LNC Goes Direct to Video

We talk about catching up on geeky stuff like Dead Boy Detectives and The Fall of the House of Usher, plus films and series we can look forward to in the future. And we talk about how certain Disney sequels would have probably been direct-to-video in an earlier era.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to the Larger or Drunk Collider podcast,
the podcast that's all about the geeky things happening in
the world around us, and I'm just keeping that in
there and how very excited we are about them. I'm
Ariel Caston, and with me, as always is the delightfully
wonderful Jonathan Strictly.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
I wanted to buy a vowel from Pat say Jack,
but now it's too late. Oh no, wait, he's fine,
He's fine. He just retired. Oh yeah, literally literally, his
last episode of Wheel of Fortune is today.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Wow. Wow.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah. He did it for forty one years, like.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
I don't ever remember him starting. But at the same time,
it's one of those things that you just you take
for granted that it's always going to be there.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah. Yeah, so he is a Hey, Pat, you've and
yourself for retirement, buddy. Yeah. He has had a long
career doing and mainly being known for one thing, which
is pretty incredible in show business. So not like it's
super geeky, although lots of geeky people have been on
Wheel of Fortune. But hats off to you, Pat Sajack.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
I mean, I think you know, grammar is totally language
spelling something like that.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's totally geeky, just guessing words like the game of Hangman.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Like Hankman or wordle or spell checks or yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah. I always love the episodes where someone has uncovered
like two letters and it's a phrase that's like seven
words long, and they're like, oh blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah, and they're right, and you're just like.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
How because they're actually like AI androids and they're running
all the possible like probabilities in their head.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, we know.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
The machines have already taken over.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah. It literally could have been a thing where the
category popped up and the first thing that came to
their mind just so happened to be the exact thing
that was the hidden word or phrase. But yeah, I
love those. There's there's quite a few. There's like a
huge compilation online you can see of that kind of stuff,
which is always amusing. Well, we've got lots of stuff

(02:30):
to talk about today, but I thought we should start
off with talking about anything we've seen or done that's
in the geek sphere since the last time we chatted,
and Ariel, was there anything that you had I mean,
I know I put stuff in the light lineup, but
I don't know about you.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
I completely forgot too, but I did watch some geeky stuff.
I'm one episode away from the uh from completing dead
Boy detectives.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Oh you're further than I am now.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Yeah, so I like it and I actually do like
I know you said that you you were more fond
of the supporting characters than the main characters. I do
like the main characters. I think those actors are good,
and I think they hit the right emotional notes. I
feel like the the writing is uneven because there's some

(03:24):
very very dark stuff and then there's some very comedic
stuff and it doesn't always tonally match up. It doesn't,
which is fine. You can have different tones in a show.
But to me, it doesn't feel like it's like it's
like it's blended well together. So like some of the
villains are very snarky and just have a very like
comedic crass, different tone than the rest of the show.

(03:50):
And I also think as far as storylines go, because
it's kind of like Monster of the Week, right.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Sure.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
That some of the some of the plot lines result
quicker than I think they actually would. And I think
the story should take more time on it, and some
of the plot lines, like one of the plot lines
with the main character. I think it's a good plot line,
but it takes all season to get there, And I'm
like you, it didn't need to take all season. Now,

(04:18):
it just feels like you're rehashing the same stuff because
you want to draw it out.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
So yeah, yeah, Like it might have served the show
better if they had resolved that particular storyline perhaps a
little earlier, and maybe introduce something else like Yeah, I'm
reminded of of Supernatural, which frequently would have this kind
of issue where once you get past the first season
of Supernatural, here's how every season of Supernatural plays out.

(04:46):
For the first maybe third of the next season of Supernatural,
it's the characters slowly coming to terms with the choices
they made at the end of the previous season and
and mostly not talking to each other about it until
you get about a third of the way in. From
that point forward, it ends up becoming about a new

(05:09):
big bad that they will eventually face down at the
end of the season, and each episode itself tends to
be relatively self contained, with perhaps light ties to the
bigger arcs. That sounds to me like what Dead Boy
Detectives is, except of course it wasn't like two different
major storylines playing out as kind of one big one. Yeah, well,

(05:34):
why do you think about My favorite character? Is that?

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Jenny the Butcher, the Witch.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
She's my favorite character.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
She's interesting, she's I like her because, you know, half
the time when I watch a show, I'm like, I'm
studying it too, right, I'm studying the art and the
craft and all that, and just her choices to create
this very like she has a character that is like
three different archetypes maybe four put together. But every time

(06:05):
I expect her to fall into a specific trope, she
kind of twists it a little bit, so she keeps
me on my toes and I like that a lot.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, she comes across a very cartoonish in a lot
of episodes, like cartoonishly evil. But like I kept wanting
to see her get her just desserts because she's a
truly terrible person. Yeah, she's she is awful. She's like
Mother gothel but worse, and I really wanted to see

(06:34):
her get her come up and spent. At the same time,
I loved her delivery so much, Like she's so terrible
and I want to see her defeated, but I love
every moment she's on screen. So that was to me, like,
like what a great portrayal of a villain, Like it
made me think of pro wrestling as everything does, where

(06:56):
the whole point of the bad guy in pro wrestling
is that you want to make the crowd hate you
so much that they're willing to pay to see you
get beaten. That's like your job if you're a bad guy.
And I felt like she knew the assignment right, like
she took that and she's like, Okay, I'm going to
be a really wacky, weird bad guy. And she in

(07:20):
the episodes I saw, she has been.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
How many have you watched? Because I don't want to
spoil anything.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
I got to the point where, probably about five or
six episodes in, I got to a point where I
don't want to give too much away, but a minion
of hers is actively attempting to insinuate himself between the
two detectives.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
That's one of the actors are like, I think he's
a good actor, but I don't think his character was
written super strongly because it feels cw in a show
that isn't feeling super CW to me, I.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Can totally get that, Like, I only have seen a
little bit of his performance, like I think two episodes
that like he was introduced in one and then he
kind of starts to really try and insinuate himself starting
with the next one. Yeah, and I've seen those two
and maybe the beginning of the next one.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Have you met the Walrus character.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Yes, I love him.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
I love him so much.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
He's great. Googoo Guchew is great.

Speaker 1 (08:29):
Yeah, So, like it is interesting, and I think the
only other thing is like some of it is very
very dark and kind of gross, and for those moments,
because again, some other parts of it are so light,
it really does make me just feel uncomfortable watching.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
It sometimes, like like the again, not to give away anything,
but there's a i'll call it the groundhog Day episode
because there's a loop that plays. Yes, that was a
very dark episode, the loop episode.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
It was, But there were also some things in there
that were tonally like maybe they were trying to cut
the tension, but I was like, this doesn't feel.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
It doesn't feel like it fits. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
can see that.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
But yeah, but also on the same hand, like that
particular storyline, and that like the Dead Boy Detective, the
one from the eighties, his particular storyline because they kind
of reveal it during that episode, are both the kind
of storyline where I think it is the emotion behind
it is very real, like in a way that if

(09:33):
you've been through well, not the same, not the same
experience as what was looping in that story, but if
you've been in a similar dynamic that led up to
that point, it's it's it can like hook at your trauma.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah, So we're dancing around it because it
is a series worth watching. I mean, even the issues
I had where I did not feel a connection to
either of the two detectives, I enjoy the show and
I enjoy, like I said, I still enjoy all the
performances of all the supporting characters, including the human psychic,

(10:09):
the living Psychic. She's great. She is she. I felt
more connected to her than either of the detective characters.
But you also said Jenny the Butcher. The one thing
I know about Jenny the Butcher is she's played by
Kaylee Kuoko's sister.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Yeah, which doesn't I would not be able to tell
they were related unless someone.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Told me, there's a little bit around the eyes. I
can see it around the eyes. I can I see
the resemblance. But also they put her in a lot
of tattoo makeup and that, Yeah, that throws me because
I was like, there's no way she actually has a
butterfly tattoo on her throat, right, And I had to
look up a picture like, Okay, no she doesn't.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
It's good tattoo work. Yeah, So I mean it is.
It's it is dark. I do think it is. It's
well done. I love who they replaced Death with because
I know last time we talked about it, you said
Death only showed up in the first episode, but they
kind of subbed in another character for her, and I
like that. I like that actress. She was also in Supernatural.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
And they also have they have a character who it's
not just the same character, but it's the same actress
who played the character from uh Doom Patrol because the
the essentially the agent of Death. I can't remember what
her characters. It's the nurse night nurse. Yeah, it's same

(11:36):
same actor, same part from the Doom Patrol episode. So
that's kind of funny too, that there's that consistency of
performer and character from one production to the other.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
But she played nurse in Doom Patrol.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
She did as she's I mean she's She.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
Also played kind of antagonist in Supernatural. I love that actress.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yes, yeah, she's great. I mean she's very She comes
across as very intimidating and kind of scary because it's
one of those characters who is obsessed with following rules.
Whether those rules make sense or are compassionate or not,
like that doesn't matter. So she's like very lawful, neutral

(12:22):
in the terms of D and D.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, yeah, have you finished? Have you finished? I know
we've harped on this way too long. We don't even
know if they're getting a second season yet. Have you finished? Sandman?

