XRGC: Ghost of Yotei, Tron: Ares, and Good Boy (with Erika Ishii, the voice of Atsu)

Draw your katana, your light cycle, and your doggie treats for this week’s jam packed Group Chat! First, Jason and Rosie are joined by Aaron to reflect on their first impressions of Ghost of Yotei, then we welcome in Erika Ishii, the voice of Atsu, for an exclusive interview! Aaron returns for his review of Tron: Ares, and the group discusses the soundtrack, the visual effects, and whether or not you should tap yourself into the Grid to go see the movie. Finally, we’ve got the Scream Queens (Rosie, Joelle, and Carmen) to talk about Good Boy!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Warning.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
On today's episode of XRGC, we're gonna talk about Ghost
of Yo Tai. We're gonna be talking about tron Ares
and good Boy.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hello you, and I'm rasy Night and welcome to XRGC,
the X Ray Vision Group CHATO weekly round table with
our producers and or special guests to talk about all
the things.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
That we are super excited about in pop culture.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
In today's episode, we have both super producers and special guests.
And in segment one we will be calling in Aaron
and Aaron and Jason will be talking about Ghost of
Yota before we have an interview with the incredibly talented
voice actor who brings to life the main character ought
to and then Aaron, he's back and he's gonna be

(01:00):
talking about tron As and and we made him do.

Speaker 5 (01:02):
It, We made him want to talk about it. He's
the only person who has seen it.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
And this is uh maybe a new segment called Sacrificial
Lamb who knows truly like the Canaria the cool one.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
He says, guys, don't come in.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
You know what, you know what He's He's gonna be
for once with a with a very very medium take
that everybody is agreeing with in Hollywood at least uh
and segment three I would bring him in Joel and
Carmen for a scream Queen's look at the incredible new

(01:39):
horror movie that is very unique Good Boy. Then, of
course thanks, It's Friday, woof woof, and everyone.

Speaker 5 (01:45):
Will show it there. Most excited to do this weekend.
But first let's bring in Aaron for Ghost of Yota.

Speaker 6 (01:55):
Hello, I I'm very excited to talk about one of
two topics today.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
He First of all, I want to I want to
note that I'm I'm in New York City for New
York Comic conton uh and so I'm sorry if the
sound is different for the folks. I'm in a hotel
room that is very nice. It is so small I
can't see it on my camera right now, but that's

(02:21):
the shower right there on and i'm my computer's on
the bed.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
I've stayed in that hotel, definitely, I've stayed in that
hotel in the area.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Very sad to be away from my PlayStation in this
early days of Go. And I'm and I'm shouts out
to Donna, my dog who's with the dog sitter. Shout
out to the dog sitter. Who's doing a wonderful job,
and sent me a suite of pictures last night of
Donna on a walk, including Donna unleashed inside a Vond's.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
Yeah, I need to go that part of LA and
see Donna and.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Dona's on the boy, Donna's at leash in the frozen
food isle of VN.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Donna's like, this is me on my own exploring adventure.

Speaker 5 (03:09):
This is Dona's Ghost of Viote.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
She's gonna be completely She's gonna have different expectations when
I get home. But speaking of expectations, Eric, what were
your expectations of Ghost of Yote and how do you
feel now that you've been playing it.

Speaker 6 (03:25):
I think I was expecting to enjoy it. I don't
think I was expecting it to be so beautifully set
up Allah, Like when you finish the first thing, you
step out and it feels like breath of the wild
stepping out of the cave. It feels like Elden Ring
coming up the elevator, Like you just see this expansive
world and you can go in any direction, and the

(03:47):
game leads you in certain ways with the beautiful mechanic
of the wind, like actually guiding you towards your next objective.
But I I love Erica's portrayal of Atsu in the game,
and Eric is who you're talking to you later. And
I just think that the the the beauty and the

(04:08):
I mean, I know there's a low fi mode, but
like the coziness of it is something that has surprised
me with how much I enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
That was it is, Rosie. I can't wait for you
to play.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
But it is the coziness. I think I was expecting
because like the beauty, I will say, I think they've
taken the beauty up and notch. It feels like there's
been some amount of polishing the leaves, the environment, the
way the grass moves, the flowers on the on the grass.

Speaker 7 (04:37):
Rains, just like there's.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Just like things in the air that are moving around
all beautiful. But I was I guess I was kind
of expecting that. What I didn't expect was for me
to love. I loved Ghost of Tushima, loved, loved, love
love was obsessed. I think I like, at least it
this stage, early stage the story of Ghosts of Yote more.

(05:03):
It's more focused, less less sprawling, it's less about like
the future of Japan and saving Japan and more about
this very very tight revenge story that you feel right away,
and you're so right about the way they let you
into the world. I think if I had a note
about Tsushima, it was some of the moments where you're

(05:26):
just kind of the passenger to the cutscene or whatever,
feel like they go on a little long. It's obviously
beautiful look at and all the voice acting is incredible,
the animation is wonderful, so it's so immersive that it's
the best version of that, But there were times where
you're just like, I want to get into it. It
feels like they trim those a little bit and made

(05:47):
it more streamlined for you to get back into the game.
And when you go through the first little kind of
mini chapter, that's like your introduction to the basic mechanics
in the world. And then you get on the horse
and it hits the title card. It's like a rush.
It's so good. It's one of the best openings of

(06:08):
a game that it's up there with Breath of the Wild,
where it just like boom, the music hits. You're on
the horse, the wind is blowing and you're just like, oh, crap,
and the mechanics are tightened up too. I mean, listen,
I'm right around in this game just being like I
want somebody to be out here to try and fuck

(06:29):
with me.

Speaker 7 (06:30):
Try it, please, please, please please up to me. Yes,
please do it.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Okay, it's just incredible so far.

Speaker 5 (06:38):
Fave moment for both of you.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Oh wow.

Speaker 6 (06:41):
Mine is the first time I got to a dueling tree,
which you'll find more of them as the game progresses,
but the first time you get to a dueling tree,
it's this beautiful tree with all these like name tags
written on it and hanging and blowing in the wind,
and there's a character there and you meet him and
I think you probably could do this at any of
the trees, but it introduces a side quest, which is basically,

(07:03):
you go to these trees. There's one person there who's
just you get into a duel with them, and it's
a beautiful setup, very like Mortal Kombat. Like it starts
off with each character on one side, you get like
the eye mean mugging each other, and then you go
into combat and it's great. I really enjoy the one
on one fights a lot more than the group fights

(07:24):
because like I'm using a group fight to a souls
Born where I can be switching my lock on a
lot easier.

Speaker 7 (07:30):
But the one on one fights I think are stellar.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
I agree any fight for me any like hold l
one to enter standoff mode moment is like I can't
wait to get on l one and get into a
standoff and walk very slowly up to the person. I
also love the any boss fight, any one on one fight.
There's I'm not great at the game. I'm playing on medium,

(07:57):
I'm pretty good, obviously. I do think that there are
This game is utilizing some of the kind of basic
Souls Born mechanics of like block and timing and dodge
and counter attack in a way that feels very streamlined
and less punishing, certainly because your your enemies are not
one hitting you so like much less punishing, but they're

(08:20):
still in those dueling. In those in the duels and
in the boss fights, there's that moment where it happens
every single time I've got them about halfway and it
just like and I glanced at the bar and now
I'm just like fuck like not lock in. Like there's
always a lock in moment that just feels so good,

(08:43):
and it's rare in a game that's not a Souls
Born that like you die and you have you drop
all your shit and you go back and find like
where all your stuff is.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Like that.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
That's not that you will spawn right back in the fight.

Speaker 7 (08:58):
But don't lose experience.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
You don't lose all your stuff. But the level of
disappointment that I feel despite that in losing the fight
is lets me know that I'm really enjoying this game.
The level of disappointment I feel when I get hid
in a fight, like so mad at myself.

