The 1999 Movie Hall of Fame

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:08):
Hey, I'm Osman Farooqui and this is the drop a
culture show from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age,
where we dive into the latest in the world of
pop culture and entertainment. I'm here with Mel Kambouris and
Thomas Mitchell. What's up team.

S2 (00:20):
Good Osman, maybe you can solve a debate for us
this morning. We've just been to get coffee and the
server has asked for the name to go with the
coffee order, and I've said it's Mel. Mel and Thomas
here has said that the spelling out of the name
was unnecessary.

S3 (00:38):
I think when your name is Mel, it's unnecessary.

S2 (00:41):
I think that it's better to be clear to avoid
the the follow up question.

S1 (00:45):
I'm the wrong person to ask because I have a
name that is often miswritten and mispronounced by baristas. So
I use a coffee name and I do spell it out.
So I'm definitely on Mel's side. It's, you know, if
she didn't spell it out, perhaps the barista might have
written it down as Mel. And then you've got a
mel Malcolm situation. So how many.

S3 (01:04):
Mal's are out there? Really?

S1 (01:06):
How many Aussies are out there? Not that many. But
you still get. You still get.

S2 (01:10):
What's your coffee name cropping up?

S1 (01:11):
Mine is just Oz o Zed, but it occasionally leads
to funny situations like a Vietnamese coffee shop I went
to once the guy took my order o Zed. He
was fine with that. The person reading it out was
not the same person who took the name down, so
she looked at it and read out zero z, zero z. Um,
and it took me a minute to realize she thought

(01:31):
you were like.

S3 (01:32):
Elon Musk child or something.

S1 (01:33):
Exactly, exactly. Because good. Other than your coffee mishaps.

S3 (01:37):
Yeah. All good, all good. How are you going? It's
been a big week for you.

S1 (01:41):
Yes, I'm on leave. I've sort of come back in specially.
Parachuted myself back into the podcast to, uh, keep you
guys on track. Clearly didn't trust what you would do
without me either. Um, but I got a question for you, Mel.
Last week when we talked about Furiosa, the new mad
Max movie. You hadn't seen it yet. It's fine. You know,

(02:03):
life comes up. That's okay. You have a very busy schedule.
You're a busy person. It was a Sydney Writers Festival
that wrapped up on the weekend. It's now been a
week since the movie's out. So how did you how
did you find it?

S2 (02:15):
I'm sorry to confess that I haven't actually seen it yet,
but what is this call out culture?

S1 (02:21):
Well, I mean, I think it's important to to just
sit on this one for a second, because you might
not be aware, but you are contributing to the slow
and gradual death of the medium of cinema. Add it to.

S2 (02:34):
The list of the things I'm doing wrong.

S1 (02:39):
Well, well. Last week we talked about how it was
one of the few blockbusters on the film schedule of 2024,
but despite being the most expensive Australian film ever made
and not really having much competition at the box office,
it's failed to get big numbers in its opening weekend

(02:59):
in America, which fell on Memorial Day, which is historically
a pretty big day for the US box office. Furious
had just managed to outdo Garfield for the top spot.
It took in 48 million AUD over those four days,
compared to Garfield's $46 million not a great result. In
total terms, it's the lowest Memorial Day opening in 30

(03:22):
years since 1995, and you wouldn't be stoked if you're
George Miller, that after spending ten years making this movie,
you just beat the cartoon cat. Voiced by Chris Pratt,
who voices every cartoon creature. It seems by a couple
of million dollars. It's not a great result, is it?

S3 (03:39):
No, it's a bit grim. Uh, I love Garfield, by
the way. Like, I've always been a fan of the Garfield,
so I can see, you know, Garfield's got a big
built in audience out there, and George Miller didn't see
that coming.

S2 (03:50):
I can feel that you would appreciate Garfield's whole vibe.

S3 (03:52):
Yeah, man, he fucking eats lasagna every day. That's like the.

S2 (03:54):
Dream. Hungry cat.

S3 (03:57):
Uh, yeah. So it is. It is a bit grim. And,
you know, we kind of flagged last week that there
wasn't a bunch of, you know, big block. There's lots
of good stuff to come this year, but not a
bunch of blockbusters that level. And I definitely was surprised
to see I thought it was going to do, you know,
kind of like June numbers. But yeah, here we are.
And I think there's lots of people kind of like
navel gazing now to be like, oh, what does this

(04:17):
mean about the future of cinema? Not just as we
are right now, but yeah, I'm sure it'll bounce back,
but definitely an interesting kind of an interesting situation for
the Furiosa fans to find themselves in. Except for Mel,
who refuses to see the movie.

S2 (04:28):
I feel like maybe we've all got a ahead of
ourselves with Barbie and Oppenheimer. We were all so excited
about the return and the saving of cinema, and then unfortunately,
it's not really played out as we would have hoped
back then.

S3 (04:43):
This is worse than when I refuse to see anyone
but you.

S2 (04:46):
It's been a week. I'm going to see it.

S1 (04:49):
There are so many different factors behind the performance of
the box office at the moment. I mean, one of
them is just we are living in the shadow of
the strikes last year that that took out production for
such a long period of time. So we don't have
a very busy schedule. You've probably noticed that TV and
film is pretty. Quiet. I'm sure like me, you guys
have friends in your life that message you when it's

(05:12):
the weekend and they're like, hey, what should I see?
The the movies, what's on streaming right now? I've kind
of struggled in the last couple of weeks to recommend
much film. Yeah, we've mentioned that Ferris is the big
one for a while. TV wise, House of the Dragon
season two comes out in the middle of June, and
then The bear comes out at the end of that
month for its third season. So very excited about that.

(05:32):
But until then, there's not heaps, and that presents a
bit of a predicament for people like us whose job
it is, is to talk about TV and film that
is coming out. Uh, the good news is we have
a solution. Today on the podcast, we're going back to
the past 25 years, back in time to 1999. Cue

(05:53):
the Prince song.

UU (05:56):
So tonight on the party like it's 1999.

S1 (06:05):
One of the greatest years in movie history. We're going
to build our Hall of Fame for cinema in 1999.
Each of us is going to pick our favorite films
of that year. We're going to talk about why we
love them, discuss our favorite scenes, what held up the best,
what maybe didn't hold up, and whether these movies stand
the test of time. It's going to be a lot
of fun. And let me just say, there are an

(06:26):
incredible amount of like, not just like good, but like
five star movies from this year. Our group chat for
the past few days has just been what this came
out in 1999 and that what? That's crazy. Very excited
about this one.

S3 (06:41):
Yes, I am very excited to talk about a bunch
of films that Leonardo DiCaprio would no longer date because
they are 25 years old. But it is true. Like
the more we kind of got into it and we're
going through the process of selecting our movies, it became
that thing of like, oh my God, how do you
just choose three? And I'm sure if you went and
looked back at like 98 or 2000, they'd also be
like so many great films. But it does feel that

(07:03):
99 specifically, probably something to do with Y2K, I imagine
is like stacked with great films across every single genre too.
So yeah, it was a special time in film and
I'm keen a special time in film. Not a special
time for me personally, because that was an awkward age
for me, but I am keen to revisit them.

S2 (07:18):
I'm also keen to revisit a time before I single
handedly ruined cinema.

S1 (07:24):
Yeah, they're going to talk about you in history, in
the history books, Mel. Um, no, I'm really excited about it.
It's it's a new format for us, a bit of
a risk. Hopefully it pays off. I'm really looking forward
to it. But before we get there, a couple of
bits of news to talk about. Thomas, our guy, Robert
De Niro, managed to involve himself in the Donald Trump trial.

(07:45):
Can you tell us what the hell's going on here?

S3 (07:47):
Yeah, I was very excited when my De Niro Google
alert went off this morning. Um, it's been.

S1 (07:52):
And it wasn't another.

S3 (07:53):
Trial. It's been pretty quiet. Yeah, I know he's obviously
been in the depths of new fatherhood. Uh, at however old.
He's 79. Um, so he's really in it just at
that and obviously, um, whatever else he has gout, I presume.
But but yeah, he rocked up at the Trump trial.

S4 (08:10):
I owe the city a lot. And that's why it's
so weird that Donald Trump is just across the street,
because he doesn't belong in my city.

S3 (08:21):
And basically gave this really impassioned speech. And he did.
He was like, you know, lots of writers are saying this.
He went full Goodfellas. Like, this was De Niro at
his most gangster. He called Trump a tyrant.

S4 (08:31):
Just another grubby real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot,
a two bit Playboy lying his way into the tabloids.

S3 (08:39):
And that is just like, man, the guys just left
Trump for dead there. Uh, and basically, yeah, he he's
kind of stolen the limelight out of this insane trial
that's happening. Um, but it's very exciting to see De
Niro fired up again because he's been in a bit
of a run of just like I'm here playing a
filthy grandpa again. But now this was the De Niro
we know and love. He was impassioned. He was a
little bit scary. He was full Italian. I'm fucking here

(09:01):
for it.

S2 (09:01):
Oh, and it was so good. Once he had given
stopped his actual speech and he was walking back in,
the crowd was heckling him and they were like, your
movies suck. And he says this line, he's like, we're
trying to be gentlemen. You are gangsters. And it's just
so good hearing him to call them gangsters.

S1 (09:16):
Also, who are these Trump fans saying De Niro's movie suck?
Like they just objectively do not suck?

S2 (09:22):
It's amazing. I've watched it so many times.

S3 (09:24):
He's obviously concerned about, um, you know, the future for
his young child and what kind of world they'll be
living in. Uh, so yeah, De Niro is back, baby.

S1 (09:32):
I went back and rewatched killers of the Flower Moon
a couple of weeks ago, and we we all really
enjoyed that movie and thought it was brilliant. I remember
at the time, Thomas, you and I were a bit
down on De Niro's performance. I think we said that
it was maybe one of the weaker ones in the film.
I mean, I think that's not totally unfair because the
other performances are just so overpoweringly and overwhelmingly brilliant. But

(09:54):
I think that was a little bit too harsh on him.
I think he actually is doing something very, very, very
special in that movie. And when you're saying, you know,
he's channeling some of that Goodfellas energy, I think he
was doing a little bit of that. In Kills of
Flowmon two, and I wonder whether, being in that movie,
the discourse around it where America has gone a hundred
years since the events depicted in that film, sort of

(10:17):
reawoken the fire in his belly in terms of wanting
to intervene and send out a signal that America is
potentially headed down a dark path.

S3 (10:25):
Yeah, I went back and rewatched Bad Grandpa and felt
the same thing. Um, and now I mean, look. And
now he's taking on a very famous bad grandpa and
Donald Trump, so everything comes full circle. Uh, look, I
obviously never walk back. My takes. They're always right at
the time, and I stand by them forever. But, I mean,
you are one of the few people I know that
would actually go and rewatch killers of the Flower Moon,
great as it is, but it's like, that's that's why

(10:47):
Osborne's actually taken leave this week. Yeah.

S1 (10:49):
I've just been rewatching that and Eyes Wide Shut, surely.

S2 (10:52):
Oppenheimer.

S1 (10:53):
Um, the the other thing that we wanted to talk about,
there was a story in The Hollywood Reporter this week
that got all three of us pretty excited. It's called
Meet the New A-list. The ten young movie stars taking
Hollywood by Storm now, as well as being a list
of who The Hollywood Reporter believes are the biggest movie

(11:13):
stars of their generation, the story had some pretty interesting
insight into how modern movie stars are being made and
how they're managing their careers. According to the piece, young
stars are less formulaic than their predecessors, including just those
from the past decade who generally used indie debuts and
a lot of awards buzz to, I guess, sort of

(11:34):
leverage that into big picture IP and Oscar worthy films.
These movie stars of this generation are more agnostic. They're
moving between studio to studio, they're less keen on big
picture IP. Uh, they're moving between film and television a
bit more regularly as well. And it was a really
interesting quote from Glenn Powell, who is on the list.

(11:55):
And the cover of, uh, is the cover star of
this issue of The Hollywood Reporter. He says, are we
like this generation of movie star is going to find
ourselves going after the same roles? Absolutely. But are we
ever in competition? No. We do different things. So a
bit less cutthroat, a bit more friendly vibes from this crew,
I guess that reflects the kind of current social era

(12:15):
that we are in. Anyway, I might just run through
the list and get your guys initial takes on who
The Hollywood Reporter has dubbed the ten greatest movie stars
of their generation. It's Austin Butler, Timothee Chalamet, Jacob Elordi,
Paul Mescal, Jenna Ortega, Glen Powell was mentioned, Florence Pugh,
Sydney Sweeney, Anya Taylor-Joy and Zendaya. First reactions to those

(12:41):
being the ten biggest movie stars of their generation. Give
it to me.

