Laughter and Larrikins: Unpacking the Charm of 'Spit'

In this lively episode of *Movies First*, hosts Peter Krause, Greg King, Jacqui, and Jacqueline delve into the controversial Australian comedy *Spit*, a sequel to the 2003 film *Getting Square*. The film features the return of the iconic character Johnny Spiteri, played by David Wenham, who navigates his way back to Australia after years abroad, only to find himself embroiled in a series of comedic misadventures at an immigration detention centre.
The discussion kicks off with the hosts sharing their varied opinions on the film, highlighting the mix of larrikin humour and slapstick comedy that characterises Johnny's escapades. While some hosts appreciate Wenham's performance and the film's light-hearted approach, others critique its reliance on lowbrow humour and clichéd characters. The dynamic between Johnny and his fellow detainees, particularly his partnership with Jihad Khalif, portrayed by Arlo Green, adds depth to the narrative as they navigate their challenging circumstances together.
The episode also touches on the film's cinematography by Gary Phillips, which enhances its comedic elements and visual storytelling. As the hosts debate the film's merits, they explore themes of identity, friendship, and the absurdity of Johnny's situation, all while reflecting on the impact of Australian culture in cinema.
With ratings ranging from 4 to 7 out of 10, the conversation reveals a fascinating divide among the hosts, making for an engaging and entertaining discussion.
**Highlights:**
- **Diverse Opinions:** The hosts share contrasting views on *Spit*, showcasing the subjective nature of comedy.
- **Wenham's Performance:** David Wenham's portrayal of Johnny Spiteri is a focal point, with some praising his improvisational skills.
- **Cinematographic Flair:** The film's visuals and comedic timing receive recognition for enhancing the overall experience.
Join the hosts for a spirited discussion on *Spit*, a film that encapsulates the essence of Australian humour while sparking debates on its execution. For more film reviews and discussions, subscribe to *Movies First* on your favourite podcast platform!
https://www.bitesz.com/podcast/movies-first

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
First on film and entertainment.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Football season is here, Peter Grause, Are you excited like
I am?

Speaker 3 (00:07):
What is he watching films?

Speaker 1 (00:10):
No?

Speaker 4 (00:10):
No, you can do both. You can walk and chew gum,
can you not? Gregory King, who barracks for the team
that never wins?

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hello Gregory?

Speaker 5 (00:19):
Hello, Peter and Alex and.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Jackie and Jacqueline.

Speaker 6 (00:24):
A good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:25):
You're the sort of person who would go to the
snow because you're a Melbourne supporter rather than watching the football.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Is that true?

Speaker 7 (00:33):
Oh no, Alex, I'll go to the south of France.
Thank you for the warm weather in this winter. I
don't want the snow, but I can get your get
your joke.

Speaker 6 (00:41):
I get your joke, but thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I'm very nice.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Listen, I tell you what it'd be damn hard being
in Europe given what's going on in the world. Oh boy,
you know, is America sort of We've gone crazy?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's just.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Every morning when I wake up and I look the
news and I'm thinking, hang on, am I living in
a parallel universe? Is it only me, Jackie? Or are
you doing similarly?

Speaker 7 (01:08):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:08):
I read the other day that.

Speaker 7 (01:11):
Mister Donald Trump is doing this time in this time,
that he's president. What he actually wanted to do last
time but didn't quite get there. So last time he
talked about it a lot, but there wasn't a lot
of actual action. And in the interim he's actually worked
out how to do it, and that is you just

(01:33):
come in guns glazing and you just do it.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
You just do it.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
What people who will say yes, whatever you say run.
Last time he had people who actually say, no, you
can't do this, you can't do this.

Speaker 5 (01:43):
That's true.

Speaker 6 (01:44):
Well, that true.

Speaker 7 (01:45):
It was the first thing he did was bring his
cronies around him to make sure he would be backed up.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
There must be a film in the making here, Peter,
don't you think down the track the Apprentice to.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
The Boss. I was going to say, he's no longer
on The Apprentice. Let me tell you that.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
Some days in May.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, yes, okay, I thought.

Speaker 7 (02:14):
The Apprentice was actually a very fine film. I really
enjoyed that seeing my film. Yeah, part of his life
where you know, dramatize or read it, of course, but
you know, some of it might have been guess work,
but I think a lot of you know, it sort
of rang true, really, that part of his life where
he went from being a kind of under his father's

(02:37):
thumb to you know, stepping up and being told to
step up and how to step up, and that's made him.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
The man he is today't I don't think he endorsed it, Jackie.

Speaker 7 (02:49):
No, he didn't, no, no, but he made lots of
noises about suing them, which helped the film do quite well.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I believe, Well, it was a nomination. He never The.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
List of people who Jonald Trump and threatened sue is
longer than.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Well. Is that a badge of honor? Greg? If somebody's
threatened to be sued by it.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think it must be in the people's setting the
sue and never followed through with Well.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
I mean bear in mind, what was the gentleman's name
who was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar.

Speaker 7 (03:24):
For Sebastian Stan Yeah understand, Yeah, oh sorry, I'm thinking
Jeremy Strong, wasn't it who was playing Roy Kaine?

Speaker 3 (03:33):
And him too, Yes, they're both nominated.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Very good, very good. Well.

Speaker 4 (03:38):
Talking of films, there is an Australian movie which I
reckon is going to divide us that I saw and
I thought, hey, lowest common denominated humor. But we must
talk about it and it's called Spit and it runs
for rather than two minutes and is rated M. Now
do any of you remember getting Square back in two
thousand and three?

Speaker 5 (03:58):
Greg, do you think it needed a sequel?

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Oh? You didn't? Okay, what about you, Peter?

Speaker 3 (04:03):
I also see the original film and I thought the
sequel was very, very good.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Yeah, and I this is where I reckon this is
going to be split, no pun intended, Spit is going
to be split down the middle. But anyway, they have
dip back into the well, the filmmakers, and they've reprised
this iconic Australian character and he's got a decent mullet,
Peter hasn't he. You know, I'm kind of envious because
I'm losing my thatching and I kind of need a

(04:29):
little bit more. I keep I keep telling my daughter
that who's got a lot of hair? It's not helping me, right.
And when I bent down the other day, I think
I told you this story, Jackie. She commented with she
was a ghast at how little there was up top.
What does one do about that?

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Greg? Any suggestions?

Speaker 7 (04:46):
But what?

