The Breakdown of Movies Like They Used to Make

Christopher Spicer is finally back with a new episode where he discusses ten movies from the 2020s that prove that sometimes they do make them like they used to. He explores gonzo horror, earnest blockbusters, stunt-filled adventures, erotic thrillers, and blockbuster-style dramas that have been released in the last five years that he feels are worth tracking down. The movie landscape is a healthy place if you know where to look.  

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Back coming to get you, Barbara.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
They're coming for you, Barbra. That comes one of them.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Now, welcome to the latest episode of the Movie Breakdown,
and I am your host, Christopher Spicer, and I remain
a big, fat liar. You'll remember, way back in January,
I posted the podcast of my ten most anticipated movies

(00:50):
of twenty twenty five, and I promised you it was
going to be a glorious kickoff, glorious relaunch of great
stuff that would be happening on the Beyond the Balcony
website and the return of the Movie Breakdown, where I
would be going back to the good old days, you know,

(01:11):
the twenty nineteens, the twenty twenty, the twenty twenty one,
the twenty twenty two, even twenty fifteen, twenty fourteen, the
days where there would be weekly podcast episodes where we'd
be reviewing new releases. And I did confess that Scott
wouldn't be there, but I'd be here every week. But no,

(01:34):
there was neither of us for the rest of January
and for any of February.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
I disappeared. And there has been stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
On Beyond the Balcony but it hasn't been movie reviews.
It hasn't been the big pop culture deep dives I've promised,
and so I apologize for that.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
So we're going to try to rewind that.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
And this is going to be my attempt at the
re launch with weekly episodes where I'll be reviewing movies.
And as I said, I'll probably be so low for
the first few weeks because clearly I need to get
my stuff in order, I need to get things organized,
and so I don't need to throw in the added
craziness of trying to get guest podcast cost this easy

(02:23):
for me. You can tell I've been out of this
for a little bit. People guest podcast host guest hosts
on the movie Breakdown, that is a whole other thing
to kind of shuffle. But I am still very interested
and I've had some amazing people reach out saying they'd
be interested in being guest hosts, So that is a
thing if Scott's not able to return this year. The

(02:45):
guest host rotation is a thing that I plan on doing,
but for the first few weeks, especially since how much
I failed in January and February, the first few weeks
it's just gonna be me solow, and then I will
attempt to reach out, get guests, but the goal is
to do new release reviews every single week. Lots of

(03:07):
twenty twenty five movies already to try to catch up on.
And I apologize for that because I haven't delivered as
I initially promised. It's it's been it's been crazy, and
I revealed it been the last podcast. But I feel
one of my big things as a creator is it's
important to be vulnerable and to be honest with the

(03:29):
hope that maybe one of my listeners or one of
my readers can resonate with it and it can speak
to them some way and help them. Because in the end,
I'm hoping that I do get everything together and that
success comes my way, and so maybe all these struggles
I've had can be an inspiration to others. So I

(03:50):
just want to open up a little bit in that, Yeah,
this mental health journey I've been on is taking a
little bit while it's been a little bit harder then
I wanted to admit.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
As I had revealed in previous podcasts.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
I've been dignosed with being nero divergent with some ADHD
that I've had my whole life, and I was unaware
of until now.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
At forty seven.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Years old, and as well, I have on the spectrum
for autism. So all these fun things that I've been
dealing with my whole life I was unaware of, and
is believed through my psychiatrist and my doctor that that
has likely been a huge trigger for my depression and

(04:39):
depression and anxiety that is deep rooted, that is linked.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
To sort of my childhood.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
So I'm going through kind of behavioral therapy trying to
work through that, and it's draining if you're looking at
something that isn't going to exhaust you. I do not
recommend kind of behavioral therapy, but if you have things
in your life life that you're wanting to work through
and you're wanting to try to overcome your depression, even

(05:05):
though it's going to take a lot of energy and
a lot of time, then you know it might be
worth it.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
And it's been.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's been a lot the last two months, but I
think it is getting me in the right direction. But
it has been energy sapping, especially when a lot of
days I don't feel like I have a lot of.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Depression or a lot of energy. Sorry, I have a
lot of depression.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
That's why I don't have a lot of energy, and
so CBT has been a lot to throw on top
of that. But I am hoping and I am optimistic
that it's going to get me in a place where
I can be a.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Better creator, but more importantly, a better father, a better husband,
a better friend, a better person. That is the end
goal here.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
On top of that, I am, as I've mentioned before,
I'm on medication, but it has been just changing on
a monthly basis, trying to see what works best. I'm
for antidepressants, and then my concerta dosages has been increasing
on a monthly basis, and every single time it it

(06:11):
knocks me.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
It kind of shakes me up a little bit.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
It makes me feel nauseous, and so there's a lot
of adjusting to that.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
So that's been fun.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
While just really trying to come to terms with all
this diagnosis stuff, it's been tough. And then on top
of that, while trying to figure that all out and
low energy, I've been trying to get my career back
a track. As I confess the last podcast, I have
done a lot of self sabotage and through my depression,
and I had a lot of work lined up in

(06:40):
the summer and due to just sort of not responding
well to things like the flooding, the happenair basement and
other things that had life that were anxiety inducing. I
didn't really deliver on maybe some of the deadlines that
I should have, and it has led to some relations

(07:01):
working relationships, and at this point I am starting a
few others right now and trying to build that back up,
get my career back in place. But it's definitely not
in a place where I have the consistent work I
need and the work that's really pay me what I
need obviously to sort of make a living. But I'm

(07:22):
getting there, but it's taken a lot of work. It's
taking a lot of time. My days are full of
a lot of pitching and putting applications together and building
back relationships.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
That's all.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
It's meant that I haven't been able to create the
podcast and create the articles that I want. And there's
a big, massive short story contest that The Toronto Star
does every DA day.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Or every day.

Speaker 1 (07:48):
Yet they have a big giant short story contest every day. Well,
my brain is not my friend today and I even
remember to take my medication. No, the Toronto Star has
there's an annual short story contest that happens at the
end of February every year, and the deadline is in
three days, and I, as of this recording it is,

(08:12):
well it's actually Wednesdays, so it's not necessarily three days.
I'm recording this on a Saturday, but you will be
listening to this on a.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Monday, And so it is.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
The deadline is on February twenty six at five pm.
And at least finally, starting last year, that you can
send it by email rather than having to be snail
mail with the State of the Canaying post. That's a
good thing. But if you're an Ontario resident short story contest,
that is on February twenty six is the deadline. And

(08:44):
I don't have a completely short story at this point.
I have drafts, I have things in place, but I
have not committed to it the way I wanted this year.
I've got a few days here to possibly try to
throw something together and send it out. I really should
push myself, even if it's a story that I don't
think has any chance of winning, I should send something
out just so I can start sort of having those

(09:07):
small wins and completing stuff. That's what this podcast is
right here as I drone on about my life. This
is trying to be a small win saying I've completed something.
I have something for people to listen to. The short
story would be something for people to read, and hopefully
this week if you pop on Beyond the Balcony, there's
going to be some reviews and actual pop culture writing

(09:29):
things for you to read. Maybe it won't be the
best stuff in the world, but it is something I
have completed. Get myself back in a groove of writing things,
recording things, creating things, getting work out there. And because
twenty twenty five is still a year where I'm hoping
that I am going to be successful. I am going

(09:52):
to get these things back on track. I am going
to get my mental health sort of a balance, a balance.
Maybe I'm not gonna be happy all the time, but
getting that balance, feeling out, have a sense of control,
and that includes creating things again, getting my freelance career
back on track. And now that you have just been

