October 16, 2025 • 46 mins
Ryan and Giancarlo Sopo dive into the power of cinema and what makes a movie truly timeless. From classics like The Godfather to modern thought-provokers like Ex Machina, they explore how storytelling reveals moral truths, philosophical questions, and enduring conservative values. Their conversation uncovers how great films continue to shape — and reflect — the culture across generations. It's a Numbers Game is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Monday & Thursday.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to a numbers game with Ryan Gardosky. Thank
you guys for being here again. Today's Thursday, October sixteenth,
twenty twenty five. The next election for your local office
is coming up in eighteen days. Make a plan and
go vote, vote by mail, vote early, vote on election day.
Just make sure your voice is heard in your local elections.
Now usually start rambling up polls that have come out
(00:23):
in this party election. But it's crazy. We are in
a drought of polling. Even though the election is so close,
we are in a complete drought for quality polls. The
only statistic I could share with you at an election
is that in New Jersey they broke One of my
very smart autistic friends broke down precinct data based on
race and ethnicity, and he found that in districts that
(00:46):
are a majority white, they are voting about ten percent
higher on average than districts that are precincts that are
majority Black, Hispanic, or Asian. Now that is interesting. So
why is it interesting is because this is all mail
in ballads. By the way, if you are less likely
to show up early for your male in ballot, because
(01:07):
if if you have an outstanding ballot, you get a
ballot mail to you, and you're so enthusiastic vote. You
want to go vote for Trump or Obama, whoever it is.
You're gonna go vote the first day you get the ballot, right,
You're so excited to vote. If you put the ballot
on the table and it collects dust for week one,
week two, week three, you're not that enthusiastic to go vote.
So will these people who get mail in ballads vote?
(01:27):
Most of them absolutely will. But if they're not excited
to go vote by mail one it's delivered to their house,
how excited will they be to show up on election day?
That is a big question. That is the question that
has plagued mikey Ryl's campaign this entire time. She's not
popular with a lot of minority voters, and it is
starting to show in the mail in ballads, even though
(01:49):
she has a very very strong ground game. So I
told you all that this episode be a non political episode.
I said, I wanted to do something easy in light.
There's a lot of dark news I'm in the last
few weeks to months, you know, since I think Charlie
Kirk's assassination. So I said, let's do something not intense.
Let's do something free of a lot of polling conversation,
(02:09):
and let's just talk about something interesting. And I said,
let's do a movie episode. I picked ten movies for
conservatives to watch. Movies are very tough for me to
give advice on because I am not a movie snob.
But the movies I tend to like are only liked
by movie snobs. So I like a lot of art
house films, some foreign films. I like a lot of
(02:30):
love old movies. You know, it hurts my heart. And
when I say old movies, it hurts my heart when
people sit there and say young people sit there and
say movies made before two thousand are old, because no
they're not. My grandparents, my mom's parents put a very
big influence on me. I grew up watching a lot
of movies from the forties and fifties and sixties. And
(02:52):
to any zoomer listening, this is going to shock you.
But back then, if you watched a movie on television
and you didn't write the name down, there is a
likely chance you would never see that movie again. I
mean unless it came on you know, like TBS would
play it multiple times. I watched the satire about World
War Two, about the French resistance in Africa. Don't know
the name of it. Loved the movie, Never be able
(03:14):
to see it again. I saw a movie about a
British kid. It was a kid's show about a British
kid who like went to an alternate reality to talk
about time and wasting time, and it was I loved
that movie when I saw it when I was a kid.
Can never see it again, don't know the name of it,
We'll never be able to find it. That was your
relationship to television growing up in the nineties and to
movies in the nineties. Unless you knew about it and
(03:35):
you knew the name of it, you were never seeing
those things ever again. I and anyway, So that's where
I come from in my opinion, what an old movie is.
And it's very difficult. So they said for me to
recommend movies, I like a lot of things that people
don't like. For this list, I tried my hardest to
pick movies that you may not have heard of, but
(03:56):
you would find compelling.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I didn't want to pay like The Dark Night Rises
because everyone's seen that movie, right, even though it's a
great movie that has a very conservative message to it.
Everyone's seen it, So I don't, like I said there
in sand movie that everybody's seen. I picked movies that
were a little bit more obscure but also great and
a little bit more mainstream that I think that people
could watch them. So yeah, I did my homework. I
(04:19):
did my best. I brought my friend John mcintee one time,
who was the head who was Trump's ppo director for
the first term. I brought him to see a movie
called The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and he
still brings it up as like that was the worst
movie we have ever seen before in my life, and
of course you brought me to it. So I tried
(04:39):
really hard to pick something out. I tried really hard
to find something that I can recommend, and I think
most people would sit there and like that have a
great story, that have a lesson in them. I think
conservatives can take home with them and maybe things that
you haven't heard of. So my conversation about ten movies
every Conservation to watch is coming up next with me
(05:02):
on today's episode is my buddy, gian Carlo Sopo. He
is a writer of culture for National Review and an
all around great guy, also a media strategist for Hispanic outreach.
