January 15, 2024 • 28 mins
Christopher Spicer is flying solo again this week, but is here with a review of the first wide release of 2024 as he dives in with 'Night Swim.' He also looks at his 10 most anticipated movies of 2024. It looks like an exciting year for movies, and we're excited to kick off the movie talk.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:12):
They're coming to get you, Barbara. They're coming for you, Barbara.
Welcome to the latest episode of theMovie Breakdown. I'm your host, Christopher
Spicer. I'm your host Scott Martin. Now just kidding, it's just me
(00:36):
Christopher. Once again, I promisethat there would be two hosts this week,
but due to some unforeseen circumstances,I am flying solo once again.
But we will have a review ofthe first theatrical movie release of twenty twenty
four, and that is the horrorpicture of Night Swim. What a Shock
(00:59):
is a horror movie to kick offthe year. And I also will go
down the ten movies that I ammost anticipating that right now are set to
come out in twenty twenty four.But you never know what could be pushed.
But thank you so much for listeningto me this week on the Movie
(01:19):
Breakdown. And as always, weare brought to you by our wonderful hosts
at Speaker Prime. And one ofthe ways you can support us is listen
to us on the Speaker app.You can download the Speaker app and that
helps us out a lot if youdecide to listen to us through that way,
(01:41):
And of course there's also my site, the pop culture site Beyond the
Balcony. Beyond Balcony dot com ishow you get there. And so we're
gonna kick off with Night Swim thefirst picture of the year, and as
been the tradition for at least adecade now, is the first picture is
(02:02):
a horror movie, and often itusually is a maligned horror movie. It's
usually one that usually is not consideredthat good, a generic horror movie.
But Megan last year came in andshook that all up and became this bunker's
crazy picture and one of the mostfun pictures of twenty twenty three. Is
(02:27):
there. Gave me a lot ofhope that a movie about a haunted swimming
pool would follow so the campy,crazy path of Megan and be yet another
really fun horror movie to kick offthe year that Sally was not the case.
Night's Swim reminded me in the worstways possible of what the horror genre
(02:53):
was like. When we first starteddoing the movie Breakdown way back in twenty
thirteen. One of the first podcastswe did was on the horror movie Dark
Skies, which we spent half theshow talking about the state of mainstream horror
and sort of our issues with thegeneric trope filled horror pictures that were coming
(03:15):
out from Bloomhouse. And then littledo we know that Bloomhouse would then be
one of our favorite horror studios.In the years after that, they would
play a huge part and reshaping mainstreamhorror and making the horror jonre stuff that's
really exciting. Again. At thesort of theatrical release level, they came
(03:40):
up with some really innovative pictures alongthe sort of James Watt who's another person
who he is a huge part ofthat, and I mean he got stuff
like get Out, which was agreat picture, conjuring something that I've come
around on and liked a lot ofthe sequels, and there has been some
(04:00):
great stuff it follows, which isn'tnecessarily from Blumhouse, but the horror scene
has really taken off in the lastfew years. And so sort of hearing
James Waughan and Blumhouse teaming up together, it gets you excited. But unfortunately
what we got left on with isthese two great producers who bring a picture
(04:21):
which is based off a short filmthat came out a few years ago by
director Bryce McGuire, and that heends up writing the screenpray and directing the
full length picture here, and thisis just filled with all the troops and
the disappointments that we had of thejoonret twenty thirteen. This is a movie
(04:43):
that feels like it would fit perfectlyback in that year. This is a
picture that has what's goot coined assupernatural foreplane, this idea where there's a
bunch of scenes where the battie isessentially just teasing the lead characters. It's
(05:04):
flickering lights and doing stuff in thebackground. They're just trying to disturb the
characters, and really for no purpose. With the movie ends, you have
no idea why they did those things. It's just for the sake of disturbing
the audience and trying to set upjump scares. But it is such a
tire cliche. It's happened so muchthat those seeds really are scary. They're
(05:29):
just irritating. They stretch out theruntime. And talking about stretch out the
runtime, you have got your genericcharacters, your sort of one trait characters,
and lots of kind of family scenesthat are just fillers to stretch out
that run time. You've got thingslike the well off family that we're supposed
(05:51):
to sort of believe that they've gota rough financial situations to sort of connect
with them. But I mean,the father is a former Major League baseball
player, so you're not really connectingthat that way. You've got the child
who's upset that the missing petis gonemissing, which I mean, how many
(06:11):
times does that happen a horror movie? And to what purpose? That never
even makes any sense. You've evengot yourself the expert. That's right.
The lead characters go looking for someonewho really knows what's going on with that
haunted swimming pool. They have allthe answers, and even when it's all
explained, it still doesn't make sensehalf the scenes that you got stuck watching
(06:36):
this movie. A lot of thethings don't necessarily connect the dots, and
so most of the picture is prettydull because of that predictability. And then
the last act rams things up andkind of becomes campy, but not a
way that's super fun, but justa way like this is not scary.