(10:12):
possibly turned the show off because you're like, well, he
does this all the time.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
He stop being vulnerable.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Is boring, is what you might be saying as a listener,
And I apologize or at least, I'm getting tire of
you stumbling over your words.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Maybe you should write out.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
This podcast if you're so low now instead of just
trying to freeform this thing. Because my ears hurt. They
are bleeding now, and I am sorry. But if you've
decided through this craziness that hey, maybe I want this
craziness in my life. I've got a business and I
want someone who has this crazy brain that somehow you

(10:47):
feel this is going to benefit your business. I've been
doing this writing thing since twenty ten, so I do
feel I have something to offer. And if you happen
to decide that you want someone to write column for you,
or to write creative, narrative driven style ad copy, do
social media for you, do blogs for you, landing pages,

(11:12):
company newsletters, depending what it is that your business is,
I can offer something creative, imaginative. I can use some
pop culture in there. And I have written for demographics
in the twenties or thirties or forties or fifties, and
being forty seven years old, maybe my pop culture is
going to the sweet spot. If you listen this podcast's

(11:34):
probably people who are maybe a bit on the older
side or have a little bit of nostalgia, but I
can create that stuff for you, and if you are interested,
please reach out. My email is Christopher dot D dot
Spicer at gmail dot com. I am going to try
to get better at creating that about page that will
also be able to on my site beyond the balcony

(11:57):
where you can sort of see some of my portfolio
and reach out to me there as well. But that's
going to help me be able to create more as
if I have steady work, and so if you have,
if you have sort of if you potentially know somebody,
I guess that's what I was going to say. If
you have a connection that you could potentially set me

(12:20):
up with, or if you yourself need work, please reach out.
I'd love to do that for you. I'm obviously doing
my own work. I'm seeking it out and things are
beginning to come together, but I definitely have a lot
of open slots for that. Now that I've done all that,
I am actually playing on doing a podcast today, and
it's not the reviews that I promised in that podcast

(12:42):
way back in January. Instead, this podcast is going to
be the breakdown of movies made like they used to
from the twenty twenties, and what this podcast is about. Originally,
what I was going to do was I've heard so
much and I have done a show for those people

(13:05):
who remember the last show or look at Beyond the Balcony.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
I was in a murder on the Urine Express.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
I performed with Playful Fox in the end of January
beginning of February's Michelle the Train Conductor, my first murder
mystery is a lot of.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Fun, but there was a few performers in that show.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
And there's many people I've come across the last few
years who keep on saying, I don't go to the
theater anymore because it's just superhero movies. It's just stuff
based off sort of remakes and based off established stuff.
There's no original stories anymore. They don't make the movies
like they used to, and I'm all bummed out.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
I've given up. And then I'll mention movies and people
will be like, what I've I never heard of that movie.
I never heard the Nice Guys.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
I don't know how many people who complained about the
lack of original movies or making the movies they used
to like that have not heard of the Nice Guys.
And there's a reason why The Nice Guys flopped Steira
in Gossling and Russell Crowe, Me and Scott if you'll
remember when that picture came out, we just praised that
movie so much and made most of our Best of

(14:09):
the Year list.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
We absolutely love that movie, and I will.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Continue to champion The Nice Guys because there continues to
be people who have never seen that movie, and so
it would have made our Best of Us in twenty sixteen.

Speaker 2 (14:23):
Thank you Google.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
I can't remember when all these movies came out, but
it got me thinking that it would be good to
do a show where I look at pictures that are
sort of like the movies that we remember from our childhood.
If you're my age at forty seven years old, movies
that sort of feel like they're from the nineties or
the nineteen eighties or the nineteen seventies, those old school movies.

(14:46):
Because sometimes they do make movies like they used to.
It's not just all comic book movies. I was originally
going to do a show where it would be movies
all from the time that the movie breakdowns, but around
since twenty thirteen, I've realized the industry has changed so
much that I'm kind of nostalgic now even four pictures

(15:07):
from the twenty tens, Like, I don't feel like big
studios even make movies like The Nice Guys as much
that was twenty sixteen, or that the industry from twenty thirteen,
twenty fourteen, that me and Scott we're going on about
how they just make big budget pictures now they just
make these remakes and comic book movies.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
That it got a lot.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Worse as the years went on, when we started getting
to twenty nineteen, or now with twenty twenty five, twenty
twenty four, I feel like studios have taken even less
chances when it comes to theatrical movies, especially since there
has been such there's been so much. There's rise of
streaming movies and original movies I think has really hurt

(15:52):
big studios from taking even more chances.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
They've now decided.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
That certain type of genres, oh, that which should just
go to streaming. We're not even going to make that
anymore for sort of the theatrical experience. I mean, you want
an example, something like Prey, which is in the established
a little predator, Disney didn't even want to take a
chance on that going up to theaters. And it was
just straight to streaming, and so there has been even

(16:20):
less of that sort of taking chances in the last
few years. It's been even harder sort of to find
those movies of what that they made like they made
them like they used to type thing.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
It's even been harder to find that. So I decided
to really.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
Shorten the window of pictures I was picking from of
this list of movies made like they used to and
I'm just gonna do from the twenty twenties, because, like
I said, I really think studios have even taken less
risks since even the twenty tens, which was a time
that me and Scott moaned then. But I believe there

(16:57):
was a decent selection. I'm still able to find several movies.
I had a hard time coming down to a list
of just ten, and so I think it was worth
doing that, and so I did.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
But before I.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Get right into that list, I just want to say, well,
thank you so much for listening to this show. But
as well, this podcast is brought to you by spreaker Prime,
the wonderful people at speaker Prime that is our host site.
And if you have yourself a podcast where you have
over a thousand downloads.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
I believe it.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
You need at least a thousand downloads a month. You
can join spreaker Prime and they are just great. They
are there twenty four to seven to support us, and
they have different tools in place, and as this year
and the podcast grows, I think I'm really going to
try to take advantage of them a lot more. But yeah,
you go on speaker Priming, you can just see a

(17:53):
whole collection of podcasts, a whole different types.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
It's not just movies. They they do.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Everything true crime and cooking and politics, and I don't
know how many people want to listen to politic podcasts.
In twenty twenty five, politics have become crazier than movies.
But as well, there is my site Beyond the Balcony
and maybe one day Scott will write on Beyond the

(18:19):
Balcony again, just like maybe one day Scott will be
back on this podcast. But for now the podcast has
always been on my site Beyond the Balcony as well
as spreaker Prime. And one way you can help out
this podcast is listening to us directly from the speaker app.
Because ads on the speaker app we get there's even

(18:42):
more sort of revenue from that happens if you do
it directly from the speaker app, and so that would
help me out. And obviously if you help us out
in that way, it then allows me to do more podcasts,
and it allows me to potentially hire guest hosts and
really sort of grow the site and the podcast. So
if you enjoy this, if you're enjoy me ranting and

(19:04):
ranting and not doing what was advertised, then support me.
And if you don't, then don't support me. Maybe I'll
learn my lesson and actually improve this show. But let's
get into this now. Ten movies from the twenty twenties
that kind of remind us of the good old days
how movies used to be made. My number ten is

(19:26):
a twenty twenty movie that there is a chance that
a lot of people don't know this picture. I really
liked it and I think it made my Best of
the Year list in twenty twenty because that is a
year where there wasn't a lot of competition, because there wasn't.