Speaker 6 (04:49):
Sorry, Yeah, don't don't worry about it. Let's go back
to the film.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
There was a reference to my lack of hair on
the head.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
Right, perhaps some fertilizer might help.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Fertilizer, Well, thank you, how it sorts.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
Of winning first and wisers.

Speaker 6 (05:04):
It can help?

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh, very good.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
Now, okay, So the character we're talking about is Johnny
Spitteriri aka Johnny Spit hence the title Spit, played by
David Wenham, who's a mighty fine actor, and he relishes
in this role. I got to say, really he's sort
of thrown himself into. Is this sort of disheveled man
with a what is it on his lip that he's

(05:29):
got It looks like.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
A cold saw. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
Anyway, Okay, So this is a news story even though
it sort of harks back to two thousand and three
in Getting Square, and it brings together several of the
actors and the key behind the scenes creatives from the
movie that was released in the early noughties. So Gary
Sweet is there, who again plays Chick Martin, the writer

(05:53):
Chris Niss and the director Jonathan Teplitzky, and as well
as the cinematographer Gary Phillips.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
I haven't named them all, but you know they're key
players in all of this.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
So the Johnny character, Johnny's fit character has been hiding
overseas for a couple of decades and he returns to
OZ with a new identity. But he's still got that
mullet that I spoke about, the unmistakable mullet, the skinny
jeans and the thongs. And I should say that mullets
are still being worn by modern AFL footballers.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Does that make it any more legit?

Speaker 4 (06:25):
I don't know, but there you go, the idea of
hair appeals. Having said that, Johnny is a small time
ex crim and he slips back into the country on
a false passport, but he looks super suss That initial
scene is quite something, and he's busted on arrival in
Queensland and I've got no idea why, but he's sent

(06:48):
to an immigration detention center rather than to an Australian
holding cell, being a jarle. But obviously at an immigration
detention center there are a lot of other detainees from
around the world, and he seems to be the only Aussie.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
But anyway, his method of handling the authorities is a.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Well worn one, deny. The problem is that he has
a massive target on his back. Johnny as old enemies,
including the drug kingpin that I spoke of chick at Martin.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
They've got scores to settle.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
And what he does, he struggles really to stay ahead,
a step ahead actually of them marauding pack. So I
suppose he's nothing if not resourceful. And he endears himself
to the other detainees by teaching them his own brand
of She'll be right, mate English, and he gives all
of them ossie names, and he goes into partnership with

(07:46):
one of them, guy called g Had Caliph played by
Arlo Green, and that.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
Partnership will over time prove to be quite useful. The
reason that the authority is, or at least some of
them are after him is because looking to use him
to bring down a crooked cop. So that's what it's
all about.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
I thought it was very funny, and there was I
went to the Classic to see it, and there was
laughter ringing out throughout this movie from the patrons, but
of course humans in the eyes and ears of the Beholder,
and I mentioned at the outset, some might suggest this
is the lowest common denominator material. A lot of buffoonery

(08:25):
in play here, and I thought when was quite endearing
and hilarious. As the evasive centerpiece the disheveled character that
he played. He really nailed that role. He does slippery
as a snake better than most, and the cameras trained
on him for the Lion's she here at the time,
and I thought the cleverness in spit was in both

(08:46):
the one liners and also in the sight gags. And
I was quite impressed by the warmth that lah Green
imbed into his character g had Khlif. He came across
as quite natural sort of authenticity being the key here
and Gary sweet while he revels in the bad guy persona,
you can see he loves playing mean. One of the

(09:06):
noteworthy elements of this story is actually the diverse cast
characters that capitalize upon the alaric and humor. And there's
quite a couple of scenes involving Maori's They're memorable because
of the submittable representation of them, but in truth, there
are many memorable moments in the picture. I was also
impressed by the creativity of Gary Phillips cinematography. He did

(09:30):
The Railwayman as one of the movies that he was
responsible for cinematographer. I like the choices he made in
this one and basically spitt his feel good entertainment, you
find yourself sort of rooting for the underdog. So let's
start with a good apart from mine, Peter, what did
you think?

Speaker 3 (09:48):
I really liked it? I had a long chat to
Chris Neist.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
That's how it's created.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Who's the screenwriter of the original film Getting Square, And
of course now spit Johnny Spittai his story and he
told me that even though they had nailed down the
script and everything, David Wenham was very keen to improvise.
So some of the very funny scenes of when I'm
running and going up escalators and doing all sorts of

(10:16):
other things was improvised completely by when them as the
film was shot. Look, there's a lot of really funny humor,
good Australian laric and humor in this film. I don't
accept that it's a low humor or unpleasant humor or
anything like that. I think it's very Australian, very clever.

(10:39):
There are some very amusing moments that I really enjoyed
in the film.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
It's Loy Brown. I mean, you know it's not we're
not talking about intellectuals here.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well, it depends how you defind low brow. I mean
some of it is satiric, and some of it is slapstick,
but so what, it's humor, and humor is going to
have different impacts on different people, and I thought this
worked very well.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
Yeah, I mean, I think that it's worth mentioning.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Like sometimes, you know, you've got intellectual rigor and there's
humor associated with that, and then you've got others that
are bumbling characters, such as in a sense that the
spit here, But obviously he's also you know, is not
without the intelligence of how to get out of circumstances.
But he's still not you know, he's he's not a

(11:29):
PhD in applied science.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
That's what I'm getting at.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
And why does he need to be. I really don't
understand the distinction.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
I don't he needs to be.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
But I think there is a distinction because some people
are going to go in, Okay, you can see a
spy movie, and we'll talk about one here today, which
is very intelligent. But can you also see a spy
movie which is very silly? And I think there is
a distinction. Some people are going to go along to
one and won't go along to another. That's all that's
the right.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think they'll go along because David Wenham is the start,
because as it's Australian comedy, and because they'll enjoy a
number of the set pieces. I really also liked the
way language was used to teach the migrants English. I
thought that was.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
We have to adopt a detailed intension centers. Is that correct? Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (12:20):
Yes, that'll indraculum.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
Now she'll be She'll be right mate. Everything's cool. Yeah,
that's Australian Americ it is.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
It's what are those guys called the Mango that the
three boys run a restaurant, Go Chutney or something not
Mango Chutney.

Speaker 3 (12:39):
Would play the Kings of Mumba for some reasons.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, they were.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
They were for a very great Now now I'm going
to google Mango Mango Boys. No, it's too I heard an,
I heard any Come on, Greg, you're not helping here, Jackie,
You've got no idea what I'm talking about. They've got
one point five Bidian views or something that they've gone
absolutely ape and they also run a restaurant in Carlton.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
None of none of you can help. Somebody's and saying.

