Hate to Interrupt - EP 025 | Interview w/ Rendan Lovell | Oscars & Krisha - Hate to Interrupt

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I am tired of the god damn Bob Dylan vocal slander.

(00:13):
He's not an amazing singer.
I get that.
He has a voice.
Hey, listen up.
Listen up.
I hate to interrupt, but welcome to Hate to Interrupt, episode 25, I believe we're at
now.
Yes.
I am Ethan, otherwise known as Gula from youtube.com slash guluf, and I am joined by
Nick from Stop Culture.
The adjust guy Nick and Rendon from Rendon level.
Yes, we have a special guest.

(00:35):
Yeah.
Thanks so much for being here.
We reached out to you about like a week and a half ago and been, you know, talking about
doing this for a while, starting to get interview guests on here.
Now we've got Rendon, our very first one.
Yeah.
So today we're going to be talking about a movie that Rendon recommended, which is a
2015 film by Trey Edward Schultz called Crescia, which was incredible.

(00:59):
I really loved it.
Let's go.
Also, you know, before that, we just want to get into some interview questions, you
know, just, just get to know Rendon a little bit more.
Our listeners can check out his channel and get to know a little bit more about him.
So Nick, you had a couple like sort of introductory questions to ask first.
Like, why don't we just, we'll get the ground level with those, you know?

(01:20):
Sure.
Yeah.
I mean, my first question is just what kind of got you into movies in general?
Oh man, that is a good question.
I don't, I don't know what specifically got me into movies, but I remember watching, this
is a little like, it's kind of film bro, but I got into movies cause of Christopher Nolan,
oddly enough.
And now I'm like his biggest critic, but I really, really loved Memento.

(01:44):
That was like the first movie I watched where I was like, somebody made these decisions.
And at that point in my, I was, it was like the of 2012 Avengers, where's like the biggest
thing on the block.
And I was like, you know, watching that compared to Memento was such a, there's like a culture
shock where I was like, okay, this is made for a product.

(02:06):
It's purely for entertainment.
And then I watched Memento.
I'm like, okay, there's two different storylines going on.
Someone's making these very purposeful decisions.
And I think that was what kind of got me into movies in general as more of an art form.
I always saw it as entertainment and then it was like, oh wait, no, there's like way
more to this than I thought.
So that was, that's probably the catalyst to getting into it.

(02:30):
Wait, wait, real quick though.
You said, so now you're, you're one of Christopher Nolan's biggest critics.
Just delve into that for a second.
I still think he's, I think he's an incredibly talented director.
I don't want to piece merch his name too much, but I thought, I think a lot of his stuff
now that he's kind of hit this career peak where he's super popular, I think he's playing

(02:53):
it a very safe recently.
I didn't really care for Oppenheimer personally.
I thought it was a, like a three hour long Wikipedia page.
So I like a lot of his reasons, tenant as well.
I think he's just kind of playing it safe and I feel like he can do so much more with
his talent than just these kind of like the Odyssey.
It sounds interesting, but you know, it's just the Odyssey again.

(03:16):
So I don't know.
I want him, I want him to get back into doing something interesting.
I heard that rumor that he was doing a vampire movie before they announced that it was the
Odyssey.
I was like, I might actually be excited for a Nolan movie.
I heard that he was doing like a, a helicopter cops movie.
Did anyone else hear that?
Sounds sick too.

(03:36):
That sounds awesome.
I didn't hear that.
Oh man, it must've been false.
It is funny that you, as soon as you mentioned Oppenheimer, the two Nicks kind of had a look
on their face because they have constantly been arguing about whether they like Oppenheimer
or not.
I really don't like it, but Nick, I love Oppenheimer and Nick, Nick hates Oppenheimer.
So I definitely agree with you about tenant.

(04:00):
I could not even believe what I was watching when I was watching that.
Oh my God, dude.
People get on Christopher Nolan for the, his exposition problem, but that, that movie,
it was so egregious in that movie.
I was like, what the fuck even is this?
Even just on a technical level, like the sound design was fucking atrocious.
That was the main thing.
It's like, it's like they were, it's like they were trying to, it's like a Christopher

(04:20):
Nolan movie on extreme hardcore difficulty because all the sound design is extremely
loud and all the dialogue is super complicated and, and quiet.
Just like, oh, and then the moment with the time is going to be a bit, and you just hear
BWAAAAAAA.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm even critical of Interstellar, which is everybody's favorite, but I, I am
too.
I'm not my jam.

(04:41):
I don't know.
His recent stuff just doesn't work for me.
Yeah.
I really love it visually.
I think it's gorgeous.
I think all of this stuff is gorgeous.
Oppenheimer is a great looking movie, but I think a lot of his nuke.
Okay.
All right.
Well, I don't want to get the little sparkler he sets off.
Yeah.
But I think, I think all his movies look great and I think he's incredibly talented, but
recently a lot of his scripts just kind of, I think, fall into the cliche territory or

(05:06):
into it's all love and then they just hand wipe away anything else.
Do you think that's partly because his brother is no longer writing with him?
I, you know, I had suspicions about that.
Yeah.
I think Jonathan did bring a lot to it or, I mean, even what is his name?
David S Goyer writing for like the dark night.
I think Christopher Nolan is a talented writer in some respects and then in others, he, I

(05:33):
think falls a little short.
I don't know if it feels like he feels like the ideas man to me.
Yes.
More so.
I think that's good.
It might be on.
Yeah.
Great at big picture.
And then you kind of need somebody to come in and fill in the details a little bit.
Like David S Goyer has always been the guy that's like here.
I got the very clear structure.
I got the very clear characters and then Chris Nolan could come in and make it his own.

(05:54):
But did he do any section with his brother or was that with Goyer?
I think I believe he did.
I think it was.
Yeah.
I don't remember though.
Nick, did you have another question?
I have a bunch.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I guess I mean, this is similar vein, but like what got you started making your YouTube
channel?
You've been doing it for a while.
Oh, I've been doing it forever.
I've been doing it long.
I mean, I've been doing this channel that I'm running right now since 2016.

(06:15):
The first video I did was for Suicide Squad, which was classic.
Classic.
Yeah.
Banger.
One of the worst DC award winning film.
Yeah, that's crazy.
That is crazy.
And then I did.
I was riding the trends for a long time.
I did I had like a sketch comedy channel in like 2010 that I ran that I realized that

(06:35):
I hated doing.
So I stopped doing it.
And then PewDiePie got famous.
And then I was like, I'm gonna do gaming.
I love gaming.
I'm gonna do that.
And then I hated doing that.
So I think it was around the time I would already been doing YouTube.
And then it was around that time when I watched some interesting films and decided, Hey, you
know what?
Let's just make a channel about that.
Because that's way more interesting than just sitting down and playing games and then watching

(06:58):
myself play games and trying to edit.
That was a nightmare.
So that was probably it.
Were there any like film YouTubers that you saw and you're like, Oh, maybe I could do
that too.
Oddly enough, not really.
This is the cringiest thing I could say.
But I watched IGN movie reviews way back in 2012.
And so my channel initially was like emulating that.

(07:21):
And then as I got more into it, it was like I got into YMS, IHE, Red Letter Media.
And then recently, I haven't really been watching a lot of YouTube.
So I don't know who really is even doing it anymore.
But those are the guys that kind of got me into the YouTube film criticism space.
Oh, sorry.

(07:41):
You as sardinic ass guy.
I was for a minute.
I did.
I did enjoy it when it first started, but I haven't listened to it for a while.
Sorry.
I watched like five or six episodes and I kind of stop.
Are you a fan of Chris Stuckman like we all are?
Dude, Chris Stuckman seems like a good dude, but I'm not a fan of his channel.

(08:01):
Yeah.
I think we're all the same, but we're building up to getting him on the pod one day.
That's our dream.
I'd watch.
That'd be awesome.
Or Jeremy Johns.
Yeah.
Oh boy.
Have you seen an episode where I'm blacklisted?
We should probably explain.
I don't know what came over me, but on our first episode, I said something where I was
like, what if we just bring up Chris Stuckman or say get Stuckmanized at the end of every

(08:25):
episode we've done.
We've been doing this for 25 episodes and we've done it.
We've at least dedicated like one and a half minutes to two minutes of every episode to
Chris Stuckman so far.
So the goal is to eventually have like, after two or three years of this to make a compilation
and send to him.
And he'll probably be kind of scared, but maybe want to talk to us.
There's a stalker podcast.

(08:47):
I can't wait to be Stuckmanized today then.
That's going to be great.
There we go.
There's our mandated catchphrase.
Once we all see Shelby Oaks, we'll have some more ammo to get him on.
I was just going to bring that up.
I can't wait to watch it.
I actually really want to watch Shelby Oaks.
I want to see what he does.
He's like, oh movies.
So I'm optimistic, but we'll see.
Yeah.
So like you were saying, you've had your channel for eight years now, I guess.

(09:09):
I checked on your description.
I guess you made the channel a decade ago, but then started two years after that or whatever.
Cause like, you know, in comparison to us, we've all been doing this for, I don't know,
I think Ethan has been the longest running, like basically just like a couple of years
each.
But I, you know, I watched your very first video, the, the Suicide Squad video that you

(09:29):
talked about, and then the video you put out yesterday.
And just like the, the, the differences in like tone, your editing style, even just the
way you come across on camera has, has changed so much over the years.
I was just wondering, like, was that a concerted effort that you made on your, on your, on
your own part?
Was that like an organic thing that just happened?
Or did you try to, you know, switch things up at a certain point?

(09:51):
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think it's a bit of a bit of everything.
So I mean, that first video is horrendous.
I've actually thought a lot about just putting it on private because I can't, I can't even
watch it myself.
It's just me talking to a camera and like barely any cuts, barely any edits.
It's horrible.
But I think it's a combination of everything.
Cause like, you know, one of my favorite quotes is the more I practice, the luckier I get.

(10:14):
And I kind of apply that to everything where I'm like, okay, the, if I'm in front of the
camera, you know, 400 times, eventually I'll just get comfortable in front of the camera.
Cause if you go back and watch that first video, I'm not comfortable at all.
Like I'm quiet.
I don't know where I'm looking.
It's so awkward.
So that's a part of it is just practicing, getting the repetitions in.
And then it's also like, I would feel very, I don't know what the word is.

(10:37):
I'd feel stupid if I didn't try to improve something every time.
So whenever I make a video, I'm like, okay, what am I going to focus on to make this like
1% better?
So just this compound effect over time to help me just create better and better works.
I'm going to focus on the audio this time, making maybe focus on that a little bit more,
maybe do the lighting a little bit better, do the, do it a little bit different camera

(11:01):
work, something just anything I can think of that can make something 1% better over
time.
Like you said, it makes a huge difference.
Even if it's over the course of years, I think it makes a massive difference.
Even a video I made last year, I watched that and I'm like, it's not right.
Yeah.
A bit of everything.
Well, that's good.
That's good that you think of things that way.

(11:23):
You know, I just, every single video I pick one thing out.
I have a question for Rendon, but also just for all of us in general.
How long did it take for us to stop finding our voices cringe in audio?
Well, this might be different for Nick, since you're a musician.
So you've, you've probably been dealing with that a lot longer, but yeah.
How long?

(11:44):
Cause for me it was about six months and then I was like, okay, it's fine.
Yeah.
It wasn't that long for me.
It was, it was like, it was probably, it's probably around the same amount of time.
It's like six months.
If the voice wasn't it for me, it was like the look every time I'd look at myself, I
would see like, Ooh, why am I doing that?
Oh, like I've looked away from the camera.
Why'd I do that?
That one, it took way longer, but voice wasn't that bad.

(12:06):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's not really voice.
It's a, cause I used to do customer service like for a long time.
So I hear my voice like a million times, but yeah, it's like it's my, my voice saying my
scripts is the thing that's cringey for me.
It's like, um, it's more me judging what I've written than my voice itself.
Yeah.
You're definitely right that doing music made it easier for me to just like hear myself

(12:27):
back and not feel strange about it.
But there's also a, it's just like a performative difference between singing or just, you know,
recording vocals and a musical context and then doing narration.
It's like entirely different skill sets.
So like the first couple of videos, I think I don't even have them on my channel anymore.
The first ones that I did, I either private it or deleted, but like I showed them to my

(12:49):
friends and they're like, why are you talking like that?
You know, why are you putting on this voice?
I'm like, I still, I mean, I still, I think you have to, which is kind of what my next
question was about.
It's like, I think you have to kind of put on a certain sort of persona while trying
to keep parts of yourself.
So yeah, I mean, that's, that's basically what my next question to Renan is about.
It's like, I think a lot of YouTubers struggle with that.