Speaker 2 (19:45):
A lot of movies.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
There was this thing going around called COVID that has
kept a lot of people home, and for most of
the year the movie theaters were closed, but there was
a small little window where you actually could go see movies. Yeah,
you had to distance yourself. It was you had to
come see in a mask. And I think the theater

(20:07):
could only be half fullard even more less than that,
there's a social distance. There's a whole deal of going
to the theater, and so usually it's me about two
other people. But I did see a few movies in
the theater and one of them was Let Him Go.
This was directed by Thomas Mazuki and it stars Diane

(20:28):
Lane Kevin Coostner. And what it is is you've got
a retired sheriff and his wife. They have lost their son,
but they are they are looking after their grandson. But
then they lose their grandson. Their grandson has now been
taken over by the family of what would be their

(20:52):
daughter in law. They took away the sun and we
realized that this is this family that's kind of this
criminal family.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
This this family.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
That lives out in the mountains and they they they
have criminal activities. And so this retired sheriff and his
wife set out to save their son. It is so
it is a family drama. Diane Lane, Kevin Costler have
some chances to really show their acting power here, but

(21:25):
this is also a thriller as the story Unfools is
trying to find learning more about this family and they
have to go to sort of each member and finally
getting to the house where the where their grandson has
been abducted, and they find out this matriarch that's running
this family just this absolutely crazy, dangerous woman played by

(21:54):
Leslie Manville in an absolutely fantastic performance. I think all
performances here are really great. The family here, the dark family,
is the wee Bows, and I believe Kaylee Carter is
the daughter in law and she doesn't have a huge

(22:17):
part in here, but she's still an important character. And
I think this is just a really fantastic picture here
as they seek out to, like I said, save their grandson.
And this is a mix of sort of psychological thriller

(22:39):
which definitely feels of sort of a Western, kind of
that modern Western, and that was the thing that sort
of started coming back a bit. There's definitely been some
series recently that kind of have that touch of that
modern Western, and this is a picture it sort of

(23:00):
has that feel. It definitely feels it's in the Midwest,
and there is a really big bloody climax, and I
think the climax goes a little over the top. That
was the one part of the picture that lost me
a little bit. But I care about these characters. I
love going on this journey. I love the twisting turns,

(23:23):
and when it's focused on the characters, it is a
really engaging and fascinating movie. And it's just it feels
like that old school thriller. It feels like something that
would have been made in the seventies. And if you
feel it doesn't necessarily have that pedigree a decade that's

(23:43):
sort of made some of the best psychological thrillers, it
would definitely be sort of a great early nineties picture
that would still start Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, but
here they just get to play a little bit older.
They bring that maturity. It did come to theater. I
don't think a lot of people thought, but to be
but to be fair, there probably was a lot of

(24:05):
theaters that were full, and so there's a lot of
people that were daring to come out in November of
twenty twenty, and so there's a good chance you haven't
seen this movie. And if you love sort of that
old school violent drama thriller. This is a great movie.
And like I said, the ending is going to connect

(24:26):
with some people, it's not going to connect with any everyone.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
It's a little over the.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Top, but I cared about the characters enough that I
accepted it. I was like, I don't know how you're
going to end this thing. They decided they were going
to end the picture this way, and it is. Yeah,
it's a really great kind of old school psychological thriller
style style movie. And that is Let Him Go. I

(24:53):
didn't say rank these movies, per say, but my ninth
movie here is a much more recent movie. It came
out last year and I also saw it in theaters,
and it actually is based off an intellectual property, which
is something we get a lot of. But it really

(25:14):
wasn't that concerned in this old nineteen eighty series called
The fall Guy, to the point that I think most
people who saw The Fall Guy isn't even aware that
it was based.

Speaker 2 (25:26):
Off a TV series.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
I was, but I didn't even watch the TV series,
and from what I heard, it barely is interested in
following that. What this is instead is an action comedy,
an action romantic comedy, which is definitely.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Not a super common thing. Though.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
One of my all time favorite movies is Romancing the
Stone from nineteen eighty four, which is very much sort
of an adventure that's also sort of a romantic comedy.
Ryan Gosling Emily Blunt I think have great chemistry. I
love him as a couple. I think they have great
scenes here. I think Ryan Gosslin is a gem. I
just love how the fact that he is not concerned

(26:11):
about making himself cool. Here, he's allowed to make himself
ugly cry. He's allowed to make himself very much missing
Emily Blunt and wanting to win her back. But then
he also has to figure out what's happened to the
movie star of this movie they're putting together. He's got
to try to find him, and so we've got ourselves
a mystery here. Aaron Taylor Johnson's playing a very much

(26:35):
over the top, pretentious movie star and he's loving every
minute of it. This is definitely one of his better performances.
This is a picture that's got a lot of funny moments,
and this just feels like something that would have been
a fantastic movie from the nineteen eighties, because I think
a lot of people forget a lot of nineteen eighties movies.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
Had a lot of comedy. The I know, like you've.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Got Sylvester Stallone, who did cheesy movies where he was
super serious. But Arnold Schwartzenegger with all his one liners,
they got stuff like lethal Weapon and die Hard.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
There's quite a bit of.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Comedy in it, and so I think this movie expertly
put that together, blending the comedy with action. But the
other thing that makes us very much feel like the
movie from another time.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Is just the stunts.

Speaker 1 (27:27):
It obviously has some cgi, but there's a lot of
real stunts, and this is very much a love letter
to stunts and practical effects and great set pieces. This
picture unfortunately suffers from a lot of modern movies in
that I think it's a lot longer than it needs
to be. There was a part where I feel like, oh,

(27:48):
we're wrapping up, and then there's a whole other act
that got tacked on. But I'm also happy because that
final act has some of the best practical effects and
great stunts, and it is a very fun movie. I
think the reveal was a little disappointing for me, so
again sort of like let Him Go, where it didn't

(28:08):
necessarily nail the landing, but the journey there was fantastic.
I thought Gosling and Blunt, like I said, I really
loved them together. I wanted to see them hook up,
and that's what you want in a romantic comedy. Teresa
Palmer plays sort of the crazy girl friend of Eric
Taylor Johnson, and she is fantastic here. Wiston Duke is

(28:29):
a friend of Ryan Gosling. He's a guy who's always
a standout in every movie he's in. Stephanie Hugh is
a lot of fun in this picture as well. Hannah
Wattington sort of as the crazy kind of agent of
the Tom Rider character who Johnson plays. She's wonderful, she's
over the top. Everyone sees me having fun with their characters.

(28:53):
And this is another one where it didn't do great
in the box office. You don't blame this on COVID.
I think you just blame this on maybe the marketing
and probably also just the budget was a little big
for me the type of movie it was.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
But check this out. I think Fall Guy if you're
another one.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
When you're like, oh, they don't make movies like they
used to, and I mean let Him Go is one
where it's more of a darker, gritty, psychological thriller. If
you like that. This one is if you want you
just want to feel good action picture, just something that
is fun and you love the characters and you go

(29:32):
on a great ride. That is The fall Guy. They
do make fun nineteen eighty style action picture still, and
that would be The Fall Guy. And it would even
be better if it was close to the ninety minutes
instead of over two hours. But that's how you know
it's a twenty twenty four movie or a modern movie.
Is we just feel like we got to make the

(29:54):
movies over two hours. My next picture is another twenty
twenty movie. It's not a theatrical movie. And it's kind
of hinting at the fact that streaming is what's changed
certain genres, and so it may be kind of all
of them that I'm putting in a streaming movie here.

