July 10, 2024 • 39 mins
Dallas and Lee review 'Maxxxine'. Following Pearl and X, set in 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.
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(00:03):
Welcome to the nerd Party. Sayit with me. I will not accept
a life I do not deserve.I will not accept a life I do
not deserve. I will not accepta podcast I don't deserve. Hello,
(00:25):
Welcome to the A twenty four Project. Here're on the nerd Party network,
the only podcast to take you throughthe entire back cat log of A twenty
four, review the latest releases andbring you interviews with the people in front
of and behind the camera of thesefilms and TV shows. And it goes
Dallas King and with me as alwaysis the Maxine Minx to my pearl.
It's Lee Hutchison. How are you, Yeah, I'm really good. It's
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good to be backed again. Ithink it's been a few months since we've
been able to kind of review anyfilms together. You've you've been kind of
almost living in a twenty four life, like saving a cinema and and obviously
you've got a bit of a campaigngoing on at the moment to do that.
I think it would be advantageous totell people a little bit about that
and where maybe people could get involved, because you're doing incredible work and actually
(01:11):
supporting independent cinema and not just talkingabout it, but actually putting up it's
very very kind of good to say. So, I mean the plot is
potentially more of like a Sunday AfternoonBBC underdog story At the moment, I
would need some weird sort of satanictwist or something to come along in the
third actor to push it into Etwenty four and to give it those eight
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twenty four vibes I think. Butyes, no, the Belmont Cinema up
in Aberdeen where I live closed acouple of years ago, often a venue
to go and see the latest eighttwenty four releases, sometimes the only place
in Aberdeen that would show them.So it closed when the film house in
Edinburgh closed as well a couple ofyears ago, and so I've been part
of a group trying to bring itback to life and we've recently sort of
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been working towards launching and floor designsand architects, visualizations and the fundraising.
So that has consumed my life forwell the last twenty one months, but
specifically the last sort of three orfour months specifically, so, but that's
all live now. So you cango to Bilmont Cinematic Code UK find out
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how to support and you can donateto the crowd Foundry if you so wish,
in order to bring eight twenty fourfilms back to the big screen in
Aberdeen. But of course, ontoday's show we're going to be reviewing the
final installment of Tye West's eight twentyfour trilogy, which started all the way
back actually not that long ago,Wait two with X followed by peerl.
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That's right, she's, in herown words, an f star star in
movie Star. It's Maxine Miagauthur turnsonce again. Is Maxine Minx, who
were introduced to into Edone's X andin nineteen eighties Hollywood adult film star and
inspiring actress is about to find outthat she's about to get a big break.
However, a mysterious killer is stalkingthe starlets of Los Angeles, and
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the Trail of Blood threatens to revealher sinister past. It's and And directed
by Tawist, and it stars meA Goth, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Tabiki,
Bobby Canna, Valley Monein Jin Carletis Busy to and Lily Collins.
Quite the cast list, so Lee, I mean, this is the I
think it's probably safe to see theend of the trilogy. For Maxine.
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I mean, what were your thoughtsof the trilogy so far with X and
Pearl and what we were sort ofexpectations sort of going into this final installment.
I've been always been a bit hirmiss with it, Like I know,
like I've always found it slightly onthe almost religious fever there is for
the character of Maxine and Pearl,and yeah, it's crazy thing. There's
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people out there that have got tattooesof them, Like it's one of these
moments become this Like I just don'tthink X is that particularly a great film,
Like it feels like a film I'veseen many a time and so on.
But for some people it's just oneof their favorite A twenty four films,
which I just I can't really process. And you know, I've seen
it a couple of times, andit's just I didn't think it was particularly
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great. I mean, the twotimes I've watched it, I felt like
I could barely make out anything thatwas happening. It was just so dark
as well. But Pearl, onthe other hand, you know, I
think it's slightly weak first half,but I really enjoy the second half when
it just lets rep and so onand I find it to be a very
interesting film in that respect, Soyou know, I think there's some good
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and I think there's some bad inthe series. So I was kind of
a bit optimistic, I guess forMaxine, and I thought the trailer was
particularly interesting. I think Mia Gothis an interesting actress. You know,
we have another podcast which we've reallynot been able to do too much with
the past few years, but youknow, she's been an actress we've been
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following kind of since really the beginningof her We've we've interviewed her a couple
of times over the years, soshe's always been someone I've found interesting to
kind of watch, and she's areally unique presence. So I was kind
of I went into Maccine quite optimistic. I was really looking forward to this
kind of period setting, kind ofslasher style movie. I think it had
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a lot of promise behind it anda really interesting cast. So yeah,
mixed previously, but I went inoptimistic. What about yourself, Well,
I always try to go in uhhoping, hoping for the best. You
know, no one ever sets itto make a bad film. I mean
with X, I think I enjoyedthat one. I think more than you,
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I thought, I really sort ofdug this sort of the grindhouse he
sort of Texas change the mass ofvibes it was going for Pearl. I
was kind of less keen on thanthan other people I think at the time,
But I mean it was a sortof standout showcase for me a goth
as an actress. I know,she's had a she's got a lot of
pre is. I think there wasslightly foolhardy talk. Actually probably it was
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just within the Twitter sphere back thenthat she was gonna she should get an
Oscar nomination for Pearl. And it'slike, look, if Tony collect can't
get one for herreditary and you know, the beating New Young can't get one
for us, then she's never goingto get one for this. But you
know, there's a lot of talkabout her, you know, straight to
camera, you know, unbroken singletape monologue which lasted around about six minutes.
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But I was like, well,that's fine. But in the same
year, Rebecca Hall did an unbrokenmonologue to camera which lasted seven and a
half minutes in The Underseen Resurrection,which I thought was better. So there
we go. But you know whatI have appreciated about this franchise so far
is how ty West has managed torecreate you know, different styles and different
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genres within it. You know,the first one was, you know,
sett in late seventies. You know, it's about group of adult film stars
who rent the worst airbnb possible.Actually, you know, saying that,
I've just thought of barbarians, somaybe the second worst Airba being possible,
renting a farmhouse to film an adultmovie. But they don't realize the owners
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of the property of you know,almost as mad as they are. And
you know, it managed to recreatethat seventies aesthetic and sort of grindhouse vib
really well. With Pearl. Thiswas a prequel technically to the character who
lived in that house, and youknow, once again sort of nailed the
sort of technicolor sort of Wizard ofOz thirties vibe where that period was set.
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And so you know, I wasreally looking forward to you know,
like you say, the trailer waspromising a sort of nice, grungy,
sort of brianded Palma gritty, sortof Hollywood sort of in the eighties sort
of thing. So I was,you know, really looking forward to it,
and you know, like you say, made the cast. You know,
the previous two films, you know, you know, they had a
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solid cast on the first one.Second one was slightly more full of unknowns,
although it did have the New Supermanin the bit of projections there.
But this is really sort of allstar casts, so you know, he's
really managed to bring his a gamefor this with of course it works out,
you know, we're going to discuss, but you know, I went
in optimistic. I think by thetime I did get to see, I
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think it had already started a screenin the US, well maybe sort of
fans screenings. I think they didthe old bait and switch, which A
twenty four have done a couple oftimes. I think I think they were
going to be screening a double billof X and Pearl and then people got
the Maxine instead, And I thinkthey did something similar, wasn't it when
they were meant to see the director'sgot of Midsommar and then they got Bose
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Afraid instead. So you know,it's not really a surprise if you pull
the same trick a couple of times, I guess. But yeah, so
no, I was looking forward toit, but I think, as we'll
probably discuss for me, it justdidn't quite work overall. It had a
huge amount of promise in the firsthalf, but then it kind of lost
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the plot in the second half forreasons which I think will probably get into.
But I mean, what did youthink of I guess the visual look
of the thing. I mean,I mean, it's he certainly managed to
nail the eighties aesthetic, and itdid feel, you know, he's managed
to do that every single time.I feel he's managed through the camera work,
production design and score and stuff likethat, he's really managed to nail
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the genre which he's going for everytime. Yeah, I thought so too.