(06:56):
This is just really some silly visualshere in here, and it's unfortunate because
I think Ryan Russell does a goodjob as a father Carrie Condon as the
mother, Emily Helperller Gavin Warren asthe children. But he just there's nothing
there. I mean, the daughtergets a boyfriend who seems just to exist
(07:20):
to set up a creepy game onMarco Polo. The son is this idea
that he's kind of shy and Ifeel like he's not beating the expectations from
his father, but that never reallygoes anywhere. And the wife is sort
of tired of moving around and wantsto plant her roots, but that doesn't
really go anywhere. All you reallyhave is right Russell's character wants to heal,
(07:45):
and so you understand why he's drawnto this pool because it's making him
feel better. And so there's thataspect of at least that thing's later in
the movie, but again, it'snot anything where you're super connected with the
character. I do have to saywith Bryce McGuire that he does a good
job. I'm sort of using thesounds that come from the filters and the
(08:07):
bubbles that come from the pools.The opening scene, I think is a
great use of light and sound andcamera angles. The opening scene is kind
of disturbing, but then they leanon that for the rest of the movie
and so that it's just a lotof loud sounds, a lot of flashing
lights, and so the gurgling onlytakes you so far. But I think
(08:30):
there is a sign of a strongdirector there. It's just he took a
short film that then just did nothave the story to meet that full length.
So I do have a full reviewthat I wrote on the night Swim
which could check up on it Beyondthe Balcony and you'll see there. As
I'm telling you now, I gaveit one and a half really disappointed horror
(08:52):
movie. I was excited about thispremise and it just didn't come together unfortunately,
did not all work. So that'sone and a half stars and it
is a thumbs down to kick offthe theatrical movie season. So now we're
gonna move in to my ten mostanticipated movies of twenty twenty four. These
(09:18):
are the pictures I'm excited about.And going over the list doing the research
trying to figure out what my listwould be for this show, I realized
there's a lot of movies that I'mexcited about there. There was a lot
of like big pictures that get pushedto twenty twenty five and so it gave
the idea that this was gonna besort of one of those years where there's
(09:41):
kind of a lot of lesser knowntype pictures. And I mean there was
a lot of MCU and big eventmovies that got pushed. But I'm surprised
at how many big ones are stillhere at all, how many exciting movies
are gonna be coming out in twentytwenty four. I could have easily made
a list of thirty, but Idecided to go with ten. And my
number ten pick is one where I'mstuck. That hasn't been a lot of
(10:07):
other people's anticipated lists, because howdo you not get excited about the Cohen
Brothers. I get it's only oneof the Cohen's Ethan Cohen, but he's
still a director that's been part ofsome of my favorite movies. One of
my favorite movies all time is Fargo. So I don't know a lot about
Driveaway Dolls. It looks like it'sa bit of a crime caper picture,
(10:28):
sort of a couple that stumbles uponsome bubbling thieves. To be that just
a right up the Cohen Brothers wheelhouse. I know it's only Ethan, but
I am interested to see what DrivewayDolls is going to be. Like,
I always get excited by a codepicture, even if it's just one of
(10:48):
the directors. It's something fresh,it's something different. I love their use
of characters. And like I said, Fargo, which is a crime picture,
is one of my all time favoritemovies, and so it's hard for
me not to get excited about driveAway Dolls in the number ten spot.
Then we moved down to number nineand it's Kingdom of the Plane of the
(11:11):
Eights. Because I loved the Apestrilogy. I liked all three movies.
I thought it was a great trilogy, and I mean, the story kind
of wrapped up, but I'm intriguedto see what is going on in this
world now that's the reign of Caesaris sort of over, and now that
(11:33):
it's very much so that the Apeshave they are the dominant species now on
Earth. They've kind of won thewar, and I'm curious to see what
is happening now, what is happeningin this society. This is gonna still
be before the events of the originalmovie, but I'm guessing it's more so
now setting those things in place,getting that in place, and I'm really
(11:56):
interested to see what director Wes Ballbringing here. He gave us A May's
Runner, which wasn't necessarily my favoritemovie, but he's definitely one who knows
how to have a distinct visual style, and so I am looking forward to
returning to the Plan of the Eights. My number eight picture is Mickey seventeen.
(12:18):
And there's a chance they haven't heardabout this picture, but this is
coming from Boom Jong Ho. Thisis his follow up picture after doing Parasite,
and I just thought that picture wasa masterpiece. He also, of
course gave us snow Piercer Akja Lossof fantastic movies. He's a director who
(12:41):
is worth get excited about every timethat you know that he's attached to something.
It's going to star Robert Pattison,Mark Ruffalo, Tony Collette, like
that is an exciting cast. Idon't know anything really about this other than
it's a sci fi picture and it'sgot that kind of amazing cast and that
amazing director, and that is enoughfor me to get excited. I just
(13:03):
hope it makes its way to Bramfordthis year. Our next one is a
picture that is now going to bemy number seven and it's kind of an
ip because it's because it's based offa TV show from the nineteen eighties nineteen
seventies. I never watched it.It's The fall Guy. But I'm not
(13:28):
excited because it's based off a TVshow. I don't even know how much
it's really going to follow the TVshow. I'm excited because you've got David
Leach, who has done some greataction pictures that is directing this thing.
I'm excited because it's going to bestarring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. I'm
excited because I've seen the trailer.It looks like a lot of fun.
(13:54):
And of course, David Leach directedJohn Wick and he directed he was part
of the Deadpool directed Deadpool two,and then he also did Bullet Tray,
which was a blast a few yearsago. And Ryan Gosling, I think
it's great as an action lead,but he's also great when he's gonna do
(14:16):
comedy, and this sort of lookslike a comedy action picture. He looks
like he's chained a little bit ofhis bumbling nice guys persona, which was
one of my favorite movies from afew years ago, and so I'm excited
to see what he does is asort of bumbling action star, and Emily
Blunt and Ryan Goslin seemed to havegreat chemistry together. They're gonna sort of
(14:39):
play that idea of sort of jiltedlovers. They had a one night stand.