Gen Carlo, thank you for being here. It's great to
be with you. Okay, So, gian Carlo, you are a
movie buff. You write about culture. When someone says, what's
it like, give me a good movie? What would you
(05:24):
consider it a good What is the making is.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Of a good movie? You know? A lot of it
is really just instinctual, like I have to experience it.
I don't think there's a perfect formula. But I do
think that good movies tend to have a couple of
things in common. They tend to have some kind of
recognizable moral order, something that we could that we could recognize,
(05:51):
that we could say, Okay, I understand the rationale of
these characters. I understand there's some depth to them. I
understand what either doing, what they're doing, and what's driving
the story. I also think that there needs to be
an attention to craft. Not to go classical on you,
(06:14):
but I do believe that the definition that a quiet
has put forward for something being beautiful really holds right.
It has to have integrity, harmony, and radiance. You know
it when you see it. And then finally, I think
the very best movies speak to enduring themes, themes that
(06:37):
really resonate across the ages. That's why we're still talking
about The Godfather today. That's why we could look at
a film like Lawrence of Arabia, which is over sixty
years old, and really recognize something in it, because they
do tend to speak to enduring themes the humans care about.
They could be civilizational, psychological, whatever, but I do think
(07:01):
that those are three of the key components. And then, honestly, look,
it just has to click. There's a lot of subjectivity
in art. It's gonna click differently for some people. But
those are the three things that I look for.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna give our
top ten list of movies that conservatives should watch. These
are not ranked, so number ten is not the least
best and number one is not the best. It's just
ten movies. I'm just gonna rank them because it's easy
to understand nine seven, eight, nine ten. Why did you
first of all pick the movies you picked?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So I've been working on a project now for most
of this year, pretty much the entire year that'll be
coming out in a few weeks, which is a list
of one hundred and fifty films that speak to the
conservative imagination. I don't want to show my cards a
little bit too early. In terms of the movies that
I've selected for that project, I could have easily made
(07:55):
that a list of two hundred and fifty films. So
I've tried to focus on films that were not on
that list, but also films that I think speak to
a certain conservative sensibility. Whether they're right politically right wing
or not doesn't really matter to me. If they're a
movie that if it's a movie that it's essential for
conservatives to see, uh, because it speaks to something that
(08:16):
that interests the conservative imagination. Those are the types of
films that that I selected. Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Picked movies that were not like too. I like a
lot of arts nob films like I do. People hate
movies I go see, but they will never be a
mass shooting at a screening for a movie I'm going
to go see because I'll be the only person in
the theater. So the the so the movies they see
are a little bit more obscure, but more recent movies
(08:44):
than that. I tried to make it, and I because
I could watch old movies all day, but like I
try to make it a movie that people will kind
of interest in. So my first film that I suggested
to movies that people go see was hacks Our Ridge
from twenty sixteen, made by Mel Gibson. It was it's more.
It's not super well known. It's not saving Private Ryan,
but I think it's a very compelling anti war not
(09:08):
anti war, but it gives a cautionary tale about war,
especially World War Two, which is so oftentimes glamorized in Hollywood,
and the real cost of conflict and war. And there's
a real Christian element in it. And I love this
movie for that reason. I'm sure you've seen it.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's a fantastic film. I think it's some of Gibson's
best work. It was nominated for Best Picture, right, i'd
say in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
If it was not only for Best Actor, I knew that,
but I don't know it was not only for a
few wars. It wasn't at the box office. It didn't
make hundreds of millions dollars. It did fine, but some
people may have seen it, but it's not, as far
as World War two movies goes, not the most well known.
What's a movie you gave.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So the very first one on my list is They
Live by I've never seen It Yeah, by by John Carpenter.
It's a movie from the eighties. This is by no
means a conservative movie. In fact, the most common reading
of the film is that it's a Marxist film. It's
it's about an alien invasion. That's that's happened on Earth.
(10:13):
We're not aware of it. It's and but by just
by way of background, the film is a critique of
the Reagan administration. So it's essentially it's about mind control.
Humanity is dominated by these aliens. We don't know who
they are, we can't see them, but there's an underground
sect led by or not led by but he's been
(10:33):
joined by Roddy Piper, the old wrestler uh and and
they have like these really cool glasses where they could
when they wear the glasses, they look like like almost
like ray bans. They could see who's an alien and
who's not. And then they realized that the aliens control
all the media, they control all the banks, and there
(10:56):
are subliminal messages across society telling people consume conform. So
it's an amazing film in terms of if you're into
political filmmaking that is about as good as it gets.
It's fantastic. I love I love John Carpenter. Obviously I
don't share his politics, but he's a brilliant He's dead now, right, No, no, no, no,
(11:20):
he's still alive. But you know, yeah, to follow up, yeah,
to follow up Halloween The Fog They Live, you know,
I'm sorry, those two with They Live is a hell
of an addition to his canon. And that is just
like grade A eighties propaganda. That's just fantastic, all right.