I thought it looked, you know, it committed to the bit where
you know, I think if somethingI always go back to, was it
Death Proof for the Quentin Tarantino film, which kind of it originally just starts
off, you know, we're makingit look really authentic to the time,
and then it's basically like watching adigital film about three you know, for
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the remaining three quarters of it,it did feel like a kind of video
nasty that you probably would have watchedthe VHS of at like an all night
or something like that. So Idid find that was a real commitment to
the bit and so on, andyou know, it did look of the
time, especially when you think oflike as I mentioned, I found the
you know, the cinematography of Xreally pretty awful, whereas you kind of
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think of that kind of technicolor kindof dream of sort of Pearl where it
worked really well. I did,like they have, you know, two
really distinct and well done sort ofkind of looks to to the films and
so on, and I thought thatwas one of the few bits that I
would kind of compliment the film one. And you know, obviously we need
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to we need to talk about MiaGolf and this because you know, it's
it's it's her character, it's herI'm not gonna say franchise, but certainly
her trilogy. And you know,she's you know, she in the first
film, you know, she wasthe final girl, but you know in
the second film, actually technically inthe first fie she's playing two characters.
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She's playing Pearl and Maxine. Inthe second film she played Pearl, which
is all about her, and thenthis one is all about Maxine. And
you know, she has grown instature over the years. You know,
she's been in she sort played sortof small roles and like sort of Suspirian
stuff like that, and it's sortof slowly been working her way up to
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sort of leading sort of scream queenas it were, and sort of really
sort of carving at a niche asthe sort of dangerously psychotic mad girl with
the baby voice. I'm thinking mostspecifically of Infinity Pool. I think for
that one where she does love toscreen it she's a star, and I
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now thinking of the meme where itmakes it sound like she's actually just shouting
Emma Stone. So I mean,what have you made of her performance in
this film particular, but also howshe's sort of grown as an actress over
the over the true Yeah, Idid. I liked her in Pearl.
You know, when I think backto it to X, there's nothing that
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I haven't rewatched that one, andthey run up to it like it did
Pearl, but like there was nothingthat really stood out really for her performance
and X I thought it was verysolid. But you know, Pearl was
a real statement and I know peoplego back to that monologue and you know
she had so many great standout momentsand that she felt like such an interesting
character. But I think the problemone of the problems I really hud with
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with Maxine was how flat the performanceof Maxine was. Where she seems a
very passive character in this Like there'ssome like really kind of maybe stand out
moments towards the beginning where you know, she gets that bit where there's a
person kind of stalking her down inthe back alley, and you know,
okay, it's an interesting choice whatkind of happens after that, But you
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know, it's an interesting character.She's got some agency, whereas most of
the film it seems to be abouther seeming really you know, down about
what's going on. She's not reallyengaging with anything. You know, there's
all this you know, she's onthe cusp of being a potential Hollywood star
in terms of this kind of filmthat she's been cast for. People around
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her are dying, her past iscoming back to haunt her, you know,
really kind of you know, givesa character a bit of agency things
to bite into, whereas anytime itsort of went to her it was just
kind of like she just sort ofhad her face tripping her a little bit.
There was very little in terms ofdialogue that she had to buy into,
you know, scenes drama, andI think that kind of carried through
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the whole film, where I waslike, I want to be invested in
this kind of story, but thefact that my main character is is leaving
me kind of disconnected from it aswell. I know, I ton't get
your points here because you know,yeah, actually thinking about it, it's
like, yeah, it's not reallyuntil very late on the you know,
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she does have that agency within herown story. I mean she talks to
the police about, you know,rather than you know, saving the next
girl, maybe the girl should saveherself. And yeah, she is very
passive. She lets things happen fartoo long before she takes it. Yes,
I mean she stands up to anaggressor in a dark galley and stuff.
But yeah, there's a lot ofstuff which happens to her, which
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you know, I think actually it'sprobably more in a reflection of the trailer
that was cut and shown where it'slike, see, you know, whatever's
happening in your life, squash it, which is that I intend to.
It makes it feel like she's theone driving the story forward, whereas it
is external factors which are controlling herup until really the sort of last minute
where it all sort of comes togetherin a I'm going to say it quite
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unsatisfying climax, and yeah, shejust needed a bit more agency. I
mean, at one point, youknow, you could have thought there was
a position where, you know,maybe she could have been the killer.
That's not a spoiler because she isn't, and it's quite clear early on that
she's not. But you know,you know, if you wanted to.
I was thinking almost like a showgirl'skind of thing. You know that you
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know, she would do anything tobe a star, so you know,
with that include killing quite possibly.I thought, you know, this is
what certainly you know the maxine,which I thought it was going down that
way, But then there was othermoments where there was potential for more character
growth. Is that you know whenthe standard scenes for me is actually the
moment where she's getting one of thesort of full head casts made. But
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so her you know, her headcan be used in a variety of perific
ways in a movie, and thesort of the past trauma of what she
went through in X and stuff likethat is starting to manifest with her,
and you know, moments like thatwhich could have explored you know, her
life choices up to that point werevery briefly attuned to but then quickly discarded
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in favor of this, you know, sort of maniacs zodiac style. You
know, there's a killer on theloose, but is he related to Maxine
or is it just the standard serialkiller who has no connection to her or
whatever. But I think it's safeto say that if you have seen X,
then I know I was not surprisedin the least when the final actual
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video came. I was feeling expectingit from the moment the film started.
So I mean, I think it'ssafe to say that in order to get
the most out of this film youneed to have watched X. PEERL not
so much. I mean, thereare a couple of nice sort of callbacks,
such as like the young Maxine inthe video which starts the movie,
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is that she's doing the same dancethat Pearl does it audition and stuff like
that. But otherwise the main reasonis if you haven't seen X, and
I think you'll be slightly confused asto interesting that my partner hunts seen X
before we went along. We nevergot around to revisit it. She you
know, right later wrong with theiryou know, she was very similar to
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me in terms of not being afan of it. I don't know if
that would have necessarily been influenced byhaving seen X or improved upon. So
yeah, I think she found it. I kind of It's one of those
ones almost when you explain what theplot of X is to someone of like,
oh, they go to like ayou know, a farm, shoot
a porno, but actually it goesall wrong and the people tried to kill
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them there. It's one of thoseones. It's it's quite feels quite easy
to just go, oh, yeah, I get that that film. I
can picture what ninety minutes of thatlooks like and set them up. So
I might disagree with you there,Okay, interesting because you know I thought,
I mean, I suppose technically thethe review of The Killer is linked
to actually probably actually quite a smallmoment at the end of X which revealed
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was sort of revealed sort of Mazine'strue identity in X and her sort of
origins and stuff like that. SoI guess because I sort of remember that,
I could kind of see exactly wherethe film was going. So yeah,
I'll be curious to know that ifsomeone who hadn't seen X, if
they were confused as to the wholeend, but we'll get we'll come on
to that in the end. Soyou know, one thing which stuck out
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for me is that you know,there there, she's auditioned for this horror
movie which is called The Puritan two. You know, the film is trying
to say stuff about horror movie sequels, also saying stuff about female directors and
female led stars and in horror andstuff like that. It's kind of wants
to say stuff that doesn't really havemuch of substance to say. I would
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argue, but one of the bigsort of horror references in the film is
the fact that you know it's filmingon the Universal Lot and the the set
for Psycho two is still there.So at one point, you know they
were driving around the Beats Motel sortof golf buggies, and you know there's
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even a chase sequence ends in thehouse. And for me it was a
big risk and wanting to hear youryour take on it, but I feel
that if you are specifically referencing oneof the greatest horror films of all time,
you should try and back it upby trying to be at least as
good, if not better than saidhorror film, and yes, it was
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not I think in my opinion,no, no, again it was.
It wasn't just you know, kindof mea goth's kind of you know,
the script kind of how it servedor was, but just a lot of
it felt kind of flat and soon. You know, this is the
thing where like they're having this chasethrough sort of like a kind of the
Hollywood lot, which is kind ofinteresting. You know, You've got all
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these fake facades, et cetera thatyou're going through and then you know,
there you are one of the mosticonic horror films of all time on your
doorstep and you just sit there watchingit going I don't know, I know,
the turnaround on this film was wasquite quick. You know, I
think it was only you know,shot about just over a year ago and
it was over what seven weeks thatthey filmed it. You watch it,
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and you just go it feels like, you know what I've been watching the
past few days. You know,remember Crystal may Is where it's like people
run through all these different zones andso on, and it felt like less
interesting to watch than like a ninetiesTV game show where it's like there's just
a camera there someone runs past it. You know, you know, it
wouldn't look out a place in likea kind of cartoon. There was just
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there was not a zipper excitement aboutthe idea of like, oh, a
chase through a Hollywood law and allthe kind of the fakeness and so on,
like that's kind of interesting. Thatjust feels like, you know,
it's got an interesting endpoint visually,that is, in terms of just this
iconic thing. But there was nothingabout that chase who you're just kind of
there, just pretty pretty bored andso on. Unfortunately, Yeah, I
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mean I felt like it was awasted opportunity to you know, if you've
got the psycho who say it there, then tie it in some way,
you know, have her hiding inthe house. But then maybe try and
like recreate some of the shots ofa character walking up to the house.