(13:11):
It's like, how much are you going to show the audience your unvarnished authentic self,
but also, you know, keep in mind that you're an entertainer at the end of the day because
all YouTubers are.
So it's like you in particular, I think are a content creator who really, you convey your
personality like very effortlessly, especially in like your most latest videos that I've

(13:34):
seen from you.
It's, it's, you know, just really naturalistic.
So like, what was the process of you trying to find a way to protect those essential pieces
of your real personality on screen while also developing a, like a watchable online persona?
Oh man.
I don't even know.
It's that's, that's a, that's a head scratcher.
It's I think, if it's all just like, you know, if it all just comes to you over time, that's,

(13:58):
that's totally fine too.
You know, that's part of it.
Yeah.
I think that's part of it.
I think it goes back to what I said earlier.
It's just kind of getting reps up, you know, like you're never going to go anywhere unless
you do it a bunch of times.
I mean, I have tons of videos that I haven't even put out or I probably won't put out or
I'm like, ah, that's just not right.
Or, you know, it feels wrong.
So I think it's, I think it's a combination again of just like getting the reps up just

(14:23):
so you can be like, okay, how is this coming across?
And that's a big part of some, everything I do too is just like, like you said earlier,
it's like the tone of things I think is really important.
The, what I'm trying to communicate.
So if it's, if it's like a silly, I'm going to tear this movie down, which I don't do
too much anymore.
But if I, if I really want to go after a movie like, like downhill, then it tends to lean

(14:46):
into a little bit more entertaining, a little bit more silly, even though, cause my personality
is pretty, is usually pretty out there.
It's usually pretty silly, I guess is the right word.
But so that, that comes off a little bit more naturally with something I'm actually making
fun of.
Whereas then I, with this recent video I've done with force majeure and downhill is a

(15:07):
weird combination of both.
Cause downhill is one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my whole goddamn life.
And then force majeure is like this great piece of art.
And it's like, okay, how do you balance this thing with this thing that are so different,
that are a remake of the each other.
So it's like, yeah, okay.
I want to be a little bit silly with certain things, but then I have to kind of be serious

(15:29):
to get the correct point across.
Cause if you're not, if you're, if you're saying something in a silly way, trying to
make a point, no one's going to take you seriously.
That happened to me a lot.
I mean, I've got, I've got comments on my gentleman video from like six years ago all
the time where they're like, you're such a loser.
You suck.
Cause I was going after this movie, but I did it in a way where it didn't feel like
I was having fun with it.

(15:51):
So there's jokes I made in the video that were like these dry sarcastic things that
I thought were funny.
And then people were like, you weren't that, why would you say something like that?
Cause I presented it all wrong.
So it's just figuring out over time.
Yeah, yeah.
I totally feel you.
I mean, for, I guess for me personally, I, I did, I did try to like make it and it was

(16:12):
a concerted effort for me.
Cause I'm not naturally like a very extroverted bubbly person, but like YouTube, people like
that thrive on YouTube.
I have to kind of try to bring that out of myself a little bit more like extraversion
and effervescence or whatever the fuck.
So people will be like, Oh, this guy's someone that I want to listen to rather than just
be like, hello, this is my, this movie.

(16:33):
So that's what this podcast is for.
Yeah.
That's what I'm doing the pod.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm kind of that way too.
I'm a little bit more introverted than you might think, but it went to get in front of
the camera.
It's like, I actually have this thing I started doing this year that I, I don't know if it's
working at all, but I'm like, you know what I'm going to do every time I make a video
or do a narration, I'm going to absolutely shotgun a red bull and then just see what

(16:57):
happens.
It's give me a little bit more energy.
So I don't know if it's working, but it's fun.
Now you definitely have great energy on camera.
I have a question.
So whenever it comes to like the script writing process, like, well, how do you get your ideas?
Do they just kind of come naturally as you progress through your day or do you like actively
sit down and try to think of things to make videos about?

(17:17):
Yeah.
You know, I, the ideas don't come very often.
You know, I, some, sometimes I do like going and sitting outside and just like being still
and just thinking about things.
And sometimes ideas come that way.
But I think for me, the biggest thing I, I do to get good ideas is, or maybe not even

(17:38):
good ideas, just ideas is I just watch a shit load of movies.
Like I will put aside at least two days a week where all I'm going to do is watch something
I find interesting.
So like by Tuesday nights is my classic movie nights.
I'm going to watch classic movies.
And if I like them, I like them.
If I don't, I don't, if I get ideas, that's cool.
If not, that's cool.

(17:58):
So I don't really have like, I don't have expectations for ideas to come or not come.
I just like watching movies.
So I go to see a new movie on Thursday.
I watch a classic movie on Tuesday.
And if I got ideas for them there, that's great.
If not, that's great.
And I'll write a script for it.
And I just, the video I just put out, the downhill video is actually a script I wrote

(18:21):
over a year ago.
So it's, it just kind of, sometimes they just get put on the shelf and I come back to them,
tweak them up a little bit or they just never come out.
Yeah.
No, I'm really glad you asked that Nick, because that, that's sort of, it's kind of the basis
of my next question is like, because for me, one of the most difficult aspects of doing
YouTube at all is consistently coming up with video ideas or at least like worthwhile ones.

(18:46):
You know, you have a lot of ideas, not all of them are great or worth, cause you know,
you're going to have to spend a ton of work editing them and finding clips and all that
shit.
Cause it's like, you know, that being said, a lot of really successful YouTubers recommend
keeping to like something that resembles a rigorous schedule, you know, for the algorithm
sake or whatever.
But if you have no great idea that week, it can kind of feel like pointless or, and sort

(19:10):
of like disheartening sometimes to just like put a bunch of work into writing a script
and doing editing for an idea you like don't really believe in that much.
But you know, it's just like that back and forth being like, should I keep to the schedule
or should I just wait for inspiration to hit me?
So I'm just like wondering, do you, do you deal with that at all too?
Like the kind of like devil, devil and God on your shoulder, like, Oh, I have to keep

(19:30):
to my schedule or I don't have a good idea.
You know what I'm talking about?
Yes.
Oh yeah.
All the time, literally all the time.
I think about it every day.
Like I'm like, okay, should I put a video out one a week, two a week?
Should I not put a video out?
If I don't have an idea, do I work on something?
Do I not work on something?
I think about it all the time, literally like every single day I think about editing something

(19:51):
or writing something just so I have something to put out.
I mean, I put out a video for the monkey, the movie, the monkey, and I didn't really
like it, the movie.
And I didn't really have a ton to say, but I put out a movie, a video anyway, cause I
felt pressure to, uh, and it's like, fine.
It's a fine video, but it's like, I, it wasn't anything that I was super passionate about.
So I think that what I would recommend is not, but it's impossible to not think that

(20:16):
way.
Like you can put out a video on any time I put out a video where I had a commentary track
on the Titanic.
It's a three and a half hour commentary track.
And that video was like a bomb in the first week.
And I was like, yeah, you know, all right, it was fun.
And now it has like almost a hundred thousand views out of nowhere.
So it just doesn't, I don't think it matters when you put out a video or how long you make

(20:39):
people wait for a video, but I do think about that where I'm like, okay, these people that
all always come to my comment section that are always there supporting me.
I want to give them something.
I want them to be like, okay, he's working on something.
He cares.
And it's not that I don't sometimes it's just, you know, a couple of weeks go by and there's
nothing interesting or I'm working on something.
I want to take more time.
So yeah, it's something I always think about, but I've never really gotten over it.

(21:03):
Yeah.
I didn't know you did a commentary, right?
That's cool.
Just like, how, how did you do that?
Was it was just like an audio track that you're just like, all right, sync up now.
And then people watch the movie.
Oh, that's cool.
Yeah, literally.
Yeah, I did.
I've done a couple now.
I did one for David Fincher's, the killer.
And I did one for the Titanic.
It's only, it's only movies that I've watched a bunch of time, either a bunch of times,
or I'm really passionate about the subject matter.

(21:26):
Cause I really love the Titanic.
That's the, that's like the nerdy thing that I love is just like ocean liners.
So I love like all the weird details that they put into the Titanic and how historically
accurate it is.
So half that commentary track isn't even me talking about the movie.
It's like, this was accurate.
That's not James Cameron sucked at this, but this was good.
So yeah, I think it's fun though.

(21:47):
I love doing the commentary tracks.
I think they're a blast.
Yeah, that's cool.
I need to check that out.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So this next question is kind of like, you know, more of an art and commerce question.
Like, cause I mean, we, me, Nick and Ethan, we, we talk about this more personally.
I don't know how much we brought it up on the podcast, but it's like, you know, for
me and all of us, the, the, just the lifestyle of a professional content creator on YouTube

(22:11):
is something that I think we all aspire to.
Like it's just not having to deal with the shitty job or a fucking boss that you hate
or whatever.
And just being able to make videos on your own time and you know, make money doing that,
make livable money doing that.
Is that something that you, that you really aspire to as well as something you want in
your life?
Yeah, I'd love to.
I mean, it's, it's, it's become less of a priority for me over the past year or so,

(22:36):
but it is still something I would love to do.
I think this is something I really like doing.
And I mean, I view it more as a stepping stone for other things, like be either becoming
an actual filmmaker or meeting cool people like you guys.
I think it's, it's a really good platform for what I like doing and for what I would
like to do on the side.

(22:56):
So it's become less of a priority because I have so much going on in my life right now
where I'm just, I'm like, I'm working at a car dealership, managing social media, I'm
working with athletes doing NIL stuff.
Like I have a podcast I'm producing for one of my friends and his friends that are on
like the Utah hockey club.
So I'm doing a whole bunch of stuff that YouTube has helped me get to.

(23:18):
And I very appreciated, appreciative of YouTube for that.
Because it's like, like I said earlier, the grind of getting slightly better every day
or every video has helped me or put me in positions where I can have cool opportunities.
And I would love to still be a content creator.
I think that's still the main goal, but it's put me in positions where I can do cool things
outside of that too.

(23:38):
That's, oh, so you actually got work through the YouTube channel.
I mean, I don't want to, if you don't want to talk about that, you don't have to say
anything specific, but I would be curious just for my own life.
Like how did that happen?
Yeah, no, yeah.
Like, so I did it for years before anything happened, but I think it was that slow build
up of like, I got slightly better at things.

(23:59):
And then people around me started to notice or people at like, I worked at Murdoch Hyundai
in Lynden for a long time in Utah.
And I was just doing used car photography for five, six years.
And I liked the job.
It was, it was nice.
It was a consistent grind, paid pretty well.
And then there's a guy there that did media marketing and he was like, Hey, you're really

(24:22):
talented at photography.
You can do video.
I've seen your YouTube stuff.
I'd like to start a podcast.
I know all these people on this, this hockey club team, the Utah jazz, BYU football, Utah
football.
We want you to be a part of this.
And I was like, great, I love it.
So now we, I just do a whole bunch of stuff that wears away my day and I don't have a

(24:43):
lot of time for YouTube anymore, but I still try to make time because I love it.
But yeah, it's all because I just did this consistently enough.
That's really cool.
That's awesome.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So next question is like a lot, a lot of YouTubers, especially in the early days, I mean, I know
you've been doing this for a while now, but I'm like in the early days, I think YouTubers

(25:06):
get either like analysis paralysis or kind of like debilitating perfectionism that prevents
them from uploading a video at all, especially like the first video that's when it really
manifests.
But like when you were first toying around with the idea of starting your channel to
begin with, did it take you a while to actually step over that hump and be like, all right,

(25:26):
I'm a YouTuber.
I'm putting out my first video.
Yeah, I did.
Cause I mean, when I first started, like you said, it's been so long when I first started
being a YouTuber was not cool.
Like it was the polar opposite of, and I don't even know if it's cool now.
I mean, I tell people and they give me weird looks still, but like when I first started,
it was like borderline embarrassing to do it.
So I would, I, it took me a while to first put out a video.

