The Steven Soderbergh Movie Draft

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Unlock the secrets behind Steven Soderbergh’s groundbreaking career and discover how his latest film, "Presence," transcends traditional genres. This episode of "Excuse the Intermission" features Max's spoiler-free impressions and explores the film's extraordinary writing and performances, alongside Soderbergh’s voyeuristic style. We also examine his innovative techniques, like shooting with an iPhone, and reflect on how he single-handedly reshaped filmmaking with his unique editing style in classics such as "The Limey."

Our journey through Soderbergh’s eclectic filmography offers insights into his unmatched versatility, from the cultural phenomenon of "Ocean's Eleven" to the introspective "Sex, Lies, and Videotape." Whether it's crime, heist, or drama, Soderbergh’s character-driven narratives consistently redefine cinematic storytelling. As we prepare for a film draft that categorizes his diverse works, we celebrate his ability to both capture critical acclaim and appeal to a broad audience, despite not being a typical box-office magnet.

Beyond film, Soderbergh's ventures into television with "The Knick" and movies like "Kimmy" demonstrate his talent for balancing intimate stories with grand narratives. Our discussion covers everything from his adaptation of "Solaris" to the thought-provoking thriller "Side Effects," emphasizing Soderbergh's skill in handling a wide array of genres. Join us for a lively analysis of his enduring impact on the art of filmmaking, and don’t miss our humorous contemplation on creating a Hall of Fame for potential alien visitors, sparking a light-hearted end to our episode.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
how's it?
I'm alex mccauley.
I'm max fosberg and I'm ericakraus and this is excuse the
intermission a discussion showsurrounding steven sodeberg.
The storied filmmaker saw hislatest film presence open in
theaters this past weekend,which marks his most recent
endeavor into genre bending andtechnical experimentation.
We will celebrate sodeh'scareer on this episode as we
return to the draft room andhold the Steven Soderbergh movie

(00:27):
draft that conversation up nexton the other side of this break
.
All right, guys, good to seeyou today.
We've been braving the coldwinter weathers here in the
Pacific Northwest recently alittle bit of snow, a little bit
of ice, some two-hour latestarts at work, which, as

(00:49):
someone who's a little bit underthe weather right now, I've
really enjoyed being able tosleep in the past couple of days
.
How are you guys doing today?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Good, yeah, I'm wishing the snow would stick a
little bit, but yeah, I enjoyeda nice cozy weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
By the time of this release, we could be snowed in
listening to playback.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
I think I hope.
So, yeah, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Wednesday Wednesday night is supposed to get a
little.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Pretty stormy out there.
That would be awesome, you know, if I get a break from driving
to Seattle.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
You would take that.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, absolutely yeah .

Speaker 1 (01:26):
So Steven Soderbergh, very interesting filmmaker here
that we're going to talk abouttoday.
His new film, presence, is outin theaters right now.
As I just mentioned, throats alittle scratchy right now, so
I'm going to turn this overreally to max to kind of talk
about presence.
You went out and saw max tokind of talk about presence.

(01:47):
You announced all this film.
Uh, you quite enjoyed it.
I think that you're gonna giveit a good glowing recommendation
.
But kind of tell erica and Iwhat you saw, spoiler free, of
course, and and kind of whatsodeberg was up to, because it's
always something with him.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Nowadays very rarely is he going out there and just
making a straightforward filmwell and you know I I would
argue that he's always kind ofbeen an experimentalist.
Another guy which I feel likeI'm starting to say this a lot,
but he a big film school guy.
They teach you a lot ofSoderbergh or they use
Soderbergh films a lotthroughout the curriculum, at

(02:20):
least at SFI.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
In what capacity would you say?
Is it an editing, ascreenwriting blocking?

Speaker 3 (02:29):
You know, the unique thing about Steven is that he is
the camera operator on prettymuch every single movie he makes
, and so he is a very technicaldirector, while also, you know,
I mean just from a standpoint ofdesigning all of the shots in

(02:54):
the film, whereas some otherdirectors, you know, really
direct the technical side ofyour creative vision, where
Soderbergh is someone who's gotthe camera in his hands on all
of his sets and he does quite abit of editing as well when he

(03:16):
makes a movie.
But you know, something like theLimey is such an experimental
style of editing because it istrying to represent a memory
throughout the movie that you'regetting a lot of shots where

(03:37):
people are talking but you'renot hearing dialogue, and then
the dialogue is voiceover comingin later.
It's a really interesting filmto watch and even to read
further about, because if youread anything about, sober has
been very open that you knowthey originally made the movie
and then cut, cut it as astraightforward kind of crime

(04:00):
drama and it just wasn't workingand so he decided to then
experiment with the editing andand cut it in this very unique
way to where it's, you know, thefirst time you watch it or, if
you don't know, going in it's,it's, it's jarring to watch and
kind of why that movie wasn't,you know, successful at the box

(04:22):
office.
But I think also now you cansee, you know, 20 years later or
whatever that uh it's beenreclaimed.
It's been reclaimed because it'sbeing taught in film school.
Um, so, just kind of ainteresting guy and he, you know
, I I feel like he's alwaysdoing that and in presence, uh
it is.
You know whether it's making amovie on an iphone, which he's

(04:44):
done.
What was a high-flying birdthat?

Speaker 1 (04:46):
was shot.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
Insane and insane was was shot on a iphone.
You know he was kind of one ofthe first major filmmakers to do
that.
But then also now in presence.
It is an experimental kind ofgenre picture.
I wouldn't call it straight.
It's much more of a familydrama, but it genuinely gave me

(05:09):
chills at certain momentsthroughout the film.
I think it's really really wellwritten.
I think it's acted well.
Lucy Liu does a good job, butthe guy who plays the dad in
this film is fucking fantasticand it's it's extremely

(05:29):
voyeuristic, uh, when you'rewatching it, and and kind of has
a bit of shamalan, like alittle bit of of that dna in the
film.
So, uh, I I really enjoyedpresence.
Um, it's also his.
It's his first theatrical filmsince a long time which I

(05:50):
believe was 2018.
Uh, so the first time one of hismovies has been back in the
theaters.
It's also the second of threefilms that have been written by
david kepp.
Uh, so kimmy was the first one,this is the second, and then we
will get black bag here in inthe spring I believe in april, I
think.

(06:10):
Um, which looks to be a reallygreat like spy thriller.
Uh, I you know.
So he is just such a a solidrock when it comes to directing
films.
Um, and going through some ofhis filmography this week has
been pretty fucking fantastic,uh, you know.

(06:32):
He also is, I think, one of theonly, if not the only,
directors ever to competeagainst himself in the oscars
for best director.
Of course, that was in the year2000 for traffic and aaron
brockovich.
Um, and he's just kind of oneof these gen x or xer guys from
from the uh the sunday yeahright with quentin tarantino or

(06:57):
kevin smith or um pta, pta.
You know he is one of these guyswho made indie filmmaking just
extremely cool and inspired awhole generation to become
filmmakers.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
What's your relationship with the Soderbergh
verse?