S3 (12:46):
Well, the writers obviously watch euphoria because there are three
euphoria stars. No, I mean, it's I guess it's the
obvious list. Um, I don't know. I think the whole
concept is really interesting, but I feel like the list
is almost a bit too predictable.

S2 (13:04):
Yeah. My first feeling looking at this list is how
little actual acting a lot of these people are doing. Like,
I reckon we should look at some of the films
they've been in and what they got paid for it,
and figure out how much each word a cake like
equates for financially. Because a lot of these actors and
it's not I'm not saying that they're not also doing
kind of more substantial roles, but they're gravitating towards sweeping

(13:27):
epics like we were talking about and Anya Taylor-Joy. Unfortunately,
I haven't yet seen Furiosa yet about how few words
she has in that film. Um, and Zendaya is doing big,
sweeping epics. Timothee Chalamet is doing musicals and also films
like Dune, Florence Pugh like they are gravitating towards these
sweeping sci fi where they don't actually have to do

(13:47):
any character acting, and they're getting paid big bucks. Yeah, and.

S1 (13:51):
It's also odd that The Hollywood Reporter said, you know,
unlike previous generations, they haven't turned their indie debuts into
big IP backed films. They almost all have, if not
literally all of them are either already in or soon
to be in big blockbuster franchise kinds of movies. But
I guess to me, what the obvious question that it

(14:11):
raised was like, what does it mean to be a
movie star? Right? Is it to your point, Mel, clearly
not just about acting skills and charisma and the ability
to deliver a award winning performance? It seems like it's
also about being a big enough name that regardless of
the film, regardless of anything anyone might know about a
movie coming out, you want to go see them because

(14:33):
you want to see the new Zendaya movie. You want
to see the new Glen Powell movie, you want to
see the new Anya Taylor Joy movie. And I think
for some of these people, that is like, clearly true.
Zendaya is a really interesting one. You know, my trainer
at the gym the other day, we're talking about movies,
and he's like, I saw challengers. I didn't really like it,
but I will see anything Zendaya is in. And it
feels like since euphoria, since the Spider-Man stuff, she's a

(14:54):
name that people just go and see, even if the
film seems not quite their speed. I'm not sure that's
the case for Florence Pugh or Paul Mescal, and I'm
not just saying that because of my long running beef
with you.

S3 (15:07):
Exclusively won't see anything that Paul Mescal is in.

S1 (15:10):
No, I mean, like Paul Mescal is a good actor
and Aftersun was a great film, but that didn't blow
up the box office because people were desperate to see
Paul Mescal. And I think when he's in Gladiator two
later this year or next year, people will go see
that movie because it's Gladiator two, not because it's a
Paul Mescal film.

S3 (15:27):
I think the only two ones on that maybe, like
for me it would be probably Timothy. Sydney Sweeney and
Zendaya are the three who really have that power. I
would say like, no one's rushing off to see a
Glen Powell movie, so I don't.

S1 (15:37):
I don't agree with that. I feel like Glen Powell
has the most evidence behind him, like Top Gun Maverick
and then anyone but two movies. Two. Yeah. Okay. But
what does Timothy have?

S3 (15:50):
He's done a bunch of more movies, I would say.
And I think.

S2 (15:52):
Timothy has the kind of I don't really know much
about Glen Powell off screen. Um, like, I kind of
don't know what his personality is, whereas I think Timothy
has Paul, like, he's got this personality. He's got a
shtick around him that people are drawn to him as
a figure. Whereas I think Glen Powell is still kind
of an actor. I don't know if he's quite transcended that,
and I would probably say the same for Jenna Ortega
as well, who I thought was a bit of an

(16:13):
unusual addition to the list.

S1 (16:14):
Yeah. Jenna Ortega is someone who is very, very popular
amongst Gen Zs, and she's huge on Netflix on Wednesday.
I don't think she's she's managed to translate that to like,
movie box office success. But do you guys think that
Timothy is the reason people are going to see movies
that star Timothy? Like, do you think they got to
see Wonka because they love Timothee Chalamet? Or they saw

(16:35):
Dune because they love Timothee Chalamet?

S3 (16:37):
I definitely think with something like Wonka Dunes will be
different because it is such a bigger prospect and people
want to go and see that. But I think Wonka
like I mean that's probably why they cast him like
people went to see it, even though it wasn't meant
to be awful interesting. Yeah, yeah, you might be right, Paul.
And like the same thing with this Bob Dylan. Like,
how many photos from set have we seen of this
new Bob Dylan biopic? Because it's like Timothee Chalamet playing him.
I definitely think he's got more pull power. Aside from
the fact he's like criminally dating a Kardashian, he's also

(17:01):
like he he those three that I mentioned, I reckon Zendaya,
Sydney and Timothy have like harnessed the power of the
internet the best they've got. Like, you know, like they're
kind of like been memed and they've done SNL and
they've all done Hot Wing like, you know this. Yeah.
Like I reckon they have figured out the modern, like,
path to stardom the best. And I think they're the
real three standouts for me.

S2 (17:19):
Yeah, they kind of have this whole paratext thing going
on where they're creating a thing outside of the films
that then kind of translates and into interplays with what
they're doing on screen.

S1 (17:28):
It's so interesting. Again, just to sit on Timothy on
that one, because you're right, there is like this meta
narrative around Timothy, but he's like not an online person. Like,
it's not like people are reacting to what he's saying.
He's just sort of part of the conversation, I guess,
partly because of, you know, his relationship with your long
lost love.

S3 (17:46):
Thomas. Whereas then I would say, I hate to obviously
bring all conversations back to Sydney Sweeney. She is the opposite,
in which she is very much an online person. She's
like very active on social media and she engages with
a lot of like, I guess, the meme and narrative
around her and stuff. So they're both, I would say
two of the most like prominent and. Powerful young actors
in Hollywood, but they have very much taken a different approach.

S2 (18:07):
Yeah, I feel like I've kind of lost track of
just how big Sydney Sweeney is, because I feel like
it's all we talk about on the podcast that maybe
I do sometimes wonder wonder how much she cut like,
cuts through elsewhere.

S3 (18:19):
Oh no, she definitely does. I think there's been so
many like, articles. You know, we've talked about calling her
the new Julia Roberts. She's like producing. Directing, like she's
like starring in so many different genres of films. Like,
I think we actually, you know, Mel, you'll hate this.
Perhaps we're reaching Sydney Sweeney. Saturation.

S2 (18:34):
Yes, of course, we can only let a woman get
so successful, but.

S3 (18:38):
Yeah. Interesting. Listen, I guess we'll see where they all
are in the next few years. And also, you.

S2 (18:42):
Know what's interesting with Timothy and Sydney in particular, that
they're actually really being pulled into discussions about like femininity
and masculinity and in this kind of MeToo world, because
everyone's talking about Timothy style of masculinity, everyone's talking about
Sydney Sweeney's kind of, you know, reclamation of the bombshell
figure as feminist empowerment. Um, so, like, I wonder if

(19:02):
that's also why they're so relevant? Because they're playing into
these think pieces that are going on and broader conversations
that we're having in culture at the moment.

S1 (19:08):
Yeah. I mean, hearing you guys talk about this, I'm
kind of shifting my view again. I think maybe someone
like Sydney Sweeney is someone who people will go to
see a movie because it's the new Sydney Sweeney movie,
the movie Immaculate, which she produced and starred in the
sort of non-horror movie that cost $9 million. It made
$25 million US at the global box office. That's a
good result for what is like a kind of schlocky

(19:29):
horror film, and I feel like almost all of that
is because people like Sydney Sweeney is in a new movie.
I feel like she can do that. I still am
not totally convinced about Timothy's box office pull. Maybe this
is like just a crazy take that I will. I
will finish this podcast and look at some numbers and
be like, I was so wrong. But he was in
the he was in the cannibal movie. And that might
have been like a post-Covid thing, but no one saw
that movie. Like, there are Timothy projects that no one

(19:52):
has seen, which to me suggests that he isn't the
main pull in the big films that he's in that
people go and see.

S2 (19:59):
Yeah, I mean, maybe that it says something about us
and our relationship to Timothy. Well, I.

S3 (20:03):
Guess we can we can revisit Glen Powell next week
because he's going to be starring in the new Richard
Linklater film about a hit man, which I know we're
all quite excited about. It comes out on Netflix next week.
So I mean, that's kind of his first big, like,
I guess, Glen Powell project. And obviously people there's always
going to be a curiosity about Linklater, um, given he
releases so few films. So yeah, I guess we'll see.

S1 (20:23):
An annoyingly not being released in cinemas so he won't
really be able to track the numbers, which seems kind
of crazy and annoying to me. The other thing I
just want to say about the list, you know, the
real winner of this is Denis Villeneuve. There are five
people on this list that were in the last June film.
That is crazy. And I think that is partly, you know,
they're on this list because they were in June, too,
and partly they're in June 2nd, because they're the kinds

(20:45):
of actors that directors want to catch before they become super,
super superstars. Uh, and the other thing that stood out
to me, I think, is and The Hollywood Reporter piece
mentions this explicitly, it's a very white list. Eight of
those names are white. I don't think that is like
the fault of The Hollywood Reporter. They're sort of making
the case that studios, you know, for all the talk

(21:07):
of diversity over the last five, ten years, that kind
of is not really a focus for them anymore. There
is this narrative within Hollywood and the arts more generally,
particularly commercial arts, that, you know, when everything's going well
economically and movies are making heaps of money. That's when
we have, you know, the quote unquote freedom to just like,
play around with ideas of diversity and give everyone a
go when things get a bit dicey, we just retreat

(21:31):
back to something that we're more comfortable and familiar with.
So the handsome white guy and the hot white girl
in a movie together with each other, I think that
is a pretty like, reductive perspective. And I think there's
a lot of evidence that putting movie stars in films
who come from different backgrounds, particularly black Latinx backgrounds in America,
is a box office draw. Jenna Ortega clearly has a

(21:54):
broad multicultural fan base, as does Zendaya. So hopefully if
we do a list like this in the future, there
is a bit more diversity. I just don't think it's
great that we seem to be going backwards in this space.

S2 (22:07):
Yeah, it's pretty stark looking at that list, and it
is a reminder that for, as you say, for all
the talk of diversity, you know, and including diverse characters,
who is actually taking the leading roles, who is actually
being cast in the films with the biggest budgets, with
the biggest payrolls? Um, and yeah, I mean, you would
hope it continues to change.

S1 (22:36):
It's time for the 1999 movie Hall of Fame. I
think for a lot of the movies that we're going
to talk about, we will probably a bit too young
to see them in the cinema for the first time,
probably to watch them on DVD. A few years later,
when we were all teenagers and had nothing else to
do but watch films. But I want to ask you guys,

(22:58):
do you have any memories of going to the cinema
in this year? Well, I imagine your eyeshadow was blue
and Thomas, your hair was gelled and bleached.

S2 (23:09):
I don't know how old you think we are.

S3 (23:11):
My my hair actually was.

S2 (23:13):
I was not wearing eyeshadow then, but I will tell
you what I was doing in 1999. Um, Thomas is
familiar with the publication. Let me guess. That Thomas is
familiar with the publication I ran at the time, the
Copy Cove News, which I. Yeah, run it from my
cubby house. It cost three gumnuts. I distributed it to

(23:35):
the houses in my cul de sac. Um, but I
was running a real fear campaign about Y2K. So much
so that neighbours intervened because I was causing a level
of distress for the children.

S1 (23:47):
You were like a Alex Jones conspiracy blogger before the internet.

S2 (23:50):
I sold those papers. I sold them good.

S1 (23:52):
How did I not know this? You had your own
little neighborhood publication absolutely. Decades before you edited Australia's leading cultural.

S2 (23:59):
Section was where I grew my chops. Um, I had to.
It was a full end to end operation. Really. I
did it all. Um, but yes, it did cause a
bit of controversy because children were packing go bags because
they thought the world was going to collapse. So unfortunately,
much like the sun, we had to close down in disgrace.

S3 (24:16):
Yes. And it's so sad that those small print presses
around the country are closing down. And obviously you were
part of that movement.

S2 (24:22):
Um, meanwhile, you were getting your hair dyed.

