Mike talks to Zach Cregger, the director of Weapons. Zach talks about what it’s like to have a No. 1 movie, what celebrity he hopes watches his film and why comedians are good at horror. Zach and Mike also get into a debate about punk rock. Mike then shares his Top 5 Directors of the 2020s so far. In the Movie Review, Mike talks about Him starring Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers. It’s about a rising quarterback who suffers a potentially career-ending injury after being attacked by an unhinged fan. Just when all seems lost, he receives a lifeline when his football hero offers to train him at an isolated compound. Mike talks about why he felt bamboozled, how it lacked a plot and why even though he didn’t fully love it that it could quite possibly be ahead of its time. In the Trailer Park, Mike talks about Sydney Sweeney stepping into the ring as boxing legend Christy Martin. She never imagined life beyond her small-town roots in West Virginia until she discovered a knack for punching people. Mike shares Sydney Sweeney’s dedication to her character, the red flags from the trailer and what is the downfall of sports biopics.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike. Today I am talking to
Weapons director Zach Kreiger, my favorite horror movie of the year.
I don't think I've ever done as much research going
into an interview before. Before I even knew this was happening,
I almost maybe kind of manifested this a little bit.
I started just doing research on this guy because I
(00:21):
am so fascinated on how he approaches film and now
joining the podcast today Zach Kreiger. In the movie review,
I'll be talking about the movie Everybody Thinks is directed
by Jordan Peele, but it's only produced by Jordan Peele him.
It's a horror movie about football starring Marlon Wayans. And
in the trailer park, we'll talk about why Sidney Sweeney
(00:41):
just looks a little bit off in the Christy trailer.
Thank you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed.
Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now
let's talk movies from the.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Nushville podcast Network. This is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Zach Cregor is a writer, director, and act They're best
known as one of the founding members of this comedy
troupe called The Whitest Kids You Know. It was also
a TV show that was on the air from two
thousand and seven to twenty eleven. At that time, I
was in high school and everybody was quoting The Whitest
Kids You Know sketches. He directed fifty three of those
fifty seven episodes during that period. He also starred in
(01:19):
the tbsitcom Wrecked for the entire three season run from
twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen, and he made his directorial
debut with the horror movie Barbarian in twenty twenty two.
This year, I put Zach Kreiger on my list of
directors that I'm gonna watch every single movie they put
out because I was so moved by Weapons. It's about
seventeen kids who all wander outside their homes in the
(01:42):
middle of the night and no one knows where they went,
and no one knows why. Weapons is now available on
digital and it'll be on four K Ultra HD on
October fourteenth. And now let's talk to Zach Craiger. What
is it like when you wake up and realize you
have the number one movie in the country. What is
that feeling like?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It is surreal. It doesn't.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
It doesn't feel like I think maybe somebody might expect
it to feel, because it's you're still in your bed
and your skin in your room, and it's you know,
there's no there's no news, pixie dust sprinkled in the air.
You know. It's you can look at your phone and
kind of reinforce that that's happening, and then you put
your phone in your pocket and you're still just in
your house. So it's it's a weird thing, you know.
(02:25):
It's I'm happy. Don't get me wrong, I don't. I
don't mean to be, you know, poo pooing anything, but uh,
you're still you, so.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So yeah, I think I understand that because I in
my life, I've lost one hundred pounds and I was
really proud of myself when I was really proud of
myself when I did that, and I thought once I
did all the work and lost the weight that I
would be suddenly happier. And then I woke up one
day and I realized I did it. I don't know
if I feel any happier. Is it kind of that
same way where you're like, I thought this was going
(02:57):
to solve all my problems. This is what I wanted
to do a chie as a filmmaker, and now that
I have it, it's like, okay, cool, this is it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Okay, Well I think there, I think maybe, But but
I think there's something deeper under the surface that that
we have in common.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Right now, you did.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Something really hard and and and you are reaping the
benefits of that because you probably have more energy, and
you probably probably have some self esteem rise from that,
right And I think that So even though my moment
to moment is largely similar than as it was before,
I do have like there is a sense of accomplishment
(03:30):
that I think kind of is an underlying vibe that
that I can I can recognize as being as being different.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Do you feel that. I know when I got sober, I.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Felt that way, you know, I felt like, oh, like
things still bother me, but like I have this like
cushion of self esteem that I've never had before, and
I only got that after I got sober.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So maybe maybe we have that and yeah, here isn't it.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, feeling the self esteem is a big part of it.
I guess I just thought that once I lost all
the way, that's only all my problems would fix and
I'd find a girlfriend and I'd be like, Okay, now
I get the job.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You would like come storming into your living room and
like somebody would just give you a raise exactly. Oh yeah,
the world doesn't work out.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And I think with you in the creative field, that
you're always kind of chasing that thing, and then sometimes
when you have you're like, oh man, was this really
what I wanted the whole time?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, that I don't know, because I think I've wanted
to be a filmmaker since I was like six, and
so so I you know, there's always maybe a fear
that you're going to be like the dog that catches
the mail truck and like, you know, is it gonna
monkeys pop?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And by the way, maybe it will. I don't know it.
You know, this is all very new, so I could
I could be singing a different song in two years.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But but right now, you know, I'm I'm in Prague
and I'm making a new movie, and you know, my
wife and I are good, and I'm I'm I'm doing okay,
So I'm I'm all right.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So I'm a huge fan of post Malone. I had
the chance to meet him. I posted a picture of
him in my Instagram story, and later I saw that
he watched my Instagram story. I like, that's cool, post
Malone watch my Instagram So that was almost cool then
meeting them in some weird way because I don't know.
I think we're all just like fascinated with social media
and who watches our stuff?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
For you?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
As a filmmaker, do you ever during the process of
making a movie, think, man, I wonder who the most
famous person is going to be that has watched my movie?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
No, who would that be?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
For you? Though, Like, oh, man, I really wish they
would watch my movie. Like I've loved this person maybe
since I was a kid. I'm a huge fan of
them now, like if this person watches Zach Kraiger movie,
I mean, I.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Don't know, Brad Pitt, I've always been a giant fan.
Would that would be pretty cool? You know, there's so
many people you admire and I could give you a
hundred names right now. That would blow my mind if
they saw the movie.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
It's funny, like to the idea of being on set
and being like, all right, I'm sitting up a shot
and one.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Day person Barack Obama watch this.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
And I'm really good to impress him with this one.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I do not think that way for Barbarian.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You said you learned to prep the shoot and shoot
the prep. What did you learn from Weapons?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Great question. I think I learned to and I'm still
learning it. I learned I need to learn to just
like relax a little bit more. Everybody I'm surrounded by
is really good at what they do. The movie's not
gonna collapse. You know, we're gonna get it. You know,
here's what I learned. My cinematographer said during prep, you know,
(06:22):
we're not playing a win lose game here.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We only win. And I was like, are you allowed
to think that way? Do you think that way? Could
I think that way?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
And like, yeah, that's the attitude, man, Like I don't
need to freak out that if I forget to say
something in prep, suddenly everything's gonna burn to the ground
and production and the movie will be broken. Like, no,
the movie's gonna win, you know, because it's a good
idea and I have talented people and it's gonna it's
We're gonna get everything we need to get. And I
think when I was making Weapons, I had this fear
(06:53):
that that wasn't true, but I think that is I'm
allowed to like live in that mindset now.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I think one of the most surprising things that I
wasn't expecting when watching the movie and even rewatching the
movie were the moments of comedy where it was kind
of unexpected. It was maybe Josh Brolin saying line like
what the hell? Like what theF for? What's going on here?
And there was just these moments I kind of popped
in the theater where I was like, Oh, if you
cut this movie differently, do you think it could be
a comedy.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Oh, I wonder. I don't know, but I'd love to
see someone try.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Why is it that people who have maybe roots in
comedy like you kind of translate to horror so well,
like a Jordan Peele. I'd even put like a John
Krazinski in there, going from having this background in sketch
comedy where people know them for that and now suddenly
have such success in horror. Why do you think that is?
How do those two genres kind of have some similarities?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Because I think you have to have an ear for timing,
and I think you have to be good at surprise.
I think every joke is a surprise. Every single one,
every joke, everything you've ever laughed at, follows a recipe
in a formula, like an algebraic formula. That formula is this,
an action with an expected outcome yields an unexpected outcome. Okay,
(08:05):
So it's basically just saying, you do this, you think
you're gonna get that, and you get a surprise. And
I promise you there's not one thing you've ever laughed
at in your life that doesn't sort of follow that.
And and and try me if you ever see me
on the street and you think you have one that
doesn't follow that for me, come up to me and
tell me, and I bet I can, I bet I
can beat you.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Because it just does.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And and and so that someone who's kind of good
at that surprise, that like anti rhythm or that that
little like pop, is probably going to be good at
scaring you, because scares are follow the same anatomy, you know,
where it's like you're subverting in expectation. And I'm not
sure if it's the exact same, but it's very similar.
(08:48):
So it's the same muscle group, is what I'm trying
to say. It's it's like a it's like you're good
at the same instrument. Maybe is the way I think
about it. That was a really mouthful bullshit.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
To describe it a simple question.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
But yeah, one of my favorite things about you is
that you were in a punk band back in the
day where you said you would just basically get on
the floor and just scream until they totally had to stop.
But you grew up in the DC punk scene, which
I'm a huge fan of punk rock. If you had
to create a Mount Rushmore of punk artists, who would
be on that Mount Rushmore? Your top four?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Okay, I'd go Bad Brains first and foremost perfect for DC. Yeah,
I would go Fugazi Probably, I would put you know.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
What a great question, dude, I might have to say
the Misfits.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Oh love it, huge Misfits, early.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Misfits when Danzig was in the band.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I don't even consider them the Misfits After Danzig lev
It's like it's just dancing.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, yeah, and then like, I don't know, I mean,
oh god, that's so hard.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
That's such a hard one.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Fourth one and what do you got there?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Maybe maybe Dead Kennedy's I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I feel like that is a classic punk rock list.