Speaker 2 (07:13):
I yeah, I'm glad you asked because I, honestly I
haven't really seen.
I went looking through hiscatalog of movies.
There's really like I've seenquite a few, but really not a
lot of them and um, it's I don'tknow.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
I mean I I've I like, I like the way you said that
like, because you can feel likeyou've seen a lot of his movies
yeah but then also at the sametime like not a lot, because the
big ones feel so substantialand can feel like such a major
part of your life right, like hehas a lot of household names
yes, you know, and a lot ofmovies that like, if you, if you
pay it, if you haven't beenliving under a rock, like you

(07:49):
definitely know, these movies,the, the franchise itself, um,
and so of course I've seen quitea bit of those.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
But then going back and, like you know, with this
assignment, specificallylearning that not all his movies
are really something I'm gonnagravitate towards, but you know
I'm I specifically learning thatnot all his movies are really
something I'm gonna gravitatetowards, but you know I'm, I'm a
girl, I'm not like, and notthat women can't watch these
movies, but you know, it's justnot my like, it's not what I'm
reaching for a lot of these um,but listening to kind of what

(08:19):
max was just saying, it gives me, like you know, an
understanding of like him beingan independent filmmaker.
I'm like, ok, I get that, I seeit and I do respect that.
But I mean, the guy's made somepretty, pretty iconic movies
over his career.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
I think, for somebody who has been as experimental
and has really never been tiedto a major studio and goes out
of his way to make sure that youknow he he aligns with with the
good, a lot of his films arewhere you're just like there's
not really a stinker in thebunch.
There's things that you can sayare less successful than others
but, as you pointed out, max,like when you've won best
director, you've already reachedthe mountaintop yeah, and and
so after thatvery early on yeah, very early

(09:19):
on, um, and and I mean, receivedan academy award nomination
right out of the bat as well forsexualized videotapes, for
writing the screenplay of thatfilm.
So as someone who's extremelyaccomplished but has, you know,
like I don't know who you couldcompare him to nowadays, but
it's so cool that there's not,you know, looking back through

(09:40):
his filmography, there's notlike a 1998 batman movie, you
know, sprinkled into his likethat's just not I just don't
think he would ever beinterested in something like
that.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
You know, he he is very much interested in like the
human, like character drivenstories, right yeah um, but you
know he still dabbles in genre,right?
Yeah, I mean, he's one of ourbest crime.
And, like caper thriller, yes,directors of heist movies.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, he's one ofour best crime and like caper
thriller.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Yes, directors of heist movies.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, he's greatat the heist movies kept that
that genre really alive.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
um, and even when they aren't.
It's so funny too, because likeit's not like he's a huge box
office draw either, right, likewatching one of these films last
night, you know, was a totalflop.
It was a total flop and it hashuge names in it and rewatching
it I'm like this is a fuckingfantastic movie.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
It's one of the ones that made me fall in love with
Riley Keough.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
I know exactly which movie you're talking about.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Yep, okay, so we're going to draft for the
Soderbergh conversation.
Here we tweak things a littlebit.
We normally have eightcategories in a draft episode.
We have six here today just tobetter fit, um, kind of the
amount of films that Steven hasdirected.
He's also been extremelysuccessful working in television

(10:59):
and executive producingdifferent things.
Um, you can even get realcreative with our wildcard
category, which I might plan ondoing here, because he's also
somebody that has been.
He's taken his, his love forfilmography online and done
different recuts of films anddone different things on on a

(11:20):
really popular blog that he,that he produces, so so, someone
whose career is not limited tojust film either.
And so what we've done to sortof tweak this draft is we've
kept Oscar nomination.
However, it's with the caveatthat the film can be from any,
or that the award can be tied toany film from any category, as

(11:41):
long as he is the director of it, which still is pretty, pretty
thin unfortunately it's stillpretty thin yeah um, adaptation,
slash, remake.
So just a little bit more of awrinkle there, because he, some
of his biggest films are remakesof of prior movies and then, of
course, adaptation sort ofspeaks for itself on, uh, the
other side of that, we haveblockbuster, but we've reduced

(12:02):
it from $100 milliondomestically to $75 million
domestically to better fit kindof what you were talking about.
Max, where he's not the biggestdraw but he has had some very
successful films.
We've taken his knack for theheist film, for genre filmmaking
, and we've combined action,crime and thriller into one

(12:22):
category.
We have Streamer because, alsoalso as you mentioned for a
while there, all of his movieswere going straight to a
streaming service, mostly hbomax, and so we have a streamer
category and then wild cardwhere, of course, anything can
fit.
So how do we feel going intothis draft?
Do we think that there's anumber one overall pick out
there?
What's?

(12:42):
Without obviously showing yourhand, erica?
Do you have a strategy?
Is there one you have to have?

Speaker 2 (12:49):
well, yeah, because I honestly I could.
There just was too many that Icouldn't get get a hold of even
just this past week, and so my,my picks are pretty slim, so you
guys will have to go easy on me.
But, um, you know, I, I don'tknow, I I think that, like, just
kind of looking at my picks,yeah, there's a couple

(13:10):
categories and I struggled withthis assignment, like to be to
be honest, just because, likeyou know, I'm coming to a lot of
these movies late in the gameand these are these aren't
necessarily movies like it kindof feels like their moment to me
maybe came and went um.
So yeah, we'll see how it goes.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
We'll see how it goes yeah, I, I think you know it's
really interesting when we do adraft with with just one
person's filmography, which wehaven't done too often, not too
often.
It does make the playing fielda lot slimmer and smaller.

(13:48):
So picks and the way you pick isway more important.
But I also think that when youdo one filmmaker's filmography,
it really comes down to personaltaste, and so it will be really
exciting to see what each of usare trying to capture, because
you can play the audience.

(14:10):
When we do a draft for a year,like Sweet.
Home Alabama, which was a totalfarce when Alex selected that.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Help me win though.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
And then you can, but in this, like it's really, I
think it comes down to like whatyou really love.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
I agree with that because I think, after cause,
you know, I don't want to saythat his career has been top
heavy, but just because I dothink that there are, like what
Erica was saying, there are somehousehold names amongst his,
his filmography, and so if yougrab one of those, your roster
is going to look a little bitstronger maybe than the
competitions here.
When it's all said and done,however, like in a normal year,

(14:53):
if we were doing you know, 2005,which we did do, but you'll
never, you guys will never beable to hear it in 2005 you
could.
You could kind of stack everysingle one of your categories
with a big movie, whereas inthis one, once, something like
Ocean's Eleven is off the board.
That's a big one that's gone.
That could play in a lot ofdifferent categories.

(15:14):
So, yes, it will be veryinteresting.
Max, you have the wheel ofnames pulled up.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
I can see.
I definitely do Cache clearedfrom the last draft.
I hope Cache is clearedclicking to spin and here's the
spread.
I definitely do Cash A clearedfrom the last draft.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
I hope Cash is cleared.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
Clicking to spin, okay, and here's the spread.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
I hope this is a draft where I would be happy
with the number one overall pick.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Well, you're not going to get it because Erica,
erica.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Number one overall pick.

Speaker 2 (15:43):
Thank God, which is great.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
And here comes the second pick We'll go to,
unfortunately, alex, okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Which does leave you with the turn it does leave me
with the turn I don't like beingin the middle on a three-man
draft.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
That sucks.
I get two picks here.
Yeah.
Okay, erica, start us off.
I don't like being in themiddle on a three man draft.