S3 (24:25):
Yeah. Look, I was experimenting with a lot of different
things in this age. I desperately wanted to be allowed
to actually, like, properly bleach my hair. My mum was like,
I mean, credit to her, you look like a fucking idiot.
And so I just was allowed to have like, sun in,
you know, like the it looked, it also looked bad,
but I guess less worse than had I really committed.

S1 (24:42):
And why did you want to go blonde, Thomas? A
young Greek boy like you with your Mediterranean features in hair.
What was it about growing up in that part of
Australia at that point in time that made you feel
like you wanted to make your hair blonde?

S3 (24:54):
Well, if you were to look at like the Aryan
photo of my year six like cohort at oyster Bay
Primary School deep in the Sutherland Shire, famous for the
Cronulla riots, uh, you probably understand, but yes, uh, I
mean that I can blame on that. I don't know
who to blame the S&P belt on. Uh, and also
the shell choker necklace.

S2 (25:13):
What was Baby Osmond doing?

S1 (25:16):
Well, you know, what I was doing this year was
watching Star Wars Episode one The Phantom Menace in cinemas. Like,
like nine times I went so much.

S2 (25:23):
He went the exact same person then as you are now.

S1 (25:27):
Um, I think, like, you know, when I was a kid,
we had the Star Wars films on VHS, and so
I just kind of grew up watching them all. And
they're from this era. That was clearly before I was around,
but they still felt like the coolest, sickest films to me.
And then when they announced that this new one was coming,
it's like, they can do that. They can like take
a franchise that ended two plus decades ago and bring

(25:51):
it back in cinemas with a new story and new
cast and new fancy CGI. And at the age of
like nine, I was too stupid to realize that the
movie's like, not that great, but it was great to
just sort of experience cinema and that kind of scale,
that sort of event movie stuff. And I just kept going.
I went and went and went, and it was probably

(26:12):
a depressingly like where I fell in love with going
to the movie theaters. Um, because it's not really a
film I think about too much, but it's my main
cinema memory from that year.

S3 (26:21):
It was a special.

S2 (26:21):
Time in pathology. Started young. Yeah.

S1 (26:25):
Um, let's run through the ten biggest films at the
box office that year to give us a bit of
a sense of the lay of the land. Number one
was Star Wars The Phantom Menace. Half of that box
office was probably me. Um, just going repeat visits. Uh,
number two was The Sixth Sense. Very iconic M Night
Shyamalan movie with Bruce Willis, toy story two, The Matrix, Tarzan,

(26:49):
The Mummy, Notting Hill, The World Is Not Enough, the
James Bond film American Beauty, and Austin Powers The Spy
Who Shagged Me. Any highlights for you guys on that list?

S3 (27:01):
Oh my God, where to begin? Notting Hill is like.
I mean, one of the all time greats, obviously. Uh,
The Sixth Sense, I feel like, you know, before, like,
meme culture was a thing. It became that before we
had a word for it. Like it like just had
this chokehold on the pop culture, like people quoting it. And,
you know, once everyone knew this, the spoiler, um, it

(27:22):
was just like this kind of like language that you
would use with people.

S1 (27:25):
Probably like where our generation learnt the idea of a
movie twist.

S3 (27:28):
Pretty much.

S2 (27:29):
All the full postmodernism of the 90s with The Matrix
and Being John Malkovich coming to the forefront. Maybe the
start of the Disney Renaissance with Toy Story two.

S1 (27:38):
I mean, The Matrix was pretty hostile to tech and
the internet. Mel, was this something that you wrote about
in your music?

S2 (27:45):
Yeah. No doubt, no doubt. Um, also, I feel like
it was the last of the kind of real classic
rom com Notting Hill. Ten things I Hate About You.
She's All That Never Been Kissed. This kind of genre
of of rom com that I think so many of
us probably watched at sleepovers or I know I did,
were on the VHS at sleepovers. I feel like it

(28:05):
kind of marked the end of that era as well.

S3 (28:07):
I didn't pick you for getting invited to many sleepovers,
if I'm honest.

S2 (28:10):
Well, it was a distribution network for the publication I
had to network back then. Was hustle.

S1 (28:16):
The other thing? The other thing that stood out to
me looking at this list, we talk a lot now
about how sequels and prequels and IP dominate the box
office in the kind of the current era of moviegoing,
but five of these top ten movies are based on
existing IP. They're either direct sequels or, in the case
of something like Tarzan, based on earlier films and earlier
books and things like that. So it is interesting, isn't it,

(28:39):
to kind of we often look back at previous eras
of cinema with these rose colored glasses. Like that was
a good old days when every story was original. And
there's certainly a decent chunk of original stories here, and
stories like The Matrix and The Mummy, which then became
big franchises. But we had heaps of sequels like Disney
was in its, uh, you know, let's, let's take what
we've done well and make heaps more of it era

(29:00):
as well. The Oscars that year, it was like an
American beauty, absolute clean up. Uh, it won best film,
best director for Sam Mendes, Best actor for Kevin Spacey.
There were heaps of interesting debuts in terms of actors
that year as well. Amy Adams made her first appearance
in Drop Dead Gorgeous James Franco. First time we saw

(29:20):
him on screen and never been kissed Zach Galifianakis, Kathryn Hahn,
Brie Larson, Michael B Jordan, Hugh Jackman, Dakota Johnson, the
list goes on and on. A lot of actors hitting
the screens. In 1999, we had some of the best
teen films of all time. Ten things I Hate About
You American Pie. Lots of great films. Stanley Kubrick's final film,

(29:42):
Eyes Wide Shut. One of the best Australian films ever made.
Heath Ledger's two hands. This was a special year. What
was in the water in 1999?

S3 (29:51):
I don't know, but Y2K obviously wiped it out.

S2 (29:54):
Yeah, I think maybe it was that kind of looming
sense of the new millennium was going on. And you
do see that. I think in a lot of these
films that is there, there is a kind of underlying
sense of unease and standing on the precipice. Not in
all of them, obviously, but in some of them. And also,
the other thing I noticed about that list was, um,
maybe it's the tech that's coming to the forefront as well.

(30:14):
Like CGI is getting way better, which you see in
things like The Matrix, Star Wars, um, The Mummy. Like
there is that kind of starting of that tech as
well as you're kind of seeing a lot of the
indie films still on the list.

S1 (30:27):
Yeah, that's a really good point. I feel like we're
kind of at this midpoint where we still had in
big independent studios, it was easier for writers and directors
to get funding for projects that were original and perhaps
a bit wacky. And then we had big blockbuster franchise
stuff at the same time, too. And it's interesting to
think about the impact of technology. I mean, obviously it's

(30:48):
disrupted the business model of how films work, but you
hear a lot of directors and writers talk about how
the advent of the internet and mobile phones really made
it much harder to write good scripts, because so much
uncertainty and intrigue and kind of plot mystery is wiped

(31:08):
away when you can just call or text or look
something up on a screen or on a phone. So
when you don't have that and everything has to revolve
around conversations and there's a bit more of a sense
of like, well, what, what what could happen here? Like
where has that person gone and how do we find them?
Kind of makes for more thrilling films that directors now
have to work very, very, very hard to create that

(31:29):
sense of intrigue when everything can be solved by googling it. Basically.

S2 (31:33):
Yeah, it's so true. And you do hear a surprising
number of directors and writers talk about setting shows in
the 1990s purely for the point of avoiding that.

S1 (31:41):
Mhm. All right. Let's start building our 1999 movie Hall
of Fame. Here's how it's going to work. Each of
us has picked three films from 1999. We're going to
talk about the movie, why we chose it and then
break it down into some categories. We're going to talk
about the best scene from the movie. What holds up
the best since it was released 25 years ago? What

(32:02):
doesn't hold up, and if the film could or would
be made today? We're also going to share some fun
facts along the way, and Thomas has promised us some
kind of quiz that may also occur at some random point.

S2 (32:16):
I was briefed. I did not study. I'm not prepared.

S3 (32:18):
It's more just like the occasional question keep you on
your toes. You know what I mean? You love. You
love like exam conditions.

S2 (32:24):
So I prep hard.

S1 (32:27):
Look, as I said earlier, this is the first time
we've done something like this. Hopefully it works. Hopefully, you know,
we come up with a great list of films for
people to think about and perhaps watch and learn some
things along the way, and hopefully we have fun as well.
That's the that's the goal of this exercise. Before we
get into it, each of us also gets an honorable mention,
a film that we didn't necessarily want to totally unpack,
but thought was worth a shout out. Thomas Joiner kicked

(32:50):
this one off.

S3 (32:51):
Yes, well, I mean, this one actually ties quite nicely
into what we've already discussed on the pod. Now, as
you both know, 1999 was the year The Sopranos also premiered. Uh,
of course, the story about a mobster who has a.

S2 (33:03):
Great TV show.

S3 (33:04):
Who has a crisis and finds himself, you know, seeing
a therapist. But I'm going to take the film version
of that, which, of course, is analyze This.

S5 (33:12):
Meet Paul Vitti. I don't.

S6 (33:14):
Feel great. Never felt better.

S5 (33:16):
A mob boss with a problem. Yeah, I got stress.

S3 (33:22):
The Robert De Niro film. Uh, he plays, you know,
the classic mobster who then goes to see a psychiatrist
played by Billy Crystal. It's a crime comedy. Lisa Kudrow
is also in it. Uh, it's such a fun film.
It was directed by Harold Ramis. You know, it did
crazy numbers as well and then led to the sequel
Analyze That. But yeah, my dad, uh, who is really
into gangster films, um, we loved this film. We got

(33:44):
a chance to meet Billy Crystal, uh, one day. And
my dad basically likes. Wow. Quoted his own lines back
at him for five minutes, which I'm sure Billy Crystal
absolutely loved. Uh, but yeah, that's one that, you know,
it doesn't make the best of 99 films, you know, lists.
But analyze this is a really fun, like, you know,
Mafia film.

S2 (34:00):
Yeah. Good one. Okay, I went with ten things I
Hate About You.

S7 (34:04):
It's a widely known fact that the Stratford sisters aren't
allowed to date.

S5 (34:08):
For every girl who's ever hoped.

S8 (34:10):
Daddy, as you know, it's the prom.

S5 (34:12):
Every guy who's ever tried.

S9 (34:14):
You never give up, do you? Was that a yes? No.

S5 (34:16):
And anyone concentrating? Awfully hard, considering it's gym class who's
ever been taken completely by surprise.

S2 (34:25):
Obviously there's some issues with this film, some emotionally unavailable characters.
There's some kind of, uh, adoration of bad boys. But anyway,
beside that, well, let's.

S1 (34:34):
Not say canceling movies this early into this process.

S2 (34:38):
But I will say it's hard to get by the
piece of modern poetry, the excellence that is that final
delivery of I Hate the Way You talk to me
and the way you cut your hair, which, I mean,
you can't surpass that. So that's my honorable mention, one of.

S1 (34:52):
The best diss tracks.

S3 (34:53):
Just shout out to Drake for bringing that back. Uh,
during the Kendrick.

S1 (34:56):
Totally. I also have the other Heath ledger film from
this year, Mel two hands.

S10 (35:01):
I got a new job, and, uh, you could say
I'm moving on. Yeah.

S11 (35:04):
What are you doing? Everyone's. Damn. There's a fucking hold up.

S10 (35:08):
I'm, um. I'm being a fucking girl. Oh, maybe. Open
your drawers. I'm waiting for a guy just doing odd
jobs here and there. Right.

S1 (35:16):
Give me a key. I think one of my favorite
Australian films, Heath ledger and Rose Byrne. Uh, sort of
like a gangster crime caper set across Sydney iconic soundtrack.
The Powderfinger song. Amazing performances from people that you just
knew were going to be stars, shepherded by Bryan Brown.

(35:37):
Like one of the best Australian actors of all time,
this is just a really awesome film, and if you've
never seen it, go watch it. It's not that long.
It's funny, it's dark, it's fascinating. It captures a perfect
slice of 1990s Australia. If you have seen it, go
watch it again. This is great. Yeah.

S2 (35:53):
Agreed. That's a very good one.

S1 (35:56):
Time to get cracking. Mel, you get to go first.
What is your first pick for our 1999 Hall of Fame?

S2 (36:04):
Drum roll straight into the list. Pete Anderson's Magnolia. You can.

S5 (36:09):
Sing it.

S12 (36:10):
I'm Stanley Spector.

S13 (36:11):
There is the story of a boy genius.

S12 (36:14):
Thomas Kid, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Moliere.

S13 (36:16):
And the game show host.

S5 (36:17):
Jimmy Gator live from Burbank, California.

S7 (36:21):
First question for 25, this French playwright and actor joined
the bizarre troupe of actors and the.