(11:44):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
My second pick is the film X Machia from twenty
fourteen by Alex Garland. This is also not a super
well known movie. It is about artificial intelligence and at
the center of the the center theme of the movie
is what makes somebody a human?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
It's a very slow paced movie. This is not a
very action film movie. But it's about a billionaire who's
making a lifelike source, a lifelike you know, robot, and
someone who works with men who falls in love with them,
and there's a lot of moral questions. It's a lot
like Frankenstein. It's a lot like a lot of movies
(12:26):
in those themes of what you know life is who
God is. You know, can you become a guy when
you create this artificial life? A lot of those deep
questions not for everybody, but I really like it. I
think people should go see it, especially as AI is
advancing specifically quickly. And this is from ten years ago.
So that's my second pick.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
What is yours? Well that and I just want to
say that's a fantastic pick, and he it is is
it would would it be unfair to say that it
is like an Elon Musk type character.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Well, Elon wasn't as well known back then. First of all,
I want to say the audience one more for one second,
Jim Carl and I did not like go through our list,
So I don't know we have repeat movies on them.
I don't think we do, because I think our tastes
a little different. It's it's an Elon Musk type fit. Well,
Elon also is not big on AI, so I mean
he was, I mean now he is, but two years
(13:21):
ago he called for a halting of AI research. So
I don't think it's him. I just think I think
it's a doctor Frankenstein character. It is that kind of
personality that does exist, and there are a lot of
people in Silicon Valley who you know, they may they
may have watched the Frankenstein movie or read the book
and rooted for the doctor and said, just do it
(13:42):
again until you get it right. So, yeah, that's what
I think anyway, So what was your second one? So
my second pick is A Man for All Seasons?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Okay, I've seen this, yeah, which is that is the
nineteen sixty six Classic Best Picture winner, The story of
I think if you're a Catholic, it's a must it's
an absolute must watch of you're a conservative, and it's
almost like sacramental if you're a Catholic. It's a story
story of Sir Thomas Moore and his falling out with
(14:13):
Henry the Eighth. I think it's it's not just only
a beautiful film in the cinematography and the story and everything,
but in terms of philosophical and moral complexity, it is.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
It stands on its own. Uh. There's there's nothing like it. Uh.
It's really a film for the ages. And you know
he obviously, uh well, Saint Thomas Moore is a patron
saint of the Catholic Church and a martyr. And you
see very clearly why in this film. This his level
(14:49):
of integrity. And the other thing too, what I like
about the film is that it's not it's not oversimplified
his moral choices. He does, he does try to get
out of what he's facing. He tried every possible avenue
and he but at the end of the day, he
felt that his soul was worth a lot more to
him than expedients. He just didn't want to bless essentially,
(15:12):
didn't want to bless the marriage. And it's it's it's
a monumental film, one of the greatests ever made.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
All Right, that's uh, yeah, I like it. I've seen
it a long time ago now, but it is a
really good movie. My third pick is is an old
one of not the same that gave up close to
it. It is Zulu from nineteen sixty four by side Enfield.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
This is a classic. This is.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The I'm now Michael, Sir Michael Kaine's early work is
and he's a he's the actor and one of the
actors in it. It is a story of the British
takeover of South Africa and that will fight with the
Wulu over the Zulus. And you know it's a good
movie because when you stream on HBM Max. There's a
warning disclaimer at the very beginning that says, this is
(15:57):
not culturally reflective of like the times, like this is
made in a certain time. When you have to make
a warning like that, it's offensive because it's of a
certain time. You know, it's a good movie. It really
glorifies British colonialism.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And I like it.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
The acting is good, it's interesting, it moves, even though
it's a little long.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
But it is a great, great.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Film, and I think that it's probably more accurate to
what happened than a movie that was made. Probably, Now,
what is your third if you haven't seen that, but
you like, make a comment on it, But if you
haven't seen it, then it's.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
A great film. I watched it for the first time
last year actually, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic, right,
so great. Yeah, that battle scene at the very end
is one of the all time great battle scenes in
the history of cinema. It also just looks beautiful, I believe,
if I'm not mistaken that Martin SCORSESEI made a list
(16:50):
of the most beautiful looking films ever made and he
ranked that very high on it. So, okay, if you like,
if you like seeing beautiful art. That is you. You
really hit it out of the park with that choice.
So my thing is is a very obvious selection. Yet
I can't tell you, like, maybe it's just because we're
(17:12):
getting older and so many years have passed. You and
I are geriatric millennials. How I encounter people all the
time now who have not seen this film. I once
almost fired a client who told me they had not
seen this movie, And I'm just like, how can you
understand American culture without having seen this film? And that's
Francis Ford coppol is the Godfather.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Okay, I mean people of a certain age may not
have said I was a little older when I saw
The Phone for the first time.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Sure, yeah. And so obviously it's not just a gangster film.
And I think Coppola himself intended it almost as a
critique of American capitalism. In reality, I think it's a
moral parable. It's almost Shakespearean. It tells, obviously, the story
of a crime family and the moral compromises that they're
(18:02):
making in the process toward what they believe are good ends, right, Like, Hey,
we eventually want to get out of this mob business.