(30:15):
But my issue with a lot of streaming movies is
they're made to sort of full laundry to that they're
not really that interested and you paying attention to them,
they don't really feel like theatrical experiences. They just feel
like very generic pictures that after you watch them, you

(30:37):
completely forget them, and so the only way a streaming
movie was going to get on this list is if
it felt like this would fit perfectly in the theater.
It feels like a theatrical experience, and a Nola Holmes
definitely feels like what Were You're the type of children

(31:01):
movies I remember watching in the nineteen eighties sort of
that nowadays a children movie is almost always like Pixar
are dream Works, It is often an animated movie. There
is not a lot of sort of live action pictures
that are focused on being an adventure for kids.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Instead.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Now you've got sort of the MCU, you've got the
Star Wars, You've got those type of pictures that the
kids then go. But those pictures are also being made for,
you know, the adults, and they're being made for sort
of people that are in their twenties and thirties. But
they still make the toys and the merchandise for the

(31:42):
young kids. But there isn't those movies that are sort
of those adventures that also feel like they would work
for a younger audience.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Now I get, I knowd Homes is pg. Thirteen, and so.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
In some ways, maybe this isn't quite fitting the way
that I want here because maybe it's a bit darker
than something right for the kids. But you look at
nineteen eighties kid movies and they're all kind of pretty
dark too. But in the eighties you had stuff like
the Goonies, and he has stuff like The Adventure of

(32:17):
Natty Gan and the and obviously I mean e T
one of the big classics, and these were live action movies,
they weren't animated, and live action movies that were trying
to be an adventure that kids could attach to. The
hero was them, they would go on that adventure with them.

(32:37):
There's also stuff like The Explorer and The Last Navigator
the Last Starfighter, though that one he's a little bit older,
and Nola Holmes just feels like it captured that vibe.
It's maybe not quite the Goonies, maybe more sort of
the Adventures of Nattigan because this one, it's also a

(32:58):
period piece of Nola Homes. It's based off a book series,
but it is the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. She's
played by Millie Bobby Brown. And I know Millie Bobby
Brown is kind of showing up in everything, and I
feel like when people start showing up with a lot
of things or ends up being a backlash. And I know,
also Milly Bobby Brown dare to say that she's done

(33:20):
with stranger things and she wants to try new things,
and I guess that also got backlash. But people are silly.
Millie Bobby Brown, I think is just a wonderful actor.
I think she's got a charisma, a great screen presence,
and everything I've seen, she seems like a wonderful person.
And how dare her wanting to do new things other

(33:41):
than stranger things? But anyways, I mean, I'm sure she's
appreciative of that. I'm just talking about some of the
silly people on social media that just seem to be
angry about everything. And I just think nol Holmes is
a wonderful movie. The moment I saw this in twenty twenty,
I who just sort of decide that maybe Dank is
a little bit too young to see in twenty twenty,

(34:03):
But I want her to see this movie because it's
great to see a strong female character, a smart female character.
This is a really fun adventure she goes on as
she unravels the conspiracy theory. I thought the set designs
were great. It feels like something from sort of the
eighteen hundreds, great set pieces, great costumes. Henry Cavell plays

(34:26):
Srilla Holmes, which I never thought would be a thing
that would work, but I like him here. I think
he also is very charismatic. You've also got the other
Holmes brother here. You've got Helena Baum Carter, who is
just always great and everything she's in she's absolutely wonderful.
I love the twist, I love the turns. And even

(34:46):
though I so I was like, oh, this is PG. Thirteen,
I largely think younger kids could see this, just watch
it with them. There's a few scary parts, but for
the most part, this is a great kid's adventure, and
they just don't make a lot movies like this Kid
Adventure Live actually could adventure movies that were very plentiful

(35:06):
in the nineteen eighties, and so that's why this is
on the list. Another one that I remember, but it
didn't come out in the twenty twenties. I think I
was twenty nineteen was the kid who would be king.
They took Evert to the theater and he absolutely loved it.
Where there is sort of Merlin who then takes is
kind of he comes back for the older times because

(35:27):
it's it's a modern take on sort of the King
Arthur story. There's a boy who takes out Excaliburn. You
have Merlin who takes the form of a teenager and
he's trying to get his magic back and these tricks
that he does. And I remember Ever trying to do
all these magic tricks at home. That's one of the
things that got him into the Magic. He loved that
movie for the longest time. And so that is one

(35:49):
sort of movie that also feels like something that we
got a lot more than.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
The nineteen eighties. And I love Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
I just think you Nola Holmes perfectly captures it. It's
got that edge, it's got that adventure. It's something a
kid could connect to. There's also a sequel. I think
they're gonna make another one. Millie Bobby Joe Brown is great.
Nola Holmes is definitely worth tracking down. If you have Netflix,
you can watch it this afternoon with your kids. Well
maybe not because you're probably at work because it's a Monday,

(36:17):
but you can see it tonight. Or if you don't
let kids watch movies during the week, you can schedule
them for Friday. All right, Scheduling for Friday. We're not
gonna move to a dad movie. This is a twenty
twenty three movie, another one that I got to see
in the theater, and it's a picture that really these

(36:39):
things yet don't come to the theater too often anymore.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
But this is air and it is.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
The story about how they got about getting Michael Jordan
to sign a deal with Nike. This is back when
Nike was known more for appealing to joggers to runners,
and they wanted to break out in to the basketball market.
But that's something that Converse had a foothold on and

(37:06):
Nike was not able to get a big star to
endorse their shoes. And this is before Michael Jordan became
one of the most famous basketball players of all time.
He's just coming out of college. But you've got this agent,
this person who works with Nike, who feels like Michael

(37:26):
Jordan's gonna be the future and he should sign him,
and that it's going to revolutionize the industry and it's
going to make Nike a household name. And we know
how that all ends up. But this is a really
fun movie. It is It is that doco drama. It

(37:46):
is a period piece. It is kind of that dad
movie where you get great performances and interesting characters. And
I mean there's a lot of kind of male performers here,
but it's that nice mix of drama and comedy. It's
just that wonderful movie you can watch sort of in
the Sunday afternoon. I really really like Air, probably because

(38:11):
I'm in my forties and I'm em a dad, so
it's my demographic. But you've also just got unbelievable performances here.
Matt Damon's in the lead role. You've got Ben Affleck
kind of playing the eccentric owner of Nike, Chris Messina
a very memorable performance as an agent, Jason Bateman as

(38:36):
one of the employees of at Damian Chris Tucker as well,
another great performance from him, not playing sort of nineties
Chris Tucker. Definitely grounded but powerful performance.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
And then, of course, the.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
Standout performance here is Voila Davis. And so I think
it's fitting that in this dad movie.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Is the woman who has the best performance, but she
plays the mother of Michael Jordan.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
You never see Michael Jordan here, it says Damian Deleno
Young plays him. But all you get sort of is
the back of Michael Jordan. They never really He's not
a crucial player here. The negotiations are with Viola Davis. Also,
Julius Tennon plays the father, James Jordan. I think they're
just fantastic as the parents. She's got some great moments here,

(39:25):
some great sort of award winning caliber performance, but not
super over the top. It's not chewing scenery, but you
really get the fierceness and the protection of this mother.
She is here to protect her son. She's in for
his best interest. Why would I go with this small
company here, it's gonna be a failure.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
Why don't I go with Converse?