Speaker 2 (16:05):
that sucks yeah, okay , erica, start us off well, we
already mentioned it, I'm gonnawipe Ocean's Eleven off the
board, but I'm putting it in myaction crime thriller
interesting category.
Yeah, this is a.
You know, this is kind of likewhat I was talking about just a
second ago.
He has some of these likereally heavy hitters that are

(16:28):
household names and and while Ican't deny that Ocean, the
Ocean's trilogy, isn't somethingI normally gravitate towards,
but I do really appreciate themfor what they are and I do like
Ocean's 11 a lot, appreciatethem for what they are and I do

(16:50):
like oceans 11 a lot.
Um, and he he's.
This is kind of like when I wasdoing my um my pics earlier, I
was just kind of thinking abouthow two of my pics on here are
really like cultural phenomenons, like one of them might not be
great, but it really did likespark.
This phenomenon in Alex islooking at me.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
like he already knows , I know what the other one is.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Well, don't take it.
But yeah, ocean's Eleven I meanit's a great heist crime, like
you know thriller, it's got astacked cast and it really set
the tone for, like you know, theearly 2000s for these movies.
It went on to make three,obviously, and we got Oceans 8
for the girls and the gays, youknow, quite a few years later,

(17:34):
which, honestly, I mean Stephendid not direct that movie, but
he is an EP on it and an amazingmovie.
It just it's so much fun.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
But, yeah, I'm going to, just'm gonna just take
oceans, oceans for myself yeah,and I I think that again, this
is like the crowd-pleasingnumber one pick I.
I don't know if I would havetaken it at number one, but it
would be hard not to it's, youcan't argue against it.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah, I think what you can't.
I think something you can argueis that oceans 11 is probably
in, I would say, the top this isbold, but I would say hot take
probably in the top five mostseen films of the 21st century
as far as like, like spanning.

(18:20):
You know, maybe I don't know ifthe Tik TOK crowd has come
around to something like oceans11 yet or anything like that,
but I would guess that, likeeverybody, maybe I don't know if
the TikTok crowd has comearound to something like Ocean's
Eleven yet or anything likethat, but I would guess that,
like everybody, maybe a fewyears younger than us and then
everyone older than us, hasbasically seen this movie.
This is one of those.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Probably twice.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Yeah, exactly, this is one of those like just
endlessly monoculturerewatchable movies where
everyone knows the cast ofOcean's, the story of oceans 11.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Most people like of our generation know, or at least
have heard of oceans 11, youknow and um, yeah, I mean again,
it's a household name that thetrilogy it's just yeah I have a
question for you, max.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
If you were to have taken this film, which category
would you have put it in?
Blockbuster okay, I would havegone.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Adaptation remake oh interesting yeah erica puts it
action, crime thriller I youknow mono movie.
Yeah, that would be aninteresting episode like top
five favorite mono movies yeahjust like dominant you said
dominant, like everyone has seenthis yeah, I like that idea.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, okay.
So I am on the board and a partof me is relieved to have
oceans 11 already alreadyrostered by one of our, our
wonderful co-host here, becausethen it kind of opens me up to
to pick with my heart here inthe first round.
This movie is definitely firstround worthy and since I don't

(19:49):
have the turn and I can't stackit with something else, I just
have to get it here in case Maxwere to take it.

Speaker 3 (19:53):
You do have to get it .

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah, in Oscar nomination I am taking Sex Lies
and Videotapes for originalscreenplay.
This is Stevens credited as hissecond film film.
It's really his first bigfeature film.
Um, this is the one that swept.
Sundance when it came out was ahuge deal.
I re-watched this the othernight.

(20:15):
It had probably been like fiveor six years since I re-watched
it.
The last time I brought it upon an eti episode was when we
did our top five favoriteLouisiana movies.
It was on my list there, eventhough it's it doesn't really do
much for the, the town of newOrleans or the state of
Louisiana other than just beingset in there.
But I'm just like anytime thatI can shoehorn it into to an

(20:38):
episode and talk about it, Iwant to do it and last night
rewatching it, I really justlike was kind of blown away at
the feat of it.
It's a movie with without setpieces.
It's a movie that is extremelydialogue driven and part of the
reason why you know it gets thenomination for best original
screenplay.
And just like a tour de forcein psychological foreplay and

(21:04):
horniness.
Tour de force in psychologicalforeplay and horniness.
And they just don't make themlike this anymore, where you
just are being so upfront, justlike this is going to be a movie
about sex and people's desiresand God, like Andy McDowell is
so good in this movie and I putin my review, like it's no
wonder that Margaret Qualley,her daughter, is making such
exciting and provocative choicesin her career, because I'm sure

(21:27):
a movie like Sex Lies andVideotapes was just on at the
house all the time growing up,or she was, you know, shown it
at an early age and I can onlyimagine the impression that it
would have on her.
Um, watching this movie andwatching her mom in this role is
this shy, timid person whothinks they're happy in a
marriage and then everythingkind of comes apart.
Because, you know, james Spaderenters your life as as as was

(21:49):
the case in the 1980s in films,when James Spader would just
walk into a movie and and bethis like he's.
So he is, he's amazing in thismovie, without really having
that much screen time.
Like, when I think about thismovie, I'm always like, oh, this
is such a good James Spadermovie and it is, but his scenes
are just like so impactful wherehe really only has like six or

(22:12):
seven really big scenes, butthey're all so, so good.
Um, peter Gallagher is justlike an all time piece of shit
in this movie and incredible umin in being a garbage person and
so, yeah, I love Sex Lies andVideotapes.
Got to get in the first round.

Speaker 3 (22:27):
Another film that is prominently used in film school.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
I love the little trick that he does in this movie
, where a conversation in thenext scene to come will start as
you are still seeing the sceneend that you've been with and so
say it's like you know JamesSpader and and Peter Gallagher
talking as boys or whatever, andthen the next scene is going to

(22:54):
be Andy McDowell and her sistertalking or whatever.
You will hear Andy McDowell andher sister start talking while
the camera is still on Spaderand Gallagher.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
It's just like it's so cool yeah, yeah, and he does
that, he does that quite a bitand then, and as I was saying
earlier, the limey is the whole.

Speaker 2 (23:12):
The whole thing is like um so that was the one
movie that I really wanted towatch sex lies and videotape,
yeah and I couldn't.
I couldn't access it withouthaving to pay like 20 bucks
online, and that was like theone movie that on the ones that
I hadn't seen.
I'm like that's what I wouldwant to be watching right now,

(23:34):
but yeah, I didn't get around toit.
It's on my list, though.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
You can check it out from the video store later.
Oh perfect.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Okay, uh, okay, I could do something really just
dickish here and take, take twofilms off the board.
That would kind of screw.
You took that in oscarnominated yes.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
So we kind of screw erica if I were to do this oh um
it's my one pick, but I stillhave three left that are
available for oscar nom okay,okay however, they could play in
other categories and then oncethey're you know, I mean once
they're gone they're gone Ithink I must have missed one,
because I only had three totalnominated total okay so I must

(24:20):
have missed one in my research.
Um so maybe there's enough togo around.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Okay, all right.
Well then I won't do it.
Cause then you know?

Speaker 1 (24:30):
does Erica have that in her notes though?
I'm not sharing my big board.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
I'm sure he knows.
I'm sure he knows.

