, until the bad reviews, and then we knew we
had to see it, And the truth is it's not.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Look.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
I appreciated how different it was.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
For me. It was the best way I could describe
it was a football story meets midsummer That's what it
felt like to me. So, yes, it was bizarre and
you didn't know if what you were watching were hallucinations
or some sort of demonic presence, or if it was
maybe a fever dream from a concussion. You know, you
weren't really sure, but that was intriguing and certainly entertaining.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I laughed. I was shocked.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
There weren't the typical jump scares. It wasn't terrifying or scary.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Necessary horror thriller, kind of a cur correct.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And there was some certainly some body horror in there,
but you suffered through. You know, I hate that's not
your favorite genre.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I hate tho was the movie's substance.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I'm and there were some folks who made comparisons to it,
but saying it wasn't anywhere near as good. But there
was you know, when you've got the audio of the
sound effects that go along with just even a simple
injection can be disgusting. So they the sound effects were
definitely a lot like a horror genre, I mean horror,
a body horror genre.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Okay, And it's hard for us to say now because
we how could you go back? But there is no
way that even if we had not heard any of
the reviews, which would naturally set low expectations, dearest, if
we had seen this movie without seeing a single review,
we would have enjoyed, Yes, this movie. We wouldn't have
(03:31):
walked out complaining. We walked out. The three of us
met you and Sabine. We were arguing, like what was that?
What did that mean? We immediately started talking about it.
To me, that makes a good movie.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
That makes art because it starts you question, wait, what
did I just see?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
And what do you think that meant? And didn't you
like this? And that was weird? But what do you
think that was? That? I think is all something I
appreciate when I walk out of a movie, that you're
having a shared experience. You watched it individually, but now
you want to talk about it and discuss it and
figure out what actually happened. It was never boring, and
a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot
of critics, and a lot of folks just who every
(04:06):
day Joe's who write audience reviews for Rotten Tomatoes. A
lot of people said it was boring, boring, yes, wow,
and too long? It was only an hour and thirty six, Yes, yes,
but yes, this was I love this one. Him is
a single idea stretched out for half the length of
an NFL broadcast. Spoiler alert, half of an eternity is
still an eternity, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I found I saw why was everybody trying to be
cute in their writing. They were trying to, in some
way take advantage of a football moving a football theme
to make all these clever little cracks and be snarky.
You can do your thing and you can be a critic.
That is fine, but there was a meanness to a
lot of this stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Yes, the critics consensus, so they kind of just sum
up all of the different critiques.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
On Rotten Tomatoes said this fumbling the ball well before
the red zone.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Tim has style to spare, but botches it's promising, conceit
with rookie execution, Christ cold with puns.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Look filled with puns. Maybe people took took advantage look
and we have to give The reason I think we're
doing this is because Marlon Wayans put out a statement.
He put out something on Instagram acknowledging how bad the
reviews were. His statement I thought was classy. I think
you gave me a heads up about that he had
put something out, so I thought he was taking him
(05:22):
on in some way. I thought he was respectful and
classy in the way he addressed it.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
I think so too. He said he respects the critics.
He said their job is to critique. He respects their work.
He said it.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Shapes our industry, but an opinion does not always mean
it's everyone's opinion. Some movies are ahead of the curve.
And then he went on to say innovation is not
always embraced, and art is to be interpreted and it's subjective.
He says, I've had a career of making classic movies
that weren't critically received, and those movies went on to
be classics. So don't take anyone's opinion, just go see
(05:56):
for yourself. Love to all him in theaters, and that
is what made us want to go see the movie.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
His statement was, I was leaning towards like, how can
a movie be reviewed so poorly? And it's not just
that people say it's not good or drags, or it's
poor rioting, or can't believe how it was shot or
the acting performance. So this was just everybody took a shot.
It seemed like people were dying to take a shot. Look,
the director is one thing. What is his name again?
(06:25):
Robes the direct tipping justin tipping.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
Justin tipping, okay, But a lot of.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
What's been used to promote the movie is the name
of Jordan Peele?
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Correct?
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Jordan Peele is the seen as a hit maker, if
you will, in this genre in particular, so his name
is attached to it. I don't know what the expectation
given that Jordan Peele's name was attached. I was like, oh, okay,
this kind of this idea from some of his previous movies.