(25:48):
I think I was like, okay, I had videos.
I made like backyard movies with my friends and I posted those cause I just didn't care.
But when it was actually me, it took me, it took me a minute, probably a couple of weeks
to actually upload it.
And I didn't tell anybody.
I didn't tell anybody I put it up.
I didn't tell anybody in my channel.
And then I started doing that kind of in secret, like incognito.
And then over time people noticed that I was taking time doing that stuff and I eventually

(26:13):
just had to come clean.
Yeah, I'm doing YouTube and they all gave me a bunch of shit for it, but you know, it's
fine.
It was fun.
So it worked out.
Dude, that's so funny.
We were literally just talking about this last week.
Like is being a YouTuber, I don't think any of us actually think it's cringe.
I think it's really cool, but I think, I think there's a perception of it, of certain people

(26:34):
when you talk to them.
I got responses like you're describing now.
People are just like, Oh, didn't realize you were talking to a YouTuber.
I think it is a vibe you can catch off people to like know whether they're the type of person
you should tell about it or not.
Definitely.
Yes.
Yes, I agree.
There are certain people you know, if you say something, they're not going to be happy.
Yeah.
Yeah.

(26:55):
There was, when I was in high school, I don't remember what prompted this, but one of the
kids in my, I think it was my history class, our teacher was asking about like what professions
we're all going to pursue and the one kid at my table, I think I was about 16.
He stood up and was like, Oh, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to be a YouTuber and that's

(27:15):
going to like a, I think he said a halo YouTuber.
And then that's how the transition into like getting into filmmaking or working on television
or something.
And I was like, I could just feel the tension in the room when he was like, I'm going to
be a halo YouTuber.
It's like a room full of like 40 people.
You know, there's always that, that little in the back of our heads, you know, I'm never

(27:37):
going to go into a room and be like, Hey, YouTuber here.
I respect his confidence now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like I'm getting to the age where like, I don't, I don't judge, I don't like feel
that judgment from other people as much.
Like I don't really put as much credence to what other people think anymore.
It definitely was like, I remember it being maybe like a boomer Fox news talking point
where I've seen, I was seeing like poll results that were like, Oh, 40% of Jen alpha wants

(28:02):
to be a YouTuber or like a content creator.
You know, like, yeah, it's crazy.
I have people all the time come and ask me how I, how I do it.
And then, but they're like, Oh, weird and secretive about it.
They'll come ask me and then like close the door.
It's weird.
Hey, can I talk to you literally?
Yeah.
They're like, she's, um, close this door.
How should, how do I be a YouTuber?
How do I start doing a gaming channel?

(28:22):
I'm like, bro, you just gotta put up a video.
Like, I don't know what to tell you.
Once you post your first video, the weight off your shoulders is lifted.
Oh yeah.
And then you're like, well, I made my, my first one's always going to be my worst one.
So I'm just going to keep going.
Now, for me, it was after I got my first few hate comments.
And then I was like, okay, I can do this.

(28:43):
Those always got to me.
You said that you said that you wanted to like, kind of build this into something else,
eventually like filmmaking, like what, what would your like great end goal be like the
perfect end goal for you?
Um, for a long time it was directing, but now that I've kind of got this, this lifestyle
where I'm doing a lot, I've realized that I don't, I don't really like directing.

(29:03):
I kind of enjoy more behind the scenes stuff.
I like writing a lot is what I've learned.
So I've, I've decided to buckle down and just try writing scripts.
And I really enjoy doing that.
I really enjoy kind of just being a part of things without actually having to control
it all.
I don't love the control aspect, but I love the writing aspect.
So I've been trying to write stuff.

(29:24):
I worked, my first script I wrote was a Friday the 13th script.
So it's just a good place to start.
And yeah, actually that's, we had this conversation a couple months ago, I think at this point,
but we were talking about how, you know, Chris Stuckman, not to bring up the meme, but Chris
Stuckman, you know, is a, was a, still is a movie reviewer that's been doing it for

(29:45):
a long time, but now he's making his own movie.
And like my whole, it's, it's always been kind of weird for me.
I imagine like putting myself in someone who is critiquing other people's work for so long
and now stepping into the arena and be like, all right, well now, you know, everyone, here's
my thing.
I feel like that that's like a difficult position to be put in.
It's dangerous almost.
Yeah.

(30:06):
It's like, like I personally feel like people almost want to see that movie fail because
it's like, Oh, you picked apart my shit or you pick apart everyone else's shit and made
a lot of money doing it.
Like I'm going to pick apart your shit now.
Like I think people get kind of vicarious thrill out of doing that.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I can see that.
It's a difficult thing to put yourself out there in any aspect, but especially like in

(30:28):
his channel was he had the hair like hilariosity reviews where he was really bag on stuff.
So that that's difficult.
That's actually something I've tried to get out of.
Cause for a long time I had a string of videos that are still doing well that were just this
movie sucks.
And it's, it did well for clickbait, but I got some serious hate for them.

(30:48):
And to this day, I can't live them down.
So I've kind of tried to get away from that myself.
Cause it just, I don't think it's super helpful.
I think you can be critical, but I don't think you can be mean.
If you're mean, then people want to see you fail.
So it's a fine line to balance.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You say that as I'm currently writing my script for why the monster hunter movie sucks.
That's a terrible movie.

(31:09):
That's a really terrible movie.
I even go into it.
I'm like, okay, listen, the sucks is for the title.
That's just for the YouTube clicks.
Everything else I'm being fair.
That's it.
It sucks for me.
It sucks also, it sucks even more whenever you're going against something that like the
majority of people like to like my boys video was rough.
People came at me hard with that.
You got it.

(31:29):
You did it too early.
You were ahead of your time.
Cause now everyone's really mad.
Now everybody hates it.
Everyone hates it now.
Yeah.
So yeah, you were just a bit too early, buddy.
Sorry.
You're the Nostradamus of the boys.
You saw it.
Yeah.
Yes.
So, um, yeah.
So, uh, another question, like one of the biggest struggles I have with YouTube is like
niche, you know, cause I feel like I, I don't know if you guys do, but I peruse these like

(31:54):
YouTuber subreddits a lot because I, I just want to take in a lot of different advice
and information from people who've been doing this for longer than I have.
And what, you know, one of the biggest talking points you see is like, especially in the
beginning it's really important, important to like choose a niche that's not too saturated
that you feel like you can add something really new and interesting and engaging to the conversation

(32:15):
with.
So like the concept of straying from that niche can be detrimental to your channel.
Although like for me, it's been really difficult to stick to one thing.
Like I've, I've mostly do media analysis, but I've also done, like, I do like a little
comedy skits.
Sometimes I do, uh, I talk about like spooky true crime things every once in a while.
Like have you had a difficulty?

(32:36):
I mean, you mentioned it before a little bit.
You've tried a little bit at everything or where there was different channels.
Yeah.
I had three different channels.
I mean, I had more channels, but I actually, initially this, this, this, this, this, this
the random level channel I'm still using for movies was actually meant to be like an umbrella
channel where I could just do whatever I wanted under my name.
So initially, like I made, I think I made it my first, my sketch channel was like Ren

(33:00):
cat and then it was Ren cat games.
So it had like this, this, um, very segmented, this is what this channel is.
This is what it's for.
And I made this channel cause I was like, I don't know where to put these movie reviews.
They don't really fit with these other ones.
So I'll put them here and then I actually made some vlogs way back in the day.
I made some just like these weird out of like, well, I'll just do this.

(33:21):
I'll just do this kind of like influencer type things.
So yeah, I've, I've always thought about that.
I've always kind of wanted to do other things and struggled not to do other things, but
I don't know.
YouTube's weird.
Cause you hear that all the time.
You're right.
Whereas there's, you have to stick to a niche.
You have to pick a niche.
But I mean, the movie niche is completely oversaturated, but people can still find a

(33:43):
lot of success.
I still see people coming up all the time.
I think you guys are going to blow by me.
You're already doing way better than I am.
So I think even in an oversaturated niche, people can still do well if they're doing
something interesting and it doesn't even have to be anything new, particularly.
It just is like, if you have an interesting voice or an interesting way of communicating
your voice, I think you'll find success.

(34:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like thank you for saying that by the way.
Yeah.
You guys are doing great.
You guys are actually way better than mine are like way better than, I mean, I mean,
you guys are like 20, what 20, 40 videos in I'm at like 400.
You guys are doing way better than me.
Well, yeah, but there's a certain, we all have things we're good at.
That's the thing.
Like, like I think all of us can probably look at your content and see something in

(34:26):
it.
They were like, I wish we could fucking do that.
I think that's the same with anybody, you know?
Yeah, that's fair.
You have a great breakneck.
I watched your challenges video.
I think it was a really great breakneck pace of editing, of not wasting any time and just
getting down to it.
And also you got a lot of energy in your videos and that's really felt in the final edit.
And I really liked that.

(34:47):
That was a great video by the way.
Thank you.
I love that movie and I'm very sad that it didn't get any Academy Award nominations,
but we'll talk about that later.
Anyway, like for me, I'm basically just Creesha in my own life.
I'm like the 30 year old male Creesha.
So it's hard for me to have that breakneck pace.
Yeah, that's fair.
I tried to bring it about simply because of that suicide squad video.

(35:09):
I watched that video and I'm like, my God, this is the slowest pace, most boring thing
I've ever seen.
So I've got to try and fuse this with some energy if I'm going to be this boring.
Yeah, maybe you were emulating the suicide squad editing, you know?
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That movie sucks.
No, but did you guys watch the suicide squad video?
The first one?

(35:30):
I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't.
It's the very first one, but yeah, it's way back there.
So I actually, I initially found Rendon through his silver like video.
That was whenever he actually showed up on my homepage.
Like how long was that?
Six, seven years ago.
Let's go.
Yeah, it was a while ago.
And I subscribed to him then.
So his videos have been on my feed for like six, seven years now.

(35:51):
Let's go.
So I've watched them here and there.
But yeah, that was the first one I saw.
I love that.
That's one I still get comments on all the time too.
That's like the one that everybody says is what introduced them to me, which is cool.
And it's cool that it came from a movie like that because I love that movie too.
So, and not from Suicide Squad, because if people were sticking around from that video,
I'd question them and their sanity.

(36:13):
I think there's a nice thing where, I'd say for pretty much all of us, our first videos
did not blow up, which I think is a good thing because a lot of people I see make one video
that ends up getting like 500, 600,000 views and they're like, what the hell?
I don't know what I'm doing.
And then you have all these people now watching you as you're trying to figure things out

(36:37):
where not a ton of people are watching me right now while I'm figuring things out.
So I have room to grow.
Yeah, I actually, it's funny that that very first video for me, it did feel like it blew
up.
It got like 2000 views in a week.
Yeah, that's a lot when you're-
Yeah, from channel with literally zero subscribers, I was like, holy shit, this is amazing.
And I think it was actually the most detrimental thing that happened in my entire YouTube career

(36:59):
is that that video did semi-okay because I was like, I need to emulate this because this
is what's doing well.
And so I just kept doing it and it was the worst thing that happened to me.
I was literally just doing that for like a year and they all are awful.
Dude, I'm glad you brought that up because I didn't prepare a question like this, but
I think that this is a good topic for us all to consider for a second.

(37:20):
It's like, I always struggle between trying to do exactly what you said, like looking
at the videos that I've posted that did really well and when I'm trying to come up with new
ideas, I'm like, how can I do something that's like that, but a little bit different or whatever?
And also trying to keep in mind, how do I serve the subscribers that I got from that
video who might not be interested in this video?
It's like you're doing all these mental gymnastics with yourself, but ultimately I feel like

(37:44):
you have to just put faith in yourself and be like, these people subscribed for me, I
get, hopefully.
Or maybe they just subscribe for the topic, who the fuck knows.
But you have to hope that they subscribe for you and they'll be interested to see things
that you're talking about that are also interesting.
I agree.
I think that's a really eloquent way to put it.

(38:04):
I think as I kind of dived in or dove into what made YouTube or like what makes the algorithm
tick, I had like a stint where I was just every day was just like figuring out analytics
and I think what's interesting is like the YouTube search and YouTube home is so different
with its algorithms.
And I found that with that first video, it was all search based.

(38:27):
So people were literally just searching suicide squad sucks.
And then my video would come up and they'd have this simply kid that was awful on camera.
And they're like, okay, we'll watch the video specifically because I want to hear that opinion
from someone else.
So and for over the years, I'm like, okay, do I want that where people are just looking

(38:47):
for the content of what they want to hear or do I want them to know and understand me
and my personality?
So over the years, I think I've kind of like moved the boat a little bit over to I would
like it to be more of my personality, more of my voice rather than this very specific
opinion about something.

