December 31, 2024 • 41 mins
Talk show host Jon Justice shares his thoughts on the Bob Dylan Biopic and the 2024 Robert Eggers version of Nosferatu. Listen to Jon's weekly radio show Mon-Fri 6-9a CT on the Iheartradio app.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the John Justice Show, and on this episode, we're
talking movies as always. If you want to email me
talkshow Nerd at gmail dot com. If you happen to
be enjoying this on YouTube, be sure to leave a
comment on YouTube and subscribe to the channel. Hit the
alarm button so you never miss another episode and listen.
(00:25):
If you're into Depeche Mode, we're gonna be talking music
on this movie's podcast as well, or Star Wars. I
do host a Depeche Mode and Star Wars podcast as well,
and you can find those, respectively under my name John Justice,
Joen and Star Wars or Depeche Mode. But for today's episode,
I want to focus specifically on movies in two films
that I recently, over the course of the past two weeks,
(00:48):
have gone to see in the theater A Complete Unknown
and No Sparatu, a remake of the nineteen twenty two
film Nosferatu. Now I'm currently on vacation from my full
time job. I don't go back on the air live
until Monday, January sixth, so recording this on New Year's Eve,
(01:09):
I was desperate to get back behind the mic. I'm
about in that point of my vacation where it's like,
all right, I want to start getting back and talking
about stuff again. I got a lot to say, and
both of these movies struck me positively in different ways. Now,
before I get to that. On my Christmas break, typically
what I do is I don't travel. We usually stay
(01:30):
at home with the family. We enjoy the holidays, we
enjoy Christmas in New Year's and we watch a lot
of movies. As a matter of fact, last year, I
kept track of all the movies that I watched over
my Christmas vacation, and I'd forgotten until I started this
holiday break that I never deleted that list from last
year in my Mac notes. So as I went on
(01:51):
vacation two fridays ago, I decided, you know what, I'm
going to keep track of how many movies I watch
on this vacation.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And it ended up becomeing a challenge.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I am very happy to say, depending on what your
perspective is, that was still some six days to go
in my vacation, I'm gonna beat last year's record. For
those that are interested, I will share with you the
list of the movies that I've watched over my vacation
so far. At the end of this podcast, when I'm
done reviewing the two films that I've actually gone out
(02:22):
to the theaters to go and see you. And let's start
off first with my thoughts on a complete unknown. This
is the Bob Dylan biopic directed by James mangold Ford
versus Ferrari, Indiana Jones in the Dial of Destiny three
ten to Uma Logan and an upcoming Star Wars Jedi
origin film. And listen, i am not a Bob Dylan fan,
(02:46):
and I'm actually a person who would actively go and
change the track immediately if a Dylan.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Track were to come on.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
That being said, I absolutely loved this, love this movie,
and to all this a movie too isn't quite accurate.
So this is the telling of the Bob Dylan story
between his nineteen sixty one beginnings through nineteen sixty five
and his turn away from folk music to a more
(03:16):
electric sound. But it is it is more than that,
while also not being much more than that. This film
is both a conventional biopick. And I know some people
say biopic, I say biopick. It's a conventional biopick while
being unconventional that you're really just an observer of these
(03:38):
moments during these formidable years of Dylan's career. Now you
could look at that, you could hear me say that
and go, well, isn't that what most movies are? And
it's true, But there's no major conflict apart from Dylan
wrestling with the public's fandom and Bob Dylan's response to
it and a desire to turn away from what the
(04:02):
public and the music industry's expectations are of him. It's
fairly well known that Bob Dylan is a bit of
a jerk and an a hole. That is depicted in
this film, but not in an overtly negative way. It's
a part of his persona that the people around him
seem to just just simply accept. I would sort of
(04:25):
pen at as being more sarcastic, even though there are
moments where he does act like kind of a jerk
to the people around him. That being said, Bob Dylan
gave his stamp of approval for this portrayal and for this,
you know, in this in this role Timothy Shallowmey, of
whom I'm becoming an ever increasing fan of his young work,
(04:48):
even though there's not a lot of it. I absolutely
love doing part one and two I thought I did
a great job in Wanka as well, and even going
back to one of his first appearances on the big
screen in my son's faith film and one of my
favorite sci fi movies apart from Star Wars Interstellar. He
is just a fantastic actor and I'm at the point
now where I'm beginning to look forward to a film
(05:12):
that he will be leading. And that was certainly one
of the entry points for me going and seeing A
Complete Unknown, considering that I was not a big Bob
Dylan fan. That being said, he does a stellar job
as Bob Dylan. Apparently he learned how to play the
guitar leading up to the filming of the movie. He
does all of the performances of the film, and while
(05:35):
he sounds like Bob Dylan in the numerous performances in
A Complete Unknown.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's not It's not an individual doing karaoke.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Listening to some Bob Dylan songs after the film sung
by Bob Dylan. And again this was not by choice.
This was because my wife Melinda started to listen to
the Essential Bob Dylan playlist on iTunes and I happen
to be around while this was playing. Because Again, I'm
just not a fan of Bob Dylan's work, and hearing
(06:10):
the original tracks, that's which I've heard of, you know,
many many times, even though I've never sought it out.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It speaks to the importance that.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Bob Dylan has on, you know, the history of music
here in the United States and across the and across
the planet. I've just never been a big fan, but
I certainly respect and understand what his influence was on
rock and roll. Timothy Shalloway's performance sounds like Dylan, but
it's not a carbon copy, and when listening to the
(06:37):
original Bob Dylan tracks, I can see more of the distinction.
But he does a great job in portraying Bob Dylan
while not being just a again a karaoke version, if
that makes sense. And again, there are many musical performances
in the in the film, and I was absolutely riveted
(06:59):
by every single one of the musical performances by Timothy
Shallomey in the movie, even for songs that I would
even go so far as to say I actively dislike,
but in the context of the film, it made sense
and it made it enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
While I still would not.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Go out and listen to the soundtrack of the film,
if that makes sense. Monica Barbara, who played Joan Biez
and again another young actress of whom I'm increasingly becoming
a fan, and I'm glad that. I'm glad that she
had the opportunity to do this film. Most notably, she
played Phoenix in Top Gun Maverick, and she just has well,
(07:37):
you know, being a young, beautiful woman, she has a
persona in my opinion, where it almost demands to be
on the silver screen. And there was something compelling even
with that side character in Top Gun Maverick two, which
I said after that film came out, that you know,
she's gonna end up being a major star. But she
hasn't really done anything relevant since then, certainly not anything
(08:02):
of major box office success or fame beyond what she
did for Top Gun Maverick until this film and her
portrayal of Joan Bias and again having no reference point
whatsoever for Joan Bias, I thought she did an absolutely
fantastic job. Elle Fanning's performance as Dylan's on again, on
and off again girlfriend was probably my favorite performance of
(08:24):
her apart from when she was in Super eight, and
she was obviously much much younger in this movie. But again,
not any not an act This is not an actress
that I would say, oh, I'm looking forward to seeing
Elle Fanning. I just know who she is, and she
just gave an absolutely amazing performance. Now, her name in
the film as Sylvie is not the name of Bob
(08:47):
Dylan's girlfriend in real life. After the film, after we
saw the movie, I went and did some research to
find out what in the movie was accurate and what
wasn't accurate.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And there was a lot of.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
A lot of inaccuracies in the film, certainly done to
condense the story now in those years between sixty one
and sixty five, and moments and points in Bob Dylan's
career of things that happened that were portrayed just simply
in different ways, while the general story that was being
told was accurate, even though some of the details, you know,
(09:22):
the names and the names and places have been changed
to protect the innocent kind of thing. But at Bob
Dylan's request, the actual name of his girlfriend that Elle
Fanning portrayed was changed for the movie, which I just
thought was kind of weird. I mean, because anybody can
just do it. I didn't go look up the person's name,
but I for the same time, he must have had
(09:42):
his own well he did. He had his own personal
reasons of which were not disclosed as to why he
wanted that name change. That being said, it was a
fantastic performance and it's interesting too, getting back to how
this film is kind of unconventional as a movie, like
it is a movie, but I'm hesitant to go and
(10:03):
call it that because of the way it played out,
and I have a better description that I'll share with
you in in just a moment. But when you look
at the conflict in the in the movie, you kind