Speaker 3 (24:37):
I think I'm going to take.
I'm going to take probably my,if not my first, favorite
Sderbergh movie my second um inaction crime thriller we're
gonna get, even though you knowof course this is a very deep,
deep category, uh, insoderbergh's filmography.
I'm gonna take out of sight um,george clooney, jennifer lopez,

(25:02):
uh, and then a slew of othersodeberg character actors that
show up throughout, includingfive minutes of samuel l jackson
at the end of this movie.
That teases, you know.
This is something he alwaysdoes too, that I've noticed.
He teases sequels.
With every single movie he doesit teases with a some sort of

(25:22):
cliffhanger that just makes youwant more like.
I want to see that.
That next out of sight moviewhere samuel l jackson and
george clooney break out of theback of this car and like go on
the run um, or almost, or evenlike.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
I feel like there's an extended sodeberg universe
out there where you could almosthave like, like out of sight is
the prequel to oceans.
11 right, yes easily, easilycould be um.
There's a couple movies likethat.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
I feel like where, yes, but yeah you got don
cheadle in this, you got stevesawn, you've got uh, veen rhymes
, rames, um, out of sight islike just the definition of cool
.
Like if I ever make a film thatis as cool as out of sight I
can, I can die happy.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Uh, it is movie stars doing movie star fucking I was
gonna say you'd have to findsomebody as cool as george
clooney was in the 90s in likethe early 90s too, and like it's
just, he's unbelievableeverything that comes out of his
mouth is just like the early90s too, and like it's just.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
He's unbelievable.
Everything that comes out ofhis mouth is just like the
coolest thing any guy has eversaid jennifer or look saying it
yeah jennifer lopez is fantasticunreal in this, yeah uh, you
know, for it's.
It's so interesting, like thethe 90s, she was actually a
really, really awesome actor, um, and I wish she did more like

(26:47):
action movies like this, and I'mnot talking about like I know
she did anaconda, well, welleven, which is great, but like I
think a couple years ago shedid some sort of like sci-fi
movie where she was in a mechthe whole time, which is just
not good.
Um, but yeah, out of sight isreally fucking awesome and and
just one of the best crimecapers that you'll find uh

(27:11):
around, so I'll take that withthe first pick.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Uh and really cool to how he.
It's funny because somethingthat I've always admired about
out of sight is that it's liketonally it's two different
movies and the setting matchesthat as well, where you are in
south florida at the beginningand then you go to cold ass
detroit for the second half,when all of a sudden, like the

(27:35):
stakes have risen totally andit's not as fun anymore.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Uh, for the turn I think I'll just go, I'll go, I
really I'll go, oscar nominated,and I'm going to take Traffic,

(27:59):
the film that he won BestDirector for, I believe, in 2000
.
Excuse me, another great crimethriller, an all-star cast
Michael Douglas, don CheadleBenicio.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Del.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Toro.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, topher,grace, yeah, with Erica
Christensen.
Erica Christensen, benicio deltoro katherine zeta jones.

Speaker 1 (28:19):
Uh, you know, tover grace, yeah, with erica
christiansen, erica christiansen.

Speaker 3 (28:22):
Uh, just about about corrupt cops.
Dennis quaid shows up here umcorrupt cops, kids doing drugs,
the cartel, uh, you know a great, you know kind of his version
of like a Magnolia or Crash.
Just like a bunch of differentstories kind of intertwining.

(28:45):
At certain points Reallyinteresting, like color grade on
this film.
The editing is pretty wild.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
This movie was such a big deal because it was one of
the first times that mainstreammovie culture was recognizing
the cartel's influence on harddrugs that Soderbergh, through
this film, was showing people.
It's like no, this is in yourprivate schools and this is in

(29:17):
your upper, upper middle classfamilies and this is in your
gated communities Ahead of thecurve on the opioid crisis, For
sure.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
So yeah, kind of a hard watch you know, not not one
that I reach for a lot.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
And probably got to be one of his longer films.

Speaker 3 (29:33):
Two, two plus hours, yeah, yeah, two plus hours, yeah
, yeah, but um, but again, likewhen you're looking at, you know
, uh, best best films of ofthose of the 90s, uh, you know,
this comes in in 1999, one ofthe?

Speaker 1 (29:47):
uh, I think it was, or it was in 2000, and so it was
2001 yeah, so recognized at the2001 awards it's a great.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
It's a great start to uh the 20th century.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
It is yeah, okay, so back to me now.
I am gonna leave the, the otheroscar nominated film, here on
the board, just because I needto get something else and also,
too, that'll allow erica to kindof round out that category and
we can all put a pin in it.

(30:18):
Um, but also because there's,there's another category that's
a little light.
I don't know, maybe she, maybeerica won't do this, though I
don't know, we'll see.
Um, okay, what I need to do,what I need to do is go to
blockbuster, and in blockbusterI'm gonna take a movie that

(30:38):
barely qualifies damn it.
It's 75.6 million dollarsdomestically and that is the.
I don't even know how would youdescribe this the highly
predictive virus outbreakthriller, contagion.

(31:00):
And now I don't know if we wereto do this, if we were to do
this episode maybe when we firststarted the pod, even though
that was during COVID as well,when this movie really had a
resurgence, but let's say, let'ssay, seven years ago I don't
know if contagion even getsdrafted, but because of the way
that we can watch that film nowand interact with the fallout of

(31:25):
a mass outbreak and theseContagion periods and God, it's
crazy it's probably been sinceCOVID, since I watched this
movie, but just the languageused, the, the vocabulary of
that film and the way that theworld health organization is
involved in the CDC and you knowall these things that did at

(31:49):
the time.
I remember seeing the film whenit came out felt very like
science fiction based almost,and not a film really rooted in
reality, like this couldn'thappen.
And then you when, when youwatch it post-covid, you're like
holy shit, this is like exactlywhat we live through.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
So this movie went viral during covid oh yeah, 100
one of the most streamed moviesin 2020.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
I remember there was like a.
I remember reading an articleabout how there was like a
streaming war over it.
Because when, when, I think inMarch 2020, when everything did
shut down, everybody was goingback to a film like Outbreak or
some of these other like virusmovies that had already been
made and nobody had the rightsfor Contagion Like no streamer

(32:32):
had it and so then all of asudden, it became this like
bidding war as to who couldaccess the rights to have that
on their streaming platform,cause they knew it would take
off, obviously.
So, yeah, you know, I looked atblockbuster.
There's some other choices.
There are probably some morepopular choices.
However, contagion, of themovies that I have here on on my
list, it's the one that I enjoywatching the most, which I

(32:55):
don't know what that says aboutme, but I'll roll with Contagion
here in the second round.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Yeah, I should have taken this.
I'm disappointed.
I didn't get this.
I love Contagion.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yep, that was my pick too.
Both of you guys took a coupleof my picks, so I'm trying to do
the math over here, but Iappreciate you both saving me.
You know, or kind of theobvious one which is my oscar
nom is aaron brock, which I meanthis movie especially like, for
it's just such a win for womentoo, and um I think he shows

(33:30):
love to the girlies he does.
Yeah, and I just I love herstory so much and, um, I
re-watched it just this pastweekend and I have seen this
movie quite a few times.
Surprisingly, and it's just, itgets better the older I get
because I appreciate her storyso much.
And you know, julia Roberts isjust incredible that she won

(33:54):
Best Actress for this role, aswell as many other awards that
year for this movie.
Um, but, yeah, and againanother like household name,
like in in film, you know, aaronbrockovich.
You've heard of it.
It's mentioned in other movies,um, but it's a an amazing story
, an amazing true story too, andjust I don't know, I love it is

(34:18):
it uh?

Speaker 3 (34:19):
is it julia roberts apex?

Speaker 1 (34:22):
gosh, that's a great question.
Probably she wins the bestactress yeah and you could say
alongside what?
Probably pretty woman.
It's the most iconic role yeah,that she's played.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
I think pretty woman is a little bit more iconic, but
as far as like, she could havedone anything after this movie.
Yeah, this performance of hersis really just top tier.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
And I mean she does, she goes on to be I mean she's
in oceans 11 as basically thefemale lead of that film, which
is another hugely successfulproject.
So yeah, I mean I would say so,yeah, I would kind of say that
that turn of the century there,right there from like the late
90s into the early 2000s,probably the the roberts peak

(35:05):
there for her cool.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Yeah, you're back on the board.
Yeah, you're, so I get to goagain, yeah yeah, top of the
third round well, I'm like again.
I'm like trying to play tetrisa little bit with my picks and I
my wild card pick.
I might actually move it toblockbuster.
Um, I might have to fact checkhere, but I think I think I'm in

(35:30):
the clear with magic mike 113mil yeah, so, um, this is kind
of like I feel like I alluded tothis earlier is that this is
one of his movies like?
First of all, very random in myopinion, just it.
It sticks out like a sore thumbamongst his filmography but it

(35:50):
created a cultural phenomenon.
It's not a great movie, it's.
One might say it's kind of bad,but but it started the
McConaughey.
Yeah, and it really like itcatapulted Channing Tatum's
career to into like this youknow he's not.
They started a magic Mike showin Vegas because of this and I

(36:13):
think it was nice.
I mean, I remember going to seethis in theaters, it was a big
deal.
He went on to direct the thirdone as well.
He did not do the second one,which is arguably the best out
of the three.
I have only seen a little bitsand pieces of the third but,
yeah, not a great movie, likeI'm not gonna lie.
It's pretty awful writing andit's a little corny, but it

(36:35):
really did spark this whole likeMagic Mike household name again
, you know.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Well, yeah, and again spawns two sequels.

