Episode #78 Planes, Trains, and Holiday Magic

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Hello hello hello to all the leaders out there welcome to the whatcha been watching podcast
I am your ho ho host the marvelous Mike Dudley joined as always by my co-host cohort youngest

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brother he was brought to life by a magical top hat MD3 Marcus Dudley checking in on the
yoo what is going on out there in the holiday season in podcast land we are broadcasting
live from the north pole here at whatcha been watching studios north north you know super
north yeah super north you can always find us at whatcha been watching podcast at gmail.com

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we are certainly on both lists somehow the naughty and the nice list but you know you
can join our nice list by writing us in at whatcha been watching podcast at gmail.com
where else can they find us my brother you can find us online instagram at whatcha been
watching or facebook.com slash dudley bros podcast just look for the colorful banner done

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by the great mk dudley art yes sir yes sir also a big shout out to ketza for the intro music
although maybe this one was a1 i don't know well probably a1 it all right that's cool
either way shout out to both you guys shout out to a1 the man's a quadruple threat he's
a you know he sings he raps he does beats he even dances that's four already he's a

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sestupo threat we got two more michael two more i heard he was a hell of a chimney sweep
and he was the guy that colorized wizard of oz oh there you go he's also hell of a work
rail for santa i have it on good authority well how are you though man i'm good i'm good
you know holiday season and whatnot yeah flying through the intros just to talk about it you

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uh broke from spending money on people uh i was broke before i started spending money
on people so yeah uh i just tried to focus on the kiddos this this year just make sure
you know nieces nephews and various little childrens in my life had what they needed
and then you know little something for the for the adult you know a little ting if you
will little ting small thing little small not a proper package but no i get it man it

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it gets tough because it's like i really do want to monetarily express my appreciation
for people right but it does at a certain point being like man this is kind of at my
own detriment see and that here's my problem is like i genuinely in the type of person
if i find something that i i think somebody in my life would like i just get it for him

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and i'll just you know i mean i've given you gifts just randomly throughout this throughout
the year just like hey i just saw this online and thought you would dig it you know yeah
we've been on that tip for since i came back to florida though yeah we were just like oh
i just saw this whatever it's not even a thing yeah yeah yeah not even a holiday i meant like
we'll just get it right right so i don't know so i i sort of justify the not purchasing

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a lot of gifts and stuff for people on on christmas by that you know it's what i've never
been mad if i get a gift it's cool i just get a card if i get a handwritten piece of paper
hey love you merry christmas like oh thanks man appreciate it right exactly the older you
get the less it means but it is weird though because there is some odd sense of obligation
you know what i mean maybe like ingrained in us to like go out and stimulate the economy buy

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and purchase do your job as a consumer yeah i mean we're children of the 80s dude all it was is just
bye bye bye look at this new toy oh now malibu stacy has a hat you got to buy him some poker man
we did collect them all oh anything else going on man that's pretty much it man just work has been

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been kicking me right in the taint catering i'm sure oh just so many it's holiday parties and
then a beer parties and just i mean it's it's one of the busiest times in the in the restaurant
industry just because when you escape to the front of the house to get drinks or whatever
do you uh often see drunk ceos or drunk people at these these office parties that are just like it

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is probably the same spiel over and over i just want to stay home with so i appreciate you and
you hear the word family a lot that's right we're a family here at corporation too and uh it's like man
i i'm sure you probably heard the same shit over and over which by the way for those of us
on the other side of when you hear the family thing we just register you saying family as ways

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for you to cross personal boundaries of ours as an employer so dial that shit back a little bit if
you're if your corporate masters are calling you family that means they're going to try and pull
some sketchy shit on you in the next 30 days yeah just take advantage of you more family okay pay
my houseboat bills no okay the family that's right that's right granted i don't do that for my
family you're gonna watch my dog for me yeah yeah come bail me out for real for real but enough of

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that that's why we do what we do here at the what you've been watching podcast is to not talk
about such things except for the opening segment all that being said time to pivot my brother the
reason why people tune in tune out month in month out holiday season after holiday season
the people need to know my brother what you've been watching my guy my brother i of course have

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been on the holiday tip so started things off by watching the uh classic rankin and bass frosty the
snowman oh yeah is that ranking a mess it is ranking and bass what'd you think about it i don't
know why we watch this as children what about it it's not great i mean the song is repeated like

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incessantly that part that part it's it's just an excuse to stretch a three minute song into 22
minutes um give me the rundown plot wise because i mean obviously so basically they build a snowman
the top hat comes they put it on his head he begins to dance around this this magician is doing uh magic
at an elementary school um he's a bad magician things keep going wrong whatever and he blames on

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his top hat throws it out the window the kids find it put it on frosty he comes to life you know
happy birthday hey i just realized i said my first words oh yeah you know one of those deals anyway
magician sees that the snowman has now come to life wants to get his top hat back and so
the kids decide that since the temperature is now rising into the mid 70s although they just built a

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snowman that morning never mind global warming uh they decided the best thing to do is to get
frosty to the north pole where he can stay alive forever whatever as long as he has a top hat as
long as the other top hat i guess sure yeah i kind of forgot the the events of it i knew it was just
like i said a three minute song stretching in an absurd runtime i mean the the magician does try

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to murder a little girl at one point really i mean he dick dastard leaves it i mean not necessarily
ties her to the train tracks but the further they get north she gets sick and gets hypothermia and
he's like he comes across their campsite and he snuffs out the fire so she'll get sicker oh man
thanks just stab me please what are we doing here no i didn't realize that yeah i uh i haven't

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seen that one in a while but every time i walk past certain like department stores or whatever like
that around a certain time they're always playing it so it's i'm always i've been watching segments of
that 22 minute show sure right off and on for a long time but i don't think i've seen it
beginning to end in many years i i gotta be honest man as far as holiday classic cartoons go it

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doesn't really hold up there's not a whole lot of there there i mean i think some of these things
are classics just because they just are they just kind of got doctored in because it was just
something that was played for so long yeah like granted back then there was only you know three
channels it's like abc nbc and cbs or whatever like that yeah i think i think frosty was uh

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uh licensed by cbs and they had it uh let me think i think the first showing was in like 1968 1969
something like that and they literally if you want to watch frosty the snowman you had to turn it tune
in on a certain day at a certain time specifically to cbs because they weren't going to show it again
for another 365 days yeah that is true i remember even just being as a kid trying to tune in for

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like the the holiday specials or whatever like that um especially like they got a little easier
with cable because then certain networks would play at certain times but there was a big deal you
would see it like two weeks in advance being like this sunday at seven rudolph the all-time classic
rudolph the red nose reindeer followed by it you know santa claus is coming to town and then on
nbc you had you know how the grinch stole christmas and cbs had frosty the snowman and

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and you know whatever i am just like it is true though because like i appreciate you know i'm
willing to call them classics too i'm not trying to take a shot but like we had talked last episode
about like the great pumpkin charlie brown and now they're all just kind of uneventful and like if
that cartoon were to come out today like just as is you'd be like this is trash sure compare i know

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that the game has changed and that's part of it you have to view it through a retrospective
retroactive lens or whatever like that but like a lot of that stuff if it did come out today would not
hold up but yet we still consider it to be a classic well because attention spans now are so
minimally short you know like you don't basically the those shows existed so that they could sell

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more crap to you during the commercial breaks you know it was all these billion dollar
corporations being like oh we want to buy time during you know it's a wonderful christmas charlie
brown because we know that we're gonna have you know 6.8 million people watching it you know
yeah that specific program like yeah we have the numbers to back it up no i get all that i mean

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that's kind of well you know you create ad revenue but i'm just saying like in terms of classics
like it is weird what we consider to be a classic given modern standards so i can agree with you on
that one yeah but do you want to review it or you want to keep talking about it or uh i'm gonna give
it uh not enough killer snowman boppity bop bop bop bop bop bop gonna find you in your sleep it's no jack

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frost i'll tell you that jack frost is the truth it took me everything not to review that movie yet
again so anyways well why don't you been watching my guy let's see after that i watched another
holiday perennial classic dr seuss's how the grinch stole christmas this is getting up there
with adam's family territory i mean in my opinion that's if you're gonna do a animated christmas

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thing do that it is the best one it is and here's the problem it this is why none of the
long-term movies have worked out you know what i mean like you you they did the jim carrey thing i
think benedict cummerbatch did an animated one or something like that you know who directed that
who did it the the grinch one yeah a producer that used to work with kevin smith oh scott mosier yeah

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did he really yep okay okay right on yeah interesting i did not know that it's it's actually not
bad it's just it's very it's not the typical story it's more just about the grinch the same story
beats happen he steals christmas whatever of course like there's a little more to it but it's not bad
it's just it's hard to compare when you're animating the grinch to the animated grinch well but but the

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thing about the chuck jones animated you know classic is that it's 22 minutes you know it's you're in
you're out the entire book of how the grinch stole christmas is only 69 pages so what's got to be less
than that i think it is i think it's it's either way either way it's i get what it only sticks in my

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mind because of 69 or he just has 69 on the brain yeah um welcome to the ladies man yeah
welcome to the um chrismith man i'm here to stuff your stockings with your holiday queries
welcome to what you've been skanking there you go um but yeah where were we i'm sorry 22 minutes it's in