Speaker 2 (12:33):
I did not, I'm I so I started watching out
the Fall of the House of Usher and ended up
binging that entire series, so.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
That I'm guessing it's good.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Good is a hard word to use for that series.
I'll talk about it in a moment, because I don't
know if you're finished yet, So I don't want to.
I don't want to go off on fall of House
and of course follow the House of Usher has been
out forever. I just finally got around to watching it
because I like Mike Flanagan's work. I love the Haunting
of Hill House. I thought Midnight Mass was really great.

(13:11):
I didn't watch I didn't watch the one. What was
the one that was based off the young adult novels
Midnight Midnight Society. Yeah, I haven't seen that one. Some
like that, Yeah, I haven't seen that one. But I
decided because I also like Eggar Allen Poe watch Fallow
the House of Usher and I'll talk about it more
in a second, But before I do, are there any

(13:32):
other things you wanted to bring up? And no, I
haven't finished that.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Man, it's the Midnight Club because Midnight Societies from Are
you afraid of that arc?

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Right?

Speaker 1 (13:40):
I had to check myself. I was just going to
say that there's a little bit more, sam man Tayan.
I don't think it's going to be a spoiler if
you haven't finished one and then you finished the other.
I also have been watching more. It's been a very
busy week the past few weeks for me, but I've
also been watching more Dragon Ball z Kai and the

(14:05):
theme song is a banger now and it is stuck
in my head. That, along with the viral I keep
a little dirt under my pillow for the dirt Man
TikTok song. Those are both just stuck in my head.
I'll share it with you later.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Yeah, the reason she said that is because I gave
a weird look into the camera because I'm old and
don't have TikTok.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Yeah, so Dragon Ball ze Kai has not necessarily gotten better.
It's still ridiculous, but the theme song is delightful.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Like it hasn't gotten better, but I continue to watch it.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Well, I mean, it's one of those things where it's like,
partially I kind of MST three k at a little bit,
and then partially it's just nonsensical. You don't have to
think about it fun.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Sure, Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. There's no judgment
on my part. Lord knows, I watched all of season
one of Velma. I can't judge anyone for what they watch.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah, this is this is not me judging you. This
is just me sighing it the fact that it exists.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Right, And I didn't watch I only watched the first
episode of season two, and I so far have managed
to resist the urge to watch any more of that show.
So I'm so proud of you. Yeah, maybe I'll hear
something from someone saying no it ends up being amazing,
and I'm like, oh, I should watch it, but that
hasn't happened yet. Okay, So follow the House of Usher.

(15:27):
It's obviously referencing the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Every
single episode is inspired by a story from Edgar Allen Poe.
All the characters have names that come from Edgar Allen
Poe stories. The overarching story is that you have this
incredibly wealthy family called the Ushers, and you have a

(15:51):
brother and sister who are sort of the head of
this family. And the brother has like all the rest
of the relatives. The sister never had children, she never
gets married, she is her own woman. But the brother
had two kids with his first wife, then had a
series of flings with various women, some of which produced

(16:15):
children out of wedlock, then finally has remarried but does
not have a child with his most recent wife, who's
about the same age as some of the kids are, right, like,
that's how old he is and how young she is,
and so it's each episode is about I guess this

(16:37):
isn't really a spoiler once you get past the first
episode each episode is essentially the death of one of
his kids, because they reveal that all his kids are
dead in that first episode. So the subsequent episodes show
you how that happened, and each one is very much
tied in with an Edgar Allen Poe's story, and then
then at the end you finally get the answer of

(16:59):
what a exactly happened to kind of precipitate all this,
Although I would argue any person who's paying even half
attention to the series, well, like by the episode three,
you're like, oh, I see what's happening, and then you
wait until you get to like episode seven or eight
or whatever it is. I guess it's a where you

(17:20):
get the confirmation and you're like, well, yeah, I mean
this was like you've been alluding to it so much
that I'm just now It's not that I didn't know
what happened, it's just now I'm finally seeing the specifics
right of what's set up this whole thing. I think
the acting in the series is phenomenal. I think everyone
does an amazing job. Everyone does a phenomenal job. I

(17:44):
think some of the stories are dumb, but then they
are also based off Edgar Allen Poe's stories, and some
of his stories can be a little dumb. I think
some of the characters are so cartoonishly over the top
that they're not believable as characters, but they're still fun
to watch. So like the whole trope of incredibly wealthy

(18:09):
person who has lost all touch with what most people
consider reality to be, Like, that's a big thing throughout
the whole series, Like each of his kids has kind
of their own wild thoughts and expectations of what their
life should be based upon the fact they were born

(18:29):
into this incredible wealth. There's one character that for the
longest time I thought, well, he's not that bad until
he turns out to be really, really bad and does
something to a character that is one of my few

(18:49):
like body horror triggers that really hits me. So that
was very effective. So overall, like it's hard to say,
like did I think it was good? I thought it
was well shot, I thought it was well acted. I
thought some of the stories were a little heavy handed,
but that's also Aggirl and Poe. I felt like a
lot of the ground that was being covered was covered

(19:11):
better in the Haunting of Hill House because there's a
lot of like family trauma stuff in there, but like,
from a technical standpoint, it is a phenomenal piece of work.
So I might go back and revisit it at some point,
but if I never do, I'll be okay with that

(19:31):
because I feel like I got pretty much everything I
need to out of it, apart from just like wanting
to reappreciate the performances.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Again, would it be way too scary for me?

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Yes? I think so, I think. Ok So not every
episode is super gory, but a lot of them are, like, like,
the kids die in pretty horrific ways, and even the
ones who like their method of death wasn't quite as

(20:04):
horrific as the others, the build up to the death
ends up being really bad. So yeah, so I don't
know that it's your jam Ariel if I'm being perfectly honest,
But you're also a fan of a girl and Poe,
So maybe maybe you could watch it doing that thing
you do, you know, where you block ninety five percent

(20:26):
of your vision while you quote unquote watch the series.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
I listen. It is effective, and that's how I got
through the first hit movie, the New One, and then
I was able to do the second one. What about
Haunting of Hillhouse, because I have been told that that
is less about the horror and more about, like again,
the family dynamic, and it has been I've I got
to do a piece from it for a class once

(20:50):
and I thought the piece was really intriguing and really good,
and I've been interested that. I don't want to scare
myself so I can't sleep.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
I would say that Take of Hill House, I mean,
it has moments that are scary, it's ghost story scary,
like it's it's like a ghost story scare. But I
would say it's actually way more sad than it is scary,
which I personally really appreciate because a lot of great

(21:20):
ghost stories, you know, tragedy is like the central theme
for the story, not so much the scariness, but the
tragic element that led to the fact that there are
ghosts in the first place. And so I really connected
with it like I don't have. I think people who
have had perhaps more traumatic histories with their families would

(21:45):
maybe find it harder to watch some parts. I have
been very fortunate in that that was not my experience.
I empathize deeply with a lot of the characters in
that series. I think it's and it has one of
the most impressive episodes I've ever seen, where the whole

(22:06):
episode appears to have been done in a take like wow,
to the point where like, while the camera is on
characters who are acting out a scene, the crew is
clearing the space behind them and resetting it so that
when the camera swivels one hundred and eighty degrees, it's

(22:28):
you're back in time because they have reset that setting
so that it's the past for those characters and different
actors are there acting out a new scene. Like I've
seen behind the scenes on how they did this, and
they literally did have people just silently resetting while another

(22:48):
scene is going on in view of the camera. From
a technical standpoint, absolutely phenomenal, and like I said, the
performances are great and it's really effective. It's really it
is sad, like it's a very sad story, so I
think you need to be in the right headspace.

