Synchronic - S11 E84 - Shoot The Hostage

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Shoot the Hostage with me, Sarah, and my partner Dan. We're a movie podcast and we cover eight films per season on a specific theme. Now, we swear we chat major spoilers and we occasionally cover triggering topics. So, please do use listener discretion. If you like what we do and want to support us, consider hitting five stars on Spotify or maybe subscribing or even reviewing on your platform of choice. We also have a Patreon with a free tier for lineups and updates and two paid tiers with extra cont. content and early adree uploads. Right, on with the show.

(00:01):
Hey, Sarah.
Dan. I nearly said Daniel.
Did you? And I'm not even in trouble. Am I trouble.
Uh, no.
You didn't middle name me.
I didn't know.
That's when I'm in big trouble. Daniel Christopher. Why have you weaved in your toy box again?
Which it's a phrase I often use.
Yeah. Oh, I had I went back to a different time then, which is kind of relevant, isn't it?
We uh the second movie in your your season of films about drugs.
Yep.
What are we talking today?
So, today we're talking about Synchronic, which I hadn't realized when I programmed it in. It's quite a divisive film.
I didn't know that.
No, I don't know. I I was um I was fairly early on the Benson and Morehead train.
I I was going to ask you this.
I was an early adopter, if you will.
Okay. Yeah. You You knew about him first.
Yeah, that makes me cooler.
I knew all about Benson Morhead before they even made their first movie. Yep.
I knew it was going to happen.

(00:22):
Um so early adopter. So what was the first Mhead Benson? or head.
Resolution.
Resolution. So, you saw that first and then you saw the endless.
I think I saw Resolution and I think I saw Spring next.
I forget Spring. Yeah.
Yeah. I um I watched Spring with a previous partner who hated it and his feeling of that movie really um affected my enjoyment of it. So, a few years passed, I went back cuz I was like, "Maybe I'll give this another go. People seem to really love it. I watched it. I just thought it was fantastic. I don't know what I was thinking.
I don't know what you were thinking because I've seen that movie. We've watched it together. Yeah.
And it feels so you.
Yeah, I know, right?
That film is so up your street that if you had told me if we'd had conversation before, you said, "I've seen this. I can't stand it." Really?
Yeah.
Do Do I even know you?
I forget that spring's in there cuz it's the order resolution, spring, the endless synchronic something. in the dirt.
I think so. Yes, I believe so. Um, yeah, you're right. Spring is very much up my alley.
Um, but it does feel like somewhat of an outlier
amongst their other films,
I guess. So, it it's funny how a lot of their films deal with the concept of time, whether that is in this movie Synchronic that we'll get to, but quite literally time travel.
There are other movies that It's difficult. You don't want to spoil certain movies, but it's a movie podcast. It's a free-for-all. So, if you haven't seen Enders, switch off. But that movie deals with time loops.
Mhm.
So does Resolution.
As well as Oh, Resolution does as well, does it? Okay. And even Spring, you know, is again, switch off if you haven't heard it, but it's a film called podcast, so it's fair game.

(00:43):
It's spring.
Is that just what you're going to say now?
Yeah.
f*** you if you haven't gotten around to watching it yet.
f*** off. Yeah. Um, your way to bring in new audience is they tell them to f*** off. Yeah, great work, Dan. Good thinking.
It's going to endear us to everybody.
Already speak spoken about urinating in a box and tell people to f*** off.
I mean,
and we expect people to listen to this.
Yeah, when you say it like that, it's a tall ass.
We've said worse.
True.
But spoilers for spring, that movie is about living for a very long time, right? Like being immortal. And that's so that's also like a timey thing. How much time have I got thinking about death and putting it off and all of that stuff. So it's I think They're all similar in They have some similar ideas. I I bet.
Yeah, they explore a lot of the same themes over and over for sure.
Not to spoil it, but what was I don't care. Let's spoil it if you haven't. I'm doing that again. Something in the dirt. What was that about? It was a lockdown film, right? It was uh
Yeah, it was just the two of them again. I think there were a couple of other people in it, but it was mostly just the two of them in like an apartment building. Um some weird time stuff. Also, maybe alien Aliens.
Okay.
I don't know. I feel like that's kind of that can sort of sum up any of their films. Some weird timy wimy stuff. Also maybe aliens.
Aliens, but not really talked about. Why do we think it's aliens? I don't remember that movie at all. I've got to be honest. I remember them being in an apartment.
Maybe Aliens is going in the wrong direction. Maybe Eldrich horror is perhaps a better description.
Okay.

(01:04):
Not least because like the endless starts with a quote from HP Lovecraft and There's a lot of like the unseen, unknowable horrors.
Yeah, there's definitely a through line between we watched the endless last night. A through line between the endless and note which you pointed out
and that was very interesting to think about while we were watching it.
Yeah. In terms of like being watched over by some sort of entity and how that correlates to our position as an audience and
what are we responsible for?
Yeah. Our relationship to the the viewer.
Yeah. It's interesting. Very Interesting to think about. Uh they actually worked with Jordan Peele on an episode of The Twilight Zone, apparently.
All right. Okay.
Haven't seen any of that show.
No, I haven't. I heard reasonably good things.
Um I will say I think I've seen pretty much everything that they've done with the exception of maybe a few episodes of stuff, but I think I I really enjoy their feature length projects, not so much the other stuff. Loki was good. Yeah,
but I don't know how much do do you know how much kind of creative control they they were allowed for that. Were they Were they actually the showrunners?
I believe so.
Right.
Yeah. So, I mean you're doing Marvel probably not I mean certainly not as much control as you would have over your own 50 project set in one room.
It is interesting that I was thinking about this in the shower that they've gone from your lowest of the I don't mean it's the porative sense like low low budget indie movie.
Well, resolution had a budget of 20,000,
right? It was 20,000.
Peanuts,
even less than I thought. So, it's interesting that they've gone from that and then I don't know what the budget was for spring, obviously more, I'm guessing. And Synchronic, uh, the Endless and Synchronic were probably more and more. Again, Synchronic had a budget of about 4 million.
I read four, but I also saw two and a half in a different uh different reference, so unsure.

(01:25):
Okay. But it's interesting that they've gone from very very low budget to the biggest budgets that you can probably get with the superhero stuff and and not much in nothing in between really. They've gone from one extreme to the other. And I wonder what that experience shift is like.
They they've returned multiple times. Yeah.
So they did Loki season 2 and they did um Moonnight. I think they must have done Moonnight before
some of Moonnight. They did um they they also again I don't know how much involvement they had, but they also directed at least one episode of Daredevil Born Again.
Yeah. Well, I think I I just think that they were show runners on All of these were I think so. Yeah. So they probably directed what the first or a couple of episodes and oversaw it
kind of thing. I think that's generally how those things worked.
Well yeah because I I guess Kevin Feige is just sitting around going right time guys. Who are the time guys? We can't afford Christopher Nolan.
Somebody put feelers out to Benson and Morehead.
I mean who's going to turn down that opportunity?
The money.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And not not just the money but the potential. for getting future projects green lit as well.
Yeah, definitely. I've I've listened to them on podcasts and they they speak a lot about the networking side of things where you can just go out, particularly in LA, to a bar and meet someone and they know someone and they become your friends. And so, at the very least, they're probably going to be building up a more of a network of people and getting more interesting or more personal projects to them green lit,
which I I don't I mean, I watch some of the Marvel shows and like some of them, but I tend to not get that excited about the shows anymore just because it's such a big commitment. And most of them have been mediocre really at best with a few exceptions. Maybe the ones that they've done actually like Loki. I liked it.
Loki was one definitely one of the better ones.
They didn't do season one, but they they did season two I believe.
Uh I quite liked Moonlight. Moonnight. You weren't huge on that, were you?
I wasn't a massive fan. No,
I quite enjoyed it. And Daredevil I thought was okay. It was pretty good. I thought it had its moments.
It was like a season of setup. But we'll see.