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it's out the problem with the long-term movies is that they try to add too much fluff to it they try
to pad out the runtime and it's just it's all just chuffa it doesn't matter there's there's nothing
that it contributes to the story in any way other than grinch hates christmas steals christmas trees
takes them all back to to his secret lair finds out oh wait maybe there's something more to this

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christmas than just stuff yeah i mean jim carrey is pretty good as the grinch like an alt yeah i'm
not denying that but his role as the grinch's did i need to know his whole backstory and how he grew up
you know the misshapen figure you know the the leopard in a field of zebras yeah you did because

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it's relation buddy so i guess what the grinch does is the opposite of frosty the snowman they took and
a small book and added a three-minute song yes and then frosty took a three-minute song and
stretch it into a 22-minute show and it doesn't you got it only works one way apparently exactly
exactly yeah but and then of course you know you have chuck jones who is just

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probably one of the greatest animators in fact in my notes i have written down let me read it for you
in my notes i have written down for some reason this came as a newspaper headline in my head
chuck jones declared the goat of animators miyazaki self-immolates in protest uh more on miyazaki later

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that's pretty funny i don't know why that came to those i don't know news headline yeah um
anyhow it's i don't know how much more i can say about it boris karloff is great the the song is
catchy as hell and probably one of the greatest christmas tunes ever written it has okay for those
of us we'll try to maybe attach the link to the the dudley's 12 days of christmas that the incomparable

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md4 did that's right who's md4 do you ask maddie dutz um did a a documentary on a tradition we have
at the dudley household which we will um try to attach the link to one of these but one of the
newer things that we've done is i don't know maybe 10 years ago all the the younger generation got up
and sang the grinch right that's kind of been the thing it's got to be the younger generation too

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to get up and sing the grinch song so coming to a holiday season near you um the dulcet tones of the
deadly boys singing you're a mean one mr grinch we'll cross those bridges one day yeah i'll rate
this movie as high as it can possibly go it's my favorite holiday movie period really yeah full
stop okay that's my like when you talk about christmas traditions there's two things i can't
it can't christmas until i need it to happen i can't even watch the grinch until i see pinky come

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in and declare merry christmas on friday afternights friday afternights right when he declares that then
i can begin to christmas once i can then christmas i can then listen to or i can then watch the grinch
okay yeah so that's that's the order for me and i listen to donnie hathaway's this christmas
quarterly so i get that in just before halloween just so i can start christmas caroling on my own

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terms god no yeah i do but it's on my own terms though so it's like i don't want mariah carrey to
sneak up on me when i'm not listening all i want for christmas is you me so i get to mine in early big
dog it's actually pretty smart plan but we've talked about that before i agree so anyways what
else you've been watching let's see after that i saw the classic christmas caper

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christmas with the cranks that was very alliterative i saw i saw what you were going for there
well good job good job uh is it a classic that's what tim allen and jamey lee cartis yes sir never
seen it guest starring dan ackroyd and um i'm trying to think who else was in there there was
somebody else that caught my eye oh you know who it was who he was rickety cricket wait really

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yeah father maddie rickety cricket what's his name um doesn't matter rickety cricket oh damn if you
wouldn't ask me his name david hornsby david hornsby yes yeah yeah he shows up as one of the
neighbors and like immediately i was like ricky cricks okay yeah awesome no you know we always
appreciate when people from our tv shows show up like we've mentioned it a million times well i

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certainly i have when somebody from reno 911 shows up in anything yeah or like the workaholics
boys show up and stuff i'm like oh it's fucking it's derrs or it's play yeah it's that or whatever so
always good when that happens um so what did you think about christmas with the cranks i'm sure
i've probably seen it in the background of some tnt being left on the basic synopsis is

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tim allen and jamie lee curtis's daughter leaves for christmas she joined the peace corps and so
she's not going to be she's going to be working like peru or argentina or something like that for
over christmas so they decide last minute we're just going to skip everything christmas we're not
doing gifts not setting up a tree not decorating anything no bowels of holly no nothing we're going

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to go on a cruise to the bahamas and that's going to be our christmas we're just going to avoid
everything the problem is that they live in a neighborhood where everybody's into christmas
like in a weird culty sense like almost like village of the dams type stuff like the hoa that
you from hell kind of thing the homeowners association that's just like in as much as you're not

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christmasing and you're you're didn't paint your pickets white kind of kind of this is more of an
eggshell white we like but like it gets to the point where there's literally i mean dan acroid is
literally chasing down jamie lee curtis's car she's trying to drive away like just put up your frosty
just put up your your plastic frosty just a little bit of lights and like running alongside the car

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like trying to break into the car kind of thing yeah bro it was kind of sketched like it's this
weird like i don't know like it's over the top and it's cartoonish and i suppose it's it's meant to be
but it's also very awkward like i would just start shooting people i would just get the fuck off my
lawn and just clen eastwood every single one of them yeah you're gonna make me bah humbug and i don't

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even want to that's right that's right so i don't know the thing that i liked about it i i mentioned
it was kind of over the top and cartoonish i i'd seen it before but i never noticed they do so
many cartoon sound effects in this movie i mean there's literally a point where somebody slips on
the ice and they do like oh man the whoops yeah exactly exactly exactly i mean there's a scene

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where jamie lee curtis goes to pull somebody's earplugs out and you know they make the like
you know oh yeah sounds oh man um this is full on disney mode then yeah yeah yeah it's kind of
it's humorous it i don't know that it it's ever gonna be a a christmas classic but it's worth to watch
they're both doing a lot of really good physical comedy tim allen especially i i think he's doing

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more physical comedy but jamie lee curtis is much more entertaining to watch just her facials
throughout the entire thing is is very very animated yeah it's weird when you when we say that
word classic like now everyone is so quick to throw out the word like i'm like i'm like i'm like
like the goat this person's the goat like everyone's a goat in the rap game now everyone's a goat on the

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in sports now the greatest of all time or whatever but the one thing i will say is that all of these
movies these holiday ones they get you know played you know around this time of the year or ad nauseam
at points that is somebody's favorite because it was one of their first ones and they the nostalgia
attached to it can't be quantified right i remember you know i was in kindergarten and then i came

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home and we sat around and watched christmas with the cranks and we drank hot chocolate that's why
these things are so like perpetually just shown and re-shown and then you see them pop back up and
like it wasn't available a month ago in october and then when november hits on your local streaming
service it'll start to show up right right right a lot of it has to do with your own personal

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history you know like i'm sure there's people out there who have seen the grinch before and are
like i don't fucking get this at all like what what am i watching why this like yeah or you know
there's people who watch you know uh uh love actually every year and i'm like i don't get that
one at all meanwhile i cry every single year and it's a wonderful life so yeah go figure i know full

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well watching that movie i'm gonna be balling my eyes out by the time he comes through and he's
like merry christmas bedford falls what was the first movie you remember crying at uh showgirls no
uh first movie i remember crying at i don't know man that's
i'm sure as a little kid like maybe when bambi's mom got shot or something like that but

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i don't know first movie i remember crying at i can tell you mine and i don't even remember the
scene okay actually i can tell you the scene there was the redhead kid that was one of the bullies in
um what's the movie uh the other christmas movie the one with the the leg stocking you'll shoot your
a christmas oh christmas story yeah one of the kids i think the red-haired kid it's one of his

(22:11):
it might be him there was a movie called angus okay and i don't remember what it was about i'm
gonna look it up at some point and i'll get back to you on this no that was about the little little
fat kid getting getting bullied and stuff yeah yeah yeah and his own kind of lose it's kind of like
pre napoleon dynamite yeah a little bit loserish yeah and i think it was a moment where like he wins

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like homecoming king or he goes to ask a girl out and that little redhead kid goes like go for it
angus and he says it so sincerely and i remember watching that movie when we rented it by myself
like i was to entertain me and i ended up like welling up at that that was the first time as a
kid i was like you manipulated my emotions via screen and i may have done it before that but i

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remember that was the first time that i was like what the what just happened so yeah i'll never
forget like the scene is locked in my head his delivery everything and i was just like what what
what what was the thing was it just the sincerity of like i don't know it was brotherhood behind him
like supporting his dude yeah just seeing this kid win i guess like this kid needed a win and i am

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pretty like i don't like bullies and i don't like stuff like that and you are constantly rooting
for the underdog yeah and so i don't know what it was but it was something about that scene on that
day in that moment and maybe just not expecting it so you know that was a long tangent after you
brought up crying at a wonderful life but this is a little inside to me i'm gonna go re-watch the
movie angus and do a deep dive here in the near future all right we'll do it we'll do it all right

(23:36):
yeah we should do that and um whichever your answer is what what was the what was the one where
they went to fat camp the heavyweights that movie was funny though didn't that have um
curtis lewiden goldberg oh that did have goldberg yeah yeah now what was the one i whatever whatever
got enough on the tape anyway um but now we'll re-watch angus and we'll get back to you on that one

(23:58):
and uh but yeah so you were talking about christmas with the cranks christmas with the cranks so way long
tangent there yeah yeah yeah uh so then the movie midway through makes this weird shift where all
of a sudden now the daughter calls up she's like hey by the way our project got canceled due to
whatever i forget but like you know budget cuts or whatever so i'm coming home for christmas and i'm