Right there, that is to know.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But those are all like obvious. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I could get like really like narrow a niche and
say like born against and his zero is gone and
and like keep going down that path.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But melt rushmore is the people who are gonna be
remembered forever. You gotta have dantic space up there, right,
The Crimson ghosts up there is that kind of I
would probably put. When I got into punk rock was
late nineties, early two thousands, so I'd put Rancid, No Effects,
Blink one eighty two, and Green Day.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
These are all pop punk bands, Dude, you don't consider
those punk bands too.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Green All every band you just named is like pop punk.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Okay, so I'll go punk rock. Then I would go Ramones,
Can I Can I take the Ramones? Yeah? Of course yeah,
I'd go See then I do feel basic kind of
like you did, because I'd go Ramones, Clash Misfits and
prop Rants. Would you consider rancid pop punk.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Not as pop punk? Is like Blink one eighty two?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Wow, you consider rancid pop punk that is not as
the other your commercial taste of music? Okay, that's probably
got black flag though.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I mean, Ivy was like that was like the band
that was my gateway drug, you know, and that's basically
you know, that's rancid practically, so.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So I get you.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I'm not, by the way, I'm not giving any shade
bands at all. I'm just saying like they were all
very similar. They're all kind of living in that same
kind of kind of like you know, time and space,
you know, no effect screen day and you know so
that that dude, No, no, no problems here.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
But I'm just saying, like.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
You made me feel so basic, now, Zach, that's not
what I meant with you.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, I really appreciate it's been awesome to get to
talk to you. You are one of my favorite directors,
so this is an honor.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Thanks Mike. It's really fun to talk to you too.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Don't hold that against me that I asked you.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
All right, Thanks man. All right, buddy, that was quite
possibly one of the funniest interviews I've done on this podcast.
If you enjoyed that, I'm gonna post some clips over
on socials on TikTok and Facebook and YouTube shorts and Instagram.
And sometimes I feel like I don't know what to say.
When I see some of my favorite creator posting things,
I'm like, that's a really cool clip. I want to
do more than just like it, but I don't know
(12:04):
what to comment. I'm gonna make it easy for you.
Just drop some hot dog emojis into the comments. If
you've seen Weapons, you know what the hot dog is
referring to. If you don't, not really a spoiler. It's
just a very small detail that Zach Kreiger worked in
there as an homage to actually his friend that passed away,
one of the cast members from The Whitest Kids. You know,
he died, I believe in twenty twenty one, and Weapons
(12:27):
was a way of Zach coping with his grief. And
I rewatched Weapons before the interview, and I really started
to see that in the movie. I saw not a
horror story of a bunch of people in a town
trying to figure out what happened to these kids. I
saw somebody trying to deal with the fact that they
lost one of their best friends, and how that comes
(12:47):
out in every single character in Weapons and all the
parts of Zach's story that suddenly this movie made so
much more sense to me, so drop a hot dog
emoji in the comments. If you've seen it, you know
what I'm talking about. If not, go watch Weapons. But
let's get into what I believe to be my top
five directors of the twenty twenties so far. I consider
the movies that are also not yet released yet, so
(13:09):
it's the movies that have come out so far in
the twenty twenties. At number five, I have Selene's Song,
who made her directorial debut with Past Lives in twenty
twenty three, easily one of the best directorial debuts of
the decades so far, earneder an Oscar nomination. I think
Past Lives should have won for Best Picture, but she
followed it up this year with Materialists. In just two movies,
(13:32):
I feel like she has already established who she is
as a storyteller with movies rooted in emotion, where Past
Lives is so much more a type of movie that
makes you want to cry, that just hits you in
all these emotional pockets in your body, and as somebody
who has a hard time accessing those, a Selene Song
(13:52):
movie is going to get those emotions out of me.
Past Lives in particular, and then this year with Materialists.
It was a little bit less emotional, well leaned in
more to the rom com so not really going to
hit you in the fields like Past Lives did. But
I really love that Selene started to expand on her
visual palette and Materialists, which really elevated and drew me
into that movie more so. I think Selene's song is
(14:14):
a force to be reckoned with when it comes to romance,
whether they're dramas, whether their dramas, whether they have more
of the comedic elements. She is going to be a
director to watch if you love that genre of movies.
At number four, our guest of the episode who worked
his way into my top five, and it would have
been even if he wasn't on the podcast today, because
that's how much I loved Weapons. And I even admitted
(14:37):
to you guys that I wasn't the biggest fan of
Barbarian when it came out, but I respected the integrity
of the movie and I respected the vision more so
than how entertaining I found it. It is still, I believe,
one of the most noteworthy horror movies of the decade,
and with Weapons he entered into that. Okay, this is
somebody who knows what they are doing and have a
(15:00):
very unique way of capturing the attention of people. And then,
like you mentioned in the interview, he is also out
filming his movie right now. He's working on the new
reboot of Resident Evil, coming out in theaters next year
on September eighteenth. So dude is so in demand right now.
Anything he touches people want to be a part of.
And that has to be such a special part of
(15:21):
a director's life when they are the hottest thing, when
everybody wants to work with him. And I love how
I was able to get out of him that he
hopes that Brad Pitt has seen one of his movies.
And I'm pretty sure I saw Brad Pitt talking about
weapons with Josh Brolin, so I'm pretty sure Brad Pitt
has seen it. But not only that, I feel that
Brad Pitt would want to work with Zach Creiger. Could
(15:41):
you imagine a horror movie with Brad Pitt if that happens.
I'm going to credit this podcast because we put it
onto the universe. But because of that, Zach Kreiger has
cracked my top five of twenty twenties directors so far
at number three. I'm going with Your Ghost Lantimos. So
far in twenty twenty, he has put out Poor Things,
Minds The Kindness and has Bougonia coming out in November.
(16:04):
His movies are really weird and not for everybody. It's
the type of movie that I grew up loving, but
my parents would never in a million years let me watch,
And even now as an adult, I think I'd rather
walk backwards through a cactus field naked than watching Yorrugo's
Lundmo's movie with my mom or my dad. Speaking of
Naked is because it just has a lot of naked people,
(16:27):
and not even doing normal naked people things, just very
out of the box nudity that has you wondering what
exactly goes on in his mind. But I love a
director who is so weird and one that almost becomes
a genre in themselves. I feel like he is that
for me now. Probably in the two thousands and twenty
(16:48):
tens it was Wes Anderson, who is an honorable mention
on this list, but now I feel because of the actors,
he goes back to his trademark people, his muses, his
Emma Stones. Before that it was Colin Farwell. He has
a tendency to get a fixation on an actor and
do two to three movies with him before he moves on.
So I feel like he is the biggest nerd, and
(17:08):
as a big nerd, I can respect that, and I
can't wait for him to make more new, weird movies.
That's why I'm so excited for Bagonia later this year.
But at number three is the Greek filmmaker, your Gooslantimos.
At number two, I have Christopher Nolan. Now, he started
out the decade kind of on a downpoint because Tenant
was one of the most confusing movies I had ever seen.
(17:30):
I remember when I watched Tenant again in twenty twenty
we were still watching movies at home, which was cool
for a minute. I had to restart that movie so
many times because I thought, what am I missing here,
And after watching it all the way through for the
first time, I was still confused. And I feel like
that was such a big creative risk for him. I
(17:50):
don't think that movie is inherently bad. I just think
we still don't get it yet five years after. And
I felt the same way about his movie Interstellar, where
everybody was raving about that movie. It was so highly praised.
It took years of me going back to that movie
and rewatching it to fully understand what he accomplished there
by creating one of the best sci fi movies of
(18:11):
all time. So maybe in another ten years I'm gonna
look back and watch ten and think, man, we totally
got this movie wrong. But he also put out Oppenheimer
in twenty twenty three, which he won the Oscar for
Best Director. He has The Odyssey coming out next year
in twenty twenty six. It is the first movie ever
filmed entirely on Imax. That's gonna be big, that's gonna
(18:34):
be bold, that's gonna be beautiful. It has Matt Damon,
Tom Holland and Hathaway's Zenda. That is gonna be an event.
And he is also the only director I can imagine
to make The Odyssey an event, because if anybody else
tackled that movie, or if anybody else tackled Oppenheimer, I
don't think it would have the same impact because I
think the source material on its own isn't that sexy.
(18:57):
I wouldn't look at anybody else making an Odyssey movie
and think that is a mussy thing. That is a
movie that I'm gonna buy tickets a year out, which
some people did. Tickets went on sale this summer and
they sold out. It's like maybe one screening, but that
creates a story that is something that only Christopher Nolan
can do. So that is why I have Christopher Nolan
at number two. At number one, this was an easy
(19:18):
number one. It is James gunn So far in the
twenty twenties, he has put out The Suicide Squad, which
is the quintessential DC anti hero movie. He made everything
right that was wrong with the original Suicide Squad. I
rewatched it recently whenever Kelsey and I went to New
York for our vacation this summer. Oh, it's a great
(19:40):
hotel movie, and I was reminded of just how much
I loved all the characters inside of The Suicide Squad.
They're still kind of back and forth on whether or
not Margot Robbie is going to return as Harley Quinn,
But after rewatching that movie, I'm like, how can you
not include her? With everything going on now with Superman,
(20:01):
where we're going with Supergirl, with Batman having his own elseworlds,
with what Matt Reeves is doing, I just want all
of these things to intersect at one point. Could you
imagine a movie now where you have Margot Robbie John
Cena as Peacemaker, David Kornswitt as Superman, Robert Pattinson as
the Batman. He also put out Guardians of the Galaxy
(20:22):
Volume three and twenty twenty three, closing out one of
the best trilogies ever of all time in the MCU
come On. But also this year he put out Superman,
which is now available on HBO Max. I need to
go watch that immediately because I really wanted to go
see it for the second time in theaters, but it
was such a busy summer that I was not able
(20:44):
to go see anything for a second time except for
Leilo and Stitch. I had to see Lelo and Stitch
in theaters twice, which is also on Disney Plus now,
so I can go relive my summer watch Lelo and
Stitch on Disney and then go over to HBO Max
and rewatch Superman, which he also why I included him
at number one is Man of Tomorrow. The follow up
to that movie is coming out on July ninth, twenty
(21:07):
twenty seven. Only two years in between those two which
I have to imagine it could shift a little bit,
but I almost feel like Superman now belongs in July,
so hopefully that release date stays on track. My honorable
mentions Wes Anderson, who this decade has put out The
French Dispatch, Asteroid City, and the Phoenetian Scheme. I think
(21:28):
because of how little I enjoyed the French Dispatch kept
me from putting him in my top five. Also have
Emerald Fendle, who put out Promising Young Woman in twenty twenty.