Speaker 1 (23:07):
For it, but gotcha, I have to watch it episode.
I love episodes like that because they really blend the
art of film and stage together really well, because you
do have to rehearse it like a stage absolutely point.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
And not just the crazy thing is like on a
stage play. You're talking about rehearsal of actors, maybe some musicians,
and then whoever's running the tech right, whoever's running lights
typically maybe curtain two if you're in that kind of theater,
But in a television or film production, you've got way

(23:38):
more crew and everybody has to be on the same
page and be able to move as a unit in
order to pull that stuff off. And that's just crazy.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
I love stuff like that, oh real quick. I also
watched the first two episodes of The Brother's Son, which
is said I like it, and there's not a second
season coming, so I'm very sad about that. Okay continue.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
And then the other thing I watched, which I won't
talk about as much is Godzilla Minus one. It is
now on Netflix, so I turned it on and watched it,
and I'm glad I did. It. Is like everyone has said,
it's an incredible film. I think it's very impressive. I
think when you consider how reportedly low budget the effects were,

(24:19):
you can't tell, like it looks like a high budget
effects movie, and it is a very human story ultimately,
like the fact that you have this big monster rampaging
and destroying Tokyo, that's obviously an important part of the story,
but it's not what the story's about, right. The story's

(24:40):
more about this person who was a kamikaze pilot but
he wanted to live, so he fakes a mechanical failure
on his plane and lands at and out of the
Way island in the South Pacific in order to have
it looked at and repaired. But in fact he's just

(25:01):
trying to avoid having to sacrifice himself as a kama
Kazi pilot. So I would say the movie's really about
examining the culture of Japan and the expectations that the
Japanese government had on soldiers to essentially, I mean, ultimately
throw their lives away as as a way of being

(25:21):
a weapon, and it kind of examines that and criticizes that,
while also this character has to deal with the shame
of having been a kama Kazi pilot who came back.
So that to me was really it's great, like it's
well worth watching. Part of me does wish I'd seen

(25:42):
on the big screen, But honestly, the parts that I've
found to be really effective were these character moments which
you know, you don't lose anything on the smaller screen
for those you just lose the spectacle of Godzilla rampaging
in those sequences.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
Yeah, it's like watching District nine. I'm glad I saw
it on the big screen, but I think it would
have been just as good if I had first time
seen it on the small screen. Another low budget, high
effect movie turn out really good.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah, all right, So that that was an epic conversation.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
It was, so, hey, maybe we'll go through that we
have thirty seconds or less, but maybe we'll go through
the regular stuff a little quicker too.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
We always say that and we never do, but we
do have. We do have some thirty seconds or less
stories to get through, and we'll just see if we
can barrel through these as fast as we can. So
I will get started now, Captain America. Brave New World
has gone into reshoots, scheduled for twenty two days here
in Atlanta, and gin Carlo Esposito, who has been in

(26:47):
everything from Breaking Bad to The Mandalorian, has joined the
cast in an undisclosed role, except we do know he's
a patty because it's Esposito where it is that this
film will have a tone similar to The Winter Soul,
which I think is great news. Brave New World is
currently slated for Valentine's Day twenty twenty five. Love You.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
The Chosen, which is a kind of a dramatic retelling
of Jesus' life that is interesting because it was crowdfunded.
It was a Union project, but it was crownfunded, got
picked up by the CW last year and they are
putting out a fourth season. When I put this in
our thirty Seconds or less, it hadn't come out yet,
but the first couple episodes have come out, and they

(27:30):
come out on Sunday and Thursday. So if you're a
fan of it, season four is out, I think it does.
I think it's one of my favorite retellings of Jesus's story,
to be quite honest.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
Okay, notable horror director Mike Flanagan that names So Familiar
is going to helm the next Exorcist calm So. A
few years ago, Blumhouse invested a whopping four hundred million
dollars into creating a new trilogy of Exorcist movies. The
first of those was last year's The Exorcist Believer, which,
let's I did not have a great perception. This new

(28:02):
movie will not be a direct sequel to that, but
will be set in the same universe. So can flanagain
create a better entry. Yes, yes he can. I don't
even need to see the movie. I know that's gonna happen.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Uh. Speaking of bigger and better, American Gladiators is back.
It's getting rebooted at Amazon. This follows we talked about
the other week how it was Gladiators was happening in
London while the nostalgia train has hit and after a
few years people trying to relaunch the show. It's finally
getting its chance.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
I look forward to seeing a gladiator peg somewhe in
the head with a tennis ball fired from a cannon.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Ah. So exciting.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Warner Brothers Discovery is working with Zack Snyder to make
a TV series inspired by the film Three Hundred, which
in turn was an adaptation of a graphic novel by
Frank Miller. So this is the story of three hundred
Spartans being all manly and oiled up and stuff and
then sacrificing themselves to hold off a per invasion. There
are a few details about the TV series so far,

(29:04):
but I'm hoping we get to see oiled up and
muscley spartans doing mundane stuff like cooking dinner or inspecting Wells.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
I'd be in for that. We know that Predator. After
the success of its movie Prey, which was a giant
prequelk is getting another installment. This time it's going to
be called bad Lands, and they are looking at El
Fanning to star in it. Dan Tracktenberg is helming this film,

(29:35):
and every time they referred to him by his last name,
I keep thinking Michelle Trackenberg from Buffy. So it's been
fun to navigate that written in my brain.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah, well that name is Key. That's a Buffy joke. Okay.
The Hollywood Reporter says Chris Hemsworth is in talks to
star in a film that will officially bring together the
worlds of Transformers and Gi Jeff. That's something that's been
done in other forms of media, but this would be
the first for the big old screen. I'm told by
the article that this was actually hinted at at the

(30:07):
end of Transformers, Rice and the Beasts, but I didn't
see that because I do not hate myself despite my
snoody opinions about the Transformer series. I hope fans are excited.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
I could look. You take two bad things, you put
them together, they might be good if you are a
fan of the Yakuza video games. Like a Dragon Yukuza,
you're getting a live action adaptation coming or sorry, I
guess the video game is Yukuza like a Dragon. The
live action series will be like a Dragon Yukuza. It's

(30:39):
coming to Amazon Prime. It will come out in October
and then again in November. Because people like breaking up
series because nobody has attention spans anymore. Anyhow, Apparently people
are really excited about it and it could be fun.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
Yeah, I love it. So I played the most recent one,
and so the Yakuza series is sorry thirty seconds or
last I know it's not bad, but do it. The
Yakuza series is one of those where it mixes like
drama with ridiculous comedy. Right Like, you're playing typically a

(31:12):
character who is a high ranking member of a crime family,
and you're often doing like lots of violent, violent stuff
against other people, and then occasionally you're playing a mini
game where you're singing karaoke in a bar and you're
trying really hard to impress people in the karaoke bar
as you sing overly romantic songs. It is a ludicrous series.

(31:38):
The most recent one takes place largely in Hawaii, and
I loved every second of playing it, so I'm looking
forward to that anyway.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
That does sound like a fun watch, like a fighter
version of Dan the Diver.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Yeah, I'll have to send you like if I can find,
like a good clip of one of the ridiculous cut scenes,
I'll say to you so you can appreciate how dumb
but fun, fun dumb that show is. Okay. One thing
that we now know about the second season of the
Last of Us is that it will not tell the
full story of the second game in season two. Instead,

(32:14):
showrunners have indicated that they will need two or even
three full seasons to tell that whole story because there's
just so much darn narrative in there. But then I
also know what happens than the Last of Us too,
and I think I know the real reason for splitting
that story among multiple seasons, but I'll never tell.