I thought at one moment, youknow, when Kevin Bacon's characters walk out
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to us, they might try andrecreate some of the shots of Martin Balsom's
character who tries to come up tothe house and stuff like that, so
or tie it in in some waythematically to what's going on in her life.
But in otherwise it's just like,ooh, the Psycho House, like
a Leo memes of great I've seenthat. But you know, by referencing
that, you're almost thinking, Iwish I was watching Psycho or even Psycho
(21:37):
Too. Now Psycho Too there isactually a very underrated remake. So yeah,
I'm just putting it out there.Cycle Tours an underrated remake and not
a REMI underrated sequel and you shouldwatch it if you get the chance,
and a better sequel arguably than thisone. So but I mentioned Kevin Bacon
there, so out of the restof the cast, was there any particular
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standouts for me? I think KevinBacon was having a wheel of a time
in this one and sort of properlyleaning into the southern sleeves of his the
classic he you know that meme.You know he understood the assignment, and
like that was every time he wason the screen, I was more interested
and engaged with it. And thenit just like cut that again that kind
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of very little actual for Maxine todo and so on, and you know,
she's playing opposite this larger than lifecharacter, and I think it just
kind of highlighted sort of how littleshe had to do and just very little
for me a goth to actually kindof perform, perform with and so on.
Whereas Kevin Bacon, hud you know, you know it's not the most
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it's a role we've seen many atime, but he was able to have
some fun with it. You knowhow much actual lines did did the Maxine
even have? But you know that'sby the bye, Like I enjoyed Kevin
Bacon, But even then, likeElizabeth de Becky, you know, someone
that's become a really interesting kind ofactor in this past few years. You
know, she kind of just sortof got you know, a bit of
(23:02):
a self important kind of character.Not much to say really there. You
know, even then you had sortof like Michelle Monahan and Bobby kind of
Ville. You know, Michelle Monahan, we've seen her do some really kind
of fun stuff with the Mission Impossiblefilms for example, kind of a bit
of a boring kind of double act. I mean, Bobby Cannivill has one
or two little moments, so againoveracting you know that on purpose, which
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kind of Kevin Bacon does. Okay, that's kind of interesting to watch,
you know, And then you havelike you know, Lily Collins, like
barely in the film has a weirdYorkshire accent. Again, it was a
really bizarre kind of film and soon. Compared to say something like Pearl,
where a slightly smaller cast, buteach of them did something interesting or
kind of worked well with what theyhad. This was just a bit of
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a waste of some really interesting kindof actors, and I think it's just
fundamentally down to Tye West's script.Yeah, I felt that for me one
of the problems was yet a lotof the characters didn't have much to do.
Gian Carlos Bisito, I thought itwas in particular, it was kind
of wasted. You know, therewas a lot of potential. You know,
(24:11):
he was an agent yet technically almostfelt like her lawyers lass agents almost
pimp at some point, and itfelt like there was more for him to
do. It was a better subplotsomewhere along the lines. But I think
that also with a lot of thesecharacters, it's like, given what Maxine
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goes through in the first film,and how you know she gets out of
that, you know, with iton our own agency, there's too many
times where it feels like, youknow, she has to call on other
people for help here. It's like, you know, there's a scene where
she has to get gian Carlin's busioand one of his goons to help.
Was like, you know, she'ssaved by the police a couple of times,
(24:56):
and it's just like that doesn't feeland keep been with you know this
character who's you know, certainly portrayedin the trailer that she's going to be,
you know, doing it alone,and she she doesn't in the end,
And yeah, I think that wasa bit tibickie. Again, there
was an interesting character there, butagain just didn't get enough to do.
And Lily Collins yet when she startedtalking outside that trailer, I was like,
(25:22):
huh oh, okay, so hercharacter is English, And then I
wasn't really paying too much attention todialogue because I was trying to work out
what accent she was going for.And then when at one point she says,
oh, yeah, when I wasgrowing up in North Yorkshire, and
I'm like, huh, okay,that's not what I thoughtow. So yeah,
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that was one of the most amazing, funniest moments of that for me.
But yeah, again, something thatI would like to see a bit
more from her character as well.Would like to see a bit more from
from most of the characters, andyou know what, it's basically sort of
her going off to this produces housein the Hollywood Hills, which sets off
the final act, and I thinkwe can kind of go into spoiler territory
(26:10):
here. Maxine decides, you know, she's sad enough and she's gonna end
this herself. And so she goesup to the house and it's revealed that
the person who has been killing allthese young women in Hollywood is her basically
Baptist reverend father, who has cometo save her from a life of sin
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in Hollywood because Hollywood corrupts. Hollywoodcorrupts through its violent and sexual films.
And yeah, that was a bitof referring to in the fact that the
very end of X, it's sortof this is sort of news report about
a Baptist minister who is searching forhis missing teenage daughter who has run away.
(26:51):
And so because I remembered that fromX, I kind of knew exactly
who the mysterious killer in the blacksort of Darry argentle gloves and leather jacket
was going to be. And thereasoning behind it is very sort of tenuous
I think, yeah, he's clearlygot a scowl. He believes that making
a documentary style snuff movie of killingpeople because they are, you know,
(27:17):
corrupted by Hollywood. Yeah, he'sdoing the exact same thing. It's prebby
lost on him, but you knowhe's clearly mad. But yeah, what
did you make of the reveal andthe reasoning behind all of his I'm not
going to call it a master planbecause it sounds like a very good plan
to begin with. Then I wetalk about it, it did feel like
it was obvious, Like from thebeginning where you're like, oh, the
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film opens with this person's this youngMaxine and her dad's kind of guiding her
and so on. You're like,hm, hm, so if someone's coming
back from her past and everyone thatwe know from X has been dead,
has been murdered, even Pearl andher husband Howard dead, who could it
be? And you're immediately thinking thatwithin about two minutes. So, you
know, it felt really obvious.And it reminds me of a much superior
(28:00):
A twenty four film almost in theend that takes place in the Hollywood Hills
under the Silver Lake. You know, one the A twenty four barely gave
an inch of any attention to comparedto Maxine. And you're watching that thinking,
okay, yeah, like a kindof cult kind of you know,
a quote unquote cult is in theHollywood Hills and all kind of climaxes there,
and you know, you think,okay, a much more interesting kind
(28:23):
of reveal with that. You werekind of like even just this big shoot
out at the end, it justfelt like it felt really cheap and so
on, and you know, justreally again flat the you know, the
direction, this climax and again youknow, you have her about to be
kind of burned at the stake almostand you think, you know, a
great moment to kind of play with, but the script doesn't reflect that kind
(28:45):
of how it's shot. It's justsort of just really kind of flat,
like this is the payoff to youryour trilogy where it all comes together,
and it's like, oh, itjust feels like a bit frankly of a
student film. And I think,you know, Tye West's a director,
I don't have like a strong affinityor interest in it, and I wouldn't
go out of my way to seeyou know, the new Thaie West film
(29:06):
is out in the cinema go togo see that, and I just feel
like you think of it like thefilm kind of looks it's it's got the
images and so on, it's theyou know, has the eighties esthetic really
drilled down and so on. Youcan see where the money's been spent.
But his direction, his script writing, like there's just so many moments,
(29:26):
and especially in this climax and thirdact where it just goes it's just completely
completely missing. And maybe it's bestif he just sticks to perhaps directing duties
at best and so on, andpurpose away from kind of the script work,
because I think he's he's probably letdown the folk. And I would
almost just say Pearls the outlier basedon this grand Grand finale, what about
(29:48):
for yourself? I think with itdescending into a shootout in the Hollywood Hills
in a big mansion, I canunderstand, I can maybe understand where he's
why he's going down in that direction, and that it's almost a pastiche of
many other eighties action movies that endin that similar sort of way, and
(30:14):
things sort of like lethal weapons andBeverly Hills cops and stuff like that,
But it doesn't do enough to subvertthe genre. Or the cliches and the
tropes and stuff like that in orderto make it fresh and new and exciting.
