Raising Arizona vs The Weather Man

Hoo, boy, here we go. It's an internal monologue movie showdown between 1987's Raising Arizona and 2005's The Weather Man! Coens vs Verbinski! Cage Dancer John vs actor, Alec Wilson. Get your day started by boofing some pralines and loose Advil. Let's get into the placental logistics of quints, the pros and cons of the two penis problem and find out if Sean can remember what movies we actually watched! This is Cage Match.

Intro music by: Bill Panks

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
What you are listening to is real. The participants are not actors. They are real people with a case pending in Podcast Court.

(00:10):
Hello, I'm Producer Peter and welcome to Cage Match, a roundabout way of meeting Nicolas Cage, Podcast Court.
Today's case is between a man with a penchant for robbing out-of-the-way convenience stores and a man who really should be carrying around more than one dollar.
Oh, God.
Oh, God.

(00:46):
I like crunchy bits.
That's fair.
I also like, I like a good Nestle crunch.
Dude, Butterfinger crunch when those were out? Not a thing anymore. Amazing.
The new Butterfinger recipe is actually really good.
There's a new recipe?
Yeah, they, well, they changed.
They just, I don't know, made it a little better.
It's not as dry. It feels good.
Does it not stick to your teeth as bad? Because that's what I hate.

(01:08):
It still does a little bit, but not like as much.
So it doesn't feel like it's been sitting in a warehouse for half a year.
So I kind of liked that about it.
Yeah, sort of comes with the territory.
It's their own. I really like a payday, which is a yeah, we call them salted nut rolls in Minnesota.
Yeah. Different brand. Different brand.

(01:29):
That's like the Kmart of the payday.
Oh, variety. No, it's just a local brand.
I also like a Charles.
When you have to describe something strictly by the ingredients, it's salt and nuts and rolled.
That is the Kmart variety.
It's like our brand. You know, did you guys have a tomato?

(01:52):
No. What? It's like off brand Kmart.
Oh, no, definitely not. It's even more off brand.
I thought this was like special pimento.
You guys ever think about doing ASMR? No.
I mean, I think about whacking off on a microphone sometimes, but I am going to cut all of this legitimately.

(02:16):
You can't cut what's already been cut.
No, we just have to reference this later. Yeah, exactly.
Then I do have to put it in because it was just funny.
I've seen this problem on who's lives it anyway.
You do have to reference it later, but actually be funny about it because it's not doesn't matter.
Correct. Yeah. Double cut.
I know how cage match works because you're in charge of it.

(02:37):
Yes. Why do we define how it works? Really? Kind of.
Yeah, I just try to keep all the racist things underneath somebody else's really good jokes.
Right. Yeah. You say backwards. Yeah. Smart.
So if they play the podcast backwards, they know the racist stuff.
Yeah. And it's just like hell talk and then racism.
My name is Peter and I hate the.

(03:00):
Wow. You didn't even you didn't go for it.
Was your chance. You could have said it.
You know what? It would have been incredibly unbelievable no matter what I had said.
I don't think there's probably enough recorded audio of you guys that you can make voices.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, we have, you know, upwards of like 90 hours of content.
Oh, yeah. So you want to bag your pills?

(03:21):
I mean, they just look like ibuprofen and Advil. That's all they are.
Yeah. It doesn't look like a lot of fun, but your joints will feel good.
My joints are just fine as they are. All right. Fine.
Yeah. Yeah, I knew you're talking about.
I mean, I got it.
I will grind those up and boost them, though.
It's the only way to take ibuprofen.

(03:44):
Oh, you know, so I was getting getting in the car the other day with Josie and she goes to sit down and I had to move some stuff off the scene.
I had like an afferent and some stuff like that on there and she was like, I want to sit on your nasal spray.
And I got me thinking like, what's going to happen if you like spray a bunch of afferent up your butthole?
Like, does it open it up? Like, are you going to get no afferent?

(04:06):
Afferent is a decongest, like they gave me that after my nose surgery and they were like under no circumstances.
Should you use this for longer than three days? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Because it's got like some shit that's you get addicted to it.
Oh, I'm aware. But like, what happens if you put it in your butt?
Yeah, it just opens it wide. But it'll like, but you don't do it.
Dry it up, I think. You think it'll dry it up? Yeah.
They make afferent now that like is good for moistness. Oh, yeah.

(04:31):
That's right. We'll try it for moistness. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. You could boof one of these mints.
All right. So first, I'm going to spray a bunch of afferent up my butt.
Then you take one of the peppercorns.
Then we're going to put your like Szechuan peppercorns up my butt.
And then we just let them battle it out and see what happens.
Yeah. And then when things get too boring, I'm going to take some loosely ground

(04:52):
afferent and ibuprofen and kind of rim it around in there.
You know, if you're going to do this, do it after I move out, please.
Because I know you're going to do it here. Well, yeah.
No, you got plenty of boxes. I'll just lay some cardboard down and Peter.
And yeah, Peter and John can just kind of funnel the pills into me.
It's like a general like it's a usual Sunday.

(05:14):
It's like loading a Pez dispenser.
But backwards.
Oh, gross. It's like one of those cheap novelty like candy dispensers
where it's poop coming out and you bend the thing over.
Yeah, I've never seen this. Oh, it's like, you know,
you're so popular during like Christmas, like, oh, the reindeer poops.

(05:36):
Yeah. No, it's just a beer flavor jelly bean or some shit cowards.
Could have been poop.
Didn't the Cards Against Humanity send like poop to. Yes.
Yeah. You could have done that. Yeah.
Speaking of things that could happen to you, welcome to Cage match around
about way of meeting Nicholas Cage under desk, John.

(05:57):
Yeah, I wasn't going to be eliminated for so long.
Wait a minute.
You guys are replacing me since I'm moving, aren't you?
I knew it. I just saw an opportunity for it.
Anyway, I had to take it. I was hoping that would happen.
I'm your host, Sean. And my name is Nick.
Hi, I'm Peter. I'm also here.
Yeah, we exist in the general space of this.

(06:20):
It's amazing that we've gotten so bad at that.
We've just gotten comfortable with each other. Yeah, that's true.
We just don't try anymore. So thanks. Kind of like a marriage.
Yeah. So Raising Arizona in 1987. Yeah.
Cohen Brothers. I did not realize this movie was that old. Yeah.
Yeah, I was thinking I was talking to a friend of mine when I was watching this.
And I think it's like 1991. Looked at it. Oh, shit. OK. Yeah.

(06:43):
Yeah, this one goes back. It really does.
It also did not realize Cohen Brothers second movie after one that nobody's ever seen.
Mm hmm. Yeah. Blood simple. Is that what it is?
Yeah. You haven't seen Blood Simple? I've seen it once.
Have you seen it? No, I literally never heard of it until today. Yeah.
So this is Nick and I fourth time watching it.

(07:06):
Yeah, first fourth round ish of it. Third round of it.
This is the third time that we've watched it for the bracket. For the bracket.
I'm doing mostly single rewatches for the second time or third time around.
Yeah. Yeah. At this point, I think that's fair to just stay fresh on it. Yeah.
Still slaps. It is still so good.

(07:27):
I love. Well, John, why don't you run us down on this movie?
Apparently you're the host now. You did the work.
I was really afraid that I knew that you guys were going to ask me to narrate the plot of this movie.
And there is so much plot. Give me a scene by scene breakdown.
We haven't done one of those in a long time. We need it in two minutes or less.
All right. So this guy, Hi, McDonough. They reveal what the H stands for.

(07:49):
But I forget Herbert. Yeah. Thank you.
So he likes to rob convenience stores and keeps going to jail.
And the lady that's taking his picture at jail every time over the course of years.
This is mind blowing to me. Is always the same lady.
And Edwina. Yeah. Goes by Ed.
They, for some fucking reason, fall in love.

(08:11):
He gets out, proposes to her.
She leaves. I don't remember something, something.
They decide they want a kid. But it turns out that she's barren.
So you can find no purchase.
And but this rich, famous dude just had it.

(08:32):
Does the wife ever like appear in this next to him and their chasers?
She checks out. She has one line.
Weird. She's like the cool shot where they did everything in reverse from her mouth.
Oh, yeah. Then played it backwards. Yeah, that was cool.
Anywho, famous guy has five kids, right? Quince.

(08:53):
I can remember those four or five. Arizona quince.
It's more than one man. His name is his name is Nathan, Arizona.
His kids are named a bunch of all these and then Nathan Jr.
Yeah, it's like Larry, Gary, Jerry, Barry, and Nathan Jr.
And Nathan Jr. The good one. So we know which one's the favorite.
He's the best baby. You know, if they would have just told all of them so well,

(09:15):
if they would have just taken Ali, they probably would have gotten away with it.
Well, nobody wants an Ali. So they steal the kid.
He puts out a bounty. So this random fucking bounty hunter shows up and also wants the kid.
And also two criminal buddies of highs show up
and also decide they want the kid for said reward.

(09:38):
And basically the kids, a big old McGuffin, they all fight over it at the very end.
And high and Ed come up with it, but they return it to Nathan Arizona.
Well done. You want 10 seconds over.
Fuck you. Still pretty good. We talked about the screaming for a minute.
So yeah, you hit the mark.
I'm actually really proud of myself for that, because I'm fucking terrible at summarizing shit.