of had this expectation, not knowing.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Anything about Bob Dylan when.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He has these relationships, whether it's with el Fanning's character
or whether it's Monica Barbara playing Joean Bias, you are
watching it going, oh, okay, this is where the central
conflict is going to come into play. And then it doesn't,
and not in a bad way, but it again sort
of the expectations that you have as a typical movie
(10:41):
goer and waiting for a central theme or conflict to arise,
and then it doesn't. The movie just kind of moves along,
not in a bad way, just doesn't end up meeting
the expectations of what you would typically find in a
story about an up and coming musician if it were
written as fit there, of course more than likely would
(11:02):
be that type of conflict, whether it's because of personal
relationships or drug abuse, fighting with the label. There really
aren't any of those things in this story. It's a
rather uncontroversial telling of Bob Dylan's early career. Even though
it does have its moments of controversy, there never anything
(11:23):
that you can focus on or walk away from the
film going that was the central conflict that he needed
to overcome.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
It's just not in the It's just not in the
in the.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Film, and even at the film's two hours and twenty
ish minutes, it never dragged for me, and I wasn't
waiting for the movie to end. And I should probably
take this moment and make this sort of caveat on
my movie reviews of my sort of my view of
how I look at films. First off, I don't ever
(11:54):
go and recommend movies because everybody's tastes are different. And
that's one of the things that I wanted to key
in on, because because all of this is subjective, every
single person's you know, when it comes to art, music, movies,
you name it, it's subjective. It all depends on, you know,
what it is that you are entertained by. And I
(12:15):
always get annoyed when people look at films in an
objective way. It's one thing if a film isn't shot right,
or if there are mistakes in the movie, that's one thing,
But how a film is written, the way that it's directed,
the cinematography, it's all subjective, and that certainly is going
to be more appropriate when I get into my thoughts
(12:36):
on Nos Faratu, a movie that was challenging to say
the least, especially compared to A Complete Unknown, and I
won't even do that because these films are on two
completely different levels. Now getting back to a Complete Unknown,
though again at two plus hours, there was never a
moment in the film.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That I felt dragged. And the whole for a.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Movie that I know that I'm enjoying is one where
I'm sitting in the theater and one I'm not waiting
for it to end, like I want to get out
of the theater. We can end the movie now, or
I do not want it to end. And this film
was borderline me not wanting to end like it. If
had gone on for another half hour at the pace,
(13:21):
in terms of quality of what I had seen so far,
I probably would have been completely okay with that. You
compare it to say, Sonic the Hedgehog three, which I
also went to the theater to go see, but I won't.
I won't be reviewing it here. Both of my sons
now twenty two and eighteen, enjoy those Sonic movies, and
I had a good time in the theater seeing Sonic three.
(13:43):
It's not a movie that I ever need to see again.
And that was a film where I was watching it going, okay,
we can wrap it up already. I've seen enough of
you know, I've seen enough animated Hedgehogs.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Now I'm I'm good.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
A Complete Unknown was almost a documentary shot like a biopic.
There wasn't a ton of dialogue in it. What was
there in terms of the script was solid, but nothing
earth shattering. I can't seem to recall any moments where
there were sort of your oscar bait moments of somebody
(14:17):
delivering a speech that you look at and you go,
oh my gosh, that was fantastic. That is why this
person will be nominated for an Oscar. That being said,
I could certainly see Timothy Chalomayne his portrayal of Bob Dylan,
especially given the historical significance of Bob Dylan of him
being nominated for a for an Oscar for Best Actor.
(14:40):
And that being said, Edward Norton's portrayal of Pete Seeger
another individual of which I have no history of whatsoever
apart from the fact that he wrote this Land is
Your Land. He did a fantastic job as that character.
I have no idea if it's close to the actual
Pete Seeger. That being said, he he was also another
(15:01):
amazing character that I could have watched and seen even
more of in the film. Every single main actor and
I pretty much laid them all out between el Fanning,
Monica Barbara, Timothy shallow May, and Edward Norton. I mean,
those are pretty much your key players. The individual and
I can't remember his name right now, but the guy
that ended up playing and he's in a lot of
(15:22):
James Mangold's films who ended up playing Johnny Cash did
a fantastic.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Job as as well.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
But getting back to how the film was is portrayed,
how the story is portrayed again, it's almost like a
documentary shot like a biopic. There's not a ton of dialogue,
there were plenty of performances, and there's a ton of
music in the film, and there really isn't any clearly
defined beginning, middle, and end, and even the official climax
(15:51):
of the film doing that thing with my fingers air quotes,
while not dramatic, was still effective enough to bring this
compelling film to a close. As I said at the
start of my review, Ford Versus Ferrari by Mangold is
one of my favorite true story films, and A Complete
Unknown will certainly rank up there as one of my
(16:14):
favorite musician focused biopics. The first one that comes to
mind probably would would be Bohemian Rhapsody, which for me
personally has a luned comment with a Complete Unknown because
I'm not a big Queen fan. That being said, there
are Queen songs that I will seek out and listen to,
but I don't think I've ever listened to.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
A Queen album top to bottom ever, and.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I would almost say that it's tough between the two
of them. Between Bohemian Rhapsody, a movie which I really
really enjoyed, Complete Unknown. I would probably put a complete
Unknown just slightly under Bohemian Rhapsody because I like the
music a little. I like the music more in Bohemian Rhapsody,
but I thought the portrayal of both Freddie Mercury in
(16:57):
Bohemian Rhapsody and again Timothy Shallow was absolutely stellar. So
this is a film that I will probably end up owning.
Where I walked out of the theater and didn't think
that I would and was thinking to myself, and this
is exactly the same thing that happened to me with
nos Faratu as well.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
I walked out of the.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Theater going I really enjoyed that. I don't know if
I'll watch it again, but I'll really enjoy that. And now,
after having spent some time away from it and getting
ready for the reviews today, I realized that no, I
actually do want to go watch this again, and it
is one that I probably would like to have on.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
My Blu ray shelf.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
So if you've seen it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Talk show nerd at gmail dot com, and of course,
if you're watching this on YouTube, leave a comment there.
Now this brings me to know s Faratu and this
was a different one for me. I'm not a fan
of Robert Eggers, who directed the film did the Lighthouse.
(18:00):
I never saw it, never want to see it based
off of what I've seen. I did see The Witch,
of which I'm going to go and revisit now after
seeing nos Ferratu. But I ended up watching The Witch
over a course of a few nights before I go
to bed. I go to bed early because I got
to get up a two thirty in the morning, so
typically I'm in bed by six thirty, and usually I
watch something on my laptop for a half hour forty
(18:23):
five minutes before I turn on my music and go
to sleep. And The Witch was one that i'd heard
great things about. I'm fairly certain that my my good friend,
my dear friend Drew, who passed away a few years ago,
had recommended to me, and I think it was on
his recommend that I ended up watching that movie and
I enjoyed it, But it wasn't one that I needed
to revisit nos Faratu when it was first announced, I
(18:48):
didn't have much interest in it. I'd never seen the
original And i'll talk about this here in just in
just a moment, and I didn't really have any desire
based off the director, because he's not a director that
I lean into.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That being said, after seeing the first trailer for nos
Ferratu and coming to the realization because I just hadn't
done the research that this was a very similar story.
Let me back up, I was unfamiliar with the original
nos farra Tu story in that the original nineteen twenty
(19:25):
two silent German expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau,
was based off of Bromstoker's Dracula. That's when my interest
was Pete, and I'll explain why here in just a moment.
That original film again nineteen twenty two, starring Max Schreck
as Count Orlock, who would be Dracula, who a vampire
(19:49):
who prays on the wife of his estate agent and
brings the plague to their town. Okay, and so this
is the same story that's being told in the original
nineteen t knows Faratu. As a matter of fact, from
the reviews that I've listened to of the film, there
were many that were fans of the original nineteen twenty
(20:11):
twenty nineteen twenty two film that were surprised at how
close the story aligned with that original No s Faratu.