(01:46):
Yeah, we'll see where it goes.
But I I mean I can't say that I'm not disappointed because I would like them to carry on making their own
weird little f****** movies like Synchronic. Like
I don't it's not my favorite of theirs, but it's very it's unique and it's weird and it's about drugs and it fits in this season quite squarely and neatly even if it is a madeup drug.
Well, this is it. I when I was programming this season, I was like what's going to be what are my parameters and I there was another film with a madeup drug that I was toying with and I was like I can't really have both of them.
Was it the 51st state?
No,
with Robert Carlilele.
No. Yeah, this is just Robert Carlilele season actually.
Um No, it wasn't. It wasn't. But I will talk about that in the rap show.
Um yeah, I I chose this one because we watched it when it came out and quite I remember quite enjoying it and then we watched it again a week ago and I quite enjoyed it again. So I was really shocked to see some of the descent online.
Yeah, interesting. You you mentioned that earlier. I I had no idea. I guess I just assume that everyone obviously these films are not for everyone, but particularly big film fans such as us and possibly the people listening would be well into that kind of independent, new ideas, unique kind of feel. I don't like I don't think Synchronic is my favorite of theirs.
Agreed.
But I think it's a very good movie
and it's just different and don't I wonder what it is about it that's so divisive because I don't think it has a particularly strong and maybe that's part of the the reason that it doesn't fare quite as well as their other movies to me but it doesn't feel like it has a very strong stance on anything really it's more of a presentation of this scenario maybe we'll get into it and I'll have different ideas by the end of the show but
it feels like quite we were discussing it briefly but like quite a simplistic movie
even though it's about something weird and complicated
it doesn't It doesn't like go down any roads that are super confusing or ambiguous.
It's very uh this is what this film is. It's got Anthony Mackey in Mackey in it. By the way, he's Captain America. Don't you know? And this other guy um you probably don't recognize him with his trousers on, but it's Jamie Dorman. Dorman.
I don't know if it's Dorman or Dornan or I don't know.
One of those is probably correct. We're sorry. Jamie.

(02:07):
Some Irish man.
Oh, he's Irish, isn't it? He is. Yes.
But he doesn't American
for the most part. Yes, I could hear the accent creeping in.
Oh, could you? Yeah. You're very good at accents though. I don't know how you do it.
Frustratingly so though. It can be really distracting.
It pulls you out of it sometimes, doesn't it?
So, it's not the greatest superpower.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, I I quite like the leads. I think um I think Anthony Mackey of the two is much better.
Do you?
I do. But I don't necessarily think that's ne I don't know. I I don't think it's down to the actors 100%. I think Anthony Mackey is given a lot more to do and I think because of the events in the film, I can't remember their names. I'm This is character names. That's what I struggle with always.
Um but the one whose daughter goes missing,
Jamie Dorman, but I don't but I don't know his character name.
We'll call him Jamie Dorman.
Let's call him He's just Jamie. Okay. So, his kid, his teenage daughter goes missing. So that kind of necessitates him being a bit shut down,
a bit maybe emotionally absent.
Yeah, he's very emotionally absent throughout the movie, really, isn't he? He's not
It's not his movie. It's definitely Macky's movie. Is it my favorite Anthony Mackey performance outside of uh The Night Before? Maybe. I don't know. We We spoke about the new Captain or the latest Captain America movie. movie over on Patreon a little while ago and we weren't blown away by his performance in that, were we?
I wasn't I wasn't blown away by anything in that movie.
No, it was it was Well, whatever.

(02:28):
I would go as far as to say it was ass.
Yeah, but he I didn't think that he was great in that. And it might have been that he was trying to wear too many hats on that particular production. It maybe was spread a bit thin or maybe it was just a script. I don't know. But I think he's much better here.
Oh, massively. Yeah.
And and I wonder if that's just because they they have a director with a very clear vision. That's their vision. And it was probably a lot more relaxed on set. I I don't know, like low budget. So pro maybe not. Maybe it was way more hectic. And I just don't know. But
there could have been a lot of factors. I mean, couple that with the fact that it's set and filmed in New Orleans,
which is where Anthony Mackey is from.
Okay. I didn't know that.
So hometown for him might have also added to the fact that he was maybe a bit more enthusiastic about the project or felt more relaxed. I don't know.
That's interesting. Um, why was it set in New Orleans, do you think?
Don't know.
I mean, besides that sort of subplot that's mentioned a couple of times with the um like his family's burial plot and the the flooding kind of meaning that the the coffins were floating around. You're not necessarily going to get that anywhere else because obviously New Orleans is quite specific in that the tombs are above ground. Yeah,
because of the flooding, I believe,
because of the water level.
Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, obviously that comes up in in the movie where his family's coffins rise up
or and are floating around and he's facing his own mortality in the movie as well. So, like it's definitely about death, the impending death, the inevitability of it and and trying to shut that out, I guess, to a degree and and then looking into your past and wondering what time you've got left. I didn't think about the coffins from that angle before about death literally coming up and and floating towards your head or whatever happens in that scene. But uh I was wondering why it was set in New Orleans. That's quite interesting. What else have we covered that's set in New Orleans
that we've covered?
Yeah. Give you a kill. New Orleans is in the title of one of them.
Oh, Bad Lieutenant.
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I would like to set my movie.
Yeah. Yeah.
Are you uh you're a big fan of that area, aren't you?

(02:49):
You enjoy New Orleans and that whole area of America or at least aesthetically in movies. It seems
I do. Yeah. Like I I've never been. So there's definitely a part of me that kind of romanticizes it. And I don't know how much reality aligns with that, but I do I do enjoy it. Yeah. Anything sort of set in the deep south or particularly like southern gothic stuff. Love it.
It has a real unique identity about it, doesn't it? Like you watch a film that's about New Orleans and know within moments, a few frames probably where this movie is set or was filmed.
Would you call it America's Venice?
Uh, yeah, sure.
Just in that it seems to be unlike any other place.
Yeah, I guess so. Less Blok with hats on singing at you.
Winning already.
Bit less opera maybe.
Again, I'm all about it.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I liked Venice when I went so
Yeah, Venice is cool. It's like one of those places that you go, "Yep, cool. I've been here now. That was very interesting. Probably won't go again."
Well,
I liked it. Listen, I'm not negative on it. It's a good place. You should go.
It is great. It is great. Also, I when I went, I ate far too much pasta and bread and drank nothing but red wine um and made myself quite ill. So,
nobody's going to put us on the Venice tourist board anytime soon, that's for sure.
I think I might already be on the Venice tourist board for other reasons, though.
Well, Do not allow this man back in.
On the last day, I remember just buying one like a big, you know, the big bottles of Lemonchello and just walking around Venice drinking it out the bottle.
That sounds over the bridge.