Speaker 3 (13:09):
Do they have lots of followers who pick up warmbats?

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Oh? Yeah? She hit back this morning. I don't know
what you've heard.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
She's actually had to go right the yeah, basically saying
we should look at our own backyard sushi, mango sushishi
has double ice.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, mango chutney.

Speaker 2 (13:35):
That's like, yeah, I knew sushi.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
We're sort of close to Africa, Artley Pletter and your
your your geography, Yeah, Africa just next door. Sushi mango,
very funny guys, right, and they sort of go with
the traditional European Italian type humor and.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
Borrow a cup of coffee.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Pardon if Africa's just knit thor I have to walk
down it just to buy a cup of sugar.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
That was the reference to Peters saying I got close
with mango chutney.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Very good.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
I think we've gone right away from humor, but we
we're back to spit. Yeah, okay, so boys, keep going.
Is there are other things you would like to say
about this movie?

Speaker 3 (14:21):
No, I just want to say I like the film
very much, and I'm hoping when I spoke to Chris
that there might even be another follow up.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
You know who's going to really like that. Somebody who's
here with us today, which is Jacqueline Hamilton. She thinks
this is. This is sliced sliced bread on a stick.
You love this, don't you, Jackie?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Just go for it.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
I really liked Getting Square.

Speaker 7 (14:46):
I don't remember the detail of the film, but I
remember that I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
I think I keep dropping out. Have I dropped out?

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Hello?

Speaker 4 (14:54):
No?

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Hello? You are Oh?

Speaker 7 (14:56):
I haven't Okay, I've had some trouble with the call
at kick say, poor connection and dropping out. But anyway,
I'll just continue to rattle on. And if you miss
my pearls of wisdom, well there you go. But anyway,
you know, maybe Spit was a decent character in a
small role in another film a while ago, but to have.

Speaker 6 (15:19):
His own movie did not work for me.

Speaker 7 (15:23):
You used words like endearing yes and hilarious yes, And
I didn't see.

Speaker 6 (15:29):
The same thing at all.

Speaker 4 (15:31):
I've just seen it at least, I span Jackie, you
see it again, seid third time?

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Eh, I've got a.

Speaker 6 (15:36):
Life, thank you?

Speaker 7 (15:39):
And I certainly you've mentioned and I'm just I only
heard very little what you said. I'm sorry as I
say that I just missed most of what you've said.
But I did hear you say that there was some
improvisation and I could have told you that, because it
certainly looked like that. And the thing about an a
laconic Ossie character is but it seemed to be all

(16:01):
It made the film laconic and slow. So the humor
didn't go bam bam bam. It was drawn out too long,
too tedious. For example, I'll give you a couple of examples.
One was the scene with the migrants, you know, teaching
them what their Ossie monikers would be. So you know,

(16:21):
whatever this long convoluted foreign name, you know, exotic name
we might say, it might be it.

Speaker 6 (16:27):
Came down to Wazza or Gaza or you know.

Speaker 7 (16:31):
And I mean, you know, you can say a couple
of those, but did we really need to go through
every single one of them? And with the same you know,
slow thinking about it drugs out And I actually find
quite a lot of Australian so called humor does that.
It just labors the point to the where it's just

(16:53):
not funny anymore, because you know, the next one, you know,
it's not going to be any more clever than the
last one.

Speaker 6 (16:59):
So anyway, it's one example.

Speaker 7 (17:02):
No, so I didn't really love this film at all,
but I mean, you know, I didn't mind the character,
but it was just too much.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
And also I kept looking at him as David Wenham.

Speaker 7 (17:13):
You know, I didn't say, oh, this is David women
when I'm you know, playing a odd ball character sort
of thing. You know, he wasn't. He was too recognizable.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
I think it's interesting if this was up for obviously
it's it's probably too late for the whatever the Australian
Academy Awards the eld.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
Yeah, I would have actually had him up there. I
reckon he absolutely deserves it for this. I thought it
was a ripper of.

Speaker 6 (17:42):
Did I think he did what he was asked to do?
I think he did what the character was.

Speaker 7 (17:46):
Exactly, but it just got the whole the whole film
just didn't work for me.

Speaker 6 (17:51):
It just wasn't funny for me.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Okay, I thought it was very funny, Greg, do you
have any you're more in Jackie's camp?

Speaker 2 (17:59):
I thought recent discussion on that was more funny than
this film. Actually, I didn't like. I didn't enjoy this
much at all. And unlike you guys, when I went
to the cinema said I was the only person in cinema,
which makes it even harder to judge the result impact
of the human because you're on the ad that's maybe
that's saying something about you.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Greg. I'm just kidding.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
I'm just but I thought there was a lack of
subtlety annuance to some of the characters, particularly David Field's
corrupt cop.

Speaker 6 (18:27):
I thought a lot of.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
The humor was cringeworthy, reminiscent of some of those lame
ass comedies we made in the seventies.

Speaker 5 (18:33):
There, it was just cringeworthy.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
I agree to David when might have done a reasonable
job there as di severl dumb criminal. But as I
said before, I didn't think Getting Square needed a sequel,
especially one twenty years later.

Speaker 5 (18:47):
So yeah, no, I didn't.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
We've seen that.

Speaker 5 (18:49):
I didn't really enjoy this one at all.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Which set Beer in mind.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
We've seen this though, I mean, we saw a sequel
to Top done how many years after.

Speaker 5 (18:56):
Yeah, but you can't compare to check the different types
of films.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
This was just work for me.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
No, no fair, I mean that's fair enough. I mean,
so you and Jackie are in a bad boy and
girl corner.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
I thought that I thought when it's character was grading
too rather than funny.

Speaker 4 (19:13):
Okay, so let's get some scores for spit one hundred
and two minutes m rated and let's start at the
lowest coming to nominator.

Speaker 7 (19:19):
So Jackie, Yes, Well, I will add a couple of
words to that, because I was struggling with the technology
just earlier, and I wanted to agree with Greg that
one of the things I would have said about it
would be that it was so cliched. But it was
so clich based on trying to be kind of vintage
retro to kind of a nineteen nineties TV show or

(19:41):
something that it wasn't need, So I didn't have any
kind of fresh feel to it. Nothing to me, they would,
you know, really cliched roles, the corrupt cops and all that,
And so that was another point I would make about
the whole film, although I will say I like the migrants,
thought they were terrific characters and given quite strong roles too,

(20:04):
which I applaud enjoyed them.