S13 (36:26):
Ex-boy genius Chris Kid Donnie Smith.

S14 (36:28):
I used to be smart. Now I'm just.

S13 (36:30):
Stupid.

S2 (36:30):
The saddest film potentially ever made. Very miserable. It was
his third film. He was only 30 years old when
he made it, which is kind of insane. Set over
one day in the San Fernando Valley, it is very
much about alienation, loneliness, failed connection, which is very kinda
Y2K ish end of an era moment. Pretty much everyone's

(36:52):
in crisis, so it's multiple stories, all kind of interlinked,
loosely around a quiz game show. But the cast is
so stacked. You've got Tom cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John
C Reilly, Julianne Moore, to name a few. And you
also have one of the weirdest kind of final thirds
of a film that maybe exists.

S1 (37:12):
Great choice, great film, great director, great to have the
woman on the pod bring up Paul Thomas Anderson. I've
got to say, you know, break, break the expectations.

S2 (37:20):
Well, I was going to pick girl interrupted being my
kind of status on the pod, but I thought I'd
mix it up.

S1 (37:26):
It's an awesome film. It's like kind of a Boogie
Nights reunion in terms of the cast. You know, P.J.
going back to the San Fernando Valley. Also, interestingly, like
quite a few actors in multiple films this year, Tom
Cruise in Magnolia and in Eyes Wide Shut, Philip Seymour
Hoffman in this film and in The Talented Mr. Ripley,
there's a bit of that going on. It was like

(37:46):
a big year for a handful of actors. What is
your favorite scene from this film?

S2 (37:51):
Okay, my favorite scene has to be Julianne Moore. She
plays a carer for her husband, who is dying of cancer.
She goes to the pharmacist to get drugs, and it's
quite this monumental scene where the pharmacist is talking to her,
and this patronizing tone about the drugs and how strong
they are and why are you buying them. And she
gets slowly more angry and angry and angry. And then

(38:13):
all of a sudden she launches into this kind of
insane monologue. Do you think you are? I come in here,
you don't know me.

S8 (38:21):
You don't know who I am, what my life is,
and you have the balls. The indecency to ask me
a question about my life.

S5 (38:27):
What do.

S8 (38:28):
You do? Don't you call me lady.

UU (38:30):
I come in here, I give these things to you.
You check, you make your phone calls, look suspicious, ask questions.
I'm sick. Me and you fucking ask me my life.
What's wrong? Have you seen death in your bed? In
your house? Where's your.

S8 (38:48):
Fucking decency? And then I met fucking questions. What's. Wrong.
Suck my dick.

UU (38:56):
That's what's wrong with you. You fucking call me lady.
Shame on you.

S2 (39:02):
It's such a good scene. Like, doesn't make sense that
she would do that. Maybe not. Is it a bit
overacted and melodramatic? Probably. I mean.

S1 (39:10):
It's one of the most overacted scenes.

S2 (39:12):
I mean, I get it, but still, I think it
stands up. I love watching it every time.

S1 (39:16):
Awesome. And what do you think holds up the best?

S2 (39:21):
Tom cruise, for sure. And I actually think that if
it wasn't the Julianne Moore scene, I would pick any
of Tom Cruise's scenes in this film. I love his respect.
The cock moment. I love his deathbed catharsis scene. I
love when he's preparing for his interview. He displays his
completely unhinged character, and the film's actually, like, quite ahead
of its time in looking at, you know, the men's
rights movement and toxic masculinity, which is what he comes

(39:44):
to represent, playing this character who is teaching men how
to seduce women and essentially trick them into having sex
with them. I think that holds up pretty well. And
also Aimee Mann's soundtrack, which, um, P.T. Anderson has said,
he kind of structured the film around. I think that
holds up well to you. Do save me wise up
like great, great songs.

S1 (40:03):
Tom Cruise's filmography. I've just got a I know Thomas
is worried that we're going to blow out of time
on this segment, but like A Few Good Men, The Firm,
interview with the vampire, Mission Impossible, Jerry Maguire, Eyes Wide Shut, Magnolia,
that that's crazy. That's what he was doing in the
lead up to this movie. What a guy. Great, great
pick for what holds up the best.

S2 (40:21):
Give him give him the Oscar. His best was.

S3 (40:23):
Yet to come as well. Obviously with Mission Impossible two.

S15 (40:25):
And.

S1 (40:28):
Um, Mel Watt doesn't hold up quite as well in Magnolia.

S2 (40:32):
Look, I think it's a very long film, and even P.T.
Anderson said it goes for three hours.

S1 (40:41):
Also, I like that you call him P.T. Anderson, like P.T. Barnum.
I feel like he's either PTA or Paul Thomas Anderson.

S2 (40:46):
Scored in P.T. Anderson. Is that.

S3 (40:48):
Wrong? I never talk about him. Yeah.

S2 (40:51):
Um, Paul Thomas Anderson. Then to give him his full name. Uh, yeah,
it's a long film, and I think even he has
said he probably should have cut 35 minutes from it.
Some characters, some are less developed than others, and it
does stretch on I we've got to talk about the ending.
And I think we're allowed to give spoilers on here
because you know, yeah.

S1 (41:08):
It's been 25 years. If you don't want Magnolia spoiled,
skip ahead.

S2 (41:12):
Here we go. Frogs come down from the sky.

S1 (41:15):
It's very biblical. Yeah, it.

S2 (41:16):
Is biblical, I loved it. I think it was all
about kind of cleansing. New beginnings 1999 2000. Um, you know, revelation.
I think the frogs worked, but I know a lot
of people didn't. Do you guys have a take on
the frogs?

S1 (41:30):
I loved it, it was a big swing. It worked
for me.

S2 (41:32):
Yeah.

S3 (41:33):
I've actually never seen Magnolia.

S2 (41:35):
Oh, I know.

S3 (41:36):
I thought I might be able to skate by with
that if I just laughed along at the right moments. Um,
but you mean you forced me right into it by
asking me about the frogs? But you had.

S2 (41:45):
Such a strong take on it not being Tom Cruise's best.
I know that.

S3 (41:48):
Nothing is better than Mission Impossible two. It's like, I.

S1 (41:50):
Think anyone who mentions a movie that the others haven't
watched has to watch it in the next week.

S3 (41:55):
Okay. That's fair.

S2 (41:56):
Yeah. Okay, cool.

S1 (41:56):
And now, final question. Could this film, would this film
be made in 2024?

S2 (42:03):
Look, I think it speaks to a lot of themes
that are relevant today. You know, there is this kind
of idea of abuse of power for men in Hollywood.
There's a men's rights thing. Would it get made today?
I don't know if we would accept the melodrama of it,
and maybe The Frogs and the singalong would kind of
look a bit, a bit naff so many years on. Um,
so I don't know if we would do that, and

(42:24):
I think it would get made quite differently. Like the
female characters are very much all victims and suffering men
in their lives who are controlling and abusive. Um, so
that might be different. And also it's again, very a
very white film. So it would probably get made differently,
but I think it would still I think it would
still holds today. Yeah.

S1 (42:44):
You're right that there was a lot of movies in
this year that were very melodramatic, very focused on themes
of alienation and kind of suburban malaise. Uh, I feel
like one of the movies I'm going to talk about
is like that American Beauty is like that, very famously.
Don't know what was happening. Maybe it was just like
the only people allowed to make movies were men of
a certain age and of a certain background, and.

S15 (43:04):
That's all they wanted to talk about.

S1 (43:06):
Um, is there anything else you wanted to say about Magnolia?

S2 (43:08):
Mel, could I give you a fun fact? Absolutely must. So,
you know Kevin Smith, the esteemed director of Mallrats, Chasing Amy, dogma.
So at the time, Bob. Yeah. At the time that
this came out, um, he absolutely destroyed it. He posted
it online that he'd received an Academy screener of the DVD,
and he'll keep it right on his desk as a

(43:28):
constant reminder that a bloated sense of self-importance is the
most unattractive quality in a person or their work. And
he compared watching Magnolia to having root canal. Now, 25
years later, Kevin Smith change of heart. Wow. He's posted
that 20 years ago he dissed Magnolia. It was largely
because critics were giving it more attention than dogma. Which

(43:49):
was he his film? Now he loves Magnolia, and he
wants to go back in time and explain to the
young Kevin Smith that it's a good film and that
he was a petulant asshat. So there you go.

S1 (44:00):
I can relate to that. I can. We all have
dumb takes in our 20s that we probably shouldn't have
put on the internet. Really? Well, Mel, I mean, that
was for our first entry into the Hall of Fame.
I think you nailed it. Great choice, great explanations, great takes.
Loved it.

S2 (44:14):
Thank you. It was high risk, but hopefully high reward.

S15 (44:17):
Thomas.

S1 (44:18):
Your turn. What have you got for your number one pick?

S3 (44:20):
Uh, yes. Well, luckily, my first pick doesn't fit into this.
You know, kind of like movies being made by men,
suburban malaise, disaffected, and, in fact, is a celebration of
men's rights. It is Fight club. Uh, look, I think
we all knew this movie was going to pop up somewhere,
and I had to do the honorable thing. Um, obviously
David Fincher, based on Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel, um, about,

(44:43):
I guess, you know, all of those things we've already
talked about, um, this like living a life of authenticity,
what it means, um, what it means when to be
consumed by consumerism.

S16 (44:53):
I want you to hit me as hard as you can. Why?
How much can you know about yourself? You've never been
in a fight.

S13 (45:00):
Wait. Let me start earlier. Like many of you, I
was stuck. You want me to deprioritize my current reports?
Until you guys have a status upgrade, make.

S17 (45:09):
These your primary action items I.

S13 (45:11):
Couldn't sleep.

S18 (45:12):
No, you can't die from insomnia.

S13 (45:14):
I'd flip through catalogs and wonder what kind of dining
set defines me as a person. This is your life,
and it's ending one minute at a time. Welcome. I
prayed for a different life.

S3 (45:25):
So it was such a huge, actually flop at the
box office. And then it became one of those films
that took off on DVD. Um, obviously it follows an
unnamed protagonist, played by Edward Norton, who kind of lives
this very dull life. His, you know, apartment is famously
full of Ikea furniture. Nothing brings him satisfaction. Nothing brings
him joy until he meets the mysterious Tyler Durden, played

(45:47):
by Brad Pitt, with perhaps the best body ever committed
to screen. Um, and, you know, they then kind of
find themselves in this weird, symbiotic relationship, which is punctuated
by the arrival of an underground fight club and, you know,
the intertwining of their lives. Uh, look where to begin
with Fight Club. Really, it is actually tailor made for
a conversation like this. And obviously lots of people have

(46:09):
beaten us to it. You know, when it was the
20th anniversary, there were countless thinkpieces about, you know, what
does Fight Club mean in the in the 21st century? Uh,
but I stand by the fact that, you know, it
has been championed by this weird kind of like incel movement.
But these are the people who do not understand the movie. Uh,
the joke is on them. I rewatched the film yesterday. Uh,

(46:30):
it really, really holds up. But look, I'm happy to
get into it. And someone hit me with the favorite
scene question.

S1 (46:35):
Well, I mean, just just firstly on that sort of
top line, you know, view about it being a MRA,
incel sort of film. I think you're right that, like,
this film suffers from the fact that its most vocal,
the most vocal part of its fan base are the
ones that clearly don't understand the movie is making fun
of them, and you see this happen time and time
again throughout cinema and art as well. I think the

(46:55):
movie stands on its own as a, you know, as
what it's trying to grapple with. I think Fincher is
like a master at Smyrna, a master at skewering certain
kinds of masculinity in a way that is perhaps too
subtle for some people. That's fine. People can take from
the movie what they want, but I do think it's
sort of unfair the way that the movie's become synonymous

(47:16):
with a toxic kind of man, when that is clearly
not what Fincher or the actors in the movie are
trying to do.

S2 (47:22):
And I also don't necessarily know, while he is taking
on masculinity, what he's really what is really his target
is the society, the kind of alienation created by 1,000,000%
capitalism that has created this type of man, which is
the real target of what I see as the real
target of Fight Club.

S3 (47:38):
Yeah, like it is. And it's so funny. Obviously we
live in this era now of like, you know, the
Rogans and the Tates and the Petersons who have very
much cultivated their own, you know, similar, I guess, communities
to what Tyler Durden creates. And like, there's so many
different speeches in this film from Brad Pitt, but when
he talks about, like, an entire generation pumping gas and

(47:59):
waiting tables and slaves with white collars and it's just
like you can see, it's crazy to see how the
people who now do follow the likes of, you know,
like an Andrew Tate, for instance, the most extreme example
of that, they've like completely bit into what, you know,
he is skewering without realizing what's actually being said in
the subtext. It's amazing.