(03:10):
So you
Yeah, I think I got it on the last day. I was like, why did I buy this entire thing? I better neck it all before we get on the plane.
Yeah, I don't remember much about that day apart from that.
Wonder why.
Yeah.
So, yeah, besides that, I don't really have any guesses at why it's set in New Orleans.
I don't know where Benson and Morehead are from.
Me neither.
Maybe it's home to them as well. Who knows?
Who knows?
One thing that I keep reading in terms of people's complaints about this movie sort of ties into something that you've said already, and that's that it is quite simple. Like on the face of it, when you hear a story about, oh, it's a it's about people who take this designer drug and travel back in time. That sounds like it's going to be a real headscratcher on paper, but actually it's not at all. So, I think a lot of people's complaints are that it's maybe it sort of feels while it's high concept, it's kind of dumbed down high concept.
I wouldn't I wouldn't agree that it's dumbed down. I would agree that they don't seem very interested in the effects of events and you know like in Back to the Future is the obvious comparison whenever you're talking about time travel movies, but the idea that you go back and you affect your present. This movie is not interested in that. It doesn't do anything. remotely like that. So you're not getting into paradoxes really. You're not getting into that whole situation. So I guess I guess people that are looking for movies about time travel are by their very nature probably looking for something a bit more complex. Whereas this is just
it's almost like um just just teleporting to another place. Like the fact that it's another time apart from thematically is largely irrelevant.
And it could be I mean you could even look at it as more of like a multiverse situation where you're traveling to a different uh dimension rather than a different time.
It's weird the time travel concept in this. It's unlike anything I've seen before. You take a drug and you your perception of time is affected and you literally travel back, but you travel back to the place, the exact spot that you're standing in.
Yeah. So, this is something that pissed me off. This the exact same geographical location, but if you if Well, I guess the only one that it really matters for is the daughter right at the end when Anthony Macki kind of goes to to retrieve her from whichever war she's landed in.
They were French. It was French soldiers, wasn't it?
She's Well,
so I don't know much about history, but I was going to I was going to bring this up, but but she Yes. So, she's there goes back there.
Well, there were French speakaking people in the deep south.
But that's what I mean is that that's relevant to the to the area, I guess.

(03:31):
Yeah. But but what my point is that um because the daughter had been there for quite some time. Like she'd been there for what, days at that point?
Yeah.
So the exact geographical location wouldn't be the same, would it? Cuz the that sort of depends on the Earth being static, which
which is not,
which it isn't.
No.
So the exact like just the phrasing of the exact same geographical location, it's never going to be.
Not precisely.
No.
So some of those rules kind of made me roll my eyes a little bit.
I think when you're dealing with time travel though like there's no there's no kind of right answer. I think you can have your I go back to Back to the Future and probably one of the most enjoyable and best interpretations of it.
But what because it's theoretical at this point, you mean?
Well, it's theoretical. Yeah. And so yeah, most time travel movies they call them we're going back in time, but what you actually mean is so you're going back in time and space really, aren't you? Because you like you say the move everything's moving constantly expanding. So if you're literally in the same spot in space, then you're just going to be floating around in in nothingness and you're gonna your head's going to explode immediately with I don't know what happens when you go eject a body into space.
Nothing good.
Nothing good. What happens in uh Oh, in Event Horizon, you can just float through space for a bit, can't you? And it's fine.
Um I don't think anybody had a particularly great outcome in that movie.
But it's interesting in that movie, the the least threatening thing was space.
But you could just like, right, we're going to fly through space with no equipment on. What should I do? I just hold your breath.
Yeah. It'll be real.
Hold your breath. You're fine. Yeah. Um maybe that's real. I don't I I would think it's probably not. But uh yeah, much like Event Horizon, this movie has little interest in the science of it. And I think it's one of those where you've just got to forget about it because
But I think that's Do you not think that's an extension of the complaint I was just kind of making?

(03:52):
No, I Yeah, that's why I said that. That's why I think
But you said you didn't think it was dumbed down.
I don't think that it's dumbed down. in the sense that thematically it's interesting
and and everything's relevant to it thematically. I suppose you could look at it as being dumbed down if you you're just taking it on face value and they're not getting into the science,
but I just don't think that's what this movie is. So, I don't think I wouldn't class it as dumbed down because they're not interested in going into the the actual science of it is just take this pill and in 4 seconds when the pill starts to work, which is true of all drugs, Was it? Look, in movies, in movies, all drugs and medication kicks in immediately. We know this.
I love it when in in a movie there's an overweight guy at a restaurant who's having a heart attack and then they're like, he goes, "Pills, pills." And they pop a pill in his mouth and he's like, "Oh, thanks."
Yeah.
Oh, thank God.
I'm alive again now. Yeah.
Like immediately. Yeah.
That's I suppose in films you haven't got like three hours for them to kick in sometimes. I don't know. I imagine. I don't know. I'm not talking from experience. I've heard this. Sometimes they can take a while to effect.
Well, as somebody who was on beta blockers, that's one that always pissed me off,
right?
It's like you're going to sit there for another half an hour panicking until this f****** thing kicks in. Trust me.
Okay. Yeah. Out of all of them, that's the one you would want to work quickly.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
I um Yeah. I I mean, there's a lot of the stuff that doesn't fully work in this. Like we've spoken about the geographical location. They do. One of my favorite movies in the scene scenes in the movie is where Mackey first learns about this drug literally making you travel in time. And he starts to run experiments
and he's got the little board and he puts X's on the floor. If I stand in this spot, I'm going to get transported to the tundra, but just a few feet away, it's completely different. And I'm assuming it's the same location, but just a different time.
Yeah.
Like the the place you are physically affects the time that you go back to. Yeah,

(04:13):
it seems.
The thing I found most unrealistic about this is the fact that whatever time he went back to, he encountered humans.
Oh yeah.
Whereas statistically, like in the lifetime of the the Earth, you're more likely to not ever see any f****** living thing at all. In fact, you're probably more likely to burn to death immediately as soon as you land or freeze to death immediately. Like it's it's it's most of it the time it's been uninhabitable.
Yeah.
So, it's lucky though that the drug just makes you go to bits where you you can probably survive, but you might get a spear thrown at you.
That is lucky. Yeah. You just might get to see a Woolly Mammoth at one point.
That was pretty cool.
That was pretty cool. That was pretty cool. But they're bringing them back.
Oh, stop it.
I don't Look,
that's what Joe Rogan says.
I don't listen to a f****** word that Joe Rogan says. And if I accidentally hear one, I don't take it seriously.
Yeah.
Did he watch Jurassic Park? But um yeah, so I have another question regarding time travel theory in in all movies. Why They do. They only go in one direction.
What do you mean?
Well, it's always back in time.
Well, I guess the answer to that question is it's probably more expensive to go forward in time because then you've got to build new stuff. Whereas, if you go back in time, you could just rent a 60s action vehicle from the the action vehicle place.
I don't care for that though. I want to I want to see something where they go forward in time.
It does happen. It does happen. Have you seen a really interesting, thoughtprovoking movie uh called time cop.
I have.