Speaker 6 (20:08):
Spits the film of four out of ten.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Four out of ten, Wow, yep, it's a fail.

Speaker 6 (20:15):
Well, if it's comedy, you've got to be able to laugh, right,
while we didn't laugh, we didn't laugh.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Okay, Well, okay, what about you, Greg?

Speaker 6 (20:25):
Is that I can.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
Pretty much the same I thought some of the treatment
of the migrants was actually borderline offensive.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, right in my opinion.

Speaker 5 (20:36):
There, you know, so I'm an four out of ten.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
Two okay, A right, Peter, Well, I'm.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Going to disagree vehemently with both of you. I found
it funny. I found it a good example of Australian
laric and humor. I thought there was some very funny
set pieces. I thought it was very not offensive to migrants.
I thought it was for a positive and in fact,
that's the way the story does develop. And David Winnhem

(21:06):
is a real showstopper in the film. And I really
loved it seven out of ten and.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
I'm giving it a seven out and ten.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Oh well, we've never had quite I mean, this is
identical scores at both levels, right, yes, So honestly, in
all the years we've done this, how many years have
we done this, Jackie? How long has the show been going?

Speaker 3 (21:29):
I had it in twenty seven years, and I like
to drop in the bucket for you.

Speaker 4 (21:33):
You were born when Adam was a kid, So I mean,
you know, but in all of these years, we've never
had two identical scores at either end of the spectrum.
So you know, basically it means that that Jackie and
Gregor wrong. Doesn't it be the new Recalcitrance, the new
Recalcitrans exactly?

Speaker 5 (21:51):
You know, I'm may the wrong, maybe I'm may be right.
It may be a loner ship you're looking for?

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Tell you thank you? Which song is that from Bill Joel? Oh?
Is it? What's the name of the song?

Speaker 5 (22:01):
You may be right?

Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think?

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Which was ironically the song you were performing at Madison
Square done when you had.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
A little accident.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
That was bad because he realized he's had an operation
since Mustter have been.

Speaker 5 (22:13):
And had to cancel shows and everything.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
So yeah, it's sad, very sad because I've seen it
a couple of times on YouTube and whilst it looked bad,
it looked reasonably innocuous, but clearly it wasn't. So yeah,
I don't think we know why the ops have been performed,
do we? I said, I'm not aware of it, but yeah,
with Billy Joel all the best to does it come back?

(22:36):
All right, let's go on jay ad IDFM. If you
want to contribute, please, fifty four bucks gets you membership.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Just get to j.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
Dash air dot com dot au and we love having
our members, because that's what community radio is all about.

Speaker 1 (22:50):
So let's go.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
From one to another where I dare say we are
all going to like this. Okay, I'm putting it out there,
black bag. What a super intelligent British spy thriller it is.
And I'll tell you what some good, good characters and
really fine acting as well. George Woodhouse is played by

(23:13):
Michael Fusspender, and he is an elite operative at a
British establishment called the National Cyber Security Center NCSC National
Cybersecurity Center. He can't stand liars, and he seeks them
out and exposes them, and that happens to have included

(23:34):
his own father. Now there appears to be a mole
in the ranks of this organization, and he's tasked with
uncovering that infiltrator before they can activate a destructive cyberworm
called Severus, and that is actually that is malware that
can destabilize a nuclear facility. Now there are five suspects,

(23:57):
and they include his beloved wife, Catherine Saint Jean played
by Cate Blanchette, our very own, who is one of
NCSC's most powerful and trusted agents, and in fact she
is George Woodhouse's one big weakness because whatever she wants,
she gets, and vice versa kind of thing in the

(24:19):
relationship that they have. Also in this mix is Freddie
Small's Tom Burke, who's a fine actor. He is an
inveterate Mormonizer who's been with a younger fellow operative, a
tech whiz called Clarissa Dubos played by Marissa Abella, for
eighteen months. Right, so they're in a physical relationship, which

(24:41):
is rather thought, I've got to say. But she in
turn has a poor schot for older men. And then
there's the agency psychologist, doctor Zoe Vaughan. Naomi Harris plays her,
and she happens to enjoy erotic fiction. She's been getting
up close and personal with a rising star in the organization,
Colonel James Stokes Reggie gene Page. Woodhouse's first salvo to

(25:06):
get to the truth comes via dinner invitation to the quintet,
in which he does the cooking and he adds a
little something extra. Once lips loosened, he asks each of
them to participate in a game in which they're charged
with making a resolution. You know you got New Year's resolutions, Well,

(25:26):
this is a resolution for the person sitting to their right,
so they make a resolution on their behalf and that
sparks the first in a series of revelations much later
in the movie. There's also going to be a line
detect test. So, as I said, most sophisticated and tense
spy thriller is black bag and in which the identity

(25:46):
of the rat remains well disguised. So getting the heart
of the truth is no walk in the park. Really
well conceived, written, acted, and directed. Steven Soderbergh is the
guy in charge, proves yet again what a master filmmaker
he is. It's the third time he's actually teamed with
the writer David Kerp, and they work together recently actually
on Presence and Kimmy. I think they've known each other

(26:08):
for about thirty years, isn't that true? That's what I
read somewhere. But the characters are all very very smart
people trying to outsmart each other. So Michael Fassbender perfectly
cast in a straight as a die roll which requires
his intellectual prowess to shine cop well, he's exploited the quirks,

(26:29):
the peccadillos, the vulnerability of vulnerabilities plural of the players
in this one. Weaving a rather twisted tail as the
writer of the focus moved from one to the other.
Tom Burk's another stand out as a dedicated agent whose
predilections make him susceptible and honored goes. There's a wickedly twisted,

(26:51):
playful treak about Melissa A Bella who was in a
really good film Back to Black and she blades orsa Debos,
And then Lanchette is Katine Saint Jane with a sense
of entitlement, and then Pierce frozen.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
It also pops up with a confident.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
Air as the agency head, the Stiglitz. In fact, one
of the traits that characterizes all of them is self belief.
And I also like the musical choices by David Holmes
that accompanied this sort of cat and mouse concoction. And
I should say because when I read black Bag and
black Bag seems to be an out, it's sort of
like a secret word.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Well, Greg, you've gone to.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
The International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, haven't you?

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Yes, I have, and I've been there too, And.