So if you haven't seen the twenty twenty four version
and you've seen the twenty twenty the nineteen twenty two.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Version, then you know the story up front.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Now that being said, I am a huge fan of
Francis Ford Coppola's Bromstokers Dracula. It is easily my favorite
vampire film. It is a film that I watch every
single year over over Halloween, and based off of the
first trailer for Nos Faratu, I immediately recognized, oh, this
(20:52):
is that story. Now that being said, while the stories
share the same baseline, Robert Eggers has a sense of
realism when compared to the more fantastical, dream like and
adventurous version and slightly more commercial but not by much
(21:14):
of brom Stoker's tale as told by Francis Ford Coppola.
Both films, and I'll just say up front of the
twenty twenty four version of Non Sparatu and brom Stoker's
Dracula are fantastic in their own right. It's almost unfair
to compare the two, as the the directors both executed
(21:37):
their versions so precisely and with amazing directoral craft. Now
know s Faratu stars Bill Scarsgard of probably It fame
is the one he recently did The Crow, which bombed
like crazy. Just he plays a great weirdo and does
(21:59):
the same portraying Orlock again with my fingers Dracula and
knows Faratu. Nicholas Holt, who I've wouldn't say I'm a
fan of, even though I really enjoy his work. I
most recently saw him in an incredibly underrated film, Juror
Number two, which is available now, I believe on either
Peacock or Max, a film which didn't get any attention
in the box office but was great. That's one of
(22:21):
the films on the list of movies that I watched
over my vacation. Lily Rose Depp, of whom I've had
no connection with whatsoever. Apparently she was on a show
called The Idol and she is the daughter of Johnny
Depp Aaron Taylor Johnson. He's from Oh Gosh, Godzilla. He
was in a Bullet Train. He was one of the
(22:42):
main characters.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
In Oh Gosh, What was fall? Guy Man I got?
He plays a stunt man I can't think of. The
movie is called Stuntman. It's like, no, it's not stunt man.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It's fall guy, Emma Corn who played the villain, the
bald villain in Deadpool and Wolverine, and of course Willem Dafoe,
who I don't need to mention what he's been in.
He's been in a ton of things. So getting into
the story in and of itself. In the nineteen the
Excuse Me, the eighteen thirties, a state agent Thomas Hudder
travels to Transylvania for a fateful meeting with Count Orlock
(23:15):
again Dracula as a prospective client. In his absence, Hudder's
new bride, Ellen, is left under the care of their
friends Frederick and Anna Harding. Plagued by horrific visions and
an increasing sense of dread, Ellen soon encounters an evil
force that's far beyond her control. So let me jump
(23:36):
to what I was going to say toward towards the
end of the film. And again, I don't recommend movies
because everybody's tastes are different, and I'm not going to
be recommending this film, even though, now having about twenty
four hours away, for a minute, my view on it
has shifted, and I'll explain why here in just a moment.
(23:59):
I'm not reckoming this movie because again, everybody sort of
has their own standards of what they enjoy in films,
and this movie is certainly different. And it is violent
and it is graphic. So let me start off with
some of the items that aren't related to any of that.
The authenticity of the eighteen thirties depiction in this film
is truly miraculous. I've never seen anything like this in
(24:21):
a movie before. The only thing I could probably compare
it to would be The Witch, of which again I'm
not that familiar with, having only watched it once on
a laptop, and that was a very sort of confined
film of a family in the forest dealing with super
you know, natural things that are taking place and affecting
the youngest daughter played by Anna Taylor Joy. But even
(24:44):
in that, depicting what I think was also you know,
the seventeen or the eighteen hundreds did a fantastic job
this in showing the eighteen thirties and especially the town
in Germany of which it was depicting, was just incredible.
The night scenes are tinged in blue, almost teetering on
(25:07):
a blue and white, black and white cinematography, and this
was when needed. I mean, this was all appropriate in
terms of the context of the film when they needed
to set the tone in a sense of dread. While
the daylight moments I wouldn't say are vibrant with color
except by comparison to the bleakness of the evening shots,
(25:28):
and while the interior settings by candlelight are absolutely stunning,
like based off of the limited amount of light available,
I mean, it really does look like they're shooting inside
with only candle light. And that being said, the fact
that they got it on film, because you know how
dark that would be.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I mean, it truly is astonishing.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I've never watched a movie before where I've been so
interested to see how they lit it to make it
look the way that it did. I mean, you could
easily just played the soundtrack, which was phenomenal, and watched
the film without any dialogue whatsoever. Its cinematography was simply
that engrossing, and it was something right out of the
(26:11):
gate that I that I noticed as well. Orlock the
villain is a deep throated, accented embodiment of simply pure evil.
In an interview with a director, Robert Eggers said that
he wanted this version of Orlock Dracula to be different
(26:32):
than what was done before. If you're familiar with the
Francis Ford Coppola Bromstokers Dracula, you know that Gary Oldman's
character playing Dracula goes through several changes throughout the film,
you know, and at one point when he finally meets
the love interest protagonist of the film, Mina, played by
Winona Ryder, he has now transformed himself into a handsome
(26:55):
young man. Okay, you don't get any of that with Orlock.
He's more zombie than anything else. And Robert Eggers said
he chose to make him like that because essentially he
is the undebt.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
He's a walking corpse.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Which ends up making the relationship between him and his
victim in this film being Lily Rose's debt depth the
object of his unquestionable desire. It makes it even more
disturbing because of how he looks in the beginning of
the film.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
He's out of frame, out of focus.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
You don't really get to see him in full until
you get much further into the film. And that's by
design and reason because by the time you end up
do see by the time you end up seeing Orlock
in his entirety, at one of the most pivotal moments
of the film. I mean, you truly get the sense
of what your mind had been filling in the gaps
(27:55):
of of just how atrocious this walking abomination is. He's
wholly threatening while moving slowly in just the way.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
That he speaks.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And you know, Bill scars Guard's performance was it's worthy
of a I don't know if it would be Best Actor.
I would assume he probably would would be maybe more
appropriate for him to be nominated as supporting Actor than
than actor. I mean, he's in the film a lot,
(28:27):
so that's I would think that there was going to
be a Best Actor Award nomination, it would probably go
to Nicholas Holt, although while his performance was spectacular, I
don't see him getting a nomination for that for that performance.
The biggest difference between Bromstoker's Dracula done by Francis fort
Coppola and this version of nos Farantu is that in
(28:49):
Coppola's version, it really.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Was a love story.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean, it's in the tagline of the film, and
one of the reasons why I love it so much,
because I'm a Hoper's romantic even when we're talking about vampires.