So yeah, it's like oh right, yeah, shoot, yeah,
of course it is. And yeah, so and then a very underwhelming end,
(30:38):
although I say, and there isa denwment, an epilogue so to
speak, following a Maxine getting arevenge on her father. But I guess
there's probably some debate as to howmuch of it is the truth or how
much of it is maybe Maxine's ideaof how she would want her career in
(31:03):
Hollywood to go. I mean,what did you make of that final sort
of moment where it seems that Maxineis is going to get the big Hollywood
moment, She's going to get hermovie is a hit, she's going to
get a movie based on her lifestory. She's going to be the Hollywood
style, like the Queen of Hollywoodfor a little while at least, because
you're known in the truth. Youknow, people like to build someone up
(31:26):
and then tear them down again.But for that brief beef moment and she
even has a it reminded me ofI mean, actually, I'm not going
to say remind I think it's probablya direct reference to Boogie Knights. I
mean, she you know, isn'tlooking at you know, a fake member
at that point, but she doesbasically cooked on Dirk Diggler's you know,
(31:47):
you know, f and star,you know at the end where you know
she's she's finally made it, butbut hash she Yeah, I also thought
of Biggie Knights as well, Sogreat minds think are like, yeah,
I thought it was. It wasone of the things whether it shows my
kind of level of interest with thefilm as it went on, where I
was kind of like, you know, went to that and I was like,
(32:08):
oh, yeah, of course,like, you know, we have
to show that she definitely did becomethe star and so on, which has
always been the kind of the goto point about these sorts of films that
she wants to be the star andactually she did it, and then you
know it's all wrapped up, butI did. I did kind of like
that, you know, it wasleft kind of ambiguous that would she go
onto to be a hit and asuccess. And probably my feeling with these
(32:30):
sorts of things is how many youknow, how many horrors in the seventies
and eighties. Everyone loves the firstone, but no one ever really gave
a shit about the sequels to youknow, Friday the thirteenth two or Halloween
two, et cetera. You know, and I could I was sort of
thinking in that vein of like,you know, she's it's probably just gonna
go on to be her one andone and done and so on, Like
(32:51):
we don't really have much to goon that she is, you know,
has this actor star quality as anactor herself, and so on, and
and these kind of roles and soon. So you know, I think
it was it was kind of interestingto show the two sides, but I
think, you know, as youkind of maybe mention like it would have
been more interesting to see what,you know, her desire to be a
(33:14):
star and driving her to kind ofyou know, a little bit of madness
perhaps or so on, or youknow, like all of these things going
wrong around her and how it couldimpact her chance of actually being a star.
Whereas you know, people are dying, you know, she's still turning
up to set about five minutes later, but just looking a bit kind of
a bit tired or not interested.That's a more interesting film about kind of
(33:36):
maxine psyche or determination and so on, as opposed to being someone that looks
like she's on the cusp of achievingher dream but is just looks a bit
bit bored and so on about itall. Yeah, I think I would
have preferred a movie where it wasmore ambiguous as to the true culprit behind
these crimes and stuff like that,and you know, showing how far she's
(33:59):
willing to go for that big break. You know, would she shove Arrival
down the stairs? Would she knifeArrival sixty one times in the back and
in the front, perhaps in orderto get a role, And yeah,
I think there's potential that it couldhave. You could have had something like
that, but instead it went downthe root of the bad guy being the
(34:22):
villainess psychotic Baptist father instead, whichfor me was the cheap and easy way
out. You know, Maxine hasthe potential to be a very interesting,
enigmatic character, and I think,yeah, I think ultimately the story and
the lack of agency at times kindof did the character in the service to
(34:42):
me. Yeah, And it feelslike, you know, and it almost
feels like where the outliers, likeit seems to be. You know,
the first wave of reviews seemed reallypositive for the film and so on,
and then it almost likely stack horrorfans into those things. But then actually
horror fans can't be quite unforgiving.So yeah, I just don't understand the
call of these films truth be toldand so and I think, I say,
(35:08):
yeah, But then this one seemslike the way people go on about
it, you think it would bethe it's I don't know, I just
don't get it. You know,I'd love to hear me, you know
what. You know what the problemwas? It was because it was a
straight homage of nineteen eighties horror slashersyellow films. It wasn't elevated enough.
That's the problem. It wasn't elevatedenough. It did exactly what it said
(35:29):
on the tin. It was,you know, it wasn't mismarketed. It
was exactly what it was going tobe. That's the problem. You need
to elevate these things. You needto have you know, references to the
devil and some weird you know,crazy shit people walking on ceilings and stuff
like that. Wasn't enough of it. If you do now, and if
you do want something like that,I can hardly recommend long legs, which
(35:50):
is also, yeh, this weekend, I'm very much looking forward to to
long Legs and so on. Andyou know, I recently got to see
you know, Midsomwhere's that a director'scut on the big screen for the first
time it's seen the biggest. Yeah, I got to see an Imax and
they still hold up really well.You know, obviously they've got their flaws
and so on, but you know, I thought they held it really well.
And randomly I noticed the Oasist filmthat we reviewed many a year ago
(36:15):
on this podcast, it's getting anIMAX release. I noticed it got one
in America and it seems to begetting one here in a few weeks time.
So it's very odd, is therelationship with some of a twenty four
films and Imax at the moment inthe UK. So how many people turn
up to that one? I don'treally know. But definitely this of all
the you know, we've reviewed onehundred over a good hundred twenty four films
(36:36):
like these ones get hype and attentionthat some of the great ones I think
get completely overlooked by and but youknow, it certainly has its audience out
there and so on. And yeah, there's more interesting. I'm very much
moving forward to Long Legs, andso I think that'll be a more interesting
horror film. But when I wentto see Maxine, the amount of horror
trailers we got before it for thesummer was incredibly stacked or horror or you
(37:01):
know, similar genre. So youknow, I think Maxine is disappointing film.
Truth be told, I had hada bit of you know, hope
and interest after the trailer and Pearl, but yeah, I just I'm a
bit bored of perhaps this kind ofthis series of films, and it seems
like ty West is like, oh, I want to do more than slasher
films and so on, so orkind of thing. So I'd be curious
(37:23):
to see what he does kind ofnext, if he does kind of break
free of this this trilogy, maybedoes something a little bit different. Yeah,
just on the Oasis. Well,I think it's probably because it's thirty
years since it released, and definitelymaybe which is now suddenly made me feel
really old. So yes, butyeah, no, it's I remember because
(37:45):
actually I went to the secret screeningat cine World last week thinking it was
going to be Maxine, having forgottenthat in the violent nature and long Legs
were also out the week after,so there was actually ye, like I
said, it's a stacked horror bill. So it was like that moment of
as the trailer start and then youget the trailer for Maxine and you're like,
okay, so it's not that,and then the trailer of A Long
(38:07):
Legs comes on and you, oh, right, it's not that, so
it must be in a violent nature, and it was, which also isn't
very good to be honest. Soyeah, style of a substance with that
one as well. So yeah,so what we're looking at here is,
yeah, perhaps a case of almostdiminishing returns perhaps with the with the trilogy,
(38:30):
which is a shame. But youknow, if you do like your
sort of eight Slashers, then youknow there is something for you here.
It's just that in terms of thecharacter and everything that goes along with it,
it's maybe not the You might notget what you're looking for, which
is a shame. However, youknow, the the A twenty four truck
(38:52):
continues. At the end of themonth, we're going to have here in
the UK we are getting finally ILot a TV Glow, so that comes
out on Friday twenty sixth of Julyhere, so we'll be recording an episode
very soon after that. But inthe meantime, we're going to be going
through the back catalog for a fewoutliers on their view front, the likes
(39:14):
of Meduca Deluxe and showing up problemyous to have still to be ticked off
our review list, so we'll geta couple of those in the bank and
keep you well fed over the summer. But in the meantime, just remember,
do not accept the life that youdo not deserve.
Welcome to the nerd Party. Sayit with me. I will not accept
a life I do not deserve.I will not accept a life I do
not deserve. I will not accepta podcast I don't deserve. Hello,
(00:25):
Welcome to the A twenty four Project. Here're on the nerd Party network,
the only podcast to take you throughthe entire back cat log of A twenty
four, review the latest releases andbring you interviews with the people in front
of and behind the camera of thesefilms and TV shows. And it goes
Dallas King and with me as alwaysis the Maxine Minx to my pearl.