Speaker 1 (32:35):
Interesting. I don't know what happens, but I did like
season one, so I'm looking forward to season two. I
thought it surprisingly not too scary to watch. Terry Gilliam
is doing a biblical comedy and he has cast Johnny
Depp to play Satan and Jeff Bridges to play God
the show. The movie is going to be called The

(32:56):
Carnival at the End of Days, where God wops out,
wipes out human and the only character who wants to
save them as Satan. It's interesting because apparently at one
point God is going to be voiced by at least
fifteen animals, and they're all going to be realistic, and
so that's going to be quite a challenge.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
And in a story that I've accidentally skipped over but
I am going to talk about now, So Deadpool and Wolverine,
they decided they took a look at the popcorn bucket
for Dune Too, the unfortunately inappropriate Sandworm popcorn bucket, and said,
hold my beer. And so there is a new popcorn

(33:37):
bucket to celebrate Deadpool and Wolverine, which is Wolverine's face.
His mouth is wide open, that's where the popcorn comes out.
And that's all that happens. Okay, you're dirty, dirty people.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
That's all that happens. I'm still waiting for my ghost
trap popcorn bucket. I wasn't able to get the AM
but I was able to get the Regal Cinema one
in August. I will get it. This is the yell
sellout really quick? Okay? Lastly, in our thirty seconds are last,
We're getting a season two of the Gremlins cartoon Secret

(34:13):
of the Mogwi. This time it's called Wild Batch. Gremlin's
the Wild Batch, not to be confused with the Bad Batch,
which is what I did when Jonathan told me about this.
Apparently the main characters go to California and have to
deal with a new group of Gremlin Me.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
Dang, yeah. I started watching the series the I saw
maybe five or six episodes of the original series when
it was first starting to come out, and I thought
that it was charming. I didn't think it was great,
but I thought it was good. But like all the

(34:53):
other things we talked about in this episode, I fell
off of it, and so I didn't finish that season.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
Yeah, I've been meaning to watch it. I haven't yet,
but it's got a great voice cast.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
So it is.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
It is still on my list.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Oh yeah, yeah. The people who are doing the voices
are some really incredible and famous actors. You know you've got,
you know You've got, isn't meng naw when one of
the voice actors for that series, I think she is.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
She is and so is be d Wong. But they
say bed Wong is known for Mulan, and I'm like,
that's not what I mean. But he was also like
in the Mulan cartoons too, So it's just just not
what I know him from.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Something that Ariel and I know fairly well because we
talked about it in one of our video episodes when
Ellen c was a video series. Is I think, yeah,
so do I. But it's an incredibly influential movie, one
of the most influential films for Western films in quite
some time, and itself it's not a Western film I

(35:55):
am talking about. Akira Kurosawa was in Mortal Classic seven Samurai,
and seventy years after it initially came out, we're getting
a limited re release in four K resolution.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
I think that's pretty cool. I wish it were more
widespread than it currently seems.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
Yeah, because it sounds to me like it's only in
New York and LA and just in a couple of
specific theaters.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
Yeah, but the new trailer looks great, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah. So if you do have the opportunity to see it,
like this is the story that you will recognize instantly
because it has been readapted so many times, Like the
arguably the most famous adaptation is the Western The Magnificent Seven. Like,
that's a pretty faithful adaptation of the story, just obviously

(36:53):
pourting it over from Samurai to cowboys. But you could
argue the exact same like structure is in things like
everything from A Bugs Life to the Three Amigos. Is
one that we mentioned in our video series.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yeah, I will. I will share that video in our
show notes. I will get our show notes updated this weekend,
and I will make sure that that video is a
part of it. I'll even make it its own post
so that you can see it. If you haven't checked
it out. You may have seen all of our videos.
It's honestly one that I enjoy going back and watching.
I don't like watching myself, but there's a couple of
those old videos that I do enjoy just because one

(37:32):
it was fun to make and two I think it
turned out really well. And that's one of them.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
So we've got so many more things to talk about,
one of which, this one that will be fairly quick,
is that we have a trailer for a documentary about
the career, the life and career of Farrell Williams. It's
called piece by piece, and it's done in a very

(37:56):
interesting style.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
Yeah, it's like Legos, it's animated Legos, so not like
so like the Lego movie. Yeah, that's why did I
have such a hard time putting that sentence together. I
don't know.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
I mean, it's because, like it's not what you would
expect from a documentary about a musician's life.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
No, but Lego man Snoop Dogg is a delight.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Yeah. I get the feeling that that this whole decision
was made because it does set it apart from other
documentaries just by the nature of the film style, and
it also allows them to take things that perhaps would
be far more mundane if you're just doing like a
talking heads kind of interview with someone, and with Lego,

(38:44):
you can just take it to absurd levels and make
it a joke visually.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Yeah, throughout the whole thing, you know, Fell's happy is
playing and that's that's the vibe I get. That's the
vibe that they're setting with this Lego mensary. Yeah, Docu
le Lego.

Speaker 2 (39:07):
I wonder if we're going to see other documentaries take
a similar approach in the future, which would just be
so surreal.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
It would be. I feel like you can't do that
exact thing too many times. Yourrket's old hat.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
I'm really hoping for a Lego version of the Imitation Game.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
I mean, probably more people would watch it, But like
I think, eventually, you you like the Lego games, Eventually
you saturate people's tolerance for Yeah, watching Lego remakes Uh.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
One thing that saturated my tolerance without me ever having
watched any of the movies is the the Venom series. Well,
I know that you enjoyed Venom and Venom two at
least to some degree.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
But watch Venom two. But I enjoyed Venom, we.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Enjoyed the first Venom. I I just can't forgive Venom
for spawning things like Morbius and Madam Webb, like the
fact that that movie is essentially responsible for such terrible
crimes against cinema. I cannot forgive easily. But we got
a trailer for the third and final film and the

(40:19):
Venom trilogy, Venom the Last Dance. The film is going
to come out in October. One interesting thing is that
it does kind of it almost feels like it's ret
conning the end of the second Venom film. In that

(40:40):
at the end of Venom two, Venom slash Eddie are
pulled into the MCU version of the Marvel Verse. But
then I didn't notice this because I don't think I
ever saw the scene, but at the end of No
Way Home, Eddie sla end up getting pulled back yep

(41:04):
to their original universe. So it's almost like, hey, you
know what, this thing that happened, it doesn't really matter
at all.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
I mean, you know, this was like at this time
Sony and Marvel were kind of feeling out where they
wanted their relationship to go, because I think it was
about the time that they were renewing their agreements and
stuff that could be misremembering, so that it is interesting,
you know. I think so Venom is not a perfect

(41:32):
movie by any means, but it is fun. It's fun,
and I think the reason for that, the reason why
it succeeds over Morbius or Madam Webb, is because Eddie
Brock is kind of a comedic schlub kind of a character,
and when you focus on that odd couple relationship between

(41:55):
him and Venom, like the action, the actual storyline doesn't matter,
but that relationship of them trying to learn how to
co habitate. Yeah, coexist is very funny and it's done
very well. I say this, I haven't watched a second movie.
I had to make sure that I hadn't because I
thought the second movie was let there be Carnage.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
But I was like, was that the third movie?

Speaker 1 (42:17):
So, like I said, not perfect, but it is enjoyable.
I look forward to this third one because in the
trailer they show more moments of that Eddie and Venom
trying to work together in a very messy way, and
I like it a lot.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
Well, I'm glad that fans like you have an opportunity
to see the story come to full conclusion, while fans
like me don't care.

Speaker 1 (42:46):
You're not anti fans. I just don't understand why they
can make a movie like Venom, the first one at
least that is actually enjoyable, but then the next movies
in their superhero sony verse are so unenjoyable, Like how
do you how? How do you miss the mark that bad?

Speaker 2 (43:08):
Yeah? I have theories, but we don't have time for
me to dive into dive into that. Essentially, it comes
down to studios wanting to cash in on IP and
not really caring about honoring the source material or or
making a coherent and cohesive like film universe like Marvel.

(43:33):
Marvel has its own issues, some of which are due
to the fact that they had such a desire to
create a coherent universe like. Some of the problems that
exist in Marvel are because of those choices. But uh,
but you can certainly see where those efforts were made,
and is that the right way to go about it.