(10:01):
That was good. I mean, that is accurate. Yeah.
Yeah. So there is a terrific series of events in this.
Did you have a favorite scene or what? What?
What about this movie release? What does it for you?
I mean, it's absolutely fucking bonkers for one.
And there's so much plot. So like I was rewatching it earlier
and I knew the sequence of the movie and I had a moment where I was like,

(10:27):
holy fuck, there's still 40 minutes of this movie left and it's only been, I don't know what.
It's a 90 minute movie. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. It's a tight 90.
It's actually more like a tight 100, I think. But tight.
I started to get loose. Nice. 94. Thank you.
So you were both right. Yes. Yeah. Average.
Thanks, Peter. Between the two of us were average.

(10:48):
That's a very nice way of saying that you were wrong.
Oh, so you were both right.
But in general, I appreciate the zaniness.
When I was watching it, I turned to the person I was watching it with and said,
this movie or the events of this movie are so incredibly improbable.
And that's what I love about it, I think, is it's just like,

(11:11):
and this is kind of all Coen Brothers movies.
It's like, you know, you set up a premise and then something very improbable happens,
sends off a bunch of shit. And then, you know, depending on the movie more.
And then this all of it, there isn't a wasted moment of this film.
Every every scene fucking matters.
It is tight. It is executed very well.
And at a certain point, it just becomes a live action cartoon.

(11:33):
And it doesn't stop until the very end.
Yeah, because even this stuff that like doesn't really matter,
like his boss is Foreman Glenn and his wife, Francis McDormand.
Like that stuff doesn't matter in really any capacity, but it's fucking funny.
And it's great the cuts of him at work with that old guy.
He just fell in stock.
Talking about the story about finding a head.

(11:55):
Oh, man, the guy.
Well, OK, so the old guy at the bank
and the old guy at the gas station convenience store,
whatever, were my fucking favorite.
Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Absolutely necessary.
I know we just did Wild at Heart, but every time I watch both these, both that or this,
I know both movies end with a bank robbery.
And I can never remember outside of like who's there.

(12:19):
Like the series of events, I kind of always am like,
which one does someone get their hand shot off?
Yeah. And they're both like a seat banks or banks for sure.
Freezing it on the ground.
Which one is it?
If we get on the ground, we can't be freezing.
John Goodman in this just makes this movie for me.
Just him. The amount of scenes that it's just him screaming.

(12:42):
And it's great.
He has such a primal scream in it, too, like when he climbs out of the shithole.
Ah.
So you just escape from prison.
It's in the background.
But you know what? You deserve this.
Or just like two times they leave the baby.
When they're going back for the baby the first time and he's just screaming
and punching the roof of the car or when the the impact goes off.

(13:05):
All of it's so good.
It is fantastic.
I think on this third watch, I finally was just able to like completely turn my brain off
and just enjoy every aspect of this movie.
The thing that kills me about it is the writing is so good.
It's tight.
Everything about it is phrased in such a weird, bizarro way.
It's like nobody talks like this.

(13:26):
And it's amazing. It's so funny.
It's believable.
Like you're right. Nobody talks like that.
But also it's somehow executed in such a way that it's like not jarring.
That's exactly it.
It doesn't feel weird to hear it even though you're like no one says that.
Right. You're comfortable with the way they talk.
People always talk about like, I mean, I think this is well past this now with his last few movies.

(13:49):
But people would always talk about how Tarantino does such naturalistic dialogue.
But the Coen brothers do it so much better because it's actually focused and still feels like it's a real conversation.
How do you all feel about the West Wing guy?
Sorted.
Yeah. How do you feel about his dialogue?
West Wing social network.
A lot of walking and talking. There's a lot of like back and forth.
It's like Gilmore Girls for middle-aged dudes.

(14:13):
Yeah. I mean, I feel fine with it.
I feel like it is a good representation of like real patter in a workplace.
But it's also sort of like too on it or something.
I've heard it described as not how real people talk, but how we wish they talked.
That's a good way to put it.
And I want everyone to talk like they're from Raising Arizona or Fargo. Either one.

(14:35):
I want everybody to talk like they're from Wild at Heart.
Oh, that's good too.
Yeah. That's just so affected.
But Raising Arizona would be a solid choice.
High and Sailor seem like they might have, they could have been separated at birth.
Or met in prison and talked about crawdads and eating sand.
There's a real dangerous intersection for those two worlds.

(14:56):
Yeah.
John, had you seen this before?
Yeah. So I saw it like a while ago.
I'm going to say like 15 years ago, something like that.
And remember it being good.
Remember it being funny, zany, whatever.
But I couldn't remember any specifics about it.
And so when you all started doing the podcast, I rewatched it and remembered how amazing it was.

(15:17):
And then I think it was several months ago now.
But when you talked about me coming on here for this, I rewatched it again.
And then I've watched it twice in the last two days. So nice.
You've watched it now, technically more than we have.
Well, rewatches. But yeah, impressive.
Thanks. I understood the assignment more than we do.

(15:39):
Yeah, we're in charge of the show.
We all we have to do is just know slightly more than the person coming in
or at least be good at pretending when someone's like, did you guys know about this?
And we go, yeah, yeah.
Oh, the best part is just asking questions like,
so why do you think this is the movie that needs to go forward?
Because it's the definition of a Nick Cage movie.
It's absolutely fucking zany. He's amazing at it.

(16:03):
He's got this crazy character that he's the best at.
Unless you want to go really serious, I would say like this and Pig are like the complete opposites
and really good examples of the full spectrum of Nick Cage.
Which one's better?
I think Raising Arizona because it's a little bit more representative of his full career.

(16:25):
Save yourself a little bit. It's not going up against Pig today.
Not yet. Yeah, it's up to you guys.
I do. I agree.
I also fucking for asking me that question.
I asked part of this.
Technically, he wasn't asking you the question.
He was just giving an example of what we can ask as podcast hosts.
But it's what we were going to ask you.
So why do you think this needs to move forward this week?

(16:49):
We also we also have like 15 to 20 minutes more of time.
So we spent 10 minutes talking about nothing.
So we need to make a joke about that.
So Peter has to put it in.
I don't even remember what we're talking about anymore.
Just say that's a nice callback.
Oh, good. I'll definitely put that in.

(17:10):
And there's a very sincere apology.
Oh, great.
Okay.
So you know,
I think the podcast is going to be a very good podcast show.
It's going to be a good podcast show.
Yeah.
I think it's going to be a good podcast show.
It's going to be a good podcast show.
That's right.
It's going to be a good podcast show.
Has the podcast ever done a clip show?
I listened to this week in tech once a week or I used to.
And at the end of the year, they do a clip show.
It sounds like so much fucking work for you.
Yeah.

(17:31):
I mean,
it'd be one thing if I were like actually tucking good things aside
every time I edit an episode, but you think ahead.
Yeah.
No, I didn't bucket any of those.
All right.
You have to go back.
about absolutely everything Atlantic City require,
like related, but never talking about the film
and then moving on.
So now you need to put 20 minutes of that right here.
Perfect, done.

(17:52):
John, what's your favorite podcast memory?
One time I was listening to Stuff You Should Know.
Fuck you.
I mean, it was really holding out a lot of hope to think
that you would actually give us one of ours.
My favorite from this podcast is one of those little after

(18:12):
whatever stings and Nick said, do you think,
speaking of which, do you think Sting makes his sexual partners
sign non completes?
I love that one.
That's so good.
I was at work at my desk and I started laughing
and I got a couple of looks.
John, do you have a favorite?
You're not going to ask me.
Sean, do you have a favorite memory from this podcast?
When you lost your shit.

(18:32):
Oh, me too. That's my favorite.
The mom and dad episode.
Mom and dad in Next.
Just you.
Why is Colombo in this?
The thing is, like, it's great on the podcast,
but I very much remember just I've never seen you laugh like that before.
It was it was everything leading up to that.
It was just tickling me so much.
And then that was whatever reason, the fucking thing that kicked me over the edge.

(18:57):
We've been I've been chasing that high ever since.
Oh, yeah. The good days.
Yeah, we don't record like that anymore.
No, no fun anymore.
Never. Did we do favorite scene?
No, we haven't really hit like specific scenes.
Let's do the round robin favorite scene.
And John, you can kick it off if you want.
No, I'd rather not.

(19:17):
I will.
Thanks for coming on the podcast and talking about this fucking movie, asshole.
Hey, shut up. You gave me the like,
why should this be the best Nick Cage question?
Yeah, it's perfect.
Again, technically, he didn't.
Right. It was a prompt.
OK, my favorite scene this time when I was watching it is when high.

(19:39):
I think they've come back from stealing the Huggies and Evel and
the fuck is John Goodman's character's name, Dale and Dale and Evel
are sitting on the couch and around them just beautifully arranged
are like 22 Budweiser's. Yeah.
And they're just having this conversation about like high being sort of a cuck

(20:00):
and, you know, not having the balls to be the man in the situation.
And I just kept laughing about it because there's like one crushed up there
and it looks really normal.
But then there's like one inside of a cup somewhere.
And there's another one over here. It's just everywhere.
Yeah. The set dresser for that scene just had a great job of like
individual placement, like what makes this can fun?