(04:34):
Yeah. Well, that's that's I suppose they Yeah, he does go back in time in that as well, but it starts in the future and then he goes No, it starts in the present, then goes to the future, and then he goes back to the present. It's very interesting and complex.
That's true.
And he does the splits in it.
Also, I'm pretty sure they go forward in time in the Paper Girls comics.
Oh, yeah. Okay. The Paper Girls. So, we Was that the Amazon show? Did they do an adaptation?
Yeah. That they f****** dropped and forgot. about and then cancelled promptly.
Yeah, that seems like a super interesting particularly at the end. I I was kind of in for I I liked it, but like the last episode I was like, "Oh, okay. I really want to see where this goes." And
Nope.
Yeah, that's frustrating.
Yeah, comics are great though.
Yeah,
you should read those.
So you say, so you say. Time travel movies in general, I mean, I'm a big fan of time travel movies. I would say I do like them. I I enjoyed time some time loop movies. I watched Groundhog Day recently, which I didn't enjoy as nearly as much as I used to when I was
I don't know why you've got beef with punks attorney Phil. He's done nothing to you.
Uh he got this the start of spring wrong. That's my beef with him. I don't know whether to take a broly or wear a a tank top.
Look, he's a groundhog. I think we're putting way too much stock in what a groundhog says and does.
That whole f****** town puts way too much stock into what a sound groundhog does and says. Apparently can talk human or the mayor can talk groundhog. I don't really know what's happening in that movie. It's A weird f****** movie.
It is a weird movie. Maybe the Groundhog was like the Joe Rogan of his day.
Unearned power.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Can predict the weather.
Uh uh what's the other one? Palm Springs is a good one, isn't it? A good time loop movie. But time travel, I mean, you've you've probably got you could probably count on one hand the the amount of really great time travel movies. Back to the Future, I've mentioned Avengers End Game. name is one that I return to and enjoy a lot.

(04:55):
Primer, time travel.
Do you count stuff like Donnie Darko in that realm?
I don't know because it's it's interesting. What I was thinking about with Synchronic is is it literally time travel or could it be more of a multiverse situation? And I wonder if that can apply to Donny Darko in my mind if it's because things happen in that movie and then it's a split reality, right? is technically a multiverse. So I it's been a long time since I've seen that film.
Yeah, maybe maybe let's not go down that road right now then.
I I feel like it's more of a branch reality though there.
Yeah, I think you might be right.
More of like a a Star Trek situation where you've got Chris Pine and you've got William Shatner on the other side. Um which is another time travel movie. Quite a few time travel um concepts in Star Trek actually. I like the one when they go back to the 80s and they have to rescue the the whale. That's a good one.
That sounds great.
Have you seen it?
No.
You haven't seen it? Oh, it's a good one, Sarah.
Oh, awesome.
Yeah.
Back to Synchronic, though.
Yeah, right. Brilliant.
Not your weird geeky soap opera. Um,
who's the one that's pissing off listeners now? We've lost way more from you dissing Star Trek than me talking about pissing in a box.
Still not as bad as William Shatner. like dissing autistic people.
William Shitner.
Like, do you realize how many of those are your fans, sir? Talking about alienating your audience.
Yeah, it's not a great move, is it?

(05:16):
It's not.
He's 500 years old now. He doesn't give a f***, does he?
I don't think he's given a f*** for a while. Um, but yes, Synchronic. So, I think one of the things I found a little bit frustrating on this rewatch is, and I'm going to keep taking it back to this point, I guess, and that's that I guess I'm trying to agree with you and that it's not over. simplified, but I think it's sort of all spelled out for you in that first scene.
What? Remind me what the first scene was.
So, the first thing we see are Well, interestingly, it opens on hands holding,
right?
And it also ends on hands holding
sort of um but yeah, the first thing we see are the two um the the couple who I think are in like um a motel or
right y
I was going to say Airbnb, but I guess our American listeners wonder what the f*** that is.
Have Airbnb in America.
Oh, I guess so. I always think B&B is like such a an English thing,
I suppose. So, they had it in uh in that movie that we covered, which I definitely remember the name of.
Do you mean Barbarian?
Barbarian.
That's the one. Yeah.
Um uh and then they take the drug and then sort of materialize elsewhere.
Yeah.
She gets bitten by a snake and I can't remember what happens to him. Is that the one the guy that gets the sword through his chest or is that later?
I couldn't I'm I'm not sure if that is the same couple or not. I think that's a different scenario.
Right. Okay.

(05:37):
But I quite liked the effects work
the in terms of the dissolving and reappearing. It's like your environment around you is disappearing.
I think that had the potential to look really cheesy.
Yeah.
But I was quite impressed with that this time around. I don't know. I think Benson and Mohead sort of keep they seem to keep VF effect in their back pocket unless they absolutely have to use it which I think is the correct way to do it cuz in the in the lower budget stuff obviously there wasn't the budget for it and I think I don't know anybody who's come from lowbudget film making I think it shows I think it it is evident when somebody's had to sort of scrimp and be as imaginative as possible
yeah and just had to do a lot of them a lot of the things themselves like I know that they do their own VFX probably not true of the Marvel stuff now Right. Yeah. Likely.
Uh yeah, certainly the Endless. I think I saw uh I watched like a 10-minute behind the scenes thing with with an interview with them for on your Sweet Arrow release last night and I think they were talking about the VFX then and how they got a bit better at it. So, they would started using it a bit more. But yeah, I suppose you're limited by budget, which is like you say, it's that is a good thing sometimes if you don't have endless resources. You've got to be more creative and that can often be a good thing for the project and particularly in these types of things as well. It be quite probably tempting to if you've got endless resources to go overboard with it.
Yes. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that's kind of what I was getting at. And also, I don't know. I think that the sort of things that they make films about, I think, yes, the temptation would be to lean on VFX, but also it's such a delicate tightroppe act because if you do depend on the VFX and they look crap, then that's sort of I don't want to say like nullifies your film, but it makes it so that much harder to take seriously.
Yeah, it sort it sort of takes me out of the movie. I can only speak for myself, but when I see something that is particularly jarring and not done very well, I'm like, "Oh." And I kind of remember that I'm watching a movie, whereas you don't want that to be the case.
You can have your Marvels where it's
big budget and huge action set pieces where you're that's what you're there for. But when you're watching an independent indie sci-fi movie, like these, you want good sci-fi movies are more about human nature and
and just us as people and very human themes. So to explore that and put in huge special effects like you say kind of zeros that out to a certain degree and it takes you out of it. I want there to be the humanity, the themes, but a little bit a little peppering of sci-fi can be more of a just a concept that they talk about.
A good example of that I would say is the coherence where
yeah
there's almost no visual effects in that film but it's about like a really crazy concept and you don't need any effects you can just do it by shooting actors in multiple
from multiple perspectives let's not spoil it maybe
yeah
that's a good example I think of a sci-fi movie a really good sci-fi movie that doesn't need to use effects
that one could have been a play
I got a question for you
okay

(05:58):
if I were to offer you something synchronic. Would you take it?
No.
Why?
Cuz it doesn't work out for anyone in this movie particularly well.
It seems quite dangerous.
I don't want to get bitten by a snake.
Ideally, I don't want to get bitten by a snake. Yeah.
Or or shanked by a pirate or whatever. Yeah.
You just don't know.
Yeah. I don't I don't know. I would be curious to take it.
Yeah. I know you would be.
Yeah.
No s***.
I mean, definitely like Dan, you've got a week to live then. Yeah. I'm Oh, taking it.
Yeah, that's a different story.
Yeah. I mean, I'd give me everything.
Yeah. At that point.
Yeah.
Just there sniffing cleaning products in the kitchen.
Snipping glue and rocking in a corner.
Yeah.