That is quite possibly one of the top ten movies
of the decade that doesn't get talked about enough. I
feel like anything that came out in twenty twenty kind
of goes under the radar because it was such a
weird time for movies. But she followed that up with
(21:50):
Saltburn in twenty twenty three. That was the movie that
got everybody talking a couple of years ago. She has
such a bold and risky style that I love it.
She also has a movie coming out year with Margot
Robbie and Jacob Elordi called Wuthering Heights. It is based
on a classic novel. I saw the trailer for that,
and Boyd does it look steamy? You kidding me? Margot
Robbie and Jacob Elordi together. I also have directors who
(22:12):
so far have only put out one movie in the
twenty twenties. Jordan Peel has only put out Nope in
twenty twenty two. I also have the co directing team
the Daniels, who basically broke the oscars with their movie
Everything Everywhere, All at Once. I would say the most
innovative storytellers of the twenty twenties Greta Gerwig, but so
far she's only put out Barbie, which was a massive movie.
(22:35):
I just need some more to get her into the
top five. Paul Thomas Anderson so far has only put
out Licorice Pizza, but he does have one Battle after
another coming out at the end of the month. James
Cameron has also put out Avatar two and has another
one coming out later this year. Martin Scorsese has only
done Killers of the Flower Moon. Quentin Tarantino has put
out zero movies in the twenty twenties, but quite possibly
(22:58):
he's the only director I know that could make to
list with just one movie. And finally, I have Matt Reeves,
who I mentioned earlier who put out The Batman this
decade and should have The Batman coming out soon. Some
details did come out last week. Filming starts in April
twenty twenty six, which that sucks because this movie was
supposed to come out this year in twenty twenty five,
(23:18):
and they're not starting filming until next April. Other details
about the movie include Bruce Wayne is finding it very
hard to be Batman, which I don't know if that's
saying a whole lot. I imagine it's really hard for
anybody to be Batman, but apparently it takes Batman in
a direction never done before. I pray to all that
is holy that it is not a musical do not
(23:39):
go the Joker two route. But it's being described as
another murder mystery, digging deeper into the corruption, which is
really what The Batman did so well. Penguin will appear
in five to six scenes. Sophia Falcone will not appear
in this movie, but Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson said
that it will top the first film is saying a
(24:00):
lot because I loved the Penguin in the first one,
as the Villain and the Riddler paired together was so good.
I would love to see Matt Reeves interpretation of mister Freeze,
because the only version we have in the movies is
the very comical Arnold Schwarzenegger version. But if you could
bring some realism to that character, I think that would
be the perfect addition in this world. Because we have
(24:23):
enough jokers, even though they introduced them at the end
of The Batman. We've seen two Face, We've seen Baine.
Give me a dark and gritty mister Freeze. All right,
I'll come back and I'll give my spoiler free review
of him. Let's get into it now, a spoiler free
movie review of him. This movie was not what I
(24:45):
was expecting. I think I had too high expectation going
into it. The movie was really leaning into the fact
that it was produced by Jordan Peel, so much so
that his name was bigger on the poster than the
actual director of the movie and tipping, so I think
they were trying to trick us a little bit. Why
were they trying to do that? Was it because they
(25:05):
felt that the movie wasn't good enough to succeed on
its own, that they had to use the Monkey Pop
production's power of Jordan Peele to really sell this movie
or were they trying to trick us? Because I think
if you just saw the trailer, you saw the poster,
you saw the overall aesthetic of this movie going into it,
you would think, oh, this is just a new Jordan
Peele movie, but he is only a producer. What this
(25:26):
movie is about. You have a kid named Cameron Kaid
who is on his way to be the next Goat.
Has wanted to be QB one since he was a kid.
His father just instilled it to him. Starts out really
weird at the beginning of him watching his favorite player,
Isaiah White played by Marlon Wayans, go through a traumatic
injury early on in his career, but then go on
to win several rings, probably too many rings to be believable,
(25:51):
but that's what he wants to do. He wants to
achieve that. And the entire message of this movie, the
tagline is how much are you willing to sacrifice to
be the best? Your family, your friends, your girlfriend? What
are you willing to put on the line. So, right
before the combine gets hit by a fan big brain injury,
doesn't know if he's going to be able to perform
(26:11):
or if any team is going to want him right then,
his hero Isaiah White calls him, tells him to come
out to his compound lives basically in the middle of
nowhere in the desert in New Mexico, to come train
with him, and that's where things start to get weird.
The issue I had with him is it got too
weird too quickly. And there is this subgenre of movies
that has become really popular right now of people finding
(26:34):
themselves in situations that start to feel like a cult.
Not a new thing. It's been happening in movies and
TV shows for a while now, but I feel like
a lot of things recently have really leaned into this
where you go to some big, fancy place, whether it's
a resort or somebody's house, and it starts out seemingly
normal enough, and then all these weird, little cult like
things start happening and you start questioning the person who
(26:55):
invited you there. They're very weird and secretive. I've just
seen this theme a lot recently, and maybe I'm just
getting a little bit tired of it. But the difference
with him is it went from zero to one hundred
really quickly and didn't lean into the weirdness. Therefore, when
it started getting weird. I didn't really know where this
movie take place. Is it reality, is it some weird
(27:18):
distant side world where things don't really matter? It almost
felt too fantasy like, And I know this movie is
trying to say a lot. There are a lot of
overarching messages about young athletes getting thrown into the spotlight
too quickly, having to sacrifice their bodies, us as fans
being too critical of them. And then you have the
powers that be who really run the organization, who are
(27:41):
putting these people into situations where they have to give
up their entire life, give up their body, basically selling
it away for billions of dollars in fame in exchange
for that? Is it worth it? Are you still willing
to give up everything in your life to achieve that?
And I think that is what him was trying to say,
but it never really got there. It focused a lot
on the bizarre training tactics, which Cameron never really understood
(28:05):
why they were happening, and then never questioned it. And
I think that really led to me not really understanding
who Cameron was as a character. You saw a little
glimpse of him as a kid, but you never really
understood what was driving him, and I think that is
the problem I had. And then Marlon Wayans, who I
thought gave a pretty good performance, maybe a little bit
too over the top at times, but without that, there
(28:27):
wouldn't have been much to lean into. Because him Julia Fox,
I think were the best parts of this movie. I
think overall the movie just felt a little bit too
one dimensional, and it sacrificed style over substance. And I
know not every movie has to have a plot to
be a good movie. I think sometimes as people who
talk about movies and overanalyze movies, we get too fixated.
(28:49):
And all of this didn't go anywhere, and this didn't
lead to anything. Sometimes I think a movie doesn't have
to have a plot if it has a vibe. And Him,
for sure lead more into having a vibe, having an
aesthetic more so than the plot, because really that was it.
He went to go training with them, weird stuff happened,
and then you find out whether or not he makes
it into a fictionalized version of the NFL. While I
(29:12):
did find the movie entertaining for the most part, I
think what really helped it also was the fact that
it was only ninety minutes. I just think that all
the performances were a little bit too over the top,
justin tipping never really just brought it all together and
really brought it home. I think if it would have
had a stronger third act, this could have not only
been a decent movie, but maybe even a good, maybe
(29:32):
even a great movie. I think quite possibly for all
the people dragging this movie now, I think him could
just be a little bit too ahead of its time,
because I did see Marlon Wayan's post on Instagram saying, hey,
I know we have to have critics. I respect you,
but every single movie I've put out in my life
(29:53):
has been drug through the mud, has been said that
it's bad. A lot of his movies have really low
critics scores and oftentimes pretty good audience scores. And Marlon
Wains has been a part of movies in his life
like White Chicks Don't Be a Menace, the Scary Movie
Franchise that when those movies came out, every critic said
(30:13):
the same thing of how awful they were. But if
you look at some of those movies that he is in,
they are some of the pillars of the two thousands
that have a fan base but just don't have the
critics on their side. I think that could be him.
I do think there is an audience for him. It's
probably younger, maybe teenagers who are in sports in high
(30:34):
school now could watch him and think, man, that is
such an awesome movie, and in ten years when they
are doing a podcast like this, they're going to talk
about him. From twenty twenty five was one of the
best movies of the twenty twenties, so it could quite
possibly be ahead of the curve and go on to
be a classic. But I think for me right now,
it over promised and underdelivered. It started to feel a
(30:55):
little bit like a bait and switch situation, like we
were supposed to get to Jordan Peele move and instead
we got some off bran cheerios. So overall, for him,
I give it three out of five footballs.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
It's time to head down to movie. Mike Trey Lar Paul.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I love it when actors go all in. I told
you guys, whenever Emma Stone shaved her head for the
new Yorgos Lantinos movie, I'm like, that is what I'm
all about. Sidney Sweeney, she went all out to portray
Christy Martin in this upcoming movie called, well, Christy, She's
a boxing legend, intense prep, put her body through the wringer.
(31:38):
She had a weight trainer, she had a boxing trainer.
Said she ate a lot of smuckers, a lot of
BBAJ sandwiches, milkshakes and was consistently eating. But as consistently
as she was eating, she was also burning it off
at the exact same time. Christy is coming out in
theaters on November seventh. Now, knowing all the things that
Sidney Sweeney went through to portray Christy in the most
(32:00):
accurate way, I am surprised this movie doesn't look as
good as I was expecting it too, And that's a
bit of a letdown because I also like Ben Foster,
who plays her husband in this movie, which I think
some people have a little bit of a problem with
this style of acting that I want to get into.