(24:22):
bringing home my boyfriend who i met in bolivia and he's we're probably gonna get married and so now the
movie shifts from the entire neighborhood trying to pressure the cranks to put up their christmas
stuff to now they have to scramble in 24 hours to put on the best christmas ever in order to
impress their daughter yeah that is a weird pivot it's it's a terms of being diametrically above

(24:49):
yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean especially because the first one is so i mean the first half is a little
bit dark you know it's it's very obsessive i mean there's literally a point where the neighborhood
is on the lawn you know on their lawn like jan and give us frosty give us frosty because they're the
only house in the neighborhood that that hasn't put up their like 12 foot tall plastic sand or uh

(25:14):
frosty the snowman and they all are clamoring for frosty because they want the neighborhood to be
uniform and you know like we'll even put it up for you give us frosty wow yeah so i guess my question
is besides the obvious like family on the holidays like what's the moral of this because it just
seems like we hate christmas up but it's necessary like i don't how do they again outside of the

(25:38):
typical like that i can guess like home for the holidays where you are and you know your families
which is where you're supposed to be for christmas kind of thing like what's the moral what's the
over like what am i supposed to take away with it you hate christmas but then you can be pressured
into it and then because you want to be fake for your daughter i don't know like what what's the
moral here that's a very good question sir i don't know what it's trying to tell me because it's

(26:02):
it there's so many new plot devices i mean they end up introducing this burglar who somehow works his
way into the house and then he gets caught by this little kid and the kid's like but it's christmas so
i'm gonna trust that this was just a mistake and then he goes right back to stealing their shit
and then yeah kid me pocketing this diamond ring of a definite mistake that will never happen again

(26:27):
that's right so yeah it's yeah all of a sudden becomes this like burglary story and then they
try to work in the magic of santa claus through this weird pseudo i don't know it's i don't know what
it's telling me it's basically telling me that i think it's about togetherness and sort of
everybody coming together for the holidays but the reason why they come together is so shallow and

(26:52):
hollow yeah you know like oh well we don't want our daughter to think that we lost the christmas spirit
so it's really important that we pull this off and oops there's only one ham left in the store so now i
got to fight an old lady for it now we got to eat cold cuts that's right fried balloon so yeah so

(27:13):
yeah in the end the whole neighborhood comes together and everybody kind of donates a little
bit of their christmas to help the cranks put on the best christmas ever so i guess it's sort of also
the spirit of giving but also fuck you guys you tried to break into my house and set up christmas
decorations against my will yeah that's like being a part of a community but also i don't yeah i

(27:35):
don't get it that's why i was curious i was like the the switch is not that it's a weird switch plot
line wise like oh we're doing this and now we got to do like just the diametrically opposed of like
what was the first half for it's it's not even like a gear shift it's like you switched cars yeah
it's like a different yeah oh yeah that's why i was saying like what is how do they stick the
landing on that one like oh look at what we did for you and your boyfriend which we really don't

(27:57):
want to do but like i guess it's important to her the daughter maybe i would assume right sure why not
yeah whatever like made me cancel my cruise that could have been exactly that drinking margaritas
in the mahamas right now anyways yeah so um yeah it's it's worth it for like i said there's some

(28:17):
really good physical comedy i think that tim allen's doing some really good work although i will say
jamie lee curtis is i think by far the more entertaining of the two to watch i can see that
yeah she's pretty entertaining period yeah yeah she does rely a little bit on her whole screen queen
gig like she just sort of looks at the camera and pulls a janet lee you know like yeah

(28:38):
yeah i mean she mastered that in freaky friday yeah you know that's another great movie yeah we'll
watch that soon so what would you rather making a sequel of that yeah they're redoing it yeah
freakier friday or freakiest friday that's what i'm talking about freak on friday
freak nick friday that'd be a very different setting atlanta like this freak freak freak

(28:58):
like a freak nick friday would be set in atlanta in the mid 90s patent vending don't write that movie
michael and are gonna do it yeah yeah me me you and t pain hey hey that's a good idea actually also t
pain please we love you welcome back to sell assi sir um so what would you review christmas with the
cranks oh my goodness i'm going to give it 11 11 plot lines going 10 frosty snowman nine more things to go

(29:31):
hello all right nice work anything else you have been watching for the holiday sneezing
uh after that i watched another christmas classic oh man you really he likes the word christmas
classics uh surviving christmas never heard of this so probably have but long story short is uh

(29:53):
uh benny aflex hires james gandolfini's family to be his fake family through the christmas season
so that he can work through some childhood trauma okay so rich boy hires family to take his shit out
on for christmas pretty much okay well expand upon this please all right so basic plot summary is ben

(30:21):
afleck plays this guy named drew who is this billion dollar i want to say marketing executive
or account executives something to do with advertising a big wig a big wig if you will
who his girlfriend breaks up with him the like two or three days before christmas and he has to

(30:42):
cancel his trip to fiji whatever and so he's scrambling to find purpose during christmas
and so he decides to go visit his childhood home and just sort of like drive by and like
his therapist told him to write all of his write down all of his grievances on a piece of paper go
to some place that has a lot of nostalgia and light it on fire so he goes to his childhood home

(31:03):
as he's lighting it on fire the new owner of the house james gandolfini comes out you know jimmy
gandolfs comes out and hits him in the head with a shovel after that now he has an end with the
family so he decides to make it up to them he's going to offer them 250 000 to pretend be his
family for christmas just the day no no no it's i think it's it starts three days before christmas

(31:31):
and it ends christmas day at midnight oh okay yeah let me still either way sign me up yeah so uh like
i said james gandolfini is the dad uh katherin o'hara is the mom she's awesome and then uh christina
applegate shows up later as the as the daughter um they also have a son named brian but i don't know

(31:51):
who the actor is but he is he is the one to watch man really this poor kid just gets continually
shat on by everybody just everybody is messing with he keeps getting miltons you know like milton from
office space yeah we need you to move your desk i'm so glad that that's become a term people
understand right right but same thing happens to him with his sleeping arrangement like

(32:13):
when when ben afleck shows up part of the contract is he gets to sleep in his old room which is brian's
room it's josh zuckerman as apparently brian valco there we go i just want to give a shout out yeah yeah
um so he so he gets to go sleep in the guest room and then when christina applegate the daughter
shows up she gets the guest room so he has to go sleep on the couch then ben afleck brings in this

(32:35):
play actor to play his grandad his his duda and so then duda gets the couch and brian gets moved to
the garage and then duda's understudy shows up and so now he's sleeping on a rack with duda's understudy
it's cold-blooded man he's just constantly just every time he's like i hate these people i hate

(32:56):
these people so goddamn much how much of this 250 grand am i getting right yeah so i mean it's
it's a funny premise but it gets really weird because all ben afleck does is just interfere in
these people's lives at one point he gives them scripts that he wrote to have this perfect

(33:18):
converse you know dinner conversation like gee honey i'm sure i am glad that you managed to cook
this beautiful dinner for us you sure do work hard keeping the house clean and she's like
i'm an accountant i go to work you know like whatever it's like just stay on script stay on script
you know i think we should all hold hands and say blessing you know and everybody's kind of

(33:40):
awk looking around and meanwhile ben afleck's like we hold hands when we pray in this family
nice he's such a ham dude i mean i like i like ben afleck a lot i gotta say
ben afleck is beautifully unhinged in this i mean it's it's he's swinging for the fences
he's annoying as fuck and you hate him through the entire movie but he's still kind of got that ben

(34:04):
afleck charm yeah that's kind of his whole thing right there i mean the level of entitlement that
he has in this movie i'm not sure that 250 000 would be able to put up with the the smug
that just surrounds him you know just the the the aura of like
good fool so i don't know it's it's like

(34:31):
this rich white guy comes in tries to buy off this family interferes with their lives
sometimes a little helpful but it's only because he's just giving them money you know like he
yeah that is helpful i mean like but there's a certain air of just because you pay people doesn't

(34:53):
mean that you have the right to treat them however you want like at some point you're putting a price
on their dignity it's it's like okay like there's people that go to a restaurant and they just
treat the server staff like shit you know what i mean or like they make all these demands or
they're they're they're impatient you know nothing's coming out right nothing's coming out on time that

(35:15):
you know it's they come in with 20 of their friends and expect to get seated right away and then
they're they're upset when they have a 30 minute wait to wait for tables to clear something like
that yeah and then their excuse is always what you know like oh will i tip them good and it's like
well yes but you're you're you're not going to be able to do that because you're not going to be able to

(35:38):
yes but you're you at that point are putting a price on their humanity and sometimes that price
doesn't match up with what they believe is the price on their humanity you know what i mean like
sometimes it's priceless sometimes you you just can't pay people enough to treat them like shit
yeah i mean the yes and no as long as the terms of agreement are i'm going to treat you this way but

(36:02):
you're going to be i mean for lack of a better term like prostitution like at least you know what
you're getting into you know or should before it it happens but to a certain extent of just like
the two don't have to be mutually exclusive you can pay me to perform a service and not treat me like
shit in the process of performing that service even if the service is naturally degrading in its in