Speaker 6 (09:16):
I'm like you, oh, come on, I have really enjoyed
We've talked a lot about the combat. There's a lot
of good kind of platforming, and usually I'm not like
crazy about platforming in games, but I really enjoy this
where you're going searching for these shrines and you can
climb up the wall here, and then you look around
at oh there's a place I can use the grappling
hook and I can swing across here, and all of

(09:37):
it has felt very natural to me, except there have
been a few times when I've missed the jump and
I have been incredibly disappointed there because I'm like, oh, fuck,
now I'm going to be at the bottom mountain. But no,
you just start like where you were. So you just
missed one jump, all right, you get to try it again.
So I've really enjoyed the pathfinding, shrine searching like no
combat aspect as well, not just the combat, which is

(09:59):
my favorit a part.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
And then I think, and I think all the additions,
all the small mechanical editions have been I think really
well done. The there's in a you can play your shamason.
You're you're a musician. Now you're running around with your
shamasin strapped along your across your back, and.

Speaker 7 (10:17):
Have you you played make Camp the bone.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
And the use of the touch pad for both the
shamasin and writing and different things within world, I think
is really really well done and it makes you feel
just a little bit more immersed, like the shamason is
fun to play. I'll make camp, cook up some food
and then just start being like, just start jamming. Well, yeah, Aaron,

(10:50):
you're thus far out of five rating of Ghosts of Yota.

Speaker 7 (10:57):
Wow, I will say easy four.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
And I think the thing that is keeping it from
a five for me is how am I going to
feel in two weeks? Because what really does it for
me with games, is am I in two plus weeks later,
am I still this in love with it? And if
that's the case, then yeah, let's bring it to a five.
So right now, good for Like, I'm very happy with it.
What about you, I'm going to.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Do the same solid four, I think. Yeah, obviously that
last star is about replayability I have. I usually get
very into clothes and different swords and different things, so
I'm eager to start unlocking. But yeah, let's see how

(11:41):
it'll be in two weeks. I mean, I already love
the game. And you know what else I loved is
our interview with Eric Aeshi, who voices Atsu in Ghosts
of Uta, and let's talk to her now. Eric, thank
you so much for joining us.

Speaker 8 (12:02):
Thank you so so much for having me. I yeah,
this is it's it's been a whirlwind of a week
and I cannot believe I am here, so thank you.

Speaker 5 (12:15):
Well.

Speaker 2 (12:16):
The game is amazing. The the vibes of the game
are simply overwhelmingly great. Tell us about finding the voice
of Atsu.

Speaker 8 (12:29):
It's interesting because you know, like with any audition you bring,
you you read the sides that they have and the
and the breakdown and the description. Uh and and you
just got to kind of make a choice, and sometimes
that choice will be something that they that they agreed
with and they thank god they agreed with my choices.

(12:51):
But you know, it was just such an incredible journey
and a collaboration throughout. I mean, I felt they gave
me so room to explore and the just the writing
team is I've been a fan of them since for
for a long time. Uh So that it was just

(13:11):
like fun, It was like playing getting to find the voice.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
What was that big, big decision that you made going
into that audition that you've obviously worked out for you.

Speaker 8 (13:24):
Yeah, I think you know, it's it's all the it's
a it's a bunch of little decisions. But I think
overall it was just kind of being really.

Speaker 9 (13:35):
Inspired by Toshiu Mufune.

Speaker 8 (13:37):
But so yeah, and it's but it's just not a
character that you see femmes getting to play much. And
it is kind of a big swing because you know,
you have to sort of be a lot of times
when auditioning. The mistake you make, the trap you fall
into is trying to do what you think they want
right and like making yourself sort of like really palid

(14:00):
and like really, you know, you know, anxious to please,
and I think just sort of getting a chance to
because I knew, I knew what the project was, and
so I knew they would also sort of at least
have the same appreciation for him as I did. And
so if I had fundering it, at least at least
I got to do that.

Speaker 4 (14:20):
Erica, your career is like just really incredible because I
first started doing you know, freelance journalism work nine years ago,
which is what led me here, and I was started
off at Nerdicts, So I would kind of see you
and we'd occasionally be like yeah, but that was like,
you know, so what does it feel like for you
to have you know, because really your voice acting career

(14:41):
was you know, twenty fourteen. But then you start going
in what does it feel like to you to have
made that transition from fan to now like leading creator
and voice actor in this space because you've been an
incredible fandom space Roles rook and Dragon, Age, Valkreine, Apex, Legend,
Justice League, Crisis On, Yes, you know, being Doctor Light

(15:02):
and Huntress, Like, so what does it feel like for
you as a fan to get to be now shaping
these stories.

Speaker 8 (15:10):
I really feel like it's a Cinderella story of you know, it's.

Speaker 9 (15:14):
Like dreaming of it and one day maybe I'd.

Speaker 8 (15:16):
Get to tell the kind of stories that I'd always
be talking about, and it just it feels so surreal
and every time I get to do something.

Speaker 9 (15:28):
The nice part is is.

Speaker 8 (15:29):
That the people that make these stories and tell these
stories are also huge nerds about it, and so I
you know, I think at first, you know, you get
kind of I'm sure you've gotten some of the advice
of you know, like just be cool, you know, Jill, Yeah,

(15:56):
and and like to a certain extent, yeah, you've got
to be professional. Know, But on the other hand, too,
these people are doing this because they also love it,
and so you there's always that sort of point of connection,
and it's really great that projects get to bring us together.

Speaker 9 (16:13):
But I feel like, you know.

Speaker 8 (16:16):
These these stories are are are things that are really
important to all of us, and maybe we would have
met each other at a convention or at a friend
of our friend's house party in La anyway.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
You know, thinking about about Ghosts of Yotai, what is
what is a thing that stands out from your experience
working on this game, which again is so like, as
a huge, huge fan of Tsushima, the it's the story

(16:49):
I loved beefing with my uncle in the first one.
You know, it's such a fun right, but I mean,
the revenge is so visceral and you want it so badly.
And then as the player through Atsu and you know,
just being back in the world with all the different

(17:11):
weapons that are available to you, the fact that it's
so it's so satisfying to simply just look around, which
is not something you experienced often, and so just hugely
enamored with it. But for you from the other side,
what is something that you really stood out for you
in your experience working on this?

Speaker 8 (17:32):
I mean, honestly, this the writing, yeah, in the in
the first story in Sushima. In Sushima, the plot is
something so unique and special and compelling. And I think
just the fact that Atsu's story is so different was

(17:54):
like kind of a bit a bit of a pressure
release because it meant, you know, you know, I don't
have to exactly follow in his footsteps. You know, it's
the title that moves to a different person and had
the game just has a very different feel despite all
the hallmarks of the weapon types versus the stances, which

(18:17):
I loved. And I think what stood up to me
the most was that I got a chance to, like
these same writers just just decided in a whole different
sort of genre and absolutely nailed it. And so I
got to do that, and every day, like truly, I

(18:40):
am still kind of in disbelief.

Speaker 4 (18:43):
Yeah, and I mean I was just reading this morning
that they are saying that it is going to become
one of the best selling games in Japan.

Speaker 5 (18:53):
Oh my gosh. So how does it feel too?

Speaker 4 (18:56):
It's made something that is in this space and then
to have in Japan people actually love it and see
the work that you're putting in and see the way
that there was so much cap put into the story.

Speaker 8 (19:07):
Yeah, it's an absolute honor. I And yeah, they they
put so much thought and care into everything, you know.
I just you know, there was so much research that
went into it and so much sort of consultation, and
if there were things that you know, that they missed,

(19:30):
they were so happy to be wrong about it and
to to pivot, which is, you know, to me, just
as important as getting it right the first time.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
Oh yeah, yeah, learning imagine that.

Speaker 9 (19:44):
Yeah, well, you know it was.

Speaker 8 (19:48):
I think there are times that you know, it's it's
hard to pivot, you know, for a lot of both
logistical and and yeah, no emotional reasons. But I think
the whole thing about the team is that they're small.
They're small, and they're uh, just really agile.

Speaker 9 (20:08):
I think. I mean the fact you know that.