(43:55):
I don't know. I mean, goodness knows. Marvel alienated multiple
directors who originally were attached to do a film but
then later on dropped. Edgar Wright was supposed to do
ant Man and he stopped, he quit, And it.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Still feels like there are some Edgar Wright touches in there.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah. Yeah, but it's definitely one of those things where
you feel like there's trade offs in whatever approach. But
I feel like in the Spider Man splinter universe of Marvel,
which oddly enough doesn't really have Spider Man in it,
I feel like it just the cynical parts of filmmaking

(44:38):
and cash again on IP seem more evident than they
do on the MCU version.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Okay, during this conversation, I just have to say, you've
said two things that have made me go, why isn't
this one of our mashups? And I don't know if
either would actually be doable or if either has actually
been done in the comics. But you are like Marvel
alien And then you said Nate, but I thought you
were talking about Marvel Aliens, and I was like, well,
is that after Zombies?

Speaker 2 (45:09):
We're like a predator has crossed over into the DC universe.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
So yeah, and then you just said spider Man Splinter,
and I'm like, what if Spider Man were raised by Splinter?

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Well, I feel like Splinter would also have the message
of with great power, it comes great responsibility.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
I agree, I agree. I think this is just my
brain spoiler for everybody. This is my brain making up
for the fact that we were going to do a
mashup this week and then I ran out of time.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
So I mean, I probably wouldn't have had time either
in retrospect, but at the time I didn't know. Well.
Next up, we have a trailer for a film called
One Law wn d LA All One Word. It's an
app actually not film, but a series on Apple TV Plus.
It's based off of a series of novels for young

(45:59):
adults it has some kind of like I would say,
like some Wally Slash, some Fallout vibes. Yeah, like, yeah,
your your protagonist is a young young girl who was
raised in an underground bunker who then ends up going
to the surface world and is experiencing everything on the

(46:23):
surface for the first time. So it's all about discovery
and of course, uh, the surface world is not what
she expected, and she's looking for people, and there's lots
of intelligent creatures wandering around but not not not what
you would call people out there not.

Speaker 1 (46:44):
Yeah, honestly, it really caught my attention, so I'm not
I wasn't familiar with the Wondola novel series prior to this,
but it really so like my favorite childhood stories are
like The never Ending Story and The Phantom Told Booth
and Dinotopia and stuff like that, so this really scratches

(47:07):
that itch. And like Alis in Wonderland Wizard of Oz,
I loved those. Weird, but I loved them. So I'm like,
I might actually go back and read the young adult
novel series.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
I imagine they have to be pretty quick reads. So yeah,
it looks great. I mean it's an animated series. It
looks really creative. Like I said, it's on Apple TV Plus.
It's it comes out starting on June twenty eighth. So
if if you have Apple TV Plus and you know
you love you love sci fi, especially sci fi from

(47:39):
adapted from young adult series, I say check it out
because it looks interesting to me.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Yeah, yeah, me too, and like the animation is delightful.
It just yeah, it just looks like if Fallout were optimistic.

Speaker 2 (47:53):
Yeah yeah, if Fallout just embraced the quirky stuff and
got rid of all the really grim, bloody stuff.

Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah yeah, at least I hope that's how this story goes.
If they put in some bloody grim stuff.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, if her if her travel companion ends up demanding
that he be decapitated, we know things have taken a
seriously wrong turn for sure.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
Man, I'm still telling you watching through uh fallow a
second time is much funnier because of you catch the
things they set up that you didn't catch the first time,
because we haven't watched it. R right, delightful, delightful. Another
thing that's delightful, at least I know it's delightful is
Umbrella Academy, and we're getting its final season August eighth,

(48:44):
and they dropped a trailer for it.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Yeah. I have not watched Umbrella Academy. It's another one
of my blind spots. I've got so many of those.
The more we do this show, the more I realize
what a terrible geek I am.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
But no, no, no, no, you but you cover, you cover,
like you watch things that I don't watch.

Speaker 2 (49:02):
So, yeah, I have to watch all the all the
horror movies you have to you have. I don't mean
I don't mean for the show. I mean like my
brain requires me too, Like I feel compelled to watch
horror movies. That's pretty much my go to these days,
is when I'm like, oh, let's watch something, let's see
let me look at let me look at what's on shutter.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
I wish he lived closer because I'd be like, Hey,
I'm bored this afternoon and Tony's playing Gloomhaven. Do you
want to watch a TV series with me?

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (49:29):
They're getting short enough. We could watch one in and ast.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
What I need to do is go and see Furiosa
this weekend before it leaves theaters.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
So the Umbrella Academy fourth final season trailer I thought
looked good. It made me feel like, so, I, having
not watched the series, I didn't really understand everything that
was going on, but it felt to me like there
was almost like a multiverse kind of or parallel universe
kind of thing going on. Is that am I totally

(49:59):
off track?

Speaker 1 (50:01):
No? Yes, no, yes, that is a little confusing because
the first season six the youngest of them, I think
it's six. Anyhow, he he gets sucked into the future
and where he gets where he gets it's it's like
post apocalyptic future, and he gets basically conscripted by an

(50:26):
organization to go back and make sure that the future
doesn't end in a catastrophic way.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
So sort of like Days of Future Past kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Kind kind of yeah, but you know, you do you
can create alternate realities by doing that, right, because when
you mess with the past, you mess with the future.
So yeah, so there definitely have been alternate realities that
they have had to go through because this organization is
messing with the timeline.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
Okay, so it is.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
It is really interesting and it's very quirky. It's a
little dark, but I would say, like not near as
dark as like dead Boy Detectors or something like that.
There are some dark moments, but very lighthearted in comparison
to a lot of stuff we're getting nowadays. It's fun,
it's interesting. I have a couple of friends who are
like I didn't finish watching the series, and I don't
know why, And I also don't know why because I

(51:20):
quite enjoyed it. But I also it is so many
weird things happen that I actually had and each season
is so jam packed. I think in a good way
that I want to go back and rewatch it all
before I watched season four, just so I can remind
myself the timeline of what has happened in.

Speaker 2 (51:38):
The Is this the series that has Elliott Page in it?

Speaker 1 (51:41):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (51:42):
Wow? Okay, so and when Elliott Page started that it
was before their transition, as I recalled, interesting, and I
had heard that this was a series that handled that
really delicately so that it would work its way within
to the show as well.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
I think. So I think they handled it well. I think,
and I completely understand this because I'm I completely understand
why they did this, and I don't even think it's wrong.
I think that they focused on it a little longer
than maybe they needed to from it, but that's me
coming from a place where I'm not going through that journey,

(52:19):
and I'm like, okay, cool, I accept it.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Sure, yeah, let's move on. Can't be certain that the
entire audience will be as compassionate as Aerial is.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Yeah, so so like it. It's again, it's I thought
they handled it well. I think they could have maybe
handled it a little bit quicker. But that's I that
is such a minor critique and my own personal opinion
that it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Well, I'm just glad that they were able to handle
it in a compassionate and responsible way, because, like considering that,
you know, the world itself is divided on that whole
concept in the first place, Like you could easily imagine
a studio that didn't want to have to deal with

(53:06):
that just recasting a role or writing a character off
the show entirely. And I'm glad that that was not
how it turned out.

Speaker 1 (53:15):
Me too, Me too. I Yeah, I love that having
you know, family members and friends who have taken that
journey or are on that journey, I really appreciated a
great deal. I also will say that several of the
seasons had dance numbers, which may not be everybody's cup

(53:36):
of tea.

Speaker 2 (53:37):
Oh you've sold me.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
Now I go back. And I still watch these dance
numbers anytime I need a smile because they're just so
much fun. Like Season one opens up, it's it kind
of was really big after it happened. It opens up
with all of these people once they all get back
in their home mansion. One of them turns on a
song and they can all hear it, and they all

(53:58):
dance in their own rooms, so they aren't danceing together,
but they're all dancing together, right, and it's so cute.
And it was kind of one of the first things
they if I remember correctly, one of the first things
they did to kind of be able to get into
their characters and solidify their characters was have fun dance
is your character, which and that's.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
That's great as an actor too, Like Ariel and I
can attest like whenever you're given a an assignment to
that's not directly related to whatever performance you're doing, but
it's just based upon your interpretation of the character you're playing.
Show me how your character celebrates, show me how your

(54:39):
character dances, or whatever. And the other nice thing about
that is, as a very awkward person, if you ask
me to do something as a character. I have enough
dissociation where I'm not overthinking it when I'm doing it.