Speaker 1 (39:47):
And they say, because your son's gonna be the face
of our company. And I just think, I mean, you
know the spoilers, you know how this turns out.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
But ah, this just.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Feels like what would have been blockbuster dramas of the
nineteen eighties.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
There was a.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Time where you know, Rainman was one of the high
It was the highest grossing movie of nineteen eighty eight.
There was a time where these dramas were the big
pictures of the year. Golden Pond was one of the
highest grossing movies when it came out. I think nineteen eighty.
There was a time that that was stuff that drew

(40:27):
out audiences, and that's what this feels like. This feels
like a blockbuster drama, big stars, awesome costumes. It looks
like a big budget picture. It probably wasn't like a
huge budget compared to sort of a Marvel movie, but
it feels like something you should see in the theater.
It felt like an event picture, and I really really

(40:50):
liked Air. I don't think it made back its budget
and ended up not necessarily the biggest hit in the theaters.
And when people say, ah, they don't make move like
they used to, these are the movies you gotta support.
If you want more of these kind of movies, you
gotta go out and see them. You gotta pay the
moneies people, and so track down Air.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
It's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
I believe this was made in conjunction with Apple, so
if you have Apple TV, it is gonna be easy
for you to see. I really hope though it's also
available to rent, because I mean, the only way you
really encourage people to make these movies, to make studios

(41:34):
make these movies, is they gotta make money off them.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
It's directed by Ben Affleck I'm a big fan of
Ben Affleck the director.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
I'm a big fan of Ben Affleck the actor. He's
fantastic in this, but he's a fantastic director.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
Air is a great movie.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Like I said, it feels like back when amadais, or
even like Braveheart, which I know is more of an
action movie, but still like these kind of movies that
are going for an oscar but they also feel like
a big blockbuster event movie. That was a thing they
used to do, and I think Air delivers that.

Speaker 2 (42:12):
I love this picture.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
Another thing that the ninety A's used to do was
just crazy odd movies. Movies that are willing to kind
of go with weird directions, are a little bit unpredictable,
do some insane stuff halfway through.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
Ninety eight's are great for that. You're the Hunter of
the Future.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
I saw that in theaters, where it's a caveman going
against people shooting laser beams. And to me, Barbarian, which
came out twenty twenty two, a horror picture does that.
But you also have to give credit to the marketing
team here because the trailer doesn't spoil what happens here.

(42:56):
You have a lady who goes to Airbnb.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
She's used it because.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
She has a business meeting the next day, and when
she arrives at their in B and B, she realizes
they've been double booked. That there is a guy that's
already at the Airbnb and he's kind of acting a
little weird. And he's played by Bill Scarsguard, who you
know as Penny Wise and he was in as Faratu,

(43:25):
So you're like, well, Bill scars Guard often plays villain, so.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
He's he's something about Bill Scarsguard is wrong here? What's
he doing here?

Speaker 1 (43:34):
He's gonna be dangerous for poor Georgina Campbell here, who's
the star who plays this picture? But the movie takes
a twist, and so I don't really want to spoil
it too much. I think a lot of people have
seen this picture. If you're in Candy, you can see
it on Disney Plus. If you like kind of gory
horror pictures and psychological thrillers, stuff that sort of takes
some dark turns. And but what I love it is

(43:59):
it takes a turn that you're not predicting, and it
is kind of an insane, crazy turn, and it just
made this movie so fun. And it's got some scary moments,
it's unsettling. Georgina Campbell's great here.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
There is plot holes.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
I had a friend that I recommended this too, and
he's like, there's a few things here that don't make sense,
and yeah, yeah, yeah, fine, but it's still fun and
it's different. And so I feel the energy and the
pacing and sort of some of the interesting characters here
is enough to excuse maybe that logistically all this stuff
doesn't quite work. Of how sort of what ends up

(44:37):
being the villain completely works here. I also like how
sort of the villain changes there is you start questioning
who the villain here? This is a picture that is
not scared in tackling some themes. I think great horror
movies do tackle social issues, and that happens here. And

(44:57):
I think you can even call this a feminist picture.
And but one then I feel people who just like
let'choo horror movies will still like it and not going
there is woke because people who call things woke are
lame anyways.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
But this movie is not. This is a fantastic.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
Movie and it has something to say. But I think
Georgia Campbell really delivers enough performance here. Bill Scar's guard
is great in his part. Just In Long comes in
a little bit later and he just plays one of
the most sleazy human beings and he goes it all
in on it. I think there's some great makeup designs,
of great creature design.

Speaker 2 (45:36):
Barbarian. Check it out.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
I think if you love horror movies, you're okay with
some gore, You're okay with being freaked out a little bit.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
You gotta check out Barbarian.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
When she goes down in that basement and opens that door,
you are like, don't go in there, don't go down
that hallway. Bad things are gonna happen, and bad things
do happen. But it is a fantastic picture. I really
enjoy Barbarian. And if you want a movie that's kind
of telling me a movies like they don't make anymore. Well,

(46:09):
one thing that helps you kind of makes you be
reminded of the old times is you take a movie
that came out in twenty twenty four, but it's set
in the nineteen eighties and his Neon Soaked and it's
just ripid with the feels of the nineteen eighties because
it's got bodybuilders in it. That's a really nineteen eighties
thing and health clubs.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
And big poofy eighties hair.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
I'm talking about Love Lies Bleeding, a picture that came
to Branford for one whole week, and so a lot
of great a lot of people that probably would have
appreciated this movie didn't get to see it because they
just didn't keep it in the theater long enough. But
this is just a fantastic picture directed by Rose Glass.

(46:54):
It reminds me of something like a Blood Simple, like
one of the Cohen Brother's first movies, sort of those
thrillers from the nineteen eighties that are neons soap but
also dark.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
The most of it happens at night. Pictures that aren't
afraid to have some really vile, ugly characters in here,
just awful human beings. A movie that's not afraid to
be really violent but also just have these twisting turns
and are full of very complicated characters. There isn't that redeeming.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Hero in here, so really you might even go back
to the very nineteen seventy ish and it's got that
neo noir feel to it. Kristen Stewart's been awesome for years.
I mean, it's time to move past Twilight, right, she
has been in great movies ever since, and she is

(47:49):
awesome in the star role here. And then you also
have a great role from Katie O'Brien, who is the
love interest of Christian Stewart. I'd be one thing that
would make it maybe not so much feel like an
actual movie from the eighties, because it probably would have
been more exploitative of it being like a lesbian relationship,

(48:12):
or it would be more cliche.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
And this is one that just kind of treats it.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
As a straight romance. The fact that she is in
same sex is not a big deal, and so that
probably makes it a bit more progressive in that way.
This also, like, I mean the eighties when you had
stuff like Fatal Instinct and there was a lot of
Neil Noir sexualized pictures, kind of these sexualized thrillers that

(48:41):
was like against all Odds and Seal Love, those type
of movies that were very common the eighties. That's another
thing here. This is definitely a thriller. It's a crying picture,
it's a new noir, but there's also a romance. But
it's an erotic thriller, which is a thing that we've
become so puritan that there isn't a lot of those

(49:02):
erotic thrillers anymore.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
This very much has that there is nudity here.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
This is one that these are sexual beings and so
it makes it really stand out in sort of the
current landscape.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
And I think Kat.

Speaker 1 (49:17):
O'Brien is really great here as Jackie as the person
who wants to be a successful bodybuilder. But it's got
a temper and makes some mistakes. Christian Stewart Lou who's
attached to just one of the sleaziest families, like her
dad at Harris Is, he's a crime guy. He's just
an awful human being. And Ed Harris just revels an awfulness.