(36:23):
its nature or whatever you know or or subservient in its nature like you don't have to fucking i can
shovel shit yeah i'll pay you ten thousand dollars to shovel shit my shit okay fair it's already
degrading in this nature i don't need you sitting at the top of the ditch going you piece of crap
look at you like you know i mean shit for a living yeah so i get what you mean um but so yes but if

(36:45):
the terms are agreement of like yes and i'm going to harass you ahead because i gets off on it or
whatever like okay then you know but i don't know i'm with you on it though i know it's a long way
for me to agree with you but yeah i mean there's there's there's a scene where um katherin harry is
you know making him a hot chocolate and he by contract he's allowed to call everybody mom and

(37:07):
dad and you know brother whatever christina applegate shows up and he's like well this
ruins everything because i never had a sister but like you can be the columbian maid you know so
anytime every time she tries to speak up you know he's he's telling her like see consuelo silencio
por favor oh lord five aguas you know um so just totally disrespect anyway yeah no that's a good

(37:33):
example of it though but so there's a there's a scene where katherin harry is making him a hot
chocolate and he's like oh thanks mom i really appreciate it and you know she hands him the mug
and he goes uh yeah my uh my real mom put a candy cane in the a peppermint candy cane in this so
try again and he hands it back to her and she's like all right well here she goes and pulls a candy

(37:55):
cane from some randy drawer some random drawer pops it in hands it back to him like my real mom
used to put marshmallows in mind with the candy canes it would mix together and you know and it was
real sugary and sweet and i loved it okay try again so she throws in a handful of marshmallows
yeah my mom would use the mini marshmallows so she just pulls out a cleaver and starts smashing the

(38:18):
marshmallows into tinier bits and just shovels them in he's like i mean i guess it'll do and it's
it's just shit like that you know or like there's a scene where james gandolfini and and him go
christmas tree shopping and he's like hey so my dad used to always wear this
santa hat when he went christmas shopping or you know of course jimmy gandolfs is like

(38:42):
no i'm not gonna wear the hat i like your impression well how about i give you an extra five grand
he's like fucking and he starts mumbling himself he's like 250 000 250 000 250 000 you know just
trying to put up with his shit yeah you know just trying to focus on like just need the money that's
fine anyway so long story short christina applegate comes home unexpectedly he ends up falling in love

(39:08):
with christina applegate and it's there's this weird will they won't they where he's still being an
asshole to her and he treats her like yeah but i own you kind of thing but also you kind of cute
may i make a a pitch real quick sure unrelated to the movie but also related to the movie sure
christina applegate uh-huh what you've been watching wall of fame i mean for a litany married with

(39:31):
children alone yeah okay well we're in agreements welcome don't tell mom the babysitter's dead
welcome to anchorman yes oh anchorman she's a g she's a certified g all right welcome to the what's
been watching wall of fame christina awesome anyways please proceed yeah but congratulations
to you tits mcgee i love ron bernie's like i'm tits mcgee but no to your point though it is

(39:55):
something about like there is a contract in terms of like when you work for an employer
of like i don't necessarily need an attaboy for every single thing that i do because that is the
contract you're paying me to do this thing so when i do the thing you're paying me to do i don't
need to be rewarded for it but at the same time you can't treat people like shit because
if if we all say well we're not doing this anymore the the terms are unfair like you officially

(40:21):
aren't a business owner anymore right you know what i mean and so there is you there has to be some
of that too like if we all walk out of here you don't you're officially not a business you have a
title and a business with no employees why markers that sounds awfully pro-union it sure is it sure is
not to politicize yeah yeah but i mean it's kind of the same thing though like if we all bail on
this operation right what do you got yeah then your whole trauma bond experiment that you're

(40:45):
doing here it's got to be given take to a certain degree so i don't know i'm with you on it i'm with
you like i said it's a weird dynamic because he does kind of help them out like it turns out that
james gandolfini and katharine harrow are like on the verge of divorce and he sent like he pays for
this high-end new york photo shoot to be done for her he ends up buying him you know a uh like a t-bird

(41:11):
or some like muscle car or whatever because it's the one he's always want or i'm sorry he had one
before he had kids and then he had to get rid of it and he resents her for it yeah pretty much yeah
yeah yeah so um yeah yeah it's an interesting concept like it's an original idea at least
i mean it's a little bit like did you ever see the uh the richard priore movie the toy

(41:35):
oh i think on comedy central at one point but i mean basic premise is that this little kid wants
a human play thing and so he buys a black man to be his personal toy and do whatever he wants
yeah it's problematic
it's problematic yeah no i don't think i saw that one yeah it's i mean best thing i could say

(42:00):
about it is it's richard priore doing richard priore shit so yeah i mean um you know who used to do
his voiceovers richard priore yeah eddie murphy no no no no uh the guy from full house uncle not
uncle joey but uncle um cut it out yeah that was uncle joey no joey was um uh um no john was john

(42:23):
stamos uncle jesse that's right yeah sorry sorry yeah uncle joey jesse and the rippers yeah because
it was jett what's his name something quarter uh dave couillet yeah dave couillet yeah yeah he did a
he did a dr for really yeah yeah he's out there doing richard priore well he did for a long time he
told the story on arsonia that's funny yeah well what's he been watching trivia all right mark that

(42:45):
one so anyways but yeah go ahead um so surviving christmas what was the takeaway from that movie
does it apply to the holidays or was it just a trauma that money solves everything good takeaway
if you have enough money you can buy your way into happiness because he ends up falling in love with

(43:05):
with christina applegate they're together now so it's this weird like and it's this weird dynamic
because it shouldn't work at all like she tells him this very personal you know like they're having a
moment and he's like you know what what's something that you remember from your childhood where
everything was pure and and you know everything was good it was the last time you remember not

(43:28):
having any worries in the world you know like still having like the heart of a child kind of thing
and she tells a story about how they were in the park and one of the trees had frozen over and
there were all these icicles dangling from it and she just remembers standing underneath it pretending
that she was a princess in a crystal castle and it was the last time that she remembers being really

(43:49):
really happy so then of course later on a date he takes her to a park there's the tree there's
the icicles whatever and she goes to step forward and you know check it out and be like oh my god this
is amazing and then all of a sudden this big brass band comes in and this foam jesus comes down and
then there's carol or carolers singing songs and she's like what the fuck is this big production

(44:13):
he's like i did this for you this is your memory look this this actress looks just like you when
you were 12 i found pictures and i made her get a haircut and yada yada and it's just this huge big
thing and she's like you idiot you fucking ruined everything but it's that type of like that type of
expectation or that type of like affluence where it's like oh well all i got to do is just take this

(44:36):
memory and make it big and grandiose like throughout the entire movie this drew character just has a
way of making everything about him you know and it's this weird why would anybody tolerate
that type of person not just for 250 000 but oh by the way now you can marry my daughter yeah

(45:01):
you know like i guess he learned something about himself in the process of all this but i don't know
she horned in at the end i don't know that he did because he's he's still the billionaire account
executive or advertising firm or whatever it is but like the whole plot line is like rich white guy
comes in and saves the middle class wow it i mean just on a again i'm not a rich man by any means but

(45:27):
like this dude had to be off his rocker most rich people stay rich because they look at things like
that and they're like what's my return on investment on this yeah yeah exactly exactly i mean drew is
clearly like rich enough to do what he wants but he's impetuous and so self-absorbed that he can't be

(45:49):
cared to think about the consequences and i don't know that that changes like at no point is there a
big moment of like well i sure learned my lesson that money doesn't buy everything like no you bought
your way into exactly what you wanted yes that's what happened it happens man we play a different
game than the rest that's for sure bro that's for sure i don't know it's it's a fun movie it's a good

(46:12):
premise and like i said i really think that brian kid is the one to watch just because shout out to him
underrated performance of the week for sure why not i mean if not him who you know yeah i don't know i
got nothing so anyway that's i think that's all i got to say about it it's it's just an awkward like
how do i deal with not liking this guy throughout the entire movie and then also everybody around him

(46:41):
is kind of also exhausted by him it seems exhausted by him at some point like why am i really rooting
for this guy like what's what's the point right right yeah they do have some unrelatable
like what's their attempt to humanize them is just oh he had a damaged childhood or whatever yeah of
course he has the big reveal of like oh my dad walked out on christmas day when i was four and then

(47:03):
my mom worked at the 24-hour coffee shop and we never really had a christmas so every christmas i
would just come in and color on the mats and eat a stack of pancakes and that was my christmas
but he he concocts this whole backstory of like oh i had this grandpa you know i told you i meant you
the candy cane and stuff it's all bs yeah exactly i figured so all right well you know

(47:27):
there's the moral of that story just buy your way to happiness what would you rate this movie
uh i would rate it i would rate it two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is not enough to put up
with ben afleck for three days in the real world not just the movie right come on the show please i

(47:47):
don't know that's true yeah i don't know come on the show ben we can figure that out uh well on that
note do you want to take a break before we come back or yeah i don't know what to do
back or yeah man let's take a quick one all right we are going to take a quick break from our sponsor
christmas tree tinsel they taste like coconut and as annoying to clean up as glitter christmas tree