They don't like each other anymore,but now she needs him to sort
of come through here and the leadstar has gone missing, so this stuntman's
gonna go and try to bring himback. I love the concept. Like
I said, the trailer looked great. The directors delivered these type of movies
comedy meets action, and you've gotterrific lead with Ryan Gosling. I love
(15:03):
the fact that it's in the normalMCU spot. This is kicking off the
summer box office season, and Ithink we got to hit. This looks
like a lot of fun and I'mexcited to see it. My next picture
comes a buch later in the year, and it's a movie that's been pushed
several times. My number six isWicked Part one. I have read the
(15:28):
books and I love them. Growingup, I was a huge fan of
Wizard of Oz. I absolutely lovedthe Wizard of Oz books. I absolutely
love the nineteen thirty nine musical movieand I love musicals, As our listeners
know, I was part of amusical being The Beast at the end of
this past year, and even beforethat. I love going to musicals.
(15:52):
I love them on the big screen. And I just think this is going
to be satch a fun movie.It's got the fantasy, it's got the
world I love. It's gonna bea big musical piece. It's be directed
by John m Two, who isgreat of that type of thing. You've
got a cast like Aria Grande CitiaRivio. You've got people who sort of
(16:14):
can deliver when it comes to themusic and the acting. Michelle Yoei is
in this Jeff Goldbloom, so you'vegot an exciting cast. I've heard that
a lot of the set design ispractical and that there's a lot of work.
Also, there's gonna be some CGI, But I've just heard that this
is an absolutely gorgeous movie. Ithink it's gonna be one of the great
(16:36):
event pictures. I'm really excited tosee The Wicked Musical. And then we
move on to another picture, whichonce again the appeal is coming from who
the writer director is. My numberfive is nos Faratu, which is the
first sort of Dracula picture that evercame out a silent film the fact,
(16:57):
when they didn't have the rights formthe bram Stoker State to do a Draca
movie, So they came up withnos Faratu and it's own where it has
basically become this enduring classic is beingremade, which isn't necessarily something I get
excited about until you find out it'sRobert Edgars. Robert Edgars who has delivered
(17:17):
some of the best kind of horrordrama, art house hybrids of the last
several years. I was a bigfan of The Northman, The Witch.
He's made some pictures I've really loved, and I'm really excited to see what
he does with this vampire story.What he does was this gothic film.
(17:40):
What he does with this version ofNosparatu, I think it's gonna be epic.
I think it's gonna be unforgettable.I'm guessing he'd deal with it being
sort of a recognizable brand name.He's probably got one of his biggest budgets
and so he can make just thisfascinating horror picture. Eric Taylor Johnson's in
this, Nicholas Holt is part ofthe cast, and I'm really excited to
(18:03):
see where they go with Nosferatu,directed by Robert Eggers. And then we
move on to yet another recognizable picture, a big sequel, Deadpool Free.
I loved the first dead Pool,I really enjoyed the second Deadpool. I
(18:29):
collected the Deadpool comic books in myteen years, and so I'm excited to
see Ryan Reynolds return to this world. I enjoy most Ryan Reynolds movies,
and I think he is such aperfect fit for Deadpool. I love the
sense of humor, the energy,and what's cool about this one is you've
now got Hugh Jackman joining it andplayed Wolverine, and Wolverine and Deadpool have
(18:52):
a complicated relationship, and I thinkthis will be a lot more interesting than
what they did with Wolverine origins.Let me just see how they fit a
Wolverine in this and how it kindof plays into the greater story. I'm
also really intrigued because the MCU isstating it right now, the last few
movies have not been terrific. Themultiverse is a mess, and I'm kind
(19:17):
of intrigued to see if Deadpool isgoing to come in and be a little
meta and what he will do withthe multiverse. Maybe this is a movie
where they'll clean it up a littlebit, and so I'm intrigued to see
if they use Deadpool to sort offix things up in the Marvel universe and
do something fascinating with it, orthey just go with the standalone movie.
(19:37):
And I'm fine either way. I'mhappy with this just being kind of its
own thing and then not worry toomuch about the MCU. I'm just happy
to be excited about a Marvel movieagain, and it'll be interesting to see
what Redolds and Hugh Jackman do here. Apparently Jennifer Garner's coming in with Electra,
which is fascinating, and to seewhat they do with that. Is
(20:00):
she gonna be playing the Electra ofsort of the Dark Devil movies which are
not canon. Is she played thatsame character, and so it looks like
maybe there is gonna be a littlebit of metaverse, a little bit of
multiverse sorry in this thing. I'mintrigued to see how that all comes together.