(49:39):
Speaking of awfulness, JJ played by Dave Franco, Dave Franco
just plays a fantastic, miserable human being, and people who
don't like Dave Frankel, you'll like the direction his character goes.
And you have Daisy who's played by Air Barishnikoff, who's
sort of a former lover of Christian Stuart. She's drugged

(50:01):
out and she's not scared to look ugly here. And
this is a picture that, yeah, it's got great performances
across the board. Here, you've got some fantastic stuff. Jennam
alone needs to be praised here. She is the sister
of Lou who's played by Christian Stewart, and she's in

(50:22):
the relationship with the horrible human being JJ, which kind
of gets things spiraling. The response to what they do
to JJ kind of sets up the crime and all
the things here. Jenna Malone Beth, her character is an
abusive relationship. And so this is a picture I is
willing to talk about things to deal with tough issues,
but it's just a great erotic, psychological thriller Love Lies Bleeding,

(50:47):
which I also have to say, it's another one where
the ending you're either going to love it or it's
gonna fall a little flat.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
It fell a little flat for me.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
I gotta rewatch it now that I know how this
picture ends, and maybe the ending won't bother me as
much as it did the first time. But this is
another movie where it is absolutely great until it comes
to the ending, and I think I'm beginning to come
to terms with what they're trying to do there. And
this is a movie that has surreal elements. The ending

(51:19):
goes all surreal, which I guess to me felt like
a cop out and now that I recognized sort of
that was a thing that kind of went throughout the
picture with this dream sequences and stuff that maybe I'm
willing to be a little bit more forgiving at the end.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
It's still a movie.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
You gotta check Love Lies Bleeding twenty twenty four, and
it definitely feels like something that was made forty years ago,
because erotic thrillers are just not really a thing anymore.
Our next picture we're gonna go to twenty twenty one,

(51:56):
and this is movie that I believe flop quite a
bit in the box office, and that is sad because
this is just the definition of something that rarely comes
into the theater anymore. And if they're gonna make something
like this now, it's going to be a streaming series.

(52:18):
And I'm okay with streaming series, but I miss the
old school pictures.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
And this is.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Another psychological thriller, drama, crime picture, almost Gothic. It comes
from the great Gilmill Del Toro, and I have talked
to several people who say this is one of their
favorite movies in the last few years. So if you
haven't seen it, come and see it. And you're like, Chris,
stop dragging it.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
Out. What's the movie.

Speaker 1 (52:43):
It's Nightmare, Alley, Nightmare Alli. I was blessed in seeing
this in theater. It came out around Christmas time, which
is a really hard time. I think to some I
see movies because one, so many movies come out during
Christmas time, and to a lot's happening during Christmas time.

(53:05):
You're busy, You've got a lot of family functions to
go do, so you only have so many movies to
check off, and so I get it.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
I think it's a very competitive time.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
So this might have been something that they should have
maybe put it out in.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
January or maybe a little bit earlier.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
Who knows what hurt it, But I just feel this
is just a fantastic, fantastic movie. It's basically about a grifter,
someone who's looking for work, and he connects with this
carnival and there's just some there's some dark things happening.

(53:41):
There's some mysterious things happening in this carnival, and there's
a dark plan. And the way this unfolds, this character
study what happens, I just think is absolutely wonderful. It's
got a fantastic ending, and I just love the visuals
of this movie. This is something set in the early
nineteen hundreds when the carnivals were a big thing, and

(54:04):
I love the feel and the look of this dark carnival,
this underbelly of this world. And I think there is
amazing set pieces, amazing visuals, a great mix of practical
with Cgi Gimmeldal Turtles one of the best at making

(54:25):
these dark, fairy tale like movies.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
And that's what this really is.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
It's got that feel that fairy tale, it's got that
feel of fantasy, but set in the real world. And
then you've just got a powerhouse cast here. Bradley Cooper
is the Grifter. He's in the lead role that gets
trapped in this world. You've got Kate Blanchez sort of
a fem fettale. Tony Collect is in this as well

(54:54):
as a Zena, the Seer. She's the person who sort
of sees the future of Bradley Cooper. Williem Dafoe is
in this picture. Rooney Mara, Richard Jenkins of course there's
going to be in a Gumbledelterro movie. Mary Steinbergrand Perlman,
of course has to be a Gildel Toro movie. Everyone
delivers in this plays some really interesting characters. Clifton Collins

(55:18):
Junior as Funthouse Jack plays another memorable performance. I've not
seen this movie in a long time. I haven't seen
it since I saw in the theatre in twenty twenty one.
What I know is I need to correct that and
resee this and maybe do a full on review of this.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
This is just this is.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
Movies that they don't make anymore, Just this ambitious, gorgeous,
sweeping picture two and a half hours. It's kind of
like I mentioned Amadis already. I love Alma Dais because
just the amazing set pieces and how much it immerses
you in the world of Mozart and that time period,

(56:00):
and just like the gaudiness and the and the over
the top ness and the lavishness of that world.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
And this is kind of the reverse on that.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
This is the darkness and the dirtiness, but it really
immerses you in the world. There was just a time
where Hollywood was really good at immersing you in these
worlds and just letting you sit there for a few
hours and just really just love the set pieces and
the designs and just see something that you would never

(56:31):
really be able to experience, really get to be with
this character and get to know this distinct character sort of.
I've said before how movies are empathy machines, being able
to understand the life of a character that you would
never actually live his life. But now you get to
understand it a bit, You get to be there for
a while.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
And that's what Nightmare allity is. It's got some great
twist and turns.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
It is a psychological thriller, but not one where it's
sort of this big solving mystery. It's very dramatic, and
it takes its time and unless you really get immersed
in it Nightmare Ally, they haven't made anything like this
since that's for sure. If you haven't seen it yet,
you need to see it. If you have seen it
but it's been a while, be like me and revisit it.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
It is a fantastic picture. A turtle is a fantastic
movie or a fantastic director. He knows how to make
fantastic movies.

Speaker 1 (57:25):
I probably like Nightmare Ally more than Shape of the Water,
but that is another fantastic movie as well. This just
did not get the love that it deserves, that is
for sure. Now we're gonna move on to another movie
from twenty twenty one that is again another movie that

(57:46):
did not get the love to deserve. This is Last
Duel and I really love this movie, and Last Duel
completely flopped in the box office, and it's really annoying
because like the Cameo Awards and talk shows kind of
they took stat they basically made fun of this movie
for phail in the box office, and what they really

(58:07):
should be doing is champion it because it's another two
and half half hour epic maybe by an amazing director,
Ridley Scott. This is one of the best movies really
Scott has made in sort of the twilight of his career.
Not every movie he's made in the last twenty years
has been a massive hit, but this is probably one
of the best.

Speaker 2 (58:27):
And you've got Nicole Haussem Hall of Seener, who is
a great screenwriter, and she was one of the writers
of this picture, along with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Ben Affleck a Matt Damon or also in this Matt
Damon is kind of in the lead role.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
Ben Affleck plays a very over the top peculiar character
than Adam Driver is the rival.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Adam Driver is the rival.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
The Matt Damion character, and then Matt Damon's wife is
Judy Komer. Jody Komer, sorry, and Jodymer is actually fantastic
in this It really I would say, as a movie unfolds,
this is Jody Comber's story this picture in case you
haven't seen it, and you probably haven't because again it
was a big, massive flop. It is sort of taking

(59:16):
the Rassamon approach where you see the movie from three
different perspectives. It's one story that's then told three times.
You see it from Jody Comber's perspective, you see it
from Adam Driver's perspective, you see it from Matt Damon's perspectives. Obviously,
when you have that Matt Damon's story, he's a heroic

(59:37):
hero and he is this valiant figure and that I'm
Driver is just this despicable creature. And then you see
it from Adam Driver's perspective, which then changes things.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
It makes you sort of see how.