Speaker 8 (20:12):
A team that size making something of that scale and
you know, keeping keeping it. You know, there were no
delays and everything. I think the first and the only
reason the first one was delayed was due to a
global pandemic. But you know, yes, so so you know

(20:32):
they had they were working onto those restrictions. But now
it's it's just really remarkable to have seen them, and
I'm so grateful that, you know, japan and Japanese gamers
you know, are are happy, you know, and it's so
well deserved for the team because they worked so hard

(20:52):
and they cared so much about it.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
Have you noticed anything or have you seen anyone who's
kind of discovered something you didn't know was going to
be a big moment in a game, or a little
detail that you've kind of seen people talking about, well
that you yourself have even noticed.

Speaker 5 (21:10):
Now the game is out there.

Speaker 8 (21:11):
Yeah, there's a part with a hat that I didn't
because like I did the the voiceover for it, and
I didn't know that it was going to be such
a stupid hat.

Speaker 9 (21:24):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
It's like, it's.

Speaker 8 (21:26):
Really one of my favorite moments in the game so far,
and it's something that like I recorded this and I remember,
I remember it and I did, but it just like
actually seeing it and the designers, uh, you know, was
it was so I because I was playing with with
other loved ones at the time and we said the

(21:48):
same thing that my character did. It was just like,
we want that hat, and you know, and we got
the hat and it's I truly, but it's kind of
an encapsulation of the thing that is. You know, usually
for a voice actor, you do the work and then
a year later it comes out or something and you're.

Speaker 9 (22:08):
Like, oh, that's right. There was that.

Speaker 8 (22:09):
But I got to live with this for so long
and be part of the process for so much of
it that you know, it's I got to see some
of those things earlier, and there were still some things
that were surprising, like the hat.

Speaker 5 (22:27):
I love this.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
I'm now obsessed with the hat.

Speaker 9 (22:31):
You'll find that you'll know, you will know.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
It was the hat finally, it's it's so good.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
Your your resume is so extensive of voice acting. What
is your Do you have a most recognized voice, like
when you're out speaking something that happens as a podcast
or sometimes it does happen, somebody will we'll hear your
voice or your yes, weddings and stuff, right, but to

(23:02):
keep up with your voices are so different from your
speaking voice. But do you ever get recognized for your
voice acting?

Speaker 8 (23:10):
I think my voice, to be honest, I think the
I have gotten recognized for my voice, but it's mostly
from I think drop outcause he has something to anchor,
you know, the face to I think a lot of times,
you know, and when I think of actors, you know,
in video games especially, it's like I really do think

(23:31):
of the characters. And it's only by virtue of my
being a voice actor that and knowing some of these
people that I that I really sort of associated with
them as the people.

Speaker 9 (23:43):
But I think, yeah, I think it's from Dropout. That
makes sense a lot.

Speaker 4 (23:48):
Because I was gonna say, like, I've had it for me,
it's definitely if I if I laugh, I did have
that I've loft a wedding and people will be like,
oh my god, do you have a podcast?

Speaker 5 (23:58):
And I'm like, yeah, so that makes sense.

Speaker 4 (24:03):
For dropout some kind of expo no, so yeah, yeah,
you get really passionate. Well you talk about drop out
because I feel like that is another aspect of the
kind of ways that entertainment is changing. And how like
your career you've done that, you did the fandom, you

(24:24):
did the host and now you've you've crafted this incredible
career as a voice actor. Drop Out is the kind
of thing that you know, post a quibi or something.

Speaker 5 (24:33):
Everyone's like, nobody needs that, Like nobody.

Speaker 4 (24:35):
Wants to watch stuff online or on that and drop
Out managed to craft a space that just organically has
begun becomes such a huge kind of thing.

Speaker 5 (24:46):
What's it been like being a part of that alongside
so many people you respect and care about.

Speaker 8 (24:51):
Again, it's a dream and an honor and a great
surprise because I think whereas a lot of the performers
now come from you know, the UC, or they're already
famous comedians, or like I happened to get in on
the ground floor where I was, you know, I came
in through tabletop I you know, where whereas I had

(25:11):
been part of the UCB scene and gotten improv training.
I had sort of pivoted to the track of I
would go gone all in on voiceover and tabletop and
so sort of coming into the Dropout team through that
was it was sort of unusual and uh, you know,

(25:33):
just incredibly incredibly fortunate for me because yeah, everybody there
is truly some of the best in their field right now,
you know, and uh drop Out you know, like I
never never cap for corporation, but also like the people
at drop Yeah, you know, the people at drop Out,

(25:57):
they do their best to do right by everybody, by
workers and you know, by putting their money where their
mouth is, by you know, support, and you know, just
like a really great onset culture, which is all unusual
for new media as you may know.

Speaker 5 (26:14):
Really, yes, there was, well I was.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
Let's talk a little bit about the tabletop side, because
that is also part of something that you were able
to be a part of in Dropout that became kind
of a huge part of their success, you and Brannan, So,
so could you talk a little bit about that aspect.

Speaker 8 (26:39):
Yeah, it's wild because you know, I grew up playing
tabletop games. I played D and D for a long
time and in a lot of ways. I feel like
I think it happened by accident, that it was a job,
and that I happened to be proximal to that great accident.
You know, I friends with a lot of the critical

(27:01):
role folks, and I was on you know, nerdis Scheek
and Sundry doing sort of b team stuff like literally
the first day that they the first Thursday they weren't available,
they stuck a bunch of us on to do you know,
sort of a filler content. And just by virtue of that,
since I already had, you know, sort of the love
of the game, uh, ended up I ended up sort

(27:25):
of being a spin off into that and then you know,
going on to drop out with it. And it just
happened that that sort of my comedy and improv background
really helped with that. And then meeting you know Brennan
and Abria and Lou and realizing the absolute magic chemistry there. Uh,

(27:47):
you know, we all got business married and started our
own podcast.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
Can we talk a little bit about how you guys
also sold out Madison Square got it?

Speaker 8 (27:56):
Okay, I wasn't part of that team, but I was
up in the box and they did it was I
was there and it was like an a Vita or
like a you know, like a like a like the
Pope coming out on the balcony mine when people realized
that we were in the box and started like cheering

(28:16):
and stuff, and it was crazy because that's where that's
where sports is played, you know, that's where sports is
and like Billy like what is it? Billy Joel sold
out Madison Square Garden and also uh, the Intrepid Heroes,
which apparently if you sell out Madison Square Garden they
give you like a Tiffany certificate. Yeah, like a silver

(28:41):
certificate that that the gang got. And it was like,
it's funny because they are so humble and and sweet
and you know they're like, hah, this is a little silly,
but you can see them like that it means a
lot to them. So yeah, I think, yeah, it's it's yeah,
it's it's so easy, you know, like to be and
then being in entertainment weekly for for video games, and

(29:06):
you know, it's so wild that these things that I
really would be doing anyway, suddenly other people really are.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
So cool too.

Speaker 5 (29:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Well, Erica, thank you so much for joining us. We
will be hanging out as I play the video game
all week. Congradua, we're in the success of the game.

Speaker 4 (29:28):
Yeah wait, wait, Aaron, Aaron has the important question.

Speaker 6 (29:31):
Oh yeah, yeah, Erica, we wanted to ask you about
running the Matsuri and the Hint campaigns for Worlds Beyond,
and you will about to get there.

Speaker 5 (29:39):
I think so quickly.

Speaker 8 (29:42):
Oh yeah, So, so I've been asked.

Speaker 9 (29:46):
I've been asked about running.

Speaker 8 (29:48):
Games for my brilliant friends on Worlds Beyond number our podcast.
I did Matsudi, which is set in Brennan's world Umora.
You know, it's it's very Giblisque, and to that effect,
I did a little sort of summer oboem festival for
the characters as kids, because you know, every good anime
has a little summer festival episode.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (30:11):
And it was really special to get to bring sort
of my culture and experiences, you know, into this collaborative,
to weave it into this world with my friends and
with Hint. It was I don't have patients for board games.

Speaker 9 (30:28):
As much I enjoy them.