Speaker 1 (36:46):
Yeah, as you said, launches Channing Tatum, and
maybe you said that, and thenbut he and Channing have worked
together so many times sincethen too, so many times since,
yeah, and then, yeah, matthewMcConaughey, I mean this is the
beginning of his like oh,because then he's back on True
Detective and everything else.

(37:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
Yeah, and then Dallas Buyers Club.
And then you know, like it was,like, oh, matthew McConaughey
is, even though he is like justa body in this, but like he was,
I believe, wasn't he nominatedor like a supporting role.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Perhaps.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
Yeah or something.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
I know he was nominated at other award shows
but like it is kind of knownthat like he steals the show in
this movie, yeah, no, it's agood pick and, and I think,
putting it, you moving it out ofwild card into blockbusters
definitely the move there, um,okay, I, I feel like I'm two for
two.
I need to stay.
I need to stay undefeated withmy picks here, um, and with max

(37:49):
having two coming up, I feellike I have to get this now
because I'm not sure where he'sgonna go with with with his
picks.
I'm going to go over to thestreamer category and I have to
take my beloved Kimmy, probablya little early, but I mean, this
is a movie that when it cameout a couple of years ago on our
end of the year episode, I waslike you know what?

(38:11):
It's just time to admit that,like Kimmy's my favorite movie
of 2022.
Like, just, I rewatched thatmovie endlessly.
I think that that movie hasalready aged incredibly well,
especially now when you thinkabout AI and the.
You know, like the at-homesmart service apps like a Siri
or an Alexa or something likethat.

(38:31):
Like Kimmy has already beenvery predictive of kind of the
perils of having something likea device like that in your home.
Zoe Kravitz is incredible inthis movie.
I think that the reason why Iand Max, I know you're a fan of
this movie as well, but, likethe reason why I love Kimmy so

(38:52):
much is that it's StevenSoderbergh doing Brian De Palma
who's doing Alfred Hitchcock,and like that can sound like
it's unoriginal and it wouldn'tbe exciting.
However, like when you havethree, I would say, masters that

(39:12):
are all very aware of whatthey're doing and they're not
doing it in a gimmicky way or ina way that feels trite and just
like cheap, you get a really,really good product.
And so Zoe Kravitz is awesomein this movie as as like a data
analyst for one of these likein-home smart devices, and she
overhears something that shefeels like is a crime, and so

(39:34):
she tries to take it up.
You know the chain of commandat her job, this Amazon-like
company and in the process ofdoing so, uncovers this huge
like cover-up of one of the likekey stockholders and CEOs of

(39:54):
the company, and so it turnsinto, like you know, this
thriller where people are comingafter her and she's realizing
who she can and cannot trust.
It's set during the pandemic andit's one of these movies that
doesn't like beat you over thehead with that, and so it's kind
of nice to be able to return toit and not necessarily be
reminded of, like those terribletimes, because the story is

(40:16):
really what drives it.
It's not so much about likeit's not a pandemic movie in the
way that like not the contagionis, but it's not like.
There there's a real virus, um,that's like a part of this
story, and so, even though sheis agoraphobic, she does not
like leaving her house, and sothat part is all really
interesting, uh.
But no, it takes place inseattle.
Like there's just this movie,just a big W.
I've talked about it abazillion times here.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, exactly yeah.
So Kimmy and the streamercategory for me had to have it.
That's a great pick, great pick.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Um, okay, I have two picks, here.
Uh, you know what?

Speaker 1 (40:57):
I'm, I'm gonna.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
I'm going to go to TV and I'm going to take the Nick.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Smart, which could be 20 of the best pieces of TV
that we've had in the 20thcentury, 21st century, whatever
you want to call it 21st century.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Yes, 21st century, that's what I would call it.
Clive Owen, the last great.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Clive owen, the last great clive owen uh content
we've had um, you know, that guyI.
I feel like we say this every10 episodes.
I don't know what ever happenedto clive owen.
He was such a fucking force onscreen.
Uh, here he is, in the early1900s.
He's addicted to heroin orcocaine.

(41:40):
He is a racist bastard and heis operating on people on sick
people, on dead people, on pigs.
It is such a disgusting show asfar as graphic goriness but in a

(42:02):
clinical way, but also verymessy because it's the early
1900s and Soderbergh.
It's excellent writing.
It's excellent editing A lot offish eye angles of being in the
operating room, excellentediting A lot of like fish eye
angles of being in the operatingroom and you know again, just
like kind of on the, maybe atthe height of like prestige

(42:25):
television or like maybe even alittle.

Speaker 1 (42:29):
I'd say a little on the forefront, a little before.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
Yeah, Just just excellent, excellent stuff, and
really wish this had like hadgone more seasons.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
Five seasons or something.
Yeah, I never finished thisseries.
I remember having a Showtimepackage at the time, and so I
watched season one.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Put Showtime on the map really, it really did.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, this is a great pick and I think it's probably
top of the list for wild card ifyou're going to incorporate tv
into recognizing um andacknowledging what sodeberg's
done on the television side ofthings yeah, uh, then I'm gonna

(43:11):
go with adaptation, remake andthis is definitely a a personal
pick, uh, because I don't knowhow many people really enjoy
this movie.

Speaker 3 (43:20):
But I'm gonna go with the informant, uh, which, oh,
was that on your?

Speaker 1 (43:26):
list.
Just crossed it off.
Uh, just crossed off that andthe nick.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
So uh, this movie is fucking hilarious and again,
like experimental wise.
He is doing something sointeresting with the audio in
this film where, because themain character is such a liar,
every important conversation andagain this is conversation that

(43:59):
you're watching in the frame isdrowned out by this obsessive,
compulsive voiceover of MarkWhitaker talking about
butterflies or talking about acertain type of car or something
else, so you as the viewer haveno idea what is actually true

(44:22):
and what is actually a lie.
Uh, and I think it's justbrilliant.
Matt damon, honestly like oneof his best performances.
He is really the.
Obviously he's the centerpieceof this.
Um, scott bacula is reallyfunny in this, uh, and, and a
whole slew of character actorsthat show up in other soderbergh

(44:43):
movies.
Um, yeah, I, I just re-watchingthis the other night.
I remember watching it when itcame out, I think with my dad
and like not really being intoit, but re-watching it the other
night, uh, night.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
I really think this is an underrated comedy and just
a really, really funny moviethe one and only time I've ever
seen this was on an airplane,actually, and was one of those
that I was like this is such aweird setting to be experiencing
this movie in, so I definitelyneed to return to this, because
I do remember really liking thedamon performance a lot, yeah

(45:21):
yeah, he's so kooky okay, soback to me.
Um and I, in action crimethriller will be taking for for
the crime aspect of it, butreally this is like a comedy
film.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Um, in my opinion, logan lucky yeah, this is a
really good movie too logan.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
Have you ever seen logan?