We want to go legitimate we want to protect each other.
We literally want to protect our children who are being murdered.
And it tells the story of how some of those
(18:23):
compromises it seems small, even if you think that they're
toward good ends, how they can ultimately doom someone and
then you just can't escape that evil. And then obviously
in the sequel we see how it could just destroy
a man from within and I absolutely kill his soul.
To me, it's it's a must watch for anyone left,
(18:43):
right or center, but especially I think if you're a
conservative and you want to understand culture, it's an absolute
must watch. It's maybe it's commonly listed on all of
these lists of the ten greatest movies ever made, and
for a good reason.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, it's one of those movies that if it's on,
if I passed by the television it's on, I will
stop and watch more than I should, even though I'm
busy doing something. Whenever I hear Diane Keaton's scream it
was an abortion, Michael, It's so, I mean, just peak
greatest And did you see there was an interesting story
since she died. That was an old interview that they
(19:19):
didn't want to hire al Pacino for that movie, and
Diane Keaton was like, I'm not doing about al Pacino,
and she got him cast them, which is crazy. I
think anyone besides al Pacino.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, they were looking at Nicholson originally, which would have
been horrible.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Okay, My next movie, I think this is number four
four on the list is it's a recent movie. But
it's a foreign language film, and I know people are
like a foreign line. I don't want to read. I
promise you this movie is brilliant. It's called Godzilla Minus one.
It's in twenty twenty three by Takashami Yamazaki.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I think I pronounced that name.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I know I didn't pronounce the name right, but whatever,
Godzilla minus one. I know you're like, oh, a Godzilla movie.
This is a beautiful post World War two. It's a
look at post World War two Japan. It is a
look at a man who was supposed to be a
Kamakazi pilot and decided not to fly his plane into
a warship, an American warship, and the guilt that comes
(20:14):
from losing a war, and the responsibility towards community, the blame,
the shame that goes with it, how to rebuild after
that it is like, if Godzilla was not in this movie,
it would still be a great movie. Godzilla just happens
to be in the movie, and it's I cannot cannot
recommend this movie enough. It is so, so, so good.
(20:38):
It was the best movie I saw in twenty twenty
three by far. So Okay, have you seen it? Yeah,
It's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And what I love about this film is that you
watch it and you think it's like a two hundred
million dollar movie. I think they made it with like
fifteen million bucks or something like that, which in Hollywood
numbers is pretty small in terms of a budget, and
it looks for nomenal and like you said, the story,
there are scenes in it that are almost like Godzilla
(21:06):
as Jaws. Yes, yes, absolutely what I watched it. I'll
tell you a funny story. When my mother in law
moved to America from Cuba, it was the very that
weekend the movie came out, and one of the very
first things she did is that we took her to
(21:27):
watch that in the movie theaters and she was just
blown away. She'd never been she'd never been in a
normal movie theater. The movie theaters down there are very
different than ours and she was absolutely blown away. It
has that kind of an impact that is so impressive.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Okay, so what was your movie? Number four?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So my next one is I think one of the
great hidden gems of the twenty tents and it's by
Ridley Scott and it's called The Counselor.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I've not seen this one by Ridley Scott.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
So this came out in twenty thirteen, and I don't
know if it was because of the politics of the
era or whatever, but it's a story about the border
right and it's about a lawyer who has a cartel
client and he essentially tells himself, Okay, I am going
(22:17):
to dabble in my client's business just this one time,
this one time, and that's it, and I'm not going
to touch this again. And unfortunately, like scripture teaches and
like life teaches itself, sometimes some some sins are so
bad that you just can't wash your hands of him.
And he sees how dabbling in the cartel business, along
(22:41):
with hybrid bardem, how it could really undo his entire existence,
in his entire life. It's a very bleak film. I'm
not going to tell you you're gonna feel great, but it's
a fantastic script, which is funny because it's like what
people hated about the film, and I like the script
and it's a very powerful story. And it also just
(23:02):
shows about very few films I think treat the border
with the seriousness that it deserves, and this is one
of those films that really got it right about some
of the dangers on our southern border. And it's absolutely fantastic.
It's got Brad Pitts in it too, Cameron Diaz. So
if you haven't seen it, make sure to check out
(23:24):
The counselor.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Okay, So my next movie is from number I think
six now or five or whatever. My next movie is
also in the art from the twenty tens. It is
Hotel Mumbai from twenty eighteen by the director was Anthony Maras.
It was about the Mumbai terrorist attacks in two thousand
and eight. I did not even know there were terrorist
attacks at the Hotel Mumbai in Mumbai, Doesney, because it
(23:46):
happened like two days after Obama was elected, so the
American media really didn't cover it. But it's about Islamic
terrorism in India. It is fast paced, it is foreign,
but they has a lot of English speaking in. It
is past, it is quick, it is action packed, it
has a real moral lesson in it. Absolutely a movie
I've seen probably three or four times and worth watching,
(24:10):
especially for people who are like, you know whatever, foreign films.