(20:24):
Yep. And then Goodman goes to the fridge and gets three more.
The scene that got me this time and I always love this line, but
full disclosure, I was like watching this in the background while I was packing.
So just the scene that made me just stop what I was doing
and just get a good chuckle in is just sometimes I'd find myself
driving by convenience stores or even on the way home.

(20:44):
I'm always going to love
the Huggies theft scene just because it gets so crazy.
Like the dogs get involved.
And everybody's got a gun.
It is a terrific just farcical moment.
I also just I mean, in terms of his crime spree and all the scenes

(21:06):
where he's up for parole. Those are good.
Yeah. It's like, don't tell us what we want to hear.
Tell us the truth.
Well, I think the truth is what it's like.
Well, then I am going to tell you what you want to hear.
Well, what I tell you about telling us what we want to hear.
My favorite scenes are the one just the ones with the old guys.
Both of those are so masterful.
They're so dry.
Everything they said is just hilarious because of the way they say it.

(21:31):
And so unexpected.
Yep. I like that.
Yeah. The bank robbery is terrific.
So where are the tellers?
We're down here.
We're on the ground like you told us.
I also just I love the reason they don't want to leave the baby in the car
because if they die robbing the bank, then people
someone won't find the baby for hours.
So they take the baby into the bank. Yeah.

(21:51):
And then promptly forget the baby.
On top of the roof. Never leave a man behind.
I just love how everyone falls in love with the baby.
Such a good MacGuffin.
Well, he probably is the best baby.
He is the best one.
I think I got the best one.
They're all terrific.
I mean, I know this one's the best. Doesn't matter.
And I know this movie is it you're not supposed to think about

(22:12):
like how logistically any of this works, but it sounds like you're going
to bring up the point.
I love that.
But it's like the way they say it's like so they've had these babies for a while
because they're crawling. They're moving.
Yeah, they're not like that's not a newborn.
No, they have teeth. Yeah. Yeah.
How long does it take the fontanel to close up?
By the time you got teeth, your fontanels are getting pretty closed up.

(22:35):
You probably don't have to mind that fontanel too much.
It's pronounced fentanyl.
You should mind your fentanyl.
Yeah. I mean, it probably takes a minute to get home.
Like she was walking around and stuff.
If I just dumped out five kids, I probably wouldn't be walking so much.
Dumped out five kids.
Well, I mean, at that point, what do you think?

(22:55):
It's a shoot. Yeah.
One and two is pushing three kind of gets out before and five just sort of like
I've never thought of the logistics of like inside multiple babies.
But I just thought of like a bunch of like vocal chords hanging out.
And I got a weird I grossed myself out.
Do you think one comes out and then two through five just like firemen

(23:18):
pulls down the fifth one definitely does.
Yeah. I assume people just squat out five.
I never thought about it.
I assume it's one that's so simple, right? So.
And yeah, each one would have their own umbilical cord.
That's like a four course meal.
So many placentas is like a trees.
Identical twins versus no, that's just the eggs, right?

(23:40):
So identical twins are one egg that splits.
So is it always just one placenta?
I don't know. I don't know.
Let's ask our next guest about this.
I should ask my brother who has twins.
Yeah, I know. How many placentas per child?
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that our next guest
doesn't know anything about placentas, but we will check in.
Oh, OK. So fraternal twins will have individual placentas.

(24:03):
Identical twins may end up sharing a single placenta.
This is getting dangerously close to our next podcast.
PNs talk. Yeah.
Us trying to learn about shit that we should know.
No, we don't try and learn about it.
We just say it as if it's fact. Oh, that's right.
Well, man, we correctly instruct those who need instruction.
Jesus. Fuck you.

(24:25):
Why? It's been a long time since we've talked about penis talk.
That's true. I still identified as man when we did last time we did.
That's true. Yeah.
Oh, different times.
I can't wait to trans inclusionary
subject you by mansplaining to you.
Yeah. Trans inclusionary sexism.

(24:49):
It's what I have to look forward to in this life.
Oh, my God, I'm crying.
Oh, quote, quote, favorite quote.
Well, I'm going to read it.
Quote, quote, favorite quote, quote, quote, quote, quote, quote.

(25:10):
What does he say when he cocks a shotgun?
I think he just says, like, let's go get our baby or something like that.
But it's just this perfectly framed scene.
He goes, let's go get our baby.
And then it smash goes to something else.
The delivery is where it's at. Yeah.
Did you end up watching the weatherman?
I didn't. OK.
I thought about it and then I opted to watch this twice.

(25:30):
Yeah, I think that was a better choice.
Weatherman slaps. Yeah, it's good movie.
The last 15 to 20 seconds were great at this point.
Oh, yeah. You know, it ends now.
You're so it's ruined for you. Yeah.
He becomes a weatherman. He had a bow. That's true.
Yeah, he becomes Hawkeye.
Jesus Christ.
But for weather.

(25:51):
So he's like some weird storm Hawkeye combination shooting arrows.
It's a hurricane towards the people. Nice swords.
Yeah, he shoots swords out of his bow. Why not?
It's Hawkeye Hawkeye's brother is swordman.
Come at me, Marvel. What?
Yeah, he's like his brother is like a sword guy.
That's no God.
It was it was the Hawkeye is also the worst Hawkeye is the best.

(26:13):
Yeah, Hawkeye is not the worst plastic man's the worst.
That's a different universe.
You guys are going way too still sucks.
Anything with a movie is what I'm talking here.
Batman's the worst.
Batman's fucking not great.
I think Batman is a great character that's been way overdone
and like explored a little too far.
I think we need to like seriously sit down

(26:37):
and have a talk about Spider-Man one of these days.
Like I was going to say, we need to do that with Wolverine, but you're not wrong.
Yeah, it's to the point where like the editors aren't even entertaining
the thought of like Spider-Man ever getting back together with Mary Jane.
I don't know.
Also, I have not loved this whole jackpot shit with Mary Jane.

(26:57):
There's a whole lot going on right now with Spider-Man that I'm not so sure about.
No, to Spidey sense where we have Sean and Nick talking about my two Spidey sense.
Yeah, my two spots.
Oh, that's really good.
Yeah.
What else do you want to kind of put on tape about watching this multiple times?
Well, the easy thing to say is I watched it two days in a row and did not like

(27:19):
like I enjoyed both.
Not even upset about it.
Yeah, really, for real.
I'm not saying I would have done it, you know, if I wasn't coming to this.
But, you know, it's not like Joe, like.
Yeah, I don't think I watched that one a second time.
But it's not even like, oh, I don't know.
Pick a pick a fun Nick Cage movie.
It's not like a spirit of leaving Las Vegas.

(27:41):
Never seen it.
You're in for a romp.
Yeah, I've heard.
I'm also a listener, Nick.
Oh, shit.
We got to do something about that.
We might have just done that.
Patreon.com
slash cancel.
All right. Leave him out of the end.
Instinct.

(28:02):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing that keeps getting me is it's just a really amazing
movie that happens to have Nicolas Cage in it.
And he's really good at it, too.
I don't know.
If somebody's like, hey, picking the cage movie for me to watch,
this is probably what I would pick for them.
It's one of the most high energy Nicolas Cage movies, for sure.
If if I was just competing on like energy levels alone,

(28:23):
this is like top three, maybe with
maybe only like a vampire's kiss and.
G force.
G force, for sure.
Yeah, it's got that boom boom pow.
I always ask myself like whether how whether this movie works

(28:44):
with out Nicolas Cage and this one, the whole I mean, this whole cast is so perfect.
Like there's not a single wasted part.
There's not a single person that I would take out of this film
or think that anyone else could do a better job.
So like in terms of that, definitely high mark for Nicolas Cage film.
Yeah, I think for me, both of these movies really benefit

(29:06):
from having just fucking banger scripts, like absolutely great writing.
I think that this one cage does such an excellent job with that script.
Like what he brings to it is pretty unique.
And I think that's what makes it stand out to me is like, yeah,
you could put any other like late 80s dude into that role

(29:29):
and they would be fine, but it wouldn't hit the same way.
Well, I think work so well as his character is so nonchalant about everything.
It's all very monotone.
Yeah, he's like he is high energy, but he's also sort of like one note.
He's kind of he's he's kind of the straight man for all the wacky shit.
And it works so well.

(29:50):
So the ultimate question does come down to, John,
why does this movie need to go forward?
I already asked that.
Yeah, but we never actually asked you that.
Cut that in right now for the real part right now.
This is how you fix it in post.
Oh, I do want to bring up the no.
That's the question. Oh, yeah.
It's amazing. So like, yeah, it's set in 87.
But like most of the set dressing looks more like 75. Yeah.

(30:11):
And it was just so perfect.
I remember at one point they're sitting on their couch and it's that goofy,
like like various shades of tan pictures of barns and shit.
And I'm like, oh, my God, my grandparents had that when I was a kid.
I'm talking like 95.
Yeah. The wallpaper choices, especially in their trailer are stellar.

(30:32):
I mean, their starter home. Yeah. Right.
I do love the I want to go back.
The trailer fight always kills me.
It's just like close quarter, like combat between big people.
Someone's getting bounced into a ceiling.
Like ceilings are punching walls when you like just pull back.
It's everything comical about a good like close quarter fight.