Speaker 2 (45:45):
lucky erica you know, I think I'd maybe I hated it.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
Yeah, I that's so funny you said because this was
one of the last movies that Ican remember when, when there
were still h channels notnecessarily like I think HBO I
think it was called HBO Go wasthe first like on-demand HBO
service, so it was a movie thatyou could watch on there or
whatever, but it was one of thelast movies that I can remember,
once it got onto HBO, alwaysbeing on the channels and just

(46:11):
watching it like over.
It's such a rewatchable moviethat gets funnier and funnier
and funnier, like Adam Driverand his prosthetic arm and
Daniel Craig and that accent,cauliflower, yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
You just say cauliflower to me.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Don't not make me laugh.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
I don't have the voice for it.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
It's like, and then, like I mentioned earlieriley,
keough, as the sister is likeincredible, in this movie we're
robbing nascar.
Like it just feels we'rerobbing a nascar track.
So it just feels so, um, likeparticular and again, just like
really studied to to besomething that's like true to

(46:53):
what it's true to what it'strying to discuss and talk about
.
But also you're like, am I justwatching?
Like a really funny, everyone'sin on the joke like we're going
to make like a hillbillyversion and I say that
respectfully like a backwardsversion of Ocean's.

Speaker 3 (47:10):
Eleven.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Yeah, and that's exactly what it is and it's so
funny and it works so well.
And then like again, like theway he ends his movies.
This movie ends with like allof them at the bar and you get
huge hitters making blair,hillary swank show up as these
federal agents and you're like,oh, is this movie gonna go on
for another like 30 minutes?
But then it just like ends andI don't know.

(47:32):
This movie is incredible.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
I really really like this film I'll have to re-watch
it because I've only seen Idon't know.
I did not like it when it firstcame out and I remember just it
being kind of a joke moviekatie holmes is really funny in
this movie you're selling itreally well, though, so I might
your boy, jack quaid yeah, youngjack quaid, young jack quaid,
in a terrible wig, yeah, it'shilarious.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
I watched this last, re-watched this last night and
again like when it came out.
I saw it in theaters and Iremember hating it and just
being like, so bored out of mymind.
Watching it last night I washooting and hollering it's
endlessly entertaining and someof the sequences, like the, the,
how they get out of the prisonyes, and how they get back in is

(48:17):
.
It's really slick, unbelievableshit yeah, it's unbelievable
shit yeah um, yeah, I, I, yeah,I'm jealous.
You got this.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
That's a good one well, this is the category I
struggled with, because max didtake traffic from me for my
adaptation, remake category.
So, forgive me, it's been areally long time since I've seen
this.
I think I've only seen it onetime.
But I'm going with solaris ohshit, this was the one I thought

(48:49):
I could sit on fantastic film Ididn't get to revisit this, so
I don't remember a whole lot,but I do remember liking it.
Um, I don't know, I don't knowwhy I have this weird memory of
like watching this, uh, likerenting this from the video
store when I was younger, forwhatever reason.
But yeah it's.
You know, george clooney, youknow, um, I can't say a whole

(49:13):
lot about it, though, like as anadult an adult, because I just
don't.
It wasn't my first pick.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
Again, it's like it's very experimental in the way
it's edited.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yeah, and I Well, how many people are going to be
like yeah, I'll remake aTarkovsky film.
Yeah, Just doesn't happen.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
It's really interesting.
I was listening to an interviewwith Soderbergh recently and he
was saying that this is likeone of the movies in his
filmography that he wish he madefor less money.
He, you know, because peoplewent into this thinking like, oh
, george clooney again at theheight of his powers, big sci-fi

(49:51):
remake.
Like people thought this wassomething completely different
than when they go in and what itcomes up with, because it is a
very like internal characterdriven like slow burn movie.
But man, again George Clooney,he used to really like, really

(50:13):
put his all into it and he'sreally really good in this.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
This is a great pick.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Cool, really put his all into it and he's really
really good in this.
Yeah, this is a great pick,cool, um.
So I guess then for my next one, um, I think I have streamer
and wild card next and I had tomove magic mike out of my wild,
my wild card.
So I'm gonna go with the movieside effects oh, I like this
film I again another movie Ihaven't seen in quite some time,
but I really liked this moviewhen it came out, um, kind of a

(50:41):
trippy like psychologicalthriller, um, and I remember
correct me if I'm wrong, butwasn't there like a big twist at
the end yes yeah, so this issomething I even like wrote it
down to like.
Okay, we didn't get to re-watchthis this past week, but I'm
going to this week because Itotally forgot about this movie.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Rooney is so good in this, oh I know.

Speaker 2 (51:02):
And then we also have Channing Tatum again, um and
then um.
We have Jude law too, which Ilove.
So, um, that's going to be mywild card.

Speaker 3 (51:13):
This is a Soderbergh movie I've never seen.
Really it's really solid Iwasn't able to get to it.
It's a good one.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Yeah, okay.
So back to me, and I need tofill Adaptation Remake and so
I'm going to take a film that Ihad in my streamer category and
move it over to AdaptationRemake, because this is really
one of you know, I think itbetter fit streamer, because
this is really one of uh, youknow, I think it better fit
streamer because this is reallyone of the big um, like, maybe

(51:41):
one of the last big likequote-unquote made for tv movies
that I think was extremelysuccessful and that's behind the
candelabra really good movie.
it's a really good movie, winslike 11 emmys, um, even though
it is just a film, like it's atwo hour long movie which stars
Michael Douglas and Matt Damon,and this movie is just like,

(52:04):
again, very forward thinking inthe kind of story that it was
telling.
You know, it feels like itwasn't that long ago, but it's
2013, same year as Side Effects,actually, and so, like
something else that we haven'treally touched on.
But, like you know, we wealways give guys like luca
guadagnino credit for beingprolific, like sodeberg is so
prolific and almost always ifhe's working, he's usually

(52:28):
releasing like two movies a year, if, if he has things in
production, um, so, behind thecandelabra, just like a.
Really, when I watched thismovie when it came out on HBO,
like I was not even at, like youknow, 23 or whatever, not
emotionally mature enough tokind of handle the story and the
sentimentality and also likekind of the the tragic nature of
this story.

(52:48):
But it's also very grand andsuch a spectacle in the way that
Soderbergh shoots these, thesereally extravagant settings
during these performance kind ofset pieces.
It might be along with somethinglike Ocean's Eleven, which
we're in casinos and we're doingall these other things he has
such a knack for doing.
The really small stuff likesexualizing videotapes and a lot

(53:11):
of traffic is just like peopletalking in rooms or whatever.
I think the reason why at thebeginning I said like it's so
great that he doesn't have somelike stupid comic book IP thing
on his resume is because, like,I think he could probably pull
off the right thing when youlook at something like
Candelabra or Ocean's Eleven orsome of the bigger things that
he has tried to tackle, becausehe does it with really good

(53:32):
success.
So, moving it to adaptation,remake, cause it's it's based
off of a book, um, true story ofof these two guys and so happy
to get it kind of kind of notwhere I expected it to be, but
but I think it's a solid, solidchoice.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Yeah, another film I I watched for the first time
this week and uh, it was justlike, yeah, soderberg, it's just
really good night.
Um, okay, these are my last twopicks and uh, with these two

(54:08):
picks I will have gotten myfirst choice in every category.
Wow, you guys are absolutechumps.
Uh, in streamer, I'm taking nosudden move.
Uh, which again, great crimecaper.
Uh, don cheetle, benicio deltoro, brendan frazier your girl

(54:28):
julia fox julia fox, who showsup in quite a bit.
Uh uh, shows up in Presence.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Does she?
Yeah, I saw that, not the JuliaFox, it was in no Sudden Move
Huh.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
I mean, I know it's the same person, but a lot's
changed in Julia Fox's life inthree years.
But you know, hey, she'skilling it.
No Sudden Move just again.
We've kind of beat this todeath.
But he's.
He's really good at crime filmsand this is a period piece like
almost like great to perfectcrime thriller.