But that is what this movie is about. It is
a biopic Sidney Sweeney as Christy Martin and Ben Foster
(32:21):
as her trainer slash manager. It follows her story as
she enters the world of boxing, driven by her grit
and determination to succeed in the sport and overcome the
personal battle she faces outside the ring. As I read
that plot, as every boxing movie kind of reminds me
of another boxing movie. I was excited for a couple
of years ago Big George Foreman, and that felt like
(32:43):
a lifetime movie. But I think there could be some
good in here. I'm still holding out hope. Oh, but
there's also some red flags.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
In the trailer.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I'm still holding on to hope that in the end
this will be at least a good movie. Maybe not
a great movie like I was expecting, but it could
still be a good movie. Because sports drama, it's probably
gonna fall right in the middle. But before I get
into more, here's just a little bit of the Christy trailer.
There's no Christy Martin without me. I need help, Mama.
(33:15):
He's angry at me all the time. Oh, Christie deep
sound crazy. At the beginning of the trailer, it looked
very fluffy, which I wasn't expecting because from the photos
that Sidney Sweetey shared on her Instagram, from the said
and the poster, I thought this movie was gonna have
a little bit more of a grit to it. I
(33:36):
almost thought it was maybe Sidney Sweety saying I'm gonna
make a bid to win an Oscar, kind of like
The Rock is having now with The Smashing Machine. Also
could be unfortunate timing with these movies coming out in
about a month from each other, kind of like two
twin films, both portraying real life people, one mma one
in boxing. I don't want to take away from the
(33:57):
fact that she has a great story. The actual person
she is portraying, Christy went through a lot of things
outside of the boxing ring. Her trainer slash husband went
on to be abusive, she got out of that relationship.
She was also openly gay and then married her former
sparring partner Lisa. So I have no doubt that her
story is one of resilience and courage and fighting to
(34:19):
reclaim her life. But just because someone has a powerful
story that says to someone I need to make a
movie about that person doesn't mean that it's easy as
plugging and playing their story and putting somebody in front
of the camera and having somebody direct that, having somebody
write that, knowing what part of their story that you
(34:39):
need to tell, because I think that is the most
important when it comes to a biopic. That is why
I like biopicks that focus on a very specific part
of their life where there may be is the biggest change,
the most significant thing to history or culture of pop culture,
whatever it is. Much like they did with a Complete
Unknown with Bob Dylan. While it was a little bit
(34:59):
of out how he got discovered, how he got his
record deal, it was a lot of his change of
going from being a folk singer to being a rock
singer and using electric guitars and all the pushback he
got there. That is what made that story more powerful.
And then when you see some of these biopicks come
out and they're trying to cram everything in from their
early life and their childhood to their rise to the fall,
(35:21):
and it's just a little bit too much. So going
back to Christie's story, you have to decide what story
do we want to tell here? And one of the
things I noticed from watching this trailer is you have
all three acts that we're gonna get in the movie
inside of this trailer. You see the beginning. You see
the turmoil start to happen, You see the relationship with
(35:42):
her husband start to go AWRYE. You see her already
in this trailer at her lowest points and give her
take a few details. You kind of already know where
this movie is going to end. And I always say,
if you see all three acts of a movie in
a trail, that is a red flag. That is a
sign of a movie that is trying to load you
(36:05):
up with information to get you into that theater. But
I think that is a bad sign, and I've been
burned there before. Another big cliche that they use in
this trailer they always got to use the dramatic version
of a pop song, have it slowed down sung a
different way, you strip out some of the instrumentation. I
don't know why biopics do this all the time, And
(36:27):
with all these things combined, I am just surprised to
me after watching this trailer that it feels a little
bit more like a cable movie, much like I felt
when I went to go see Big George Foreman in theaters,
where the acting just wasn't there, even though his story
was interesting at times it was powerful. I just think
the overall vision of that film, much like I'm feeling
(36:47):
here just from the trailer, just doesn't quite seem there.
When you compare this trailer to that of The Smashing Machine,
you can tell completely that those directors had two entirely
different visions and one just feels a little bit more powerful. Now,
there are some parallels in this trailer, being that both
The Rock and Sydney Sweeney did go through some physical transformations.
(37:10):
The Rock had prosthetics in his face that make him
look different. My theory on that for The Rock it's
not so much that they wanted him to look like
the Fighter. He is portraying MMA fighter Mark Kerr, because
I don't think people are as familiar with Mark Kurr's face,
but I think the prosthetics are there one to show
people that The Rock is doing something different here. He's
(37:31):
trying to get into the more dramatic lane. He is
trying to be taken seriously, and by really committing himself
to this character, it shows okay, he is going a
step further and not just showing up on sit randomly
late and peeing in the bottles. I think also for
The Rock, it helps him get into feeling like he
is portraying somebody else where. If you look at his
(37:52):
last five movies alone, he's kind of just being himself
a lot. So in order to get himself out of
what he is used to, you put your and those
prosthetics and suddenly you do feel like you become an
entirely different person. Now with Christy, Sydney Sweeney went through
the physical transformation of training and getting into the body
of a fighter. But the thing kind of holding me
(38:14):
back from fully buying into her as Christy is the wig.
And I understand that is how Christy styled her hair,
But this wig looks like it was bought at party city.
It doesn't look like Hollywood movie level wig, and I
find it to be a little bit distracting. And it's
just the wardrobe department and air department overall. Because Ben Foster,
(38:35):
I would say the same thing about him, where everybody
looks like they are wearing a costume. And I know
in movies you do wear costumes to portray other people.
I'm just saying that in this case, it really stands
out and it's really distracting. It doesn't feel authentic, and
that is the problem I'm finding here. I feel like
this movie might be a little bit too over dramatic,
(38:58):
maybe taking itself a little bit too seriously at times.
And Ben Foster does get criticized for being that type
of actor who some say he overacts a little bit,
And I like Ben Foster. I loved him in Alpha Dog,
probably my favorite movie of his, and I love that
in the movie his character is so over the top
and so intense, screaming at people on the phone or
(39:22):
going over to people's houses and trying to fight them
and being right up there in their face. You can
see the anger in his eyes. But to some of
that style of acting is a little bit off putting,
and you look at Ben Foster and think, man, you're
going just a little bit too far. You're going to eleven.
You gotta scale it down just a little bit. So
I wonder if the drama and emotion is gonna have
(39:45):
the right balance in Christy. But I want these roles
to work for Sidney Sweeney because I believe her performance
in Euphoria is really what put her on the map,
and she has bounced around to different genres. Did the
rom com thing with anyone, but you immaculate jumping into
the horror genre, which I think is one of her
more underrated roles. She tried the superhero thing being in
(40:06):
Madam Web, and out of all the movies she's done recently,
I think my best sample size of how she does
with dramas was probably Echo Valley earlier this year, the
movie on Apple TV Plus with her and Julianne Moore.
I didn't fully love Sydney's performance in that, but I
also think her character was made to be really unlikable.
(40:27):
I wasn't supposed to be rooting for her. I wasn't
supposed to like her character. So I'm hoping Christy is
my real indication of whether or not she can really
dive into the drama roles or if she just ends
up going and doing more Anyone but You movies, which
I would be perfectly fine with too. But I think
she is that level of star that I would like
(40:48):
her to be an actor who can do every single
genre well because she is going to be around for
a very long time and the roles are just gonna
keep coming. So I hope I can get every kind
of Sidney Sweety movie. But Christy is coming out in
THEE on November seventh, And that was.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
This week's edition of Movie Line Tramer Bar.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And that is gonna do it for another episode here
of the podcast before I get into my listener shadout
of the week, they did announce the new Super Mario
Brothers movie, which I think looks awesome. There's not a
full trailer on it yet, because if there were, I
would have covered that in the trailer park. But it's
called Super Mario Galaxy. The teaser is basically just Mario
sleeping underneath the tree. I really thought that they were
(41:28):
gonna do Super Mario World before they did Super Mario Galaxy,
because I thought that was just the thing they were
queuing up. They tease Yoshi at the end of the
first movie. But I am excited for Super Mario Galaxy,
a game that I played so much on the Wii.
Super Mario Galaxy reminds me of college and in my
first apartment. Ever, after moving from Maxinatchi to Austin, I
(41:51):
lived in an apartment. The ac went out and it
was so hot in this apartment that we got a
window unit put it in my room, and that night
I would crank thing all the way down, fire up
the Wii, and just play Super Mario Galaxy in a
completely dark room for hours. A great game one, I
feel doesn't get a whole lot of recognition of how
(42:11):
good that game is because everybody talks about the ogs
or all the stuff now on Switch. But I am
excited for this just a little bit surprised that they
decided just to go with Galaxy over Super Mario World.
But I hope we get Yoshi. I would really love
for us to get Warrio, but I think we're probably
still another movie away from that. But for my listener
shout Out of the Week, I am going over to
(42:33):
my Instagram checking my dms. And this week's listener shout
Out of the Week goes to JW, who said, in
reply to my review of The Long Walk, Dude, if
you've never read the book, I think it is worth it.
It is fairly short and so dark, but good crazy,
such a dark dystopian idea that came out decades before
anything else like Hunger Games. Appreciate that, JW. I did
(42:55):
get a lot of messages saying you have to read
the book. I hear you, guys, But if you listen
to this podcast, you know I have trouble finishing books.
I can start a book, but it is so hard
for me to finish a book. And I'm here to
give you an update the book I was supposed to
read before the movie came out. I still haven't started
Project Hill Mary. I still have not brought myself to crack,
(43:19):
not one page, but I'm going to do it because
it is so at this point, I need to read
a book before going to watch a movie, and that
is going to be the one. If I never finished
that book, I'm not going to see that movie. So
thank you JW for reminding me that I need to
start that book. But I've already seen the movie. I
don't know that I would be motivated to go back
(43:40):
and read that book because I have so many things
to read that Just in the studio right now looking around,
there are two books that I've started and not finished.
So I appreciate the book recommendations. I'll pass them along
to Kelsey who can probably read those in one night.