(30:56):
Have you ever punched a wall like a sheetrock wall? I have.
I have to. And it is not fun.
No, they hold up pretty well.
They're good.
It's weird that something that's like fire preventative
for like two hours is so strong.
You wouldn't expect it.
But you can't go through the door.
Fire can't go through doors.
Not a ghost.
Kaelin wool, Nick.

(31:17):
And that's nice and light.
Kaeli Kaelin. Oh.
It is a super food.
I'm going to start packing.
Thanks for being here, John.
I'm going all natural now.
I'm just putting kale in my walls.
Yeah, there you go.
I thought you were saying I'm going to start packing your stuff,
so you'll leave sooner.

(31:39):
You're projecting a little bit.
Yeah, I don't need to pack it.
You've got a deck and a door right there.
I can just help you out right now and get out.
All right. Last thoughts.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, pow.
That's it. Holds up. It's great.
I love this movie every time I say I like it more every time I say it.
Yes. Good.
This movie makes me want to box a toddler and I love it.

(32:02):
Oh, man. It just gets me so excited.
Like, I mean, they everything.
I don't know. Like the energy is just so high.
It's so comedic.
I don't know. Box a toddler.
Yeah, I'm getting to that part. OK.
And it just gets me amped up that like I want to put on those
like comically large, like inflatable boxing gloves

(32:22):
and just knock over a four year old.
Like, I don't know if it's an uppercut or if I hit him with like a hook.
But that's still a toddler for me.
I think you're just a kid.
Oh, I could go younger.
I would say two, three is toddler. Sweet.
Who's got a two year old?
I know. Well, one of our friends has a three year old, you know.

(32:42):
Yeah. Well, you pushing it.
But she's almost a kid.
Well, we'll see.
Oh, so she's ready to learn life's lessons. Right.
Yeah. This movie just gets me amped up.
I love just the energy and the inclusion of everything.
Like to have this kind of wacky ass story about
stealing a baby because somebody has too many babies.
Beautiful. Highly improbable.

(33:05):
Yeah, it's very improbable.
Kidnappings happen every day, John.
Name three. Lindbergh.
That happened today.
We got one. I got nothing else.
Fucking John Rene Ramsey. Nick, one more.
One more. That wasn't a kidnapping.
She got murdered by her parents.
But those kidnappings end in murder. Allegedly.

(33:26):
Allegedly. For legal reasons.
Take it. There we go. That's great.
Yeah, Steve. That guy's really bad.
It's just like knowing where his family is at any given time.
Yeah, they keep trying to take him. It's bad.
Yeah. Final thoughts.
Good for us. Bad for them.
Go ahead, John.
Well, I was just going to give you actual final thoughts
because I felt bad for just saying yes earlier.

(33:46):
That's half of my participation.
What? Just yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Good. You're the yes, man.
Movie good. Yeah.
No, but for real, like it's a high quality movie.
You all have said everything there is to be said about this movie.
Yeah, but we don't remember what we said.
So it's new to us.
I also don't remember what you said.
All right. So it's new to you, too.
Well, it's not even the listeners.

(34:08):
You're the listener.
Allegedly.
No, it's why should this movie go forward, John?
For real. It's a it's a great movie.
Nick Cage is amazing in it.
It's really early in his career.
It's before his Oscar, which I think is really fun.
Yeah, I legit think this is Nick Cage's best movie except for maybe Pig.
But again, they're, you know, very polar opposites.

(34:29):
So well, thank you, John.
Do you have anything you want to plug?
Um, next, but.
Nice.
Well, we get some drinks later.
We do that. We don't have to wait till later.
Well, so that the bye bye goes there.
I know this podcast.

(34:49):
Do you know how editing works?
I can do whatever I want.
Like you can put in that time, Nick said multiple times.
He could, but he won't because he knows what's good for him.
Adios.
It's good to see you again.
It's been a long time. Yeah, it has.
It's been a really long time since you left Seattle.

(35:11):
So, yeah, yeah, it's been what?
Like 10 years more than that, but 12 years, something like that.
I think I've been up here for 12 and I think you and Lisa
were here too much longer after I showed up.
Yeah, no, it's about 12 years.
Crazy. Once I enter a city, it's fair.
Creates an exit point.

(35:31):
Uh huh.
It's just a clear and easy out.
They're just like, you know, things change.
I don't know. I just.
I've been here since.
I am moving to Portland in a week.
Yeah, we get it. That's fine.
I'm like stank on Portland already, too.
So you're not going to like it either.
But you're not there now.
This everywhere you go, you just leave a wake of Nick in your in your pack.

(35:56):
You know, we've established that Nick is just the generic like
shape of like just white guy.
So I see Nick everywhere I go. Yeah.
Yeah, I am the best kind of white guy.
It's sort of an I am Spartacus situation where everyone just sort of stands up
and is like, I'm Nick.
Then there's Jack and then Jack.

(36:18):
Yeah, which still sounds like a slur.
It does.
This is the best kind of Nick.
How are things going up there?
It's wet.
Yeah.
Spider. Yep.
Spider season.
Got to love spider season.
Yeah. Yeah.
No, things are going great.
Stop doing entertainment.

(36:39):
I didn't have that kind of heart in it for myself anymore.
Fair. And now I just make three times as much being an electrician.
I mean, it's hard to argue with that math.
Yeah. Yeah, that seems pretty good.
It's very reasonable.
Like, it's OK that I went to college and I'll pay it off this way.
Yep, absolutely.

(37:01):
You know, our backstories really aren't that different.
No, I make so much more money doing web development
than I ever did as an illustrator. Absolutely.
I feel like that's sort of the story of our entire generation.
We like we went to school for something artistic.
And then at some point, we found out that we actually had to make money
doing something else.

(37:21):
Yeah, Scott warned us like early on.
He's like, hey, guys, you're going to be poor if you do this for a living.
And it's like every year he'd start out like, hey, guys, here's my speech.
Get ready to be poor.
It's a spirit.
Yeah. Full of love and happiness.
Nope. Yeah.
And if you're lucky, you'll have some high highs,

(37:42):
but those low lows are guaranteed.
Yeah, exactly.
This is a nice segue into depression,
which I think is a yes theme of the weatherman.
Agreed. Well done. Yeah, I know.
We're basically like describing the early life of Dave Spritz here, right?

(38:04):
Dave Spritz, Al.
And we have our special guest this week.
Hey, I'm Alec Wilson.
Very nice to be on the podcast.
Yeah. Thanks for being here.
So you're our first or this is your first time with us.
Not to require a second time.
We'll leave that open.

(38:25):
But this is my first time here to all of us.
My name's Alec Wilson.
I went to school with Nick, for better or worse.
I'm an actor.
I spent several years going around the country,
doing theater, various places before I landed in L.A.
I was there for about 10 years,

(38:46):
appeared in some small films and some small roles in TV shows.
And now I'm here to pimp the weatherman as it goes.
The logical progression as it goes.
It's like the career arc.
Weatherman is a certain point in the career arc.
And it's it's dead center for me.
You know, I did want to talk about that.
I'm just going to talk about it now.

(39:07):
There was like I remember the weatherman being that kind of kind of peak
of when like Nick Cage movies were were advertised as kind of the thing to say.
Like, I feel like that kind of quickly went downhill after this.
Yeah, it did.
There was definitely like a pocket and then it collapsed really rapidly.

(39:28):
So it's like right, right near the end of the window,
because this came out, what same year's Lord of War,
which I think you guys already eliminated, right?
Oh, that movie sucks.
That was. Yeah, yeah.
That and this were both kind of like that last year of just like Nick Cage movie.
And this movie is great.
And Lord of War, not. Yeah.
Yeah. And yet I think Lord of War got like got all of the advertising

(39:53):
money between the two Nick Cage movies.
Like, I remember ads for Lord of War, and that was, you know, 20, 20 years ago.
I still remember those ads.
Listen, Michael Caine, don't come cheap.
Well, and I mean, Lord of War is getting another.
It's getting a sequel potentially, which is, you know, like it's insane.
That movie is not that good.

(40:13):
It's not that interesting, but it has to cloud is to your point, you know.
Well, I want to let go in the second one, so that'll be better.
Yeah, no, but I think I think you're absolutely right.
Like there were two Nick Cage movies that year.
One of them was good and went completely under everybody's radar.
And the other one was pretty terrible.

(40:35):
And his career was really in the process of falling off a cliff
like there or shortly thereafter.
Yeah, because as we've talked about, the next things up is Ant
Bully World Trade Center, Wicker Man Ghost Rider one.
Guesting on Grindhouse, then next.
What was adaptation?
Adaptation was 2002.

(40:58):
And this weatherman was 2005.
OK, 2005. Yeah.
Ant Bully, I I've only heard the title like once or twice,
but I feel like that's a film I could really get into.
It's animated like pushing around some Karens or something.
Are we just getting violent and like a wine like a siphon?

(41:19):
Exactly. Sippin paint, siphon paint. Yeah.
I had seen this movie shortly after it came out originally
and then hadn't seen it for 20 years until I watched it just a couple of weeks ago.
And then I watched it again a couple of days later
just because I realized I had forgotten just how freaking fantastic this movie is.