(48:09):
tinsel we'll be right back
uh

(48:35):
and we are back from our sponsors christmas tree tinsel if you eat it it makes your poop shiny
it sure would oh man that's a good one so my brother i we've heard everything about my

(48:55):
holiday festivities i've been laughing my lips for far too long i got a question for you sir
what'd you get me for christmas same thing i got you last year dick and butter right pretty much
not in that order um what you've been watching brother oh man i have not indulged in quite as many

(49:17):
holiday stuff as you have or the ones that i have we've just talked about so much that it's just like
i'm not bringing that up again i will always bring up how the grinch stole christmas because
it's incredible that cartoon but before i get into what we both saw holiday wise i did finally
get around to watching uh hayo miyazaki's oscar-winning film the boy and the heron oh the

(49:41):
boy the heroin and the baggy that's right that's right and the narcan um no it's actually i gotta
say i don't know if this is my favorite miyazaki movie but they don't often miss like even a lesser
miyazaki movie is still vastly superior to most i i would agree with that like even even when he's
even if it's not my favorite it's still pretty good piece of work yeah it's very deep uh a lot of

(50:07):
metaphors that are probably over my head there's a lot he uses a lot of symbolism and metaphors of
this and a lot of it's based in japanese lore and stuff like that so if you're not familiar with the
the localized you know regional story that happens to take place in that particular part of japan
like you're gonna miss a couple of things absolutely um it opens there's just animation

(50:29):
sequences that are incredible more on the minute but uh pretty much it's it's kind of typical i don't
mean that like to be an insult but like his big thing where i think he works best is typically
he's kind of entered this phase of his career where this one is a lot like spirited away where
you know your protagonist enters a very much so alice in wonderland kind of wizard of oz kind of

(50:53):
situation right and has a guide new girl in a strange foreign land yeah this is a young boy but um
sure yeah obviously the titular boy um but uh so it's very much so like that kind of alice in
wonderland he stumbles upon this tower that will take him to this land and this heron prom
promises that his dead mother is still there and everything and so he ventures in and then left is

(51:17):
up and right is wrong and whatever else is whatever else and we're all mad here yeah kind of situation
and it's it's really he really shines in things like that and this one gets a little deep obviously
there's like a as above so below kind of situation where the things that are going on in the real
world are kind of mirrored or a just different version of it here so one of the people that

(51:39):
dives with them into this realm is uh an elderly maid voiced by the incomparable florence pew
and then she becomes in the other world when she kind of gets sucked in to this tower um like a kind
of a seafaring pirate almost okay and so that's kind of like her role on the other side and uh
okay yeah yeah so is it kind of like everybody is it like fantasy island where everybody kind of

(52:04):
gets to live out their true selves quote unquote or is it just like you're just cast into this
random like oh you're this version in this world i think it's more the latter i mean obviously it's
premeditated by miyazaki himself but like for without spoiling the movie it doesn't i'm gonna
have to a little bit the scene the movie opens with he says uh two years before or two years into

(52:30):
the war or something like that and then you see his house he's the young boy is out of house and he
looks out of the window and his dad comes running up goes that's your mom's hospital it's on fire
and you find out very quickly that the the boy's mom passed away so then he moves out to the
countryside with his dad who then begins to work in this factory making um it looks it appears to be

(52:51):
like the shells or the glass windows that go over the plains uh for and so they move out to this
countryside or whatever and dad has a new stepmom that looks just like his ex-wife the boy's mom or
whatever and she's pregnant and the boy is just kind of out of sorts he's getting bullied at school and
so he finds reasons to stay home and rich daddy kind of oversees that oh i gave that school

(53:14):
three hundred dollars that's all they cared about da da da da okay okay buying privilege yeah and
all the while there's this gray heron that kind of taunts him and is like we await your welcome we
await your welcome you are welcome to enter and he howls mother at him a lot your mother and he
tells him that his mother's still alive so the boy god damn talking herons yeah you just can't trust

(53:35):
him he really can um and so the boy crafts a bow and arrow to go fight this heron turns out that's
kind of the his way into this world yeah yeah his obi-wan Kenobi into like yeah show me the ways
not really he's more of a trickster but okay okay he's commanded by uh mark Hamill to show him to be
his guide in this world wait commanded by mark Hamill pretty much yeah oh i just made an obi-wan

(53:59):
Kenobi connection there you go there we go um but as you can see i'm left i'm listing off all these
names in typical fashion if you've ever seen a movie like princess mononoke or anything like that or
spirited away they get a-listers to come in and do these the the english dubs and they do a phenomenal
job yeah they do and i mean you got Florence pew as um is in there um Dave Batista is in there i love

(54:20):
Dave yeah more on him in a minute but um he plays the parakeet king which is awesome nice yeah which
is again is some japanese symbology of parakeets or whatever but um yeah robberology i don't know
whatever you know what i mean symbolism symbolism i was thinking of a prince album musicology whatever
i'm rolling downhill right now you know what it's a word now we're going with it look you know what
i meant i hate when people do that but um so yeah David Pista is the parakeet king and Robert

(54:46):
Pattinson is the heron okay and uh yeah so it's a really good cast and just like they do with all
these Miyazaki films they get these a-listers to come in and just absolutely knock it out of the park
like they had Billy Bob Thornton uh in um princess mononoke and princess mononoke they have crud up
mini driver was in that yeah they have um christian bale is the father in this one so nice nice yeah he

(55:07):
was also uh howl's moving castle yeah he was wasn't he yeah yeah so again just a-listers all the way
around that do a phenomenal job and um it's just kind of this entry into this world in this tower
where the boy is looking for his now stepmom and then all these parallels of everything and it's kind of
fighting his own trauma and malice and things like that that he's harbored okay and so it's really

(55:31):
it's really tough to explain without just watching the movie but visually it's incredible
if you like Miyazaki in any fashion form or function you're going to like this movie
i can see why it won best animated feature um okay the way that the heron is done he is
not to be trusted but at the end they're the only two that they kind of can trust

(55:53):
and uh he's genuinely he's one thing is creepy and freaky and then once they get into the tower he
becomes far more comical and it's a nice kind of change and it makes me kind of respect Robert
Pattinson his acting ability a lot more and i'm so glad that he really did break out of the twilight
box yeah yeah he's really kind of stretching his legs just doing whatever the hell he wants
i mean dude was batman and he's gonna be batman again apparently yeah yeah i mean he's he's pretty

(56:18):
dang good actor man he's really good in the lighthouse as well i i will say i do like him in
that i haven't seen a lot of the things he's been in like admittedly i watched one or two of the
twilight movies and it just it definitely was not my jam i mean he does he does what he's supposed to
do in that be brooding and dark and mysterious and like yeah it was a little heavy-handed than that

(56:41):
one though yeah he was definitely like robert smith but off the antidepressants yeah it's see that's
everyone kind of gives a flat performance in those movies yeah my personal opinion i i would agree
with that i think or maybe not flat but so stereotypical that there's nothing surprising about it like
oh of course you're that character right thing right so he's um and then you get the great dave

(57:07):
batista we were talking a little bit off mike which will bring to the air where do you think he
you think he's the best actor wrestler or wrestler turned actor now i i do i think that's
i mean let's face it hulk hogan was always hulk hogan in every movie he's ever been in
dwayne the rock johnson is just some version of himself at this point yeah yeah um maybe you could do

(57:32):
uh what was it get shorty too cool be cool be cool be cool but even then he's just the rock but gay
and so what a stretch you know um but yeah i think dave batista has really shown he's got
comedic chops he's got serious acting chops you know he can of course he could be the big most

(57:52):
the the big muscle guy but even that being said like he recently lost i want to say something like
40 pounds just because he felt that he was being typecast as like you know the henchman or the big
bad guy or just you know we need some big muscle guy to you know the the action hero the lovable

(58:12):
buffoon even yeah yeah yeah yeah stuff um so he lost like 40 pounds because he felt that it would give him
more of an acting range you know so now he doesn't just have to be the muscle guy now he could just be
the leading guy yeah no good for him i got to respect that for him he's a guy who came into acting

(58:34):
and really dedicated himself to the craft you know like he didn't just want to be another
another wrestler actor he wanted to be an actor and he's taken classes and he's he's expanded roles i
mean like his role in uh blade runner 2049 you know he plays the the scientist or the keeper of secrets

(58:55):
or whatever and like in that he's still a big muscular guy but he also has this real gravitas
to his performance you know he's very sullen he's very mournful because he sees how it plays out you
know he knows that when he faces uh uh baby goose that he's not walking out of this you know like

(59:17):
he's a replicant and he's spoiler but he knows that it's the end for him and so all he has to do is
just protect this one secret and there's a very a very sullen a very macabre presence to his
performance you know like this is a man who is resigned to his fate and he's perfectly capable of

(59:42):
destroying you know this this opponent but but why they're just going to send another
blade runner to kill him another hunter another this another that so his time has come you know and
and i think that there's a certain point where i don't know like i just really appreciate people who

(01:00:03):
go from one thing into another and completely devote themselves to that craft you know like
he was a bodybuilder and then he came into the wrestling world and dominated there and then
decided well i'm gonna expand my repertoire a little bit i'm gonna go into acting and then he
took that exact same enthusiasm and dedication to work and being the first one on set and and