(06:19):
Yeah. But I don't know. Yeah. If if I had if I knew I had a small finite number of days,
I was like, "Yeah, maybe I'll get taken out by a woolly mammoth."
What if
maybe if I get to see one before I die, that'll be worth it.
Yeah, I think so. I think it would be in that scenario. What if you go back and you just you you you land in a T-Rex's mouth.
Well, then that's far from ideal, isn't it?
Yeah. You never know what's going to happen.
That would be tremendously unlucky.
It would be tremendously unlucky, wouldn't it? Yeah. But more likely that than landing exactly where a another human is.
Yeah. And teaching them about fire.
Yeah. Yeah.
Talk about a butterfly effect.
Yeah. Who knows what effect that had. I didn't really explore it, but God. Yeah. You could have come back and um Biff Tannon had a tower and uh yeah, it was it's interesting that it's it's a madeup drug
and it is also a synthetic drug. It's a man-made drug in the movie cuz you get that that one scene when
Mackey learns about the drug and he tries to procure all of them
from the head shop, I guess.
Yeah,
because it's technically legal.
Well, that's how they get around it. All these designer drugs, basically they take an existing drug and tweak it to the point where it sort of no longer can be classed as that other drug. Yeah.
And therefore they skirt the legalities of it for a short time.
I wonder what the movie if if it was trying to say anything at all about synthetic drugs and the loopholes. I guess is it that you know when you have something man-made that and and I guess less well not a traditional or natural drug if you want to call it that like uh is it more critical of that? Is it saying well Why do we need to make things that are like these things when we have these things? Because if we do that, it's potentially more dangerous. You You're f****** with something that's perfectly natural and maybe you'll go travel in time and get shanked by a French person.

(06:40):
So, let's not do that. That's dangerous.
I didn't get that from this movie.
I might be reaching around. I don't know.
Reaching around.
Careful. Um, yeah. I don't know. I mean, maybe I would be more inclined to say that perhaps it's a statement on the epidemic of things like opioids
in America. Um, particularly because the two characters, the main characters are paramedics and I'm sure they have to deal with god knows how many accidental overdoses from from things like fentinil and whatever else that is, you know, that they access initially from a prescriber.
Yeah. And it's because also the Mackie character is an addict, right?
Um, I don't know if I would go as far as to say he's an addict, but he's certainly um like they talk about the fact that he maybe drinks quite a lot and does do recreational drugs.
Yeah.
And his friend is a bit disapproving of it. Thinks he's a bit thinks he should have grown up by now.
Yeah. Yeah. You have that interesting arrested development side of him which is actually similar to what I feel about the characters in uh the train spotting the train spotting that we spoke about last week where okay
they're kind of older than they're kind of 20. 5-year-old 16 year olds.
And maybe that's true of the Mackey character in this to a degree where he's he's in his 40s, but he's sounds like he's going out most nights and drinking and
Yeah, you can't do that s*** in your 40s. I speak from experience.
It doesn't work out well.
He's self-medicating to a degree. Like he's already trying to um not face reality as much as he can by self-medicating, by drinking, by smoking, by robbing codin from the par like the painkillers. Some of that could be to do with his pain that he has in his head on account of the tumor.
I was just about to say that I wasn't sure how longunning this had been or whether he was just sort of
out of desperation to rid himself of these headaches he'd been getting
was just leaning on harder and harder substances. I don't know.
Yeah. It's interesting because you don't get much time with these people. You do. How How long would you say is the course of the movie? Like is it Are we in a week, a few days.
I don't think it's very long. I I think under a week because the the teenage daughter has been missing for a few days, but I don't think it's been like a lengthy period of time.

(07:01):
It feels to me like it's a week or something.
Yeah, about that I would say.
You don't you don't spend a lot of time with these characters in terms of their lifespan and you get dropped right into the middle of their lives essentially. That's obviously by design.
I that's something I really enjoyed about this movie actually. There's no real sort of extra ous dialogue.
Yeah.
I mean, we're we don't we're not even introduced to them first. We we see the the drug users and the experiences that they're having and then it's not until they're called to that site as paramedics that we kind of we we're getting to know them on the job.
And I I don't know. I kind of love some of those early scenes actually. I find them really immersive. The scene where they go to I don't know what you would call it like I think Jenz calls it like a trap house now. Like It sounds so old and so white saying that
is
um just like a drugs house. I don't know.
I know what that is.
Yeah, I know you do. Um
I have to cut that out, aren't I?
Um yeah, I don't know. I think it's almost I don't want to go as far as to say like video gamey, but the scene where they're sort of trying to figure out exactly what's gone on, why this person's on the floor and they're not responding, why this person's been stabbed, why there's a f****** what? whatever you call them. Um, what are those swords?
Swords. I don't know.
Like a cutless
stuck in the wall. That sort of thing. And the camera is moving really dynamically and
it never stops during that scene. And I really sort of felt like the tension and the anticipation of of what the characters must be feeling and how kind of high pressure and fast moving that job must be.
Yeah, that was shot really well that scene actually now you mentioned it. Yeah, I enjoyed that too. It was a very fluid movement of camera. camera and it seemed to be quite a long take as well and it's exploring the room moving around the room.
It reminded me a little bit of the show we've been watching recently, the studio
how much that camera just follows the characters. I watched the behind the scenes thing with the what's his name? Ike Baron Baron Holtz.
Baron Holtz and it was the one where he's gets the the source like lobbed over him and it's not to spoil that show. It's brilliant. You should watch it.

(07:22):
But yeah, sort of just how how much work the camera people do just to follow people around. It's must be it's I I don't think people appreciate enough camera operators.
Camera operators. Yeah, agreed.
Like it's probably it's probably the most important job when you think about it. Obviously, you have the DP and the directors who are managing that situation, but they're literally doing it
and it Yeah, it works really well in that scene. It did. Um I do feel like this movie is is a little colorless. It's a bit and I I think Endless is very similar as well, having watched that last night. It's very um
I think all of their films tend to be a little bit desaturated.
Yeah. Why is that, do you think?
I don't know
because I I can understand, you know, if it's a a choice for a theme for the movie or certain scenes. Yeah, I can understand that. But when you do it in every movie,
so it's just part of your style and
but I remember spring being quite vibrant,
right? I was going to ask if that was slightly different. I I have memory in my head of it being quite vibrant, like lots of reds and but then with that movie, a lot of it is about passion. So, I can understand why that would be more vibrant. It's just interesting that the last couple we've watched have been quite washed out.
Yeah.
And I wondered what that meant if that what meaning relevance that had. Is that because these characters are not feeling particularly on top of the world? You've got the Mackie character that's literally trying to block out reality. You've got the Jamie Dornan character who hates his wife or or sometimes doesn't
unsure. Yeah, I think maybe he's
he went through that dry spell and that's why he's a bit
under appreciates maybe. Also, that's Mark Dupla's wife.
Is it
in real life? Or I think they're still married anyway.
Oh, nice.
Um Katie Aelton.
Okay. Oh, I did not know that.