So thank you JW. Thank you wherever you are listening
right now in your car at the time, Jim, if
(44:01):
you were on Instagram, tag me in your Instagram story
whatever episode you're listening to, I'll repost that. I'll make
you next week's listener shout out of the week, And
until next time, go out and watch good movies and
I will talk to you later.
Hello, and welcome back to movie Mike's movie podcast. I
am your host Movie Mike. Today I am talking to
Weapons director Zach Kreiger, my favorite horror movie of the year.
I don't think I've ever done as much research going
into an interview before. Before I even knew this was happening,
I almost maybe kind of manifested this a little bit.
I started just doing research on this guy because I
(00:21):
am so fascinated on how he approaches film and now
joining the podcast today Zach Kreiger. In the movie review,
I'll be talking about the movie Everybody Thinks is directed
by Jordan Peele, but it's only produced by Jordan Peele him.
It's a horror movie about football starring Marlon Wayans. And
in the trailer park, we'll talk about why Sidney Sweeney
(00:41):
just looks a little bit off in the Christy trailer.
Thank you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed.
Shout out to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now
let's talk movies from the.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Nushville podcast Network. This is Movie Mike's Movie Podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Zach Cregor is a writer, director, and act They're best
known as one of the founding members of this comedy
troupe called The Whitest Kids You Know. It was also
a TV show that was on the air from two
thousand and seven to twenty eleven. At that time, I
was in high school and everybody was quoting The Whitest
Kids You Know sketches. He directed fifty three of those
fifty seven episodes during that period. He also starred in
(01:19):
the tbsitcom Wrecked for the entire three season run from
twenty sixteen to twenty eighteen, and he made his directorial
debut with the horror movie Barbarian in twenty twenty two.
This year, I put Zach Kreiger on my list of
directors that I'm gonna watch every single movie they put
out because I was so moved by Weapons. It's about
seventeen kids who all wander outside their homes in the
(01:42):
middle of the night and no one knows where they went,
and no one knows why. Weapons is now available on
digital and it'll be on four K Ultra HD on
October fourteenth. And now let's talk to Zach Craiger. What
is it like when you wake up and realize you
have the number one movie in the country. What is
that feeling like?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It is surreal. It doesn't.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
It doesn't feel like I think maybe somebody might expect
it to feel, because it's you're still in your bed
and your skin in your room, and it's you know,
there's no there's no news, pixie dust sprinkled in the air.
You know. It's you can look at your phone and
kind of reinforce that that's happening, and then you put
your phone in your pocket and you're still just in
your house. So it's it's a weird thing, you know.
(02:25):
It's I'm happy. Don't get me wrong, I don't. I
don't mean to be, you know, poo pooing anything, but uh,
you're still you, so.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
So yeah, I think I understand that because I in
my life, I've lost one hundred pounds and I was
really proud of myself when I was really proud of
myself when I did that, and I thought once I
did all the work and lost the weight that I
would be suddenly happier. And then I woke up one
day and I realized I did it. I don't know
if I feel any happier. Is it kind of that
same way where you're like, I thought this was going
(02:57):
to solve all my problems. This is what I wanted
to do a chie as a filmmaker, and now that
I have it, it's like, okay, cool, this is it.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Okay, Well I think there, I think maybe, But but
I think there's something deeper under the surface that that
we have in common.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Right now, you did.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Something really hard and and and you are reaping the
benefits of that because you probably have more energy, and
you probably probably have some self esteem rise from that,
right And I think that So even though my moment
to moment is largely similar than as it was before,
I do have like there is a sense of accomplishment
(03:30):
that I think kind of is an underlying vibe that
that I can I can recognize as being as being different.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Do you feel that. I know when I got sober, I.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Felt that way, you know, I felt like, oh, like
things still bother me, but like I have this like
cushion of self esteem that I've never had before, and
I only got that after I got sober.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
So maybe maybe we have that and yeah, here isn't it.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Yeah, feeling the self esteem is a big part of it.
I guess I just thought that once I lost all
the way, that's only all my problems would fix and
I'd find a girlfriend and I'd be like, Okay, now
I get the job.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
You would like come storming into your living room and
like somebody would just give you a raise exactly. Oh yeah,
the world doesn't work out.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
And I think with you in the creative field, that
you're always kind of chasing that thing, and then sometimes
when you have you're like, oh man, was this really
what I wanted the whole time?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Well, that I don't know, because I think I've wanted
to be a filmmaker since I was like six, and
so so I you know, there's always maybe a fear
that you're going to be like the dog that catches
the mail truck and like, you know, is it gonna
monkeys pop?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
And by the way, maybe it will. I don't know it.
You know, this is all very new, so I could
I could be singing a different song in two years.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
But but right now, you know, I'm I'm in Prague
and I'm making a new movie, and you know, my
wife and I are good, and I'm I'm I'm doing okay,
So I'm I'm all right.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
So I'm a huge fan of post Malone. I had
the chance to meet him. I posted a picture of
him in my Instagram story, and later I saw that
he watched my Instagram story. I like, that's cool, post
Malone watch my Instagram So that was almost cool then
meeting them in some weird way because I don't know.
I think we're all just like fascinated with social media
and who watches our stuff?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
For you?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
As a filmmaker, do you ever during the process of
making a movie, think, man, I wonder who the most
famous person is going to be that has watched my movie?
Speaker 2 (05:15):
No, who would that be?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
For you? Though, Like, oh, man, I really wish they
would watch my movie. Like I've loved this person maybe
since I was a kid. I'm a huge fan of
them now, like if this person watches Zach Kraiger movie,
I mean, I.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Don't know, Brad Pitt, I've always been a giant fan.
Would that would be pretty cool? You know, there's so
many people you admire and I could give you a
hundred names right now. That would blow my mind if
they saw the movie.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
It's funny, like to the idea of being on set
and being like, all right, I'm sitting up a shot
and one.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Day person Barack Obama watch this.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
And I'm really good to impress him with this one.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
I do not think that way for Barbarian.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
You said you learned to prep the shoot and shoot
the prep. What did you learn from Weapons?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Great question. I think I learned to and I'm still
learning it. I learned I need to learn to just
like relax a little bit more. Everybody I'm surrounded by
is really good at what they do. The movie's not
gonna collapse. You know, we're gonna get it. You know,
here's what I learned. My cinematographer said during prep, you know,
(06:22):
we're not playing a win lose game here.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
We only win. And I was like, are you allowed
to think that way? Do you think that way? Could
I think that way?
Speaker 3 (06:31):
And like, yeah, that's the attitude, man, Like I don't
need to freak out that if I forget to say
something in prep, suddenly everything's gonna burn to the ground
and production and the movie will be broken. Like, no,
the movie's gonna win, you know, because it's a good
idea and I have talented people and it's gonna it's
We're gonna get everything we need to get. And I
think when I was making Weapons, I had this fear
(06:53):
that that wasn't true, but I think that is I'm
allowed to like live in that mindset now.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I think one of the most surprising things that I
wasn't expecting when watching the movie and even rewatching the
movie were the moments of comedy where it was kind
of unexpected. It was maybe Josh Brolin saying line like
what the hell? Like what theF for? What's going on here?
And there was just these moments I kind of popped
in the theater where I was like, Oh, if you
cut this movie differently, do you think it could be
a comedy.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Oh, I wonder. I don't know, but I'd love to
see someone try.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Why is it that people who have maybe roots in
comedy like you kind of translate to horror so well,
like a Jordan Peele. I'd even put like a John
Krazinski in there, going from having this background in sketch
comedy where people know them for that and now suddenly
have such success in horror. Why do you think that is?
How do those two genres kind of have some similarities?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Because I think you have to have an ear for timing,
and I think you have to be good at surprise.
I think every joke is a surprise. Every single one,
every joke, everything you've ever laughed at, follows a recipe
in a formula, like an algebraic formula. That formula is this,
an action with an expected outcome yields an unexpected outcome. Okay,
(08:05):
So it's basically just saying, you do this, you think
you're gonna get that, and you get a surprise. And
I promise you there's not one thing you've ever laughed
at in your life that doesn't sort of follow that.
And and and try me if you ever see me
on the street and you think you have one that
doesn't follow that for me, come up to me and
tell me, and I bet I can, I bet I
can beat you.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Because it just does.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And and and so that someone who's kind of good
at that surprise, that like anti rhythm or that that
little like pop, is probably going to be good at
scaring you, because scares are follow the same anatomy, you know,
where it's like you're subverting in expectation. And I'm not
sure if it's the exact same, but it's very similar.
(08:48):
So it's the same muscle group, is what I'm trying
to say. It's it's like a it's like you're good
at the same instrument. Maybe is the way I think
about it. That was a really mouthful bullshit.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
To describe it a simple question.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
But yeah, one of my favorite things about you is
that you were in a punk band back in the
day where you said you would just basically get on
the floor and just scream until they totally had to stop.
But you grew up in the DC punk scene, which
I'm a huge fan of punk rock. If you had
to create a Mount Rushmore of punk artists, who would
be on that Mount Rushmore? Your top four?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Okay, I'd go Bad Brains first and foremost perfect for DC. Yeah,
I would go Fugazi Probably, I would put you know.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
What a great question, dude, I might have to say
the Misfits.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Oh love it, huge Misfits, early.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Misfits when Danzig was in the band.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
I don't even consider them the Misfits After Danzig lev
It's like it's just dancing.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, yeah, and then like, I don't know, I mean,
oh god, that's so hard.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
That's such a hard one.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Fourth one and what do you got there?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Maybe maybe Dead Kennedy's I don't know.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
I feel like that is a classic punk rock list.
Right there, that is to know.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But those are all like obvious. You know.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I could get like really like narrow a niche and
say like born against and his zero is gone and
and like keep going down that path.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
But I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But melt rushmore is the people who are gonna be
remembered forever. You gotta have dantic space up there, right,
The Crimson ghosts up there is that kind of I
would probably put. When I got into punk rock was
late nineties, early two thousands, so I'd put Rancid, No Effects,
Blink one eighty two, and Green Day.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
These are all pop punk bands, Dude, you don't consider
those punk bands too.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Green All every band you just named is like pop punk.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Okay, so I'll go punk rock. Then I would go Ramones,
Can I Can I take the Ramones? Yeah? Of course yeah,
I'd go See then I do feel basic kind of
like you did, because I'd go Ramones, Clash Misfits and
prop Rants. Would you consider rancid pop punk.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Not as pop punk? Is like Blink one eighty two?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Wow, you consider rancid pop punk that is not as
the other your commercial taste of music? Okay, that's probably
got black flag though.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
That's cool.