But this, I promise you it doesn't miss abeat. It's brilliant. Okay,
your next movie.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
My next movie is also a foreign film. It is
nineteen sixty seven's Less Samurai by John Pierre Melville. Okay, now,
this is the coolest movie ever made. There is no
debate in terms of just the aesthetics. It is the
coolest movie ever made. It's been copied a million times.
(24:40):
Tarantino has copied it in reservoir dogs and in pulp fiction.
It tells the story of a you know, a professional
killer who is a hired gun and he's played by
Alain Delonne. So, for those who don't know, is align
(25:00):
the loan. He's uh, you know, just a terrific actor
who would have you know, It's funny because it's almost counterintuitive.
He would have gotten a lot farther in his career
if he weren't so damn handsome.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Uh, you know, you would have been taking a lot
same I have that same problem yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So, uh you know. So it's about a killer, a
contract killer who has a moral code, and it's got
a great story. But the real reason I think for
watching this film is for the aesthetics. It's the director
is maybe the greatest director that you haven't that most
people haven't heard of. His name is John pire Mellville.
He made some of the best movies of the sixties.
(25:42):
He was an American file like, he loved America. That's
not it's not even his real name. He he adopted
that name. He was famous for driving around Paris and
a big Cadillac and wearing a stetson and and and
ray ban. So this this is the guy who loved
American gangster films and really wanted to bring that vibe
to France. It is a cool It is just one
(26:03):
of the coolest looking films I've ever seen. So if
you have not seen Les Samurai or The Samurai, definitely
check it out. It's been copied, I said by Tarantino.
One of its most direct descendants, though, is the Ryan
gosslingfilm Drive. Mm hmm, yeah, I saw it. Yeah, so
it's absolutely fantastic. It's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Okay, is a my next one? Number six I actually
I counted because I was very off, But number six
of the ten that I suggest is an oldie, but
a classic and a class that people kind of forgot
in the last thirty years. It's from nineteen ninety one
by Steven Spielbert and it's Hook, and it is the
story of Peter Pan grown up. Robin Williams plays Peter Pan,
Julia Robbers plays tinker Bell, Dustin Hoffman plays Captain Hook.
(26:45):
And why it is great is if you deconstruct. I
watched the movie recently and deconstructed it is really a
celebration about fatherhood, and that's really the essence of the
entire movie is not about not growing up. It is
about five fatherhood and why bothers are important, and movies
like that don't get made very often. So nineteen ninety
(27:08):
one Hook is my thing, especially if you have younger
kids and it's not gonna be a Disney movie you
just turn on. It's a movie you kind of don't
remember to look for. Just check it out. It is
very very good. What was your next?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Don't those stories hit harder now as a dad? Yeah? Yeah,
So what's your nexte? My next? Movie is nineteen ninety
threes falling Down. Okay, I've never seen this, So this
is the Michael Douglas goes ape shit movie. So I
(27:42):
think it's a it's a look. It's a movie about alienation,
it's a movie about social instability. Conservatives who understand conservatism
will pick up on a lot here. You know you're
not gonna like this guy because he's a vigilante and
because he goes around shooting up a fast food place
(28:02):
because of false advertising, but you will appreciate how if
things move too fast, be it through societal change, due
to changes and laws, due to economic changes, due to
a lot of new people moving into your community, you
will recognize how that could really destabilize a society and
(28:26):
push people who were already vulnerable or on the margins
or on the fringes towards really dark places. So it's
not a perfect film. I think it could have been
a perfect film. I think they made some decisions in
the third act where you kind of you end up
thinking that what happens to him is what deserved to
happen to him. I think a Boulder version of that
(28:49):
movie would have had him a little bit more restrained
in the third act, like he shoots a cop in
the third act, you should not have done that in
the script.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Spoiler alert for anyone going to see it, Well, that's
not a major spoiler.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, that's not a major spoiler. But you it's a
kind of movie that I think if the studios had
had more balls in the early nineties, this is like
a feel good era and we were like in that
nineties glow where they would have made a film where
the ending would have been a little bit more ambiguous,
(29:25):
where you wouldn't have walked out of there thinking, Okay, well, yeah,
this guy's a case study, and not in What Not
to Do. You would have walked out of there thinking
a little bit more like, Okay, maybe he had a
point and yeah, and it would have forced you to
grapple with some of the tensions that he was dealing
with a little bit better. Okay.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
My next one is I think number seven or six
or whatever. My next one is Sabrina from nineteen fifty
four by Billy Wilander. It is a black and white film.
It's an older film with Audrey Hepfern and Humphrey Bogart,
and it's an easy movie to watch. It's basically a
Cinderella story. Why I think Conservits could watch it is because
Humphrey Bogart gives one of the best defenses of capitalism
(30:05):
you will watch in a movie when he discusses why
he is so in love with his job and how
great industry is very very easy movie to watch, has
a good lesson in it, but overall quick and easy.