But the tagline for the film is Love Never Dies
Dracula's love for Mina in Coppola's movie, of which he
sees the wife who ended up committing suicide after she
thought that he had been killed in battle. Eventually, Mina
(29:13):
is also seduced and she has a love for Dracula,
even though in the film you kind of don't know
whether or not it really is her or if it's
him using you know, Dracula powers on him. In Egger's
version Orlock, it has Orlock making Lily Rose depths Ellen
(29:36):
Hunter more conflicted in her desire to be with him
or whether or not she wants to stay with her
husband Thomas. And I don't want to get into too
many spoilers here, but it's pretty clear at the beginning
of the story that whatever feelings that Lily Rose depth has,
(29:56):
what other feelings that the Ellen character has, which is
the true protagonist in the movie.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You really don't know whether or not.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
You kind of get the sense that this is beyond
her control, that Oorlock has put a spell on her
and she is now conflicted because of that spell. I
wrestled walking out of the theater after seeing this with Melinda,
and we've both sort of come to the same conclusion
now with twenty four hours of you know, coming to
terms with saying that I enjoyed the movie. I liked
(30:27):
or loved the movie because of for because of how
for lack of a better way to say it, extreme
it was, but therein lies the art of being realistic,
relatively speaking to.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
The world that we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Realistically, being put face to face with pure evil and
debauchery in the absence of God. Appreciation is probably a
better way of describing it. And while I thought to
myself and Melinda said the same thing that we didn't
need to watch it again, now I do want to
watch it again. And this too is a film that
(31:06):
I think I would want to have on my Blu
ray shelves.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
A stunning film on almost all levels. Plus having the
physical version at home, you can sit past some of
the more egregious scenes. And again, I am in no
way going to recommend this film, as it's absolutely not
for everyone, but it is the most cinematic horror film
that I have ever seen, both compelling, beautiful and disturbing
(31:37):
to the point of having to turn away a few times,
and yet it still has a level of accessibility even
though it rides a line of being an art house
film and being commercially viable for what it's worth. Chris
Columbus of Chris Columbus Fame, This would be The Home Alone,
Chris Columbus, This would be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
(32:03):
Stone a Chris Columbus. He was actually a producer on
the film, and Robert Eggers, the director, said that he
was on set and actually helping him guide the story
a bit. This was a film that Robert Eggers had
in his mind as a kid that he wanted to
remake if he became a director, even going so far
as to stage a high school play based off of
the nineteen twenty two movie.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And it seems.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Pretty clear that there were moments in the film where
it could have deviated into more abstract art house and
it rained in to tell a more linear and understandable
story that really did end up benefiting the film in
the end. The moments of depicted depravity in the film,
(32:49):
they were not overly gratuitous, and while they could have
been removed from the film, and I'm speaking specifically to
the sex scenes, of which there are just a few,
it's completely unders stannible why they would be included in
the movie considering the subject matter of essentially a demon
who has renounced God and the ramifications of that. You know,
(33:13):
I was reading online some commentary and Steve Dace had
written a review of which I agreed quite a bit with.
As a matter of fact, I think I have it here.
I'll go ahead and I'll go ahead and read. This
is what Steve Dace had to say. Those that are
unfamiliar with him, He's just another talk show host.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
He says.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
It's one of the most stunningly shot movies he's ever
seen this year, based off one of the most famous
movies of the Silent era, which was based on Bromstoker's
classic Dracula. Not a single profanity is uttered throughout because
it doesn't skimp on portraying the behaviors of its villain
as well as the horrors he inspires. The movie also
(33:51):
shows the dangers of opening door to the occult and
naively thinking that you can harness the darkness to satisfied
your own needs and desires. He went on to say
this is one of the best movies that he's seen
in twenty twenty four. However, even while he's on always
keep in mind that Robert Eger's stylings aren't for everyone,
and he's absolutely correct in that. And I saw somebody
(34:14):
make a comment under Steve's post that said, how could
you watch a film like this as a Christian and listen?
For many individuals, it's completely justifiable if you just simply
don't want to put yourself in front of content like that.
I completely understand it. And for what it's worth, we
you know, we typically do We're not seeking out explicit content.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
A lot of.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Times, though, When I end up watching a film like
this and not having done research beforehand, and I see
there are these scenes in here, for me, it's a
matter of what you take with you. And this is
something that my father taught me when I was really young,
when I first started listening to, you know, to secular music. Right,
we're surrounded by sins, and this film is a grim
(35:00):
and yet masterful portrayal of the selfish, rotten, sinful nature
of man who has given himself to evil and the
debauchery in his pursuit to fill the hole in his soul,
and the impact that it has on those around him.
The director even said Robert Eggers that He didn't set
(35:22):
out to tell any to have any sort of message
in the film. He didn't make the movie saying this
is the theme and this is the message I want
people to take away. He just simply wanted to tell
the tale, and that completely helps in serving the story.
Above everything, Lily Rose depth as a protagonist along with
(35:42):
her husband Nicholas Holtz Thomas. They both do an incredible job,
and it's incredibly compelling to watch or Locke, who, while terrifying,
is also riveting whenever he appears on screen. You know,
I'm not gonna go so far as to say this
(36:03):
is my favorite movie of twenty twenty four. I have
my own standards for that. I will say that it's one.
It is the most well crafted story that I have
seen this year, even though the subject matter is really
really difficult to sort of deal with. I love the
Dracula story in and of itself, and ultimately I prefer
(36:24):
the version that Francis Ford Coppola told in his brom
Stoker's Dracula. It almost makes me wish that I could
have seen Robert Eggers do his version of not the
nineteen twenty twenty two excuse the nineteen twenty two version
(36:45):
of Nuserratu. I would love to see Eggers version of
the nineteen nineties version of Francis Ford Coppola's Bromstoker's Uh Dracula.
But this is a movie that really, you know, stuck
with me, and again I walked away saying, Gladys, I'm
not sure i'd watch it again to wanting to sit
down less than twenty four hours later and put together
(37:08):
a couple of reviews for the podcast. So again, I'd
love to hear from you Talk show nerd at a
gmail dot com or leave a comment up on YouTube.
So as promised, of the movies that I've watched so
far over this Christmas vacation with little comment Arry, we'll
kind of go through the list.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
This is mostly in order.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
So Sonic the Hedgehog, yes, one, two, and three, because
my boys made me watch the first two because they
didn't want me to be lost in watching number three.
Juror number two, which I mentioned before. Star Wars is
the last Jedi inception Black Widow, Star Wars Arise of Skywalker,
Hell or high Water.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Because we've been.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
On a Landman kick and a Tailor Sheridan kick as
of late Letho Weapon won Letho Weapon one, two, and
three because my boys had never seen those movies.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
We watched those over the course of a few.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Days night Remember before Christmas, Just Friends, Office, Christmas Party,
Hunger Games, Ballad of Songbird and Snakes, the prequel to
the other films.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
What are my favorites?
Speaker 1 (38:13):
By the way, Klaus the animated Christmas movie on Netflix
that we had never seen, which was fantastic. By the way,
the animated version of The Grinch. Iron Man three another
Christmas movie staple, along with Elf. Contact because I ended
up getting the Blu ray for Christmas. I can't believe
I didn't own that movie. It's spectacular and has a
lot in common with Interstellar. Had no idea or I
(38:36):
hadn't really thought about it until I watched Contact, and
both Logan and I were going, oh, my gosh, I
don't you know Christopher Nolan took a lot from Contact
when he made it Interstellar, as I talked about a
complete unknown. We ended up watching the live action How
the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey Jurassic World Dominion
because I hadn't watched it in a while. BlackBerry, the
(38:57):
story of the BlackBerry cell phone, which was It's fantastic.
It's available on Hulu. Again, don't recommend it, but if
you like true story tales, that was an interesting one,
so check that one out if you're into those. Most
of Love actually kind of space that out. I was
skipping through a couple of parts. But we usually watch
that movie every year.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Tangled one of my favorite Disney animated films.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Truth be Told. We started it before vacation but didn't
finish it until after vacation. No it s FERRATU. Just
watch Firefox last night. Clint Eastwood's movie.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Hadn't seen that in a long time, own the Blu Ray,
and Logan had never seen it.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Man of Steel just watch that one as well, because
Kyle had never seen Man of Steel. So that's where
we are right now, and I have.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
No idea what we're watching this evening.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I hope you enjoyed this dual movie review of a
Complete Unknown and Nosferatu. And before I let you go,
I want to encourage you. If you want to support
the John Justice Show and you like to read science fiction,
I've written a science fiction adventure series. It's called The
Embark After Earth Faces its end follow pilots Taft, Keita
(40:03):
and their crew on a journey of survival across the
galaxy as they fight for humanity's future. It's a fast
paced and action packed sci fi adventure. If you like
your science fiction to be epic, filled with some romance,
really cool technology, ton of action, and Bark is perfect
for you. I wrote it for adults, but it's great
(40:24):
for ages eleven and older, So do me a favor.
Go and pick up in Bark book one today again.
Seven books in all in the series available in ebook, Kindle, unlimited, hardcover, paperback,
and audiobook on Amazon dot com. Thank you so much
for listening to this episode. Wherever you are listening to
the podcast, be sure to subscribe to that platform With
(40:47):
this podcast, I would greatly appreciate it. And listen to
my weekly radio show Monday through Friday six until nine
am Central Time on the iHeartRadio app. Just search for
Twin Cities News Talk or my name John Justice. Thank you,
thank you so much for checking this out. I hope
wherever you are you're happy, you're healthy, and you're safe.