(01:00:27):
learning as much as he can and then dedicated that into acting and i think that's why he might be
the best wrestler actor ever i think when you bring up dave pedista i think that's fair and this is a
long way to just talk about his performance and and how he stretched his legs in the boy in the heron
but uh just real quick though when he did his first movie in the man with the iron fist directed by

(01:00:52):
the rizza of the wu tang clan the abbot of the wu tang clan as it were uh in the special features
the rizza talked about how he approached very much so they're both big martial arts guys and um he
always said that dave batista approached his uh the way that he was on set and things like that with
a very martial arts mindset and that he was saying he was praising him for how generous he was with

(01:01:13):
his performance and his time really batista was dave batista was yeah in order to make sure that he
got the most not only out of his because they're scene partners a lot in that too like they have a
big fight at the end and so he was very generous to make sure that rizza got what his actual vision
was on on film which is very cool instead of just being like i think the character should do this
he's like what's your vision because that's what i'm here to execute not just that's very cool to hear

(01:01:35):
so so yeah i could i could agree with that john cena certainly is up in the ranks too but yeah i mean
he's good as peacemaker i would agree i i think that john cena has a lot better comedic chops than a
lot of other wrestlers um but yeah yeah um but back to it though yeah boy in the heron boy in the
heron really good it's hard for me to really break down um i think it's a really good movie uh i just

(01:02:00):
some of it was a bit over me um it pivots very quickly once you get in the strange worlds they
don't tell you why things are the way they are apparently they're these pillars that need to be
stacked every three days and it kind of comes in the last 20 minutes in the movie and you're like
okay and like and mark hamill's character is the grand wizard behind the curtain of it all and it's
you know he's the great uncle of the main protagonist or whatever and so it's it's very cool there's a

(01:02:24):
lot that happens the animation is absolutely stunning um the plot is good um but again it's
just kind of confusing there's so many things that they don't really explain they just kind of are the
way they are magical mystical world where anything can happen and the rules are not clearly defined
yeah but you don't need to enjoy the movie you don't need them to define i just don't want to sit

(01:02:46):
here and pretend i can go on youtube and google a bunch of stuff and being like oh well they mean
this with that i just i don't want to do that because it doesn't come from me sure there's things
that i view that were very personal in the sense of just dealing with trauma dealing with the way
this young man goes about loss and the way that he chooses to confront things uh the the fact that

(01:03:08):
he bravely goes to fight despite the fear um and just knowing that he has a sense of purpose i
i don't know if i necessarily relate to it but it's inspiring to see yeah um and just despite all
odds being like i have a duty to try to investigate what this may be not only for my mother who's
passed away sake but now in the sense of duty of um my stepmom who's disappeared into this tower as

(01:03:31):
well and what does it all mean and this heron keeps saying that my mother's alive and all this stuff so
to just kind of brave that is just kind of cool so um i recommend it fully like it's well worth the
oscar i just don't want to sit there and regurgitate a bunch of stuff that i youtube
or somebody breaking down the japanese as i'm going to say symbology or the symbolism uh to sit

(01:03:53):
there and make it my own thoughts you know it's i'd be doing all of this service so fully recommend it
though definitely worth a watch i mean how does it rate in terms of a miyazaki movie like is it
where where would it slide into it's better than this but not as good as this i'm not as big and i
understand they play a role i'm not as big on his stuff like ponio and things like that my big two

(01:04:17):
are princess mononoke and spirited away and i think i'm in the minority in the sense of i like spirited
away more um okay i do love princess mononoke though um so yeah i mean he has the other more
child-friendly stuff like kiki's delivery service plays a those are phenomenal films as well but i'll
admit it's a different tone though yeah yeah i i'll admit those are probably my least favorite like

(01:04:41):
they're they're fun they're they're charismatic and they're but it's it's child fair it's yeah it's
fluff you know like for me i my favorite miyazaki is hands down grave of the fireflies yeah but
i think i like that movie because it does tackle such really dark and macabre themes

(01:05:02):
in an animation style which i love the the the contrast of like oh we're just gonna deal with
death and loss and everything around you crumbling but hey we're gonna make a charming fun animated
kids movie as well yeah that's this isn't quite as kids movie like but this is um you'll like this
movie then like i said if you it's somewhere between grave of the fireflies and spirited away not as

(01:05:27):
not as dark as grave as the fireflies but not as bright as spirited away yes i like the the
characters are a little better out i really enjoy the heron in this one okay but um i really like the
characters of spirited away a little bit more that when they like all the ins and outs of the
people that come at the bath house in that movie i really think kind of make that movie a bit more
vibrant but here nor there it's a really good movie um i do recommend it and i will review it

(01:05:54):
four actually no i will review it one hole in the beak of a heron costume oh interesting yeah yeah
i'm not sure how that rates but you've at least intrigued me when you see it you'll understand it
means that it still works but there's something quite you're not quite there the magic the magic
isn't quite working which was put like that okay okay but it definitely deserved an oscar though

(01:06:18):
and i'm glad that means i can get another one for that movie of course i mean so with that being said
the other thing i watched is the other thing that you watched yes sir and this one's been a long time
coming and this is we watched it closer to uh thanksgiving but i think this movie you could
substitute thanksgiving as the holiday that they're coming home for and replace it with any holiday

(01:06:41):
and it works equally as well right uh we watched well it's a great transition because it takes
place over thanksgiving leading into christmas i think it's no i think it's before thanksgiving
yeah yeah it ends on thanksgiving day yeah yeah yeah um so it takes place before thanksgiving not the
other way i guess you're right yeah but either way we are going to talk about planes trains and

(01:07:03):
automobiles the great john hughes film that's right starring john candy and the incomparable
uh steve martin steve martin absolutely um this one is a classic amongst our household our our
household our dearest mother um she's a big fan of this one yeah yeah and so this is probably i
would say which makes sense if you know her yeah it's probably her favorite thanksgiving movie

(01:07:25):
which there's not a lot of there's thanksgiving movies out there but this one is probably i think
the standard but you could while we're in the holiday season you could replace him needing to
be home for thanksgiving for any other holiday like christmas fourth of july yeah arbor day whatever his
his daughter's wedding whatever right right right um but what did you think about it because

(01:07:47):
i got a couple thoughts i can i can spew off if you need me to i mean it's it's a great buddy road
trip movie i mean essentially it's two it's it's the odd couple meets the open road you know um
and so the dynamic between steve martin and john candy is it's just a delight to watch

(01:08:09):
the conflicting styles like like normally in in any comedy duo there's you know the the physical guy
you know the the guy that's doing the prat falls and the the the or the the lovable buffoon or
something you know the the comedic you know the the bent guy yeah and then of course there's the
straight guy who's who's you know the guy that's driving on the jokes and hammering home the punch

(01:08:34):
lines and stuff like that you know like typically one does the setup the other does the punch line
and in this dynamic they both waver and waft between both roles and they they play off of each other so
well i mean it's it's two comedic giants in their heyday what could go wrong you know i that's

(01:08:55):
actually in my notes it's funny you brought that up i said it's very uh which i wasn't i had to google
this part because i don't know which one was which but um laurel and hardy is very much so like the
three stooges yes that was the reference i was going to use but there's was like wasn't one of
those other i know it's not abbott and costello but um but also a good pull abit and costello yeah but
like laurel and hardy they had no straight man right and in this movie right both of them get to be

(01:09:20):
silly and they both get to be the straight man in john candy and steve martin for example john
candy gets to play with the broken car seat you know and this is oh i got a bad back and he sits
there and plays with it and then when they switch over and he drives steve martin then gets to play
with the broken seat and go oh you broke the you broke the car seat oh i didn't break it how did it

(01:09:41):
break i don't know and it mushes them up against the glass so they both get opportunities to be silly
in the same scenario and neither one really upstages each other right right right they also both get
drunk at the end and they both are like very campy like oh this feels like summer camp kind of mood
um and they both have issues sleeping you know like i gotta clear my sinuses or whatever in his his

(01:10:02):
events as john candy's right affect more uh steve martin's but they both have their own qualms about
what is and what isn't and so it's really a good dynamic it's between these two pillows those aren't
pillows yeah he kisses his hand but he's being cuddled so it's like why'd you kiss my hand i don't
know why are you holding me where's your other hand yeah so that's that dynamic really does work in

(01:10:25):
the sense of they both get to be slapsticky and you know they both can really bring down the house in
terms of how serious they both also have that really they both get a dramatic scene where they get to
really show their their character range it's not just the slapstick you know steve martin has that
thing even though it's a little funny where he's having to melt down in the bus station whatever

(01:10:47):
yeah when he goes to pick up the car that's not there right right before the the great scene which
we'll talk about right right and then of course john john candy has the you know like i like me my wife
likes me yeah people like me yeah well you know what i also do i listen too much yeah which is a
great monologue um i guess this this movie kind of works in the sense of john hughes the writer

(01:11:10):
which i don't know he wrote national lampoon's vacation oh yeah oh yeah that's how he cut his
teeth yeah he had some some hits and just the writing credit and producing credits he's he's
one of those guys again like he's been in a lot more things than people would recognize you know
like he's had his hand and stuff for a long long time before he even came into consideration for