But I do love that movie from Billy. Billy Wilder's
probably top three greatest American directors that ever lived, so
it's great.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Absolutely. I'm glad you didn't mention the Harrison Ford remake.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And no, I would not do that to anybody.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
My next film, it's a movie from nineteen seventy directed
by Bertolucci. It's an Italian film. It's called The Conformist,
which is it's a great lesson for anyone who works
in politics. It's a story about an operative for Mussolini
who essentially gets hired or ordered to knock off somebody
(30:56):
close to him. And what you eventually start realizing about
this guy is that he's just a careerist. He was
never really a Mussolini guy or a Fascist or whatever.
He was just a guy who was in this for
personal advance in it. So, you know, I think that
if you work in this business, it's always good to
have a north star and to be very clear about
(31:20):
why you're in this and I think this movie has
a lot to offer that. And by the end of
the film you see that he didn't believe in anything
at all. I'm not giving away any spoilers, but it's
also just one of the best looking films you'll ever see.
If you'd like cinematography, The Conformist is one of the best,
and honestly, it's also just one of the most influential
(31:41):
movies ever made.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
One of you know something, very typical people in policies.
They end up not believing in anything at all. Okay,
my third to last mine is Belfast from twenty twenty
one by Kenneth Brana. This is the story of Belfast,
Ireland during the Troubles. I have family in Ireland during
that who moved from New York to Ireland during the troubles.
I should have a whole episode on that one day.
(32:04):
He but it is a story of life in Northern
Ireland and it is black and white for most of
the movie. It is sad and it is happy about
being said, it is the most Irish movie I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
It's a story of childhood, youth and both longing for
a better life, of being being confined to certain things.
Everyone's on a different path, everyone's in a certain different thing,
and so there's a real love for community, even when
community is terrible. Great, great, great movie love it really
(32:39):
really recommend this. I shouldn't have my grandparents and it
was like their favorite movie ever. So Belfast by Kenneth Brono.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
It's yours.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
My next one is a movie called Joe from nineteen seventy.
This is a grindhouse movie. It's a okay, this is
like cinema veritas American style in the seventies. It is
directed by John Adilson, the same guy who did Rocky
and Lean On Me and The Karate Kid. And the
(33:08):
reason why I say that is because a lot of
people say that this is like an anti right wing movie,
and I don't think a guy who made those films
and was set to direct Reagan but died of cancer
before he was able to do it, it could be
really that anti right wing. So it's I think it's
better understood as a critique of the right from within
(33:30):
the right. So it's also a story of an upper
middle class executive whose daughter goes down the wrong starts
hanging out the wrong people in the counterculture, and she
gets involved with the hippie. The guy kills the hippie,
and so he's so the executive guy's already on the
(33:53):
wrong track. But then he goes to a bar and
there's this loud mouth at a bar who's saying, like
these obscene, crazy racist rants. And the whole point is
is like, this guy is a caricature. Everybody in this
movie is kind of a caricature of the worst versions
of themselves. But the point though, is that this guy
(34:16):
should have been at a stage where he's okay, like
facing justice and some kind of contrition. But because he
befriends this guy, he creates almost like a permission structure
for what he just did to his daughter's boyfriends. It
has a very tragic ending. It's also just a fun movie.
You're gonna laugh your ass off by hearing the things
that this guy says that are I could ever say
(34:38):
and we would all get canceled. But you can imagine
people laughing in movie theaters in the seventies watching some
of this. It's called Joe. It's not easy to find,
I think, but you probably it's probably found it on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
It may even be on Amazon Prime. This really quick story.
I was I would see Death Wish in the theaters
in New York, but it was like a very hipster
theater Death Wish from the seventies. And when watching it
too like hipster Transplants. Clearly Transplants said New York can
have possibly been that bad. It's like, I hate these people,
but I love movies from the seventies, so you mention it, okay.
Second to last from me, This is from twenty eighteen
(35:14):
by Armando in New Scene. He's a director. It's called
Death of Stalin. It is a dark comedy and I
mean dark, but it is very very funny if you
pay attention to the conversations happening. And I think, why
a conservation watch this movie is it's actually accurate. It
is more accurate than not accurate detail of what happens
(35:35):
in a non democracy when there is a transfer of power,
and how violent it is, and how the section of
power happens, and how oftentimes what follows is what follows
a dictator is usually chaos and destruction and not this
clean transition towards you know, Jeffersonian democracy. So Death of
Stalin from twenty eighteen is my second to last pick.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
What's yours? That's a great pick. My second to last
is a silent film, nineteen twenty One's The Kid all Time?
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, my favor at all time.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah. It's one of the greatest movies of all time.
It's it's one of the greatest stories about well, it
is the greatest story about surrogate fatherhood. What I love
about this film and why I think conservatives should watch it,
is that it really speaks to a sense of duty.