It's Lee Hutchison. How are you, Yeah, I'm really good. It's
(00:47):
good to be backed again. Ithink it's been a few months since we've
been able to kind of review anyfilms together. You've you've been kind of
almost living in a twenty four life, like saving a cinema and and obviously
you've got a bit of a campaigngoing on at the moment to do that.
I think it would be advantageous totell people a little bit about that
and where maybe people could get involved, because you're doing incredible work and actually
(01:11):
supporting independent cinema and not just talkingabout it, but actually putting up it's
very very kind of good to say. So, I mean the plot is
potentially more of like a Sunday AfternoonBBC underdog story At the moment, I
would need some weird sort of satanictwist or something to come along in the
third actor to push it into Etwenty four and to give it those eight
(01:34):
twenty four vibes I think. Butyes, no, the Belmont Cinema up
in Aberdeen where I live closed acouple of years ago, often a venue
to go and see the latest eighttwenty four releases, sometimes the only place
in Aberdeen that would show them.So it closed when the film house in
Edinburgh closed as well a couple ofyears ago, and so I've been part
of a group trying to bring itback to life and we've recently sort of
(01:57):
been working towards launching and floor designsand architects, visualizations and the fundraising.
So that has consumed my life forwell the last twenty one months, but
specifically the last sort of three orfour months specifically, so, but that's
all live now. So you cango to Bilmont Cinematic Code UK find out
(02:20):
how to support and you can donateto the crowd Foundry if you so wish,
in order to bring eight twenty fourfilms back to the big screen in
Aberdeen. But of course, ontoday's show we're going to be reviewing the
final installment of Tye West's eight twentyfour trilogy, which started all the way
back actually not that long ago,Wait two with X followed by peerl.
(02:43):
That's right, she's, in herown words, an f star star in
movie Star. It's Maxine Miagauthur turnsonce again. Is Maxine Minx, who
were introduced to into Edone's X andin nineteen eighties Hollywood adult film star and
inspiring actress is about to find outthat she's about to get a big break.
However, a mysterious killer is stalkingthe starlets of Los Angeles, and
(03:07):
the Trail of Blood threatens to revealher sinister past. It's and And directed
by Tawist, and it stars meA Goth, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Tabiki,
Bobby Canna, Valley Monein Jin Carletis Busy to and Lily Collins.
Quite the cast list, so Lee, I mean, this is the I
think it's probably safe to see theend of the trilogy. For Maxine.
(03:30):
I mean, what were your thoughtsof the trilogy so far with X and
Pearl and what we were sort ofexpectations sort of going into this final installment.
I've been always been a bit hirmiss with it, Like I know,
like I've always found it slightly onthe almost religious fever there is for
the character of Maxine and Pearl,and yeah, it's crazy thing. There's
(03:53):
people out there that have got tattooesof them, Like it's one of these
moments become this Like I just don'tthink X is that particularly a great film,
Like it feels like a film I'veseen many a time and so on.
But for some people it's just oneof their favorite A twenty four films,
which I just I can't really process. And you know, I've seen
it a couple of times, andit's just I didn't think it was particularly
(04:15):
great. I mean, the twotimes I've watched it, I felt like
I could barely make out anything thatwas happening. It was just so dark
as well. But Pearl, onthe other hand, you know, I
think it's slightly weak first half,but I really enjoy the second half when
it just lets rep and so onand I find it to be a very
interesting film in that respect, Soyou know, I think there's some good
(04:36):
and I think there's some bad inthe series. So I was kind of
a bit optimistic, I guess forMaxine, and I thought the trailer was
particularly interesting. I think Mia Gothis an interesting actress. You know,
we have another podcast which we've reallynot been able to do too much with
the past few years, but youknow, she's been an actress we've been
(04:57):
following kind of since really the beginningof her We've we've interviewed her a couple
of times over the years, soshe's always been someone I've found interesting to
kind of watch, and she's areally unique presence. So I was kind
of I went into Maccine quite optimistic. I was really looking forward to this
kind of period setting, kind ofslasher style movie. I think it had
(05:18):
a lot of promise behind it anda really interesting cast. So yeah,
mixed previously, but I went inoptimistic. What about yourself, Well,
I always try to go in uhhoping, hoping for the best. You
know, no one ever sets itto make a bad film. I mean
with X, I think I enjoyedthat one. I think more than you,
(05:40):
I thought, I really sort ofdug this sort of the grindhouse he
sort of Texas change the mass ofvibes it was going for Pearl. I
was kind of less keen on thanthan other people I think at the time,
But I mean it was a sortof standout showcase for me a goth
as an actress. I know,she's had a she's got a lot of
pre is. I think there wasslightly foolhardy talk. Actually probably it was
(06:04):
just within the Twitter sphere back thenthat she was gonna she should get an
Oscar nomination for Pearl. And it'slike, look, if Tony collect can't
get one for herreditary and you know, the beating New Young can't get one
for us, then she's never goingto get one for this. But you
know, there's a lot of talkabout her, you know, straight to
camera, you know, unbroken singletape monologue which lasted around about six minutes.
(06:30):
But I was like, well,that's fine. But in the same
year, Rebecca Hall did an unbrokenmonologue to camera which lasted seven and a
half minutes in The Underseen Resurrection,which I thought was better. So there
we go. But you know whatI have appreciated about this franchise so far
is how ty West has managed torecreate you know, different styles and different
(06:54):
genres within it. You know,the first one was, you know,
sett in late seventies. You know, it's about group of adult film stars
who rent the worst airbnb possible.Actually, you know, saying that,
I've just thought of barbarians, somaybe the second worst Airba being possible,
renting a farmhouse to film an adultmovie. But they don't realize the owners
(07:15):
of the property of you know,almost as mad as they are. And
you know, it managed to recreatethat seventies aesthetic and sort of grindhouse vib
really well. With Pearl. Thiswas a prequel technically to the character who
lived in that house, and youknow, once again sort of nailed the
sort of technicolor sort of Wizard ofOz thirties vibe where that period was set.
(07:42):
And so you know, I wasreally looking forward to you know,
like you say, the trailer waspromising a sort of nice, grungy,
sort of brianded Palma gritty, sortof Hollywood sort of in the eighties sort
of thing. So I was,you know, really looking forward to it,
and you know, like you say, made the cast. You know,
the previous two films, you know, you know, they had a
(08:03):
solid cast on the first one.Second one was slightly more full of unknowns,
although it did have the New Supermanin the bit of projections there.
But this is really sort of allstar casts, so you know, he's
really managed to bring his a gamefor this with of course it works out,
you know, we're going to discuss, but you know, I went
in optimistic. I think by thetime I did get to see, I
(08:28):
think it had already started a screenin the US, well maybe sort of
fans screenings. I think they didthe old bait and switch, which A
twenty four have done a couple oftimes. I think I think they were
going to be screening a double billof X and Pearl and then people got
the Maxine instead, And I thinkthey did something similar, wasn't it when
they were meant to see the director'sgot of Midsommar and then they got Bose
(08:50):
Afraid instead. So you know,it's not really a surprise if you pull
the same trick a couple of times, I guess. But yeah, so
no, I was looking forward toit, but I think, as we'll
probably discuss for me, it justdidn't quite work overall. It had a
huge amount of promise in the firsthalf, but then it kind of lost
(09:11):
the plot in the second half forreasons which I think will probably get into.
But I mean, what did youthink of I guess the visual look
of the thing. I mean,I mean, it's he certainly managed to
nail the eighties aesthetic, and itdid feel, you know, he's managed
to do that every single time.I feel he's managed through the camera work,
production design and score and stuff likethat, he's really managed to nail
(09:33):
the genre which he's going for everytime. Yeah, I thought so too.