I am excited to see it,and that will then lead to another
(20:22):
sequel, inside Out too. InsideOut was is one of my favorite movies
since we've started podcasting. I thinkInside Out is such a beautiful, wonderful
movie that explores what it is tobecome a teenager, what is to be
a character a kid, what itis to sort of go through puberty,
(20:45):
what it is to just all thesethings that are going on in your brain
and all these emotions you have todeal with every day. And I think
it's a great personal picture that reallydeals with sort of all these emotions that
you have to deal with in yourlife, and what is the connection between
sadness and happiness and how they're notnecessarily in opposition, how in a way
(21:11):
the two things sort of help heighteneach other. Those sad moments make the
joyful moments even better. And soI'm really excited to see hear Amy Poehler
come back, Phyllisabith come back tosee this world of Riley again and all
her emotions. They're adding new emotions. Anxiety is now coming in because she's
(21:32):
a teenager, so of course she'sgoing to have anxiety. I am really
excited to see this. I lovethe first one, and I am confident
that Pixar is coming back because theyhad a story to tell here. Pixar
still delivers for me, even ifit's not maybe the box office powerhouse at
once was, but I'm excited tolet's see all the new emotions that happened
(21:53):
inside out too, and what thestory is going to be that takes us
to number two. And I amconfident that if Scott was here this week
and he was delivered his best oflist, that this movie would be on
it. And of course I'm talkingabout Fariosa A Man Max Saga Man Max.
(22:17):
Fury Road is one of Scott's favoritemovies, I think. Ever,
I really liked it too, enoughthat I'm really excited to see this prequel
story, to see the Phariosa story. This is her story prior to Fury
Road, what centered down on thatjourney, what made her the person that
(22:37):
we see in Fury Road. I'mexcited to see her in that lead role.
And Taylor Joy is playing the youngPhariosa, and you've got to be
excited every time. And Tarylor Joyis in a movie she delivers every single
time. She is a superstar.Chris Hemsworth is in this and I believe
he is playing the villain and soI'm really excited to see what he's gonna
(22:59):
do here. I've seen the trailer. It looks magnificent. I'm excited to
see what kind of stunts a practicaleffectso will be here. I just feel
like George Miller would have not returnedto this story unless he has something epic
to say. And I believe youlook at probably what will be the best
action movie of the year. I'mreally excited to see Fariosa, which will
(23:19):
come out this summer. And numberone. I mean, like I said,
there was a lot of pictures thatcould have made my list. I
mean, you gotta shamal On moviecome out this year. Alex Garland coming
out another Incredibles movie, Robert deNiro doing another gangster picture. You've got
(23:44):
a Wolfman movie, an alien movie, uh Argoile that's kind of like a
romance in the Stone, a quietplace. Lots of really cool movies.
But if we're talking about the moviethat is my number one, the one
I'm most excited about. This isthe second half of a movie that made
I think, by number two bestpicture of the year a few years ago.
(24:08):
We're talking about Dune Part two.The first Dude was epic and Denny
bill New almost always makes one ofmy favorite movies of the year, and
that was an incredible, amazing,must see the theater experience. And this
is now the second half to thatstory. This is the rise of our
(24:32):
hero here, Paula Trades, andwe're gonna see with his rebellion what they're
gonna do up against the Empire andthe House of Harkodin and sort of the
opposition that they will have with them. And I'm really excited to see to
see where that all goes. Andthen, of course feed Ratha is here,
(24:53):
who was played in the eighties versionby Staying this time by Austin Butler,
and he is one of my favoritekind of villains in fiction. And
I mean, just to see whatFade does up against paul the two sort
of ones who see themselves as representingtheir families. Flores Pews here just a
(25:14):
superstar actor as well. This isgoing to be, I think, an
epic. I'm already kind of pencilstit is my favorite movie of the year
because I love the first one,and now because this is kind of wrapping
up the story, I'm expecting tolove this one even more so. Yeah,
I go Dore with really high expectations, and I also recognize every time
(25:37):
you do these anticipated lists very rarelydo your ten most anticipated movies make your
best of And I think sometimes it'sbecause you come in with such high expectations
that it's hard for some movies todeliver, and so they end up being
a little bit of a disappointment orthey just don't become that great thing.
And I also know there's probably alot of great movies that I'm completely unaware
(25:57):
of. But this is my list, my top ten. Dune Part two
is it the top spot? Howcan it not be? Christopher Watkins in
it as well? Oh man,the cast is crazy. But anyways,
those are the movies I'm most lookingforward to, and I would love to
hear what are your most anticipated moviesof twenty twenty four? What is the
(26:19):
movie you're most looking forward to thisyear? And you can let us know
at our website, Themovie Breakdown atgmail dot com. You also do it
over on Twitter at Breakdown one.You could go to our Facebook page at
the Movie Breakdown and so go toany of those places interact with us there,
(26:41):
answer that question what's your anticipated movieand follow us there and that would
we'd really appreciate that. Another wayyou can help us out is subscribe and
rate us on Spreaker, Spotify,cast Box, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music,
or wherever you listen to your favoritepodcast as well. Please consider listening
(27:03):
to us on the Spreaker app.It helps us out essentially increases our ad
revenue a little bit. If I'mgoing to be completely honest, and so
would that would be very helpful tous. Allow us to do more podcasts
and grow this and make it somethingamazing for all of our incredible listeners.
(27:26):
Please share these shows on social mediaif you enjoy them. And of course,
another way you can help me outis check me out on my website,
Beyond the Balcony dot com, andI have been writing stuff on it
this year. I do have atribute to my awesome son who turned twelve
(27:48):
this year. I can't believe he'sgetting so old. I promote the annual
Toronto Star Story contest. I evenwrite a little bit about wrestling, so
you got that in And of course, like I said, the review of
Night Swim, and there'll be someother movie reviews up there as well that
you could check out and then comeon back next week, will you,
(28:11):
because next week there'll be both ofus. It's gonna be Scott Martin and
Christopher Spicer talking movies with you.We will have a review of the musical
remake of Mean Girls, as wellas the latest Kevin Hart action comedy for
Netflix in lift, so check thatout. We'll be talking about those movies
(28:33):
and so much more. Thank youso much for listening to me this week.