(01:11:31):
like you know the breakfast club and 16 candles and all that stuff you know but i i do like the fact in
this one uh he was trying to work at a different pace because he was coming off of doing all the
brat pack movies which he's so well known for like the ferris bueller's the 16 candles the
breakfast club stuff like that but his movies always had an increased um i guess passion for

(01:11:53):
teenagers right and to humanize their struggles in a way that most directors just weren't really
doing and he tries to emphasize like the relatability of these teenagers so now for him to take that
skill set and to apply it to adults and one person who is simultaneously the most likable and affable
human being but also the most obnoxious human being ever and a guy who was also simultaneously acts

(01:12:18):
holier than now and can't be bothered by certain things because he's he's made it into upper middle
class now you can tell like that's very important that yeah he's made it to see martin's character
yeah and so but he also but he also bumble fucks his way into it he's just as fucking dopey as you
know and just in different ways like their venn diagram overlaps a lot in these two characters
and it really works and i it's cool to watch him do that that humanizing that he did of those

(01:12:41):
teenagers into adults now sure i i had not thought of that you're right it it seems like an easy
transition to be like oh all the awkwardness and fear and anxiety and all that that we feel as a
teenager of like what's my place in the world like that just continues when you're grown like that
yeah it doesn't really go away you might get a little bit like better handle on it but it's still

(01:13:05):
gonna peek through and rear its ugly head every once in a while where you're like oh fuck i don't
know what the hell i'm doing yeah and it's abundantly clear in steve martin character uh his
ability to overcome adversity at this point and he just he wants things to go like he bitches about
he could have just you know got on the plane quietly been like you know what i'm just gonna
take my l's and just get on the plane and just ride coach and that's just gonna be the end of this

(01:13:29):
you know and he does but not without you know making us think about it first and he's lost a
bit of his own let's just call it entitlement he's developed a sense of entitlement yeah for certain
things he always he always has to let everyone else know how they're inconveniencing him yep you
know what i mean whereas john candy is just so helpful and so he says go with the flow a lot he's

(01:13:52):
like go with the flow like the like a broken twig on the mississippi or something like that yeah i mean
he's a people pleaser almost to a fault you know what i mean he's eager to please for sure yeah and
part of that is yeah his his own trauma that he has but you know i mean if you haven't seen the movie
we'll wait for three seconds for you to go watch it and pause it so hang on

(01:14:14):
you back now that's right phenomenal movie right train uh planes trains and automobiles
so like with his wife's passing and everything like that his eager to please mode is on full
tilt at all times which you know i mean that's the whole impetus why he's on the road is you know if
i never settle down if i never go home then i never have to go home to an empty house you know yeah and

(01:14:36):
we'll we'll talk on that in a minute um he um i was gonna try to uh to stick this at the end we'll
bring it up now uh steve martin's road trip was made terrible after just five days due to his need to
be with his family right right and john candy's eight years of being on the road was equally as
terrible but for different reasons is his was due to his lack of family and so this this road man

(01:15:02):
technology it's why he washes his stuff in the sink he hasn't had a wife take care of him in in
years you know that's why he's he's developed all these slovenly habits because he's in he's out he's
gone boom and so his was more born out of survival and necessity and that's why his is miserable is
he has no one steve martin's is only miserable because it's just preventing what he wants is
these are all just speed bumps in the way of getting to what he wants which is to be with his

(01:15:26):
family right right right right that's a good point actually yeah yeah yeah so it's yeah which i
appreciate it man same same goal different perspective a little bit you know yeah they both
just want the family that they have you know unfortunately one way or another life and
circumstances prevent them from being with their family you know and when we were talking about

(01:15:48):
the entitlement earlier of steve martin the entire first act is him just being chipped away at chipped
away at chipped away at until they finally have that led to that iconic scene from john candy where
he's like you know people like me too but before that happens when steve martin rips into him about
like you're like a chatty cathie doll except you're the one pulling your own string right yeah yeah yeah

(01:16:10):
but yeah um but that's the whole first act is him just being chipped away at and just being like
this is an inconvenience this is an inconvenience i shouldn't be tolerating right but uh there's a
force feeding of humble pie throughout this whole movie that makes steve martin's character neil
uh really it doesn't shine until he finally begins to barter with the second uh hotel clerk

(01:16:33):
when he ends up trading his 17 dollars and his nice watch and he says to the guy like please
have some mercy right you know or something along those lines right um he appeals what is your
humility worth what is your dignity worth you know like i just need a roof over my head and for that
i'm willing to give away 17 dollars and a rolex watch you know yeah and the forcing of haggling

(01:16:56):
with this guy is again he's had he's out of options so it is one of desperation too but that is what i
like to refer to as the force feeding of humble pie is just like it ain't about you it ain't about you
it ain't about you it ain't about you right right right life's gonna life buddy what are you gonna
do to pivot with it like are you gonna let this off your pivot foot if we're making a basketball
reference like absolutely he does and this guy he's not adapted that you know he wants things a

(01:17:21):
certain way because that's what he's grown accustomed to oh yeah he's very tell almost without knowing
like he didn't come from a lot but he's made himself into something or he's he's used to his
middle class upper middle class lifestyle well he's he's a control freak you know his character is
very much used to like oh no it has to be this way because otherwise i'm inconvenienced or i'm not

(01:17:41):
getting what i paid for you know like to him there's always some disparagement of the social contract
you know what i mean like there's always this thing that's like well that's not what i signed up for
so so you have to make this right instead of just going like i mean listen sometimes shit happens
you know sometimes they don't have the car did you pay for it sure get a refund go to a new a new car

(01:18:05):
rental place but he ends up making a big scene and you know calling uh what's her name i want to say
margaret martin about it's not margaret martindale yeah no i don't know yeah uh the secretary from
ferris bule's day off uh you know where she basically calls him an asshole you know yeah you're
fucked then yeah yeah it basically says you know pound sand you know i could help you and then

(01:18:28):
john candy steps in and he's complimentary and he's trying to you know hey i know this i know this is an
inconvenience but could you please help me you know instead of trying to focus on how are you going
to make this right he turns it into you would be doing me a service if you did xyz and she's willing
to help and sometimes that's all it is like it may be people pleasing it may be pandering but

(01:18:53):
sometimes it's just you got to play the social games sometimes we all have the social contract
of like i got my own fucking problems to worry about i don't need you adding to the trauma and
pile of shit that is my day no yeah no doubt so if you can just make my day if you

(01:19:14):
as the person i'm interacting with can just make the effort to make my day just a little bit
easier i'm willing to reciprocate or i'm willing to at least hear you out and try my best to
accommodate as opposed to just like well fuck that guy he's an asshole yeah no i mean that's the the
underlying theme that civility should be the starting point for everybody you can dislike

(01:19:41):
somebody all you want civility's got to be the starting point you know just what is this
transaction about oh it's about this okay cool let's be civil about it and we can get whether
i mean if you want to go above and beyond that's a different story but um and it's funny that you
bring that up john candy is probably he's very relatable um and that's why he knows someone in

(01:20:01):
each town is he certainly probably for better or worse apparently he can sell stuff because he can
he can make an impact quick enough and then you don't see him again but he he does make an impact
steve martin learns that when you're around this guy for any extended amount of time he will drive
you up the fucking wall right right but john candy knows someone in each town and that really
reflects on his ability um to be relatable um and just a quick anecdote something i i was recently i

(01:20:29):
went to a car wash with my far better half and we went to uh go pay for it or whatever and the young
man at the window the kid at the window um we had dogs on the photo of our dogs on the card we were
paying with the first thing he was oh i really like your dogs and i i keyed in on what he was
doing and it's you find something if you're uh you know our cousin is a an insurance adjuster or

(01:20:51):
whatever he says when he has to go to people's home find something genuine you can phone it in with
the bullshit but it may come across people may sniff that out right right find something you like
if it's college football you may be wearing a gator's hoodie and lord knows i'm not a gator's fan but
we can talk college ball sure i call how you think they're doing this year i was forward to doing
this year how much you think uh what you think billy napier is going to stick around find something

(01:21:13):
that you can find common ground on and the young man at the car wash took a little too far and just
was just a little chatty nothing bad nothing like kept us for 20 minutes or anything but
wanted to then turn that into a story about his dogs or whatever but it started from something
that he found the common ground in and that's the key yeah yeah yeah um so it's funny that as

(01:21:33):
insufferable as he is in this movie and he is if you're in steve martin's like
his role you would be exhausted by his tears as well equally so i'm not saying that it's not
without cause yeah it's not unjustified his anger and resentment yeah like he's also a little bit of
a hard ass you know certainly but if he is indeed as insufferable as steve martin claims

(01:21:55):
how can he garner so much favor from every person he interacts with in the every person that he
interacts with in all the cities that they end up going in right because that's the one thing he
does oh i know a guy sold him these shower rings and he can get us a room at the end for whatever
oh he can book us a car he's got pull with these people because he took the time to meet this

(01:22:15):
person more than halfway which is again more of just a lesson on life for me that i try to apply i
fall short of it certainly but there is something admiral about that some people are like god are
you ever off you know right right right right well there's also i mean in a weird way john
candy is a salesman but he treats the people he meets as if they're lifelong friends whereas