Speaker 5 (27:37):
Kim was a time in a bookshop.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
But yeah, well there was the wasn't there the was
it the code of silence? Or was it the phone.

Speaker 5 (27:48):
The shoe phone, shoephone.

Speaker 4 (27:51):
Yeah, I really enjoyed the International Spy Museum anyway that
According to the International Spy Museum, black bag refers to
secret entry to steal or copy materials.

Speaker 5 (28:04):
Watergate seeing was a black bag job when they wrote.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
Into the So were you familiar with the term? Were you? Yeah? Okay?
Were you Jackie? Or have you seen this? No?

Speaker 6 (28:15):
And I'm hearing for the first time that it was
a it? Is it kind of a generic term?

Speaker 8 (28:19):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (28:20):
I called it?

Speaker 5 (28:20):
Just your agd tyra?

Speaker 7 (28:21):
Yeah, oh okay, I thought it was made up for
this film.

Speaker 5 (28:25):
No, I've read enough spice rollers to come across.

Speaker 6 (28:28):
Oh, yes, you would have agreed.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Yeah, I like you. Jackie thought the same thing.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
What about you, well read individual who was born when
Adam was a boy?

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Did you know? Did you know the term black bag?
Did you?

Speaker 3 (28:43):
No?

Speaker 5 (28:43):
I didn't.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
I thought it was a reference to something or other.
But that's okay. I'm more interested in the Starzi Museum
that I visited in Germany, which looks at how the
spy they spied on people, and that was absolutely incredible.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
Well, it's funny you say that because I went to
the Russian one where you literally go down, there's a
door and you go.

Speaker 1 (29:09):
Down in a lift and oh my golly, talk about
the Cold War.

Speaker 4 (29:14):
So I'm presuming yours was a similar type experience.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Who don't, not quite.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
It was more a standard sort of display, but it
looked at real life examples of people telling their stories
about being spied on and being arrested. Quite incredible story
about the stars, the lives of others. Sport of demonstrated that.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Well, in my case, I believe this was I think
it was real.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
I think it was exactly as it was in the
Cold War era, but I could be mistaken. But my
wife and I found it really extraordinary because I mean,
we went to Russia obviously before many years before the
current situation, have been there a couple of times, and
we were very surprised that Moscow was very, very modern city.

(30:07):
Saint Petersburg, the architecture is stunning, right, I mean, but obviously,
you know, in terms of what's going on now, it's terrible,
you know, the Ukraine War and so on. But the
Black Bag, the movie undoubtedly hits the right notes. It's
a real beauty. It keeps you guessing, and I thought
it was thoroughly delectable. I really appreciated it, and we

(30:30):
got a very late invite. I'm very grateful that that
invite came along. So Greg, tell me about your views
of black Bag.

Speaker 5 (30:38):
Okay, Well, despite the fact that this starts a couple.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Of people from the One University universe, which Peace prosent
and Naomi Harris, this is actually more stylish literary.

Speaker 5 (30:51):
Spy movie.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
It's more like in the kin to the fiction of
John mccare or Lenn Dayton. So rather than car chase
and gunfights that are the staple of those kind of films,
here we get into the gritty, nearly gritty of intelligence work,
the the personality of spies. A very dialogue driven film,
but when the couple of action sequences or violence happened,

(31:16):
it is suddenly and sudden and shocking.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
There. It's got a.

Speaker 5 (31:18):
Great cast there.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Model Fastbend's character with his horn room glasses and everything
remind me a little bit of George Smiley, and also
the Michael Kaine character Harry Palmer from films like The
Iparus File and everything. There, very dialogue driven, great production designer.
I thought, especially design of the National Cybersecurity Center officers
they're very open, very bright, and design of George's house

(31:45):
there is also very spacially so that the design is
all good. And the way the film opens with that
long tracking shot that follows George down the street and
into his nightclub where he has his.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
COVID meeting with.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
It an informant who very soon afterwards is also a
strong way to open the film.

Speaker 5 (32:04):
Good performances from the cast.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
I thought they all had well developed personalities there.

Speaker 5 (32:12):
Yeah, and I thought it was really well well done.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Even though there's not a lot of action in it,
it's still quite intriguing.

Speaker 4 (32:20):
Oh, exactly, very much intriguing. And again it's funny. We
talked about humor at the start of this and the
different forms of humor see Peter. To me, this is
a really intelligent form of spy thriller and again with
very intelligent script and so on and so forth, so
you know, you can get silly spy films as well.

(32:42):
This is not you know, this is not based on humor,
although there is some you know that there is a
lot of playing around with one another in this. Isn't there, Peter,
there is.

Speaker 3 (32:52):
This is not carry on Spain. It's not that type
of film. It's a very contained film, and that's what's
so good about it. David Cope is such a good writer.
I mean he wrote The Paper and A Part zero
and an even Jurassic Park. So it's always about the script.
And and that's where Soderberg didn't have to do a

(33:15):
great deal in terms of directing the film, because the
script spoke for itself. Yes, well, acted, well, cast, some
nice little twists here and there. A good solid spy film.
But I wouldn't say it's it's brilliant or fantastic.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
But I liked it.

Speaker 3 (33:34):
I thought it was well done.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
I'm disappointed that you didn't enjoy it more. When was
the last really good spy film we've seen? Does anybody
when you're.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Proper tinker tailor Solder spy?

Speaker 5 (33:46):
Sky Fall?

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yes, sky Fall?

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Yeah, I mean there's lots of spyre films of differing types.
But yeah, no, I liked.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
I liked.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
I just didn't think it was that fantastic. It's one
of those films that will go straight to streaming very quickly.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Oh okay, it's interesting you say that.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
I actually think it really stands out quite frankly, Jackie,
you said you didn't see this one correct.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
No, now have I saw its?

Speaker 4 (34:15):
Storr shly, Oh, well, you've got a fresh, fresh take
on it.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
So yeah, did you enjoy it very much?

Speaker 6 (34:25):
Right from the start.

Speaker 7 (34:26):
It had that mister and missus Smithfield to it, you know,
of the spy married couple in a spy situation, but
it didn't have all the action, and it didn't need
it because it was all about the dialogue so much
so that I felt the narrative and the dialogue like
it felt it came from a book, and I.

Speaker 6 (34:42):
Believe it didn't, so you know, there you go.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
But it was.

Speaker 6 (34:46):
That's how well written it was.