Speaker 3 (11:04):
I mean, Ivy was like that was like the band
that was my gateway drug, you know, and that's basically
you know, that's rancid practically, so.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
So I get you.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
I'm not, by the way, I'm not giving any shade
bands at all. I'm just saying like they were all
very similar. They're all kind of living in that same
kind of kind of like you know, time and space,
you know, no effect screen day and you know so
that that dude, No, no, no problems here.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
But I'm just saying, like.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
You made me feel so basic, now, Zach, that's not
what I meant with you.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, I really appreciate it's been awesome to get to
talk to you. You are one of my favorite directors,
so this is an honor.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Thanks Mike. It's really fun to talk to you too.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Don't hold that against me that I asked you.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
All right, Thanks man. All right, buddy, that was quite
possibly one of the funniest interviews I've done on this podcast.
If you enjoyed that, I'm gonna post some clips over
on socials on TikTok and Facebook and YouTube shorts and Instagram.
And sometimes I feel like I don't know what to say.
When I see some of my favorite creator posting things,
I'm like, that's a really cool clip. I want to
do more than just like it, but I don't know
(12:04):
what to comment. I'm gonna make it easy for you.
Just drop some hot dog emojis into the comments. If
you've seen Weapons, you know what the hot dog is
referring to. If you don't, not really a spoiler. It's
just a very small detail that Zach Kreiger worked in
there as an homage to actually his friend that passed away,
one of the cast members from The Whitest Kids. You know,
he died, I believe in twenty twenty one, and Weapons
(12:27):
was a way of Zach coping with his grief. And
I rewatched Weapons before the interview, and I really started
to see that in the movie. I saw not a
horror story of a bunch of people in a town
trying to figure out what happened to these kids. I
saw somebody trying to deal with the fact that they
lost one of their best friends, and how that comes
(12:47):
out in every single character in Weapons and all the
parts of Zach's story that suddenly this movie made so
much more sense to me, so drop a hot dog
emoji in the comments. If you've seen it, you know
what I'm talking about. If not, go watch Weapons. But
let's get into what I believe to be my top
five directors of the twenty twenties so far. I consider
the movies that are also not yet released yet, so
(13:09):
it's the movies that have come out so far in
the twenty twenties. At number five, I have Selene's Song,
who made her directorial debut with Past Lives in twenty
twenty three, easily one of the best directorial debuts of
the decades so far, earneder an Oscar nomination. I think
Past Lives should have won for Best Picture, but she
followed it up this year with Materialists. In just two movies,
(13:32):
I feel like she has already established who she is
as a storyteller with movies rooted in emotion, where Past
Lives is so much more a type of movie that
makes you want to cry, that just hits you in
all these emotional pockets in your body, and as somebody
who has a hard time accessing those, a Selene Song
(13:52):
movie is going to get those emotions out of me.
Past Lives in particular, and then this year with Materialists.
It was a little bit less emotional, well leaned in
more to the rom com so not really going to
hit you in the fields like Past Lives did. But
I really love that Selene started to expand on her
visual palette and Materialists, which really elevated and drew me
into that movie more so. I think Selene's song is
(14:14):
a force to be reckoned with when it comes to romance,
whether they're dramas, whether their dramas, whether they have more
of the comedic elements. She is going to be a
director to watch if you love that genre of movies.
At number four, our guest of the episode who worked
his way into my top five, and it would have
been even if he wasn't on the podcast today, because
that's how much I loved Weapons. And I even admitted
(14:37):
to you guys that I wasn't the biggest fan of
Barbarian when it came out, but I respected the integrity
of the movie and I respected the vision more so
than how entertaining I found it. It is still, I believe,
one of the most noteworthy horror movies of the decade,
and with Weapons he entered into that. Okay, this is
somebody who knows what they are doing and have a
(15:00):
very unique way of capturing the attention of people. And then,
like you mentioned in the interview, he is also out
filming his movie right now. He's working on the new
reboot of Resident Evil, coming out in theaters next year
on September eighteenth. So dude is so in demand right now.
Anything he touches people want to be a part of.
And that has to be such a special part of
(15:21):
a director's life when they are the hottest thing, when
everybody wants to work with him. And I love how
I was able to get out of him that he
hopes that Brad Pitt has seen one of his movies.
And I'm pretty sure I saw Brad Pitt talking about
weapons with Josh Brolin, so I'm pretty sure Brad Pitt
has seen it. But not only that, I feel that
Brad Pitt would want to work with Zach Creiger. Could
(15:41):
you imagine a horror movie with Brad Pitt if that happens.
I'm going to credit this podcast because we put it
onto the universe. But because of that, Zach Kreiger has
cracked my top five of twenty twenties directors so far
at number three. I'm going with Your Ghost Lantimos. So
far in twenty twenty, he has put out Poor Things,
Minds The Kindness and has Bougonia coming out in November.
(16:04):
His movies are really weird and not for everybody. It's
the type of movie that I grew up loving, but
my parents would never in a million years let me watch,
And even now as an adult, I think I'd rather
walk backwards through a cactus field naked than watching Yorrugo's
Lundmo's movie with my mom or my dad. Speaking of
Naked is because it just has a lot of naked people,
(16:27):
and not even doing normal naked people things, just very
out of the box nudity that has you wondering what
exactly goes on in his mind. But I love a
director who is so weird and one that almost becomes
a genre in themselves. I feel like he is that
for me now. Probably in the two thousands and twenty
(16:48):
tens it was Wes Anderson, who is an honorable mention
on this list, but now I feel because of the actors,
he goes back to his trademark people, his muses, his
Emma Stones. Before that it was Colin Farwell. He has
a tendency to get a fixation on an actor and
do two to three movies with him before he moves on.
So I feel like he is the biggest nerd, and
(17:08):
as a big nerd, I can respect that, and I
can't wait for him to make more new, weird movies.
That's why I'm so excited for Bagonia later this year.
But at number three is the Greek filmmaker, your Gooslantimos.
At number two, I have Christopher Nolan. Now, he started
out the decade kind of on a downpoint because Tenant
was one of the most confusing movies I had ever seen.
(17:30):
I remember when I watched Tenant again in twenty twenty
we were still watching movies at home, which was cool
for a minute. I had to restart that movie so
many times because I thought, what am I missing here,
And after watching it all the way through for the
first time, I was still confused. And I feel like
that was such a big creative risk for him. I
(17:50):
don't think that movie is inherently bad. I just think
we still don't get it yet five years after. And
I felt the same way about his movie Interstellar, where
everybody was raving about that movie. It was so highly praised.
It took years of me going back to that movie
and rewatching it to fully understand what he accomplished there
by creating one of the best sci fi movies of
(18:11):
all time. So maybe in another ten years I'm gonna
look back and watch ten and think, man, we totally
got this movie wrong. But he also put out Oppenheimer
in twenty twenty three, which he won the Oscar for
Best Director. He has The Odyssey coming out next year
in twenty twenty six. It is the first movie ever
filmed entirely on Imax. That's gonna be big, that's gonna
(18:34):
be bold, that's gonna be beautiful. It has Matt Damon,
Tom Holland and Hathaway's Zenda. That is gonna be an event.
And he is also the only director I can imagine
to make The Odyssey an event, because if anybody else
tackled that movie, or if anybody else tackled Oppenheimer, I
don't think it would have the same impact because I
think the source material on its own isn't that sexy.
(18:57):
I wouldn't look at anybody else making an Odyssey movie
and think that is a mussy thing. That is a
movie that I'm gonna buy tickets a year out, which
some people did. Tickets went on sale this summer and
they sold out. It's like maybe one screening, but that
creates a story that is something that only Christopher Nolan
can do. So that is why I have Christopher Nolan
at number two. At number one, this was an easy
(19:18):
number one. It is James gunn So far in the
twenty twenties, he has put out The Suicide Squad, which
is the quintessential DC anti hero movie. He made everything
right that was wrong with the original Suicide Squad. I
rewatched it recently whenever Kelsey and I went to New
York for our vacation this summer. Oh, it's a great
(19:40):
hotel movie, and I was reminded of just how much
I loved all the characters inside of The Suicide Squad.
They're still kind of back and forth on whether or
not Margot Robbie is going to return as Harley Quinn,
But after rewatching that movie, I'm like, how can you
not include her? With everything going on now with Superman,
(20:01):
where we're going with Supergirl, with Batman having his own elseworlds,
with what Matt Reeves is doing, I just want all
of these things to intersect at one point. Could you
imagine a movie now where you have Margot Robbie John
Cena as Peacemaker, David Kornswitt as Superman, Robert Pattinson as
the Batman. He also put out Guardians of the Galaxy
(20:22):
Volume three and twenty twenty three, closing out one of
the best trilogies ever of all time in the MCU
come On. But also this year he put out Superman,
which is now available on HBO Max. I need to
go watch that immediately because I really wanted to go
see it for the second time in theaters, but it
was such a busy summer that I was not able
(20:44):
to go see anything for a second time except for
Leilo and Stitch. I had to see Lelo and Stitch
in theaters twice, which is also on Disney Plus now,
so I can go relive my summer watch Lelo and
Stitch on Disney and then go over to HBO Max
and rewatch Superman, which he also why I included him
at number one is Man of Tomorrow. The follow up
to that movie is coming out on July ninth, twenty
(21:07):
twenty seven. Only two years in between those two which
I have to imagine it could shift a little bit,
but I almost feel like Superman now belongs in July,
so hopefully that release date stays on track. My honorable
mentions Wes Anderson, who this decade has put out The
French Dispatch, Asteroid City, and the Phoenetian Scheme. I think
(21:28):
because of how little I enjoyed the French Dispatch kept
me from putting him in my top five. Also have
Emerald Fendle, who put out Promising Young Woman in twenty twenty.