(01:22:41):
steve martin just goes through life and every person he interacts with is just transactional
they're just temporary it's a word transaction yeah it's just you're the lady that's selling me the
car or like you're the innkeeper and so like there's no connection being made whereas john candy
takes the time to like get to know their kids and hey you know when did you get married how long

(01:23:02):
you've been married for you know how's your boy doing in college that kind of thing so like
being a salesman he's not just selling the product he's selling himself as
someone that they can trust or somebody that's really is genuine about the things he says

(01:23:22):
but he's but he's not being superficial or shady about it like that's just genuinely who he is
like he wants to be he wants to be your salesman not just the salesman or a salesman he wants to be
the guy that you can call when you need shower rings hey i know i got the guy on speed dial i got
him in my rolodex you know right right and it shows steve martin is just like you're just the next guy

(01:23:46):
you're just the next person you're just whatever whatever yeah it is and like i said we say all
these things to to show how opposite they are but their venn diagram overlaps so much not only in
terms of like who they are because certainly steve martin like i said in the performance wise they
both get a chance to go over the top yeah and be silly and like be the slapsticky physical one

(01:24:10):
that's that scene where they get trapped between the two semi trailers oh hang on on that yeah
because i want to talk about the mess around but yeah yeah yeah the the scene where where they get
trapped between the two trailers and steve martin is driving and he he just looks over and they
flashed a john cany and he's like the devil is just laughing his ass off like ha ha ha ha oh it's so great

(01:24:31):
and it just happens for a split second and then they cut back to steve martin just ah yeah that
the scene the scene they're driving down the road they're driving the wrong way on the highway and
the car next to him was trying to flash him down like you're going the wrong way and he looks at
john cany he's like how the hell does he know where we're going yeah he's drunk he doesn't know where

(01:24:52):
we're going and he's like yeah how does he know our destination he's like okay buddy that's right the
boozy sign to him yeah that's funny now there's a lot of great things uh yeah if you want to talk
performance i think a brilliant brilliant performance is when steve martin does sound
off on the lady when he walks when he comes back after spazzing out and having to walk across the

(01:25:14):
terminal my fucking car i want your fucking company to get me a fucking car because the one
that i was supposed to effing get yeah and it goes off and on and he enunciates every single syllable
and ends with a strong like g ing car because it's so good that performance is really good
and my favorite which i think is just absolutely because it's a little bit understated and he

(01:25:38):
didn't lean into full camp and just is when john candy does the mess around in the car oh yeah he's
playing the keyboard or the the piano on the dashboard smoking the cigarette well i can talk about
the nothing at the barbecue he's sitting there blowing the horn it's so subtle because it's almost as if

(01:25:58):
yes the character doesn't want steve martin to wake up so he's trying to keep him quiet but he also
does it with this weird thing of like he's really into it right it's almost like if you yelled into
a microphone but then in post you turned it down you know what i mean it's like it's subdued in a
weird way where it's just kind of like he doesn't want anyone to see him but he's really enjoying

(01:26:20):
himself he's like i don't want him to see how much fun i don't think he would be mad at him
playing along with the keyboard i don't think he wants steve martin to see how much fun he's having
performing this to himself you know yeah yeah it's like uh we've all been there where you're like
singing in the car and you're jamming out and then all of a sudden you pull up the red light and you
realize that everybody can look into your car and hear your music so you kind of turn it down a

(01:26:43):
little bit and you just kind of sit straight in your seat you're looking forward and then as soon as
the light turns green you're like and i'm talking about them yeah no just go watch that performance
from john candy do that in the in the vehicle man it's so damn funny he's like leaning all over
steve martin he's swerving playing the playing the piano on his leg and shit like that yeah yeah

(01:27:07):
i heard that performance gets me every time that little segment so yeah yeah i forgot how funny that
was to me but in terms of i don't really got there's a couple other lines that are really
hilariously delivered all throughout i like the uh when they get picked up in wichita by the guy
that they sit in the back of the truck this movie leans just enough into the cartoonish

(01:27:28):
at times cartoonish cartoonish in the sense of like when they get out of the truck there's a or when
they're in the truck there's a funny delivery and i don't know why it's funny to me he's like what do
you think the temperature is out here and john candy just definitively goes i don't know maybe one
it's such an odd number to pick i don't know why the selection of the number one was funny to me

(01:27:49):
but it just is um and then when they get out of the truck because it's such again it's such an
honest answer like he could have just been like i don't know cold as hell you know just give a
generalized answer but he actually thought about was like i don't know one like again he's he's
he's not trying to placate or or or you know give you lip service he thought about the question and

(01:28:11):
gave a genuine answer yeah no he does that a lot you know he asked him even before that
he's like oh how long you think the roads will be ah maybe 30 minutes or even like maybe 30 miles no
more than 35 well i guess depends which way he goes uh i mean that then it could be no more than
30 to 45 i mean but if he takes the one way it would be so less than 70 miles it's like dude i

(01:28:33):
don't care anymore i was out after the first question dude but that's him being genuine you know he
wants to to give an honest answer so even if he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about right
but i was gonna say before we got off on that it is cartoonish just enough in the sense of
like some of the slapsticky things that happen with like the car burning and like him being seen as
the devil right right when they get out of the car and the or the back of the truck and the dog and

(01:28:57):
them are all frozen solid it's just cartoonous enough of like a little wink of kind of be like
we know this isn't real but hey right right i mean it's something that could only take place within
the realm of that movie right right it's like why wouldn't they be um yeah so but the the truck
driver when he asked his wife to get out of the car and get their bags they're like no no we insist

(01:29:19):
he's like nah she's short and she's skinny but she's strong he talks about the first baby she
delivered delivered the first baby sideways didn't say a peep the idea of delivering a baby sideways
and not saying anything it's very funny to me funny little joke in there um but yeah it's it's a
classic i really don't have too much to say except just a lot of movies owe a lot to this yeah and i

(01:29:43):
know it's not the first road trip movie but i don't think a lot of the farley brothers movie like
the me myself and irene dumb and dumber um oh they owe a lot they owe a lot the bucket list is another
one where kind of you get this dynamic matching up in a strange way twilight yeah i guess i don't know
uh due date the robert downey zac gallifinakis movie owes certainly a lot to yeah to this yeah i mean

(01:30:04):
it's you know it's sticks the heartfelt landing both of them do certainly yeah but apparently
there's like a three out like they had more fill there's like a four hour cut of this movie like
the original script was twice as long as it normally would be yeah plane trains and automobiles
and they shot all of it oh i'm sure for the 35 year anniversary which i probably should hopefully

(01:30:27):
by the time this comes out we should probably get that for our mother yeah but apparently a lot of
those deleted scenes are in there and when they shot it originally they had zero interest in cutting
any of it they knew they were going to have to right right right but some of it kind of works in its
favor apparently um i mean the the sim i'm going to keep just doubling down on this phrase now the
symbology of when you they get off the bus you know because it breaks down or whatever and you see

(01:30:52):
john candy toting his heavy luggage well that's he's literally you know carrying his grief around
right he's carrying his own bag his own baggage and so what does c martin do he kind of helps him lift
them up and it's you know the the load is lessened because steve martin's character is there
and the smash cut to the end when they take that when he comes back on the train rails

(01:31:13):
it kind of goes directly from them like why don't you come home with me and then they smash cut to
them both carrying that same trunk as they walk up to the house that smash cut apparently there's like
several scenes between that that just got cut but because they knew that they had to come in on time
it kind of works sure it's like a abrupt like we know everything we need to know about what

(01:31:34):
happened between this time right right the the dynamic has been established at this point we
we know who these characters are by the end for sure and so that scene of them bringing it home
finally and giving him home it really i can see why some people would cry at the ending time in and
time out i think it was matthew was telling us that one of his friends cries every at the end of uh
planes trains much like you do for a wonderful life i do i do by the time he's running through the

(01:32:00):
square like i'm the luckiest man i'm like you're right george bayley you are so lucky you're the
luckiest man in town yeah man zozo's pedals yeah man um i really don't have anything else to
contribute the only notes that i manage to take where uh i have john candy is amazing and then
underneath that i have steve martin quite uh in-depth notes my friend i might have been a little bit

(01:32:28):
uh struncticated when i and you already just sat back and enjoyed it and just took it as it was and
didn't have to do it a little bit two things could be true well on that note um i guess that's time
for us too well we are staring at a half empty bottle of crevasse a then that's right baby well
uh this is the not obligatory because we do like saying this anybody that's listening we genuinely

(01:32:49):
appreciate you we are incredibly thankful for you yes throughout the holidays um i hope everyone is
safe i hope everyone is sound we hope you spent the time with people that you love um that it
wasn't too stressful and uh yeah i hope you enjoy your holiday season and find some meaning in it all
truly um but until then what i would do if you're watching this during the holidays or
you're rewinding and watching it what i would do is i would watch a movie and go talk about it with

(01:33:15):
and go talk about it with somebody that you love also money buys happiness

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Boysober

Dateline NBC

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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;}Episode #78 Planes, Trains, and Holiday Magic

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.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Boysober

Dateline NBC

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Episode #78 Planes, Trains, and Holiday Magic

Stuff You Should Know