We have a great week at themovies.
They're coming to get you, Barbara. They're coming for you, Barbara.
Welcome to the latest episode of theMovie Breakdown. I'm your host, Christopher
Spicer. I'm your host Scott Martin. Now just kidding, it's just me
(00:36):
Christopher. Once again, I promisethat there would be two hosts this week,
but due to some unforeseen circumstances,I am flying solo once again.
But we will have a review ofthe first theatrical movie release of twenty twenty
four, and that is the horrorpicture of Night Swim. What a Shock
(00:59):
is a horror movie to kick offthe year. And I also will go
down the ten movies that I ammost anticipating that right now are set to
come out in twenty twenty four.But you never know what could be pushed.
But thank you so much for listeningto me this week on the Movie
(01:19):
Breakdown. And as always, weare brought to you by our wonderful hosts
at Speaker Prime. And one ofthe ways you can support us is listen
to us on the Speaker app.You can download the Speaker app and that
helps us out a lot if youdecide to listen to us through that way,
(01:41):
And of course there's also my site, the pop culture site Beyond the
Balcony. Beyond Balcony dot com ishow you get there. And so we're
gonna kick off with Night Swim thefirst picture of the year, and as
been the tradition for at least adecade now, is the first picture is
(02:02):
a horror movie, and often itusually is a maligned horror movie. It's
usually one that usually is not consideredthat good, a generic horror movie.
But Megan last year came in andshook that all up and became this bunker's
crazy picture and one of the mostfun pictures of twenty twenty three. Is
(02:27):
there. Gave me a lot ofhope that a movie about a haunted swimming
pool would follow so the campy,crazy path of Megan and be yet another
really fun horror movie to kick offthe year that Sally was not the case.
Night's Swim reminded me in the worstways possible of what the horror genre
(02:53):
was like. When we first starteddoing the movie Breakdown way back in twenty
thirteen. One of the first podcastswe did was on the horror movie Dark
Skies, which we spent half theshow talking about the state of mainstream horror
and sort of our issues with thegeneric trope filled horror pictures that were coming
(03:15):
out from Bloomhouse. And then littledo we know that Bloomhouse would then be
one of our favorite horror studios.In the years after that, they would
play a huge part and reshaping mainstreamhorror and making the horror jonre stuff that's
really exciting. Again. At thesort of theatrical release level, they came
(03:40):
up with some really innovative pictures alongthe sort of James Watt who's another person
who he is a huge part ofthat, and I mean he got stuff
like get Out, which was agreat picture, conjuring something that I've come
around on and liked a lot ofthe sequels, and there has been some
(04:00):
great stuff it follows, which isn'tnecessarily from Blumhouse, but the horror scene
has really taken off in the lastfew years. And so sort of hearing
James Waughan and Blumhouse teaming up together, it gets you excited. But unfortunately
what we got left on with isthese two great producers who bring a picture
(04:21):
which is based off a short filmthat came out a few years ago by
director Bryce McGuire, and that heends up writing the screenpray and directing the
full length picture here, and thisis just filled with all the troops and
the disappointments that we had of thejoonret twenty thirteen. This is a movie
(04:43):
that feels like it would fit perfectlyback in that year. This is a
picture that has what's goot coined assupernatural foreplane, this idea where there's a
bunch of scenes where the battie isessentially just teasing the lead characters. It's
(05:04):
flickering lights and doing stuff in thebackground. They're just trying to disturb the
characters, and really for no purpose. With the movie ends, you have
no idea why they did those things. It's just for the sake of disturbing
the audience and trying to set upjump scares. But it is such a
tire cliche. It's happened so muchthat those seeds really are scary. They're
(05:29):
just irritating. They stretch out theruntime. And talking about stretch out the
runtime, you have got your genericcharacters, your sort of one trait characters,
and lots of kind of family scenesthat are just fillers to stretch out
that run time. You've got thingslike the well off family that we're supposed
(05:51):
to sort of believe that they've gota rough financial situations to sort of connect
with them. But I mean,the father is a former Major League baseball
player, so you're not really connectingthat that way. You've got the child
who's upset that the missing petis gonemissing, which I mean, how many
(06:11):
times does that happen a horror movie? And to what purpose? That never
even makes any sense. You've evengot yourself the expert. That's right.
The lead characters go looking for someonewho really knows what's going on with that
haunted swimming pool. They have allthe answers, and even when it's all
explained, it still doesn't make sensehalf the scenes that you got stuck watching
(06:36):
this movie. A lot of thethings don't necessarily connect the dots, and
so most of the picture is prettydull because of that predictability. And then
the last act rams things up andkind of becomes campy, but not a
way that's super fun, but justa way like this is not scary.