This guy was not planning to be a dad. He
was just like some tramp. He like literally stumbles upon
(36:29):
a kid. There's a and he the only reason why
he takes him home is because he doesn't want the
cop who saw him stumble over the kid to think
that he was kidnapping the child. So he just acted
like everything was going was honckey dor and he just
took the kid home, and he ended up growing very
attached to the kid and raising him. It's a beautiful film,
(36:49):
Like everything that Chaplin did, It's it shows you some
of the rough edges of society at the time, but
with very deep, like humanistick lessons that you could really
take away. And it's one of my favorite films too.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
That is my favorite, is my number one favorite movie
of old I see it constantly.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
My last pick for this number ten movie conservatives watch
is a movie called April Ninth. It was made in
twenty fifteen by Ronnie Ezra.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
I've not heard of this one. Okay, Wow, I found
on a movie that even Jim Carlos. It is free
on YouTube to watch. It is a Danish movie. It
is all in Danish. It is the story of Danish
resistance to Nazi Germany from the perspective of a lieutenant.
And it is really a question of what is your
role when you are faced with insurmountable odds? How much
(37:39):
do you owe to a cause or to a country
when you cannot succeed in what you're trying to do.
I think a lot of conservatives when things are very bleak,
would resonate with this message. It's a very very powerful movie.
There's one really powerful scene where the farm woman was
like you could just hide out and she goes, you know,
this country was Germany, then it was Denmark. Doesn't matter
to me, and he says it matters a lot to me. Beautiful,
(38:00):
beautiful movie in Danish, free on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Jim Carlo, your last movie, So my final pick, and
on a positive note, is White Christmas. Kay, So I
wanted to end on a high note. I'm not going
to tell you that I think it's the greatest Christmas
movie ever made. It's a little kitch uh, it's a
little Sacharin, a little sentimental, but it's very sincere. So
(38:27):
it's it's about a couple of army buddies who they
essentially they go on vacation and they end up at
the at the at the Vermont Inn of their old
military superior and the place is about to go out
of business because it hasn't snowed, and so they essentially
(38:50):
so it's Bing Crosby and Danny k and they summon
they they're able to go on TV and they summon
their entire platoon to join them. At the end time, Yeah,
it does have one of the most heartwarming and beautiful
endings in all of cinema. I every time I watch
(39:11):
that film, I just look over to my wife, and
I'm like, yeah, this got to me. It's just a
great movie about camaraderie, patriotism and loyalty and friendship, and
you know it's it kind of masksself as a romantic film.
I don't really think that's that's the heart of it.
And I don't think it's a coincidence that that movie
(39:31):
was made at a time when we had a general
as president. So I think it's a It's a gorgeous
film and definitely put it on your watch list for
this Christmas season.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Well, gian Carlo, where could we go to read more
of your stuff?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
So they could read me at National Review or they
can follow me on Twitter. I've been posting a lot
less there, just just busy with being a dad. But
you could follow me at National Review and I'll I'll
have a lot more to share about movies on this
project that I've been working on in the next couple weeks.
I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I'm going to retweet it when it comes out, So
I'm very excited. Giancarlo, thank you for coming on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
No, thank you for having me. Ryan.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Hey, we'll be right back after this. Now it's time
for the Ask Me Anything segment. If you guys want
to be part of the Ask Me Anything segment, email
me ryanat Numbers Gamepodcast dot com. That's Ryan at Numbers
gamepodcast dot com. I love getting these questions. I have
a few built ups, so I'm trying to get through
more than one per episode. This question comes from Jennifer
(40:34):
in Florida. She writes about a month ago she started
tracking local registration in her county, which has a large
university as a blue county in Florida. Because of the
Supervisor of Elections announced that she would be doing outreach
at college campus events. Weekly net registration by party has shown,
but she included the attachment that there are no new
(40:54):
Democrats in the last three weeks and one hundred and
seventy new Republicans and two hundred and sixteen new others.
Why do you think some people are registering as others
basically not in either party? And why are so few
registering as Democrats? And are you of ver any state
laws that require university students to vote in their home
precincts if they're still dependence on their parents. Okay, so
(41:15):
the first question is the purge three weeks ago about four.
A few weeks ago, Florida did a regular voter registration purge.
All states do it. They said, there in state who's
been inactive for years, and they assume that they moved.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Or they died.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
And I looked at this data for this precinct and
this county, and there was enormous drop off for Democrats
who either had moved or died or were completely inactive
for a long period of time. So they registered not zero,
they registered more than zero, but the numbers that they
lost in that purge exceeded that the numbers that they gained.
(41:51):
And why are they registering so few voters is because
their brand is terrible. I mean the brand of you know,
if you're not registering for an election that's coming up, right,
if you like, if you like the presence she's coming up,
I got a register to vote.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
I got to registered to vote.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Unless thing like that is happening that's motivating you to vote,
you're more than likely just either someone who just moved
to an area or someone who just turned eighteen. And
the Democratic Party is not They just don't have a leadership,
they don't have a message. They're very isolating to a
lot of different people. Republicans don't have an amazing brand name,
but it's better than Democrats. And a lot of people
(42:30):
are just picking independence because they don't want to belong
to a party one of the two parties that they
feel are you know, service to the country or to
voters as a whole. This is the question on voter
registration for college kids. I looked up the law in Florida.