That is quite possibly one of the top ten movies
of the decade that doesn't get talked about enough. I
feel like anything that came out in twenty twenty kind
of goes under the radar because it was such a
weird time for movies. But she followed that up with
(21:50):
Saltburn in twenty twenty three. That was the movie that
got everybody talking a couple of years ago. She has
such a bold and risky style that I love it.
She also has a movie coming out year with Margot
Robbie and Jacob Elordi called Wuthering Heights. It is based
on a classic novel. I saw the trailer for that,
and Boyd does it look steamy? You kidding me? Margot
Robbie and Jacob Elordi together. I also have directors who
(22:12):
so far have only put out one movie in the
twenty twenties. Jordan Peel has only put out Nope in
twenty twenty two. I also have the co directing team
the Daniels, who basically broke the oscars with their movie
Everything Everywhere, All at Once. I would say the most
innovative storytellers of the twenty twenties Greta Gerwig, but so
far she's only put out Barbie, which was a massive movie.
(22:35):
I just need some more to get her into the
top five. Paul Thomas Anderson so far has only put
out Licorice Pizza, but he does have one Battle after
another coming out at the end of the month. James
Cameron has also put out Avatar two and has another
one coming out later this year. Martin Scorsese has only
done Killers of the Flower Moon. Quentin Tarantino has put
out zero movies in the twenty twenties, but quite possibly
(22:58):
he's the only director I know that could make to
list with just one movie. And finally, I have Matt Reeves,
who I mentioned earlier who put out The Batman this
decade and should have The Batman coming out soon. Some
details did come out last week. Filming starts in April
twenty twenty six, which that sucks because this movie was
supposed to come out this year in twenty twenty five,
(23:18):
and they're not starting filming until next April. Other details
about the movie include Bruce Wayne is finding it very
hard to be Batman, which I don't know if that's
saying a whole lot. I imagine it's really hard for
anybody to be Batman, but apparently it takes Batman in
a direction never done before. I pray to all that
is holy that it is not a musical do not
(23:39):
go the Joker two route. But it's being described as
another murder mystery, digging deeper into the corruption, which is
really what The Batman did so well. Penguin will appear
in five to six scenes. Sophia Falcone will not appear
in this movie, but Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson said
that it will top the first film is saying a
(24:00):
lot because I loved the Penguin in the first one,
as the Villain and the Riddler paired together was so good.
I would love to see Matt Reeves interpretation of mister Freeze,
because the only version we have in the movies is
the very comical Arnold Schwarzenegger version. But if you could
bring some realism to that character, I think that would
be the perfect addition in this world. Because we have
(24:23):
enough jokers, even though they introduced them at the end
of The Batman. We've seen two Face, We've seen Baine.
Give me a dark and gritty mister Freeze. All right,
I'll come back and I'll give my spoiler free review
of him. Let's get into it now, a spoiler free
movie review of him. This movie was not what I
(24:45):
was expecting. I think I had too high expectation going
into it. The movie was really leaning into the fact
that it was produced by Jordan Peel, so much so
that his name was bigger on the poster than the
actual director of the movie and tipping, so I think
they were trying to trick us a little bit. Why
were they trying to do that? Was it because they
(25:05):
felt that the movie wasn't good enough to succeed on
its own, that they had to use the Monkey Pop
production's power of Jordan Peele to really sell this movie
or were they trying to trick us? Because I think
if you just saw the trailer, you saw the poster,
you saw the overall aesthetic of this movie going into it,
you would think, oh, this is just a new Jordan
Peele movie, but he is only a producer. What this
(25:26):
movie is about. You have a kid named Cameron Kaid
who is on his way to be the next Goat.
Has wanted to be QB one since he was a kid.
His father just instilled it to him. Starts out really
weird at the beginning of him watching his favorite player,
Isaiah White played by Marlon Wayans, go through a traumatic
injury early on in his career, but then go on
to win several rings, probably too many rings to be believable,
(25:51):
but that's what he wants to do. He wants to
achieve that. And the entire message of this movie, the
tagline is how much are you willing to sacrifice to
be the best? Your family, your friends, your girlfriend? What
are you willing to put on the line. So, right
before the combine gets hit by a fan big brain injury,
doesn't know if he's going to be able to perform
(26:11):
or if any team is going to want him right then,
his hero Isaiah White calls him, tells him to come
out to his compound lives basically in the middle of
nowhere in the desert in New Mexico, to come train
with him, and that's where things start to get weird.
The issue I had with him is it got too
weird too quickly. And there is this subgenre of movies
that has become really popular right now of people finding
(26:34):
themselves in situations that start to feel like a cult.
Not a new thing. It's been happening in movies and
TV shows for a while now, but I feel like
a lot of things recently have really leaned into this
where you go to some big, fancy place, whether it's
a resort or somebody's house, and it starts out seemingly
normal enough, and then all these weird, little cult like
things start happening and you start questioning the person who
(26:55):
invited you there. They're very weird and secretive. I've just
seen this theme a lot recently, and maybe I'm just
getting a little bit tired of it. But the difference
with him is it went from zero to one hundred
really quickly and didn't lean into the weirdness. Therefore, when
it started getting weird. I didn't really know where this
movie take place. Is it reality, is it some weird
(27:18):
distant side world where things don't really matter? It almost
felt too fantasy like, And I know this movie is
trying to say a lot. There are a lot of
overarching messages about young athletes getting thrown into the spotlight
too quickly, having to sacrifice their bodies, us as fans
being too critical of them. And then you have the
powers that be who really run the organization, who are
(27:41):
putting these people into situations where they have to give
up their entire life, give up their body, basically selling
it away for billions of dollars in fame in exchange
for that? Is it worth it? Are you still willing
to give up everything in your life to achieve that?
And I think that is what him was trying to say,
but it never really got there. It focused a lot
on the bizarre training tactics, which Cameron never really understood
(28:05):
why they were happening, and then never questioned it. And
I think that really led to me not really understanding
who Cameron was as a character. You saw a little
glimpse of him as a kid, but you never really
understood what was driving him, and I think that is
the problem I had. And then Marlon Wayans, who I
thought gave a pretty good performance, maybe a little bit
too over the top at times, but without that, there
(28:27):
wouldn't have been much to lean into. Because him Julia Fox,
I think were the best parts of this movie. I
think overall the movie just felt a little bit too
one dimensional, and it sacrificed style over substance. And I
know not every movie has to have a plot to
be a good movie. I think sometimes as people who
talk about movies and overanalyze movies, we get too fixated.
(28:49):
And all of this didn't go anywhere, and this didn't
lead to anything. Sometimes I think a movie doesn't have
to have a plot if it has a vibe. And Him,
for sure lead more into having a vibe, having an
aesthetic more so than the plot, because really that was it.
He went to go training with them, weird stuff happened,
and then you find out whether or not he makes
it into a fictionalized version of the NFL. While I
(29:12):
did find the movie entertaining for the most part, I
think what really helped it also was the fact that
it was only ninety minutes. I just think that all
the performances were a little bit too over the top,
justin tipping never really just brought it all together and
really brought it home. I think if it would have
had a stronger third act, this could have not only
been a decent movie, but maybe even a good, maybe
(29:32):
even a great movie. I think quite possibly for all
the people dragging this movie now, I think him could
just be a little bit too ahead of its time,
because I did see Marlon Wayan's post on Instagram saying, hey,
I know we have to have critics. I respect you,
but every single movie I've put out in my life
(29:53):
has been drug through the mud, has been said that
it's bad. A lot of his movies have really low
critics scores and oftentimes pretty good audience scores. And Marlon
Wains has been a part of movies in his life
like White Chicks Don't Be a Menace, the Scary Movie
Franchise that when those movies came out, every critic said
(30:13):
the same thing of how awful they were. But if
you look at some of those movies that he is in,
they are some of the pillars of the two thousands
that have a fan base but just don't have the
critics on their side. I think that could be him.
I do think there is an audience for him. It's
probably younger, maybe teenagers who are in sports in high
(30:34):
school now could watch him and think, man, that is
such an awesome movie, and in ten years when they
are doing a podcast like this, they're going to talk
about him. From twenty twenty five was one of the
best movies of the twenty twenties, so it could quite
possibly be ahead of the curve and go on to
be a classic. But I think for me right now,
it over promised and underdelivered. It started to feel a
(30:55):
little bit like a bait and switch situation, like we
were supposed to get to Jordan Peele move and instead
we got some off bran cheerios. So overall, for him,
I give it three out of five footballs.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
It's time to head down to movie. Mike Trey Lar Paul.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I love it when actors go all in. I told
you guys, whenever Emma Stone shaved her head for the
new Yorgos Lantinos movie, I'm like, that is what I'm
all about. Sidney Sweeney, she went all out to portray
Christy Martin in this upcoming movie called, well, Christy, She's
a boxing legend, intense prep, put her body through the wringer.
(31:38):
She had a weight trainer, she had a boxing trainer.
Said she ate a lot of smuckers, a lot of
BBAJ sandwiches, milkshakes and was consistently eating. But as consistently
as she was eating, she was also burning it off
at the exact same time. Christy is coming out in
theaters on November seventh. Now, knowing all the things that
Sidney Sweeney went through to portray Christy in the most
(32:00):
accurate way, I am surprised this movie doesn't look as
good as I was expecting it too, And that's a
bit of a letdown because I also like Ben Foster,
who plays her husband in this movie, which I think
some people have a little bit of a problem with
this style of acting that I want to get into.
But that is what this movie is about. It is
a biopic Sidney Sweeney as Christy Martin and Ben Foster
(32:21):
as her trainer slash manager. It follows her story as
she enters the world of boxing, driven by her grit
and determination to succeed in the sport and overcome the
personal battle she faces outside the ring. As I read
that plot, as every boxing movie kind of reminds me
of another boxing movie. I was excited for a couple
of years ago Big George Foreman, and that felt like
(32:43):
a lifetime movie. But I think there could be some
good in here. I'm still holding out hope. Oh, but
there's also some red flags.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
In the trailer.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I'm still holding on to hope that in the end
this will be at least a good movie. Maybe not
a great movie like I was expecting, but it could
still be a good movie. Because sports drama, it's probably
gonna fall right in the middle. But before I get
into more, here's just a little bit of the Christy trailer.