(39:08):
So that's something I think that's interesting to think about too with YouTube.
Yeah.
And that's why I don't think that's why I don't think the niche matters that much because
I think the reason people stick around is because they like you in general.
And that's on almost any channel.
I think there's probably some exceptions that are like very, very informational.
But I feel like most channels it's just they they watch because they like the person.

(39:30):
I agree with that.
Yeah, then you have there was some famous prank channel back when prank channels were
the biggest thing in the world where they were doing that and then their views started
dwindling.
And then that hard, hard hand crank turned into being a Spider-Man Elsa video on YouTube.
Like a heart like straight up.
That was a dark time on YouTube channel that was but it was so flowing into what I think

(39:54):
is so fun.
We're just like, that was dark is happening.
Yeah, that was a dark time.
I mean, you can change dishes too.
I don't think it's that big a deal.
I mean, we've seen I mentioned PewDiePie earlier, but his his career is really interesting to
watch because he went from the biggest gaming YouTuber and now he does like purely reaction
based stuff.
So yeah, I mean, he's following the trends.
He's just following the fads and what he's interested in.

(40:16):
I think now he just makes those videos where he's this is my wife and my son.
Right.
Yeah, it's like vlog style almost.
Yeah.
I mean, you can change.
I think people are just more interested in him than the content at this point.
So yeah, I mean, the biggest the biggest creators on the platform have changed.
But also, I mean, just the platform itself has changed so much from when I started watching

(40:38):
you.
It was basically just like grainy skateboarding videos and like like chubby atheist guys yelling
at screens, doing like a million response threats to each other.
You know, that was like a huge thing too.
But you know, it's a throwback because you've been on the platform for longer than any of
us.

(40:59):
I mean, like, how do you feel about the increasing industrialization of the concept of the YouTube
channel?
You know, I mean, it's like now you'll see, especially in our space, like doing video
essays and media analysis, there are these challenges.
I'm not going to call anyone out specifically, but I'm sure a lot of you can think of.
I know you're talking about me.
No, no, I think about like, you know, people like like Moon, for instance.
You guys know that channel?

(41:20):
Yes.
It feels AI generated.
Same with that one video essay guy.
Oh, voice crack.
Yeah, there's a few of them where it feels like they put out a video essay per week and
it almost feels AI generated on whatever hot topic on Twitter is going on.
Well, yeah, I mean, I'm not even to make like a quality judgment on the content.
It's just like it's so clear that it's it's a you know, they're able to put out so many

(41:42):
extremely highly produced videos in a short span of time because they have so many people
working on it like these.
There's a lot of money to be made in this space if you're doing it, which is why it's
really good that that H bomber guy made that plagiarism video to, you know, expose some
of those really bad practices of people just being like, oh, they make make $50,000.
If I just steal from this article over here and, you know, make a video essay about it

(42:06):
or whatever.
Yeah, I mean, like, so how do you how do you feel about that?
Like, how do you feel about your own place in YouTube or on YouTube as opposed to these
really big industrialized channels?
Like do you think about that or worry about that?
Yeah, I honestly a lot.
I mean, like, like we've been talking about, we've kind of lived through the rise of social
media.
And I mean, I've seen it in other social media channels, too, like on Twitter, I've literally

(42:31):
watching channels crop up that are just putting out clips from movies.
And that's it.
They've just put out like three minute clips of movies and they say, this is crazy.
And I like it's it's a little scary because like, if that can happen to the biggest studios,
biggest projects, it could happen to anyone and it can happen to anything at any time.
So it's a little scary to see.
I mean, I've always been a little critical of like the watch mojo guys, because they

(42:54):
kind of have that a little bit where it's just like, here's a top 10 of whatever for
today and they put out a video every single day because there's just money to be made.
And it's completely soulless.
So I mean, it's fine.
Like I know it doesn't really affect me or ruin my day or anything if watch mojo puts
out a video.
But I personally much prefer stuff like you guys are making or stuff that maybe a little

(43:18):
bit smaller channels are making that are just filled with like personality and life and
energy.
I think that's so much more interesting than soulless.
A video essays about the summary of something.
I just I don't care.
I hope most people don't either.
But clearly there is a market for it and I don't understand it.

(43:38):
That's the crazy part is just how many views you see those people in on those things because
I like I personally would never watch some shit like that.
But like there's so many people that do.
But I don't know.
Yeah, it's a weird time.
It's a weird time.
This is this is sort of adjacent topic.
Have you guys seen the rise of AI trailers that get crazy amounts of views on YouTube?

(43:58):
It's so it's just slop where they'll be like, it is you got it's for boomers to repost on
Facebook.
Go.
Do you guys hear they're making Forrest Gump too?
Yeah.
And it's or they made a Popeye movie with Will Smith.
Love the trailer.
And it's horrible.
You see they actually they actually they actually did make a Popeye movie though, like a year
ago.
And oh, did they look it looks it looks hilarious.

(44:18):
I think it's public domain now.
It's one of those public domain like so it's like a horror.
Oh, wow.
Oh, yeah.
It looks hilarious.
I need to watch it.
It's like the Winnie the Pooh horror movie.
Yeah, pretty much the most part.
Speaking of Titanic, I think Titanic two is the most popular one where it's like we felt
we cloned Jack after he was like a frozen Jacksekel at the bottom of the ocean or whatever.

(44:42):
That sounds like a good movie.
Well, if it's done with it, if it's done with comedic intent, then I'll give it a pass.
Sure.
If you guys don't have any I have three pretty like rapid fire questions for Rendon and then
we could start talking about the shoe Oscars or whatever.
So what do you favorite director of the 21st century?
Oh, wow.

(45:02):
That's a little bit harder of a question to answer.
No rapid fire.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
I think I'll say I'll say Dennyville knew even though I didn't really.
Oh, yeah.
I didn't love to impart to that's a personal thing.
But I really loved so much of his work in the 21st century.
I think he had like five years in a row where it was just like banger after banger after

(45:23):
banger like prisoners is fantastic enemy is fantastic.
All Blade Runner 2049 is like one of my favorite movies.
So I probably say him.
Which do you like to do my language part one more than doing part two?
I'm weird.
Yeah, I love doing part one.
That's loved it.
I think that's the first time I've ever heard that take.
I love I love both of them.
I love doing two more though.
I think that's the more I think that that's the more general consensus is that two is

(45:46):
better.
I really love the pace of doing one though.
I think doing part one is so like methodically paced as it lingers on shots and creates this
world that I find so much more interesting than the action packed crazy breakneck pace
of doom to like immediately I saw it.
I got to see it like a week early in this in this packed theater and everybody was loving

(46:07):
it and I was like I can't even understand what's happening in the first 20 minutes.
Like it is so breakneck paced.
I was losing my mind.
I felt like I was going insane.
Yeah.
I do really rush through plot points in those movies considering how long they are.
Yeah.
And the book's very dense so it's understandable.
Okay.
So favorite millennial actor.

(46:27):
Oh man.
Now I guess that what would that be?
Just give him age range because I think that would be actors that are older than like 27
and younger than like 42.
Okay.
Oh man.
That's that is such a specific question.
So let's see.

(46:50):
Who would I really like that is in that age?
I mean popular ones would be like Adam Driver.
I think a lot of people.
Yeah.
That's a great actor.
Barry's another one people Ryan Gosling.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My first thought was actually Ryan Gosling just because of Blade Runner.
But yeah.
Yeah.
I'll go with Ryan Gosling.

(47:11):
I think he has interesting range.
All right.
Cool.
And then the last one favorite film studio.
Oh.
That's interesting.
I'm gonna go with Neon right now.
Either Neon or Orion.
Yeah.
Good choices.
Neon's got two Oscars recently.
That's true.
Yeah.

(47:31):
With best pictures.
And speaking of the Oscars, let's talk about it for a second.
Are we doing Oscars or are we going into Creechia first?
Let's talk about Creechia first.
No.
I mean.
Okay.
We'll do Oscars.
We had the perfect Oscar.
It was a perfect segue.
And you guys are like no.
We're not gonna talk the transition.
I have the Oscars list pulled up.
I'm gonna not include like talk about short films because I don't think we any of us have

(47:55):
seen any of those.
I haven't even watched the documentaries.
I'll be honest.
Yeah.
Same.
So I'm just gonna go from order when they were presented.
I hope this list is accurate because I don't know about you guys, but I did not watch this.
I saw a list after the show.
I watched them.
Yeah.
I think you ever watched them.
But I suffered.
Well, I partially watched the On Cinema at the Cinema Oscar special too, which was fun.

(48:19):
Was it better with Conan hosting this year?
Yeah.
Honestly, I was mixed about Conan.
I wasn't that crazy about some of the...
I love Conan.
I just it wasn't his greatest night.
No, it seems like he actually had fun.
Wait, you said you prefer Kimmel?
That is interesting.
I prefer Kimmel as not as like a person or a late night host even, but as a host of this

(48:43):
event.
Kimmel is so soulless these days.
Maybe it's because Kimmel has his experience doing it.
I mean, my favorite one is Gervais just because he fucking rocks.
That was golden globes.
I think he's used to golden globes.
I know.
He just does these things so well.
All right.
Let's get straight into best visual effects with the goat Dune Part 2 taking the win,

(49:06):
which I think is a very well-deserved win.
Yes.
Can't argue it.
Yeah, totally agree.
It looks amazing.
Man, I just think that whole gladiator scene, that alone, man.
Yeah, pretty fantastic visually.
Yeah.
I'll just go through here unless you guys have anything more to say.
I'm just going to go through the list.

(49:27):
We'll move on to best production design with Wicked winning.
Did anyone here see Wicked besides me?
I saw it.
I didn't.
Thought so.
I was bored senseless.
I saw that one like a week early too with a packed crowd and they were literally singing
along and I did not know what was happening.
It was horrible.
That's the worst first experience.
The worst thing about Wicked.

(49:47):
No, go on.
No, go ahead.
Go ahead.
OK.
I think the worst thing about Wicked is that the production design is genuinely good, but
you can't see it.
I don't know what's his name.
John M. Chu, the director.
I don't know why he was thinking it's one of the most bland, boring looking movies you
could possibly imagine with some of the coolest production design.

(50:09):
They actually built the Munchkin houses and I didn't get to see any of them.
And they're thousands and thousands of fields of flowers too.
Yeah.
What was he thinking?
Yeah, I did not know.
I like it.
I think if Dune wasn't a sequel, it would have won if we're being honest.
You think that has a lot to do with it?
Being a sequel.

(50:29):
Yeah, because they don't have to create as much from scratch and I feel like they give
them a lot less credit.
Yeah.
That's why Hans Zimmer didn't get nominated.
Yeah, they were disqualified because they had to reuse parts of the score or they did
reuse parts of the score.
I was actually looking this up because a lot of comparisons are always made between Lord
of the Rings and Dune.
And I looked up, I was like, okay, so Dune as a total has eight Oscars under its belt.

(50:54):
How much does it need to beat Lord of the Rings?
And I looked up how many that Return of the King has.
It's got a total for the entire trilogy, 17 Oscars, which is absurd because the Return
of the King won 11, which I think is the current record for most Oscars given to a single film.
So there's no chance unless Dune Messiah is revolutionary for the industry.

(51:16):
That book is crazy weird.
That's a weird pick.
It's going to be great.
Moving on to best sound, we have Dune Part II again, which that is a dessert one for
me.
Come on.
Yeah, great.
Yeah.
I don't know much to say about that one.
Best editing.
I am not finished with this movie, but Enora has won.

(51:37):
Oh, let's go.
Edited by Sean Baker, the director himself.
Enora rules.
Oh, so happy.
Yeah, I saw that you had Enora in your top four, Rendon.
It was my number two for last year.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm in love with it.
I think Challengers is more rewatchable, but just slightly because Enora is a great mix

(51:57):
of Wolf of Wall Street and then the Three Stooges.
It's so weird and I love it.
It's great.
I wasn't super big on Challengers, but I will say the editing was really, really good in
it.
Oh, man, dude.
I can talk for hours about Challengers.
I'm in love with it.
All right.
Moving on to best costume design, it goes to Wicked.

(52:18):
This beat out Nosferatu, which was the one I was a bit hoping it would get something.
But Nosferatu is great, but Wicked had more loud costumes, which they tend to like.
Yeah, they were bigger costumes.
I was thinking that Nosferatu had a small chance to win almost like a legacy win for
Jaren Blaschke for cinematography.