(06:56):
This is just really some silly visualshere in here, and it's unfortunate because
I think Ryan Russell does a goodjob as a father Carrie Condon as the
mother, Emily Helperller Gavin Warren asthe children. But he just there's nothing
there. I mean, the daughtergets a boyfriend who seems just to exist
(07:20):
to set up a creepy game onMarco Polo. The son is this idea
that he's kind of shy and Ifeel like he's not beating the expectations from
his father, but that never reallygoes anywhere. And the wife is sort
of tired of moving around and wantsto plant her roots, but that doesn't
really go anywhere. All you reallyhave is right Russell's character wants to heal,
(07:45):
and so you understand why he's drawnto this pool because it's making him
feel better. And so there's thataspect of at least that thing's later in
the movie, but again, it'snot anything where you're super connected with the
character. I do have to saywith Bryce McGuire that he does a good
job. I'm sort of using thesounds that come from the filters and the
(08:07):
bubbles that come from the pools.The opening scene, I think is a
great use of light and sound andcamera angles. The opening scene is kind
of disturbing, but then they leanon that for the rest of the movie
and so that it's just a lotof loud sounds, a lot of flashing
lights, and so the gurgling onlytakes you so far. But I think
(08:30):
there is a sign of a strongdirector there. It's just he took a
short film that then just did nothave the story to meet that full length.
So I do have a full reviewthat I wrote on the night Swim
which could check up on it Beyondthe Balcony and you'll see there. As
I'm telling you now, I gaveit one and a half really disappointed horror
(08:52):
movie. I was excited about thispremise and it just didn't come together unfortunately,
did not all work. So that'sone and a half stars and it
is a thumbs down to kick offthe theatrical movie season. So now we're
gonna move in to my ten mostanticipated movies of twenty twenty four. These
(09:18):
are the pictures I'm excited about.And going over the list doing the research
trying to figure out what my listwould be for this show, I realized
there's a lot of movies that I'mexcited about there. There was a lot
of like big pictures that get pushedto twenty twenty five and so it gave
the idea that this was gonna besort of one of those years where there's
(09:41):
kind of a lot of lesser knowntype pictures. And I mean there was
a lot of MCU and big eventmovies that got pushed. But I'm surprised
at how many big ones are stillhere at all, how many exciting movies
are gonna be coming out in twentytwenty four. I could have easily made
a list of thirty, but Idecided to go with ten. And my
number ten pick is one where I'mstuck. That hasn't been a lot of
(10:07):
other people's anticipated lists, because howdo you not get excited about the Cohen
Brothers. I get it's only oneof the Cohen's Ethan Cohen, but he's
still a director that's been part ofsome of my favorite movies. One of
my favorite movies all time is Fargo. So I don't know a lot about
Driveaway Dolls. It looks like it'sa bit of a crime caper picture,
(10:28):
sort of a couple that stumbles uponsome bubbling thieves. To be that just
a right up the Cohen Brothers wheelhouse. I know it's only Ethan, but
I am interested to see what DrivewayDolls is going to be. Like,
I always get excited by a codepicture, even if it's just one of
(10:48):
the directors. It's something fresh,it's something different. I love their use
of characters. And like I said, Fargo, which is a crime picture,
is one of my all time favoritemovies, and so it's hard for
me not to get excited about driveAway Dolls in the number ten spot.
Then we moved down to number nineand it's Kingdom of the Plane of the
(11:11):
Eights. Because I loved the Apestrilogy. I liked all three movies.
I thought it was a great trilogy, and I mean, the story kind
of wrapped up, but I'm intriguedto see what is going on in this
world now that's the reign of Caesaris sort of over, and now that
(11:33):
it's very much so that the Apeshave they are the dominant species now on
Earth. They've kind of won thewar, and I'm curious to see what
is happening now, what is happeningin this society. This is gonna still
be before the events of the originalmovie, but I'm guessing it's more so
now setting those things in place,getting that in place, and I'm really
(11:56):
interested to see what director Wes Ballbringing here. He gave us A May's
Runner, which wasn't necessarily my favoritemovie, but he's definitely one who knows
how to have a distinct visual style, and so I am looking forward to
returning to the Plan of the Eights. My number eight picture is Mickey seventeen.
(12:18):
And there's a chance they haven't heardabout this picture, but this is
coming from Boom Jong Ho. Thisis his follow up picture after doing Parasite,
and I just thought that picture wasa masterpiece. He also, of
course gave us snow Piercer Akja Lossof fantastic movies. He's a director who
(12:41):
is worth get excited about every timethat you know that he's attached to something.
It's going to star Robert Pattison,Mark Ruffalo, Tony Collette, like
that is an exciting cast. Idon't know anything really about this other than
it's a sci fi picture and it'sgot that kind of amazing cast and that
amazing director, and that is enoughfor me to get excited. I just
(13:03):
hope it makes its way to Bramfordthis year. Our next one is a
picture that is now going to bemy number seven and it's kind of an
ip because it's because it's based offa TV show from the nineteen eighties nineteen
seventies. I never watched it.It's The fall Guy. But I'm not
(13:28):
excited because it's based off a TVshow. I don't even know how much
it's really going to follow the TVshow. I'm excited because you've got David
Leach, who has done some greataction pictures that is directing this thing.
I'm excited because it's going to bestarring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. I'm
excited because I've seen the trailer.It looks like a lot of fun.
(13:54):
And of course, David Leach directedJohn Wick and he directed he was part
of the Deadpool directed Deadpool two,and then he also did Bullet Tray,
which was a blast a few yearsago. And Ryan Gosling, I think
it's great as an action lead,but he's also great when he's gonna do
(14:16):
comedy, and this sort of lookslike a comedy action picture. He looks
like he's chained a little bit ofhis bumbling nice guys persona, which was
one of my favorite movies from afew years ago, and so I'm excited
to see what he does is asort of bumbling action star, and Emily
Blunt and Ryan Goslin seemed to havegreat chemistry together. They're gonna sort of
(14:39):
play that idea of sort of jiltedlovers. They had a one night stand.