(07:43):
They're both in the league. Yeah. I'm I'm not sure. He seems a bit lifeless, which is weird to say given that Anthony Macky's character is the one who's given the terminal diagnosis and he seems full of life.
He does seem full of life. How much is that of that is because he's medicating? I mean, he's Mackie like he's a a naturally charming actor.
Yes.
So, it's a very good casting in that sense, but it is interesting and weird like you say that he's the one that gets a diagnosis, but yet is the more upbeat or make he's still making jokes. It doesn't seem to bother him that much.
I don't know if I'd go that far, but I would say I don't know, maybe having this um time travel project has definitely perked him up.
Yeah, it's interesting. I think that maybe having this, as you say, a time travel project uh kind of maybe gives him a reason to live, a reason to the irony is that he doesn't have long to live and all of this time that he has been trying to run away from reality perhaps mortality itself, death itself. Now he's in a situation where he can time travel with a drug and his friend's daughter who I guess is kind of like a daughter to him as well in cuz they're quite old friends. They go way back. So he's always been a part of her life
and I get the impression they each have one friend.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And they work together every day. They just f***. Like, come on.
At that point. Yeah.
Yeah.
Get a room.
I want a paternity test. I think that's my daughter. I uh Yeah. It's interesting that the Mackie character, it's almost like he comes alive when he gets a diagnosis because he has a purpose. I feel like now he has a thing, an important thing that he has to do. Even though he is a paramedic and he's doing one of the most important jobs that you could do.
Y
it's interesting that He's not very interested in that. Why is he doing that job? I don't know. But he seems lifeless until he gets that diagnosis,
which is could be coincidental because it ties in with the daughter taking the synchronic and going missing. But when that happens, he's like, "Oh, okay. Well, now I've got to do this thing." And suddenly he comes to life and he's got motivation and he wants to do this thing. I guess he doesn't have much time left and he he knows that he's the only one that can do this.
I think that's sort of reported by a lot of people who receive those kind of diagnosis. I mean, not the time travel stuff that's um
that's less reported on.
That's um yeah, that's way less common.
Yeah.
But yeah, I mean so so few people really want to die. So I think when you're told that you are going to in no uncertain terms and you're kind of given a time frame, then yeah, it probably does give you a bit of a kick up the ass, right?
Yeah, it it must do. I suppose it's probably different for everybody, but you know, you've got x amount of time to live. What are you going to do with that time? while I've been saving up to buy a house.

(08:04):
Solve this missing teenagers
case. And
yeah, I think I'm going to take a time travel drug.
Yeah.
Yes, please.
That's been described likened to both Iawaska and DMT.
Yeah.
So, here's something I don't understand. Everything I know about the pineal gland, I learned from from beyond.
I knew that he was going to mention from beyond.
Yeah.
So, I'm not terrifically well-versed
in this movie. doesn't pop out your forehead though and move around like a very thin penis.
Jeffrey Combmes is nowhere to be seen. More is the pity.
Yeah.
But so they basically the the rules in this film then are that the daughter was able to go missing because her pineal gland isn't fully formed yet because she hasn't hit 25.
Hasn't calcified.
Yeah. Like is that the same as like when your frontal lobe your front frontal cortex kind of solidifies. Is that the same thing?
Sure.
Is that what people talk about? I don't know. Like you don't fully kind of intellectually mature until you're about 25.
Yeah.
So, younger people and also in his case because his tumor is in such a specific place, it's kind of prevented his pineal gland from calcifying.

(08:25):
So, that's why he's able to to to do this. Um, but what about the couple at the beginning?
Well,
they didn't look under 25.
I thought that they were quite young. But but I thought so was it that you can only take it you can only travel in time if you're uh under a certain age. You have I thought it would it I thought you could everyone could travel in time but how old you are depended on where you went and
how long you stayed there for.
That's what I thought.
I we we're coming at this from different angles, aren't we?
Yeah. Which is a very common thing, but it's why it's interesting to talk about it.
Yeah. Um thought like I don't know much about pineal glands. My
no me like
my knowledge of pineal glands is less than yours cuz I've only seen from beyond once
but uh it's yeah it's interesting that the the there's it's literally a matter of age whether or not the pineal gland is calcified. I have no idea if this is any of this is real. Don't even know if a pineal gland is a real thing.
Yeah. All right. It was me thinking you had a PhD.
But it's interesting that they're saying that his hasn't count ified because of the tumor and he is also in a state of arrested development where he hasn't quite grown up and is that literally because of that
or is that more of his personality?
Is it are they both the same thing? I guess they are to a to a degree. It does fit when you think about it.
Interesting. That would explain why he was a little bit more immature.
Yeah.
Than his friend
but loves dogs.
Not enough. Not enough for my money.

(08:46):
Yeah.
I'm sorry that really pissed me off. Paul Hawking.
Oh, Hawin.
Hawking.
They just left him in that time period.
Yeah. Which again is sort of a call back to Back to the Future.
Yeah. The dog in that is called Einstein, isn't it? Yeah, of course. Yeah.
And doesn't he use the dog to sort of test
the Delorean?
A theory?
Well, they put him in a Delorean, don't they? In the first movie, wouldn't they? They just whiz him
whiz him into the past or whatever by a minute or something.
I can't remember. I was So sad that scene where you can just obviously he's come back to the present but he couldn't bring the dog
and there's just the dog at the window and the image is flickering. I'm like no
what are you doing?
You started tearing up didn't you?
It's horrendous. Poor Hawking.
Yeah I know.
I don't like it.
Yeah, but maybe Hawking is his own dad and that's fun to think about, isn't it? Maybe it's a predestination situation where he's his own mom and he's his own dad. Oh, my brain hurts.
Oh, no. Spoilers for Predestination, I guess. But it's an old movie. You should see it. It's very good.

(09:07):
It is very good. Sarah Snook is amazing.
I remember when I first suggested to Albert to watch that and he watched it and he went, "What the f*** was that about?" And I tried to explain it to him. He was like, "I don't get it." But it was a fun conversation. It was much like our inception conversation.
I see. Why do we think uh that they can only go back in time for seven minutes? Is that relevant in some way. Yeah. Is it seven minutes?
They only get seven minutes.
And if if he's not in the exact same geographical place once the seven minutes are up, then that's that's that's why
uh talking gets left.
It must be to do with dosage, I guess, or how much pineal gland you've got.
I don't know.
Yeah, you're not a doctor, are you?
I'm going to No, I'm not. Even though I wear that white coat sometimes, I don't know. I mean, given that it's it comes in the like the shiny packaging and it's like a marketed and like probably has the exact amount every each dose is exactly the same. It's probably a dosage thing like if you double dropped then you could probably go for 14 minutes maybe or maybe it's like like a snowball effect where if you double dropped like you'll go for like a year.
I would have liked to see that explored.
Yeah, sequel would be fun, wouldn't it?
Yeah,
maybe you do go back for a year and you invent synchronic.
I don't think they could do a sequel because One thing I do like about this film is I don't know. I find their film making to be quite economical.
Oh, yeah.
Despite their stuff being quite I mean you could describe it as slow burn.
Yeah, def definitely slow burn. Yeah.
But I do think it's quite um quite economical and there's there's a really good example of that when um I think Anthony Mackey's in the car. I I can't remember the specifics, but it's either on the TV or the radio and they're hearing about Dr. Kamani, who is the the guy who broke into his house and it turns out he was the chemist,
right,
that actually manufactured the synchronic