(52:40):
Not that we're at cinematography yet, but I feel like just the Eggers movies have looked
so consistently good for so long.
I felt like maybe they would give it to them, but no.
No, it'll get it eventually.
Has it been the same cinematographer for each of Eggers movies?
Yeah.
Wow.
Wow, they must be real good friends.
He's still a young guy, so I feel like they take that into account too.
He's going to make more good movies.

(53:02):
And moving on to best makeup and hairstyling, we have The Substance taking the win, which
is absolutely deserved.
I don't know if you've seen it, Rendon, but okay, you have.
I think Nick is the only one that hasn't seen it.
Yeah, I still haven't seen it.
So good.
I love it.
It's one of the most fun I've had in a theater in a long time.
That was one of the most gross movies I've ever seen, and I loved every second of it.

(53:24):
That was great.
It was perfect.
It's such a great movie.
Yeah.
All right.
Moving over to best original score.
I have not seen The Brutalist, and I don't know how many of us have, but that took away
the best score.
What do you think about The Brutalist?
The score's great.
Score's great.
I think that I have similar thoughts of The Brutalist to like a Dune Part II movie, which

(53:46):
is weird because they're so vastly different.
But I think it's visually and technically amazing.
It looks great.
The performances are great.
Everything is great.
It sounds great.
Everything.
They shot on VistaVision, which is cool, but I found it intensely distant.
I just could not relate or connect to it in any way, shape, or form.

(54:08):
I liked it.
I liked the story.
I think it's interesting, and it has some interesting things to say about legacy and
building a life in a place where people just do not want you there.
I think that's a really interesting thematic and something that's probably is very important,
but it just didn't work for me.
I don't know.
I think partially it's because it's pushing four hours long, and the first part and the

(54:31):
second part, they feel so different because there's an intermission, a 15-minute long
intermission, and it almost literally feels like a different movie, which was very weird
to me.
It could be a bad state of mind, too.
I don't know, but it just didn't really work for me.
Would you go so far as to say it's Oscar bait?

(54:52):
No, almost.
I think Conclave was Oscar bait.
I did not like that.
I liked Conclave a lot.
Okay.
We're different on that one, but I thought Conclave was closer to Oscar bait, and a complete
unknown is almost the definition of Oscar bait.
Oh, no, but Nick really likes that one.
I did not like that movie, but-

(55:13):
I don't really like that.
Did I say I really liked it?
I don't know if you like that.
No.
I think you said you liked it because you're a big fan of Bob Dylan.
You appreciate it.
Oh, I love Bob Dylan.
Yeah, I enjoyed it well enough.
I wouldn't go to bat for it really, though.
No.
I mean, I love the music because I love Bob Dylan, but man, I did not have fun with it.
Did you see Nick's video just making fun of it, and it was pretty fucking fun?

(55:33):
No, I didn't.
Yeah.
He did a little skit making fun of it.
Oh, really?
Yeah, I made a little skit making fun of how everyone just... There's endless reaction
shots of people just being so wowed of Tim Shalmay.
My favorite line from that I think about all the time is when he's trying to pull the audio
out and they're like, open your ears.
I say that all the time.

(55:54):
Just open your ears, dude.
All right.
Transitioning to a best original song, we have probably the most controversial film
of the entire night.
Emilia Perez winning for El Mal for best original song.
That was the best song of the both of them that were played.
Don't say penis vagina is the best.
I was listening to the other one, Mica Mino, the Selena Gomez one.

(56:17):
That one's way better.
Was considerably... Not great, but considerably better than that.
I just don't know what these people are thinking, especially with the controversy around this
movie.
Why the fuck did the Oscars even vote for it?
I don't understand.
Yeah, the movie's a shit show.
To be fair, the best original song category this year is very weak.
So compared to last year where we had actual hits, this was very, very weak, but not again.

(56:42):
I didn't like it.
Also one of the worst... You watched the acceptance speech when she was like, Emilia.
Yeah.
Oh, I see.
She's singing.
Yeah, I had to walk away.
When she started singing, I left.
I didn't watch the Oscars, but it was on Hulu.
So I think before I was going to bed, I flipped on.
I was like, oh, what are they up to right now?

(57:02):
I flipped it to the Oscars and I just see this woman going, Emilia.
Turn it off.
And it went on for so long.
And my wife was like, what are you watching?
And then they got naked.
They started singing, Emilia.
She also said, I forgot what she said, but she said some pretty unhinged shit about the
movie after in an interview.

(57:22):
I forgot what it was.
She was talking about how like... Because everybody was talking about how they were
offended, their culture was offended.
And she's like, I don't even see this as a Mexican movie or some shit like that.
Yikes.
Yikes.
Yikes.
Oh, Emilia Perez.
All right.
Going over to best animated feature film, which is the winner being Flo.

(57:46):
Yeah, Flo was good.
Yeah, which I have not seen.
It's a solid one.
I liked it.
Yeah.
I started it the other night and fell asleep, but it did look... It looks really nice and
it seems pretty cool.
I did.
Yeah.
It's a good sleep movie because it's just kind of ambience.
It's a good movie and it has a- Is it a cozy type film?
Yes.
Yeah.
It has a message about everybody's in the same boat, so let's be nice, which is fine.

(58:10):
It kind of seems like that movie's stray.
There was that game, Stray, but in movie form, right?
Yeah.
Similar vibe.
Yeah.
Isn't it the one that was... The movie was created entirely in Blender, right?
I think so, yeah, which is cool.
Yeah.
It's a cool movie, definitely.
That's cool.
The only other one I saw was Inside Out 2 and I'm glad that just wins, so-
Yeah, it sucks.

(58:31):
All right.
I saw this one too.
Keeping up with short films, no offense, short films.
Best Original Screenplay, we got Enora.
Let's go.
I didn't think it was this one.
This is when the... We were in our group chat talking and as soon as the Enora stuff
started coming in, I think it was when it won Best Director, which we'll get to, I was
like, Enora's taking it.

(58:51):
I don't know if you were behind Nick, but you were like, no, I think Brutalist got it.
No, because I was saying all of those awards, especially Original Screenplay and Director,
a lot of years, those are the runner-up awards.
So I was thinking maybe that they'll get the... Unless it's an Oppenheimer or Return of
the King thing where it's a sweep, which it wasn't that kind of year, so I felt like it

(59:12):
was more of a runner-up award year.
I feel like it's usually whoever wins Best Director wins the best picture more often
than not.
I think so.
In the last five years, it's been pretty consistent.
Yeah.
Thinking of the actual scripts that were up, I don't think there's really any argument
for any of the other movies really.

(59:33):
No.
Substance was a cool one.
I think Enora is the better screenplay though.
I agree.
Substance is great.
I mean, there's a lot of really solid screenplays there, but I thought Brutalist was going to
sweep up everything.
I was so cynical towards it, but once Enora won this, I was like, okay, this is good.
We got some momentum behind Enora.

(59:54):
I just got to say, I really appreciate Sean Baker as just the dude.
His acceptance speeches were so humble and he was so congratulatory of the larger independent
film community.
He just seems like a genuinely really cool, unpretentious guy, and I think it's really
great that he won.
I think he should have won Best Picture for Florida Project personally.

(01:00:15):
I love Florida Project.
I agree.
Yeah, I'm a Sean Baker meat writer.
I love everything he does.
Yeah, he also made a movie that I've even kind of been on the fence about.
Oh yeah, love it.
Love him.
Great dude, seems like.
All right.
We're going to Best Adapted Screenplay, which is what everyone's saying is the Oscar bait
winner Conclave.
I think everyone kind of predicted that this would win.

(01:00:37):
I watched the trailer and I was just like, I cannot, it's just like Holdovers Part II.
I just can't watch it.
Oh, but you didn't like Holdovers either?
It was fine, but it was Oscar bait.
It was genuinely like the epitome of Oscar bait.
I enjoyed Holdovers, but I see what you're saying.
I feel like to be an Oscar bait movie, or at least in my perception of it, it has to

(01:01:00):
be kind of joyless.
It's like this dramatic movie about a hot button issue like Amelia Perez or something.
Like don't look up.
Yeah, something like that.
But think about if they cast anyone but fucking Paul Giamatti, that movie would have been
soulless.
I mean, I don't know.
I think, what was his name?
Dominic Cesar.

(01:01:21):
I thought he's like a really, he's pretty vibrant dude.
He's a vibrant performer.
He's pretty good.
It just felt very like, I know I hate this term, but it did feel sort of emotionally
manipulative.
It did feel like it was very much trying to pull my heartstrings intentionally at specific
beats.
You know what I mean?
Come to think of it, I do hate that term because fucking that's what movies do.

(01:01:42):
They manipulate your emotions if they're doing their job.
But I hate whenever it feels like being-
Feels disingenuous.
I don't know.
Yeah, if it feels disingenuous.
Yeah, I can see that.
I hate that term generally too.
So I hate using it.
Yeah, it's just, I'm always on the fence with that term.
Because I just went to a Hans Zimmer string quartet concert over the weekend.

(01:02:07):
Oh, nice.
Where they played a lot of his greatest hits.
And they started playing This Land from Lion King.
And I'm not even crying, dude.
I'm like five seconds in, I'm starting to cry.
I was like, damn.
I'm not even crying, dude.
Literally, I was like, I'm probably crying.
They barely even touched the bow to the strings.
Yeah, I was like, man, I am absolutely being manipulated, but whatever.

(01:02:30):
Oh yeah, music's a big one too.
I haven't seen it.
I haven't seen it.
I haven't seen it from Howard Shore.
I'm like, woo.
No, just to defend Conclave for a second, I don't know if Ethan and Nick have even seen
it, but I just think it's really cool.
It's a really tightly contained political thriller set in a pretty unusual setting with
a cast of characters that people aren't, you're not usually used to being dropped into the

(01:02:53):
middle of an election for Pope or Conclave or whatever.
It's a pretty cool thing to see.
Also, Conan made a mention of it last night.
It's cool to see, not that I'm a Catholic or a defender of the Catholic church in any
way.
He made a joke about it.
It's about the Catholic church and you don't have to worry.
It's not about that other stuff.
That was a cool thing too.

(01:03:14):
I don't know.
I'll jab at it.
I think it's an okay movie.
I didn't really resonate with it personally.
Growing up in Utah is probably part of it because this is a very predominantly Mormon
culture.
There's a lot of Catholic culture here too, but I think going into that, I was interested

(01:03:35):
in it, I think specifically because I wanted to learn about it more.
It was more, like you said, a political thriller than it was a Catholic movie, which is weird
to say.
I wanted to get more out of the tradition of it.
I wanted to get more out of how it is there.
It was like, you have a secret.
I'm going to tell.

(01:03:55):
No, I won't.
You can't be Pope.
Oh, you have a secret too.
You can't be Pope.
I was like, all right.
I'm done.
I like that because it's like just to show you that these... They're supposed... Or
if you take religion at its word or whatever, they're supposed to be above all of that,
but they're clearly not.
I kind of like that just on the face of it too.
Yeah.
It's an interesting concept for sure, especially because it's set in one confined location.

(01:04:17):
I think that's the best part about it where it's just like all of this stuff boils to
the surface.
Yeah, exactly.
It's like Cube without the horror, but it's like, I don't know.
Something about it just didn't click for me.
That's probably why I say it's Oscar bait because it's like a lot of old people standing
in rooms talking about their secrets.
That's like, okay.

(01:04:38):
I get it.
They've got secrets and it's part of... They shouldn't, but yeah.
It's a great looking movie and I love the score for it.
So it's fine.
I'll also say like ever since I've seen Doubt, I just avoid movies about Catholic priests.
I still need to see that.
That might be part of why I haven't watched it.

(01:04:58):
Have any of us seen the best international feature winner?
No.
No.
It just came to Utah like a week ago, so I haven't been able to.
Yeah, I just saw that it just got a release like very recently, so I haven't been able
to catch, but I'm still here was the winner.
It looks really good.
It looks great.
Yeah.
It looks great.
I've heard really good things.
Transferring over to best cinematography, we have The Brutalist, which snubbed Nosferatu

(01:05:19):
in Dune Part II.
Brutalist is a great looking movie.
I'm okay with that one.
I was a little weirded out that Nickel Boys didn't get a nomination here though.
Yeah.
That's the entire film.
I haven't seen it yet, but that entire film is a POV film, right?
Yeah.
It switches POV between the two main characters, which is really interesting and it still looks
great.
I think the revelation of it is that it's POV that manages to still have interesting

(01:05:42):
compositions.
I thought it was really great.
I saw that the director had to essentially teach the actors how to be camera operators
while filming and acting.
Yeah.
It's crazy.
It's a really cool movie.
I'm not personally over the moon about it, but it's very cool.
Yeah.
It's been on my watch list.
I need to watch it soon.
Yeah.
Check it out for sure.