They don't like each other anymore,but now she needs him to sort
of come through here and the leadstar has gone missing, so this stuntman's
gonna go and try to bring himback. I love the concept. Like
I said, the trailer looked great. The directors delivered these type of movies
comedy meets action, and you've gotterrific lead with Ryan Gosling. I love
(15:03):
the fact that it's in the normalMCU spot. This is kicking off the
summer box office season, and Ithink we got to hit. This looks
like a lot of fun and I'mexcited to see it. My next picture
comes a buch later in the year, and it's a movie that's been pushed
several times. My number six isWicked Part one. I have read the
(15:28):
books and I love them. Growingup, I was a huge fan of
Wizard of Oz. I absolutely lovedthe Wizard of Oz books. I absolutely
love the nineteen thirty nine musical movieand I love musicals, As our listeners
know, I was part of amusical being The Beast at the end of
this past year, and even beforethat. I love going to musicals.
(15:52):
I love them on the big screen. And I just think this is going
to be satch a fun movie.It's got the fantasy, it's got the
world I love. It's gonna bea big musical piece. It's be directed
by John m Two, who isgreat of that type of thing. You've
got a cast like Aria Grande CitiaRivio. You've got people who sort of
(16:14):
can deliver when it comes to themusic and the acting. Michelle Yoei is
in this Jeff Goldbloom, so you'vegot an exciting cast. I've heard that
a lot of the set design ispractical and that there's a lot of work.
Also, there's gonna be some CGI, But I've just heard that this
is an absolutely gorgeous movie. Ithink it's gonna be one of the great
(16:36):
event pictures. I'm really excited tosee The Wicked Musical. And then we
move on to another picture, whichonce again the appeal is coming from who
the writer director is. My numberfive is nos Faratu, which is the
first sort of Dracula picture that evercame out a silent film the fact,
(16:57):
when they didn't have the rights formthe bram Stoker State to do a Draca
movie, So they came up withnos Faratu and it's own where it has
basically become this enduring classic is beingremade, which isn't necessarily something I get
excited about until you find out it'sRobert Edgars. Robert Edgars who has delivered
(17:17):
some of the best kind of horrordrama, art house hybrids of the last
several years. I was a bigfan of The Northman, The Witch.
He's made some pictures I've really loved, and I'm really excited to see what
he does with this vampire story.What he does was this gothic film.
(17:40):
What he does with this version ofNosparatu, I think it's gonna be epic.
I think it's gonna be unforgettable.I'm guessing he'd deal with it being
sort of a recognizable brand name.He's probably got one of his biggest budgets
and so he can make just thisfascinating horror picture. Eric Taylor Johnson's in
this, Nicholas Holt is part ofthe cast, and I'm really excited to
(18:03):
see where they go with Nosferatu,directed by Robert Eggers. And then we
move on to yet another recognizable picture, a big sequel, Deadpool Free.
I loved the first dead Pool,I really enjoyed the second Deadpool. I
(18:29):
collected the Deadpool comic books in myteen years, and so I'm excited to
see Ryan Reynolds return to this world. I enjoy most Ryan Reynolds movies,
and I think he is such aperfect fit for Deadpool. I love the
sense of humor, the energy,and what's cool about this one is you've
now got Hugh Jackman joining it andplayed Wolverine, and Wolverine and Deadpool have
(18:52):
a complicated relationship, and I thinkthis will be a lot more interesting than
what they did with Wolverine origins.Let me just see how they fit a
Wolverine in this and how it kindof plays into the greater story. I'm
also really intrigued because the MCU isstating it right now, the last few
movies have not been terrific. Themultiverse is a mess, and I'm kind
(19:17):
of intrigued to see if Deadpool isgoing to come in and be a little
meta and what he will do withthe multiverse. Maybe this is a movie
where they'll clean it up a littlebit, and so I'm intrigued to see
if they use Deadpool to sort offix things up in the Marvel universe and
do something fascinating with it, orthey just go with the standalone movie.
(19:37):
And I'm fine either way. I'mhappy with this just being kind of its
own thing and then not worry toomuch about the MCU. I'm just happy
to be excited about a Marvel movieagain, and it'll be interesting to see
what Redolds and Hugh Jackman do here. Apparently Jennifer Garner's coming in with Electra,
which is fascinating, and to seewhat they do with that. Is
(20:00):
she gonna be playing the Electra ofsort of the Dark Devil movies which are
not canon. Is she played thatsame character, and so it looks like
maybe there is gonna be a littlebit of metaverse, a little bit of
multiverse sorry in this thing. I'mintrigued to see how that all comes together.
I am excited to see it,and that will then lead to another
(20:22):
sequel, inside Out too. InsideOut was is one of my favorite movies
since we've started podcasting. I thinkInside Out is such a beautiful, wonderful
movie that explores what it is tobecome a teenager, what is to be
a character a kid, what itis to sort of go through puberty,
(20:45):
what it is to just all thesethings that are going on in your brain
and all these emotions you have todeal with every day. And I think
it's a great personal picture that reallydeals with sort of all these emotions that
you have to deal with in yourlife, and what is the connection between
sadness and happiness and how they're notnecessarily in opposition, how in a way
(21:11):
the two things sort of help heighteneach other. Those sad moments make the
joyful moments even better. And soI'm really excited to see hear Amy Poehler
come back, Phyllisabith come back tosee this world of Riley again and all
her emotions. They're adding new emotions. Anxiety is now coming in because she's
(21:32):
a teenager, so of course she'sgoing to have anxiety. I am really
excited to see this. I lovethe first one, and I am confident
that Pixar is coming back because theyhad a story to tell here. Pixar
still delivers for me, even ifit's not maybe the box office powerhouse at
once was, but I'm excited tolet's see all the new emotions that happened
(21:53):
inside out too, and what thestory is going to be that takes us
to number two. And I amconfident that if Scott was here this week
and he was delivered his best oflist, that this movie would be on
it. And of course I'm talkingabout Fariosa A Man Max Saga Man Max.