I'm like, Okay, I don't exactly know what I'm saying,
but I'm going on some kind of a trip.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I feel like he's right now, kind of the Black
and Night Shyamalan. He's had some really big hits. He's
got a very creative and people will go to see
a movie with his name on it. But there are
a lot of very high expectations associated with a name
like his, and same with Shyamalan. And I do think
that they end up being perhaps their own worst enemy
(07:13):
in the fact that people have these expectations and if
something didn't feel like their last movie or they didn't
think it was good enough, it's almost easy to take
a shot at them because they've had such success.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
And I ask, is it highbrow expectations?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Perhaps, like you have.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
To have some kind of an elevated horror experience. Correct, okay,
and we are. I will put our credentials up. We
are horror movie aficionado's. We love horror movies and some
of them are outstanding and excellent that are not award winning,
but our wonderful experiences to have. This was a this
we aren't from start to finish. I think I told
(07:49):
you a third or a half in the movie in
I still didn't know exactly what was happening.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
And I appreciated that.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yes, And I think a lot of people didn't. They
somehow they wanted They thought it was too subtle, too obscure,
too confusing. You know, I actually wanted to read this
review by Robert Daniels in rogeriber dot com, but just
from where he started, and I did read one of
his lines towards the end of it, But he said,
I can't believe I left the house to see him.
(08:17):
I can't believe I took the train for over an
hour from the North side of Chicago to downtown to
see this movie. I can't believe I stood in line
to buy a soda and popcorn at the theater to
see him. And I especially can't believe that I sat
through the entirety of this thematically lost movie, allowed it
to live in my head on my trip back home,
(08:38):
and that I'm currently sitting on my couch writing about it.
And so he went on to say other horrible things,
but then he said, the dialogue is dreadful. The performances
are wooden, particularly Julia Fox as Isaiah's wife. And then
he refers to the young man who played Cam. He's
the lead stick stiff excuse me? He called him stiff
(08:59):
tyreek with I just couldn't disagree more because I thought
the acting was so remarkable. I thought the writing was great.
It was comedic right when I needed it to be,
needed it to be.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yes, I think, look, we are not movie critics, and
we're trying to end us. What Marlon did, he respected,
this is what you do. You critique. Now, if you
have a criticism, why does it have to be Why
did you have me waste my time on the couch? Again,
I get maybe they're trying to be snarky, maybe trying
to be funny. Is that what it is? But it
comes across as mean and unnecessary, like this is someone's art,
(09:34):
this is someone you know how hard it is to
get a movie on the big screen. Of course we do,
but this is years in the making. Everybody bust their
ass to make this special and when you do, just say,
you waste it my time getting on the train. Why
am I even breathing? Yeah, that's just it. Just see me.
I'm sorry. It maybe just it's tongue in cheek and
(09:54):
I'm not taking it the right way. But Marlon, can
we not say enough about Marlon Wayans who was so
convincing and impressive in this When we come back, folks,
we will tell you what we really think about the
performances of three of the top stars of this movie.
And all right, folks, we continue now with our difference
(10:26):
of opinion. With a lot of reviews out there for
the new movie Him, which was good enough to get
number two at the box office at thirteen or fifteen
million last.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Weeknd thirteen point five to thirteen.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Point five, a respectable number came in second at the
box office, only cost twenty seven million to make, so
not the biggest scare in the world. Looks like they
could make their money back back and do Okay, now,
this is one do you think robes because of the
attention it's gotten so much negative attention in the way
he has addressed it, This could possibly do them some good.
(10:57):
They could possibly pick up some new audience because of
how bad thing has been reviewed.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It can peque interest to see just how bad they
Someone else might think it is based on some of
these reviews, but I also think they're being compared to. Look,
a lot of folks have been writing that horror movies,
and we've talked about this, have been on a massive
hot street. They have done just gangbusters at the box office,
and we've been excited because we feel like finally people
are catching on to the genre that we love most.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
They've been huge, Sinners, Weapons, Final Destination, Conjuring big somewhere.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
They have basically been booying up a you know, a
lagging box office. And we've got more coming too, because
there's a whole bunch of new movies coming out. People
have recognized that horror movies are now.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Kind of you like.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It used to just be a niche where only a
certain type of person or a moviegoer would want to
see it, and now it seems like it's caught on
and so yes, people are looking into making big franchise
horror movies.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
And they've been doing them well.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Well, they heightened expectations. Now, yes, right, I thought this
one was in line. The way it looked, the way
it was shot, the way I mean it was a
beautiful movie at the production value at all that was
in line.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
It was remarkable.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
So I don't know if maybe perhaps they're being compared
to or this movie is being compared to the ones
that came before it, and they set up these certain expectations,
not just Jordan Peel's former movies, but these other movies
we just mentioned, also coming down the Pike, One Battle
after Another, Strangers Chapter two, Black Phone two. We just
saw the trailer for that in this theater. So this
(12:38):
has been hyped up. And sometimes when people have high expectations,
the hype is so at such a certain level that
maybe unfortunately it became a victim to that as well,
what's come before it and what's coming after it, and
people just might have had unrealistic expectations of what they
thought it should be or could be.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
But are we lay people compared to professional critics who
I actually don't know what their training is. But are
we lay people and they see something or excuse me,
are they just looking through a different lens than we are.