(55:06):
Um, we also have kieran colkinagain on the forefront, mr
soderbergh, he, he knew itbefore it happened.
Now kieran colkin is is likeking of the world.
Yeah, there's some interestingexperimental stuff going on with
iPhone shots.
Not the whole thing is shot oniPhone, but there are definitely

(55:26):
some shots on the iPhone.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
More fisheye stuff.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
Yeah, more fisheye stuff.
Yeah, love it.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
I remember not being the.
It's such weird to go back andthink about a movie like this in
comparison to, like, what kindof movies are coming out now and
where was our kind of you knowbarometer for quality during the
pandemic?
I mean, obviously I love Kimmy.
Kimmy was top of my board forstreamer, but you know, this was
I remember all of us on the podkind of talking about this
movie when it came out.
As far as, like, boy, we can'tjust like let this pass by

(56:01):
without acknowledging that, likethis is a really solid little
little movie.
I still don't think Inecessarily, and he's always,
he's always having fun with thisright, like what are we really
trying to steal?
Who's this saying?
More about you know kind ofdeal.
More about you know kind ofdeal because, um, you know, like
some, some schematics for anauto part in like the 40s or

(56:22):
whatever.
The 40s, 50s, era of detroit orwhatever, I guess would have
been a big deal, um, but yeah, Idon't know, I need to return to
this.
I need to return to this movie.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
It is solid though uh , and then with the last pick in
the draft for me, uh, myblockbuster, I'll be taking
Ocean's 12.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
Which I believe is the best Ocean's movie, 125 mil.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
I think is that his most successful film.

Speaker 3 (56:46):
Might be the highest, and I mean Ocean's 12,.
It's different from Ocean's 11as where it is literally just a
like french new wave movie, uh,made in modern times.
Um, I, I think, uh, you get alook it's much more centered

(57:07):
around rusty this time, the bradpitt character.
Um, there's just some fantasticstuff going on with him and
katherine zeta jones throughoutVincent Cassell comes in and
just is a great pompousFrenchman who thinks he's a
better thief than Danny Oceanand you get the Julia Roberts.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
Bruce Willis scene.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Bruce Willis cameo, but Julia Roberts playing Julia
Roberts.
Julia Roberts bruce willisscene.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
bruce willis cameo, but julia roberts playing julia
roberts, such a weird, funnymeta moment yeah which is really
great.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Uh, he's.
He's really good at meta, likecomedy on meta culture, like
another thing from logan luckynot to take it back to that film
but oh, you mean one of mypicks, the prisoners are like.
We want the winds of winter andand Dwight Yoakam as the warden
has to explain, has to explainto the prisoners that George RR

(58:06):
Martin still hasn't written itand those poor bastards are
still in prison waiting for thatbook.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Oh, that's, that's, hilarious.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
But but yeah, ocean 12, uh, just uh again hilarious.
But but yeah, ocean's 12 uh,just a, again just like an
utterly cool movie.
Uh, that's extremelyrewatchable and different.

Speaker 1 (58:24):
So you know it feels so different from ocean's 11 it
makes ocean's 11 feel like areal indie film and this feels
like a blockbuster.
This was top of my blockbusterlist as well.
For that reason I feel likethis is his quote unquote
biggest movie, ocean's 13, kindof goes back to the formula of
Ocean's 11.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
I just love that he was able to do this again.
French New Wave film in themiddle there.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
That's a great pick, okay.
Okay, in wild card for my lastpick, because this is my last
category that I need to fill,will you allow the black and
white cut of raiders of the lostark?

Speaker 3 (59:04):
you don't even like it doesn't fucking matter so
that's horse shit.
But yes, I will allow it.
But let it be known on therecord.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Explain, alex does not like indiana jones at all,
at all the, the white saviorwith a whip, who goes into
foreign countries and culturevultures nazis yeah, and steals
their artifacts to bring himback to the united states to
display at his university.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Damn, you put it like that.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Jesus christ, no, I'm not a fan of this man.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
I'm never going to enjoy Temple of Doom ever again.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
See.
Temple of Doom is the mostproblematic of the three and
that's the movie I like the most.
Wait a sec.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
But that's just because I was a big child slave.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
Listen, the children in the mines, the children are
still.
Minecraft is the biggest gamein the world right now.
The children, children are in.
The children are still.
Minecraft is the biggest gamein the world right now the
children they, they yearn forthe minds.
Okay, um, anyways, this, thisedit is is really interesting,
so I'm surprised you didn't pickthis explain this to me,

(01:00:11):
because I don't know so sodebergis notorious for putting out
like a best of a best of theyear blog where he's, like he's,
always commenting oncontemporary films.
You know, I like this, I don'tlike this.
I'm sure the guy's got a burnerletterboxd account out there
somewhere.
But but what he's also done onthis blog of his is that he will

(01:00:33):
go back and he will reedititand re-cut different films just
for fun, like and just like apassion project.
Um, that of his.
That he's done and in the mostfamous example of this is he
went back and he did a black andwhite cut of raiders of the
lost ark, um, but with nodialogue.

(01:00:53):
Yes, right scored to the socialnetwork, to the social network
score, trent redsner and atticusross.
So I'm getting all of this,okay, yeah, uh, and, and so
that's my wild card, and you gotit.

Speaker 3 (01:01:08):
I hope you sleep well at night.
Uh, putting your head down onthat pillow talking this
nonsense about indiana jones Imight just go make my own
version of this.

Speaker 1 (01:01:17):
Pull up Indiana Jones , turn the brightness all the
way down, put on my TrentNaticus social network vinyl and
just have my own littleSoderbergh moment after you guys
leave here tonight.
Amazing, it was between that.
I know you guys have a fewpicks left, but I guess we can
get to wild cards here in aminute.
But I just thought that wouldbe a fun one to have to throw in

(01:01:38):
there it was definitely on mylist, but, uh, I felt that, uh
the nick that's, that's yeah,yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Well, my last pick is for my streamer and this is a
movie that I just came to thispast week and um never had heard
of this.
But this is an HBO movie andit's called Let them All Talk
and it's kind of like it saysit's a comedy drama.
I really didn't really catch alot of the comedy part of it.

(01:02:08):
It was very much more of like afriend drama to me and I really
really liked it.
And it has Meryl Streep,candace Bergen and Diane Weiss.
They all play these friends,but Meryl Streep is this very
famous author like PulitzerPrize winning author, um, and it

(01:02:30):
was really just like a story, avery, very simple story.
It all takes place on like abig on the Queen Mary 2 that
goes from New York to England, Ibelieve, and it's a very, very
simple story but I reallyenjoyed it.
Like the drama part of it ithad kind of a jarring ending.

(01:02:51):
You know, I'm just I threw thison because I needed a stream.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
You know I'm just.
I threw this on because Ineeded a stream.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
Yeah, this I really like this one was.
I was drawn to this one and Ireally liked it and I just
thought that even Meryl, kind oflike it, felt a little bit like
Miranda Priestly vibes but, but, but nicer, but just very
intense on her end.
Um, we also have lucas hedges,because I I really like him too,
but just a good, like simplefriend drama that had some like

(01:03:31):
deep emotion to it.
But, um, I recommend it.
I you, I really liked it.
It was a good COVID movie Ithink that came out in 2020.
That was my last pick, though.