Speaker 8 (30:29):
I enjoy the idea of them, but I don't have
the patience for them unless there's some sort of narrative
to draw me in. So I was like, I'm going
to take Clue, which I don't know that I have
ever finished a game of I've started so many times,
don't know if I finished. And I was like, we're
gonna finish it and we're gonna role play it the
entire time.

Speaker 9 (30:48):
And my friends are just so brilliant.

Speaker 8 (30:50):
So they just solve my little murder mystery, but did
it in a way that was interesting for people to
listen to. Yeah, it's been a dream to get to
tell these stories with just the best you know, oral
storytelling tradition, storytellers of our generation.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah, okay, now I know you ran that. And when
I'm like, now we have to get together and run
the murder, she wrote Cabot Cove Escape from Cabot Cove
Table to.

Speaker 5 (31:20):
My game dream.

Speaker 9 (31:24):
Oh my gosh, that would be so good.

Speaker 8 (31:27):
Yeah, I know, but you should actually think about writing
a campaign setting for that.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
A lot of people.

Speaker 5 (31:36):
I feel like it would be so good. Yes, thank
you so much, Erica Joy to have Thank you just
one so.

Speaker 9 (31:42):
Much for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (31:45):
Thank you to Erka Yushi for joining us. We'll be
right back at a Iraq.

Speaker 4 (32:04):
We're back, baby, and guess what it's time to talk
about the long awaited, highly awaited I don't know the
new tron look.

Speaker 5 (32:15):
I was just the trailer did look incredible. We spoke
about this.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
We all knew it was gonna have Jared Leto in it,
but we're hoping for the best because Aaron, I do
have to say, the cast for this movie is like
astonishingly good. Yes, like when you lay it all out,
You've got Evan Peters, You've got Jodie Turner Smith, You've
got Greta Lee in one of the main roles, Cameron
Jillian Anderson playing Evan Peter's mum, and I heard she

(32:41):
slapped it in the face that everyone said that's like
the best part.

Speaker 5 (32:44):
Of the movie.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
But unfortunately, due to many conflicts and also me and
Jason not being good enough at riding light cycles, you
are the only one who has seen it.

Speaker 5 (32:53):
So give us your.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
Tront Aris spoiler free thoughts first, Danello recap.

Speaker 6 (33:01):
Them with spoiler app All right, So my spoiler free
reaction is come for the nine inch nails leave because
it's not called tron Air threes. It's the third one,
perfect opportunity for the three to replace the E and
they didn't do it.

Speaker 7 (33:18):
And if that's yeah, would that have made it better?

Speaker 10 (33:22):
No?

Speaker 6 (33:22):
But all right, here's here's my my spoilery recap for
you both. Feel free to stop me if any of
this is I'm very so we start off Cocky Tech
CEO Julian Dillinger played by Evan Peters has combined the
four horsemen of tech, which obviously is artificial intelligence, three
D printing, making weapons for the government, and being rude

(33:43):
to your mother. Well, Eve Kim, who's the CEO of NCOM,
is attempting to transfer her Stardow Valley produce to the
real world so she can stop eating microwave burritos.

Speaker 7 (33:53):
This is a real thing.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
Aries is an NPC created by Julian to act as
his head of tech security, but he becomes self aware
when he's brought into the real world via the three
D printing, but he laments being unable to feel the rain.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
Julian sends them all right, all right, blade run off,
so his body his body is like yeah, Basically, Julian
will three D print these huge military vehicles and his
soldiers and they can only lost for twenty nine minutes, right, It.

Speaker 6 (34:22):
Can only exhaust for twenty nine minutes, right, So everyone
is searching for the code of Permanence, which will allow
all the anutes. They disintegrate. It's like a fanos snapping
and all the AI creations.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
Disappear to the three D print mix guys, come on.

Speaker 6 (34:41):
So Julian sends Aris and Athena, who is played by
Jodi Turner Smith after Eve to steal the key to
Permanence that she's discovered, and it will allow any three
D printed thing to exist forever. Aris catches Eve, but
he starts to feel bad for her when he realizes
what a bad choice this was for her career, and
some un aimed character shoots Eve with a laser that

(35:03):
transfers her body into the grid, where Athena wants to
download the permanence code from her memory, especially because this
means it will kill Eve in the grid and Irl.

Speaker 7 (35:14):
Now a quick timeout.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Who wrote the Permanence code?

Speaker 7 (35:17):
Jeff Bridges' character.

Speaker 4 (35:19):
Oh okay, who is in it for like five minutes?

Speaker 1 (35:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (35:24):
Now, my side here is that if you had a
gun that could teleport people from the real world into
your virtual prison, I think that should be the military
tech you would develop, not soldiers that throw frisbees.

Speaker 7 (35:36):
But that's not I didn't write the movie, so I'm
not entirely sure.

Speaker 6 (35:40):
Aris helps Eve escape the grid because he's cyber stalked
her and he's read all of her text messages, including
the inappropriate ones, and he's decided after reading them that
she's a gun.

Speaker 5 (35:50):
And they have Jared leto play this character.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
Yeah, he's decided that Eve is a good person, and
he really likes depeche Mode as wants the Permanence code
for himself and won't give it to Julian. And in
order to find the code without killing Eve even her
comedic sidekick whose name I've already forgotten, send Aris into
the original Tron machine in the NCOM Museum, Oh Sick,

(36:14):
where he meets Kevin Flynn, Jeff Bridges okay, and Bridges
is like, oh, it's so interesting to see you here.
What's it like outside? And Aris convinces Flynn that he's
worthy of receiving the Permanen's code because he likes depeche
Mode but is unable to put their words why. It's
just a feeling, which is the key to him being
So he stores the code in his Frisbee and he

(36:39):
comes back to the real world. Alfina is attacking Eve
and her friend who I still can't remember their name.
She's about to kill Eve with the gun that sends
you to the grid, and then the sprinklers go off
and Athena laments being unable to feel the rain. She
dissolves in the twenty nine minutes, and then she overrides yeh,
she overrides Julian's programming, comes back to our world with

(37:00):
to assault the city and go after Eve kind of
by herself. She three D printed like a ton of soldiers,
but they never show up again, so I don't know,
incredible they get lost or something. At some point, Aries
comes back. He fights Athena, but the actual victory is
because Hassan Minaj's character, the CTO Yep Yep hadn't talked

(37:20):
about him yet. Minaj's character, who's the CTO of Ncom,
hacks into the Dillinger system and shuts down their grid.
So yeah, that's why he's got the corner office. Baby
Morbius escapes into the night.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Chief Technology.

Speaker 6 (37:36):
Yeah, Morbius escapes into the night. The authorities converge on
Julian to arrest him, but he reverses the three D
printer to transfer himself into the grid, and then Eve
uses the permanence code for good, providing oranges for everybody.
Morbius writes her a letter to say he's been traveling
the world and leaving the United States has shown him
that people are actually good, and while it's too early
for him to reveal himself to the world, he's still

(37:58):
assembling the Sinister and he is searching for Spider Man.

Speaker 4 (38:02):
I was gonna say, this is very like, it's giving weird,
kind of like why would anyone want a Jared leto
AI that has is like traveling the world and learning
digital Jesus, I guess is what they were kind of
going for.

Speaker 6 (38:20):
There's a lot of like Drax coding in him at
points where he like takes things too literally, which I
don't have a ton of knowledge about AI, but I
feel like AI would know idioms at this point.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, so he's a good He's.

Speaker 5 (38:32):
A he's secretly the good guy.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Pattern matching is basically like all that AI does, YEH
should sly know that? Yeah, so he is like the
good guy. Basically the corporations are the.

Speaker 6 (38:45):
Bast starts off bad and then realizes that, oh wow,
I have been asked to do horrible things and maybe uh,
I can turn against my creator and then I'm going
to have a will for myself and be good. I
see interesting there are references to every fake character, like
they call him Pinocchio at one point, there's a boy

(39:09):
I'll say like I in the beginning of it, like
nine Inch Nails.

Speaker 7 (39:14):
The soundtrack is incredible.