Speaker 1 (54:57):
Yeah. Yeah, it's wonderful. I think it's a wonderful exercise.
I love that they left it in the movie or
in the TV show. And it's also it was placed
really well within a story because it had just happened
where you've got all these siblings who were put into
this situation kind of against their will, had a bunch
of bad stuff happen, there was a lot of tension,

(55:18):
and then they just all go into their rooms, they
have their quiet space, and it's just this moment of joy,
and it was so beautifully like I'm getting a little
tary thing, so beautifully placed. There's so much that this
show does well. They do a lot of fun stuff
in the first season with music. Later in a later season,
I don't remember if it's two or three, there's a
footloose showdown, which is amazing and hilarious. I just really

(55:40):
enjoy it, even the moments that like kind of fail
to me, fail up. I highly recommend it. I might
put it on par with A New Girl for you, Okay,
maybe higher you should watch. You should watch Umbrella Academy
before New Girl. It's also a shorter show.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
It's only four seasons, right, right, and and not I'm
guessing they aren't seasons where it's like twenty two episodes
a season.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
No, No, I think there's I'm pretty sure they're short.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
Okay, Well then yeah, that's a good starting point. Well.
Next up, we got a sort of a trailer slash
teaser trailer for Mowana Too, which comes out this November.
And I don't know that. I mean, clearly it's Mowana
exploring more. I think the concept is she encounters other

(56:37):
Polynesian folks who have also sailed across the ocean, which
is that's interesting, the idea of discovering new people, not
just her own that she has come from. I like that.
I but the trailer doesn't give us a whole lot
to work with, right, It's it's kind of just giving

(56:58):
you sort of a vibe.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Yeah, I I it was just more ma Wana. I
don't like the giant scallop that she sails into. That
was upsetting.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
I mean, part of me is like, if there's no tomatoa,
I'm not interested. But part of me is like, uh,
but tomtoa had kind of like the perfect little moment
in the first film, and there's no need to bring
that character back. And if you did bring the character back,
it would probably feel like, oh, we had to do

(57:32):
this because enough people liked the whole tomatoa part of
the first Mahana film. I will say, like watching this
like no shade. I love Mowana the first film. I
love that movie a lot, but I couldn't shake the
feeling of if this had been done in an earlier

(57:54):
Disney era, this would totally be one of those directive
video sequels.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Yeah, I fully agree. I feel fully agree, and I
might just be the first trailer. They might have some
more juicy stuff that'll pull us in later, but I
kind of feel like, put that in your first trailer
and then if you don't have enough for a second trailer,
don't do a second trailer.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Yeah, I still feel like I still feel like Frozen
two had direct to video sequel vibes too.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Yeah they didn't watch that one, but yeah I watched it.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
I didn't care for it, and I didn't think the
music was nearly as catchy as what was in the
first film. But that being said, my nieces loved the
second film. So this could also be one of those
things where I just have to come to the comfort
of saying this was meant for someone else, and it's

(58:43):
okay if I don't like it, and it's really okay
if someone else loves it.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
That is correct. Speaking of things that some people love
and some people hate. We got a new Aliens Romulus trailer.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
Yeah, take a guess which one of us loved it
and which one of us hated it.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
I loved it and you hit it.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
No, you stopped watching it, so you can't.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
I have finished it.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Oh did you?

Speaker 1 (59:08):
I finished the trailer. I thought the end of the
trailer was super strong. There was a moment in the
middle where I was like, nope, I'm done, and then
I powered through.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
It's a bit where where a face hugger shoves its
ovipositor down literally into and down someone's throat in order
to inject eggs into them.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
It's not even that it shoved it into their face
and down their throat. It's that it was trying and
multiple attempts failing. That really just hit a squeaky spot
for me, which you know is not shouldn't be unexpected
with the whole like Origin of the Alien Universe. Anyhow,

(59:49):
it's a very like sexy Origin Universe. It just hit
a squeaky spot.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Well, and normally we wouldn't see that process, right, you
would just like the face hugger latch onto someone's head
and that enough is horrifying, Like you don't need any
more than that for it to be horrifying, but they delivered. Yeah,
this one has a lot more body horror vibes in it.
I was telling Ariel, I said, I feel like there's
like a strong Cronenberg influence in this, Like Ridley Scott's

(01:00:20):
first Alien film was a horror movie more than a
science fiction film. And then I would say the second film,
Aliens was James Cameron that was more of an action film.
And then the third film, which nobody liked, I felt
was like more of a hard sci fi kind of
maybe not hard sci fi, but the kind of sci

(01:00:40):
fi film where it's a science fiction movie that's trying
to explore certain themes, but they're doing it through the
lens of science fiction. Yeah, this feels like it's getting
right back to those horror roots, like this, this is
a horror movie.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Well, even after I guess the third one was Alien Resurrection,
and then there were also the Alien Predator crossovers. We
then also got Prometheus, which was a prequel, and Covenant.
Why do I know this much about the Alien? But
both Prometheus and Covenant were more less focused on story

(01:01:16):
and more focused on just shock and gore. Well, so
I watched Prometheus, but I couldn't get through the first
twenty minutes of Covenant.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
Just as a light correction, tiny tiny correction. Alien three
and Alien Resurrection are two different movies. Alien Resurrection is
the fourth film, gotcha. So Alien three was set on
essentially a prison planet, like Australia. The planet. It's like

(01:01:47):
a prison colony type thing. And then of course Alien
gets loose and Hijackson sue Hijackson hijinks. Yeah, I said
Hijackson instead of hijinks, And I'm like, you know what,
I'm just gonna embrace that, embrace the embrace the mistake.
But yeah, so, and you know what, I don't think

(01:02:07):
I've ever watched Alien Resurrection. I've seen the first three,
and I didn't watch Prometheus or Covenant, so there's there
are big gaps for me. But then I really like
the first two films a lot for very different reasons.
This one. I mean, it does look like it's scary,

(01:02:28):
it looks like an effective horror film. Body horror is
not my favorite subgenre of horror, So I don't know
if this is one I will ultimately go see or not,
but I respect the craft.

Speaker 1 (01:02:47):
So did you like the New Evil Dead movie that
came out?

Speaker 2 (01:02:52):
I did not. I did not like The Evil Dead.
I didn't finish it. I started it started on streaming
as one of those that was on like Shutter or whatever,
and I think I only got maybe halfway through when
I was like, this isn't for me, and and and

(01:03:14):
no doubt I wasn't. Part of it was that it's
all about child endangerment and that bothers me. Yeah, So
I didn't stick with it.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
Partly for that reason, Okay, I was just curious because
Petty Alvarez, who did the New the two thousand, New
twenty thirteen Evil Dead and then Don't Breathe is in.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Yeah, he's irresponsible for Romulus. Yeah. I will say, like
the whole cinematography and vibe of Evil Dead, like it
was really effective, Like it's it's definitely a strong contender
in the horror genre. It doesn't come across as sanitized

(01:03:58):
or boring the way a lot of like, I love
some stuff that comes out of Blumhouse, but a lot
of stuff that comes out of Blumhouse is just bland.
And yeah, it's not very effective horror. You can't say
that about The Evil Dead. It's very effective. It just
wasn't my jams. So that's why I didn't stick with it.
So I don't know if this is going to be

(01:04:20):
something I'm going to want to watch or not. But
I thought it looked really effective.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
So, speaking of things that are not your jam, what
do you think about the trailer for the New Dimension
twenty season Never Stop Blowing Up?

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Yeah, so this is a trailer for a new Real
Play series RPG series in which it looks to me
like all the players are taking on roles that are
inspired by the over the top action tropes of the
eighties and nineties, and Brendan Lee Mulligan is the game master.