(01:06:03):
All right.
Moving on to best director, we've got Sean Baker.
That's my guy.
That's a big win for independent filmmakers right there.
For real.
I love that man.
But Inora was like a budget of six mil, which is incredibly small.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Which is triple Florida Projects budget.
He got a lot done with that money though.

(01:06:25):
He had a lot of locations.
A lot of it was clearly filmed just in public with strangers.
That's a lot of his films.
That's the thing.
He's running around the street.
He brings in random people to act.
I saw people interviewing some of the stunt actors.
What is it called?
Stunt casting, right?
Yeah, stunt casting.
When you just took a selfie with that.

(01:06:45):
I saw them interviewing them on TikTok.
They're like, what is it like to be a movie star?
Is it like the old guy at the candy store?
Yeah.
He's like, what's happening here?
It's kind of cool, I guess.
I don't know.
I got to watch that.
I don't know.
Yeah.
All right.
Transition.
All right, we got the big awards now.

(01:07:07):
Best Director was at the beginning of the big awards.
All right, another controversial one.
We have Zoe Saldana winning Best Supporting Actress in Amelia Perez.
That one's crazy.
Who should have won, you guys think?
The other ones were, I think, so the other ones were Monica Barbaro for Complete Unknown,
Ariana Grande in Wicked, Felicity Jones in The Brutalist, and Isabella Rossellini in Conclave.

(01:07:30):
I honestly think Ariana Grande could have won this and I would have been fine with it
because I think she was genuinely really, really good in Wicked.
I predicted that she would in my ballot.
Yeah, I would have been fine with her.
I didn't predict her.
I think, what's her name?
Felicity Jones in The Brutalist is great.
I think she's like the perfect Oscar candidate too, or she's giving this really dramatic

(01:07:52):
performance and she's crippled in a wheelchair and she's hobbling around.
But I thought she was great in it.
I think, what's her name from Complete Unknown is actually really good too.
But Zola Saldana.
Is this feel like a legacy win?
I think she's incredibly talented, but I've seen clips of her in Amelia Perez.

(01:08:12):
I wouldn't say that she's...
Yeah, that's the thing.
I've seen a large portion of this movie through TikTok reels.
Probably the best way to watch it.
I don't think that this is weird.
I don't get it.
Yeah, I don't either.
I sat down and actually watched the whole movie front to back and I don't even understand
the nomination, honestly.

(01:08:33):
Oh boy.
But is she great though?
We're saying Zola Saldana is great, but she's been really good in the Avatar films.
The main thing I know her from is the MCU.
I can't really think of any more stuff that she's done.
She was in that movie, that action movie she did.
I watched that.

(01:08:53):
Lioness.
No.
It's Columbia.
She was in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Oh yeah, I've heard of that one.
Yeah, she was in Pirates of the Caribbean for a tiny role.
I don't think she's a particularly good actress.
I don't know.
I think she could do it.
She's given an interesting enough performance, or a powerful enough performance in Avatar

(01:09:17):
as a blue alien for me to go, okay, she's got what it takes to do something, but I don't
think this was the one.
Yeah, I agree with that.
I think she can be a very good actress.
Yeah.
All right, transitioning to one I have not seen.
I don't know about you guys, but Kieran Culkin won Best Actor in a Sporting Role for A Real

(01:09:37):
Pain with Justin Wiesenberg.
I watched it last night and I really liked it.
Was he good?
He was good.
He's always good.
So now the bed wetter from Home Alone has an Oscar.
I have to say I'm a little bit sad that Jeremy Strong didn't win, and I feel bad for him
knowing just the kind of personality he is.
I know that he definitely feels the type of way that his little brother co-star on Succession

(01:10:01):
is winning all of these awards, all of the awards season, while he just has to sit there
and look sullen.
He's definitely not very happy about it.
And he's definitely a great Roy Cohn amazingly.
I mean, I love that movie Altogether.
Prentice said that was great.
But he'll get his shine eventually.
That's what I was about to say.
I think he'll have his chance.

(01:10:24):
Also I mean, Kieran Cole can take real quick.
Are any of you guys tired of his like, you know guys, I'm like, I guess I'm up here.
It's crazy that I'm up here.
What the hell is going on?
I don't know.
I'm just getting a little bit sick.
I liked it at first and now I just chill.
I don't know.
Have you seen his Colman's Mango interview?
No.

(01:10:44):
That one's funny.
It doesn't feel fake.
I think he's just kind of cringe.
I think that's just kind of him.
That's the thing.
So I kind of fuck with it because I just think he's being himself.
Like if it was an act, I would think it was kind of cringe.
But I don't think people think it's cringe though.
I think people are loving it.
They're laughing it up though.
I never watched Succession.

(01:11:05):
So I don't really.
I watched a real pain and I was like, okay, that just seems like him.
But I don't really have a good.
He was good in Fargo too.
Oh, is he in the Fargo?
The TV show?
Yeah, season four.
I haven't watched that either.
I'm not a big TV show guy.
I'll be honest.
Okay.
All right.
This one was a bit controversial and there was a lot of discourse on online, but best

(01:11:28):
actress in the leading role went to Mikey Madison for Enora, which the big snob everyone's
talking about is Demi Moore for the substance.
It sucks for Demi Moore, but like I don't have a problem with this pic personally.
Me neither.
I think Mikey Madison was genuinely great.
She's now the youngest ever best actress winner.

(01:11:48):
I think she's 25, which I think is the current record now.
I would have really loved if Demi won, but I'm not upset that Mikey won.
That's kind of upsetting right now.
It sucks.
The reason I feel like it's one of those things where the reason people are upset about Demi
Moore is because she's never going to get another chance for an Oscar because she's
not a particularly good actress.

(01:12:08):
I think Nick's right.
I think that's the biggest bummer about it.
Yeah.
No, I don't know.
I think honestly, she could take this, I think, and be like, you know what?
This is going to reignite my career.
I want to do more weird movies like this.
I think she could take it in a way, or maybe she does view it as like how you guys are
talking about it.
Like, well, this is my last chance.
I'm going to retire now.

(01:12:28):
But I think either way, I think the reason she was so good in this movie is because it
was so close to her real life.
I don't think that she just has that range to bring it in any role.
It kind of reminded me.
Did you ever see the Birdman movie with Michael Keaton?
Yeah.
Yes.
I think she's described to it, whereas the meta quality of this past or prime actor in

(01:12:49):
this exact role where they probably are, I think she's good.
I think she's great in the movie, but I don't know.
This did feel like her role, like a defining role.
And the fact that she did it is unfortunate for her.
Did you guys watch her whole Golden Globes acceptance speech?
Yeah, that was beautiful.

(01:13:10):
That's what's got me feeling bad for multimillionaire, extremely famous people again.
It's just like I was told so many times, Demi, you're a popcorn actress.
You're never going to get up on that stage, kid or whatever the fuck.
And I'm just like, yeah, you get it, girl.
You know, and I just I wish I wish you would have won ultimately.
Yeah, that's fair.

(01:13:30):
I also I also think it's fucked up that people like do say that kind of shit.
I think they're awful producers.
It's just money people.
Yeah, they don't really have any artistic bone in their body.
No.
And like when people say like we shouldn't feel bad for celebrities and shit, it's like
just because they have money doesn't mean they're not people.
I don't know.
Whenever I see that imagine video, I want to do some damage.

(01:13:52):
I mean, I forgot about that.
I don't think those people are Nick.
Those people do not need our sympathy, especially if we're not winning a fucking award.
Like, you know, not a big deal.
No, but like, but I do lose their home.
That's one thing.
And like a fire.
Yeah, I'm talking.
But I think that feeling of like your literal whole goal of being an actress is like feeling

(01:14:13):
recognition from other people.
Like that is your life's goal.
So whenever people say like you're just a fucking shitty actor, you're going to take
shitty roles for the rest of your career.
That's something to feel for somebody on, I think.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Life.
No, no, no.
Yeah, that that's that's right.
I'm talking about in this particular context of like, I'm not going to expend too much
of my time feeling all that much sympathy for her not getting an Oscar.

(01:14:36):
That's what I meant to say.
Oh, yeah.
That's fair.
But also one quick thing about Mikey Madison, if we're just going to compare real quick
the and, you know, mentioning that she's the youngest winner of this award, it's really
interesting to compare her acceptance speech to Adrian Brody in terms of humbleness and
not being a pretentious fucking dick that says, I hear the music.

(01:14:59):
I know they're trying to play me off, but I don't fucking care.
She just got up there thanking people.
She needed to thank was very gracious, was very sweet.
Yeah.
And then she was on stage and Adrian Brody.
Did you guys watch it?
Like he fucking the music starts playing.
He says, stop it.
And then he just talks in slow motion is like, yeah.
Or I was like, dude, you just believe.
Can we just can we just get to Adrian Brody real quick?

(01:15:21):
Because you should not you should not be able to fucking win an Oscar if you used a to fucking
correct your fucking voice.
That was happened.
That you look that.
Yes.
To correct your voice.
Like, was it just like a pitch shifting on stuff?
Yes, because he speaks Hungarian, I think.
And they corrected like vowels and stuff to make it sound more like the actual language.

(01:15:44):
He didn't even know.
Oh, it's that like that should have disqualified him straight up.
Am I crazy?
I don't know.
I'm 50 50.
I'm 50 50 because it's like that's not something I would notice at all.
So even if they didn't say anything, I'd be like, oh, he's great.
But the fact that they did is like, I don't know.
But it's weird.
But you're not supposed to notice it.
That's the whole point.
Like it made he didn't have to actually put in the effort that all these other people

(01:16:07):
put in to play their role properly.
This is it's kind of the argument of like if Andy Serkis should get an award for portraying
Gollum or something.
I was just about to say that.
Yeah, it's hard.
It's a slippery slope.
I don't know what where to where I would align.
Yeah.
I guess I mean, it's a different thing, though, like like Gollum is the visual effects married

(01:16:29):
with his mocap performance.
That's you know, that's the entire thing.
They had to use the AI to clean up his mistakes, which is different to me.
You know?
Yeah, that's fair.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's a good point.
I forgot what I was going to say.
Never mind.
Sorry.
Weird situation anyway.
Either way.
You're good.
But yeah, he's a pretentious asshole.

(01:16:50):
Oh, that's what I was going to say.
Yeah.
When I saw that all I saw was like a post.
It was like Adrian Brody said this when they tried to play him off the stage.
And I was like, oh, that's kind of funny.
Like just reading about it.
And then I saw that an article after that, it was like Adrian Brody has the longest speech
in Oscars.
It's like five and a half minutes of him just like the war.

(01:17:10):
I was like, oh, oh no.
It's one of those things where like, I wonder if these people look back on these and if
they're embarrassed or if he's just like, no, that was perfect.
I did.
That was the one.
Didn't he complain that like he wasn't getting work or something?
Like nobody was hiring him in the speech.
That was true for a while.
Yeah.

(01:17:31):
He said something about how it looked acting can be a glamorous profession.
It is sometimes, but it's also very fragile and fickle and like it can go away is what
he said.
Okay.
I didn't know if he was only done like, I don't know if he's referring to anything specific
though.
So he was out of work for like 10 or not.
I don't know if he was out of work, but he wasn't really in anything for like 10 years

(01:17:52):
there or so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
So that leads to the, the big best picture winner, which is a Nora sweet.
Honestly, I had, I did not excite thought brutalist was going to win.
Same also too.
Yeah.
I had this, I had a 1% chance of the substance winning and I was sitting there flinching

(01:18:15):
my fists.
I knew it wasn't going to happen though.
I would have loved for the substance.
I think a Nora's out of his soul, but man, a Nora getting that would be like, so great.
It'd be like, I was just figuring.
I was just picturing all of the old, like 70 year old white dudes in the Oscars Academy
voters watching an aura and watching the substance.
I'm like, this is so weird.

(01:18:36):
I saw so many quotes before it where people are like actual voters were like, Oh, I didn't
watch that.
So I voted for this.
I'm like, great, dude.
Why did you say that about all of them?
Didn't want to vote for Ray fines.
Cause they were convinced he won an Oscar Schindler's list.
But embarrassing.
Yeah.
It's embarrassing.
Yeah.
All right.
So if you guys want to get into Cretia, let's do it.