Speaker 6 (39:16):
Everyone said, yeah, kicks in for the first time, like
I had the full on like ugly, mean mugging.

Speaker 7 (39:22):
I'm like bobbing my head as the place I loved it.

Speaker 6 (39:26):
And then their single as Alive as You Need Me
to Be is like complete banger. It feels like mix
a little bit of muse, like covering a Rolling Stone
song with like a ton of bass. It's incredible. The
VFX looks really good, uh. For you know, we have
a bunch of movies that I feel like the VFX
has been rushed, But in this the as much as

(39:47):
I hate the idea of the three D printing process,
it looks very cool.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (39:52):
They They have like these bowstaves with the hard light trails.

Speaker 7 (39:56):
That follow it, and that's a really cool thing. You
can see where it goes.

Speaker 6 (39:59):
The lightss are cool, although they kind of just like
are in the first half of the movie and then
they never come back.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Is is this movie how how tightly tied is it
to the original Tron and its sequels? Like is it
more of a reboot?

Speaker 5 (40:16):
It is more of a I was gonna say soft reboot.

Speaker 6 (40:19):
I think there are a couple of references to legacy,
for sure, like, oh, look at this location, and you
know there is one beautiful VFX scene that takes place
like in in the original Tron video game that looks great.
But yeah, like there's some references to characters that were
in Legacy, but nothing that's like there's no Sillya Murphy

(40:40):
is not in this kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
Yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 5 (40:43):
I also was gonna say, Aaron, how did it play.

Speaker 6 (40:46):
In the so earlier I said that when when the
Nine and Schnails soundtrack kicked in for the first time,
I was like full on bobbing my head. There were
other moments when I had my head in my hands
because I was embarrassed, and there were other people in
the theater who who kind of were like chuckling at
not things that were meant to be chuckled at. And uh,

(41:08):
I regret to say people left early.

Speaker 5 (41:12):
Yeah I'm not.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
I've I've had similar stuff. The reviews are not looking
great right now, guys.

Speaker 5 (41:21):
And I would also.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
Say it is a fifty three currently on the tomatoes.

Speaker 5 (41:26):
The tomatoes, And I would also say, oh, you.

Speaker 6 (41:30):
Like Cameron Monaghan is in this movie and did the
press tour and he has like the epitome of a
blink and you'll miss it, like he he could have
been on set for thirty minutes.

Speaker 5 (41:40):
And then left.

Speaker 6 (41:42):
Jillian probably, Yeah, Jillian Anderson like has some scenes and
has a motivating scene, but she really could have done
on her filming in two days. Like it does feel
like a lot of things were cut, some plot lines
and the movie is still two hours, Like it's long
and there's stuff missing.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
Also, let's talk for.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
A minute about actual Jared Leto and why they keep
casting him, because so this is a there's a great
piece about the box office potential of this movie at
slash film by and it's Ryan Scott who wrote it.

Speaker 5 (42:17):
The thing I think that he.

Speaker 4 (42:18):
Actually highlights that's really interesting is Jared Leto. The last
hit that he had, like big, outright can't be questioned.
It was Suicide Squad and it made seven hundred and
forty million, forty nine million dollars world, right, that's the
first suicide squad, so it was not a critically acclaim movie,
but it made money.

Speaker 5 (42:37):
That was in twelve sixteen.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Not the star of that movie.

Speaker 4 (42:41):
He's in it very bad minute yea yeah, very cut
out and it says, you know, Blade Runner twenty forty
nine hilariously.

Speaker 5 (42:52):
Also not a lot of money in that one.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
He's funny in how Gucci, But I don't think the
movie was.

Speaker 5 (43:02):
Meant No, it's not meant to be, but his portrayal
is hilarious.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
But another movie one hundred and fifty three million, Morebius
one hundred and sixty seven million, The Little Thing's thirty
one million, Harnted Mansion one hundred and eighteen million, Well,
kind of crazy.

Speaker 5 (43:15):
How many movies have made less money?

Speaker 6 (43:16):
And he's also he's the villain of the upcoming Masters
of the Universe, which I'm I am.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
I'm incredibly sad about that because otherwise the cast is
like so great and I'm very excited for it. But yes,
I so like, how do you keep how good is
Jared Leto's agent? Because this is nine years of Flocks
and Disney still put him at the front of.

Speaker 7 (43:38):
This it's not his agent. He produced the movie.

Speaker 6 (43:40):
Oh okay, so this is deep enough that now he's
going to make the movies he wants and he's going
to be in there.

Speaker 4 (43:45):
Yeah, okay, guys, Aaron, you first after watching it seeing
people leave, kind of being the one who has experienced
tron aries, what's your box office prediction for this movie?

Speaker 7 (44:00):
Thirty million?

Speaker 4 (44:02):
I think that is very fair. That's high, I think, yeah,
I think it's high.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
The based on the the critics. I just I think,
let's see Disney's feeling well, Disney's feeling positive because they
are listing it for four they're listing at forty four million.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
But that actually wouldn't be very positive because that is
what John Legacy made ten years ago, So it would
not be a huge come up for them.

Speaker 5 (44:28):
I think it would.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
And this movie allegedly, I mean, you're talking about definitely
over two hundred million dollars to make this movie, so
I think it is going to be a flop for them.

Speaker 7 (44:37):
That does look pretty good.

Speaker 5 (44:39):
But right now it looks like the movie is probably.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
Going to be the number one movie, and then we'll
have Black Phone two, Shelby Oaks, the Springsteen movie is
coming out this year with the Jeremy Alan White in
it and Predator, bad Lands and The Running Man.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
So I think it's probably not.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
Even if it does manage to make it to number
one this week, I don't think it's going to be
there for a while.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Out of out of five, what do you give it out? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Five light cycles.

Speaker 6 (45:09):
I have a slightly different review scale for this movie,
and my of it is three, as in, if you
can come up with three reasons not to go see it,
don't go see it. So it's like it's too far away,
no baby, Jared Low, Yeah, Jared let off boom listen.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
If you have Disney Plus, just wait, just.

Speaker 5 (45:31):
Wait, it's gonna be on there, guaranteed.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
Probably Thanksgiving, honestly because of this performance. Aaron, thank you
so much for being our tron airy sacrificial lamb. We
appreciate you. Yes, and we will be listening to the
nine inch Now soundtrack because at least we got that
out of it.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Take a quick break. We'll be right back after this.

Speaker 5 (45:52):
Yeah, and we're back. And I have two dog lovers
with me, Joel and common A. Wow, we've been so

(46:14):
excited for this movie.

Speaker 4 (46:16):
I am just yah, Yeah, I'm so happy that we're
getting to talk about it. I think this is a
truly inventive movie. Yes, in the framework of horror that
we have not seen before. This movie is a directorial
debut of Professor Ben Lomberg premiered South By Southwest, where

(46:36):
it had like a really crazy response. And then it
is essentially a horror haunted house, horror movie but from
a dog's perspective, which I think is what you cannot.

Speaker 5 (46:48):
Really estimate is what that looks like. It's very unique.

Speaker 4 (46:53):
My spoiler free review is I think this is pretty
much you know me. I often will say, like, you know,
I don't raid on a curve. It's not my job
anymore to be like a film critic and think of
every movie that's come out.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
I think for this movie. This movie is seventy three
minutes long. It is utterly.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
Engaging and inventive the entire time. It's pretty much like
a perfect entry level horror movie.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
And the dog libs.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
I know that's a spoiler, but don't worry, because that's
all anyone cares about about this movie.

Speaker 5 (47:22):
So the dog libs.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
The dog is not even really in much terror or pain. Guys,
like the dog is Okay, Indy is okay, and it
had This movie was originally supposed to be director video shudder.
I think it's still gonna be a huge hit when
it hits there. But it opened up to two point

(47:46):
twenty five million, which is actually the second best debut
that IFC has ever had, and I think it's because
of the trailer that went viral and it racked over
like one hundred million in Vius and people got really
really excited. It's also the second biggest theater opening they've
ever had, so I'm really excited that it's great and

(48:09):
it's vibe, and I feel like there's going to be
like teenagers watching this for the next like twenty years
like this, feeling like they discovered something completely new.