A happy New Year, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Bah
It's the John Justice Show, and on this episode, we're
talking movies as always. If you want to email me
talkshow Nerd at gmail dot com. If you happen to
be enjoying this on YouTube, be sure to leave a
comment on YouTube and subscribe to the channel. Hit the
alarm button so you never miss another episode and listen.
(00:25):
If you're into Depeche Mode, we're gonna be talking music
on this movie's podcast as well, or Star Wars. I
do host a Depeche Mode and Star Wars podcast as well,
and you can find those, respectively under my name John Justice,
Joen and Star Wars or Depeche Mode. But for today's episode,
I want to focus specifically on movies in two films
that I recently, over the course of the past two weeks,
(00:48):
have gone to see in the theater A Complete Unknown
and No Sparatu, a remake of the nineteen twenty two
film Nosferatu. Now I'm currently on vacation from my full
time job. I don't go back on the air live
until Monday, January sixth, so recording this on New Year's Eve,
(01:09):
I was desperate to get back behind the mic. I'm
about in that point of my vacation where it's like,
all right, I want to start getting back and talking
about stuff again. I got a lot to say, and
both of these movies struck me positively in different ways. Now,
before I get to that. On my Christmas break, typically
what I do is I don't travel. We usually stay
(01:30):
at home with the family. We enjoy the holidays, we
enjoy Christmas in New Year's and we watch a lot
of movies. As a matter of fact, last year, I
kept track of all the movies that I watched over
my Christmas vacation, and I'd forgotten until I started this
holiday break that I never deleted that list from last
year in my Mac notes. So as I went on
(01:51):
vacation two fridays ago, I decided, you know what, I'm
going to keep track of how many movies I watch
on this vacation.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
And it ended up becomeing a challenge.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
I am very happy to say, depending on what your
perspective is, that was still some six days to go
in my vacation, I'm gonna beat last year's record. For
those that are interested, I will share with you the
list of the movies that I've watched over my vacation
so far. At the end of this podcast, when I'm
done reviewing the two films that I've actually gone out
(02:22):
to the theaters to go and see you. And let's start
off first with my thoughts on a complete unknown. This
is the Bob Dylan biopic directed by James mangold Ford
versus Ferrari, Indiana Jones in the Dial of Destiny three
ten to Uma Logan and an upcoming Star Wars Jedi
origin film. And listen, i am not a Bob Dylan fan,
(02:46):
and I'm actually a person who would actively go and
change the track immediately if a Dylan.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Track were to come on.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
That being said, I absolutely loved this, love this movie,
and to all this a movie too isn't quite accurate.
So this is the telling of the Bob Dylan story
between his nineteen sixty one beginnings through nineteen sixty five
and his turn away from folk music to a more
(03:16):
electric sound. But it is it is more than that,
while also not being much more than that. This film
is both a conventional biopick. And I know some people
say biopic, I say biopick. It's a conventional biopick while
being unconventional that you're really just an observer of these
(03:38):
moments during these formidable years of Dylan's career. Now you
could look at that, you could hear me say that
and go, well, isn't that what most movies are? And
it's true, But there's no major conflict apart from Dylan
wrestling with the public's fandom and Bob Dylan's response to
it and a desire to turn away from what the
(04:02):
public and the music industry's expectations are of him. It's
fairly well known that Bob Dylan is a bit of
a jerk and an a hole. That is depicted in
this film, but not in an overtly negative way. It's
a part of his persona that the people around him
seem to just just simply accept. I would sort of
(04:25):
pen at as being more sarcastic, even though there are
moments where he does act like kind of a jerk
to the people around him. That being said, Bob Dylan
gave his stamp of approval for this portrayal and for this,
you know, in this in this role Timothy Shallowmey, of
whom I'm becoming an ever increasing fan of his young work,
(04:48):
even though there's not a lot of it. I absolutely
love doing part one and two I thought I did
a great job in Wanka as well, and even going
back to one of his first appearances on the big
screen in my son's faith film and one of my
favorite sci fi movies apart from Star Wars Interstellar. He
is just a fantastic actor and I'm at the point
now where I'm beginning to look forward to a film
(05:12):
that he will be leading. And that was certainly one
of the entry points for me going and seeing A
Complete Unknown, considering that I was not a big Bob
Dylan fan. That being said, he does a stellar job
as Bob Dylan. Apparently he learned how to play the
guitar leading up to the filming of the movie. He
does all of the performances of the film, and while
(05:35):
he sounds like Bob Dylan in the numerous performances in
A Complete Unknown.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It's not It's not an individual doing karaoke.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Listening to some Bob Dylan songs after the film sung
by Bob Dylan. And again this was not by choice.
This was because my wife Melinda started to listen to
the Essential Bob Dylan playlist on iTunes and I happen
to be around while this was playing. Because Again, I'm
just not a fan of Bob Dylan's work, and hearing
(06:10):
the original tracks, that's which I've heard of, you know,
many many times, even though I've never sought it out.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
It speaks to the importance that.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Bob Dylan has on, you know, the history of music
here in the United States and across the and across
the planet. I've just never been a big fan, but
I certainly respect and understand what his influence was on
rock and roll. Timothy Shalloway's performance sounds like Dylan, but
it's not a carbon copy, and when listening to the
(06:37):
original Bob Dylan tracks, I can see more of the distinction.
But he does a great job in portraying Bob Dylan
while not being just a again a karaoke version, if
that makes sense. And again, there are many musical performances
in the in the film, and I was absolutely riveted
(06:59):
by every single one of the musical performances by Timothy
Shallomey in the movie, even for songs that I would
even go so far as to say I actively dislike,
but in the context of the film, it made sense
and it made it enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
While I still would not.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Go out and listen to the soundtrack of the film,
if that makes sense. Monica Barbara, who played Joan Biez
and again another young actress of whom I'm increasingly becoming
a fan, and I'm glad that. I'm glad that she
had the opportunity to do this film. Most notably, she
played Phoenix in Top Gun Maverick, and she just has well,
(07:37):
you know, being a young, beautiful woman, she has a
persona in my opinion, where it almost demands to be
on the silver screen. And there was something compelling even
with that side character in Top Gun Maverick two, which
I said after that film came out, that you know,
she's gonna end up being a major star. But she
hasn't really done anything relevant since then, certainly not anything
(08:02):
of major box office success or fame beyond what she
did for Top Gun Maverick until this film and her
portrayal of Joan Bias and again having no reference point
whatsoever for Joan Bias, I thought she did an absolutely
fantastic job. Elle Fanning's performance as Dylan's on again, on
and off again girlfriend was probably my favorite performance of
(08:24):
her apart from when she was in Super eight, and
she was obviously much much younger in this movie. But again,
not any not an act This is not an actress
that I would say, oh, I'm looking forward to seeing
Elle Fanning. I just know who she is, and she
just gave an absolutely amazing performance. Now, her name in
the film as Sylvie is not the name of Bob
(08:47):
Dylan's girlfriend in real life. After the film, after we
saw the movie, I went and did some research to
find out what in the movie was accurate and what
wasn't accurate.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And there was a lot of.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
A lot of inaccuracies in the film, certainly done to
condense the story now in those years between sixty one
and sixty five, and moments and points in Bob Dylan's
career of things that happened that were portrayed just simply
in different ways, while the general story that was being
told was accurate, even though some of the details, you know,
(09:22):
the names and the names and places have been changed
to protect the innocent kind of thing. But at Bob
Dylan's request, the actual name of his girlfriend that Elle
Fanning portrayed was changed for the movie, which I just
thought was kind of weird. I mean, because anybody can
just do it. I didn't go look up the person's name,
but I for the same time, he must have had
(09:42):
his own well he did. He had his own personal
reasons of which were not disclosed as to why he
wanted that name change. That being said, it was a
fantastic performance and it's interesting too, getting back to how
this film is kind of unconventional as a movie, like
it is a movie, but I'm hesitant to go and
(10:03):
call it that because of the way it played out,
and I have a better description that I'll share with
you in in just a moment. But when you look
at the conflict in the in the movie, you kind
of had this expectation, not knowing.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Anything about Bob Dylan when.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