(41:42):
There are things like the that tartar sauce stream of consciousness
that like as soon as it started, I was like, oh, right.
I remember just laughing my ass off watching this for the first time.
It's so good.
Nothing in cinema ever beats Michael Caine
dropping camel toe the first time.

(42:04):
And the way he just won't stop saying it during that first scene.
Just I just I just rewatched this movie.
David, do you know what camel toe is?
It is atrocious American dialect.
Oh, it's so bad.
Just rewatching this right before like we started recording today
and just his final scene with his son and the great advice he gives him,

(42:26):
which is sometimes you just have to chuck things in this shit life.
Yeah. Sometimes you just chuck shit.
This is like my stump speech for this movie.
The reason I one of the reasons I really, really love this movie
is because it's like a perfect anti typical Hollywood narrative movie.

(42:46):
Because if you if you were to approach somebody with this script and say, listen,
this is going to be the guy's last conversation with his dad.
He's going to have words of wisdom to impart to him.
What's this powerful message going to be?
Sometimes you got to give up on shit, right?
What Hollywood executive is going to go? Yeah, check.
We'll do that. No, they're going to say, oh, no, it needs to be something meaningful

(43:11):
and aspirational and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I think it takes like Gore Verbinski in the middle of making the Pirates franchise,
which is making everybody in Hollywood
like more money than they could possibly imagine to get studio backing
for this script like it is just a perfect chain of events

(43:34):
that this movie can even exist at all.
I do love those like weird little passion projects where, yeah, like
Gore Verbinski is making all the money in the world.
And he's like, what do you want to do next?
Like, I want to do this weird thing with Nicolas Cage being sad.
Yeah. Yeah.
I want to like do a film about divorce and midlife crises.

(43:55):
Something that a lot of people will identify with.
Well, at least three people I identify with in a good 20 years. Yeah.
I also watched this movie
like in shortly after it came out on DVD and then didn't watch it again
until this podcast.
And I remember liking it.
And I was excited when we got to it the first time.
And I'm like, oh, good. This movie is is good.

(44:16):
My memory of this isn't right.
It's grown on me so many times now.
It's like the first time I watched it, I was like, I like it.
But I'm not like blown away by it.
You know, the structure of our podcast means that like
good movies go up against bad movies. They get whittled down.
So I was like, it seems like a slam dunk moving forward kind of situation.
The second time I watched it, I was like, I like it more.

(44:37):
Third time, I'm like, this movie fucking rules. It's so good.
We just need to get you to watch Ghost Rider five more times.
We love it. I will never like Ghost Rider.
That movie sucks.
Shit. It can take jelly beans right to fucking hell.
This movie is like one of those adult ice creams that you try the first time.
And you're just like, oh, fucking pralines.

(44:58):
I don't need that.
Shaking me some of the cocoa puffs in it.
And then like the next time, you know, it's like, you know,
that's actually like a good it's a fine pairing.
And it's OK. I like it.
You know, it's a nice day.
And pretty soon you're just like, fuck, yeah, dude, give me
give me those fucking candied walnuts and booth.
Those pralines right up my.
Yeah.
Somebody shove a praline on my.

(45:21):
I got to get this Sunday started.
Whoop whoop.
All I want is candied walnut and praline ice cream.
Now, where do I find that?
Well, I got one place that'll serve it is definitely soft serve.
That didn't take long.
That's the one.

(45:42):
That's it. That's the joke.
That's the one you hit my limit.
Fuck, yeah. All right.
You're out. You're finally free.
That's one more friend group out the window.
One fewer social obligation.
I just had to make a bad, bad poop joke.
I didn't have to leave town.
That's it. Looks like I'm moving to Portland.
No. Ignore that big box in the corner.

(46:07):
That just says Nick on it.
Yeah, the one with the air holes.
This end up
definitely doesn't smell like farts and spiders.
So from like a performance perspective,
like as an actor, what do you think about the performances in there
across the spectrum of the people in this movie, not just Nick Cage?

(46:28):
So let's let's set aside Michael Caine's dialect and just
just acknowledge that it's not great if we can.
Let's just let that live in its own little world of why wasn't this character
just English? It wouldn't have changed anything.
But I think the the performances in this movie are fantastic.

(46:48):
A Nick Cage, he's doing something he rarely, rarely does,
which is like a very kind of subtle grounded performance.
It's incredibly naturalistic, everything he's doing.
And he's very, very funny in it, but in a very dry way,
which is not what you think of when you think a typical Nick Cage performance.

(47:12):
You think, you know, like vampires kiss or something,
these huge over the top moments.
And this movie, there's like none of that throughout this entire movie,
maybe one or two moments.
The rest of it is these little tiny looks.
And I think that's one of the reasons it gets better on rewatching,
because you pick up more of those little subtle moments that he's layering in.
One thing I noticed this time just about his acting,

(47:35):
the scene that really stuck out to me is no dialogue whatsoever.
It's when him and Shelley are when he's buying her the clothes
and she's like coming out with all the different outfits and just his like,
it's all silent, just music over and you see Nick Cage just kind of hamming it up
and just great like body work and great like physical acting.

(47:55):
It's the most joy you see him
experience while parenting the whole film.
It's true. Maybe ever. Yeah.
It's the only time you see her, Shelley, have like any joy in the entire movie,
except for like a brief twinkle behind her eyes when she talks about
bow hunting and killing small animals.
Oh, yeah, she's probably a serial killer. Yeah.

(48:17):
So sociopathy definitely on the spectrum for her.
I mean, that's that's a perfect transition because Shelley is
like maybe the most scene stealing kid in a movie.
She's right up there. She's so good.
Yeah, we've aligned her.
We have a good kid, bad kid like toggle that we have in this pod.

(48:42):
She's definitely a shitty child, but we love Shelley so much.
We stand a legend for her shittiness.
Like most shitty kids in this in the Nicolas Cage filmography suck.
But Shelley's a shitty kid that we we support.
There's handpan than every other kid.
Pretty much. Yeah.
Handpan, Shelley, every other kid, but there's like a good a good break.

(49:03):
There's a big gap. Yeah.
Where you say like, well, handpan's a good kid.
And Shelley's a bad kid, but fucking awesome.
Yeah. The way she orders cigarettes
and just like ask for a pair like strikes strikes.
So cool. I love Shelley.
Yeah, she's the best.
Well, like Nick Holt is just a young Nick Holt, who I just I love his work now

(49:28):
and just to go back and just see that.
You know, his acting is pretty bad, but he's a teenager.
You know, it's not the best of his career.
And you can see like the starts of what he will be.
But it's not his finest work.
No. Although I do have to say in defense of Nicholas Holt, like his performance,
he's kind of like a sullen, mumbly teenager through most of it.

(49:50):
But his American dialect is better than Michael Caine's.
Yeah, very good point.
And he hasn't had nearly as much time in the craft to sharpen that one.
Michael, this is true.
I understand. Like, why would you ever bother with accent work?
Like, just play on it. You fucking are. Yeah.
You you. Yeah, you're Michael Caine.

(50:12):
Let's get let's get Michael Caine as a Southern gentleman.
Like, no.
Oh, he was supposed to be like the great American author.
And yeah, it's weird.
It's kind of like the same, like the rumored reason why Constantine
isn't British in the county movies, because they're like, we need a big name.
Let's get Keanu Reeves only to find out he can't do a British accent.

(50:33):
Do you think they ask Nicholas Cage to train up Michael Caine on a Boston accent?
No, this is oh, no, this was this was Boston time.
Yeah, this would be the height of the Nicholas Cage Boston accent.
This is where he gets his best.
He's left Southern behind full on Boston.
Just all Boston cop from here on out.

(50:55):
Why would you want anything else?
No, I mean, have you ever seen the 9-11 movie?
I haven't, actually. I haven't. No.
Well, it's got Michael Pena doing just an incredible job.
Yeah, he's very good.
Nicholas Cage does a Boston accent for a New York cop.
Is it is it just wonderful?

(51:15):
It's it's what I live for.
So actually, it does.
It brings up an interesting question, Alec.
What is your relationship to Cage?
You know, have you seen a billion of his movies?
Have you seen 10?
I've seen a lot of them.
I haven't seen all of them.
I looked through the bracket.
I think I've seen somewhere between somewhere around

(51:36):
like two thirds of the movies on that list, I think.
Pretty good. There's there's a decent number of the especially the more obscure
ones that I haven't seen, but I have seen a lot of them.
And I mean, this this is a tough week because of the ones that I've seen,
like this could be the final for me.
Like these are two of my very favorite Nicholas Cage movies of all time.
This in Raising Arizona, which it like it's tough for me to like

(52:00):
try and get the edge on Raising Arizona because I also love that movie.
But you got to love like The Rock, right?
For its special little place.
But in terms of just what what is a great movie?
It's this one for me.
It's The Weatherman.
It is incredibly well acted.
Like I consider this an adult comedy.