Speaker 5 (48:20):
And it's very charming.

Speaker 4 (48:21):
And it is a little bit hard to watch at
times because Indy is.

Speaker 5 (48:25):
A good dog who gets scared.

Speaker 4 (48:27):
But okay, so that is the mostly spoiler free but
I think everyone wants to know about the dog, so
that's okay.

Speaker 5 (48:33):
I've had many.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
People already DM me, many people.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
Already DM that is the top ask me yes, but lovely.

Speaker 4 (48:42):
Dog owning ladies who are also just big dog loving
fans and also horror fans, how do you feel about
this movie, Carmen, I know this was a very and
highly anticipated movie for you.

Speaker 5 (48:53):
Did it live up to the hype?

Speaker 8 (48:56):
It?

Speaker 10 (48:56):
It lived up to the hype, and it gave me
even more I think, yes, I obviously once the trailer
came out and I heard that this was going to
be a horror I'm sorry if you can hear by
the way my dog in the background squeaking.

Speaker 5 (49:09):
His dog's love and life. You know what, it's a
doggy episode. It's just it's just how it.

Speaker 10 (49:13):
Is, so that's what that is. But I really didn't
know what to expect about a horror movie from a
dog's perspective, you know what, what does that look like?
And they gave me that in a way that I
didn't anticipate. So I expected, like, oh my god, is
this is going to be like a POV sort of

(49:34):
like am I.

Speaker 5 (49:35):
Going to be in the dog's eyes sort of thing?

Speaker 7 (49:37):
And they didn't do that.

Speaker 10 (49:38):
They gave us more of like the camera angles and
the fit and the camera work that made us feel
like we were in the dog's perspective and made us
kind of relate to what the dog was going through.
Throughout the movie. And I guess if we do want
to get in do we want to get into spoilers
a little bit?

Speaker 4 (49:58):
I think, yeah, if you don't want to spoilers, guys,
put the spoiler am uffs on. But if you don't
mind spoilers, and I know a lot of our horphobic
fans like to listen before they watch, so yeah, listen
to this, we're gonna get into the spoiler territory.

Speaker 10 (50:12):
Yeah, I've got I've definitely, I've definitely, I've definitely got
to give it another watch to fully kind of absorb
what the plot was about. But the way that I interpret,
you're also kind of trying to interpret what is happening,
yes to the humans, just like the dog is trying
to figure out what is happening to the humans. So

(50:34):
you're never worried for the dog in the same way
that the movie makes you worry for the dog's human more.
That's what you're really focused on, is like, oh, no,
the dog is really worried about their human and what
they're going through. And they've moved into this new house,
an old house that is like haunted.

Speaker 11 (50:54):
Definitely haunted, and he's inherited it from his grandfather.

Speaker 5 (50:57):
Who has bad vibes.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
By the way, Guys like I was watching it, and
I was like's.

Speaker 10 (51:02):
House, Yeah, bad vibes. And then the owner, the human
becomes very sick, and I took it to be that
he was going through like lung cancer uh, and that
he was experiencing uh uh, like late stage lung cancer

(51:22):
and the dot and this was like about the dog
mourning the loss of a human when.

Speaker 5 (51:27):
We pass on. Normally it's humans.

Speaker 10 (51:30):
We're mourning the loss of our dogs because we often,
you know, our dogs don't live as long as we do.
But what happens when the human dies before the dog.

Speaker 5 (51:40):
It's really Yeah.

Speaker 11 (51:42):
I found it to be a really interesting meditation on
like isolation, ways we choose to isolate ourselves. You know,
the cabin in the woods element of it is already
sort of isolated, but then there's this extra layer of
As the movie progresses, the owner sort of starts to
distance himself from his dogs, angry that he's dying, he's
scared that he's dying.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
He's pushed his sister away, and.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
She's the one who originally, by the way, realized there
was something really wrong because of the way the dom
was acting.

Speaker 5 (52:12):
She's the first one who's like, hey, dogs consents.

Speaker 4 (52:14):
This stuff like maybe the indie's smelling something, maybe you know,
and also I do.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Yeah, sorry, I just gonna say.

Speaker 11 (52:22):
They heighten that by you don't see anyone's face until
like right until the ends, all the faces are obscured.
And then on top of that, there's this sort of
reflective relationship through the TV where he's watching these old
tapes his grandfather recorded of himself. He's clearly undergoing the
same kind of thing. He's got the same really intense cough.
He's not well. He is a dog who's super loyal,

(52:44):
who's always sort of around him. Uh And and because
the main character isn't really talking to anybody, uh and
he's only got this relationship either with his sister through
his phone or with his deceased grandfather through these VHS's.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
I mean for me, like I was like, I spent
so much time with my dog.

Speaker 11 (53:06):
Was like, like the dog, You're experiencing all of this
through the dog's perspective, and the dog is like basically
the whole time, I was like, is he good?

Speaker 1 (53:16):
How do I help? What I can't? What do I do?
And I was really impressed.

Speaker 11 (53:20):
I think most dog centered movies I think of like
a homeword bound or something, they try to personify the
dog and human elements. Thank you, and it's which is fine.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Who doesn't you know?

Speaker 11 (53:36):
I love that walks on two legs, you know, with
them in the raincoat. I like it exactly. But this,
you know, as dog lovers, I think it's such a
beautiful homage to dogs, made much more special by the
fact that this is the director's actual.

Speaker 10 (53:54):
Thing about his fantastic acting from Indy by the way,
because Indy.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
Is a non professional performer.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
Indy was trained essentially for three years by Ben Limberg,
the director, and his wife Carrie Fisher, and the notion
was to essentially get him into a place.

Speaker 5 (54:17):
No rip to our baby.

Speaker 4 (54:19):
This is Carrie with a k, but you know, another
very inventive and thoughtful person.

Speaker 5 (54:28):
Clearly because this movie.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
What I was really impressed by, Joel that you mentioned
there is just like they are not interested. And I
think this is what I love about IFC and what
I love about Shudder is in reality, this is a
very experimental movie, not just because we don't often get
movies from the dog's perspective, but also because this is a.

Speaker 5 (54:50):
Very minimal dialogue movie.

Speaker 4 (54:52):
It's mostly vibes, and you do have to really enjoy it.
And this is why I really want people to go
and see it, because you really have to focus on
what is going to get into Indie's mindset, Like the
baby good boy dog is just really trying to struggle
through this for his owner, and it's so incredible to

(55:18):
see the way that they bring that to life. And honestly,
this is not a hyperbole like hyperbole, but like they
I don't think I've ever seen a movie.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
That looks like this or that tells a story like this.

Speaker 4 (55:32):
Yeah, and I've watched a lot of movies, a lot
of different kinds of movies, but there's something about this
that's really special. I think that they did such a
brilliant job. And also I think seventy three minutes. We're
always talking about movies that could be shorter. This movie
absolutely could be longer, but I think, yeah, I think
that at you know, an hour and thirteen minutes, it's

(55:55):
the perfect length for this project. And I really do
hope that this reminds people like you can have a
movie with an animal in it, but guys, you just
have to treat the animal well and love the animal
and make sure the animal is comfortable.

Speaker 5 (56:12):
And that is what this movie did.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
This is the first that's my favorite version from the
old school Hollywood way of like, you know, animal exploitation,
animal performers.

Speaker 11 (56:24):
Sure, yeah, it was really interesting. Ben's has this school.
He says, keep in mind, and I cannot say this enough.
Indy has no idea he's.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
In a movie.

Speaker 11 (56:31):
Yeah, the film that looks like he's been through the ringer,
but in reality he's just rolling around the mud having
the time of his life. They said, you know, it
took three years because the dog is not a trained actor,
and so what they were doing a lot of times
they're like, oh, it's raining, we have that rain scene.
Go to the house, dog sit okay, And then they
would just roll the camera and see, So what you're
getting is actually the dog's natural reactions to its environment.