Speaker 1 (59:51):
He perceived things and how Matt Damon actually is, or
how Matt Damon actually is in his eyes. And then
Jody Komber throws everything out as you see these two
men or not, maybe that's heroic or great as you
would think. And this is set during the time of
nights and medieval and so women were rarely given a voice,
and so obviously the Jody Comer perspective, I feel, in

(01:00:13):
a lot of ways is how you're supposed to see,
like this is probably how it really was done, because
a women's voice.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Is rarely seen, and you see how.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Cowardly and awful maybe both these men are, and so
you could see this as a feminist picture.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
Again, but it's a great story.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
And again, I mean, if you're one person that says, ah,
I don't like that woke stuff, you're listen to the
wrong podcast. By this point you should know where I stand.
I am progressive, but I don't even think that politics
should wreck this movie. This is just a really well
told story. It's an engaging story, and then you get
the finale of how things really end, the duel, the

(01:00:55):
last duel, the big kind of clash that finally happens
at the bill towards. Ben Avick plays something so different here,
almost a dragas type character, and I think he does
it really well here. I love the set pieces. This
is another one that feels like what would have been
a big, massive blockbuster in the nineteen eighties, This big

(01:01:18):
medieval epic back when people came to see movies that
had stars attached and big set pieces and we're okay
to come and spend your money on an adult movie.
This is a movie geared towards adults. And unfortunately this
reaffirms in a lot of studios and oh, you can't
make these kind of movies anymore because people don't come
see costume dramas anymore and big historical epics. And that's

(01:01:43):
sad because this is definitely one of the best historical
epics I've seen, not just in the twenty twenties, but anytime.
The Last Duel. It's twisty, it's engaging, it's well written,
it's got some great action sequences in it too. I
really liked this movie. If you haven't seen Last Duel,

(01:02:03):
this is another one you need to check out. But
this is not a less it's necessarily about just flops
or movies that people didn't see. So my next one
is Top Gun Maverick, which probably all of you have
seen and it was a big, big, massive hit. Top
Gun Maverick has to be on here because, as me

(01:02:27):
and Scott talked about many times on this podcast, I
don't think it being a sequel to Top Gun is
the reason why it was such a big hit when
it came out in twenty twenty two. I think it
was such a big hit it got the marketing. People
knew about this movie and then had the opportunity to

(01:02:50):
get a ticket because they are awares in theater because
it was Top Gun, because it was from a very
popular movie from the nineteen eighties and a movie that
I'll be people my age have a lot of nostalgia for.
I think that is what gave it it's good opening
weekend and allowed it to have a lot of marketing
and have all these featurettes that were dropped online and

(01:03:12):
making of and I think that was the reason why
the studios willing to put money in it to promote
this movie. But I believe it became this big, massive
hit that had big, massive legs that stayed in the
theater the entire summer was because this delivered something that
people were starving for. This is the blockbusters they used

(01:03:34):
to make of the nineteen eighties. This is what a
blockbuster used to be. It doesn't have to be superhero centered,
it doesn't have to be a remake, it doesn't have
to be sky Beams a massive CGI. This is a
picture where the actors actually had to go through training

(01:03:55):
that the actors actually went into the planes. This is
a picture where they actually shot real planes that did
real stunt, something I thought they would never do again.
I remember when me and Scott review Top Gun, we
said this movie couldn't be made today because they wouldn't
be able to jump through the legal hoops to make
something like this.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
They wouldn't risk it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
But of course Tom Cruise is all about the practical
and doing the stunts and being insane, and so you
knew if he was going to do Top Gun Maverick,
he wanted to do it right. And I think this
is just amazingly directed by Joseph Kazinski, who I've always
appreciated as a visual director, and I think he is
great with doing sort of special effects that even if

(01:04:37):
they RCGI, they look real. And in this one there
was a lot of practical stuff, and so that's what
makes this really stand out. But on top of that,
it just delivers a lot of the things that you
don't see in blockbusters anymore. Yeah, there is the practical effects,
but this is also moved, is very earnest. I feel nowadays,

(01:04:58):
you've got the Marvel sense of he you have to
have they. Nowadays, so many blockbusters don't want to actually
deal with emotions. They're scared that emotions will scare people
away and stop them from having fun, and so there's
a lack of earnestness. Everything has to be sort of
sarcastic or self deprecating, or any emotional moment has to

(01:05:19):
be followed by a joke. And I felt Top Gun Maverick.
What made it stand out is it's very earnest. It's
not scared about the Tom Cruise character. Maverick dealing with
the emotions of still start coming to terms with losing
his friend and coming to terms with the fact of

(01:05:41):
as he saw vittaged the career of Rooster played by
Miles Teller, who is the son of Goose, and having
an actual emotional moment with Val Kilmer's character Iceman, who's dying.

Speaker 2 (01:05:53):
They are they didn't have to fall.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
There's obviously jokes in here and there, and there's energy
and there's action. Syquence says it is a fun movie.
But I just what I APPREACHA wrote this picture and
then Avatar, which came out. I think the same year,
as both of them actually have the earnestness that existed
in older movies, these movies that are allowed to allow
to allow you to sit in emotions for a little
bit and allow us to actually deal with things rather

(01:06:19):
than say, oh, we got to get to the next sequence.
And so that's a big thing that made this picture
stand out. There's also a romance here, which I feel,
I mean, maybe the eighties and nineties so many times
had to shoehorn in like a love interest or whatever.
But this is a picture that sort of we deal

(01:06:40):
with love so little nowadays in pictures that it's refresher
when there actually is kind of a love interest that
means something to the plot. And so I love seeing
Jeffer Colony here, Canelli here, She is a wonderful actor.
I love anytime the Jeffer Canell is in a movie,
and she here is Penny Benjamin, and you actually get

(01:07:02):
to have an actual kind of love plot, an actual
relationship with Tom Cruise that I thought worked and felt
like just an added layer to something that you don't
see as much. And I liked the relationship betwe Cruise
and Teller and him trying to sort of be that
de facto father figure and the responsibility he thinks he

(01:07:26):
has for him and to protect him, and the friendship
between him. I mean, now that I'm a dad, I'm
a sucker for sort of that father child relationship and
even though it's not a real child, he has sort
of felt an obligation to care for him. I like
the fact that they do with Star Wars at the
end with the villain and they got to shoot something

(01:07:49):
into a port and make it explode. I think the
final act is some great action pieces, set pieces.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
Some great great energy here. I liked all the sort
of supporting cast. Glenn Powell. Little did we know that
we'd see a lot of him after. I think he
is really good in here, as well as sort of
the new Iceman this time. Hangman.

Speaker 1 (01:08:15):
This is one that was a hit and you probably
have seen it, but you can rewatch it. And I
think this is a great movie to point two saying
if you do blockbusters like A used to, people will come.
People are starving for something different, something exciting, something thrilling.
That was Top Gun Maverick a movie that really felt
like an old school blockbuster, and I think.

Speaker 2 (01:08:36):
That was why it was a big hit.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
And we are gonna end with a movie that made
my number one for best movie of twenty twenty one,
West Side Story, Steven Spielberg's only musical he ever made.
And you're wondering, why is this on the list?

Speaker 2 (01:08:58):
Christopher?

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
Why did you put a movie like West Side Story
on here? It's a remake, it's a well known movie.
What's your purpose? Well, we do get musicals. We get
a decent amount of musicals, and sometimes they're hits and
sometimes they're not.