S1 (48:18):
And you wanted someone to ask you what your favorite
scene was.

S3 (48:21):
Well, I guess it's hard to talk about Fight Club
without talking about, uh, you know, the most famous scene,
which is. Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club, gentlemen.

S19 (48:31):
Welcome to Fight Club. The first rule of Fight Club
is you do not talk about Fight Club. The second
rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about
Fight Club.

S3 (48:47):
It's such a great scene. It's like firstly the rewatching this.
You notice like they really have Brad Pitt eating a
lot in this film, which he does in lots of
his films. It's become like a kind of trademark. Yeah,
the Ocean's films.

S1 (48:58):
He loves to eat.

S3 (48:59):
Yes, he's he's he I don't know, he is quite
like watchable when he's chewing. He's actually not eating in
this film. Uh, I would firstly. Okay. This is the
first of my surprise quizzes. How many rules are there
in Fight Club?

S2 (49:12):
Seven two.

S3 (49:15):
There are eight.

S15 (49:17):
Close.

S3 (49:18):
The first rule is that you don't talk about Fight Club.
That's also the second rule. Uh, the third rule, if
someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.
Fourth rule only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule.
One fight at a time. Six rule. No shirts, no shoes.
Seventh rule fights go on as long as they have to.
And the eighth and final rule. If this is your
first time at Fight Club, you have to fight. I can't.

S1 (49:37):
Believe you ran through all the.

S15 (49:38):
Rules.

S2 (49:39):
Yeah, I didn't think you would. I thought I did
not think he would keep growing.

S1 (49:42):
Thomas has been pointing at his watch when Mel was talking,
when I was talking earlier, and he just really wanted
to get to listing out every single rule. All eight
of the rules of Fight Club.

S3 (49:52):
They're good rules. Um, so, yeah, I think that that
scene obviously like it really. We meet Tyler a bit
earlier on the plane. You know, he's a soap salesman,
but this is really the iconic, you know, Tyler Durden scene.
As we touched on earlier, Brad Pitt is there like
shirtless smoking just looking like this absolute anti-hero. Um, yeah.
Even rewatching it back now, it's still a scene that

(50:13):
you have to kind of like pause on. Although I
would give a special mention to the final scene when like,
the world is kind of imploding and the Pixies Where
Is Your Mind plays?

S1 (50:21):
Yeah, it's one of my favorite scenes that that needle
drop is also.

S2 (50:24):
Surely a beautiful Jared Leto. Having his beautiful face destroyed is. Yeah, yeah,
that's a standout scene.

S1 (50:30):
Um, what holds up the best? Thomas?

S3 (50:33):
Well, I think we kind of talked about it, but
the fact that, you know, this is released 25 years ago, um,
and looking at it through the lens of 2024, the
fact that Tyler Durden is kind of this figure who
we're supposed to see, as, you know, a symbol of
everything that really is wrong with the world, even though
he thinks he's the opposite. And I think living in
this particular time that we live in now with all

(50:55):
those people that we've just spoken about, the fact that
Fincher tapped into, I guess even more so, like, not
just what was happening, but where we were really headed. Um,
I think that's pretty impressive from a guy, you know,
who managed to see into the future.

S1 (51:07):
Totally agree. And what? There may be another long list coming.
What didn't necessarily hold up so well from this film?

S3 (51:15):
Uh, I mean, look, there are a few things I
would say that like possibly when I was rewatching it
and like, you know, Edward Norton was talking about his
really nice apartment with all the Ikea furniture and, like,
he's got a boring night, but nice enough job where
he gets to travel a lot. I'm like, man, living in,
you know, 2024, the cost of living crisis, everything going

(51:36):
on in the world. I'm like this. If this is
your biggest problem, perhaps it feels a little.

S15 (51:40):
Bit hollow.

S3 (51:41):
Right now. Like I'm like, he's like, oh, look at
all this. Like new shit I've got for my kid.
I'm like, look, man, that's not too bad. Like, things
could be worse. And again, maybe it does speak to
who was really dominating, like the storytelling at that time.
You know, obviously it was a big, you know, this
whole kind of like emptiness and malaise that everyone was
feeling was a big issue. But like, I think now
we all are maybe a bit more tapped in. So

(52:01):
to like watch Edward Norton being like, I'm so sad
about all this shit I have, it means nothing to me.
I'm like, well, I wouldn't mind some of that shit.
So yeah, I felt like that didn't hold up as
strong for me in terms of the messaging in Fight Club. Yeah, it's.

S1 (52:11):
Interesting that whole era, it felt like if you were
a white middle class guy in particular, it's like the
end of history. American triumphalism is like the theme of
of global politics. What do you have to worry about?
You know, the economy is going great. Life's pretty great
for me. I might just turn my angst inwards. And
that's why you ended up with such a focus on
those sorts of issues. Everyone else was not having such

(52:33):
a great time, but we didn't let them make movies,
so it was okay. Um, yeah, exactly. Could Fight Club
be made in 2024?

S3 (52:42):
I don't really know. Like, I saw Fincher did an
interview with The Guardian last year and he said, um,
you know, he talked about the fact that, weirdly, Tyler
Durden has been misunderstood and now has, like, seen he's
seen as a hero to people who who don't understand him.
And he kind of said, it's impossible for me to
imagine that people don't understand. Tyler is a negative influence.
I don't know how to help them. And I think

(53:03):
that speaks to a general feeling that perhaps like given
that we are really living in this moment, um, when
there are like real people like Tyler Durden out there, um,
maybe it would be less impactful. I don't know, like
I personally would probably be very sad if they did
it reboot.

S2 (53:19):
I think it could be made. And I think the killer,
which was the Fincher film, and we talked about it
on the pod that came out in 2023, is just
really an updated version of exactly the same themes, you know, masculinity, disassociation, capitalism.
I think Fincher still teasing at everything he was doing
in Fight Club, just in a more modern way now.
I think most.

S1 (53:37):
Of his films have have been exploring those same sorts
of ideas, and I think probably doing them in updated
and smarter ways that make sense for the for the
kind of modern era. Okay, I'm up with my first choice.

S2 (53:50):
Tell me it's not Star Wars.

S1 (53:53):
Could you imagine? Um, so 25 years before Alexander Payne
went back to school to make the holdovers, the director
did it for the first time with a little film
called election, starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick.

S20 (54:08):
In the nation's capital, a new leader has found a
place in the halls of power. But her story began.
In the halls of high school.

S21 (54:18):
We'll move on now to the presidential race with three
candidates running. The first is Tracy Flick.

S22 (54:24):
One thing that's important to know about me is that
I'm an only child. My mom is really devoted to me.
She likes to write letters to successful women like Elizabeth
Dole and Connie Chung and ask them, what advice do
they have for me? Tracy, her daughter.

S1 (54:38):
This movie is awesome and completely insane. So Matthew Broderick
plays a teacher, Mr. McAllister? Uh, he's a teacher at
a high school in Omaha, Nebraska. They're in the middle
of an election race to determine who will become the
student council president. Unfortunately, Mel Kembery was not available. The
front runner is another goody two shoes and seemingly model

(54:58):
student Tracy Flick, played by Reese Witherspoon. But after Michaela's
best friend's life falls apart when he's caught out having
an affair with his student Tracy. Matthew Broderick's character becomes
determined to stop her winning at all costs. He drafts
in the high school jock, played by Chris Klein, to
run against her. So apparently Alexander Payne passed on directing

(55:22):
this movie initially because he didn't want to do a
high school movie, but then he kind of read the
script properly and was like, oh, this is not a
high school movie. This is a movie set in a
high school. But this is like American Beauty meets The
Ides of March. It is an incredibly dark and cynical
take on US politics, middle age, modern America. It's very
funny as well as being pretty confronting. It's probably one

(55:45):
of Matthew Broderick's last good performances, and alongside Cruel Intentions,
which also came out the same year, put Reese Witherspoon
on the cinema map. This is an awesome film. You
guys have much of a relationship to election.

S3 (55:59):
Yeah, I always really liked it growing up. Um, but
it was weird because, like, it was obviously when I revisited,
like when I was a bit older and understood it more,
I was more like into the Cruel Intentions camp of
Reese Witherspoon films at that time. But yeah, uh, I
always thought it was really interesting and I guess, like, again,
you see this young cast that now we have such
a different context for who they are, but it was
all kind of there for them.

S2 (56:20):
Yeah. I haven't gone back and seen it in some time,
but I reckon it probably would have aged quite well.
So I'm interested in hearing what you think worked best,
because I remember the darkness of all the characters, and
that not a lot of them had redeeming qualities, and
that was part of the joy of it was their
kind of soullessness.

S1 (56:36):
Yeah, I think when the movie opens, the way that
it sort of shot and the way that it looks,
it makes you think it's one of these 80s type
of high school dramas. And it just is not that
at all. It is very like sexually explicit in a
quite uncomfortable way, given the ages of of the people involved.
And I'm going to talk about that a little bit
later in one of the categories. And it is 100%

(56:57):
just a movie about how demented the American political system is.
So I think it's one that really does get better
with age, particularly as you get older and start to
realize what they're really trying to do. My favorite scene
in this movie is towards the end of the film,
about two thirds of the way in, Matthew Broderick's character
gets stung by a bee. And so for the final
like half an hour of the movie, one of his

(57:18):
eyes is just closed over and he's in constant pain
and his life is, like, crumbling around him as he's
been caught out having an affair. He's in charge of
counting the ballots, the student election, and he's just watching
these two kids. He doesn't care anymore. He's over it all.
And it's just such a funny scene because these two
kids are acting their hearts out and they're like, you know,

(57:38):
we've got to do this by the book. And he's like,
we're not electing the fucking Pope. Just tell me the results.
It's like, it's such a funny scene. He looks hilarious
in it. And when he says that, it's like, yeah,
the stakes of this are completely meaningless. This is a
high school election. You're a teacher. Why do you care
so much? And at that moment, I think the kind
of thesis of the film is revealed. It's awesome.

S3 (57:59):
All right, so what holds up the best from election?

S1 (58:02):
I think it is the deep cynicism about the political system.
Everyone is either corrupt or a moron. And this is
so clearly supposed to be an analogy to the way
that US presidential elections work. The only vaguely redeemable character
is Peter, who's Chris Klein, the jocks sister. She runs
a third party campaign out of spite, and then gets
herself expelled so she can go to a Catholic all

(58:24):
girls school and explore her burgeoning queer sexuality. She's like
the only character that you're like, you're in this for, like,
vaguely interesting reasons. The rest of these people just totally
suck the soundtrack. When I rewatch this, there's like a
morricone like bit to the soundtrack. One of Australia's great bands,
Taxi Ride, features on the soundtrack. It, like a lot
of 90s movies sonically like really, really holds up. I

(58:47):
think what doesn't hold up as well, the very casual
way that teachers having sex with school kids is discussed
in the movie, like the characters face some consequences, but
like half of the characters in this film should be
like jailed for what is going on.

S15 (59:04):
There's a lot of that in 1999.

S1 (59:06):
Yeah, and there's some stuff with Alexander Payne. If you
look into it, his relationship with, uh, Rose McGowan and
how old she was and him sort of saying anytime
someone has to say it was legal in this state
for us to be in a relationship, you know, that
things are like are not going well. This is not
a great era for sexual politics.

S2 (59:24):
I'd say taking that on board. Do you think it
would be made today?

S1 (59:28):
I don't know, I think it's like exactly the kind
of film we need more of, like the kind of
mid-budget sort of internal dramedy. I guess The Holdovers was
kind of that, and that did pretty well. I would
love to see like 20 more of these films in
cinemas all the time, but it just doesn't seem like
we get them, like we get very like budget versions
of this on streamers, or we get giant, expensive films.

(59:51):
But this kind of tier of film just seems to
have vanished, which is a little bit sad, I think.

S3 (59:57):
It's funny to note that what Clinton was the president
in 1999 being impeached. And then here we are.

S15 (01:00:04):
Hmm.

S3 (01:00:05):
Another 25 years.

S15 (01:00:07):
Later. Joy. Joy. More things change.