(01:18:57):
Oh yeah.
Real quick.
What do we think about a Nora winning?
I mean, yeah, I still gotta watch it, but I mean, I, I love Sean Baker.
So I'm, well, give me a synopsis, Nick.
I have a question though.
What Sean Baker movies haven't you seen, Nick?
I haven't seen, I don't think I've seen Tangerine.

(01:19:19):
I've seen Florida project.
What are you?
Is it just Florida project?
Red rocket was another one.
Oh yeah.
Red Rockets get a 2021.
Oh damn guys.
I think I've actually own come to think of it.
I've only seen Florida project.
I got a Sean.
Eventually we're gonna have to have a Sean Baker episode because yeah, we'll start to
get Sean on Oscar award.

(01:19:42):
Sean Baker.
Would you like to be on our 50 sub podcast?
Who wants to give a, who wants to give a little rundown of Cretia?
Rendon your guess.
Would you like to give us a little rundown?
I feel like I should.
Yeah.
I'm trying to put everyone through this.
So the basic premise of Cretia is a grandma comes to Thanksgiving and has a relapse and

(01:20:03):
makes everything a nightmare.
It's a very uncomfortable movie about family trauma and people with substance issues.
And that's basically it for 80 minutes.
It's a complete nightmare.
What made you recommend this one when it reached out?
That's a good question.
I don't know.
Honestly.
I think the way T.K.

(01:20:24):
comes to work, I think it comes at night is great.
I'm kind of alone on that.
Nobody really likes that movie, but waves is great.
I think all of us love it.
Oh, let's go.
Yeah.
I really like it.
In comes a night.
This is my first Trey Edward Schultz movie.
A lot of these movies kind of feel this way that I think T.K. comes from a place of like
real intense emotions and he makes his movies based on that.

(01:20:44):
Cause from what I understand, Cretia was actually like semi autobiographical.
She had like an aunt that actually had a relapse at a Thanksgiving and died, which is wild.
So this it feels really like related.
Relatable is kind of a stretch, but it feels real.
And I think that's one reason I wanted to recommend this specifically is because it's

(01:21:05):
like it's a filmmaker movie.
I had so many people that I've recommended it to that are just friends and they're like,
bro, why do you like this?
So I wanted to talk about it with people that I think would have appreciated it.
So I'm glad you guys enjoyed it.
So it's actually insane is so I grew up in the South.
So in this and I think he's from Austin and this was like set in Austin area.

(01:21:30):
And this is like insanely relatable for me, like the entire like family dynamic, the way
everybody greets everybody, like just like the whole like where everybody's like sits
during like setting up for Thanksgiving and like how they like set up who's doing what.
It's very, very reminiscent of like a Southern like Thanksgiving.
So it was for me and the people like fucking drinking and being stupid.

(01:21:52):
Like for me, it was like it literally was just taking me to my childhood to like an
actual Thanksgiving.
So that was kind of wild about this movie.
The thing that I love most about this movie is that like, you know, from the very first
scene it sets a tone that I literally typed in like crucial wiki.
Is this a horror movie?
I was like, what the fuck from the first scene?
I didn't think it was because I actually Bo Burnham recommended this movie to me.

(01:22:15):
Not personally.
I just heard him talk about it.
I was like your roommate, Bo Burnham, my best friend, Bo said this is a good movie to watch
and I hadn't watched it until you recommended it, Brendan.
But yeah, so like it seems like a horror movie with the music.
That's like slow close up on a face and her facial twitches and everything.
It's very disturbing and disorienting.
And then that wonder comes in that, you know, the music is very glitchy and jarring and

(01:22:40):
disorienting and making like there's nothing really happening on screen that's making you
feel like something is about to go wrong except for the music.
And then eventually the tone and the plot and the characters start breaking down and
it catches up with the music.
You know, there's like this undercurrent of tension throughout the entire movie and on

(01:23:02):
the surface level, everyone is like, oh, this is great.
This is great.
And it's just that everyone being at this one location gathered together, the music
kind of just starts to like rip through the seams of this like fragile kind of niceness
that they all have with one another.
I just love that.
Yeah.
The music was excellent.
Yes.

(01:23:22):
I think my favorite part about it is the fact that it does an incredible job of putting
you into her mind.
Like you said, in that first one shot where like literally nothing's happened, she's just
like going to a house and she goes to the wrong house and she steps in some mud and
it's like, oh, it's like a comedy of errors.
But the music is so unsettling, I immediately I'm like, oh, wow, she does.
She is not in a good headspace.

(01:23:43):
She does not want to be.
She wants to be here, but she is not doing well.
And as the movie progresses, it just gets worse and worse and worse until the relapse.
Yeah, I think it's great.
And the movie is great about building tension to like the amount of tension built around
just like making a turkey like the whole time.
Like the turkey is just causing so much chaos until it finally falls on the floor and just

(01:24:05):
every all chaos.
It pitches straight into the climax.
I love that.
Also, this it was honestly reminding me of the substance, just the gross outshots of
just the and the sound design of the slurping skin.
She reaches in, the guy is just watching her as her like bandage of her finger gets stuck
in the in the rib cage and she pulls it out and he's just like covering his mouth while

(01:24:29):
he's watching.
But that was so funny.
The guy who played the like uncle or I don't know what the fuck he was, but he was really
funny, I love that guy.
I love it.
I want to say he's like one of very few people in the movie that's an actual actor.
I think the majority of them are family members and he was one that they wanted to have be
an actor.
You could be wrong, but that makes sense.

(01:24:49):
I think I recognize him from something else because he was great.
Yeah, I love breaking carnet.
Yeah.
Oh, that that scene is right before that.
They're kind of like joking around about the dog that I really love that about that this
movie because like they seem cordial initially like him and her that the most tension, you
know, there's unspoken tension between Trey and Precious, but there's a lot of active

(01:25:11):
tension between Doyle, the uncle and her.
You know, they're sort of getting along.
He's like, you know, I want you to feel welcome here and every and all that stuff.
But as soon as she starts picking at him about the dogs, he flips on a fucking dime.
I had to rewind it.
I was like, what happened?
But then I just realized, like, that's what this movie is so good at doing.
It's like it implies all of this history and all of this family trauma that does it doesn't

(01:25:35):
need to be actually shown or even told to you really, because it's just it's so apparent
in the way everyone's acting.
You know?
Yeah, the exposition is like very, very minimal.
Yeah.
Like, I think the only time it's really in your face is whenever she's talking to her
sister after she are actually has already like relapsed.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The the the one scene that specifically I'm thinking of is like the first scene where

(01:25:58):
she pulls Trey and she's like, hey, can we go talk upstairs?
You get that unbroken take of her just like him saying like one or two words and she just
going on and on and on.
And then like, oh, well, we should do this.
And then as soon as he kind of snips at her, she's like, I'm sorry, I'm a step.
It's very uncomfortable.
And then you get that really heartbreaking reverse shot at the very end of the movie

(01:26:20):
where you see his like lip quivering.
Oh, I was like, this is heartbreaking.
This is so sad.
Yeah, it's like one of those movies, too, where like I have to try really hard not to
nitpick because you have to take in mind the budget.
Right.
Like there's like little things that I'm like that like, what are your fucking mistakes?
What are what are I want to know?
The director is a bad actor like he and it sucks because the woman he had playing Krisha

(01:26:43):
is like genuinely pretty fucking good.
She's great.
She's great.
Excellent.
I think I think he like kind of made like he like stole her like thunder in that scene
a little bit like by like just kind of not playing his part as good as he felt like a
real dejected, you know, like family member.
I think it was serviceable.

(01:27:03):
It was serviceable.
And I think you got me out of the movie.
But like I had to like I feel like when I watch any movie that's in this budget range,
I kind of have to like turn off that part of my brain sometimes.
That's my favorite part about this movie is that it's very, very clearly a hyper low budget
movie that they just shot at his mom's house, but very few times in the movie did I actually

(01:27:24):
feel the budget.
It feels like a movie, like kind of like a Nora where it's super low budget, but it doesn't
feel like it at all.
I watched this super until.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's just it.
No, you're good.
It's like it's so so microscopically small budget, but the choices that they make, especially
in like the editing are so strong that I didn't even I don't even notice it.

(01:27:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was like really smartly written.
I mean, it's like the perfect amount of lines to everybody so that nobody had to like fumble,
you know.
It's just it's crazy that he has so many talented actors just laying around in his family line.
Like what the fuck?
Even even, you know, Creesha's sister, the one who comes upstairs, that's his mom.
Oh, yeah.
I think right.

(01:28:05):
That's his actual size, tries actually.
Oh, wow.
And she was great, too.
I mean, she she didn't have to really go at it for very long.
It's really just that one scene where she has here, bro.
Yeah.
And it's like Creesha isn't about the actual Creesha in this movie.
He said it's sort of loosely based on the experiences he his biological father had with
addiction and alcoholism.

(01:28:27):
So she's probably thinking about that stuff.
You know, that's what makes this movie is so fucking real.
And the thing that I love, it's it's really it depicts relapse and the reasons why people
relapse very accurately, because it's like you think about it, she's coming back after
doing all this work to try to be sober to this family environment that she wants to
be, you know, a part of so much because she's lost so much time with her son that she's

(01:28:50):
more or less abandoned.
But the fact that it actually is the stress of that family environment and not being able
to make it work in the way she wants to, that forces her back into the thing that she's
trying to avoid in the first place.
It's so fucking it's so tragic.
Yeah.
And also just like also just her reaching out to people to try and avoid it, too.
Like nobody will fucking that nobody has no one puts out an olive branch for her at all.

(01:29:14):
Yeah.
It's just a domino effect.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I this recent rewatch for me was really illuminating on that fact, especially where
I was watched like the first 10 minutes are just like a nightmare.
It's just this one unbroken take of these families pretending to be nice to each other
and the cameras constantly just getting closer and closer and closer and the music's horrible.

(01:29:36):
I mean, music's great, but it's horrible.
And then it like hard cuts at one point to her smoking by herself and everything stops.
And I was like, ah, so that's how this starts, where it's like she's so overwhelmed in this
moment.
This substance is the one thing that's giving her the calm.
And that was like, I thought it was such a genius.
And then later on, they're adding more and more sounds to those moments, too.

(01:29:59):
Whenever whenever she's like really getting stressed out, she's the hear she hears the
two talking about fucking and shit.
Or like bouncing the ball on the ground.
Yeah, that was that was stressing me out because I always know when I have someone in my family
or like at a gathering that I know doesn't do well with crowds and sounds, I'm like hyper
aware of them because I'm looking out for them.

(01:30:22):
And then if people like the I think it was when she's starting to like chop fruit, like
vegetables to prep the turkey.
And it's just people are just screaming and yelling over the couch and just like, like
there's parts where she's just like asking someone for Oh, do you guys know where this
is?
And you can't even hear them talking because people are yelling about football or wrestling
or just like, dude, stop bouncing the dang ball.

(01:30:45):
Yep, it's stressful.
It really is stressful.
And like, I know I've beat this horse to death.
But we've talked about Joel Haver a bunch of times.
Like this is what I would love to see from him like actual thought put into how I can
make a movie on a low budget, because it's all about planning and actually like doing

(01:31:06):
what's within your like what you can within your means.
And I don't like this is just like a perfect example of like a small budget film that like
really shines.
Yeah, it's kind of inspiring, honestly, because it's like these such a small location, such
a small amount of people and they get so much out of it.
And he pushes the medium and interesting ways to with like, changing the lenses in the middle
of the movie.
And like, okay, it goes from Academy aspect ratio all of a sudden to anamorphic.

(01:31:29):
And like, yeah, that's such a dramatic change.
Yeah.
And then and then he even changes again to I think what 11331.
Every moment is so purposeful.
Like I wouldn't think to do that if I'm shooting something on anamorphic.
I'm just shooting it on anamorphic.
But he's like, okay, she has a relapse.
Now the aspect ratio completely constricts and it looks completely different now.