(01:05:04):
The thing that impressed me most, and Ariel you already
know this because I sent you a message about it,
is that as the series goes on, Brendan Lee Mulligan
ends up going through progressively more dramatic makeup to make
it appear as though he has been really put through
the ringer. Like if you thought John McClain was in

(01:05:24):
rough shape at the end of Diehard, you ain't seen
nothing yet.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. They did that with Dungeons
and Drag Queens too, where they progressively made bleams be
Lee Mulligan because you can't you can't do just his
initials blm. Yeah, so bleam, which I started doing and

(01:05:50):
then found out that other people like that was the
accepted way to do it, So yay intuition. But they
also did it for Dungeons and Drag Queens or his
make got progressively more like more, yes and every time.
But yeah, it looks great. I love it. He's kind
of like if Mayhem from the I guess Progressive Commercials

(01:06:16):
or whatever insurances from or a DM. I love it
so much.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Yeah, definitely, Like I would say, it definitely gives me
more nineties action movie vibes than eighties because the stuff
I associate with eighties isn't quite that same level of excess.
I feel like that really took off in the nineties,
even though like the vibe they're giving off is that
it's an eighties thing, and I'm thinking, I live through

(01:06:44):
the eighties. You young, young young people, y'all who are
born maybe at the end of the eighties or possibly
in the midlies.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Some of them were definitely born in the end of
the eighties, but yeah, no them were born in.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
The Having lived through the whole decade, I can tell
you that you are really mulating more of a nineties
vibe than an eighties vibe. But apart from that, I
respect it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
But you've got like the John McClain character, You've got,
like the Kingpin character You've got.

Speaker 2 (01:07:09):
Oh yeah. The names are great too, like the names
of the character, because it's they're very thinly veiled pastiches
or parodies of actors or characters, and that's a lot
of fun. Like there's a there's a Vin Diesel. It's
like vic ethanol, I think, is what the character's name is.

Speaker 1 (01:07:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's just it's a really good
table of players. I think they're all great comedians who
will really vibe off of each other.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
I know that actual plays are difficult for a lot
of people to get into because they're long. I will
say dimension twenty one, since this is a side Quest season.
They'll probably have a fewer episodes. I don't know that
for certain, but they tend to have less episodes than
like Fantasy High Junior Year, which I think has teens
or twenties, And they're shorter than like Critical Roles, so

(01:08:02):
they're not like four hours or maybe like an hour
and a half to two hours each, so still a
bit of a time commitment. Yeah, a lot of fun.
This is a great one that you don't have to
know anything or anyone, you can just jump into it seems.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
Like, Yeah, it feels to me like this couldn't be
more than six or eight episodes simply because of the
progression of makeup that Brennan Lee Mulligan goes through. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Yeah, but I love it. They put a lot of
effort into like their battle maps and their backgrounds and
things like that too. I highly recommend watching Di Menson
twenty reach Out on Discord if you don't know which
ones you want to start with, because I have opinions
mine different from everybody else's, but I'm happy to get home.

Speaker 2 (01:08:41):
Yeah. Next up, we have a trailer for a film
called The Killer's Game, which comes out in September thirteenth,
it's partly produced by people who are involved in the
John Wicks series, and I say it shows I also
so think this is like what if Joe versus the

(01:09:03):
Volcano but with assassins?

Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
I mean also true? Yes, Also, what if you pulled
Drax and Mantis into the real world it made them
humans not aliens?

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
Yeah, yeah, that's also true. So the general plot is
that you have Batista who's playing a hit man, and
he falls in love and also gets this terrible diagnosis
that he's got an inoperable fatal tumor and that he's

(01:09:42):
going to die within three months. And so for whatever reason,
I'm guessing it's something like there'll be a massive payout
that he can then give to his loved one that
if he is assassinated, then he's going to be able
to get this this thing, and whereas if he just dies,

(01:10:03):
he doesn't get that. So he decides to take a
hit out on his own life, and then you get
the classic call from the doctor of we accidentally swapped
your scan with someone else's. Turns out you're not gonna
die at all, and that he has to deal with
the fact that he's put this massive contract on his
own life and hilarity ensues, which is why I said

(01:10:25):
it's like Joe Versus the Volcano, because if you've ever
seen that movie, it's a wonderful movie. I need to
watch it again. It's been so long since i've seen it.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
I own it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
I love that film. It's not great, y'all. It's not
a great man, but it's great. It's great, but it's
not great. Meg Ryan plays three different characters in one movie,
sometimes for just a single scene, but she's in it
three different times. It's three different characters. They have a

(01:10:56):
weird Polynesian slash Jewish trybe occupies this island in the
middle of nowhere. It's a movie that almost works and
doesn't quite, but it's very joyful. But in Joe Versus
the Volcano, the main character, Joe is told he has

(01:11:17):
an inoperable brain cloud, and that's what leads him to
agree to sacrifice himself to this supposed volcano god for
this giant company. And then later it turns out the
brain cloud thing was a lie. He doesn't have a

(01:11:38):
fatal disease. This was all orchestrated by the company to
get a patsy to jump into the volcano, and so
as I was watching this trailer, I'm like, oh my gosh,
it's Joe versus the Volcano, but with hitmen. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Yeah, I will say, like, I liked John Wick and
I'm glad to see them do another story that is
not john Wick.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
Hopefu. Yeah, as far as we can tell, this is
not actually set in the John Wick universe. It's just
that in this universe, it's also true that practically everybody's
an assassin.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
Yeah. I am a little surprised though, so maybe this
is just me taking the wrong take on it. I
thought that Dave Bautista was leaving Guardians of the Galaxy
to pursue more serious roles, and this doesn't feel like
that to me.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
I think it was more like leaving Guardians of the
Galaxy in order to do other produc anything else. Yeah,
well not just anything else. I mean like he did
he did Glass Onion, and you know, he was in
a James He was in James Bond Specter, so he's
been in a few other things, although it's still like

(01:12:46):
Glass Onions different, but everything else typically is falling into
that action category. This definitely feels like it's it's an
action film with a dark sense. Of humor to it, right,
Like it doesn't feel super serious. I would argue John
Wick has a even though it's absolutely ludicrous. John Wick's

(01:13:08):
a ludicrous series, but it's not treated that way in
the film, right, It's not. There's no like wink, weak nudge, nudge,
Look how silly this is. I would say that this,
based on the trailer alone, feels a little bit more
like it's in on the joke than the John Wicks
series is.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
I would agree. I would definitely agree. Another action movie
with a dark comedy twist is Inside Out too, and we.

Speaker 2 (01:13:35):
Got a new trailer for that, the final one before
the movie comes out, And this one, like none of
the other trailers, really made me want to see this movie,
particularly this one got closer to it. But it's because
it actually was showing more of the young woman, the

(01:13:55):
girl who's now growing into a teenager, that kind of
her life and how her emotions are impacting her life.
And while I know that's not going to be like
front and center for the film, that gave me more
of a connection point than just focusing on the emotions.
And I was like, oh, that's right. These characters aren't

(01:14:18):
just existing in a vacuum right, like they're inhabiting a
human being and being able to see how that impacts
the human being. That's what made me connect to it more,
and I was like, oh, maybe I will see this.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
I like seeing how it impacts the They did this
in their Fish movie too, how it impacts the parents'
emotions as well. I hope that they expand upon that
to seeing other people's emotions and then maybe in like
if you could have like some emotional intelligence happening where
there's interplay between multiple characters emotions interacting with each other directly.

(01:14:53):
I realized that that kind of breaks the.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Theme of the movie.

Speaker 1 (01:14:55):
Though this trailer, I feel met about it. I've felt
met about all of it. I do like that gosh
Ayodabari is the voice of Anxiety. I love her in
the Bear and I watching her do her voiceover for

(01:15:16):
the character of Anxiety has been inspiring. It's just delightful
to watch her process. So that's a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
Yeah, so not exactly a full recommendation from the show,
kind of like a half hearted I might be interested
from me and Ariel is met so which honestly I don't.
I don't begrudge you You're met, because it does feel
like another wholly unneeded sequel, right, Like the first film

(01:15:49):
pretty much told the whole story you needed to tell,
and I, for one, at the end of Inside Out
didn't feel like, Man, I sure hope that they come
back to this because I really want to see what
happens next. I felt like it was a pretty good conclusion. Yeah,

(01:16:10):
so I'm not mad about a sequel, but it's not
like that it's really captured my imagination. It's it's kind
of a shame because I missed the era where Pixar
was making all sorts of different things and there was
so much heart to all of them and each one
felt unique to itself. Yeah, and it's been a while since.