He has these relationships, whether it's with el Fanning's character
or whether it's Monica Barbara playing Joean Bias, you are
watching it going, oh, okay, this is where the central
conflict is going to come into play. And then it doesn't,
and not in a bad way, but it again sort
of the expectations that you have as a typical movie
(10:41):
goer and waiting for a central theme or conflict to arise,
and then it doesn't. The movie just kind of moves along,
not in a bad way, just doesn't end up meeting
the expectations of what you would typically find in a
story about an up and coming musician if it were
written as fit there, of course more than likely would
(11:02):
be that type of conflict, whether it's because of personal
relationships or drug abuse, fighting with the label. There really
aren't any of those things in this story. It's a
rather uncontroversial telling of Bob Dylan's early career. Even though
it does have its moments of controversy, there never anything
(11:23):
that you can focus on or walk away from the
film going that was the central conflict that he needed
to overcome.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
It's just not in the It's just not in the
in the.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Film, and even at the film's two hours and twenty
ish minutes, it never dragged for me, and I wasn't
waiting for the movie to end. And I should probably
take this moment and make this sort of caveat on
my movie reviews of my sort of my view of
how I look at films. First off, I don't ever
(11:54):
go and recommend movies because everybody's tastes are different. And
that's one of the things that I wanted to key
in on, because because all of this is subjective, every
single person's you know, when it comes to art, music, movies,
you name it, it's subjective. It all depends on, you know,
what it is that you are entertained by. And I
(12:15):
always get annoyed when people look at films in an
objective way. It's one thing if a film isn't shot right,
or if there are mistakes in the movie, that's one thing,
But how a film is written, the way that it's directed,
the cinematography, it's all subjective, and that certainly is going
to be more appropriate when I get into my thoughts
(12:36):
on Nos Faratu, a movie that was challenging to say
the least, especially compared to A Complete Unknown, and I
won't even do that because these films are on two
completely different levels. Now getting back to a Complete Unknown,
though again at two plus hours, there was never a
moment in the film.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That I felt dragged. And the whole for a.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Movie that I know that I'm enjoying is one where
I'm sitting in the theater and one I'm not waiting
for it to end, like I want to get out
of the theater. We can end the movie now, or
I do not want it to end. And this film
was borderline me not wanting to end like it. If
had gone on for another half hour at the pace,
(13:21):
in terms of quality of what I had seen so far,
I probably would have been completely okay with that. You
compare it to say, Sonic the Hedgehog three, which I
also went to the theater to go see, but I won't.
I won't be reviewing it here. Both of my sons
now twenty two and eighteen, enjoy those Sonic movies, and
I had a good time in the theater seeing Sonic three.
(13:43):
It's not a movie that I ever need to see again.
And that was a film where I was watching it going, okay,
we can wrap it up already. I've seen enough of
you know, I've seen enough animated Hedgehogs.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Now I'm I'm good.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
A Complete Unknown was almost a documentary shot like a biopic.
There wasn't a ton of dialogue in it. What was
there in terms of the script was solid, but nothing
earth shattering. I can't seem to recall any moments where
there were sort of your oscar bait moments of somebody
(14:17):
delivering a speech that you look at and you go,
oh my gosh, that was fantastic. That is why this
person will be nominated for an Oscar. That being said,
I could certainly see Timothy Chalomayne his portrayal of Bob Dylan,
especially given the historical significance of Bob Dylan of him
being nominated for a for an Oscar for Best Actor.
(14:40):
And that being said, Edward Norton's portrayal of Pete Seeger
another individual of which I have no history of whatsoever
apart from the fact that he wrote this Land is
Your Land. He did a fantastic job as that character.
I have no idea if it's close to the actual
Pete Seeger. That being said, he he was also another
(15:01):
amazing character that I could have watched and seen even
more of in the film. Every single main actor and
I pretty much laid them all out between el Fanning,
Monica Barbara, Timothy shallow May, and Edward Norton. I mean,
those are pretty much your key players. The individual and
I can't remember his name right now, but the guy
that ended up playing and he's in a lot of
(15:22):
James Mangold's films who ended up playing Johnny Cash did
a fantastic.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Job as as well.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
But getting back to how the film was is portrayed,
how the story is portrayed again, it's almost like a
documentary shot like a biopic. There's not a ton of dialogue,
there were plenty of performances, and there's a ton of
music in the film, and there really isn't any clearly
defined beginning, middle, and end, and even the official climax
(15:51):
of the film doing that thing with my fingers air quotes,
while not dramatic, was still effective enough to bring this
compelling film to a close. As I said at the
start of my review, Ford Versus Ferrari by Mangold is
one of my favorite true story films, and A Complete
Unknown will certainly rank up there as one of my
(16:14):
favorite musician focused biopics. The first one that comes to
mind probably would would be Bohemian Rhapsody, which for me
personally has a luned comment with a Complete Unknown because
I'm not a big Queen fan. That being said, there
are Queen songs that I will seek out and listen to,
but I don't think I've ever listened to.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
A Queen album top to bottom ever, and.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I would almost say that it's tough between the two
of them. Between Bohemian Rhapsody, a movie which I really
really enjoyed, Complete Unknown. I would probably put a complete
Unknown just slightly under Bohemian Rhapsody because I like the
music a little. I like the music more in Bohemian Rhapsody,
but I thought the portrayal of both Freddie Mercury in
(16:57):
Bohemian Rhapsody and again Timothy Shallow was absolutely stellar. So
this is a film that I will probably end up owning.
Where I walked out of the theater and didn't think
that I would and was thinking to myself, and this
is exactly the same thing that happened to me with
nos Faratu as well.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
I walked out of the.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Theater going I really enjoyed that. I don't know if
I'll watch it again, but I'll really enjoy that. And now,
after having spent some time away from it and getting
ready for the reviews today, I realized that no, I
actually do want to go watch this again, and it
is one that I probably would like to have on.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
My Blu ray shelf.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
So if you've seen it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Talk show nerd at gmail dot com, and of course,
if you're watching this on YouTube, leave a comment there.
Now this brings me to know s Faratu and this
was a different one for me. I'm not a fan
of Robert Eggers, who directed the film did the Lighthouse.
(18:00):
I never saw it, never want to see it based
off of what I've seen. I did see The Witch,
of which I'm going to go and revisit now after
seeing nos Ferratu. But I ended up watching The Witch
over a course of a few nights before I go
to bed. I go to bed early because I got
to get up a two thirty in the morning, so
typically I'm in bed by six thirty, and usually I
watch something on my laptop for a half hour forty
(18:23):
five minutes before I turn on my music and go
to sleep. And The Witch was one that i'd heard
great things about. I'm fairly certain that my my good friend,
my dear friend Drew, who passed away a few years ago,
had recommended to me, and I think it was on
his recommend that I ended up watching that movie and
I enjoyed it, But it wasn't one that I needed
to revisit nos Faratu when it was first announced, I
(18:48):
didn't have much interest in it. I'd never seen the
original And i'll talk about this here in just in
just a moment, and I didn't really have any desire
based off the director, because he's not a director that
I lean into.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
That being said, after seeing the first trailer for nos
Ferratu and coming to the realization because I just hadn't
done the research that this was a very similar story.
Let me back up, I was unfamiliar with the original
nos farra Tu story in that the original nineteen twenty
(19:25):
two silent German expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau,
was based off of Bromstoker's Dracula. That's when my interest
was Pete, and I'll explain why here in just a moment.
That original film again nineteen twenty two, starring Max Schreck
as Count Orlock, who would be Dracula, who a vampire
(19:49):
who prays on the wife of his estate agent and
brings the plague to their town. Okay, and so this
is the same story that's being told in the original
nineteen t knows Faratu. As a matter of fact, from
the reviews that I've listened to of the film, there
were many that were fans of the original nineteen twenty
(20:11):
twenty nineteen twenty two film that were surprised at how
close the story aligned with that original No s Faratu.