(22:17):
Fury Road is one of Scott's favoritemovies, I think. Ever,
I really liked it too, enoughthat I'm really excited to see this prequel
story, to see the Phariosa story. This is her story prior to Fury
Road, what centered down on thatjourney, what made her the person that
(22:37):
we see in Fury Road. I'mexcited to see her in that lead role.
And Taylor Joy is playing the youngPhariosa, and you've got to be
excited every time. And Tarylor Joyis in a movie she delivers every single
time. She is a superstar.Chris Hemsworth is in this and I believe
he is playing the villain and soI'm really excited to see what he's gonna
(22:59):
do here. I've seen the trailer. It looks magnificent. I'm excited to
see what kind of stunts a practicaleffectso will be here. I just feel
like George Miller would have not returnedto this story unless he has something epic
to say. And I believe youlook at probably what will be the best
action movie of the year. I'mreally excited to see Fariosa, which will
(23:19):
come out this summer. And numberone. I mean, like I said,
there was a lot of pictures thatcould have made my list. I
mean, you gotta shamal On moviecome out this year. Alex Garland coming
out another Incredibles movie, Robert deNiro doing another gangster picture. You've got
(23:44):
a Wolfman movie, an alien movie, uh Argoile that's kind of like a
romance in the Stone, a quietplace. Lots of really cool movies.
But if we're talking about the moviethat is my number one, the one
I'm most excited about. This isthe second half of a movie that made
I think, by number two bestpicture of the year a few years ago.
(24:08):
We're talking about Dune Part two.The first Dude was epic and Denny
bill New almost always makes one ofmy favorite movies of the year, and
that was an incredible, amazing,must see the theater experience. And this
is now the second half to thatstory. This is the rise of our
(24:32):
hero here, Paula Trades, andwe're gonna see with his rebellion what they're
gonna do up against the Empire andthe House of Harkodin and sort of the
opposition that they will have with them. And I'm really excited to see to
see where that all goes. Andthen, of course feed Ratha is here,
(24:53):
who was played in the eighties versionby Staying this time by Austin Butler,
and he is one of my favoritekind of villains in fiction. And
I mean, just to see whatFade does up against paul the two sort
of ones who see themselves as representingtheir families. Flores Pews here just a
(25:14):
superstar actor as well. This isgoing to be, I think, an
epic. I'm already kind of pencilstit is my favorite movie of the year
because I love the first one,and now because this is kind of wrapping
up the story, I'm expecting tolove this one even more so. Yeah,
I go Dore with really high expectations, and I also recognize every time
(25:37):
you do these anticipated lists very rarelydo your ten most anticipated movies make your
best of And I think sometimes it'sbecause you come in with such high expectations
that it's hard for some movies todeliver, and so they end up being
a little bit of a disappointment orthey just don't become that great thing.
And I also know there's probably alot of great movies that I'm completely unaware
(25:57):
of. But this is my list, my top ten. Dune Part two
is it the top spot? Howcan it not be? Christopher Watkins in
it as well? Oh man,the cast is crazy. But anyways,
those are the movies I'm most lookingforward to, and I would love to
hear what are your most anticipated moviesof twenty twenty four? What is the
(26:19):
movie you're most looking forward to thisyear? And you can let us know
at our website, Themovie Breakdown atgmail dot com. You also do it
over on Twitter at Breakdown one.You could go to our Facebook page at
the Movie Breakdown and so go toany of those places interact with us there,
(26:41):
answer that question what's your anticipated movieand follow us there and that would
we'd really appreciate that. Another wayyou can help us out is subscribe and
rate us on Spreaker, Spotify,cast Box, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music,
or wherever you listen to your favoritepodcast as well. Please consider listening
(27:03):
to us on the Spreaker app.It helps us out essentially increases our ad
revenue a little bit. If I'mgoing to be completely honest, and so
would that would be very helpful tous. Allow us to do more podcasts
and grow this and make it somethingamazing for all of our incredible listeners.
(27:26):
Please share these shows on social mediaif you enjoy them. And of course,
another way you can help me outis check me out on my website,
Beyond the Balcony dot com, andI have been writing stuff on it
this year. I do have atribute to my awesome son who turned twelve
(27:48):
this year. I can't believe he'sgetting so old. I promote the annual
Toronto Star Story contest. I evenwrite a little bit about wrestling, so
you got that in And of course, like I said, the review of
Night Swim, and there'll be someother movie reviews up there as well that
you could check out and then comeon back next week, will you,
(28:11):
because next week there'll be both ofus. It's gonna be Scott Martin and
Christopher Spicer talking movies with you.We will have a review of the musical
remake of Mean Girls, as wellas the latest Kevin Hart action comedy for
Netflix in lift, so check thatout. We'll be talking about those movies
(28:33):
and so much more. Thank youso much for listening to me this week.
We have a great week at themovies.
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