S1 (01:00:10):
The more things change. Um, I've got a fun fact
for you guys. So Chris Klein, who plays the jock Peter,
he was a student at one of the schools, being
scouted as a location when he successfully auditioned for the part,
which is exactly how Dominic Sessa, who was the lead
in The Holdovers, got his part as well. So Payne
knows how to find kids in schools, which now, as

(01:00:32):
I say that out loud, is kind of worrying considering
what we discussed earlier. The other little fun fact about this,
and Chris Klein said this was Chris Klein's film debut.
What other 1999 film was Chris Klein in Thomas?

S3 (01:00:45):
He was in American Pie. Um.

S1 (01:00:48):
And who did he play in American Pie?

S3 (01:00:50):
Uh, what's his name? Oz.

S15 (01:00:52):
Oh, yeah.

S3 (01:00:55):
Yeah, that is weird. It is all. I mean, I
suppose this is the time to also discuss, uh, his
co-star in American Pie, Mena Suvari, who was also in
American Beauty.

S1 (01:01:04):
Well, we've talked about a few of these. I actually
started writing a list as I was doing some research.
So we mentioned Reese Witherspoon and Cruel Intentions and Election,
Chris Klein and this and American Pie. You mentioned Mena Suvari,
Heath ledger in those two movies, Tom Cruise in Magnolia
and Eyes Wide Shut, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Magnolia and
The Talented Mr. Ripley, Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest and
Toy Story two. What a fucking year. What was going on?

S3 (01:01:26):
Yeah, and you know what's actually really weird? This. I mean,
I'm going to lift some trivia from one of my
later entries, the fact that there was a conversation between
the studios because Mena was in both American Pie and
American Beauty. Originally American Pie was titled First Piece.

S15 (01:01:43):
Wow.

S3 (01:01:44):
But they changed the name to tap into Wow.

S15 (01:01:47):
The whole America thing going on. Yes, that is so fascinating.
I know, fucking.

S3 (01:01:51):
Fun fact the shit out of it.

S2 (01:01:52):
So I'm so glad you bump that up.

S15 (01:01:55):
Yeah, I know, me too.

S3 (01:01:56):
Great call right in the moment too. But yeah. So
that basically explains the origins of American Pie. I imagine
it'd been called first piece. We wouldn't have probably had
all the other ones that we didn't need. Yeah, good
pun though.

S1 (01:02:06):
I guess.

S3 (01:02:06):
It is. It is a good pun. Uh, I guess
just one other thing I wanted to add. Um, years ago,
when I was a young, up and coming journalist, I
went to the junket for American Pie reunion or American Reunion, uh,
I think possibly the last one in the franchise. All
the stars were there. I was obviously desperate to talk
to either Mena Suvari or Tara Reid. I fucking got
Chris Klein. I know, and like, I think everyone was

(01:02:30):
sitting in the little holding room where they keep journalists
and because we hadn't been told, which is like, weird.
You're given someone on the day. Yeah. And everyone was like, oh, well,
I obviously don't want Chris Klein. Hopefully he's not listening
to this pod. No disrespect to Chris Klein, I'd love
to talk to him now, but at the time I
was like, oh, anyway, lo and behold, I walk in
and there's Oz, the Oz maester, lacrosse stick in the air. Um, yeah.
So I just asked him like ten questions I'd written

(01:02:50):
for Mena Suvari. Great.

S2 (01:02:52):
I think you got exactly what you deserved.

S15 (01:02:53):
Um, and that is.

S1 (01:02:54):
Not the last time media junkets will be discussed.

S15 (01:02:58):
On this podcast.

S1 (01:02:59):
It's a bit of a clue for a movie coming up. Um,
all right, we probably need to be a little bit
quicker with these others, even though I'm actually loving this,
but I just feel like we need to probably move
a little bit quicker. All right. Time for your second pick,
Mel Kambouris.

S2 (01:03:12):
Okay, this is The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola's first feature debut,
the OG Sad Girls.

S13 (01:03:22):
So much has been said about the girls over the years.

S23 (01:03:25):
Those girls have a bright future ahead of them, but
we have never.

S5 (01:03:28):
Found an answer. Her act was a cry for help.
I heard there was an accident.

S13 (01:03:32):
Even then, as teens.

S14 (01:03:34):
As we tried to put the pieces together. We still can't.

S13 (01:03:37):
Get a full tank of gas. We'll take you anywhere
you want.

S24 (01:03:40):
That time. We've been waiting for you guys.

S2 (01:03:44):
Based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, Five Teen Sisters
in Detroit in 1967 are. Kirsten Dunst is probably the
biggest star of the film. Plays Lux. This very cool, cold, callous,
sexy older sister, and Josh Hartnett plays the heartthrob. Two
of the big names that came out of it. A
group of men are reflecting on their memories of the

(01:04:06):
Lisbon sisters, the five of them who all killed themselves,
which is the part of this film that we probably
need to discuss a bit. But why don't I tell
you what's good?

S3 (01:04:19):
I mean, yeah, this will be the breakfast. So. Yeah.

S2 (01:04:21):
Look, I think it's depicting of adolescence is very good.
There's a lot of love, nervousness, awkwardness, the kind of
mystery of that time Sofia Coppola does very well. It's
got a lot of the kind of interest in suburbia,
which we're seeing in a lot of these films, and
the kind of darkness behind the picture perfect frame. And also,
I really like it because it is a marker of

(01:04:41):
where Coppola goes in her future, her interest in womanhood,
her style. Something like The Beguiled is very clearly in
conversation with the Virgin Suicide. So even just as an
example of Coppola's development as a director, it's really useful.
What doesn't work? The suicides are a are a lot.

S15 (01:05:01):
And that's a bit a pretty.

S3 (01:05:02):
Dark editor's letter in Cubby Cove after your first.

S15 (01:05:04):
Watch.

S2 (01:05:05):
Yeah, the there is a kind of suicidal ideation, I think,
going on in this film and things like one of
the sisters falling on a garden pike. I just can't
imagine that shot being made today. There is this kind
of idealization of them. They're they're five blonde white sisters
all wearing these long white gowns. And there's this weird

(01:05:29):
tone which is part coming of age, part tragedy that
is very unusual to watch back now, Wolf.

S1 (01:05:36):
Yeah, I this is like tricky because I don't when
I think about this movie, I don't think of necessarily
like a standout, like super fun or, you know, beautifully
shot scene. But what is your favorite scene from this film?
One of the.

S2 (01:05:49):
Best scenes is when Coppola is reveling in adolescence, and
it's when the group of girls and the group of
guys are talking to each other via the phone, and
they're playing songs to each other. And it's it's really beautiful,
sweet scene where they each play a record to each other,
and they sit there over hours and the screen is cut.
So you're moving between the two of them. It is

(01:06:10):
a moment that captures the kind of wonder of adolescence
and the discovery of it. So it's quite a good scene.
That is the film kind of when it's at its best.

S1 (01:06:20):
And you kind of ran us through what you thought
worked best and held up best and what didn't. So
what do you think about whether this movie could or
would be made today?

S2 (01:06:29):
Well, it has been rereleased with a trigger warning. Given
the content, would it be made today? I don't are.

S1 (01:06:35):
We all laughed at that?

S15 (01:06:36):
Aren't trigger warnings suicide? No, I.

S2 (01:06:41):
Would it get made today? I don't think so. And
I'm not obviously laughing about the suicide. It's just it
is a very curious film. And no, I don't think
it would be made today because also the point the suicides,
I don't know, it's kind of unclear what point they're
making in the film. So I don't think this film
would get made today. Um, or if it did, it

(01:07:02):
would be obviously a very different film. I had a
fun fact, but now I'm going to make it a
quiz because, you know, are.

S3 (01:07:07):
You because you're.

S2 (01:07:08):
Yeah, we like a quiz. Okay. Sofia Coppola offered an
actress a role in the film. The actress considered it,
but she thought it was too intense and she turned
it down. And she since starred in a Coppola film. Who?
I mean, it's a big question. What female actress do
you think is.

S15 (01:07:24):
Worse on some.

S1 (01:07:25):
Of those windy, good week end quiz questions? The ones
that are like, name a thing and then work backwards
to just, can you just tell us who this person is?

S2 (01:07:31):
I didn't know it was so belabored. It was Scarlett Johansson, um.

S1 (01:07:36):
When I was at school. I don't know if you
guys experienced this. There was a whole bit of discourse that, like,
this was based on a true story, and people were like, oh,
did you hear about those girls up the road that
all killed themselves? I'm like, what? That's crazy. It's not right.
Like Eugen Eugenides just wrote a fictional story.

S2 (01:07:51):
I don't know, as discussed on the Baby Reindeer episode,
I do not do the fact v fiction, but no,
it is a it is just a fictional novel.

S1 (01:07:59):
Um, okay. Thank you for that, Mel. Great choice. Great couple.
Maybe my favorite.

S15 (01:08:04):
Really? Yeah.

S2 (01:08:04):
Be cool. What about Lost in Translation?

S1 (01:08:06):
I think we did this conversation, didn't we? When Priscilla
came out. I can't remember what I said, but but
when I was rewatching 99 movies and I rewatched this,
I was like, this is fucking awesome. Thomas, what have
you got for your second choice?

S3 (01:08:19):
Uh, look, 1999 was a big year for sex bets.

S2 (01:08:25):
Bets or pests?

S15 (01:08:26):
Bets, bets and pests.

S3 (01:08:27):
But sex bets.

S15 (01:08:28):
In sex bet.

S3 (01:08:29):
Well, okay, we've all seen She's All That, right, which
is essentially a film about how wearing overalls makes you ugly.
And Freddie Prinze Jr basically bets his friends that he
can turn the ugly girl into a prom queen. And,
you know, that's a bit weird, but I will bench
that as much as it's a great film and present
to you perhaps the most, uh, toxic but sexy film

(01:08:51):
of the 90s. Ladies and gentlemen. It is, of course,
Cruel Intentions. You know.

S25 (01:08:55):
You could be a model. It's too bad you're not sexy.

S26 (01:09:00):
I can be sexy.

S27 (01:09:03):
You know what would be super duper sexy?

S25 (01:09:05):
If you lost all the clothes. Huh?

S3 (01:09:08):
What a film.

S15 (01:09:09):
What a what?

S1 (01:09:10):
A build up to the reveal.

S15 (01:09:12):
Mhm.

S3 (01:09:12):
Yeah. Well, I mean, it's worth it. It's worth the wait,
which is something we learn about a lot in this film. Um,
we speak about Reese Witherspoon. She plays the headmaster's daughter Annette.
And then basically we meet these toxic stepsiblings. Uh, Mel,
this is based on a famous French novel. I can't
remember what it is, but you probably know, of.

S2 (01:09:29):
Course, dangerous liaisons.

S3 (01:09:30):
Basically, we have Sarah Michelle Gellar, who, of course, was, like,
very hot property in the 90s, uh, playing Catherine and Sebastian,
her stepbrother, played by Ryan Phillippe, who was very also
hot property in the 90s, which ended in like 1999.
And then and then he became Reese Witherspoon's husband and
then ex-husband anyway. But they play these kind of like,
weird Upper East Side toxic stepsiblings. This is well before

(01:09:52):
the days of, you know, um, Gossip Girl and stuff
like that. They're manipulative step siblings who, you know, have
very kind of like, strange relationship. This was really the
first film that showed us that incest was possibly going
to be a popular topic of discussion. Um, but basically
you have like so much going on in this film.
Sebastian is like a bad boy. He has really cool
sunglasses and drives and drives a nice Jaguar. He, he

(01:10:16):
wants to.

S15 (01:10:16):
He wants.

S2 (01:10:17):
Character.

S15 (01:10:17):
Description.

S3 (01:10:19):
And that kind of sums him up. He wants to
bed Annette, who is played by Reese Witherspoon. She's a
kind of virginal daughter of the headmaster. Annette doesn't want to, like,
have sex until she's married. So basically, Catherine makes a
bet with Sebastian that he will not be able to
have sex with her if Catherine wins. She gets his
vintage 1959 Jaguar Roadster. If Sebastian wins, he gets to

(01:10:39):
have sex with his stepsister Catherine, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Also in plays is Cecile, played by Selma Blair. Uh,
she's kind of like a naive new girl at school. Um, however,
she falls in with Catherine, who kind of, like, takes
her under her wing as Cecile tries to bed her
own piano teacher. But actually, Catherine's intentions are nefarious because
she wants to ruin Cecile's life because Cecile stole her boyfriend.

S1 (01:11:03):
You say the intentions are cruel here.

S3 (01:11:05):
The intentions are cruel, but they're also so, so sexy. Uh,
it is a strange film. Uh, rewatching it, you can
see why people are like, oh my God. But that
being said, they did make a second. And of course,
Cruel Intentions has now been a stage show. Uh, it
is kind of the quintessential 90s film in so many ways. Uh,
it was edgy. It was sexy. It was messed up.
It is very problematic in the cold light of 2024.