There's no Christy Martin without me. I need help, Mama.
(33:15):
He's angry at me all the time. Oh, Christie deep
sound crazy. At the beginning of the trailer, it looked
very fluffy, which I wasn't expecting because from the photos
that Sidney Sweetey shared on her Instagram, from the said
and the poster, I thought this movie was gonna have
a little bit more of a grit to it. I
(33:36):
almost thought it was maybe Sidney Sweety saying I'm gonna
make a bid to win an Oscar, kind of like
The Rock is having now with The Smashing Machine. Also
could be unfortunate timing with these movies coming out in
about a month from each other, kind of like two
twin films, both portraying real life people, one mma one
in boxing. I don't want to take away from the
(33:57):
fact that she has a great story. The actual person
she is portraying, Christy went through a lot of things
outside of the boxing ring. Her trainer slash husband went
on to be abusive, she got out of that relationship.
She was also openly gay and then married her former
sparring partner Lisa. So I have no doubt that her
story is one of resilience and courage and fighting to
(34:19):
reclaim her life. But just because someone has a powerful
story that says to someone I need to make a
movie about that person doesn't mean that it's easy as
plugging and playing their story and putting somebody in front
of the camera and having somebody direct that, having somebody
write that, knowing what part of their story that you
(34:39):
need to tell, because I think that is the most
important when it comes to a biopic. That is why
I like biopicks that focus on a very specific part
of their life where there may be is the biggest change,
the most significant thing to history or culture of pop culture,
whatever it is. Much like they did with a Complete
Unknown with Bob Dylan. While it was a little bit
(34:59):
of out how he got discovered, how he got his
record deal, it was a lot of his change of
going from being a folk singer to being a rock
singer and using electric guitars and all the pushback he
got there. That is what made that story more powerful.
And then when you see some of these biopicks come
out and they're trying to cram everything in from their
early life and their childhood to their rise to the fall,
(35:21):
and it's just a little bit too much. So going
back to Christie's story, you have to decide what story
do we want to tell here? And one of the
things I noticed from watching this trailer is you have
all three acts that we're gonna get in the movie
inside of this trailer. You see the beginning. You see
the turmoil start to happen, You see the relationship with
(35:42):
her husband start to go AWRYE. You see her already
in this trailer at her lowest points and give her
take a few details. You kind of already know where
this movie is going to end. And I always say,
if you see all three acts of a movie in
a trail, that is a red flag. That is a
sign of a movie that is trying to load you
(36:05):
up with information to get you into that theater. But
I think that is a bad sign, and I've been
burned there before. Another big cliche that they use in
this trailer they always got to use the dramatic version
of a pop song, have it slowed down sung a
different way, you strip out some of the instrumentation. I
don't know why biopics do this all the time, And
(36:27):
with all these things combined, I am just surprised to
me after watching this trailer that it feels a little
bit more like a cable movie, much like I felt
when I went to go see Big George Foreman in theaters,
where the acting just wasn't there, even though his story
was interesting at times it was powerful. I just think
the overall vision of that film, much like I'm feeling
(36:47):
here just from the trailer, just doesn't quite seem there.
When you compare this trailer to that of The Smashing Machine,
you can tell completely that those directors had two entirely
different visions and one just feels a little bit more powerful. Now,
there are some parallels in this trailer, being that both
The Rock and Sydney Sweeney did go through some physical transformations.
(37:10):
The Rock had prosthetics in his face that make him
look different. My theory on that for The Rock it's
not so much that they wanted him to look like
the Fighter. He is portraying MMA fighter Mark Kerr, because
I don't think people are as familiar with Mark Kurr's face,
but I think the prosthetics are there one to show
people that The Rock is doing something different here. He's
(37:31):
trying to get into the more dramatic lane. He is
trying to be taken seriously, and by really committing himself
to this character, it shows okay, he is going a
step further and not just showing up on sit randomly
late and peeing in the bottles. I think also for
The Rock, it helps him get into feeling like he
is portraying somebody else where. If you look at his
(37:52):
last five movies alone, he's kind of just being himself
a lot. So in order to get himself out of
what he is used to, you put your and those
prosthetics and suddenly you do feel like you become an
entirely different person. Now with Christy, Sydney Sweeney went through
the physical transformation of training and getting into the body
of a fighter. But the thing kind of holding me
(38:14):
back from fully buying into her as Christy is the wig.
And I understand that is how Christy styled her hair,
But this wig looks like it was bought at party city.
It doesn't look like Hollywood movie level wig, and I
find it to be a little bit distracting. And it's
just the wardrobe department and air department overall. Because Ben Foster,
(38:35):
I would say the same thing about him, where everybody
looks like they are wearing a costume. And I know
in movies you do wear costumes to portray other people.
I'm just saying that in this case, it really stands
out and it's really distracting. It doesn't feel authentic, and
that is the problem I'm finding here. I feel like
this movie might be a little bit too over dramatic,
(38:58):
maybe taking itself a little bit too seriously at times.
And Ben Foster does get criticized for being that type
of actor who some say he overacts a little bit,
And I like Ben Foster. I loved him in Alpha Dog,
probably my favorite movie of his, and I love that
in the movie his character is so over the top
and so intense, screaming at people on the phone or
(39:22):
going over to people's houses and trying to fight them
and being right up there in their face. You can
see the anger in his eyes. But to some of
that style of acting is a little bit off putting,
and you look at Ben Foster and think, man, you're
going just a little bit too far. You're going to eleven.
You gotta scale it down just a little bit. So
I wonder if the drama and emotion is gonna have
(39:45):
the right balance in Christy. But I want these roles
to work for Sidney Sweeney because I believe her performance
in Euphoria is really what put her on the map,
and she has bounced around to different genres. Did the
rom com thing with anyone, but you immaculate jumping into
the horror genre, which I think is one of her
more underrated roles. She tried the superhero thing being in
(40:06):
Madam Web, and out of all the movies she's done recently,
I think my best sample size of how she does
with dramas was probably Echo Valley earlier this year, the
movie on Apple TV Plus with her and Julianne Moore.
I didn't fully love Sydney's performance in that, but I
also think her character was made to be really unlikable.
(40:27):
I wasn't supposed to be rooting for her. I wasn't
supposed to like her character. So I'm hoping Christy is
my real indication of whether or not she can really
dive into the drama roles or if she just ends
up going and doing more Anyone but You movies, which
I would be perfectly fine with too. But I think
she is that level of star that I would like
(40:48):
her to be an actor who can do every single
genre well because she is going to be around for
a very long time and the roles are just gonna
keep coming. So I hope I can get every kind
of Sidney Sweety movie. But Christy is coming out in
THEE on November seventh, And that was.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
This week's edition of Movie Line Tramer Bar.
Speaker 1 (41:06):
And that is gonna do it for another episode here
of the podcast before I get into my listener shadout
of the week, they did announce the new Super Mario
Brothers movie, which I think looks awesome. There's not a
full trailer on it yet, because if there were, I
would have covered that in the trailer park. But it's
called Super Mario Galaxy. The teaser is basically just Mario
sleeping underneath the tree. I really thought that they were
(41:28):
gonna do Super Mario World before they did Super Mario Galaxy,
because I thought that was just the thing they were
queuing up. They tease Yoshi at the end of the
first movie. But I am excited for Super Mario Galaxy,
a game that I played so much on the Wii.
Super Mario Galaxy reminds me of college and in my
first apartment. Ever, after moving from Maxinatchi to Austin, I
(41:51):
lived in an apartment. The ac went out and it
was so hot in this apartment that we got a
window unit put it in my room, and that night
I would crank thing all the way down, fire up
the Wii, and just play Super Mario Galaxy in a
completely dark room for hours. A great game one, I
feel doesn't get a whole lot of recognition of how
(42:11):
good that game is because everybody talks about the ogs
or all the stuff now on Switch. But I am
excited for this just a little bit surprised that they
decided just to go with Galaxy over Super Mario World.
But I hope we get Yoshi. I would really love
for us to get Warrio, but I think we're probably
still another movie away from that. But for my listener
shout Out of the Week, I am going over to
(42:33):
my Instagram checking my dms. And this week's listener shout
Out of the Week goes to JW, who said, in
reply to my review of The Long Walk, Dude, if
you've never read the book, I think it is worth it.
It is fairly short and so dark, but good crazy,
such a dark dystopian idea that came out decades before
anything else like Hunger Games. Appreciate that, JW. I did
(42:55):
get a lot of messages saying you have to read
the book. I hear you, guys, But if you listen
to this podcast, you know I have trouble finishing books.
I can start a book, but it is so hard
for me to finish a book. And I'm here to
give you an update the book I was supposed to
read before the movie came out. I still haven't started
Project Hill Mary. I still have not brought myself to crack,
(43:19):
not one page, but I'm going to do it because
it is so at this point, I need to read
a book before going to watch a movie, and that
is going to be the one. If I never finished
that book, I'm not going to see that movie. So
thank you JW for reminding me that I need to
start that book. But I've already seen the movie. I
don't know that I would be motivated to go back
(43:40):
and read that book because I have so many things
to read that Just in the studio right now looking around,
there are two books that I've started and not finished.
So I appreciate the book recommendations. I'll pass them along
to Kelsey who can probably read those in one night.
So thank you JW. Thank you wherever you are listening
right now in your car at the time, Jim, if
(44:01):
you were on Instagram, tag me in your Instagram story
whatever episode you're listening to, I'll repost that. I'll make
you next week's listener shout out of the week, And
until next time, go out and watch good movies and
I will talk to you later.
Hosts And Creators
Bobby Bones
Amy Brown
Lunchbox
Eddie Garcia
Morgan Huelsman
Raymundo
Mike D
Abby Anderson
Scuba Steve
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