(01:16:34):
Like even with Elemental, like you and I said, it
was feeling like a mix between Inside Out and Zotopia,
it didn't feel like it was really unique, even though
it arguably was very different from that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
Yeah, just poor marketing. Marketing has been really difficult. I'm
not going to go on that rant again. Yeah, I
think it's interesting because I like inside Out. I enjoyed it.
I actually felt very little connection with Riley or her
parents or anybody. It was mainly with the emotions. So

(01:17:08):
if they had started this second movie with a completely
different person and a completely different journey, I would have
been justicifyed with that. So see, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:17:17):
I think they should have started this trailer with all
the emotions gathered around the grave of Bing Bong and
just crying slowly while the music played, and I would
and I would have been like, I feel nothing, So it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
Would have been like an up sort of a beginning
for everybody, but you.

Speaker 2 (01:17:35):
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say up definitely had an
impact on me. Bing Bong's death continues to have no
impact on me whatsoever.

Speaker 1 (01:17:44):
I'm glad that that cartoon character, imaginary friend cartoon character's
death does not affect your day tod age.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
I just find it so perplexing for people who are like,
They're like, it was so sad. I'm like, I literally
cannot understand you.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
I thought it was sad enough. It was fun.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:18:07):
Those people probably will also really like the movie if
which is all about or Dexter's Home for Imaginary Friends
or whatever not. I honestly find like, I don't know,
I have more connection to like watching Jenny's I don't
remember her last name, but Jenny's review of the Star Cruisers.

Speaker 2 (01:18:26):
Oh, Jenny Nicholson.

Speaker 1 (01:18:28):
Jenny Nicholson, and she had that little alien pet with
her who was the alien who met a terrible demise
in both the Alien Eggs Alien Encounter Alien Encounter Ride,
which I friagin loved and also the Leelo's or the
Stitches Great Adventures is Greatest did just Great Escape, which

(01:18:49):
I also enjoyed, not as much as Alien Encounter, but
I understand why they got rid of both.

Speaker 2 (01:18:53):
Both of those were experiences at scary the Magic Kingdom
in Disney World once upon a Time.

Speaker 1 (01:18:59):
Yeah, and both were a little scary, which is maybe
why they didn't belong in the Magic Kingdom. They would
have done better in.

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
Like Hollywood Study Woods Studios.

Speaker 1 (01:19:08):
But that little alien I have more connection with than
Bing Bong, So I'm not going to judge you too much.

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
By the way that Jenny Nicholson video talk about it
blowing up right, Like I was surprised when I did
the mention of that. I just did it because I thought, like, oh,
this is something that other people should watch. And it
turns out I didn't need to say anything at all,
because that that video got such traction, such a widespread traction.

Speaker 1 (01:19:36):
It's because nobody could experience the Star Cruiser, so you
had to go off of other people's right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
And she's so good at being thorough with her presentation
and to lay out her points methodically and support them
with the things that actually happened. And she's also I think,
extremely fair, right, Like, it's not it doesn't come acro
to me as a hit piece as much as it

(01:20:03):
is a I had, like the most unfortunate series of
things happened that impacted my enjoyment. And like you're talking
to someone who really wanted to enjoy the experience. Like,
it's not like she was going into it determined to
hate it.

Speaker 1 (01:20:21):
Yeah, and she is very clear to be like and
this one is just me being salty in my own opinion.
So this isn't take take this one with a grain
of salt. But I'm putting in there because it's my
opinion and my experience, you know, and I know that
her experience is not everybody's. Like I said, I have
a couple very dear friends who ran a LARP, who
ran a lot of entertainment stuff, who absolutely loved it.
And we're planning on bringing their kids there and like

(01:20:43):
had an amazing time. So I do think that it
was a little mix of like, some things Disney could
have done better, and then also her just having.

Speaker 2 (01:20:51):
The worst, like the worst luck. Yeah, so yeah, I
feel awful about that. I would have much preferred that
she had had a phenomenal experience but still recognized where
the shortcomings were, because then at least I wouldn't feel like,
oh man, she spent six grand on this, Although knowing

(01:21:14):
that her video, which is four hours long, four hours
and some change, has had more than six million views
makes me feel a little better because I'm pretty sure
she's recapturing the money she spent on that vacation.

Speaker 1 (01:21:29):
Yeah, I hope so. And that was not even in
our show notes. That was a little bonus for y'all.
But we have reached the end of our episode not
as bad as we sometimes do.

Speaker 2 (01:21:42):
Well, Nope, I take it an hour and twenty two minutes.
Like look, now an hour and a half is now
the new standard length for an LLENC episode.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
We started it forty minutes an episode. I just want
to say, and like when we first did ELLENC, when
we first from video format to podcast format, and this
is my last thing I promoted, and it we're running late.
Like we started with reasonable episodes and eventually we got
up to very very long episodes and we're doing it again.
So I realized that that can be hard to like

(01:22:13):
listen to, and you sometimes have to come back to it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:15):
We will try to keep I'm not saying that at all,
not even a little okay, because I will try to
keep it. I love very long podcasts, and sure I
might listen to them in two or three settings, whatever
it may be. But when it's something that I enjoy,

(01:22:35):
I never think, Man, I wish there were less of this.

Speaker 1 (01:22:40):
Okay, fair enough, fair enough, So we'll get to critical
roll length episodes.

Speaker 2 (01:22:45):
This is like the only time we get to talk
to each other, so we need.

Speaker 1 (01:22:50):
To work on that, we do. We really need to
work on that. Okay, Well.

Speaker 2 (01:22:57):
On that now.

Speaker 1 (01:22:58):
I'm going to end the episode. Thank you all so
much for listening. Thank you all for talking with us
and emailing us and acting out on discord or not
acting out on discord, communicating on discord. We love that
you're part of a Yihee family, Jonathan. If people want
to reach us, how do they do it?

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
Well, what you're going to have to do is you're
going to have to create a video essay that's been
divided into no fewer than eleven chapters, with each chapter
averaging around twenty five minutes and length. I'm going to
need you to go point by point through this video
essay to express your opinions and thoughts and analysis on

(01:23:41):
something that is intrinsic to geek culture. I want you
to make it sort of fun and humorous without the
entire thing coming across as a joke. I need you
to do this so that you can really thoroughly get
this idea off your chest and then have it discovered

(01:24:01):
by the geek world around you, where then you're going
to say an endless supply of reaction videos, some of
which are going to, let's be honest, ridicule your point
of view. But don't let those haters get to you,
because others are going to talk about Wow. This is
also how I feel. It's so nice to hear someone
else express these thoughts in ways that I was unable.

(01:24:25):
I completely agree with this perspective. That's going to be
very rewarding to you on a personal level. On a
financial level, that's going to depend upon YouTube and its
algorithm and how well it actually promotes your whole video essay.
But the important thing is, seven months after you've uploaded it,

(01:24:46):
I'm going to see it, and by the end of it,
I think ah. This three hour long video essay, divided
into eleven chapters is secretly a message to me asking
a relatively simple ques question about the show. I'll even
the answer in the comments interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:25:04):
And if you have no video editing skills nor time
to learn them, you can reach out to us on
social media on Facebook, we and Instagram and threads. We
are a large large nurdur and collider on Twitter slash x.
We are LLNC Underscore Podcast. Eventually I'll stop saying Twitter
slash x on discord where a large nur Dron collider.
You can find that invitation on our website www dot

(01:25:26):
Large nurdron Collider dot com. I know it's not up
to date, but those invitations still work. If you want
to send us a long form email, you can do
so at Large Nerdron Pod at gmail dot com. Just
like our friend and listener who recently emailed us about
the Texas Renaissance Festival, and I'm gonna have to I
haven't had a chance to look into what you sent,

(01:25:46):
but I'm definitely going to because I'm super interested. So
thank you, and that's it. I'm going to bread and
until next time, I have been I am Ariel insert
something snarky here.

Speaker 2 (01:25:59):
Kata, and I am Jonathan. You should also check out
Folding Ideas. It's a great YouTube channel. Strickland Who The
Large Nerdron Collider was created by Ariel Caston and produced, edited, published, deleted, undeleted,
published again. Curse That by Jonathan Strickland. Music by Kevin

(01:26:25):
McLeod of incomptech dot com