I thought it looked, you know, it committed to the bit where
you know, I think if somethingI always go back to, was it
Death Proof for the Quentin Tarantino film, which kind of it originally just starts
off, you know, we're makingit look really authentic to the time,
and then it's basically like watching adigital film about three you know, for
(09:56):
the remaining three quarters of it,it did feel like a kind of video
nasty that you probably would have watchedthe VHS of at like an all night
or something like that. So Idid find that was a real commitment to
the bit and so on, andyou know, it did look of the
time, especially when you think oflike as I mentioned, I found the
you know, the cinematography of Xreally pretty awful, whereas you kind of
(10:18):
think of that kind of technicolor kindof dream of sort of Pearl where it
worked really well. I did,like they have, you know, two
really distinct and well done sort ofkind of looks to to the films and
so on, and I thought thatwas one of the few bits that I
would kind of compliment the film one. And you know, obviously we need
(10:39):
to we need to talk about MiaGolf and this because you know, it's
it's it's her character, it's herI'm not gonna say franchise, but certainly
her trilogy. And you know,she's you know, she in the first
film, you know, she wasthe final girl, but you know in
the second film, actually technically inthe first fie she's playing two characters.
(11:01):
She's playing Pearl and Maxine. Inthe second film she played Pearl, which
is all about her, and thenthis one is all about Maxine. And
you know, she has grown instature over the years. You know,
she's been in she sort played sortof small roles and like sort of Suspirian
stuff like that, and it's sortof slowly been working her way up to
(11:22):
sort of leading sort of scream queenas it were, and sort of really
sort of carving at a niche asthe sort of dangerously psychotic mad girl with
the baby voice. I'm thinking mostspecifically of Infinity Pool. I think for
that one where she does love toscreen it she's a star, and I
(11:45):
now thinking of the meme where itmakes it sound like she's actually just shouting
Emma Stone. So I mean,what have you made of her performance in
this film particular, but also howshe's sort of grown as an actress over
the over the true Yeah, Idid. I liked her in Pearl.
You know, when I think backto it to X, there's nothing that
(12:07):
I haven't rewatched that one, andthey run up to it like it did
Pearl, but like there was nothingthat really stood out really for her performance
and X I thought it was verysolid. But you know, Pearl was
a real statement and I know peoplego back to that monologue and you know
she had so many great standout momentsand that she felt like such an interesting
character. But I think the problemone of the problems I really hud with
(12:28):
with Maxine was how flat the performanceof Maxine was. Where she seems a
very passive character in this Like there'ssome like really kind of maybe stand out
moments towards the beginning where you know, she gets that bit where there's a
person kind of stalking her down inthe back alley, and you know,
okay, it's an interesting choice whatkind of happens after that, But you
(12:50):
know, it's an interesting character.She's got some agency, whereas most of
the film it seems to be abouther seeming really you know, down about
what's going on. She's not reallyengaging with anything. You know, there's
all this you know, she's onthe cusp of being a potential Hollywood star
in terms of this kind of filmthat she's been cast for. People around
(13:11):
her are dying, her past iscoming back to haunt her, you know,
really kind of you know, givesa character a bit of agency things
to bite into, whereas anytime itsort of went to her it was just
kind of like she just sort ofhad her face tripping her a little bit.
There was very little in terms ofdialogue that she had to buy into,
you know, scenes drama, andI think that kind of carried through
(13:35):
the whole film, where I waslike, I want to be invested in
this kind of story, but thefact that my main character is is leaving
me kind of disconnected from it aswell. I know, I ton't get
your points here because you know,yeah, actually thinking about it, it's
like, yeah, it's not reallyuntil very late on the you know,
(13:56):
she does have that agency within herown story. I mean she talks to
the police about, you know,rather than you know, saving the next
girl, maybe the girl should saveherself. And yeah, she is very
passive. She lets things happen fartoo long before she takes it. Yes,
I mean she stands up to anaggressor in a dark galley and stuff.
But yeah, there's a lot ofstuff which happens to her, which
(14:22):
you know, I think actually it'sprobably more in a reflection of the trailer
that was cut and shown where it'slike, see, you know, whatever's
happening in your life, squash it, which is that I intend to.
It makes it feel like she's theone driving the story forward, whereas it
is external factors which are controlling herup until really the sort of last minute
where it all sort of comes togetherin a I'm going to say it quite
(14:45):
unsatisfying climax, and yeah, shejust needed a bit more agency. I
mean, at one point, youknow, you could have thought there was
a position where, you know,maybe she could have been the killer.
That's not a spoiler because she isn't, and it's quite clear early on that
she's not. But you know,you know, if you wanted to.
I was thinking almost like a showgirl'skind of thing. You know that you
(15:05):
know, she would do anything tobe a star, so you know,
with that include killing quite possibly.I thought, you know, this is
what certainly you know the maxine,which I thought it was going down that
way, But then there was othermoments where there was potential for more character
growth. Is that you know whenthe standard scenes for me is actually the
moment where she's getting one of thesort of full head casts made. But
(15:30):
so her you know, her headcan be used in a variety of perific
ways in a movie, and thesort of the past trauma of what she
went through in X and stuff likethat is starting to manifest with her,
and you know, moments like thatwhich could have explored you know, her
life choices up to that point werevery briefly attuned to but then quickly discarded
(15:54):
in favor of this, you know, sort of maniacs zodiac style. You
know, there's a killer on theloose, but is he related to Maxine
or is it just the standard serialkiller who has no connection to her or
whatever. But I think it's safeto say that if you have seen X,
then I know I was not surprisedin the least when the final actual
(16:19):
video came. I was feeling expectingit from the moment the film started.
So I mean, I think it'ssafe to say that in order to get
the most out of this film youneed to have watched X. PEERL not
so much. I mean, thereare a couple of nice sort of callbacks,
such as like the young Maxine inthe video which starts the movie,
(16:41):
is that she's doing the same dancethat Pearl does it audition and stuff like
that. But otherwise the main reasonis if you haven't seen X, and
I think you'll be slightly confused asto interesting that my partner hunts seen X
before we went along. We nevergot around to revisit it. She you
know, right later wrong with theiryou know, she was very similar to
(17:02):
me in terms of not being afan of it. I don't know if
that would have necessarily been influenced byhaving seen X or improved upon. So
yeah, I think she found it. I kind of It's one of those
ones almost when you explain what theplot of X is to someone of like,
oh, they go to like ayou know, a farm, shoot
a porno, but actually it goesall wrong and the people tried to kill
(17:22):
them there. It's one of thoseones. It's it's quite feels quite easy
to just go, oh, yeah, I get that that film. I
can picture what ninety minutes of thatlooks like and set them up. So
I might disagree with you there,Okay, interesting because you know I thought,
I mean, I suppose technically thethe review of The Killer is linked
to actually probably actually quite a smallmoment at the end of X which revealed
(17:48):
was sort of revealed sort of Mazine'strue identity in X and her sort of
origins and stuff like that. SoI guess because I sort of remember that,
I could kind of see exactly wherethe film was going. So yeah,
I'll be curious to know that ifsomeone who hadn't seen X, if
they were confused as to the wholeend, but we'll get we'll come on
to that in the end. Soyou know, one thing which stuck out
(18:15):
for me is that you know,there there, she's auditioned for this horror
movie which is called The Puritan two. You know, the film is trying
to say stuff about horror movie sequels, also saying stuff about female directors and
female led stars and in horror andstuff like that. It's kind of wants
to say stuff that doesn't really havemuch of substance to say. I would
(18:38):
argue, but one of the bigsort of horror references in the film is
the fact that you know it's filmingon the Universal Lot and the the set
for Psycho two is still there.So at one point, you know they
were driving around the Beats Motel sortof golf buggies, and you know there's
(18:59):
even a chase sequence ends in thehouse. And for me it was a
big risk and wanting to hear youryour take on it, but I feel
that if you are specifically referencing oneof the greatest horror films of all time,
you should try and back it upby trying to be at least as
good, if not better than saidhorror film, and yes, it was
(19:23):
not I think in my opinion,no, no, again it was.
It wasn't just you know, kindof mea goth's kind of you know,
the script kind of how it servedor was, but just a lot of
it felt kind of flat and soon. You know, this is the
thing where like they're having this chasethrough sort of like a kind of the
Hollywood lot, which is kind ofinteresting. You know, You've got all
(19:45):
these fake facades, et cetera thatyou're going through and then you know,
there you are one of the mosticonic horror films of all time on your
doorstep and you just sit there watchingit going I don't know, I know,
the turnaround on this film was wasquite quick. You know, I
think it was only you know,shot about just over a year ago and
it was over what seven weeks thatthey filmed it. You watch it,
(20:07):
and you just go it feels like, you know what I've been watching the
past few days. You know,remember Crystal may Is where it's like people
run through all these different zones andso on, and it felt like less
interesting to watch than like a ninetiesTV game show where it's like there's just
a camera there someone runs past it. You know, you know, it
wouldn't look out a place in likea kind of cartoon. There was just
(20:27):
there was not a zipper excitement aboutthe idea of like, oh, a
chase through a Hollywood law and allthe kind of the fakeness and so on,
like that's kind of interesting. Thatjust feels like, you know,
it's got an interesting endpoint visually,that is, in terms of just this
iconic thing. But there was nothingabout that chase who you're just kind of
there, just pretty pretty bored andso on. Unfortunately, Yeah, I
(20:53):
mean I felt like it was awasted opportunity to you know, if you've
got the psycho who say it there, then tie it in some way,
you know, have her hiding inthe house. But then maybe try and
like recreate some of the shots ofa character walking up to the house.