(01:11:27):
But yeah, Cruel Intentions deserves a spot on this list,
I would say.

S1 (01:11:31):
Yeah, it's so interesting because it was not very critically
acclaimed at the time, but I think for people of
our generation, it just became like one of these really
iconic movies. You saw people your age at school living
these flashy New York lives with drugs and fancy cars,
and it seemed like they weren't really at school. They
were kind of adults at the age of school kids.
It was kind of weirdly like inspirational in like a

(01:11:55):
sort of fucked up way. Um, yeah, a really good choice.

S15 (01:11:58):
Yeah.

S3 (01:11:58):
And I think, I mean, there's no denying that when
you're at that age or like, if you're a young person.

S1 (01:12:02):
I should say aspirational rather than inspirational.

S15 (01:12:04):
Yeah.

S2 (01:12:05):
I did wonder.

S15 (01:12:06):
When you're.

S3 (01:12:07):
At that age, uh, like when sex is still so
taboo and yet, you know, often people think about it
a lot. Uh, and a movie comes out like this,
which just, like, puts it so front and center and
not even just like sex as a concept, but the
really kind of fringe areas of sex that you don't
normally see in movies, uh, it is like inevitably going
to become something that people talk about.

S2 (01:12:26):
And oh my gosh, the fashion in this is so incredible.
And I do think you see the direct influence on
this film on things like O.C., Gossip Girl, even more recently,
do Revenge. I think it has inspired more than we
maybe give it credit for. Yeah, the.

S1 (01:12:39):
OC coming out like three years after this film. I
think it's like it sort of changed what teen dramas
could be and how explicit they could be. Thomas. What?

S15 (01:12:50):
Come on.

S3 (01:12:51):
Say it so I can say my bit.

S1 (01:12:53):
What is your favorite scene from Cruel Intentions?

S3 (01:12:56):
Uh, I mean, this is obviously a no brainer for
anyone who was stressed about learning to kiss in the
late 90s and early noughties have like, are there five
words that had a more of a stranglehold on me
than massaged my tongue with yours? Uh, obviously the scene
between Selma Blair and Sarah Michelle Gellar where she, uh,
Sarah Michelle Gellar teaches Selma Blair to kiss is iconic.

(01:13:17):
Not just in my own teenage mind.

S2 (01:13:19):
Don't look at me as you're saying this.

S3 (01:13:21):
Mel is silently judging me. Um, it's I mean, the
scene is hilarious. They basically are sitting in a park. Uh,
it's funny, I read Sarah Michelle Gellar saying, like, it's,
you know, it's one of her favorite scenes, and they
often recreated it like MTV Movie Awards and stuff. But like,
there were 300 people on set that day watching this
play out. Um, but basically, she teaches Selma Blair how
to kiss. She says, let's try it again. Only this

(01:13:43):
time stick your tongue in my mouth, massage my tongue
with yours. And then the thing that's so interesting about
this scene, you know, obviously it existed for shock value,
but it like the way they actually do linger on
the two of them having this quite deep, passionate kiss.
Like it even goes so far as to have like
a single strand of saliva that connects them until it breaks. Uh,
it was, you know, it really summed up the film

(01:14:04):
in that it was designed to shock, uh, it was
designed for people to, you know, walk out of the theater.
And that's exactly what happened. It's become this kind of like,
you know, part of the iconography of the film. But weirdly,
even though it's easy for you both to be like, Thomas,
you're so gross and horny. Hahaha. Which is true, but
like the if you go and look at like, kind
of like the discourse around this film, lots of people

(01:14:24):
have been like, oh, that was actually kind of important
for me as like a young queer person, to see
these two women on screen, like they weren't doing it
because they were exploring each other, but they were, you know,
it was still representation at a time when there wasn't
a great deal of that. Yeah.

S1 (01:14:36):
Yeah, I think that that's when people talk about representation
of queer characters. That's exactly what they're talking about.

S15 (01:14:41):
No, I'm not saying that's I'm.

S3 (01:14:43):
Just saying there are lots of people who said that.
Like in terms of what holds, don't sit here.

S15 (01:14:48):
Done enough, my friend. Yeah. Um, no.

S1 (01:14:50):
You're a look, this is, uh, everyone's allowed to pick
their favorite scenes. It is obviously the most iconic scene
from that film. It's not a crazy thing for him
to say, Mel.

S2 (01:14:59):
No, I just don't want you to say massage my
tongue again.

S15 (01:15:02):
Wait. So.

S3 (01:15:03):
Okay, Mel, you obviously hate this scene.

S15 (01:15:05):
Then I don't hate this scene.

S2 (01:15:06):
I can see how you could argue it in all
different ways. Am I am I surprised it's your favorite scene?

S15 (01:15:11):
I'm not well, but, I mean, I haven't seen.

S2 (01:15:14):
It in ages.

S3 (01:15:15):
You couldn't choose a different scene from this movie, to
be honest.

S1 (01:15:17):
We have so many more films to talk about. I
don't think we can get bogged down into this scene more.

S15 (01:15:23):
Thomas, why.

S2 (01:15:24):
Don't you tell us whether sex bits stand up today?

S3 (01:15:27):
No, no, no. So you've actually kind of touched on
what holds up the best from this film. And it
actually is the fashion. Uh, these guys look amazing. You know,
you've got Selma Blair kind of like, in her J.Crew
cardigan very of the time, very preppy. Ryan Phillippe actually
had a connection at Prada. So despite the fact that
this film, you know, celebrated these rich kids, apparently they
didn't really have much budget, especially when it came to Wardrobing.

(01:15:47):
He had a connection at Prada because he was still,
like famous then. And so they decked out his character.
He's got the kind of like sleek 90s glasses. He
wears a lot of turtlenecks. And of course, you know,
his slick car. So the film like is, you know,
in terms of what holds up the worst, we can
spend an hour on that. But in terms of what
holds up the best, it still looks pretty cool. Um,
and the way they dress and stuff is all like, yeah,

(01:16:08):
quite aspirational. What holds up the worst? I mean, again,
where to really begin with this film? Essentially, at the
crux of it, you've got like a stepbrother who is
like trying to sleep with a virgin so that then
he can have anal sex with his sister. That's essentially
what the film is about. Um, it is like, just problematic.

S1 (01:16:28):
So what holds up the worst is the entire concept.

S15 (01:16:31):
Over the film, correct? Yes, correct. Uh, which brings me to,
of course.

S3 (01:16:36):
Could this be released in 2024? Uh, not a chance. Yeah.

S1 (01:16:39):
All right. That probably I'm loath to say this. Maybe
the wildest, uh, conversation will have. Um, my second film.
We had to do it, The Talented Mr. Ripley.

S28 (01:16:53):
Dickie Greenleaf, it's tom. Tom Ripley. Tom Ripley. We were
at Princeton together.

S29 (01:16:59):
Did we know each other? Sorry. What is it, Ripley?

S30 (01:17:02):
How do you do?

S5 (01:17:04):
It would just be for a little while.

S30 (01:17:05):
No, I like him.

S31 (01:17:06):
Marge, you like everybody, Marge.

S28 (01:17:09):
You like everybody?

S32 (01:17:12):
You stay at Dickie's house.

S1 (01:17:13):
It's kind of become the theme of the year for
this podcast. We discussed it first when we were talking
about Saltburn, which tried to do the same thing and
didn't really succeed, and then more recently with the really incredible,
I think, Andrew Scott Netflix series based on the character.
This film is one of my favorite films of all time,
set in the 1950s. Matt Damon is Tom Ripley, a

(01:17:34):
con artist sent from New York to Italy to try
and convince Dickie Greenleaf, a rich Playboy, to come back home.
The cast of this movie Matt Damon, Jude Law, Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett all kind of just
before they became ballistically famous. So they're amazing actors and
they have this kind of like naivety to them that

(01:17:54):
really works for the film. My favorite scene this was
a tricky one because there's a couple that I like, but.
I think I landed on the right one. It's the
introduction to Freddy. Philip Seymour Hoffman's character. He pulls up
to this cafe in Rome in a red convertible, jumps
out of the car, waltzes down to where Damon and
Jude Law are having coffee, and delivers one of the

(01:18:17):
most iconic first lines any character has delivered in a movie.

S32 (01:18:21):
Oh God, don't you want to fuck everyone when you
see just once?

S33 (01:18:24):
Only once. Absolutely.

S29 (01:18:26):
Once. Child. Tom. Ripley. Freddy. Myers. Tom.

S1 (01:18:31):
It is crazy stuff. It is an awesome performance from
Philip Seymour Hoffman. I think I give a special shout
out to the Naples jazz club scene as well, where
the guys are all singing and playing saxophone. That is
super fun. That's like from a part of the movie
where you're like, this is great. I'm just hanging out
with these cool hot people as I have an awesome
holiday in Italy. And then obviously the movie gets like

(01:18:52):
significantly darker later on. Um, the hold up the best.
I've said this already, the cast, like you, just can't
think of another example where this many A-list actors who
wanted to so much success were caught at their just
before their peak in their prime. In this way, uh,

(01:19:13):
they're all used perfectly. And I think it is so
hard to think about these characters that have been portrayed
in film and television so many times, without thinking of
the guys who played them in this film. Like, it's
hard to think of Ripley not as Damon. It's hard
to think of Freddy, not as Philip Seymour Hoffman. What
holds up the worst in this film? This is kind

(01:19:34):
of complicated to explain, but like basically the idea of
being a con artist in the 50s seemed so easy.
And I just don't think you can do that anymore.
Like there are scenes in this movie, there are entire
plot points in this movie that just work, because Matt
Damon's looks a bit like Jude Law's passport photo now.
They're like fingerprinting and they're using face ID you just
couldn't get away with that. But maybe that's what makes

(01:19:55):
the movie work so well is that we've all seen
this before about films in the 90s. You just have
none of that stuff, so you just have a lot
more fun. What's possible seems much more boundless. And could
it be made in 2024? Guess what it was? It
was made for Netflix and it was fucking awesome. Another
reason why this movie absolutely rules.

S2 (01:20:14):
Oh man, this would be probably my number one of
the 1999 sect. I just think it's when I think
of like if I was to create a work of art,
the vibe of this movie, I can't explain it, but
the vibe, everything of it, I'm like, that's what I
would want. The feelings it gives you, the atmosphere, the tone. I,
I love it.

S3 (01:20:30):
Yeah. We have so much love for Ripley on this pod.

S1 (01:20:33):
Yeah, I mean, I loved it so much. I went
to Ischia, where they shot half the movie last year
for a holiday, just because it was where they shot
the movie.

S2 (01:20:39):
Was it as good as it looks in the film?
It was.

S1 (01:20:41):
Amazing. It was amazing. Yeah. The castle is there. Very cool. Mel,
we're up to your final pick for the 1999 movie
Hall of Fame.

S2 (01:20:50):
And it's a bit late to kind of get into
the terms that were set for our choices, but when
we said the kind of famous films of 1999, I
took that to also maybe mean infamous as well, because
I don't know if this is like one of the
best films, but I think it was important and it's
worth discussing that is Never Been Kissed.

S29 (01:21:08):
Welcome to Shakespeare's As You Like It. Are you sure
you're 17?

S34 (01:21:11):
I'm 17.

S5 (01:21:14):
She's never been hip hop.

S35 (01:21:16):
This is where the stories are.

S27 (01:21:19):
She's never been cool.

S35 (01:21:21):
You'll become friends with these people.

S34 (01:21:23):
Houston. Kristen. Gibby. What's that girl?

S25 (01:21:27):
Are you in special ed?

S27 (01:21:29):
And she's never been sexy.

S35 (01:21:31):
You will party with them. You'll rave with them. You're
going to get jiggy with them.

S27 (01:21:36):
Until now.

S2 (01:21:37):
All you need. It was directed by Raja Gosnell, who
went on to do Big Momma's House. Smurfs, Scooby-Doo. If
that says anything, this is Drew Barrymore. She plays Josie Geller,
who's an insecure 25 year old reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.
She's never had a relationship, famously never been kissed. She's
given an assignment to go undercover at a high school.

(01:21:59):
Off she goes to write about what kids are like today. Now,
what is my favorite scene in this film?

S1 (01:22:05):
Before we get to that, this is another movie where
an adult goes to a high school to try and
do nefarious things with high schoolers.

S2 (01:22:12):
Yeah, and I think, what the fuck.