So if you haven't seen the twenty twenty four version
and you've seen the twenty twenty the nineteen twenty two.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Version, then you know the story up front.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Now that being said, I am a huge fan of
Francis Ford Coppola's Bromstokers Dracula. It is easily my favorite
vampire film. It is a film that I watch every
single year over over Halloween, and based off of the
first trailer for Nos Faratu, I immediately recognized, oh, this
(20:52):
is that story. Now that being said, while the stories
share the same baseline, Robert Eggers has a sense of
realism when compared to the more fantastical, dream like and
adventurous version and slightly more commercial but not by much
(21:14):
of brom Stoker's tale as told by Francis Ford Coppola.
Both films, and I'll just say up front of the
twenty twenty four version of Non Sparatu and brom Stoker's
Dracula are fantastic in their own right. It's almost unfair
to compare the two, as the the directors both executed
(21:37):
their versions so precisely and with amazing directoral craft. Now
know s Faratu stars Bill Scarsgard of probably It fame
is the one he recently did The Crow, which bombed
like crazy. Just he plays a great weirdo and does
(21:59):
the same portraying Orlock again with my fingers Dracula and
knows Faratu. Nicholas Holt, who I've wouldn't say I'm a
fan of, even though I really enjoy his work. I
most recently saw him in an incredibly underrated film, Juror
Number two, which is available now, I believe on either
Peacock or Max, a film which didn't get any attention
in the box office but was great. That's one of
(22:21):
the films on the list of movies that I watched
over my vacation. Lily Rose Depp, of whom I've had
no connection with whatsoever. Apparently she was on a show
called The Idol and she is the daughter of Johnny
Depp Aaron Taylor Johnson. He's from Oh Gosh, Godzilla. He
was in a Bullet Train. He was one of the
(22:42):
main characters.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
In Oh Gosh, What was fall? Guy Man I got?
He plays a stunt man I can't think of. The
movie is called Stuntman. It's like, no, it's not stunt man.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
It's fall guy, Emma Corn who played the villain, the
bald villain in Deadpool and Wolverine, and of course Willem Dafoe,
who I don't need to mention what he's been in.
He's been in a ton of things. So getting into
the story in and of itself. In the nineteen the
Excuse Me, the eighteen thirties, a state agent Thomas Hudder
travels to Transylvania for a fateful meeting with Count Orlock
(23:15):
again Dracula as a prospective client. In his absence, Hudder's
new bride, Ellen, is left under the care of their
friends Frederick and Anna Harding. Plagued by horrific visions and
an increasing sense of dread, Ellen soon encounters an evil
force that's far beyond her control. So let me jump
(23:36):
to what I was going to say toward towards the
end of the film. And again, I don't recommend movies
because everybody's tastes are different, and I'm not going to
be recommending this film, even though, now having about twenty
four hours away, for a minute, my view on it
has shifted, and I'll explain why here in just a moment.
(23:59):
I'm not reckoming this movie because again, everybody sort of
has their own standards of what they enjoy in films,
and this movie is certainly different. And it is violent
and it is graphic. So let me start off with
some of the items that aren't related to any of that.
The authenticity of the eighteen thirties depiction in this film
is truly miraculous. I've never seen anything like this in
(24:21):
a movie before. The only thing I could probably compare
it to would be The Witch, of which again I'm
not that familiar with, having only watched it once on
a laptop, and that was a very sort of confined
film of a family in the forest dealing with super
you know, natural things that are taking place and affecting
the youngest daughter played by Anna Taylor Joy. But even
(24:44):
in that, depicting what I think was also you know,
the seventeen or the eighteen hundreds did a fantastic job
this in showing the eighteen thirties and especially the town
in Germany of which it was depicting, was just incredible.
The night scenes are tinged in blue, almost teetering on
(25:07):
a blue and white, black and white cinematography, and this
was when needed. I mean, this was all appropriate in
terms of the context of the film when they needed
to set the tone in a sense of dread. While
the daylight moments I wouldn't say are vibrant with color
except by comparison to the bleakness of the evening shots,
(25:28):
and while the interior settings by candlelight are absolutely stunning,
like based off of the limited amount of light available,
I mean, it really does look like they're shooting inside
with only candle light. And that being said, the fact
that they got it on film, because you know how
dark that would be.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I mean, it truly is astonishing.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I've never watched a movie before where I've been so
interested to see how they lit it to make it
look the way that it did. I mean, you could
easily just played the soundtrack, which was phenomenal, and watched
the film without any dialogue whatsoever. Its cinematography was simply
that engrossing, and it was something right out of the
(26:11):
gate that I that I noticed as well. Orlock the
villain is a deep throated, accented embodiment of simply pure evil.
In an interview with a director, Robert Eggers said that
he wanted this version of Orlock Dracula to be different
(26:32):
than what was done before. If you're familiar with the
Francis Ford Coppola Bromstokers Dracula, you know that Gary Oldman's
character playing Dracula goes through several changes throughout the film,
you know, and at one point when he finally meets
the love interest protagonist of the film, Mina, played by
Winona Ryder, he has now transformed himself into a handsome
(26:55):
young man. Okay, you don't get any of that with Orlock.
He's more zombie than anything else. And Robert Eggers said
he chose to make him like that because essentially he
is the undebt.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
He's a walking corpse.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Which ends up making the relationship between him and his
victim in this film being Lily Rose's debt depth the
object of his unquestionable desire. It makes it even more
disturbing because of how he looks in the beginning of
the film.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
He's out of frame, out of focus.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
You don't really get to see him in full until
you get much further into the film. And that's by
design and reason because by the time you end up
do see by the time you end up seeing Orlock
in his entirety, at one of the most pivotal moments
of the film. I mean, you truly get the sense
of what your mind had been filling in the gaps
(27:55):
of of just how atrocious this walking abomination is. He's
wholly threatening while moving slowly in just the way.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
That he speaks.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
And you know, Bill scars Guard's performance was it's worthy
of a I don't know if it would be Best Actor.
I would assume he probably would would be maybe more
appropriate for him to be nominated as supporting Actor than
than actor. I mean, he's in the film a lot,
(28:27):
so that's I would think that there was going to
be a Best Actor Award nomination, it would probably go
to Nicholas Holt, although while his performance was spectacular, I
don't see him getting a nomination for that for that performance.
The biggest difference between Bromstoker's Dracula done by Francis fort
Coppola and this version of nos Farantu is that in
(28:49):
Coppola's version, it really.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Was a love story.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
I mean, it's in the tagline of the film, and
one of the reasons why I love it so much,
because I'm a Hoper's romantic even when we're talking about vampires.
But the tagline for the film is Love Never Dies
Dracula's love for Mina in Coppola's movie, of which he
sees the wife who ended up committing suicide after she
thought that he had been killed in battle. Eventually, Mina
(29:13):
is also seduced and she has a love for Dracula,
even though in the film you kind of don't know
whether or not it really is her or if it's
him using you know, Dracula powers on him. In Egger's
version Orlock, it has Orlock making Lily Rose depths Ellen
(29:36):
Hunter more conflicted in her desire to be with him
or whether or not she wants to stay with her
husband Thomas. And I don't want to get into too
many spoilers here, but it's pretty clear at the beginning
of the story that whatever feelings that Lily Rose depth has,
(29:56):
what other feelings that the Ellen character has, which is
the true protagonist in the movie.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
You really don't know whether or not.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
You kind of get the sense that this is beyond
her control, that Oorlock has put a spell on her
and she is now conflicted because of that spell. I
wrestled walking out of the theater after seeing this with Melinda,
and we've both sort of come to the same conclusion
now with twenty four hours of you know, coming to
terms with saying that I enjoyed the movie. I liked
(30:27):
or loved the movie because of for because of how
for lack of a better way to say it, extreme
it was, but therein lies the art of being realistic,
relatively speaking to.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
The world that we're talking about.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Realistically, being put face to face with pure evil and
debauchery in the absence of God. Appreciation is probably a
better way of describing it. And while I thought to
myself and Melinda said the same thing that we didn't
need to watch it again, now I do want to
watch it again. And this too is a film that
(31:06):
I think I would want to have on my Blu
ray shelves.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
A stunning film on almost all levels. Plus having the
physical version at home, you can sit past some of
the more egregious scenes. And again, I am in no
way going to recommend this film, as it's absolutely not
for everyone, but it is the most cinematic horror film
that I have ever seen, both compelling, beautiful and disturbing
(31:37):
to the point of having to turn away a few times,
and yet it still has a level of accessibility even
though it rides a line of being an art house
film and being commercially viable for what it's worth. Chris
Columbus of Chris Columbus Fame, This would be The Home Alone,
Chris Columbus, This would be Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
(32:03):
Stone a Chris Columbus. He was actually a producer on
the film, and Robert Eggers, the director, said that he
was on set and actually helping him guide the story
a bit. This was a film that Robert Eggers had
in his mind as a kid that he wanted to
remake if he became a director, even going so far
as to stage a high school play based off of
the nineteen twenty two movie.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
And it seems.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Pretty clear that there were moments in the film where
it could have deviated into more abstract art house and
it rained in to tell a more linear and understandable
story that really did end up benefiting the film in
the end. The moments of depicted depravity in the film,
(32:49):
they were not overly gratuitous, and while they could have
been removed from the film, and I'm speaking specifically to
the sex scenes, of which there are just a few,
it's completely unders stannible why they would be included in
the movie considering the subject matter of essentially a demon
who has renounced God and the ramifications of that. You know,
(33:13):
I was reading online some commentary and Steve Dace had
written a review of which I agreed quite a bit with.