Speaker 7 (34:47):
And I agree with Peter that you was it plantal
Greg that you start with a good script and you're
more likely to have a really good film. So and yet,
even though it was beautifully written, it wasn't a that
was overly convoluted, like they didn't have to feed.

Speaker 6 (35:03):
In all these red hearings and all that sort of stuff.

Speaker 7 (35:06):
Instead, it was more about everybody having secrets, and even
secrets that other people knew some of the secrets of
the others in a n Agatha Christie kind of way almost,
but we don't know it all until it's slowly revealed,
as is the actual plot slowly revealed, and I really

(35:27):
enjoyed the way it the way it kind of leached
out that that was really good.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
I thought all the characters.

Speaker 6 (35:33):
Were great, except it wasn't so keen on the character
playing James, was it.

Speaker 7 (35:40):
I just found he didn't he some of the dialogue
was a bit muffled and not not in the dinner
party though the dinner parties, these are the dinner parties
I don't want to be invited to.

Speaker 6 (35:53):
I'd go to be a fly on the wall.

Speaker 7 (35:56):
How I've listened to listen to the discussion, but I
don't want to be a part of a dinner party
like that.

Speaker 6 (36:02):
Than did very much.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
I'm very disappointed to hear that. Yeah, I really so,
I have. We're talking about you're talking about the chap
that Colonel James Stokes, the Reggie jene Page character, Yes,
rising star within the end.

Speaker 6 (36:17):
Did you find that too?

Speaker 7 (36:18):
Did you find him difficult to There was a particular
scene where they're out on the he's with the Mike
Fassbender what yes, character's name, and they're going out. He's
at the back of the car and they're having a
conversation there, and there just seemed to be something wrong
with the post impost production or something.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Oh really, no, no, I gotta say I didn't. I
just thought the characters were well drawn.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
We could have we could have had a little bit
more of him, actually, I think, but overall so well, I.

Speaker 7 (36:47):
Went off him because of that. But the characters that
really really did it for me were the matching of
Cate Blanchett Michael Facebender as the married couple with a
real bit of in their marriage and to see them,
you know, in their personal lives and their domestic situation

(37:07):
and romantic situation and at work and hosting.

Speaker 6 (37:11):
These dinner parties.

Speaker 7 (37:13):
To see them, I just thought they were fantastic as
a couple. They really, I mean that was That's a
great spot of casting there.

Speaker 6 (37:21):
Did you think that, Yeah?

Speaker 1 (37:23):
I did.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
I thought they were good. I also I mentioned Marissa Abella.
I reckon that she's a rising star. We're going to
see more of her because I think she she made
the most of quite a complex character, you know, it
was a bit twisted.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
I thought she was really good too.

Speaker 4 (37:40):
I look Kate Blanchette, I mean, she's a mighty fine actor.
And you know, you think about the diversity of performance
that she's put in over the distance.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
But obviously, what was the last I.

Speaker 6 (37:53):
Thought she looked like Sandy in this film?

Speaker 1 (37:56):
She did.

Speaker 7 (37:57):
I agree, she spines and the I wanted to say
that to Sandy, our colleague, our fellow reviewer, Sandy.

Speaker 6 (38:03):
Who's not with us today.

Speaker 7 (38:05):
But I thought, Kate she just every time, you know,
the high cheekbones.

Speaker 6 (38:08):
And that she had a real Sandy face.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Well, there you go.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
But what was the recent movie that came and went
with Kate Blanchett? Do you guys remember it was only
here for it didn't do well?

Speaker 1 (38:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (38:20):
It was a political thriller, a meeting.

Speaker 1 (38:24):
Yeah, did you see Petter, Yes?

Speaker 3 (38:25):
I did, trying to remember what the title and it was.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
It was it average or.

Speaker 3 (38:30):
It was unusual? It had a centerpiece of a brain,
and it dealt with the idea of the potential destruction
of the of the world.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
A unique concept, the potential distruction of the world.

Speaker 5 (38:46):
Yes, it was called Rumors.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Rumors.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Thank you, very good, very good. All right, so let's
get some scores, Jackie.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
You start off with Black Bag, which is a rated
m It runs for ninety three minutes.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
Yay, eight short movie.

Speaker 4 (39:01):
Out of ten Jacqueline. Hello, are you there? What is
going on? She's disappeared?

Speaker 7 (39:09):
Sorry, I just no, no, I've just got this poor
connection going on again.

Speaker 6 (39:13):
I'm really sorry. Do you want my score? It's seven
and a half out of ten.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Good on you, okay, Gregory King, Yeah, I'll do it
to seven and a half out of ten, as well
as a lean manuscript which is an economical.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
Excellent And Peter yeah, I quite liked it, not as
high as both of you. I gave it six out
of ten.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Well you're wrong.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
You've gone back to the Telston corner and it's an
eight out of ten for mine. Well, a really good movie, unexpected,
just sort of dropped, and please go along and see it.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Well, well worth your coin, I reckon.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
I mean, you know it's all about which money, which
which coin do you pay for?

Speaker 1 (39:50):
Which movies do you pay for?

Speaker 4 (39:51):
This is it's certainly better than average, now talking about
one that's spent a lot of money in coin but
has not lived up to expectations. And I was very
disappointed when I saw it and thought, what the hell
is going on? You can see where they've put the money,
but it's not on the scripting. It's called Mikey Mickey

(40:14):
Mickey seventeen. I get the confused with the actress that
won the Oscars where it hasn't got to see Mickey seventeen.
Is runs far too long, keeps on going, and it
then keeps on going two hours, seventeen minutes rated.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
M Now it reminds.

Speaker 6 (40:33):
Me of Alex talking about the football.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
Yeah, the bombers, you know, a good effort, Jackie.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
Wouldn't you say I shouldn't have said that, wouldn't you go?

Speaker 7 (40:42):
That kid?

Speaker 5 (40:44):
Where's the jumper?

Speaker 1 (40:45):
I reckon?

Speaker 4 (40:46):
I reckon bringing the Carlton fans would be absolutely distraught.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
It warms the cockles as somebody listen, I.

Speaker 7 (40:54):
Was making a one line joke there, Well go on
for launch, you launch you back into a discussion.

Speaker 6 (41:01):
I regret it.

Speaker 4 (41:02):
Or no, regret it all you what? We can talk
about football as the cows come up? Are you interested
in the Sheffield Shield Final that's coming up as well?

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Sorry Peter, you're not interested in softball?

Speaker 1 (41:14):
Sorry Peter.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Well, it's ridiculous that the football stasion started before then
had the Sheffield Shield Final.