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
And that's the draft.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
There it is.
That's the draft.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
Okay, so Erica, you had number one overall pick.
Why don't you recap your roster?

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Okay, well, I started off with Ocean's Eleven in my
action crime thriller pick, andthen, let's see, I had.
What did I do after that?
I did Magic Mike in Blockbuster, and then Solaris in Adaptation
Remake, erin Brockovich inOscar nomination and Side

(01:04:15):
Effects as my wild card andtopping it all off with Let them
all talk in my streamercategory labra, blockbuster

(01:04:44):
contagion action crime thrillerlogan, lucky streamer, kimmy and
wild card.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
The black and white cut of raiders of the lost ark,
scored with the social networksoundtrack by trent okay oscar
nominated.

Speaker 3 (01:05:05):
Uh, I took traffic, which he steven soderbergh won
best director for in the year2001.
Uh, adaptation remake.
I took matt damon's tour deforce performance in the
informant blockbuster.
I took the best oceans movie,oceans 12.
Out of that series of moviesaction, crime thriller uh, a

(01:05:32):
movie that drips cool out ofsight.
In streamer, I took aunderrated film, uh, called no
sudden move and in wild card,one of the best prestige tv
series of all time.
I get the nick with.
I don't know is he a sir, sirclive owen probably not in this

(01:05:54):
house in this.
he is a sir, Sir Clive Owen.

Speaker 1 (01:06:02):
Thank you, keane Arthur.
Thank you sexually repressedguy from Closer, that's my
favorite, clive, and so we havesome honorable mentions now here
.
Not too many, I feel like.
Six categories, 18 projectstotal.
It's kind of the perfect amounthere, but there are just a few
things that I want to give ashout out to.

(01:06:23):
The girlfriend experience withSasha Gray was such an
interesting choice to make thismovie.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
I'll let you Google Sasha Gray at your own risk.

Speaker 1 (01:06:35):
Entourage fame, right Of entourage fame, yeah, that's
right.
And so just another one where,like you know, Steven
Soderbergh's like yeah, I'llcast a porn star is the lead in
in my movie.
He does the same thing withHaywire where he's just like I
will cast a UFC MMA fighter, um,as the lead in in one of my
movies.
I love unsane with claire foy.

(01:06:57):
I mean like as as this womanwho is not sure if she's been
voluntary or involuntarilycommitted to, um, an insane
asylum basically, and so it's,and that's all shot on an iphone
as well.
Um, so, a lot of, a lot of goodthings here.
Still, kind of like on theoutskirts on the outside looking

(01:07:17):
in, I would say, um, Eros is areally interesting like three
part anthology um film that hedirected one part of, along with
Wong Kar Wai and then anotherfilmmaker that are all again
just like really provocativestories about sex and just like
being really brave and tellingthese stories.
And so, yeah, I mean I neverreally have considered like

(01:07:39):
Soderbergh, like Horny, Like ahorny guy, but also one of my
guys and most of my guys arehorny, and so I'm like you know
what Like, especially watchingSex Lies and Videotape the other
night I'm like this is this guygets it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
Yeah, yeah.
I'd also shout out King of theHill, which is not the Mike
Judge cartoon, it's too bad, I'dvote for you if you had that on
your roster.
This is an early 90s moviestarring the kid from Swimfan.
What's his name?

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
Jesse Bradford.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
That's right.
Thank you, jesse Bradford.
This is his first studio moviethat Soderbergh ever did and
it's very much like a coming ofage Spielberg movie uh, period
piece, uh, very fun film.
Um, yeah, the limey again.
Uh, I, I really liked thatmovie, malcolm.
Uh, I really like that movie,malcolm McDowell or not.

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
Malcolm McDowell, the other guy who looks Terrence.

Speaker 3 (01:08:42):
Terrence stamp.
Yeah, terrence stamp, again,just a really interesting film
and the way it's constructed.
And then also like, listen, goout and see presence, cause
another thing about presence islike it's a movie that kept me
guessing until the end, andthere's moments where you're
like, oh, I know what's going on.
I figured this out, would you?

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
recommend High Flying Bird.
Do you think you have to be abasketball fan to enjoy it?

Speaker 3 (01:09:10):
Or do you think that makes it harder?

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
to enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
I don't know it's tough, because have you ever
watched it when it came out?

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
It's tough Because have you ever watched it when it
came out?
It's been years.

Speaker 3 (01:09:18):
The cutaways to like.
The interviews of the real NBAplayers I found extremely
distracting and taking me out ofthe film.
I would have rather just stayedin the world of the film as
opposed to that, because theplayers, the people who play the
players in the film and thenputting them, and then when you

(01:09:39):
see real players, it just itjust doesn't.
It kind of loses me a little.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
Things.
It's sort of like I don't wantto say like lost in translation,
but it's just like why are weshowing two different?
Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
But the, the main guy in that, is also in the Nick
and he's also in moonlightwhat's his name andre something
really, really great.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
First time I can remember seeing um zazie beats
in anything yeah, she's reallygood in there.
Yeah, she is good anything yougotta watch after leaving this.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Um well, yeah, wait, it was the.
Yeah, I really want to watchsex lies and Videotape.
I mean, that was the one that Iwas bummed I didn't get around
to, but I knew that if I wouldhave even thrown that on my
roster.

Speaker 3 (01:10:25):
You could have taken it first overall.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
True, yeah, but that's my list right now to
watch.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
If I was going to recommend anything, it's
obviously Kimmy.
I just can't sing that film'spraises enough.
That's just like a really,really fun movie.
But then also, too, like I do,I do want more people to go back
and we need to like have thethe Logan Lucky Resurgence thing
happen.

Speaker 2 (01:10:50):
That's the other one that I want to revisit, yeah and
Max, you, you love Blood andGuts.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
I would say, go check out the Nick okay, you need to
watch side effects too max.
Yes, yep, it's a good one.
That's the big one I missedokay.

Speaker 1 (01:11:04):
So as for what's next on the podcast?
Great, great draft.
By the way, guys, it's alwaysfun drafting.
Um, we will be diving into oneof dumpy wary's finest releases
from this year flight risk, andholding another hall of fame
ceremony for one of one of thedump truck Kings, mark Wahlberg.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
You don't want to use my face?
Dump daddy.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
Dump daddy, listen, we will throw them all on the at
the wall and see what sticksnext week.
But really excited to do aWahlberg hall of fame episode
because I think, as we were, youknow, kind of chatting about
what's going to be next week,it's like doing an experiment
like this with a guy who's beenin Oscar nominated films, who

(01:11:47):
has been at the top of themountain, who has been at the
award shows, but who has alsomost recently been in something
like flight risk depending onhow flight Risk goes this
weekend, I have counted maybe 15or 16 movies that could go into
the Hall of Fame.
And what kind of Hall of Fameare we really trying to build

(01:12:08):
here?
Is this like if an alien landson Earth and we want to say this
is the man?
Mark Wahlberg?
What?

Speaker 2 (01:12:15):
do we show them?

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
I love that we must show him his heights and his
lows.

Speaker 1 (01:12:20):
There's going to be a lot of impressions Next week.
I need to rest this voice so Ican do my best.
Boston accent.

Speaker 2 (01:12:28):
It's okay, I'll lead this one.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
I love that.
That's amazing.
Okay, so until next time,follow Excuse the Intermission
on instagram and the three of uson letterboxd to track what
we're watching between shows,and we'll talk to you next time
on eti, where movies stillmatter.
Thank you, thank you.