I thought at one moment, youknow, when Kevin Bacon's characters walk out
(21:14):
to us, they might try andrecreate some of the shots of Martin Balsom's
character who tries to come up tothe house and stuff like that, so
or tie it in in some waythematically to what's going on in her life.
But in otherwise it's just like,ooh, the Psycho House, like
a Leo memes of great I've seenthat. But you know, by referencing
that, you're almost thinking, Iwish I was watching Psycho or even Psycho
(21:37):
Too. Now Psycho Too there isactually a very underrated remake. So yeah,
I'm just putting it out there.Cycle Tours an underrated remake and not
a REMI underrated sequel and you shouldwatch it if you get the chance,
and a better sequel arguably than thisone. So but I mentioned Kevin Bacon
there, so out of the restof the cast, was there any particular
(21:57):
standouts for me? I think KevinBacon was having a wheel of a time
in this one and sort of properlyleaning into the southern sleeves of his the
classic he you know that meme.You know he understood the assignment, and
like that was every time he wason the screen, I was more interested
and engaged with it. And thenit just like cut that again that kind
(22:18):
of very little actual for Maxine todo and so on, and you know,
she's playing opposite this larger than lifecharacter, and I think it just
kind of highlighted sort of how littleshe had to do and just very little
for me a goth to actually kindof perform, perform with and so on.
Whereas Kevin Bacon, hud you know, you know it's not the most
(22:40):
it's a role we've seen many atime, but he was able to have
some fun with it. You knowhow much actual lines did did the Maxine
even have? But you know that'sby the bye, Like I enjoyed Kevin
Bacon, But even then, likeElizabeth de Becky, you know, someone
that's become a really interesting kind ofactor in this past few years. You
know, she kind of just sortof got you know, a bit of
(23:02):
a self important kind of character.Not much to say really there. You
know, even then you had sortof like Michelle Monahan and Bobby kind of
Ville. You know, Michelle Monahan, we've seen her do some really kind
of fun stuff with the Mission Impossiblefilms for example, kind of a bit
of a boring kind of double act. I mean, Bobby Cannivill has one
or two little moments, so againoveracting you know that on purpose, which
(23:26):
kind of Kevin Bacon does. Okay, that's kind of interesting to watch,
you know, And then you havelike you know, Lily Collins, like
barely in the film has a weirdYorkshire accent. Again, it was a
really bizarre kind of film and soon. Compared to say something like Pearl,
where a slightly smaller cast, buteach of them did something interesting or
kind of worked well with what theyhad. This was just a bit of
(23:49):
a waste of some really interesting kindof actors, and I think it's just
fundamentally down to Tye West's script.Yeah, I felt that for me one
of the problems was yet a lotof the characters didn't have much to do.
Gian Carlos Bisito, I thought itwas in particular, it was kind
of wasted. You know, therewas a lot of potential. You know,
(24:11):
he was an agent yet technically almostfelt like her lawyers lass agents almost
pimp at some point, and itfelt like there was more for him to
do. It was a better subplotsomewhere along the lines. But I think
that also with a lot of thesecharacters, it's like, given what Maxine
(24:34):
goes through in the first film,and how you know she gets out of
that, you know, with iton our own agency, there's too many
times where it feels like, youknow, she has to call on other
people for help here. It's like, you know, there's a scene where
she has to get gian Carlin's busioand one of his goons to help.
Was like, you know, she'ssaved by the police a couple of times,
(24:56):
and it's just like that doesn't feeland keep been with you know this
character who's you know, certainly portrayedin the trailer that she's going to be,
you know, doing it alone,and she she doesn't in the end,
And yeah, I think that wasa bit tibickie. Again, there
was an interesting character there, butagain just didn't get enough to do.
And Lily Collins yet when she startedtalking outside that trailer, I was like,
(25:22):
huh oh, okay, so hercharacter is English, And then I
wasn't really paying too much attention todialogue because I was trying to work out
what accent she was going for.And then when at one point she says,
oh, yeah, when I wasgrowing up in North Yorkshire, and
I'm like, huh, okay,that's not what I thoughtow. So yeah,
(25:44):
that was one of the most amazing, funniest moments of that for me.
But yeah, again, something thatI would like to see a bit
more from her character as well.Would like to see a bit more from
from most of the characters, andyou know what, it's basically sort of
her going off to this produces housein the Hollywood Hills, which sets off
the final act, and I thinkwe can kind of go into spoiler territory
(26:10):
here. Maxine decides, you know, she's sad enough and she's gonna end
this herself. And so she goesup to the house and it's revealed that
the person who has been killing allthese young women in Hollywood is her basically
Baptist reverend father, who has cometo save her from a life of sin
(26:30):
in Hollywood because Hollywood corrupts. Hollywoodcorrupts through its violent and sexual films.
And yeah, that was a bitof referring to in the fact that the
very end of X, it's sortof this is sort of news report about
a Baptist minister who is searching forhis missing teenage daughter who has run away.
(26:51):
And so because I remembered that fromX, I kind of knew exactly
who the mysterious killer in the blacksort of Darry argentle gloves and leather jacket
was going to be. And thereasoning behind it is very sort of tenuous
I think, yeah, he's clearlygot a scowl. He believes that making
a documentary style snuff movie of killingpeople because they are, you know,
(27:17):
corrupted by Hollywood. Yeah, he'sdoing the exact same thing. It's prebby
lost on him, but you knowhe's clearly mad. But yeah, what
did you make of the reveal andthe reasoning behind all of his I'm not
going to call it a master planbecause it sounds like a very good plan
to begin with. Then I wetalk about it, it did feel like
it was obvious, Like from thebeginning where you're like, oh, the
(27:37):
film opens with this person's this youngMaxine and her dad's kind of guiding her
and so on. You're like,hm, hm, so if someone's coming
back from her past and everyone thatwe know from X has been dead,
has been murdered, even Pearl andher husband Howard dead, who could it
be? And you're immediately thinking thatwithin about two minutes. So, you
know, it felt really obvious.And it reminds me of a much superior
(28:00):
A twenty four film almost in theend that takes place in the Hollywood Hills
under the Silver Lake. You know, one the A twenty four barely gave
an inch of any attention to comparedto Maxine. And you're watching that thinking,
okay, yeah, like a kindof cult kind of you know,
a quote unquote cult is in theHollywood Hills and all kind of climaxes there,
and you know, you think,okay, a much more interesting kind
(28:23):
of reveal with that. You werekind of like even just this big shoot
out at the end, it justfelt like it felt really cheap and so
on, and you know, justreally again flat the you know, the
direction, this climax and again youknow, you have her about to be
kind of burned at the stake almostand you think, you know, a
great moment to kind of play with, but the script doesn't reflect that kind
(28:45):
of how it's shot. It's justsort of just really kind of flat,
like this is the payoff to youryour trilogy where it all comes together,
and it's like, oh, itjust feels like a bit frankly of a
student film. And I think,you know, Tye West's a director,
I don't have like a strong affinityor interest in it, and I wouldn't
go out of my way to seeyou know, the new Thaie West film
(29:06):
is out in the cinema go togo see that, and I just feel
like you think of it like thefilm kind of looks it's it's got the
images and so on, it's theyou know, has the eighties esthetic really
drilled down and so on. Youcan see where the money's been spent.