Speaker 4 (41:22):
Yeah, and they can't play it where they want to
play it. They've got to go to a Karen Rolton.
I think is the Oval that they're playing it in
rather than the Adelaide Oval, because they could and the
South Australian Premier got involved, Greg and even he couldn't solve.

Speaker 1 (41:36):
It, So thing right along what we weren't actually better.
You want to talk about it before about football, do you?
We can can do that. Eighteen teams, you know.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
We need to talk about the seventeen Nickeys, the seventy.

Speaker 4 (41:48):
Yeah, we'll take the mickey out of it. Yeah, exactly.
Now if I'm not for saying it's twenty fifty four.

Speaker 1 (41:56):
In this movie, yea. And Earth's in trouble, isn't it?

Speaker 4 (41:59):
And droves of people are taking up the opportunity for
interplanetary relocation that's.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
My term anyway.

Speaker 4 (42:07):
And a man who's got himself in all sorts of
trouble financially destitute is Mickey Barnes played by Robert Pattinson. Now,
without digging too deeply, he seizes the chance to start
afresh as a new human colony is about to start
populating on a planet called Nilfheim, and those behind the

(42:30):
initiative are a former congressman, supercilious though he is Kenneth
Marshall is his name, played by Mark Ruffalo and his
scheming wife. I'm not sure he pronounced his name. Why
her name rather, why lfa ulfa something like that. Tony
Collette has our own Tony Collette. So Mickey signs up

(42:50):
to become what's known as an expendable, and that's not
the expendables as in the movie. That means he'll be
given all the dangerous tasks in this hostile, freezing environment
that the new planet is located in, all the planet
that they're going to. Now, when he dies, which he
does a lot, he'll be reprinted another word for cloned

(43:11):
again and again. And the one person who is sympathetic
to him is an elite agent called Nasha played by
Naomi Aki. And she is, when I say an elite agent.
She's a soldier, she's a policewoman, she's a firefighter. She
can do no wrong, and he regards her as his soulmate. Now,
as Greg said, we're up to the seventeenth iteration of

(43:32):
Mickey when he's incorrectly assumed to be dead again and
prematurely replaced. So suddenly we have both Mickey seventeen and
Micky eighteen, and they don't see I do I. And then,
to add fuel to the fire, a woman other than
Nasha shows more than a passing interest in Mickey. So
there's interpersonal relationships at stay here as well, But the

(43:55):
real enemies are the oppressive leaders governing the colony. Now,
like most movies, I went into Mickey seventeen blind, not
knowing anything about it, and I emerged after those two
hours and seventeen minutes feeling let down disappointed. Why because
what I saw was this over extended political satire that

(44:18):
lacks substance and appeal. Notwithstanding the brilliance of the writer
and director Bong June Hoe's last film, which was the
Oscar winning Parasite, this one suffers from average writing and direction.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
The longer it.

Speaker 4 (44:33):
Went, the more I wanted it to end. And there's only
really so much of a bad thing I could take.
The movie is actually based on the novel Mickey seven
by Edward Ashton, so I reckon if it was called
Mickey seven, it wouldn't have to run for two hours
seventeen minutes anyway. Robert Pattinson, well, he does most of
the heavy makes a decent fist of it. Yeah, plays
opposite himself and makes it. I mean, he's the centerpiece

(44:54):
of the film. Mark Ruffalo is but a pompous buffoon
with bad teeth. Tony Koled full of expression, as is
Manipulaity better half. Naomi Aki, Well, he has a moment,
although I can't say that she seemed all that stretched.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
Now, one thing I should say about.

Speaker 4 (45:10):
Mickey seventeen is that in Dune we got sandworms. Here
we have what are termed creepers, and they're kind of
like large caterpillars or armadillos. They call it what you will,
but you know that's what they are. So enough, said frankly.
I found the whole thing too silly. I mean, Jackie,
have you seen this or you've avoided it?

Speaker 1 (45:34):
Hello? Are you still there, Jackie?

Speaker 4 (45:36):
Maybe she's gone, Okay, maybe she's not there anymore. Having
said all of that, what about you, Peter, what did
you think of it?

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (45:45):
I was disappointed. Bong Junhoe is such a good filmmaker.
I mean, o Kier a snowpiece at Pista Parasite. As
you've mentioned this one, he's been given too big a budget,
and the adaptation of the original novel, not that I've
read it, seems to be rather odd and at cross purposes.

(46:07):
For example, why is there only one person being replicated?
I didn't understand that process, because you would think that
if they want to take people away from the planet
and go elsewhere, that they'd be working on lots of
people and replicating them and remodeling them and keeping their
memories and all that sort of thing. The other thing

(46:29):
that annoyed me is that the yin and yang of
Mickey seventeen and Mickey eighteen got on my nerves because
it was just so stupid and ridiculous at times. So
there was a lot to disappoint me. I know, the
film was optimized for IMAX, and that's where we saw
it at a previous screening, and because it was optimized

(46:54):
for IMAX, it actually looked a bit grayer and a
bit murkier than perhaps if it was a stand getting
all this noise.

Speaker 7 (47:02):
In the.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Jackie, are you re arranging the furniture.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Or what is or assembling it?

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Or Greg, are you doing thecano or what's going on here? Okay, Jackie,
can you hear us? Jackie king in and out on
and off? I did.

Speaker 6 (47:23):
I didn't say I didn't.

Speaker 8 (47:24):
See Jackie didn't see it. Okay, But anyway, seventeen was
was a disappointment for me. I would have liked a
much stronger film. Groundhog Day did it better in some respects.
So yeah, I wasn't a great fan of this one.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
But you asked about the cloning and why there weren't more, Well,
bear in mind that there were. I got the impression
there weren't many expendables, right that, That's what Mickey was.
So you're only cloning the expendables because they die, So
I mean I kind of got that. But they obviously
focused on one and it wasn't as if there was

(48:04):
a troop of expendables.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
But if it was so urgent, then they would have
had many more being created and that we would see
that process. By the way, Mark Ruffalo's character is a
ridiculous Trumpian type character, and Tony Collette is wasted in
the film.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
Yeah, Jackie, you moving around? Jackie? Can you hear us?

Speaker 6 (48:29):
No, it's my Yes, I can hear you. Can you
hear me?

Speaker 1 (48:34):
There's a lot of hash and we're wondering.

Speaker 7 (48:36):
I'm sorry, that's my puppy, that's your puppy.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
What is it a great name? Is it? I mean,
is it? Ryan rhinoceros. Is it?