We are simply fans. We are not trying to critique
it as we're watching. Our critique is our experience in
the theater, and our experience was a good one.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
It was a good one.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
And I think for me, my critique or the way
I view it is was I entertained.
Speaker 4 (13:23):
Was the acting good? Was the script good?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Was it able to make me feel things, whether it
be laughter, fear, horror, shocked, all.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
And it did all of those things and confusion.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Even sometimes because I like to be I was on
the edge of my seat, not because I was scared,
but because I was intensely watching to see what was
coming next and how this was all going to be explained.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
And that's a thriller.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Those mist thriller.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
It was a thriller with a body horror and there
was gore, So I mean it really was a thriller horror,
but probably more thriller than horror because you're trying to
figure out what is happening, what's going on.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
There is a scene when things finally turn, when he's
in a practice and there is a there are consequences
for him missing a pass right, and the consequences are
not on him, It's on somebody else that intensity. I
was like, Oh, where's this movie going?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (14:17):
You saw that happened.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
I had my hand over my eyes. I did not
want to look.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
I was definitely not wanting to see some of what
was happening to this poor fella who happily get to
leave volunteer whatever reason. I have no idea to be tortured,
but it was. I just thought it was never boring.
It was never so. So that's why I'm confused by
what a lot of these critics are saying. And even so,
(14:42):
they have some regular joes, you know, who write in
and I always like those actually more than the critics,
because I feel like they're kind of every man like
us going in to see these movies. So a couple
of them and this was Wow. I want to get
your take on it. Horrifying and shocking were taglines I
read about this movie. Unfortunately, there some truth to it.
This was horrifying, horrifyingly bad, and shockingly boring. Even the
(15:06):
slasher scenes were bad and uninspired. None of the scenes
were scary at all, while it is obvious that was
the intention only. The cinematography was good but did not
save the film. During the film, you keep wondering if
everything that happens is real or is just playing in
his head. And then I realized I just don't care.
(15:28):
Damn Wow, Okay, it's tough, right.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
People have their opinions, and again.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
They okay, he said this was not worthy of my time.
One of the worst movies I have seen this year.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Let's not do that.
Speaker 4 (15:39):
I actually am fascinated people in such a time.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
That's person that's mean, that's emotional, almost not worth And again,
maybe I haven't read enough movie reviews and this is
how they talk sometimes and it's time you have to
be to get attention. He had to be done. I
don't know, or maybe that's how he genuinely feels. It
just seems hard.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
How about this one?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
This one I don't even get cheap visuals cheap okay, disagree?
A wandering plot I didn't think it was wandering, and
a disappointing amount of gore. Despite a promising premise with
a likable protagonist, the execution was fumbled but on bomp.
Several main plot points are carried by shaky cams and
(16:18):
strange montage shots that make very little sense. This movie
almost seemed almost afraid of leaning into the gore and
the actual scares, which for a movie about football and
inherently violent sports, seems like a poor choice, very disappointing.
From Jordan Peele, cheap visuals.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
A disappointing amount.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Meaning too much gore.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
I think, oh, okay, so I took that weight. There
wasn't enough. You're saying that they think it too much.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Well, you know what, maybe the movie seemed almost afraid
of leaning into the gore.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Oh so they're saying is not gory enough?
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Yes, and they wanted more scares, more gore.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
But see, they sound like they went into it with
too many expectations.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I think everyone did. I think that's part of the problem.
But she visuals, I don't get that at all. I
thought it was absolutely well shot and compelling in terms
of the visuals.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And the compound they were at was more.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Music was great, The acting was great.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
You know, it's it's interesting, the original really awful. Preview
by Robert Daniels at Robert Roger Ebert dot com when
he said that Julia Fox was Wooden.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
I actually thought she was a steam seal, a scene
steeler in a lot of moments because she was playing
this over the top person.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yes, like this influencer who was married to you know,
the go to the big quarterback. And she was this,
you know, full lipped woman who played her role perfectly.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
You and I after her first scene, we turned to
each other. Both leaned over immediately, just naturally to each other, like,
oh my gosh, she's awesome, right we love. I loved
the first appearance she made, like, oh my gosh, she's great.