(52:20):
I mean, it's not like a like raunchy comedy.
It's it's your like, I don't know, intellectual comedy.
Like, does it fall in the same like world space as like sideways?
We're like, you want to feel good or like,
what's that movie that Will Ferrell did?
Stranger than fiction. Oh, sure.
So sort of that kind of like world space of like, yeah, it's darker,

(52:41):
but it's still funny.
It's not just like and it touches like real world.
Like things like depression and divorce.
And yeah, it doesn't belittle or demean anything.
BJ's lacked enthusiasm.
The funny the funny in this movie is like

(53:01):
it's just enough like of that really dark, dry humor
to like make the bitter pill at the core of this movie go down,
which is like another reason that like this is a movie
that's going to fly under everybody's radar because nobody wants to hear
that like maybe you should just give up.
Maybe what you need to do is delete the novel that's on your hard drive.

(53:22):
Like, that's not an easy thing to hear, but it's an important thing to hear.
Oh, I love just his inner monologue throughout this movie and like his thinking
and just like how relatable that is to depressive states
and like very real life inner monologues that I've had at times.
But I just the one that sticks out to me is when he's after

(53:45):
after got hit with the apple pie and he's like, you know,
right before he beats up the pedophile talking about how it's like, you know,
Thomas Edison didn't get pies thrown at him.
It's like then right before like right when he gets up to the gate, he's just like
clowns get pies thrown at them.
And there's that moment right when he's like, oh, he's about to realize something.
Then he's like, nope, got to go beat someone up.
Yeah, yeah.

(54:05):
But that moment of realization, then he beats the shit out of the guy.
Then he picks right back up walking back.
So nobody ever threw a pie at Harriet Tubman,
but a million fucking dollars nobody ever threw a pie at Harriet Tubman.
No, his in his inner monologue, I think, is what really seals
this movie for me and a lot of a lot of conversations is it's just so like clearly.

(54:32):
I mean, I identify with it because of like how often I go in and out of
like something with myself and it's I don't know, it's relatable and it's stupid.
You mentioned the tartar sauce scene.
I can't tell you how many times I like my brain just wanders.
It's not necessarily about like who or who does not enjoy eating pussy.

(54:53):
But I mean, it's on record, we know.
But I don't know.
Like focusing is not my strongest suit.
So when I see a scene like that, I'm like, yeah, OK, I get it.
I understand.
I have to ask you how many times during a given day
does the random thought I wish I had two dicks just pop into your brain?

(55:15):
OK, so recently I found a news article about a guy
who may have died without ever knowing that he had three penises.
I just heard about this. Yeah, it blew me away.
What? Yeah. What?
So apparently his testicles were extra penises and he didn't like
may not have known that there were extra dicks instead of just
instead of balls in his ball sack.

(55:38):
And this is only the second.
So it is the second record.
It's happened again where some other guy had three penises.
You know, I've gone back and forth on the two penis situation before.
The two penis problem.
Obviously, you have a two penis problem.
Weighing the pros versus the cons. Yeah.
Clearly, you want like top bottom stackers.

(56:01):
Yeah, you don't want side to side. You don't want side stackers.
No, that's no good to anybody.
Yeah, it seems to be the way it often comes out.
Yeah, it's class.
Classes are side by side.
Yeah. Clasper, the friendly ghost.
Oh, shark dicks.
I'm going to get a clasp for the friendly ghost tattoo and you can't stop me.
Is that going to be your tattoo?

(56:23):
It's going to be my Peter tattoo.
Oh, don't do it.
Two dicks. Never forget.
Yeah, New York skyline with just two penis.
Nothing wrong with this. I support fully.
Rigidly. Yeah.
Turgid. Turgid.

(56:43):
I love that word.
But yeah, so I'm all for multiple penises.
I've definitely put it on the record.
Yeah. On a day to day basis, do I think about it?
Maybe not. But I think it gets like a monthly check in.
Yeah. Honorable mention.
Like there's got to be some time where I'm like, you know,

(57:03):
it would be really helpful right now.
Second dick. Just to have a spare, you know.
Sure. I mean, this one's busy.
Yeah. Tap this one in.
This one could be doing other stuff like taxes.
Yeah. All my debt taxes.
This one's really good at typing for some reason.
Why the government really takes their cut.

(57:25):
Oh, God.
I don't even know how to get out of this.
You were talking earlier about like the internal monologue
and about how I like really kind of like seals a lot of things.
And all the way to the end of the film, I think one that really got me
was like his acceptance during an internal monologue
where he's like in the parade and he's like, oh, you know,

(57:46):
you know, I'm behind station 47.
All right. But I'm in front of SpongeBob and that's OK.
And, you know, he found his place and that's good.
You know, he makes a dick ton of money, like two dick tons of money.
And yes, one point two million in 2005 bucks is still that solid money.
Yeah, man. That's good.

(58:07):
It's two deck money. It's two dick money.
That is absolutely two deck money.
This brings up this brings up another point I wanted to make about
like this, if this movie through the lens of being a Nicolas Cage movie.
So I ran into an interview with Verbinski.
It was it was actually he was doing a junket tour

(58:31):
and it was specifically for the weatherman.
The interview was supposed to be for the weatherman.
They talked about the weatherman for like the first third.
And the rest of it was all questions about the pirates movies.
Yeah. I mean, they're not going to ask me about the Mexican.
No, no, definitely not.
But he said when he got the script, like he loved the script.

(58:54):
And then he like had some prior relationship with the cage
and he sent the script to Nick Cage.
And he came back and said, look, I I really want to do this.
Like, this is me.
I don't have to act. This guy is me.
And if you think about what was going on in Nick Cage's life and who he is,
like his his dad's a lit professor, his uncle's,

(59:15):
Frantz Ford Coppola talk about a father figure you can never live up to.
He'd been divorced, I think, twice at this point.
He's very financially successful,
but probably feels like artistically he's not where he wished he was.
Like it all lines up for this being Nicholas Cage around age 40.

(59:37):
And I think that's that's part of like that's part of why his performance
in this is feels so effortless and so good because he just steps into it
and brings like his real life to.
It's definitely kind of like just an old slipper or something.
Like he just kind of exists in this role.
Like it just fits around him very wonderful.

(59:58):
There is something about the performance that is, I guess,
so naturalistic and so real and raw to where even like I look, think of
adaptation or what's leaving Las Vegas, like the kind of big ones for him.
But like where he's acting great, but it's, you know,
acting as opposed to this, we're just like, no, this this just feels real

(01:00:19):
in a way that I don't think most of his performances do.
Yeah, that's really well put.
There are those little short snippets where he's like looking in the mirror
and he puts on his like shitty grin and then it kind of falls just for a fraction.
It's like, oh, God, that feels so fucking real.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
There's a moment like that with the the the fast food internal monologue thing.

(01:00:43):
We just talk about people throwing, you know, it's always something
they'd rather throw away than then finish.
And it gets down to the end of it.
And there's this like pause.
It's just long enough.
And then I am fast food and it all that it hits.
It's so good. It's so good.
Yeah, you hurt for him a little bit at that moment.
Yeah, you got to think about like the Nicolas Cage filmography

(01:01:05):
and him saying I am fast food and like thinking about Gore Verbinski,
like coming to terms with like he's forever going to be that dude
who's famous for making movies based on a ride at Disneyland.
Right. Exactly.
Yeah, this is terrific.
I love I love that identification between director and actor.

(01:01:27):
The personal touch, I think, really comes through for both of them.
One of those rare situations where like the right script
hits the right people at the right time and the right people.
And they have enough clout to actually get a green light.
Yeah, it's one of those magic in a bottle movies
and and flies under everybody's radar
because it was never going to be commercially successful,

(01:01:51):
which is why Lord of War got better billing than it.
But, you know, whatever.
This is one of those films where, you know, when I ask,
is this movie made better by Nick Cage?
Like no one else could have done this film
and done it this well. I can't that I can think of.
Yeah, I agree with that.
That's an important assessment.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's really perfect casting.
Yeah, at this point, that's ultimately what I'm looking for in these films

(01:02:13):
is like how much of this does Nick Cage sell
and this whole movie works on him.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Contrast, of course, to the other film to Raising Arizona.
If you ask the same question,
I could say that, like, obviously Nicholas Cage makes the role,
but the Coen brothers could have cast anybody

(01:02:35):
and they could have made a fantastic film regardless.
Right. And they really maybe wanted to after that movie, maybe not enjoy him.
I can't imagine not enjoying him.
Not to get like too deep into the other movie, but hey,
I think you're absolutely right.
Like that movie rests on the strength of the Coen brothers imagination.

(01:02:57):
And like the strong by far,
I think the strongest performance in that movie is Holly Hunter.
She's so ridiculously good.
But bringing it back to this one, because we haven't talked about Hope Davis
speaking of female leads, and she's amazing in this movie as well.
Yes. Also, still to this day, my all time just Hollywood crush.

(01:03:18):
I don't know. Even even now, just I fucking love Hope Davis.
Her getting hit with the snowball and just being like, the fuck, Dave?
Yes. It's so good.
I think I think my my favorite moment that she has in this
is when they're in the restaurant after the like trust building thing
and he starts going off about it wasn't science fiction.

(01:03:40):
One of the characters was a scientist and the moment of realization
she has that he immediately read the paper is so good.
Yeah. Dave, fuck you.
Fuck you.
He is just a shitty partner.