(09:28):
and you just hear that little bit of a news bulletin saying that he'd been found dead.
Yeah. There there are elements
that's like a really neat way of going, "Oh, f***. So, this is really all he's got. Nobody can make anymore."
Yeah. So, you've got you got that side of it where you can't get any more of it. But also like you get the introduction of a conspiracy there and perhaps thematically linking in more or something in the dirt as well with the conspiracy theories that they spoke about in that um or thematically anyway like yeah cuz my brain when I heard that I'm thinking oh the government's got hold of this now they want to take it for themselves the doctor is trying to do the right thing and get all of this stuff off the streets cuz people are getting eaten by dinosaurs and shanked with samurai swords.
Yeah cuz people are just waking up in T-Rex's mouths willy-nilly.
Exactly. It's become a problem.
Yeah. It's a real issue.
No one would have ever imagine that would become such a problem, but it has. Uh, but yeah, no, that scream to me of government cover up and maybe that's where you could go come in for the the sequel. Maybe you you make it from a perspective of a government agent like a let's let's put it in the pool universe and have Jason Bman come back as Lorenzo's oil and he's going around trying to get all the synchronic for the government.
I prefer my gritty sequel idea whereas um it turns out that the Sacklers have been producing synchronic to overshadow their uh their misdeeds.
All right, that's not a bad idea.
Anything we can do to demonize the Sackler family more?
Are we getting Brick Mack as as Mr. Sackler?
Yeah, why not?
Yeah, why not? Let's put it in that un Let's put it in a Ferris Bea universe as well, right?
Does that mean we have to bring back um Cameron as well?
Yeah, you have to.
Alan Rock.
Yeah.
All right. Yeah, I mean Let my cameraman go.
We've got to talk about Ferris Budo one day.
We will. I'm sure. Did you perhaps spot some of the many many links to the endless and res Well, I was going to say Resolution, but you've never seen that one, have you?

(09:49):
I thought you were going to say Reservoir Dogs.
Oh, yeah. There's loads of parallels between this and Reservoir.
Tim Buffs bleeding from his stomach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't actually because it's been a long, long time since I'd seen the Endless
and We watched it last night, but that was after we'd watched Synchronic. So, please tell me what I I understand that there's some continuity in these movies with their universes, but what?
Very much so. Well, obviously like the the most obvious comparisons are between Resolution and The Endless because they quite literally use some of the same characters,
some of the same footage as well. Yeah.
Yeah. Um, which I think is really cleverly done, by the way. But yeah, so this is sort of I guess you could say all of their films are kind of in a shared universe. I think that's confirmed. But yeah, there's there's a bunch of stuff like um obviously in the endless they're smoking some sort of drug that they say is kind of comes from a a red flower that's grown in the California desert. And um synchronic they mention was also synthesized using a red flower grown in the desert.
Right.
So similar kind of properties perhaps in that drug. Something that I really like, my favorite one I think is when he he goes back in time. There's like a shaman that he meets and the humans holding like a stick rod thing. Um, and it looks exactly like the weird sort of um I don't know what you'd call them like the demarcation points in the endless.
Oh, right. Yeah, I know.
That kind of signal where the loop
the barrier things.
Yeah. Like the the the where the loop extends to.
Yeah. Interesting. I didn't pick up on any of that. As I say, such a long time since I'd seen um The Endless, but now you mention it. Yeah. All of those things seem It's just that through line with all of their movies. So what you're saying is that all of their movies have had drugs in them.
Yeah.
That's interesting, isn't it? Like we could have had a few of their movies in this one.
Resolution definitely would have fit.
Resolution definitely. I mean the endless probably less. So like there are drugs in it. And by the way, I think that's kind of largely irrelevant that they're having this thing,
but it's just part of that that world building I guess that they like to do. But it's interesting that that's something that as well as the timy wimy aspect from all of their stuff that they've done independently right up until Loki where we're still dealing with time travel multiverses and maybe that's partly why they got that gig.
I I genuinely think so.
So, what are your feelings about the climax of this movie?

(10:10):
I don't I don't know. It was all right. I guess like it was a bit I suppose it's a bit bleak but also kind of optimistic that he's
I mean he gets trapped in the past.
Yeah, but he's only got like three weeks to live. Anyway,
what I was saying is that it's a bit bleak, but on the other hand, it's kind of optimistic as well because he does come to appreciate the present moment. He has that moment where he was sitting on a rock and he's saying, "And actually right now is the best. It's great." But I think part of that is because he's literally gone into the past been like, "Oh yeah, in the past you'd have poo thrown at you."
Yeah. Everything.
Yeah. You get cola, you got spears thrown at you, you might as set on fire.
Nobody lives past 38.
Yeah, exactly. There's no worst. There's no dental plan. there's no penicellin and so he's just like actually no this not bad is it like the time that we're living in in now he become he comes to appreciate it so it's it's kind of like a good like a nice ending in that way I suppose I suppose it depends on your outlook really doesn't it like
yeah
if you come to a place where you're accepting of your fate and your place in the world and what that means and your the finite nature of it then it could be seen as a positive but if you're more of the kind of person that doesn't want to think about that, then it's probably more of a bleak ending. So, I think it does well to explore both sides of it. And it's like a gray area. It's it's I think it's quite a nice ending. Thinking it now I'm thinking about it and trying to process it in my brain. The the literally the last few scenes as well where he's sort of flashing in and out of the present back to the past. That's quite a nice way to end it. I don't know how else you would end it. What do you think about the ending?
Um I I think I think the story comes to its natural conclusion. I'm sad at the fact that he seems so dissatisfied with his life and it ends prematurely. I think that's tragic.
And I think there are so many moments throughout the film where it's mentioned that he's effectively jealous of his friend. Um they talk about, oh, he's gone through all of his friend's wife's friends. There's no one left
through all of the
Yeah. Well, but they but they do have that conversation at the picnic. They do. Yeah.
Um, and just saying like I don't know, it just seems like he really wanted the family unit. He really wanted that stereotypical like settling down with a wife and kids. And I think obviously he sacrifices himself out of love for his longtime best friend, but also I think to my mind there's a hint of like he views himself as like less important because he hasn't hit those milestones. Like his he sort of views his life as not being worth as much. much.
That's an interesting angle. Yeah.
It's like he sacrifices himself so that he can reunite this family.
Yeah. The the unit that he's always longed for but hasn't hasn't achieved. I mean it's funny, isn't it? Because
that to me is quite sad. Like quite sad, quite tragic.
Yes. I I think again like depends how you look at it. Like yes, on the one hand he hasn't literally himself had a his own family, but he kind of has because he's he's he has his friend with their daughter. and the wife and they're all very close. They're a very close unit. So, you know, things are not always going to work out how you planned them to, but in other ways, he's incredibly lucky to have had what he had. So, it depends how you look at it. I think there are many people that would just want mates just just just just friends who they can rely on. Maybe a sweet paramedic job where you can rob codine off the back of it. Like, that sounds great to me. I don't want to deal with all of the clar all over the place like on it and f*** off.
I think you'll find it was the uh the ambulance driver that was stealing the drugs,

(10:31):
right? Yeah, that's right. That's a funny thread throughout the movie as well where Jamie Dorn is just like he's a he's a d******* and he's right. It turns out to be quite a good judge of character,
which is an interesting and funny
um part of the movie. Actually, part of what is interesting about Mohead and Benson's movies is the humor in it. Like there's
it's very um
it's very spec they're not jokes as such, but they're situational and charact based stuff
just kind of pierces the the tension of the movie which is yeah
but I think it makes their characters feel way more lived in as well because that is how real people would
react in a situation I I personally try and find the humor in anything
as a way of coping
so
I don't do that ever
no you're never sarcastic either I just I just think that's that's a mistake that a lot of screenwriters make in trying to make their characters react appropriately in a situation, you sort of dehumanize them.
Yeah, that's fair.
They do a really good job of making these characters feel realistic,
just human. What would, you know, what would that be? What would happen if we were in that situation? Yeah.
Yeah. We're not always going to say the right thing.
Yeah.
No way.
It's interesting. I don't know really. I'm thinking about the ending now. Is it tragic or is it positive? And
it depends entirely on your perspective. I think it's tragic. cuz I'm a depressed goth nerd.
You're a bat that bounces upside down from a cage.