I'm glass he's in there. And to hear somebody hated
look to Marlin's point, a critics' opinion doesn't mean it's
everybody else's. They have the right to their opinion. They
(18:09):
can write as snarky and comedically as they want, and
even if I find it mean at times, it's their
job and you have to respect what they do. Just
completely disagree, sweetheart, I am serious. I was nervous about
going in because we had already committed to say to
telling the audience, hey, we're going to do a review.
I was scared, like, oh shit, what if this is
like we actually don't like it. We are being as
(18:32):
genuine as we can be about this movie. I am
shocked at how bad the reviews are.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
We would never be mean, and I was prepared to
not like it as well and just say, hey, I
think we didn't have to say things so harshly. But yeah,
there were some major problems with this film. I didn't
I was prepared to be able to say that too.
I didn't know what to think. So again, I do
think when you go in with low expectations, I was
pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
We kept looking at each other waiting for it to
get bad.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I was like, this is good and I actually saw
you genuinely enjoy it, just from like a guy football
kind of a thing.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Oh it was again, I think that was I think
you said it before we even got out of the
theater football meets Midsummer.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Yes, that's what it felt like to me.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
It was a trippy little thing. You have more reviews
so well.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Someone else described it as I wait, what do they say?
It was Friday Night Lights meets Nosferatu, which I thought
was kind of funny too.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
I was like, that's another way to put it, and.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
I like the kid Tarik Withers. Yes, we looked and
we saw we reconnize what is he from? Ware's he from?
He was the guy who played the in the recent
reimagining of I Know What You Did Last Summer. So
he was in another movie.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
It was the Ryan Felippe of the New of the
New franchise.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
It was and he I thought he was solid and
unlike his feel, his look at motion at times, his
toughen it at times, his vulnerability. He was a kid
at times, a man a time. I loved it. I
look and you know look full disclosure. We have a
special place in our heart for Marlon Wayans. We just
do best I've ever seen him in a movie.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
I thought he was remarkable, as in you know, people
talked about Sinners and the acting performances in that movie.
I thought he was on par with that. That's how
good he was. And it was such a departure from
anything else I've ever seen him in. I thought he
was phenomenal. And by the way, in some of these reviews,
even though they didn't like the movie, they did point
out the acting chops of Marlon White that he was yes,
(20:22):
and several other outlets did point out variety some of
the other they were lukewarm on the movie itself. They
weren't as harsh as some of these other ones, but
they did give nods to the acting. And so when
I do see other people talk about the wooden stiffness,
I'm like, what did you see the same movie I did,
because I just thought it was We see a lot
of bad acting.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
We watch a lot.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Of silly horror movies campy, and they're not even intentionally campy.
Some of them are just campy and they were trying
to be good, and we still enjoy those.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
But I would never say that the acting is good.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
The whole point is sometimes we like to watch movies
with bad acting, but because it's just fun.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
But this acting was stellar.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Stellar, love and credit, and we commend Marlon Wayns for
what he did for being able to speak about it.
This is his art, you know. He put a lot
into this role, and he knows what's being said about
it and to just say, you know what, I respect
you won't do your thing, but it doesn't mean it's
(21:23):
everybody's opinion. Go see it, and for whatever reason, maybe
that works, sweetheart. I'm not sure if we would have
seen this movie had he not put out that Instagram.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Yeh.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
So kudos to Marlon Wayans.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
We've always loved him and certainly really respect his acting
capabilities from this movie. And like he said, art is subjective,
and so hey, if it gets you talking, if it
gets you feeling something, even if you're annoyed that you
saw it, Hey you felt something, you experienced something. But
if you haven't seen it and you can handle a
(21:53):
little bit of gore and you love a thriller, we
highly recommend this film.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You will not be board. That is our recommendation. But folks,
we always appreciate. Again, we didn't expect this, but uh,
movie review what it's just full and ever what are
we gonna be?
Speaker 4 (22:11):
Oh, well, definitely thumbs up.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
We're gonna thought, well, we should come up with a
grading system sometimes we should if.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
We if we do enough of these, we we could
come up with our own system. But this is definitely
a you should go see it.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
We would recommend this for sure. Folks, We always appreciate
you hanging with us and listening to us. For my
dear Amy Robot, I'm t J. Holmes. We'll see y'all soon,
and yes, go see him
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