(01:31:53):
Yep.
I love that.
I love the relapse scene itself of just her and trying to get the fucking scissors.
It's really funny.
But I love how much of a mess he made her, dude.
She's just a nightmare, dude.
I mean, Nick, what you're saying before about just tension building.
So true.
Just the fact that I was like on the edge of my seat, just watching this drunk woman

(01:32:16):
pull a fucking turkey out of the oven.
And before all, you know, before the tiny canine abuse and all the other horrible stuff
that happens at the end, I was actually thinking, I was like, it's insane that this movie is
treating a turkey falling on the ground like a murder just happened in the family.
And I'm like, totally buying it.
You're getting the same, the music, everyone's, you know, the heightened, heightened emotions

(01:32:40):
of everyone in the cast.
And it just, it feels like, holy shit, some crazy shit just happened.
Then you're just looking at like a busted turkey.
Yeah.
Just imagine, imagine how overwhelmed you would be in this edit with this.
But this is the footage you have and you're like, OK, I got to make this fucking tense.
I couldn't imagine.
I can't like, oh my God, that's impressive.
The editing is the best part, I think, by a lot.

(01:33:02):
Like the fact that it's cutting around to all these different perspectives, all these
different moments, like the moment when he's when she's talking to the guy on the porch
and then kind of goes away from that and then comes back and he's like a nightmare.
And then she goes to her room and she's like peering down on everyone from above.
I don't know how you cut this.
It's it's pretty remarkable.
I think this is I think this is a 24 at its at its best.

(01:33:26):
Really.
I think this is what this is the kind of stuff that a 24 should get behind.
This is one is one of my favorite movies I've seen from them, I think, which is because
I love a 24, you know, not to be a fun, but I love them.
And I feel like I don't know if I've seen a movie that like really resonated with me
more.
You know, I have personal history with addiction.

(01:33:47):
So like I get it.
You know, it really hits me there.
Like, I don't know, man, this movie is super low budget, super impressive.
Just like just think about all the fucking coordination it took to get all those actors
that aren't even real actors and aren't, you know, it's just like crazy.
It's so impressive.
Yep.
Yeah.
Which would work with non actors takes way more time.

(01:34:08):
You know, it's like it's really making comfortable people act like it's like impossible to break
into the film industry.
It's like, no, it's just it's harder.
It's a lot fucking harder.
Yeah, it is definitely harder.
But I think I think the films like this are how you do it.
I mean, no one can make a movie like this, but him probably.
Some people could try, but I think it also why it resonates so much is because it asks

(01:34:33):
really challenging questions.
I mean, this is a movie that is it's about like fairly rich people in a pretty nice area.
And yet, at no point was I like, oh, you know, this is just like rich people.
I don't have to care.
I felt it managed to bring it into a really human place and ask questions about things
that everybody can deal with.
Like, I mean, I've had personal things like this happen to where family members were getting

(01:34:57):
absolutely plastered at family gatherings and ruining the night.
I mean, I think everybody has.
So it asks interesting questions about that stuff, too.
Like when when do you help?
When don't you help?
Can you still hold grudges against these people for however long that she's been out of their
lives because they're clearly still are.
And when do you stop doing stuff like that?
Like her family was not helping her in this situation at all.

(01:35:20):
They were actively not pleasant with her.
Yeah, but I mean, that's like sorry, you go on, Ethan.
No, it's interesting because it's like since she is the protagonist, you're you're hoping
you're just like, OK, someone just just reach out and genuinely kind and accepting of her.
Like she is clearly trying.
But then I'm also like, but I don't really know what she's done.

(01:35:41):
You know, she might have done something horrible where she has no right to ask for their forgiveness.
So it's just this collie this collision of these two.
It's like immovable force meets an unstoppable force, which is immovable object.
It's like this is not going to end well.
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what I actually I disagree with you guys about that because
I feel like, first of all, she did abandon her son.

(01:36:03):
That guy Doyle is right by saying you're not a fucking college grad who's going off to
find themselves.
You're 60 years old.
You have a kid.
You do need to get the shit together, which is, you know, this move.
Anyone who is like not sure about having a kid and they have personal issues or whatever.
And you know, those things don't just go away magically.
Like, watch this movie and say, like, you could be 65 fucking years old popping wine

(01:36:26):
bottles with like mustache hair in a fucking bathroom and ruining Thanksgiving, you know,
and alienating all your kids and family members.
And it's like, I don't know.
If you if you think about the scene when she's calling, you know, assume I assume her boyfriend,
you know, when he's not answering.
Right.
The way she treats him for just not answering a fucking phone call is ridiculous.

(01:36:50):
You know, it's like, I wish you were dead.
Like all it's crazy.
Yeah.
No, I think you're I think you're right.
I think I think realistically, she is the antagonist of the movie.
But I think it frames it in a way where you can kind of see her perspective as well.
Yeah.
And I think the interesting thing is that she she ruins literally everything like she
she ruined her kids lives.
She ruins this Thanksgiving.

(01:37:10):
She's just not a great person.
But like like you said, Ethan, it's it's you want to you want to cheer for her because
she's the protagonist.
She's come into this family.
She's done the work, she says.
And you just don't know anything about her and you don't know it.
And other than that, she abandoned her kid and she's kind of horrible.
So it's an interesting kind of balancing act that I don't know how they managed to pull

(01:37:34):
it off where she is just the worst.
And yet you cheer for her.
The fact that they don't explain anything is probably why, because it's like if you
if you went into weird like flashbacks into bad moments, you would hate her immediately.
And I think that would ruin the movie because it kind of would defeat the purpose.

(01:37:54):
Was I was I wrong or was it treated?
It was like a reveal at the very end when you find out she was his mom.
Right.
OK.
It's a bit.
It was in the.
It's in the room.
She talks about it.
Oh, really?
OK, I was OK.
I must have missed that because the entire time I was really concerned because I didn't
know that.
And she kept having these really weird touchy feely moments with Trey.

(01:38:14):
And I was like, is this like a child predator thing?
Like, did she do something to him?
And then when I heard the final line in like the last minute, I was like, oh, OK, that's
still honestly, that's kind of what I was talking about with like his acting, though,
like because I think he just he didn't play that part perfectly because it was almost
like he was like.
Holding back.

(01:38:35):
He was treating it instead of being like uncomfortable because of like a weird situation, he was
treating it almost like he was uncomfortable because like he'd been abused, which maybe
that is maybe that is the case or something.
I didn't get I mean, I didn't get that at all.
I wouldn't have considered that.
You guys got to get your mind out of the gutter, I think is what it really is.
So I listen to the actual movie more.
Wait, was it was I going to say?

(01:38:57):
Sorry.
Does anyone else have anything?
I had a thought I forget what it was.
I just I just think it's great.
I think everything about it is it's fantastic.
Oh, this is what this was.
It was there's one moment at the end where, you know, like when she first comes down the
stairs after waking up and like choking out the goddamn dog, she's like she's you know,

(01:39:18):
sister has to bring her back upstairs and she she's kind of like, what happened?
Like I thought you were doing the work.
I didn't really believe you.
Blah, blah, blah.
Then she pukes.
They have that conversation.
It's like a sort of montage thing and you see a completely different version of that
scene play out where she's except this time, like very angry.
It's basically the same conversation, just a different tone.

(01:39:38):
Like what did you guys make of that?
I wasn't sure if that was like metaphorical or whatever.
I took that as like she went back down again.
You think?
Oh, I think it's got worse.
I mean, she's I think it was literally it happened again.
I think she just went right back down and started causing.
And then you get that whole that whole screaming match and breaking the glass.

(01:39:58):
That's interesting.
I took it.
I took it a little more metaphorically, I guess, because I thought of it as like since
she's in a horrible relapse state, she wanted to see things with rose colored glasses and
that the real conversation was way worse.
But I don't know.
Actually, it's interesting.
That's kind of what I was.
I was like I was wondering if it was like she what she actually said was the nice version

(01:40:20):
of it, but then once she started getting drunker and like her emotions are getting more worked
up, then what she perceives it as like you fucking I never loved you.
But like all that stuff, that's kind of I don't know.
I was it's open to interpretation.
I was just wondering.
I definitely want to rewatch it.
Yeah.
I think she like went and drank and did more shit, right?
Like before the second time.

(01:40:41):
Yeah.
But I think that that happens before like the big blow up fight at the dinner table,
though.
So I don't know.
I'm not really entirely sure.
I have to rewatch rewatch it again to remember.
And we'll learn the mystery of why she took a finger one day.
Yeah.
I think she should too.
Tris lost her finger a bit before filming and then almost dropped out.

(01:41:04):
And then they just kind of worked it into this story.
Oddly enough, it was a dog fight.
That's really yeah.
A dog bit it off from what I understand.
What the hell?
It's crazy.
And you got to be careful with that lady Ron dogs.
I swear to God.
Yeah.
I'm going to poke them out.
That's what you make you guys uncomfortable.
I hate animal abuse.
Oh yeah.

(01:41:25):
I thought it was fake.
I was like, that's a fake dog.
And then it moved and I went, oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what are we thinking with ratings on this one out of 10?
We'll go on a we'll go on a clockwise.
So it starts with Ethan first.

(01:41:45):
Okay, I really fucking love this, especially as someone who's getting into filmmaking.
I just really respect anyone that's like incredibly low budget that's able to make this story
told with such little resources.
And I'm very comfortably giving this thing a nine out of 10.
I really, really liked it.
Thank you for this rec.

(01:42:07):
Me next?
Nick.
It's in different orders for all of us then.
So I'll I go like 8.5 on it.
I think it's really good.
Okay.
And then I'll say 9.5 a little bit.
I love this.
It's probably be eight or a nine.
I'm leaning towards a nine though.

(01:42:27):
Oh, this is a good one.
Super high.
I mean, unless anyone has any final thoughts, I feel like we're comfortable closing up here.
Yeah, I will say I'm kind of excited to go through his filmography because I really gelled
with this.
I have not seen Into the Woods or no, sorry, what's it called?

(01:42:53):
It comes at night and I have not seen Waves yet either, but I'm really excited to check
those out now.
They're great.
You definitely should.
They're kind of have a similar vibe where it's just very family trauma centric.
It comes at nights my favorite though.
That's what really that's my jam.
Okay.
All right.
Well, I guess I'll get my rec for next week.
Yeah.

(01:43:13):
So when we watch next week, this one's might be a little bit of torture for Nick.
I'm not sure.
Maybe he'll like it, but it'll be the no it'll be the 2020 film Psycho Goreman by Stephen
Kostanski.
Oh, that's a good.
Right.
So that will be interesting.
This is actually my like no joke, my actual favorite movie of 2020.

(01:43:34):
No way.
So I'm excited for this.
I don't have an issue with slashers.
It's just like for the podcast.
It's not a slasher.
It's not.
It's not a slash.
It's like a live action anime movie.
It's not a live action.
I would say it's like if like Power Rangers was like R rated.
Yeah.

(01:43:55):
Okay.
Like we like for instance, we talked about terrifier and I just had a hard time about
that because it's like, I don't know, there's not much to say about it besides.
Oh, remember that.
That was gross.
That was good.
A lot more depth to this movie and especially the filmmaking of this movie than the terrifier
for sure.
As long as I'm cool with that then that's good.

(01:44:15):
Okay.
Yeah.
Psycho Goreman is way more interesting.
Rendon, before I send this out, do you want to plug yourself?
Tell the audience what you've been up to, where they can find you?
Sure.
Yeah.
I mean, you can just find me at the Rendon Lovell channel.
It's just my name.
So that's pretty much it.
That's all I'm up to making YouTube videos, doing stuff on the side, having fun, chilling
with some cool dudes.

(01:44:35):
So that's all I'm doing.
Yeah.
Rendon, thank you so much for all the kind words you said throughout the pod.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you for recommending Krisha.
Thank you for being here.
You know, this is really fun.
Yeah.
It's been a blast.
Thanks for having me.
It was a great team.
Yeah, it's been a blast.
Yeah.
If you guys enjoyed this episode and you're listening to it on YouTube, please leave a

(01:44:56):
like or a comment.
If you're listening to this on one of the audio platforms such as Apple Podcasts or
Spotify, please leave us a five star review because that really helps us out.
And if you don't want to be spoiled for PG Psycho Goreman directed by Steve Kostansky
from 2020 for next episode, make sure to watch it.
And we'll see you guys next time and get stuck.

(01:45:16):
Thank you.
Get stuck-monized.
Get stuck-monized.
Get stuck-monized.

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Hate to Interrupt - EP 025 | Interview w/ Rendan Lovell | Oscars & Krisha

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Hate to Interrupt - EP 025 | Interview w/ Rendan Lovell | Oscars & Krisha