As a matter of fact, I think I have it here.
I'll go ahead and I'll go ahead and read. This
is what Steve Dace had to say. Those that are
unfamiliar with him, He's just another talk show host.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
He says.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
It's one of the most stunningly shot movies he's ever
seen this year, based off one of the most famous
movies of the Silent era, which was based on Bromstoker's
classic Dracula. Not a single profanity is uttered throughout because
it doesn't skimp on portraying the behaviors of its villain
as well as the horrors he inspires. The movie also
(33:51):
shows the dangers of opening door to the occult and
naively thinking that you can harness the darkness to satisfied
your own needs and desires. He went on to say
this is one of the best movies that he's seen
in twenty twenty four. However, even while he's on always
keep in mind that Robert Eger's stylings aren't for everyone,
and he's absolutely correct in that. And I saw somebody
(34:14):
make a comment under Steve's post that said, how could
you watch a film like this as a Christian and listen?
For many individuals, it's completely justifiable if you just simply
don't want to put yourself in front of content like that.
I completely understand it. And for what it's worth, we
you know, we typically do We're not seeking out explicit content.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
A lot of.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
Times, though, When I end up watching a film like
this and not having done research beforehand, and I see
there are these scenes in here, for me, it's a
matter of what you take with you. And this is
something that my father taught me when I was really young,
when I first started listening to, you know, to secular music. Right,
we're surrounded by sins, and this film is a grim
(35:00):
and yet masterful portrayal of the selfish, rotten, sinful nature
of man who has given himself to evil and the
debauchery in his pursuit to fill the hole in his soul,
and the impact that it has on those around him.
The director even said Robert Eggers that He didn't set
(35:22):
out to tell any to have any sort of message
in the film. He didn't make the movie saying this
is the theme and this is the message I want
people to take away. He just simply wanted to tell
the tale, and that completely helps in serving the story.
Above everything, Lily Rose depth as a protagonist along with
(35:42):
her husband Nicholas Holtz Thomas. They both do an incredible job,
and it's incredibly compelling to watch or Locke, who, while terrifying,
is also riveting whenever he appears on screen. You know,
I'm not gonna go so far as to say this
(36:03):
is my favorite movie of twenty twenty four. I have
my own standards for that. I will say that it's one.
It is the most well crafted story that I have
seen this year, even though the subject matter is really
really difficult to sort of deal with. I love the
Dracula story in and of itself, and ultimately I prefer
(36:24):
the version that Francis Ford Coppola told in his brom
Stoker's Dracula. It almost makes me wish that I could
have seen Robert Eggers do his version of not the
nineteen twenty twenty two excuse the nineteen twenty two version
(36:45):
of Nuserratu. I would love to see Eggers version of
the nineteen nineties version of Francis Ford Coppola's Bromstoker's Uh Dracula.
But this is a movie that really, you know, stuck
with me, and again I walked away saying, Gladys, I'm
not sure i'd watch it again to wanting to sit
down less than twenty four hours later and put together
(37:08):
a couple of reviews for the podcast. So again, I'd
love to hear from you Talk show nerd at a
gmail dot com or leave a comment up on YouTube.
So as promised, of the movies that I've watched so
far over this Christmas vacation with little comment Arry, we'll
kind of go through the list.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
This is mostly in order.
Speaker 1 (37:30):
So Sonic the Hedgehog, yes, one, two, and three, because
my boys made me watch the first two because they
didn't want me to be lost in watching number three.
Juror number two, which I mentioned before. Star Wars is
the last Jedi inception Black Widow, Star Wars Arise of Skywalker,
Hell or high Water.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Because we've been.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
On a Landman kick and a Tailor Sheridan kick as
of late Letho Weapon won Letho Weapon one, two, and
three because my boys had never seen those movies.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
We watched those over the course of a few.
Speaker 1 (38:01):
Days night Remember before Christmas, Just Friends, Office, Christmas Party,
Hunger Games, Ballad of Songbird and Snakes, the prequel to
the other films.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
What are my favorites?
Speaker 1 (38:13):
By the way, Klaus the animated Christmas movie on Netflix
that we had never seen, which was fantastic. By the way,
the animated version of The Grinch. Iron Man three another
Christmas movie staple, along with Elf. Contact because I ended
up getting the Blu ray for Christmas. I can't believe
I didn't own that movie. It's spectacular and has a
lot in common with Interstellar. Had no idea or I
(38:36):
hadn't really thought about it until I watched Contact, and
both Logan and I were going, oh, my gosh, I
don't you know Christopher Nolan took a lot from Contact
when he made it Interstellar, as I talked about a
complete unknown. We ended up watching the live action How
the Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey Jurassic World Dominion
because I hadn't watched it in a while. BlackBerry, the
(38:57):
story of the BlackBerry cell phone, which was It's fantastic.
It's available on Hulu. Again, don't recommend it, but if
you like true story tales, that was an interesting one,
so check that one out if you're into those. Most
of Love actually kind of space that out. I was
skipping through a couple of parts. But we usually watch
that movie every year.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
Tangled one of my favorite Disney animated films.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Truth be Told. We started it before vacation but didn't
finish it until after vacation. No it s FERRATU. Just
watch Firefox last night. Clint Eastwood's movie.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Hadn't seen that in a long time, own the Blu Ray,
and Logan had never seen it.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Man of Steel just watch that one as well, because
Kyle had never seen Man of Steel. So that's where
we are right now, and I have.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
No idea what we're watching this evening.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
I hope you enjoyed this dual movie review of a
Complete Unknown and Nosferatu. And before I let you go,
I want to encourage you. If you want to support
the John Justice Show and you like to read science fiction,
I've written a science fiction adventure series. It's called The
Embark After Earth Faces its end follow pilots Taft, Keita
(40:03):
and their crew on a journey of survival across the
galaxy as they fight for humanity's future. It's a fast
paced and action packed sci fi adventure. If you like
your science fiction to be epic, filled with some romance,
really cool technology, ton of action, and Bark is perfect
for you. I wrote it for adults, but it's great
(40:24):
for ages eleven and older, So do me a favor.
Go and pick up in Bark book one today again.
Seven books in all in the series available in ebook, Kindle, unlimited, hardcover, paperback,
and audiobook on Amazon dot com. Thank you so much
for listening to this episode. Wherever you are listening to
the podcast, be sure to subscribe to that platform With
(40:47):
this podcast, I would greatly appreciate it. And listen to
my weekly radio show Monday through Friday six until nine
am Central Time on the iHeartRadio app. Just search for
Twin Cities News Talk or my name John Justice. Thank you,
thank you so much for checking this out. I hope
wherever you are you're happy, you're healthy, and you're safe.
A happy New Year, and I'll talk to you again soon.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Bah
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