(10:52):
Yeah. Um and you're the more optimistic of the two of us. So I think that's perfectly in keeping with how we would each read it.
Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. I'm just like, "Oh, he's going to die and he's fine with it."
Yeah. And I'm just like, "Where the dog is still stuck on hawking?"
Yeah. I It's interesting actually. It's probably a smarter ending than I first gave it credit for. Now I think about it and the fact that it is a bit gray and depending on how you
how you view life and your your perspective on it, it could be different from from person to person perhaps viewing to viewing as well. There might be a time where I watch this and
maybe I'm in a darker place and I it's more tragic to me. I don't know.
But yeah, that's interesting.
One thing I didn't like is the effect at the end and the the handholding. Like I know I get it. That's how we opened. That's how we're ending. But just like see through Anthony Mackey. I don't know, man.
You prefer when you can see all of him.
I pref I prefer everyone when they're in their full sort of solid corporeal form.
I disagree. I think I would prefer to see Jim Davidson as as Ghost
see-through. Yeah, that's all right. I'll I'll allow that. But um yeah, that one crossed over into too schmaltzy for me. And I know they'd kind of set the precedent with the dog kind of flickering at the wind. though. So, it was it was something that we'd been primed for, but I just didn't like it. It was too schmaltzy.
I suppose it does feel like a bit of a narrative convenience that that would happen because yeah, they do do they do introduce it with the dog, but what when you think about it, what reason would that be? Why is he still somehow anchored in the present?
Something something pineal gland.
Yeah. But I mean, a lot of this movie really don't you shouldn't really over analyze and think about it too much. The mechanics of the time travel. In any case,
if you get into the nitty-gritty, it makes my head hurt because
if something's affecting your pineal gland, then why are why is your physical form being transported to another time? Surely it would just be
in your head,
mental, but then what is reality?
And then you just risk opening too many doors and going down that road and now's not the time.
Yeah. But like any time travel movie that you can think about, like if you if you think about it for more than a minute then you're there is no answer like why is Terminator a thing right who sent the first Kyle Ree back if it was all hunky dory and was there no there was no war why why did they send one back and did in that arm in T2 that created a whole another paradox like when you get into all of this stuff it doesn't make any sense with any time travel movies so with any time travel movie you have to just

(11:13):
yeah there have to be some allowances
yeah
I agree I agree
I It's it do you find it it was a bit uh the narrative convenience aside from the time travel flashing in and out of past present whatever aside from that the fact that they ended with handholding as well as starting with it do you think would did that seem a bit much to you like
not that not that no I mean it is a bit of a contrivance but
I think the movie in itself is sort of about human connection right
yeah
so from that perspective that makes perfect sense that that bit didn't bother me.
I think that's all what this movie is about like period. Like it's it's that's all we've got and let's enjoy it.
Sometimes a woolly mammoth
and some sometimes a woolly mammoth. Yeah.
But that's all we've got. And uh we'll get used to it cuz that's what we've got now and it's brilliant. But one day we won't. So let's enjoy it now.
Yeah. I think that the ultimate message is you're f*****. Your pineal gland has calcified. Crack on.
Yeah. We should make t-shirts.
We should make t-shirts. That should be your review on Letter Boxed as well.
Your mom's pineal gland calcified.
That's my new favorite insult.
Yeah. Very good, good, good, good choice. Actually, I'm glad you chose this one. It's uh cuz it's got something that I really like, the time travel stuff.
I wasn't sure really where this conversation was going to go.
Same.
But I It's

(11:34):
I know that the high concept sci-fi stuff tends to be more your deal than mine.
Yeah. But I don't know. I don't I've I've kind of always said that, but the more I look through the films that I enjoy, the more I'm just like maybe I um maybe I've underestimated how much I care for these these types of films.
Yeah. You also love movies that are set in New Orleans.
And I do. Yeah. This Hard Target notoriously one of my favorites.
Yeah. Bad Lieutenant Port of Cool New Orleans.
Yeah. Which obviously I loved.
You loved Nicholas Cage character in as well.
He wasn't at all disgusting.
He was a hero.
Yeah.
Um, yeah. I I think it's a good movie. I think people were a little bit harsh about it.
I mean, it sounds like I agree with you. I wasn't aware of how divisive this movie was.
That wasn't until yesterday.
And I'm surprised at that. Like I say, I don't think it's What is my favorite Morehead and Benson? It probably is The Endless. Probably just about. But I have not seen I don't I thought I'd seen Resolution, but on reflection I I don't think I have.
I think we should give Something in the Dirt another go.
I agree. I would like to give that one another go.
I really enjoyed that.
But I really like Spring as well. Spring was excellent, too. So, I feel like they're very consistent from what I've seen. They're all like pretty similar similar grounds, but this one is just maybe
just slightly below Spring and The Endless.
I agree.
But still like very interesting, a solid movie.

(11:55):
We've not struggled with conversation or different avenues to go down.
No.
So, there's plenty to unpack there.
And yes. sequel where you bring back Jason Baitman as Lorenzo's oil, I think, is the route that we need to go down.
Okay. I don't know what we're doing next week.
Is this your season?
This is where I'm going to defer to you to help me out.
It's funny. I did the um I forgot to do the season lineup for Patreon.
Oh, yeah.
So, and I did that today. So, I was looking through the lineup so I know exactly what we're doing next week. But it also occurred to me that we have I'm not going to give away anything, but 50% of our movies in this season are '90s movies. really. Okay.
And more of them are very nearly 909 ' 90s movies. So, that being said, we're sticking with the ' 90s next season and we're going back to the year 1999 for
Oh, go.
Yes.
I love that movie.
So do I.
Spoilers.
Oh lord. I I'm so excited for this one. And I think we're going to need This is going to be a good fun one for me to watch cuz the next couple after that are pretty harrowing. And I think I'm going to have a pretty experience with them. So, I'm going to enjoy this one.
Maybe you'll love them.
I may
you just you you never know.
I'm not saying I won't love them, but they might be a bit bleak for my liking. Yeah, I'm very much looking forward to this brand new Blu-ray of uh Go here.

(12:16):
I've already got um Magic Carpet ride going on in my head. So,
I've got no doubt.
Awesome. Can't wait.

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Synchronic - S11 E84

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Synchronic - S11 E84