But his direction, his script writing, like there's just so many moments,
(29:26):
and especially in this climax and thirdact where it just goes it's just completely
completely missing. And maybe it's bestif he just sticks to perhaps directing duties
at best and so on, andpurpose away from kind of the script work,
because I think he's he's probably letdown the folk. And I would
almost just say Pearls the outlier basedon this grand Grand finale, what about
(29:48):
for yourself? I think with itdescending into a shootout in the Hollywood Hills
in a big mansion, I canunderstand, I can maybe understand where he's
why he's going down in that direction, and that it's almost a pastiche of
many other eighties action movies that endin that similar sort of way, and
(30:14):
things sort of like lethal weapons andBeverly Hills cops and stuff like that,
But it doesn't do enough to subvertthe genre. Or the cliches and the
tropes and stuff like that in orderto make it fresh and new and exciting.
So yeah, it's like oh right, yeah, shoot, yeah,
of course it is. And yeah, so and then a very underwhelming end,
(30:38):
although I say, and there isa denwment, an epilogue so to
speak, following a Maxine getting arevenge on her father. But I guess
there's probably some debate as to howmuch of it is the truth or how
much of it is maybe Maxine's ideaof how she would want her career in
(31:03):
Hollywood to go. I mean,what did you make of that final sort
of moment where it seems that Maxineis is going to get the big Hollywood
moment, She's going to get hermovie is a hit, she's going to
get a movie based on her lifestory. She's going to be the Hollywood
style, like the Queen of Hollywoodfor a little while at least, because
you're known in the truth. Youknow, people like to build someone up
(31:26):
and then tear them down again.But for that brief beef moment and she
even has a it reminded me ofI mean, actually, I'm not going
to say remind I think it's probablya direct reference to Boogie Knights. I
mean, she you know, isn'tlooking at you know, a fake member
at that point, but she doesbasically cooked on Dirk Diggler's you know,
(31:47):
you know, f and star,you know at the end where you know
she's she's finally made it, butbut hash she Yeah, I also thought
of Biggie Knights as well, Sogreat minds think are like, yeah,
I thought it was. It wasone of the things whether it shows my
kind of level of interest with thefilm as it went on, where I
was kind of like, you know, went to that and I was like,
(32:08):
oh, yeah, of course,like, you know, we have
to show that she definitely did becomethe star and so on, which has
always been the kind of the goto point about these sorts of films that
she wants to be the star andactually she did it, and then you
know it's all wrapped up, butI did. I did kind of like
that, you know, it wasleft kind of ambiguous that would she go
onto to be a hit and asuccess. And probably my feeling with these
(32:30):
sorts of things is how many youknow, how many horrors in the seventies
and eighties. Everyone loves the firstone, but no one ever really gave
a shit about the sequels to youknow, Friday the thirteenth two or Halloween
two, et cetera. You know, and I could I was sort of
thinking in that vein of like,you know, she's it's probably just gonna
go on to be her one andone and done and so on, Like
(32:51):
we don't really have much to goon that she is, you know,
has this actor star quality as anactor herself, and so on, and
and these kind of roles and soon. So you know, I think
it was it was kind of interestingto show the two sides, but I
think, you know, as youkind of maybe mention like it would have
been more interesting to see what,you know, her desire to be a
(33:14):
star and driving her to kind ofyou know, a little bit of madness
perhaps or so on, or youknow, like all of these things going
wrong around her and how it couldimpact her chance of actually being a star.
Whereas you know, people are dying, you know, she's still turning
up to set about five minutes later, but just looking a bit kind of
a bit tired or not interested.That's a more interesting film about kind of
(33:36):
maxine psyche or determination and so on, as opposed to being someone that looks
like she's on the cusp of achievingher dream but is just looks a bit
bit bored and so on about itall. Yeah, I think I would
have preferred a movie where it wasmore ambiguous as to the true culprit behind
these crimes and stuff like that,and you know, showing how far she's
(33:59):
willing to go for that big break. You know, would she shove Arrival
down the stairs? Would she knifeArrival sixty one times in the back and
in the front, perhaps in orderto get a role, And yeah,
I think there's potential that it couldhave. You could have had something like
that, but instead it went downthe root of the bad guy being the
(34:22):
villainess psychotic Baptist father instead, whichfor me was the cheap and easy way
out. You know, Maxine hasthe potential to be a very interesting,
enigmatic character, and I think,yeah, I think ultimately the story and
the lack of agency at times kindof did the character in the service to
(34:42):
me. Yeah, And it feelslike, you know, and it almost
feels like where the outliers, likeit seems to be. You know,
the first wave of reviews seemed reallypositive for the film and so on,
and then it almost likely stack horrorfans into those things. But then actually
horror fans can't be quite unforgiving.So yeah, I just don't understand the
call of these films truth be toldand so and I think, I say,
(35:08):
yeah, But then this one seemslike the way people go on about
it, you think it would bethe it's I don't know, I just
don't get it. You know,I'd love to hear me, you know
what. You know what the problemwas? It was because it was a
straight homage of nineteen eighties horror slashersyellow films. It wasn't elevated enough.
That's the problem. It wasn't elevatedenough. It did exactly what it said
(35:29):
on the tin. It was,you know, it wasn't mismarketed. It
was exactly what it was going tobe. That's the problem. You need
to elevate these things. You needto have you know, references to the
devil and some weird you know,crazy shit people walking on ceilings and stuff
like that. Wasn't enough of it. If you do now, and if
you do want something like that,I can hardly recommend long legs, which
(35:50):
is also, yeh, this weekend, I'm very much looking forward to to
long Legs and so on. Andyou know, I recently got to see
you know, Midsomwhere's that a director'scut on the big screen for the first
time it's seen the biggest. Yeah, I got to see an Imax and
they still hold up really well.You know, obviously they've got their flaws
and so on, but you know, I thought they held it really well.
And randomly I noticed the Oasist filmthat we reviewed many a year ago
(36:15):
on this podcast, it's getting anIMAX release. I noticed it got one
in America and it seems to begetting one here in a few weeks time.
So it's very odd, is therelationship with some of a twenty four
films and Imax at the moment inthe UK. So how many people turn
up to that one? I don'treally know. But definitely this of all
the you know, we've reviewed onehundred over a good hundred twenty four films
(36:36):
like these ones get hype and attentionthat some of the great ones I think
get completely overlooked by and but youknow, it certainly has its audience out
there and so on. And yeah, there's more interesting. I'm very much
moving forward to Long Legs, andso I think that'll be a more interesting
horror film. But when I wentto see Maxine, the amount of horror
trailers we got before it for thesummer was incredibly stacked or horror or you
(37:01):
know, similar genre. So youknow, I think Maxine is disappointing film.
Truth be told, I had hada bit of you know, hope
and interest after the trailer and Pearl, but yeah, I just I'm a
bit bored of perhaps this kind ofthis series of films, and it seems
like ty West is like, oh, I want to do more than slasher
films and so on, so orkind of thing. So I'd be curious
(37:23):
to see what he does kind ofnext, if he does kind of break
free of this this trilogy, maybedoes something a little bit different. Yeah,
just on the Oasis. Well,I think it's probably because it's thirty
years since it released, and definitelymaybe which is now suddenly made me feel
really old. So yes, butyeah, no, it's I remember because
(37:45):
actually I went to the secret screeningat cine World last week thinking it was
going to be Maxine, having forgottenthat in the violent nature and long Legs
were also out the week after,so there was actually ye, like I
said, it's a stacked horror bill. So it was like that moment of
as the trailer start and then youget the trailer for Maxine and you're like,
okay, so it's not that,and then the trailer of A Long
(38:07):
Legs comes on and you, oh, right, it's not that, so
it must be in a violent nature, and it was, which also isn't
very good to be honest. Soyeah, style of a substance with that
one as well. So yeah,so what we're looking at here is,
yeah, perhaps a case of almostdiminishing returns perhaps with the with the trilogy,
(38:30):
which is a shame. But youknow, if you do like your
sort of eight Slashers, then youknow there is something for you here.
It's just that in terms of thecharacter and everything that goes along with it,
it's maybe not the You might notget what you're looking for, which
is a shame. However, youknow, the the A twenty four truck
(38:52):
continues. At the end of themonth, we're going to have here in
the UK we are getting finally ILot a TV Glow, so that comes
out on Friday twenty sixth of Julyhere, so we'll be recording an episode
very soon after that. But inthe meantime, we're going to be going
through the back catalog for a fewoutliers on their view front, the likes
(39:14):
of Meduca Deluxe and showing up problemyous to have still to be ticked off
our review list, so we'll geta couple of those in the bank and
keep you well fed over the summer. But in the meantime, just remember,
do not accept the life that youdo not deserve.
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