(56:54):
And then they would go back and sort of piece
it into the story. They adjusted the story as they
went to sometimes with a dog day because they were like, oh,
that looks creepy. We can add some additional sound design
to make it extra creepy, and it works. So it's
not what I really love about this film is it
kind of could only be me by someone who is
a student of film and he's a professor. Yes, he's
you could tell he's like, Okay, it's a little experimental,

(57:16):
it's a little weird. I have a ton of time
to work on it. I'm not under a budget or
a time restraint. It's a it's a unique thing, and
I think that's kind of the best thing about festivals
is you like, if you go to the Midwest and
you go to a film festival, you're going to see
somebody who's like dedicated their life to film but has
no interest in being famous or successful. Those films are
out of this world, weird and good and very logic.

(57:37):
The ideas come from that space.

Speaker 4 (57:39):
The vibe that I got from this was like, and
I kind of love that about the Internet.

Speaker 5 (57:44):
You know, there's a lot of things that are tough
about the Internet.

Speaker 4 (57:46):
We've all lived through it, like we know that it's
not necessarily a perfect space. But I do think it's
pretty incredible that what is clearly a personal indie pun
included because we love Indie the Dog, but independent film
project that found an audience online because people were just

(58:07):
really excited to see a story like this, And I
do have to say, for Indie not being a professional actor,
this is one of my favorite dog performances of all
time because the way they shoot him understanding that he
is a dog and then highlighting the most incredible kind

(58:28):
of emotional, beautiful little micro expressions on his face.

Speaker 5 (58:34):
You get so many.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
Beautifully lit shots of Indie's face and India as he's
trying to, you know, come to terms with what is occurring.

Speaker 5 (58:44):
Okay, what I want to ask.

Speaker 4 (58:45):
You guys, And this is We're going full fall spoiler
here because I'm just interested and I feel like this
is gonna be one of.

Speaker 5 (58:51):
Those big dog, I mean, big horror conversations.

Speaker 4 (58:55):
The end of the movie, as you hinted at, is
about you know, the owner part.

Speaker 5 (59:00):
Is away, but it also has this.

Speaker 10 (59:04):
Element of ambiguity, almost.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Ambiguity of like what is happening? Is this how Indie
perceives his master's death? Is the death? Is the creature
something negative? Or is it just a fear of death?
Like what do you think it represents? Is there something

(59:29):
in the house via the grandpa? Like this is a
almost like a generational kind of.

Speaker 5 (59:35):
Weight thing, Like how do you read it?

Speaker 4 (59:37):
Because I did find the moment where they say that
the moments at the end with Todd and Indy is
like some really heartbreaking, beautiful stuff.

Speaker 5 (59:48):
And I was just trying. I was like, did they
add the kind of dark figure.

Speaker 4 (59:53):
As a real figure or an a like a kind
of metaphorical figure.

Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
Where do you guys land on it?

Speaker 10 (01:00:02):
When I when I watched it, I interpreted that as
a meta metaphor for like, hmm, the cancer or whatever,
a sickness.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
I think it's like a chronic It's like a chronic
lung disease. Yeah, it runs in that family.

Speaker 10 (01:00:15):
That was taking over his body. That's how I interpreted that.

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
Yeahs can I give you my please? Please? Because I
think it's so interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
This is this is my woke theory, Okay.

Speaker 11 (01:00:26):
So you can read it as demonic or as like
cancer is work, and that's kind of the the appeal
to it. I like to hybrid it and say, this
house in New Jersey is near a chemical plant. Everyone's like,
I can't believe you're living in this house. Nobody stays
here too long. People keep doing what are you doing?

(01:00:47):
And I'm like, it's the land. The land is there's.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
Weird es and.

Speaker 11 (01:00:55):
No, I really feel like like there's there's it's all around,
because even the dogs like like there's a fox at
one point, and you're like, that's not.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
Constantly shrouded in stuff. You're like this whole space.

Speaker 5 (01:01:09):
Exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:01:10):
Yes, Yes, I think that's a great read, Joel, because
also I think that is an area of horror that
I'm really excited to hopefully see people start exploring more,
because I have read so many terrifying, incredibly well researched,
well reported articles about the realities of how the capitalist

(01:01:33):
system has destroyed so many spaces and how even in La,
even right where I am in South La, I live
right near the refinery thanks to environmental racism that puts
all the refineries and ports down in predominantly black and
Mexican areas, And we have so many stories here of
young people getting cancer from the land, young people getting

(01:01:56):
asthma that turns into chronic lung disease. So I actually think, Joel,
that you are onto something really cool there, because also
there's kind of this inevitability that the moment he moves into.

Speaker 5 (01:02:10):
The house, you can kind of feel that he's gonna die.

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
There's like this acceptance of moving that isolating yourself, and
I think it's what a dog does.

Speaker 11 (01:02:26):
And there's even a moment where there's like, oh, he's
like maybe i'll I do want to live and he
tries to go get help and they're like it's too late,
like because he really hits for being so tight, like
hits on all of these like really intense emotional beats
that ending.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
Very well thought.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
I'm not expecting to cry, y'all, And I was broke.

Speaker 11 (01:02:45):
You're a good boy, but you can't say that.

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
I was like, oh my god, my face.

Speaker 11 (01:02:51):
Why it just just to really highlight how and and
really what it is is like it's a kudos to
the filmmakers because again, the dog is just hanging out
with its owners.

Speaker 1 (01:02:59):
It doesn't know.

Speaker 11 (01:03:00):
But I would like, if I had to, I would
put this performance on like the same level as like Jed,
who's like the wolf dog from It, who has like
like that dog is in that movie performing he's like
invested in this character. And you get that same vibe
from Indy Uh, who coincidentally is also uh George Lucas's
Dog's name. Doesn't they named the character Indiana Jones after

(01:03:24):
I'm remembering that.

Speaker 9 (01:03:25):
Yes, correct.

Speaker 4 (01:03:26):
And then the joke is that in the movie you
find out that he named himself after a dog too,
you just don't find out the movie.

Speaker 5 (01:03:34):
So yeah, so name your Dog movie, I guess. I
just I'm really happy that this movie exists.

Speaker 4 (01:03:42):
I am so happy that the three of us on
this podcast and we can, you know, do coverage like
this because Good Boy literally debuted at number nine out
of ten at the box office in the same ten
in the same box office top ten as Taylor Swift

(01:04:03):
official release party of a show Go One Battle after
Another and The Smashing Machine. This is like a huge
moment for indie horror and for animal horror that is
not exploitative, something that we have not really gone. Also
currently on ran Tomorrow's ninety one percent wow of.

Speaker 5 (01:04:21):
Over one hundred reviews are positive. And I just think this.

Speaker 4 (01:04:25):
Is a wonderful movie and I'm really excited for you
guys to watch it. And you know what, Joel though
and common, let's give our warning if you are a
dog parent who is going to watch this movie, ye
should you do to prepare your dog?

Speaker 10 (01:04:40):
Well, this is a great thing. I wanted to mention
this because we were fortunate enough to receive screen or links. Everybody,
go see this in the theater. Absolutely support this in
the box office. I'm going to go see it in
the theater to support the box office.

Speaker 4 (01:04:54):
And the good thing is if you can't, it will
be coming to shut us, so you willbean.

Speaker 10 (01:04:57):
Yes, if you're able to see it in theaters, go
see it. But if you can't at home with the dogs,
I it depends and you know your dog. But my
dogs do pretty fine with seeing dogs on TV. They're
curious and they're interested, but they I feel like they
don't think that it's like a real dog. They have

(01:05:21):
figured out it's a TV. I think I'm not trying
to brag that my dogs are super smart or something smart.

Speaker 4 (01:05:29):
All the X ray vision dogs are very smart guys,
no question.

Speaker 10 (01:05:33):
But while I watched this movie on the sofa with
my two dogs, they were very interested and engaged in
this movie. They were locked in like watching this movie
and they I swear my littlest dog, my youngest dog, Specs,
was invested in what was going on with Indy was
was really but Joel had a totally different experience. Joel

(01:05:54):
what was Yeah?