Speaker 6 (48:55):
Well, look, you know you.

Speaker 4 (48:57):
Watch the dog name Now the dog's part of this podcast.

Speaker 7 (49:04):
Yeah, this Pipper, she'd like, she's just giving her opinion
of the tennis ball.

Speaker 1 (49:09):
Pippa, can you go Pyton and play with that ball? Maybe?

Speaker 7 (49:14):
Now, I'm sorry to tell you this that she actually
can't go quietly, So I'm just going to leave the.

Speaker 6 (49:21):
I do apologize to that. And I'm hoping it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
No, you just we thought there was.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
I mean I was worried because, let's be honest, Peter
lives in a paper thin house. That that a Butt's
the Grand Prix track? What's happening up the Grand Prix
as we're speaking.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Just watching there are two helicopters trying to land at
the moment, and the actual Grand Prix racers don't start
until the afternoon. But hopefully with the noise suppression that
I've pressed on Skype.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
You don't hear all of that.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
Fine, I mean, maybe you can hitch a ride with
the helicopter pilot and with a.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
Round view heasie viewer of the.

Speaker 4 (50:03):
Ground ground conditions, and or it dogs over you, Yes,
it dogs over you exactly.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
No, it's it's that's no. All right, So you've said
all you wanted to say about.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Yes, yes, that was disappointed.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
What about you, Gregory?

Speaker 2 (50:17):
Well, well, this is a film of interesting ideas, but
not all of them clicked. A black comic fi fi film.
There's for some big things like cloning, science, colonization, space exploration,
religious fanaticism and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 5 (50:33):
But as I said, not all the ideas are fully
developed there.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
The Trumpian Alborty with Mark Rufflow's character is a bit
obvious and heavy handed at times.

Speaker 5 (50:42):
Some of the special effects are really good.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
I thought there that they create this other world con cineratography.
I thought it was also quite good of this other
world that's snow covered, and the creepers and most of
it's two hundred million dollar budget can be said on
the screen there.

Speaker 5 (51:01):
And I like the way now remember back.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
In the fifties and sixties and those tear these shows
when some character is playing a twin and they were
always positioned in near a doorways that they could have
that line down the screen and play opposite each other.
At least special effects and visual effects have come along
way now so that you're going to actually have Robert
Pattinson interact credibly with his other self there on screen,

(51:23):
so that that works well, I thought. I thought he
did a good job of playing your personality. Yeah, he
gave each one eferent physical appearance and look with little
subtle nuances and gestures and that so I thought that
worked well as well. I thought Juno directed with a

(51:43):
bit of energy and flair there, emphasizing the black humor
where possible.

Speaker 5 (51:49):
Yeah, so Look had.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Crementiisting ideas, and it includes all sorts of elements from
some of his other films as well, like Yustapian Snow
Pierser and Plautiful social satire in Social Commentary.

Speaker 5 (52:05):
A parasite or play here as well. I agree, though
it is a little bit bloated with.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
A lot of intertwined spots, some of which don't go anywhere,
and it could have been tightened up in unison suite.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
Yeah, so what are you going to give it? Out
of ten? Greg? Six out of ten, six out of ten.

Speaker 4 (52:20):
For Mickey seventeen, which runs for two hours seventeen minutes
rated M and Peter.

Speaker 3 (52:25):
Krauss I gave it five out of ten.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
You're spot on today, Peter.

Speaker 4 (52:30):
Not all the time, but sometimes so yeah, I'm giving
it a five as well. It's I mean, I get
excited when I get invited to Imax.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
I think it's a brilliant venue.

Speaker 4 (52:42):
It's my favorite cinema, and it's all well and good
to spend two out of million bucks, that's us, I
think on a movie.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
But you've got to have a.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
Decent script, don't you. But you know I think that
that's thought. Why is somebody ringing me while I'm on air?
Don't they know how how important it is that we
get our thoughts out about the mighty fightings and football machine.

Speaker 1 (53:04):
That's a third reference to football. Are you appreciative of that?

Speaker 5 (53:07):
Greg you're kicking goals today, Alex.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Oh, very good, Gregory. Now we've got to go.

Speaker 4 (53:13):
But I've got to say, folks, please, if you haven't
seen Hard Truths, that's the other film we were going
to talk about.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
But we'll run out of time. That is as well.

Speaker 5 (53:22):
It hadn't thought for all we might have got to it.

Speaker 4 (53:24):
Yes, I know, football for much more important, no, no,
equally important. Hard Truths are what a strong film and
a brilliant performance. And I actually felt very sorry for
the lead around whom the whole movie Gravitates. I thought
she deserved a nomination for Best Actress. And I'm talking

(53:46):
about mari Ane Jean Baptiste. Lovely name too, very fine
actor and what a character. I mean, really something different.
So if you get the chance. It was on as
part of the Brittain Film Festival. It's only a ninety
seven minute movie. It's rated M and I you know,
it's a combination of shock, horror and sympathy into there's

(54:11):
a bleakness and undoubted bleakness about hard truths, but it's
also compelling. It's kind of like like watching a train
wreck unfold and that's where the shock, horror and sympathy
come in.

Speaker 6 (54:20):
So well that might be Alex's opinion.

Speaker 1 (54:22):
Perhaps again you can be wrong, Jackie. It's you. Are
you going to be wrong again? Yeah? Oh good, Well we'll.

Speaker 4 (54:31):
Have to talk about that on another occasion. Well, okay,
very briefly then without I mean, we're really run out
of time.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
But what would you have given it? Out of ten? Jackie?
Quickly hard truths?

Speaker 6 (54:41):
I think they gave it six, but it was I didn't.

Speaker 7 (54:45):
I didn't find it entertainment and I didn't feel leavest
the cinema feeling happier entertained.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
Well, what was your score out of ten for hard truths?

Speaker 5 (54:56):
Are you for me?

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (54:57):
Another great Mike Lee film. Eight out of ten from that.

Speaker 4 (55:00):
Yeah, the perfect that's three out of three for you
today three out of four And what about you, Greg?

Speaker 5 (55:06):
Six out of ten, so again split the same.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
My golly, what is today all about? We're gonna stop
where it was, quitting while we're ahead. Go mighty fighting
essen and football shape. You go for it boys, that's it,
he says. Oh, I'm so excited. We'll see you soon.

Speaker 4 (55:22):
First on Film and Entertainment, signing off, thank you guys
for your contributions.