S1 (01:22:14):
Was happening in America? This is crazy.

S2 (01:22:16):
Yeah, yeah, you kind of really see, this whole plot
is very messed up, and maybe I'll just jump ahead
to what doesn't work.

S1 (01:22:23):
Yeah, start with what doesn't work. Let's do.

S15 (01:22:25):
That. Yeah.

S2 (01:22:26):
What doesn't work? Well, yes. It's another situation where maybe
the whole plot doesn't work. We've got this 25 year
old who goes to a school. She kind of gets
the hots for a student at the same time as
a teacher, gets the hots for her. And when the
teacher finds out she's actually 25, is more upset at
her than when she was a student. She's also got
her brother, who then somehow enrolls in the school and

(01:22:47):
has a relationship with a student. Again, an adult man.
I mean, yes, it's completely whacked and also really did
make me wonder why is it so easy to enroll
in schools? There's no one asking for ID what works? Again,
I think it did a pretty good job at capturing
how traumatizing high school can be. And Drew Barrymore, she's lovable, goofy.

(01:23:08):
She's kind of. She's kind of worth watching just for
her charisma in this.

S1 (01:23:12):
Yeah. Drew Barrymore was a great part of this movie.
Probably the only reason I revisit it. Really. She's awesome in.

S15 (01:23:17):
It. Yeah.

S2 (01:23:18):
It's so weird that it was so big on the
sleepover roster again. But yeah, I don't know why our
parents were letting us watch that.

S15 (01:23:23):
Uh, what's your.

S1 (01:23:24):
Favorite scene, Mel?

S2 (01:23:26):
Uh, I quite like when she's stoned at the party.
She goes dancing on stage. She's like riding a feather
boa at the same time as she's being covertly. Well,
she's being surveilled by her colleagues because she's wearing a camera.
It's fun, it's silly. It's a very ridiculous film.

S1 (01:23:41):
And could it be made today? Probably not. For the
same reasons why so many of these movies couldn't.

S2 (01:23:45):
Yeah, yeah, I think I'm happy to leave this 1
in 1999.

S15 (01:23:49):
Where it belongs.

S1 (01:23:50):
Uh, Thomas, your last choice for the Hall of Fame.
What is it?

S3 (01:23:54):
Uh, look, before we get into that, can I just say,
sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel
like I can't take it. Uh, look, someone had to
do it. American Beauty Sam Mendes, famously known as the
worst best picture film of all time.

S36 (01:24:07):
Why does he dress like a Bible salesman?

S29 (01:24:09):
Today I quit my job, and then I blackmailed my
boss for almost $60,000. Pass the asparagus.

S36 (01:24:16):
My dad's actually kind of cute. I think he and
your mother have not slept together in a long time.

S37 (01:24:21):
Shut up. Do you think you're the only.

S3 (01:24:24):
It is almost like if you were to type into
an AI generator in 2024. Give me a 1999 film.
This is what it would spit out. Uh, it kind
of like, pulled the greatest trick on everyone at the
time into thinking it was this amazing, searing commentary on
suburban life and, you know, feeling that you haven't amounted
to anything. But really, it was just basically Kevin Spacey grooming, which,

(01:24:46):
as we know, is not that impressive. Um, wait.

S1 (01:24:50):
You're telling me this is another movie about an older
man grooming a high school kid?

S3 (01:24:55):
Yeah, I know, it's like everyone in suburbia was so
bored that they had to fuck teenagers.

S1 (01:24:59):
So what? What? Despite it being problematic, you recognizing that
what holds up for you in this movie? What makes
this movie when you watch it in 2024 still feel
important or interesting?

S3 (01:25:10):
Well, I think like for a lot of people, it's
probably the fact that you can't divorce the feeling that
it had on you at the first time of watching,
like it did feel like an important, you know, film
at the time. People often refer to it as a
deep movie for shallow people, which I need to unpack
with myself later. But like, I mean, look, and it
really a lot of it, I guess, can be perfectly
encapsulated in what is both my favorite scene, but I

(01:25:31):
cringe watching it back, which is, of course, the plastic
bag scene. That's your favorite scene? Well, no, but like
that is that is this. Yeah. The scene, you know
what I mean? Like that is the scene from the movie.
It's either that or like Kevin Spacey thinking about Mena
Suvari as a teenager covered in rose petals. There was like,
you're picking like, fucking pretty grim choices here.

S2 (01:25:49):
Can I tell you that we're running out of time?
But in 1999, I did a speech to the Assembly,
and I used that scene, and I tied it into
a speech about why we should reuse bags, because, like,
that bag was indestructible. There you go. Really cut through.
I know.

S3 (01:26:05):
But it's amazing, like, you know, and like that is
the famous line about, you know, some, some, like, beauty
in the world. And we're just watching this guy film rubbish.

S1 (01:26:11):
Famously paraphrased by Katy Perry, you know, many years later.

S3 (01:26:14):
Yes, exactly. Um, so look, it's like it is really funny.
25 years is a long time, but I don't think
any Best Picture winner that scooped all the major categories
has aged so poorly, and is probably a perfect reflection
of just how weird things were in the late 90s.
One part I think has aged well, which is, you know,
there's a famous scene where Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening,

(01:26:35):
his wife, who he hates, who later, you know, spoiler alert,
kills him. Uh, they're having sex. And she basically is
concerned that he's going to spill something on the couch.
And that kind of like sums up the marital kind
of like depression that had consumed them both. And I
think sometimes, you know, you watch that and you're like, okay,
that's perhaps of all the different things wrong in this movie,
maybe they tapped into something there that is probably pretty

(01:26:55):
universal for a lot of people. But look, it goes
without saying, could this movie be made? Should this movie
be made in 2024, probably have to recast Kevin Spacey. Uh,
but generally, no, you don't want to see The return
of American Beauty.

S1 (01:27:08):
I'm glad you picked it because we did have to
talk about it. It is the Best Picture winner of
that year. It is kind of crazy the grip that
it had, it deserved to be unpacked. So thank you
for stepping up to the plate.

S15 (01:27:17):
Yeah. Once again, another brave choice from Thomas.

S1 (01:27:20):
I'm all right, all right, I'm bringing it home. I
had to do it. Notting Hill. Yeah.

S38 (01:27:30):
A very ordinary boy bumps into a girl. Oh my God,
and takes her home. The bathroom's on the top floor.
It happens all the time. But she is no ordinary girl.
She is Anna Scott, the most famous film star in

(01:27:50):
the world. And when they get every.

S1 (01:27:52):
Couple of years, I set myself the task of trying
to decide what is the perfect rom com. I watch
them all and I just don't think anything beats Notting Hill.
It's the best of Richard Curtis's films. Hugh Grant and
Julia Roberts just nail it. The supporting cast is great.
The 90s were awesome for rom coms. It feels right
to have something as iconic like this on the list.

(01:28:14):
The best scene in this movie I didn't know what
a media junket was the first time I saw this film.
This is the scene where Hugh Grant tries to meet, uh,
Julia Roberts to give her some flowers, and he goes
to an event where journalists are interviewing her for upcoming
Weird Space movie, and he has to pretend to be
a journalist from Horse and Hound. This is an awesome,
very funny, very cool scene. It rocked when I was

(01:28:35):
younger and didn't know what the hell was going on.
Now that I've been to like hundreds of media junkets,
it is even better. It's just crazy to put this
like weird thing that only people in our world really
know about into this big, splashy rom com film. I
think what holds up the best? It's hard because it's
such a perfect movie, but the soundtrack slaps so hard.

(01:28:56):
Every needle drop in this film is so good. When
I was younger.

S15 (01:29:00):
Ronan Keating Ronan.

S1 (01:29:01):
Keating is probably my least favorite on the soundtrack. Um,
when I was a kid, we'd go on a lot
of car trips and there'd be heaps of arguing about
what radio station to listen to, what CDs to put on.
But the one thing that the family all agreed on
was the soundtrack Elvis Costello, Al Green, The Lighthouse Family,
Texas Bill Withers this is like the sound of my
early teens in so many ways. Um, what holds up

(01:29:22):
the worst? So there's this modern take that's going around.
It's been going around the last couple of years. Mamma mia!
Has published it. Erin Molan, their radio presenter, is like
ranted about this. They say that Julia Roberts sucks because
she lied to Hugh Grant about having a boyfriend and
jerked him around. I got to say, I don't really
care about that at all. Like she meets this guy
in a bookstore. They get carried away, they have some fun.

(01:29:44):
What do you want her to say? Oh, actually, I'm
dating Alec Baldwin and he sucks. That would be a
terrible movie. Like, I don't want to watch that movie.
It's just a bit of tension for the film. Stop
trying to ruin nice movies from the 90s. What? Actually,
I think age the worst is probably the fact that
Hugh Grant had no idea who this giant movie star was.
Is he the dumbest man in England? That is crazy.

(01:30:05):
Every single person knows her except for him. Doesn't really
make sense to me.

S3 (01:30:09):
Yeah, but he just lives in the bookshop and he has.

S15 (01:30:11):
His special words.

S3 (01:30:12):
And, you know, he's like a.

S2 (01:30:13):
Also, I mean, Notting Hill looks absolutely angelic compared to
some of these other films that we've discussed.

S1 (01:30:19):
Yeah, it's probably Daisy. It's probably got some weird bits
to it, but it, it doesn't seem to be as.

S15 (01:30:25):
Cooked compared to where we've gone.

S1 (01:30:26):
So if the bar is, uh, young children groomed this
well and truly, you know, gets over the line, um,
could it be made in 2024? I mean, sort of.
We talked about the idea of you, which was basically
a gender flipped version of this film. I think, though,
what wouldn't be done this way. And we've talked about
this a couple of times. This is shot on location
in Notting Hill. The script is really great. The cast

(01:30:48):
is really good. Clearly a lot of attention and time
and care was put into this. I think these days
we get sort of the first or second draft iteration
of this, either at the movies or on streamers. And again,
I just think like let creators take time, let writers
take time to make movies this good again. My fun

(01:31:08):
fact on this is that Nicole Kidman auditioned for the
part that Julia Roberts plays, but was told she wasn't
talented enough. There you go.

S2 (01:31:17):
I cannot imagine her in that role though. Julia Roberts,
Hugh Grant, their chemistry. Yeah, they were the they were
the right choice.

S1 (01:31:23):
Um, we are now actually getting kicked out of our
recording because of how long Thomas talked about kissing. Uh,
but I wanted to recap on a Hall of Fame briefly,
because I think we nailed it. Team, how about this
for a list of nine movies from 1999 Magnolia Fight
Club election, The Virgin Suicides, Cruel Intentions, The Talented Mr. Ripley,

(01:31:45):
Never Been Kissed, American Beauty and Notting Hill. God damn,
that's a list.

S2 (01:31:50):
It's a good list. But guys, I feel a bit
icky now that really unpacking some of those films and
what was popular? Uh, it kind of it shocked me
hearing all the kind of what was going on in 1999.

S1 (01:32:00):
It is weird, even though we talked about the strange
themes before we listed all the movies, the fact that
like American Beauty, Cruel Intentions, election, at least all have
these strange themes. Yeah, it's it's it's a weird time.
Let's let's leave it with that.

S2 (01:32:18):
But we've gone there. We've done it for the listeners.

S15 (01:32:20):
Yes, correct.

S1 (01:32:21):
Thomas, I think that worked. I think we had fun.

S15 (01:32:24):
Yeah, yeah.

S3 (01:32:25):
I mean, look, I, I get to have horrors about
the discussion around.

S15 (01:32:32):
Please don't.

S2 (01:32:32):
Say those words again.

S15 (01:32:33):
To me.

S3 (01:32:34):
Massaging terms.

S15 (01:32:35):
I.

S2 (01:32:35):
Just.

S3 (01:32:36):
But yeah. No, I think we nailed it. Yeah.

S1 (01:32:38):
In lieu of impress Your friends, we've just given you
nine awesome and potentially creepy films to rewatch. Um, some
homework for us to do, but that was fun. I
had a great time, had a great time rewatching these movies.
I had a great time talking to you guys about them.
Maybe we should do something like this again in the future.

S2 (01:32:55):
Looking forward to it.

S3 (01:32:56):
2009 here we come.

S1 (01:32:57):
Take care guys. Bye. This episode of The Drop was
produced by Kai Wong. If you enjoyed listening to today's
episode of The Drop, make sure to follow us on
your favorite podcast app. Leave us a review or better yet,
share it with a friend! I'm Osman Faruqi. See you
next week.

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