Speaker 11 (01:05:55):
So Lions was into it at first because she too
loves watching an animal on TV.

Speaker 1 (01:05:59):
She's like, what's happening? Her favorite show is Blue Ye,
I put it off.

Speaker 5 (01:06:03):
She's such a.

Speaker 11 (01:06:05):
She truly, But when there's the dog wins, the dog
in the movie is not hurt, I just can't.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
Oh, yes, we get it, we hear.

Speaker 4 (01:06:12):
You, and.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:06:17):
But when the dog wind it was distressing her. Her ears
went back and she was like looking at me, like,
why are they crying? What's going on? So I wanted
to putting my headphones in and giving lines a.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
Treat so she could.

Speaker 7 (01:06:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (01:06:27):
So if your dog responds to like my dog, if
she hears puppies crying, I think she knows in the
same way that Carmen's dog knows, like that's a speaker.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
They're not here, but the cries just really get to her.

Speaker 5 (01:06:37):
So aware, be thoughtful.

Speaker 4 (01:06:40):
And I'm gonna say, look as somebody who doesn't have
a dog, because you know what, my landlord won't let
me have a pet.

Speaker 5 (01:06:48):
Like let me have a pet in my apartment.

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
But I will say also that was actually of all
the movie, that was the first time.

Speaker 5 (01:06:58):
That the owner leaves Indy in the house.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
When Indy realizes there's something wrong in the house. When
he was lining, I just started immediately tearing up and
was like, oh my god, I don't know, like so good,
so well done.

Speaker 11 (01:07:14):
Yeah, I don't leave my dog like that, Like oh,
he just put a bull of food down and was
like peace out. I was like, what I was with
my dog? I put her in her candle and she's
like exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
I literally we were just babysitting our friend's sweet dog.
And when I whenever we'd leave them, I was like, Okay,
you got the doughnut on, you got the food, you
gotter like, you've got a TV on? Like I'm like,
I say, you're just leaving this dog in this dark
ass house. Put the radio on at least like something something.

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
But we get it. He's sick. He's a man. They
have to.

Speaker 4 (01:07:51):
You know. It's really tough to be excited to do
so much, to do so much. But yes, delightful, Okay,
anything you would recommend before leave? Two other people who
really love this movie. Like I said, very unique movie,
not necessarily something that I have seen anything like before,
but you know you could if you watch this.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
I think this could make him.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
What's the animated cat flow that came out with.

Speaker 11 (01:08:17):
I think that's the closest thing, extremely vibe.

Speaker 4 (01:08:20):
I would also say, if you're going for the if
you're feeling like you need a little cry, which all
of us do in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (01:08:27):
This is a good double bill with this and The
Wild Robot, I would be.

Speaker 4 (01:08:35):
The frying, the love of animals, the beautiful filmmaking, because
that's the other thing I want to say.

Speaker 5 (01:08:42):
This movie look good as.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Hell good, really gorgeous.

Speaker 4 (01:08:47):
What's good it's cinematography, the lighting, the way they use
the shadows in the house.

Speaker 5 (01:08:54):
So yeah, I would I love that, Joel. I think
flow is a great call.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:08:57):
I think The Wild Robot is like very emotionally in
tune with this movie.

Speaker 4 (01:09:03):
Also, guys, have you ever watched The First Airbod That's
a movie about that is a movie about ghosts and
dogs and all kinds of stuff, and so yeah, definitely
never a bad time to jump in. Ohs, focus.

Speaker 5 (01:09:19):
Okay, guys, there you have it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
You've got to watch My fun Oh no, don't, oh no,
don't watch flu because then you'll really be crying, like,
why is a dad.

Speaker 5 (01:09:30):
Turning into a dog? Okay, get a dad out of
my dog? I just want the dog. But yes, love
the scream queens. Love you guys joining.

Speaker 4 (01:09:38):
Us, Thank you so much. Okay, guys, it is Friday,
which means thank goallectus.

Speaker 5 (01:09:46):
It's Friday.

Speaker 4 (01:09:46):
Let's wrap up by sharing one thing. We are all
excited to do this.

Speaker 5 (01:09:51):
We can.

Speaker 2 (01:09:52):
Jason, I am excited to fly back from New York
City and playgos of of your day on my on
my PlayStation and play with my.

Speaker 1 (01:10:03):
Dogs at your comic con. But we'll be.

Speaker 2 (01:10:07):
Done at that point. Yeah, Jason's like I I love
Comicon but it's like Vegas. I love, and then you're done.

Speaker 4 (01:10:17):
Don't exactly overst and remember to try and eat a vegetable.

Speaker 5 (01:10:21):
Aaron, what will you be doing this weekend?

Speaker 6 (01:10:24):
So my friends and I over this summer started doing
rooftop movies. We have one of my friends has an
apartment building that has a great like little sitting area
with a screen, and most of the weekends nobody has
been up there. And this I think is our maybe
last weekend that we can really do a nice, comfortable,
no snow and maybe we won't have snow in a month,

(01:10:46):
but like it will be our last kind of summary
rooftop movie. And we have a friend in from out
of town, which just means, in true New York fashion,
we're getting a couple of pizzas. We're gonna go watch something.
Last time we watched twenty twelve, we watched Jurassic Park two,
The Lost World okay, and we watched Wet Hot American Summer.

Speaker 7 (01:11:05):
For the last three ones, he did, I would love.

Speaker 5 (01:11:09):
Eat some pizza.

Speaker 6 (01:11:10):
The premise is someone has to like give a quick
presentation about the movie. So like mine was Lost World,
and I just like talked about how much I love
dinosaurs and then like gave people dinosaur facts throughout.

Speaker 5 (01:11:20):
Oh, that's so fun.

Speaker 6 (01:11:21):
And we have a scientist who gave us all the
information about like why the science of twenty twelve like
actually kind of works in some ways it doesn't. So
that's that's my My My weekend plan is to have
one more summer rooftop movie.

Speaker 5 (01:11:36):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
Carmen comment.

Speaker 10 (01:11:39):
Well, I am very excited to see my friend Jennie
Danger play at the Variety Playhouse this weekend. Ooh, she's
very very proud that she is on tour. She's been
selected to be the opening act for the John Mouse tour.
So if you're going to see John Mouse at any
point she will be the opening act and I'm going

(01:11:59):
to say you're in Atlanta this weekend.

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
That's my plan, and.

Speaker 10 (01:12:02):
Taking the dogs to the dog park because they're good
boys and they deserve they deserve.

Speaker 5 (01:12:08):
Joel, how about you, Rosie, you know my plans.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
I'm gonna be with you.

Speaker 5 (01:12:17):
Entire series.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
I'm very very exciting.

Speaker 5 (01:12:20):
And Aaron, it will also be an out I have.

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
I have managed to set out my projector outside, so
me and Joel will be joining you.

Speaker 5 (01:12:28):
This is like more of a deck top. It's on
top of my garage. I wouldn't call it a roof
there free it's higher up than the floor.

Speaker 7 (01:12:34):
If it's the roof of the garage, it still counts exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:12:38):
Well, it sounds like a good fun weekend guys. Well,
thank you all for joining us. We love to have
you on here.

Speaker 5 (01:12:43):
Jason, thank you for coming in from New York.

Speaker 9 (01:12:54):
City.

Speaker 2 (01:12:55):
Never go to plate about there. I am for this episode.
Thanks Will Wisling. Will we back them all with the
Biggest No Little week Boy x ray Vision is hosted

(01:13:16):
by Jason Sepcion and Rosie Knight and is a production
of iHeart Podcasts.

Speaker 4 (01:13:20):
Our executive producers are Joel Monique and Aaron Kurtman.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
Our supervising producer is Abuza par.

Speaker 4 (01:13:26):
Our producers are Common, Laurent Dean Jonathan and Bay Wack.

Speaker 2 (01:13:30):
A theme song is by Brian Vasquez, with alternate theme
songs by Aaron Kaufman.

Speaker 4 (01:13:34):
Special thanks to Soul Rubin, Chris Lord, Kenny Goodman and
Heidi Our discored moderator