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
But I put West Side Story on here.

Speaker 1 (01:09:22):
Because one, I love it and I think it's an
absolutely amazing story, and I absolutely I saw this in
the theater with my wife Emily, and I just thought
this was a fantastically done picture. But I put on
this list because West Side Story, the original movie, also
was during the height of musicals or musicals were blockbusters,

(01:09:46):
and I feel the musicals that were made in the
fifties and sixties are very different than the musicals that
are made today. And West Side Story felt like a
throwback to the old school musical ones where things could
just stop and you have your big dance number. It

(01:10:06):
seemed to have the energy of the old school musical,
and it helps that it is an older musical, Golden
Age musical, so it's got the Golden Age songs, and
I felt this was a movie that did not try
to popify, didn't try to modernize this.

Speaker 2 (01:10:20):
It set it in like the nineteen fifties.

Speaker 1 (01:10:26):
It set it during that period still, and when the
movie obviously came out, the original it was sort of
a modern take on Romeo and Juliet. And now that
they kept this in the nineteen fifties, it's now sort of.

Speaker 2 (01:10:39):
A period piece picture. But I really love that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:42):
I love the fact that Spielberg did not shy away
of making this feel like a nineteen fifties movie. It
feels like it could have almost in even shot during
that period. The colors they use, the visual style they use,
the set pieces they use, it feels very much of
the time of the nineteen fifties. It felt like a

(01:11:02):
nineteen fifties picture, and so that made it successful in
being sort of feeling like a nineteen fifties musical. It's
got the songs that feel the time period it did,
the dance that way, the nice bright colors, the energy.
I just thought this was There's just not many musicals

(01:11:23):
recently that I feel that's up to this caliber, one
that felt unashamed. I am a musical. I'm gonna be
a musical. I'm gonna go all in. I love the
story West Side Story officely it's like Romeo Juliet, but
I think they delivered on that. Angel Al Gore, who
I guess has now become a bit of a controversial
person and there's some things that maybe he turned out

(01:11:45):
maybe not to be the best person. He is good
in this picture. Aria did Bo, who sadly has been
a lot of flops since this picture she earned. She
deserved the Supporting Actors Academy that she got. Rachel Ziggler
another person that I guess people haven't just decided that
they love all the time. So what she said about

(01:12:06):
snow White, I think is absolutely fantastic in here. I
think you've got great performances across the board. The dancing
is great, the set pieces are great. I think the
West Side Story remake is fantastic. It's one of Steven
Spielberg's best movies. And I'm not just saying of modern Spielberg.
I would put it. Spielberg's made a lot of classics,

(01:12:29):
and I would definitely put it in the top ten
of one of his best movies, rather high. I mean,
it's not surpassing Jobs, it's not surpassing E t or Rares,
a Lost Ark or Close Encounters of the Third Kind
and that type of stuff, but it's on there. I
think this is a fantastic movie. It was one of
my favorite movies of twenty twenty one, and I wish

(01:12:52):
it was a bigger hit. And I do like the
fact that we still get musicals, but this just felt
like I had that old school musical feel. It felt
like a big musical blockbuster. If you haven't seen west
Side's Story and you like movie musicals, you can't go
wrong with this one.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
And so there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:13:11):
I've listed ten movies, and somehow I pulled off another
recorded another solo show where I talked for a very
long time, but hopefully you enjoyed it. I gave you
a list of ten movies to check out, movies that
I feel like.

Speaker 2 (01:13:25):
When you moan saying they.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Don't make them like they used to, well, here are
ten movies that came out in the twenty twenties that
I feel very much have a lot of elements of
the stuff that made us love movies that turn us
into movie buffs in the eighties, or if you're older
than me, the nineties, or if you're older than me
the nineties, good job, I'm again my brain works well.
Seventies is what I meant to say. If you're older

(01:13:49):
than me, you might remember growing up and seeing movies
in the seventies, or when it comes to musical sixties, fifties,
and then if you're younger than me, nineties. But I
was growing up on the nineties. I was a teenager,
and maybe even the two thousands. But I can't really
think what movie here would really fit as a two
thousands movie.

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
I didn't really.

Speaker 1 (01:14:10):
I was think about putting in a raunchy comedy and
then I didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
So there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
These are the ten movies that I chose, and I
really appreciate you listening to me this week, Blaberon all
by myself. I've got a question of the week for you, though,
I'm gonna deliver that right now, and that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Is what true story, what true.

Speaker 1 (01:14:32):
Event would make a great blockbuster movie. So a true
event that has not been turned into a movie yet,
one that you look back and you're like, that would
be that would really make for an engaging movie. You
can pick a documentary. I'm not counting a documentary as
a movie here because the reason I picked this is

(01:14:53):
next week, Last Breath is coming out Starry Woody Harrelson,
which is based off a documentary that me and Scott
have reviewed on this podcast that we said this would
make an amazing movie. It's about this undersea team that
is trying to save their colleague who's trapped out into
the He's tried on the deeps of the ocean and

(01:15:14):
he is running out of air. He's in his last breath,
and it is a wonder It's a really engaging, thrilling
documentary and I'm looking forward to seeing how this gets
turned into a movie. I think it has potentially be
really great. But what's an event that you feel has
not been turned into a movie yet that would make
a great sort of action adventure picture.

Speaker 2 (01:15:38):
And if you want me to know answer that question,
you can do it.

Speaker 1 (01:15:42):
By email at themovie Breakdown at gmail dot com, or
you can hop on over at Twitter at the movie
Breakdown one, or you can go over on Facebook with
a Facebook page there at the movie Breakdown and so
you can check those out and also if you, like
I said, if you want my services as a writer,

(01:16:04):
you can also contact me at Christopher dot Dee dot
Spicer at gmail dot com and check that email a
lot more too, so you could even answer questions there.
And follow us on Twitter and on Facebook. Helps us grow.
We'll put more sort of new things on there, some
original posts if we know that we've got sort of

(01:16:27):
a following there and we can engage with you there.
Another way you can help us out is subscribe and
rate us on your favorite podcast that you listen to us.
That could be Spreaker, that could be Spotify, that could
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listen to your podcast. You can yes listen to us,

(01:16:49):
but also rain subscribe because it helps us in algorithms.
It helps us then be seen by more people. And
if we're seen by more people, we can grow and
create more things for you as well. As I said before,
if you listen to us on the Speaker app, that
would just be all the awesome, all the awesome. And
of course I've got my site which there has been

(01:17:13):
things posted on here every day this year, stuff about
murder on the Orient Express, and some personal things, a
bit about my mental health. But the plan is to
really start putting movie reviews on here again and pop
culture pieces, so check that out Beyond the Balcony dot
com and.

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
I will be back here next week.

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
I will finally catch up on twenty twenty five movies
we're a little behind, and one of the movies I
plan on reviewing will be Watson, Grammet, Vengeance, Most Foul,
and probably a few other things, and I might have.

Speaker 2 (01:17:47):
A special special guest host.

Speaker 1 (01:17:51):
I know I said we're not doing a guest host yet,
that I'm gonna do solo, but for Wallas and Grammat,
Most Vengeance, Most Foul, I might have a special guests
who or maybe two who are very near and dear
in my heart, one who's been on this show before
and one who I believe she is making her debut,
so you can look forward to that next week. Once again,

(01:18:13):
thank you so for so much for listening to this
podcast that I do admit when a bit longer than
I had planned. But I am Christopher Spicer, and I
wish you a great week at the movies.