(01:04:02):
There are so many moments in this movie
where you just want to slap him upside the head, but that's like the biggest one
immediately goes in the bathroom.
You're like, I know why you're doing it, but fuck, dude, pull it together.
Sorry, I love that he goes into the bathroom and pulls out the note
and then another guy walks in behind him.
He's just like, oh, it's cool.
Hey, what's up? Yeah.

(01:04:23):
And then it's like you piece of shit.
And then, of course, we I mean, we have to mention the like, I hated you.
That's why I lacked enthusiasm when your cock was in my mouth.
That's such a fucking brutal line.
Yeah, it's so brutal.
You can't come back from that.

(01:04:45):
No, no, no, there's no coming back.
I mean, that was especially rude because all he said was that they lacked enthusiasm
and she brings the hate when your cocks in my mouth game.
It was there's some definite escalation there.
Yeah.
He's like, I don't know, man.
It wasn't my favorite.
Nope. I hate having poor Shelly, poor Shelly, like opening the front door

(01:05:09):
at exactly the wrong moment to hear that.
Shelly just brutal.
I'll be in the background for some of the best just parts like Shelly.
Why are you here?
It's because Shelly's too adult for her own good.
Yeah, totally.
I love all the outfits and they all have hats.
It's very New York minute kind of thing.

(01:05:30):
Yeah.
She just looked like an extra from Blossom or something.
Totally. I do.
Definitely. This movie ends on such like it's been such kind of a downer
and very like, you know, just kind of the whole thing is about acceptance
accepting your role and your your lot in life.
And we have that kind of more upbeat ending where he has like a moment

(01:05:50):
of realization that, you know, people don't throw stuff at him anymore.
And, you know, maybe it's because they respect him.
But then he has that little beat than a moment of realization.
Or maybe it's just because I carry a weapon with me now.
Maybe it's because I'm carrying a bow.
Do you guys have favorite scenes from this?
I love when he beats up the pedophile.
That's pretty good.
I always kind of come back to

(01:06:15):
when he's like at his father's living wake,
when he doesn't get to give his speech or whatever.
And Iraq. Yeah.
So he's just outside or I may have this
timeline wise backwards a little bit, but he's just outside like
shooting his bow and Russ is there and fuck Russ.
And then he's just going to aim his bow at Russ.
And then it's super threatening and very dark for everybody who's there.

(01:06:39):
That's right. He found out that there she's going to marry Russ.
That's right. It's before it's right for the speeches.
Yeah, before the speech. Yeah, yeah.
One that we haven't talked about yet that I absolutely love is right after he
he comes back to the house after he finds out what's happening,
what's happened with his son.
He comes back to the house and Russ is there.

(01:06:59):
He just smacks him in the face with the glove.
And it's one of my favorite lines in the movie is afterwards.
Here's something if you want your father to think you're not a silly fuck,
don't slap a guy across the face with a glove, because if you do that,
that's what he'll think unless you're a nobleman or something in the 19th century,
which I'm not.
I do. If I'm being serious, one of my favorite scenes is early on when he's like

(01:07:24):
when we first meet his dad and his dad's like in the doctor's office
and ask him to go get a newspaper and then just the thing felt like
he gave Shelley all his cash.
He had a dollar and a quarter.
Like the thing closes too soon.
So he tries to get change, can't get change.
So he does all the things to like give his father what he wants.
And it just doesn't kind of just a series of events happen.
And when his dad comes out, he has the coffee that cost him five more cents

(01:07:47):
than he thought.
And his dad just like wears the newspaper.
It's like, oh, I couldn't afford it.
But you could afford coffee. It's like.
Yes.
It's like you should carry more than a dollar. Just like, oh,
that's just it should carry more than a dollar, David.
It just like just all that stuff sucks so much.
But it's such a great little microcosm of what the rest of this movie is going to be.

(01:08:07):
Him getting told three times that he needs to carry money
because he's an adult is so good, but especially when Shelley.
Yeah, exactly. You need more than a dollar, dad.
There was only a dollar in the you should carry more money.
It's just the best lecture, especially now in a time when nobody carries money.

(01:08:28):
That was the weirdest thing.
The first time I watched this movie being like living in a largely cashless society.
Now it's just like, oh, yeah, money used to bring money. Yeah.
Can I get having no change?
Getting change for things. Yeah, that used to be a thing.
And that guy that fucking get at the Arby's
was just like this 72 cents plus the whole thing.

(01:08:53):
But you little fuck, you don't get to charge me eight cents for fucking nothing.
You were getting Arby's.
Can I get change? Not really.
What a piece of shit.
The book and the book ends on the movie of the guys asking for his autograph.
The first guy in the DMV and the last guy.

(01:09:16):
And this is something that really hit me on my second watch through this time is,
you know, he comes out of the DMV scene saying, oh, people, you know,
ask for my sometimes people recognize me, sometimes they're assholes.
But like the dude wasn't being an asshole until he started being an asshole in that scene.

(01:09:36):
And it's and down at the end of it, the exact same thing.
All he does is ask for his autograph and he has a perfectly nice interaction with this dude.
And it's such a perfect little book end of like
he starts the movie as the kind of guy who creates his own misery.
And by the end of the movie, he's figured out how to not do that.
And it's it's such a powerful little book end there.

(01:09:58):
I love it. I love it.
Two Dick money will do that to you.
True enough. Yeah, that's a serious growth to take growth.
To take money buys a lot of growth growth.
Hey, to take money is hard to come by. So fuck.

(01:10:18):
I got hard and come in that.
I know that's impressed.
Like I am kind of mad that I didn't do that.
Yeah, this I fucking love this movie.
It's so well written.
So it's a ride.
The real question now, why does this film deserve to go forward in the bracket?

(01:10:39):
Particularly knowing what it's up against.
Yeah, I like I said, this is this is a tough one because
like when when Nick originally contacted me about this, he was like,
oh, here's here's the movies that are still available.
We need somebody to talk about it. I was like, Weatherman done.
And I was thinking about it later.
I was like kind of comparing it in my brain and I was like, OK,
Weatherman against this, against this, against this.

(01:11:02):
All right. As long as it's not up against Raising Arizona,
I think it'll be a cakewalk.
And now it's up against Raising Arizona.
So this is tough for me.
But I will say this.
I think that The Weatherman is a very, very expertly made movie.
It's got a lot of very skilled craftsmen behind it
who are like at the peak of their careers or have been veterans in their career.

(01:11:27):
Raising Arizona, while it has
just balls to the wall imagination, the Coens, I think, are still kind of
finding their voice and finding their style.
It's not quite as assured when you get down to the nitty gritty of the filmmaking.
One of the things that really popped this out for me was in The Weatherman,

(01:11:49):
when they do the there's a flashback, it's right after.
Well, the tartar sauce is the beginning of the flashback.
And then they jump like halfway forward to a conversation with his dad
where he's telling him he's going to leave and then back to the present.
And it feels completely seamless.
But if you sit down and try and figure out how to do that,

(01:12:09):
it's not an easy thing to do, but they do it with editing
and the way they do the sound editing around it.
It's great. It's brilliantly done.
It's those small things that you don't notice unless you're looking
unless you're looking for them.
And Raising Arizona doesn't have much of that.
It's it's a much lower budget film for one, which I'm not saying to be against it.

(01:12:31):
They just didn't have the same kind of resources.
And there's still it's a very guerrilla style film,
which limits the amount of things they can do with it.
And I think because Weatherman had more resources
and because the people making it had more just experience under their belt,

(01:12:53):
they were able to make a much more polished finished product.
I agree. Yeah.
Yeah. Yes. Well, put.
Yes. Exactly.
Just give the Nick. Yes. At the end. Yeah.
So there have been far fewer edibles involved in today's recording.
And so I can give you more than just yes. Yes, please.

(01:13:16):
But yeah, that that and I mean, what we were talking about earlier with
if if you're looking at this through the lens of what is the best Nick Cage movie,
the fact that this was such like a pinpoint accurate movie
for him at this time in his life is.
I think through that lens, this one's got to take it.
OK. Yeah. I mean, I mean, we're going to get into all of that here.

(01:13:39):
And we're going to get all into all that here shortly.
Just I can't tell you you're right or wrong.
I still need to go have a two day moment in the bathroom
before I fully realize what's going on.
Fully realize case closed.
You're under the prosecution rests.
Yeah, exactly.
Actually, Sean, why don't you have one of those mirrors that I could like

(01:14:01):
open up in like a trifecta that makes it look like I have three dicks
when I look at my reflection?
That's a failing.
Yeah, you need to.
That's a moral fail.
Your new place better have that three dick energy.
Do you really want the hollow illusion of the three dick energy, though?
I mean, that's just going to let you down when you try and put it into practice.

(01:14:22):
I'll just take like concept photos so that when I get
what has human centipede for started up, once I get my script down for that,
you put it in the pitch deck.
Yeah, it'll be three dick energy like the last person in the chain.
It's like, yeah, you're the last person in the chamber.
I'm going to give you three dicks and I'm going to ask myself

(01:14:45):
so that nobody else has to go through that.
I think I'm really locking down what makes this film really good for me.
Absolutely.
So moving forward, we know human centipede for
four for forward.
Always, always ahead.
And then maybe raising Arizona, maybe maybe the weatherman.
Hmm. We'll find out.
Yeah, there you go.

(01:15:06):
Can't wait to get Nicolas Cage and human centipede for.
That's everybody. That's every man.
I mean, he doesn't say no to a lot. I got to say.
Well, he's getting choosy with his roles.
He's going to take powerful ones that give him the opportunity
to really express himself like he's never been able to.
Spider-Man like Spider-Man and human centipede for and human centipede for. Yeah.

(01:15:28):
Yeah. So just a bug movies.
Yeah. All right, Alec, thank you for being here.
Do you have anything that you would like to plug?
Hey, thanks for having me.
No, I got nothing to plug right now.
Just keep listening to this podcast.
I will be because I want to be there when Weatherman emerges victorious

(01:15:48):
as the ultimate Nicolas Cage movie.
I think you're the first person to ever plug our podcast on our podcast.
We don't even do that. Yeah, I know.
It's bad. Hey, I just work on that level, man.
Hey, so for anybody who made it to the end of this episode,
definitely keep listening to us.
Yeah. Also, like and subscribe.

(01:16:09):
Yeah, sure. Yeah, I think those are things.
Oh, we haven't told people to drop down in the basement for the comments section lately.
Sure. We can get there later in our next section. Oh, yeah. OK.
Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me on. It's a blast.
Well, fuck, that was pretty good. Yeah.
That was a two terrific conversations and one terrific guest.

(01:16:29):
You know, I'm here every week.
What are you talking about?
Well, let the listeners decide. Right. Right.
Going into this week, I was prepping to watch Red Rock West
and National Treasure because my life's been crazy and I forgot we switched things on.
It was on the schedule. You are correct.
To be fair, we got a whole lot better watching these two films.

(01:16:52):
Yes, I was I was fully ready to come in and just be like Red Rock West.
West slaps. I mean, I'm looking forward to watching it.
And Peter's like, we're not watching that. I'm like, well.
And so this morning, you will get a mainline to Nicholas Cage films.
Yeah, we go.
Call up cocaine, Carl.
If there was a shout out, cocaine, Carl, what's up, dog?

(01:17:13):
Best in the West.
I'm working on my sponsorship.
I like it. Yeah, that's good. So can Carl pay us for this?
Probably. All right.
Cocaine, Carl doesn't fucking know my name.
That's how little this is going to get us.
I've been so just happy these last like two weeks, just being like,
I'm going to watch fucking Weatherman and then I'm going to watch Raising Arizona.

(01:17:36):
And I want the other way with it.
Well, yeah, I did it the other way to Josie was just like, oh, what do you want to do?
Like tonight is like, oh, how about we watch a movie?
She's like, what movie is it? Movies are we watching?
It's like we only got good ones left.
Yeah, I was just going to say we're at that point now where really every
I'm so excited to rewatch every movie except one movie I do love.

(01:17:58):
But I'm like, I can tell you would be for Pete at this point.
Conair. No, that doesn't matter.
We're done with eight millimeter.
Is that how you do it?
That's how you pronounce it. Right. Yeah. I've only read it.
Eight millimeter. This is America.
I don't need to know how to millimeter.

(01:18:19):
Now, national treasure.
I'm just like, I love this movie, but it just it I love individual scenes
more than I love the movie.
It never deserved to beat Primal.
It always deserved to be primal.
Have you watched Primal recently?
I'll tell you, it's great.
I'm going to get down. So I'm going to get down to Portland.
I'll have nothing to do.
Like nothing like unpacked on this part primal and I'll just get like sucked in.

(01:18:41):
You know, like, oh, my God, this is incredible.
I can never let Nick know.
I do think that once we finish the bracket, the first thing that we need to do
is a double header, but of Primal and adaptation, the Primal adaptation had had.
I think it's the only thing we talked about.
Those two movies being eliminated more than any other.

(01:19:03):
There's one of them deserves to be here now. Primal.
Boom. First episode.
All right. We're not reviewing these movies.
Come back next week for that.
We're going to talk about adaptation of Primal.
Yeah, we're going to release all this audio with no resolution.
And we're only going to come back and talk about Primal and ignore this ever happened.
Beautiful.

(01:19:24):
Great.
He named the parent Edison.
I love it.
Oh, man. What are we doing here again, Peter?
We're trying to make a decision here. I don't know.
We're putting off the inevitable.
It's I don't want to put.
Yeah, I don't want to put either one of these movies out to pasture.
It's a tough one, actually.
Like going into this, I was really feeling like Raising Arizona was just a complete slam dunk.

(01:19:46):
So funny. The writing is incredible.
Talking to Alec, though, I'm like, man, Weatherman is really good.
Yeah, I like that.
I like that.
I like that.
I like that.
Man, Weatherman is really good.
Alec made some real intelligent conversation, something we don't get around here very often.
And we actually like generally this this way this way.

(01:20:09):
Yeah.
Discourage like big words that aren't on this podcast.
Yeah, I am glad that we had a good two, even three penis discussion with Alec.
That's a plus.
All those penises add weight to his argument.
It's not much, but it's an ounce here and there.
I think the biggest argument I have for adaptation at this point is the fucking talking about

(01:20:34):
Weatherman. Sorry.
The biggest argument I have for Weatherman at this point is the fact that like in terms of just acting and just the movie being made by Nicholas Cage and like just a Nicholas Cage vehicle adaptation.
God damn it.
Weatherman.
There's a time in my I watch these both both these movies at the same time, like in my life when I was younger.

(01:20:55):
So I just it's.
Yeah, I mean, they came out around the same time.
Weatherman.
But like Raising Arizona, great Coen Brothers film, great ensemble film.
Everyone in that movie is perfect.
But as we talked about, Nicholas Cage is kind of the straight man for that.
Whereas adaptation.
God damn it.
Weatherman.
Weatherman is a Nicholas Cage movie that really works because of him.

(01:21:19):
Yeah, it really it really well highlights his skills as an actor, as well as just his intuition.
And, you know, he's in damn near every scene.
It's his film.
There is a it is and it is an interesting juxtaposition to watch Raising Arizona with the weatherman.
You mean primal.

(01:21:41):
Stop it.
My brain is already teetering on usable.
Perfect.
Yes, Raising Arizona, please go on.
It's just like it's so interesting to see like that very young, raw, like just young and raw.
Go ahead.
Performance.
And it's very silly and not really.

(01:22:04):
And as opposed to like this very deep, complicated, real performance.
Yeah, it is. It's one of those films that I'm always going it's always going to exist up in my brain as top tier Nicholas Cage film.
There's a reason it's made it this far.
It's a terrific movie.
Everything about it, writing, acting, nailed it to pitch Raising Arizona.

(01:22:31):
There's nothing else like it.
No. So I guess the question really comes down to I would say Raising Arizona is the better, more fun film.
I would say Weatherman is the better Nicholas Cage film.
You know, I might say that if I was going to pitch these to somebody, I would like if somebody wasn't familiar with Nicholas Cage, I would be like, hey, watch Raising Arizona.

(01:22:55):
When you understand Nicholas Cage's filmography, watch Weatherman.
OK, that's an interesting take on this, because, yeah, I would not suggest Weatherman for someone who didn't quite wasn't really that invested in Nick Cage.
Yeah, it wouldn't hold if you weren't as familiar with the Cage verse, but it is a terrific film.

(01:23:16):
I mean, they're both terrific films. And, you know, we've said a lot about Nicholas Cage is he he is the man for the weatherman.
He is the weatherman. He says so at the end of the movie.
Well, spoilers.
But with a film like Raising Arizona, it's just so much of like unique performance wildness.

(01:23:43):
No, I think you've convinced me on on that.
Like when recommending a Nicholas Cage film to someone who isn't familiar with Nicholas Cage.
Yeah, I wouldn't suggest Weatherman over Raising Arizona. So by that logic, I would say Raising Arizona should go forward in terms of like a Nick Cage film.
Yeah, I think my vote is as much as I love Weatherman for Raising Arizona.

(01:24:07):
Oh, fucking nailed it, dude.
All right, next.
Nice. Oh, man. Thank you all for listening.

(01:24:31):
We are on social media at Cage underscore match underscore pod. We are also on Patreon at Cage match pod.
Thank you to our Sparkle buddies, Josh, Sean, Josie, Rico, Matt, Adam and Bill and to our Cage dancers, I would Freeman Lance, Nathan and Cameron.
Did you leave? No. And maybe.

(01:24:52):
I don't know. You did say I'll find out. I'll find out if I if we weren't clear.
Raising Arizona. Yes. No, I thought that was clear. Yeah, it was clear.
Yeah. Bye bye.
Bye bye.

(01:25:14):
Doesn't sound like Adam. No, it really doesn't. Yeah.
This was early, early in the times. Yeah.
He knew you were safe. I'm a safe.
My first my earliest Adam memory is when there were only five of us allowed on the patio during covid times and Adam was asking what everyone's favorite candy bar was.
And I said three musketeer and he got livid.

(01:25:36):
Because it's a bad. He started screaming.
I like nougat and I don't need caramel to like judge it up.
So Milky Way is. Yeah, they're also bad.
I just like nougat.