College kids can register either at their home that their
parents live at, or at their college campus and their dorm,
(42:53):
so they don't need to have registered where where they're
dependent on their parents. They can register to vote in
the dorm that they live on. That is the case.
Every state is a little different. That is the case
in a lot of important swing states like Wisconsin, where
there's a lot of college kids at Wisconsin who register
at their dorms and they have to be lefties. But
that's a New Hampshire I think is the same exact way.
(43:14):
That's a big question from individual states. But Florida, you
can register at your dorm. I did look that up. Okay.
Next question comes from Ryan Shannon. He writes, farmers and
Democrats say you can't get rid of illegal workers because
our crops will go up.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
You touched on the show.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
On your show, why don't Republicans Dems whoever actually helps
shows a chart of how much it will cost the
strawberries would be how much if we hired Americans? I
will help one side of the aisle. So clearly they
don't care. Okay, So he said, welcome to my TED. Well,
thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Thank you Ryan
for asking that question.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
I was by way.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
It was National Ryan Day the other day, so I
hope you celebrated by liking and subscribing to this podcast.
The question of how much will crops go if you
hire only Americans?
Speaker 2 (44:01):
One?
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Okay, A, you don't need to hire only Americans. You
could hire h two A vs A holders because hwavs
holders all have an unlimited supply and they're legally here
and farmer farming companies manufacturing companies manufacturing, but agriculture companies
have to subsity have to pay for some of their
housing and transportation and other things in case they get
(44:25):
injured or where they have to stay. That would otherwise
who knows where they would go, But they don't want
to do that. They want to go to illegal aliens.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Two.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
You can hire Americans. It's perfectly you know fine, and
a lot of places do hire Americans to do some things.
And third is that you could just mechanize. You can
go to machines and have a one time increase for
the cost that your your machine's never going to get sick,
it's going to work harder. There's cameras like this is
this is so, this is so nonsensical. They're arguing that
(44:52):
it's only going to go. But if you have to
hire an American for forty dollars an hour, it's just
that's not true. It's such a lie. And the reason
they can't keep a their estimate out is because look
at what happened during the terrified during the first Trump
term over things like tuna. They were saying, tuna cans,
we're going to cost like ten dollars a can because
of tax tariffs on aluminum. That never happened, like it was,
(45:14):
it was all a lie. A lot of these statistics
and numbers they throw out for projections are to make
a case for their side. Sometimes it happens a lot
of times it doesn't. Uh And as far as what
the answer is, the answer for your industry is to
do what other countries that don't depend on slave wage
(45:34):
labor to do. Japan does not import a million Mexicans
to pick rice every year. They've mechanized the process. We
can mechanize the process. We can make it cost efficient
that farmers can sit there on hire machines to do
the work and to make sure that crops grow. It
will make things cheaper. Ultimately, the one important detail is
that the number one driver of food costs, besides regular
(45:58):
monetary inflation, is energy supplied. How much it costs to
get your food to your local grocery store is a
big reason as to why your food prices are going up.
Energy energy, energy, energy, and then also electricity to store
and cool those things. And as electricity prices arising, is
(46:18):
that those numbers are moving and filtering down to your
local grocery store. So that's the answer. Why it's something
they don't care. They bring up these kinds of statistics
all the time. Ryan, It's just that they are using
whatever data they need to use to make their case
and for political reasons. It's not just the most accurate
place I think you would find them, but someone's going
to talk about it more so, thank you for bringing
(46:39):
this up. Thank you all for listening. If you like
this podcast, please like and subscribe to the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Monday, we'll be
back to politics, back to the election season, back to campaigns,
so please like and subscribe check us out on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
Welcome back to a numbers game with Ryan Gardosky. Thank
you guys for being here again. Today's Thursday, October sixteenth,
twenty twenty five. The next election for your local office
is coming up in eighteen days. Make a plan and
go vote, vote by mail, vote early, vote on election day.
Just make sure your voice is heard in your local elections.
Now usually start rambling up polls that have come out
(00:23):
in this party election. But it's crazy. We are in
a drought of polling. Even though the election is so close,
we are in a complete drought for quality polls. The
only statistic I could share with you at an election
is that in New Jersey they broke One of my
very smart autistic friends broke down precinct data based on
race and ethnicity, and he found that in districts that
(00:46):
are a majority white, they are voting about ten percent
higher on average than districts that are precincts that are
majority Black, Hispanic, or Asian. Now that is interesting. So
why is it interesting is because this is all mail
in ballads. By the way, if you are less likely
to show up early for your male in ballot, because
(01:07):
if if you have an outstanding ballot, you get a
ballot mail to you, and you're so enthusiastic vote. You
want to go vote for Trump or Obama, whoever it is.
You're gonna go vote the first day you get the ballot, right,
You're so excited to vote. If you put the ballot
on the table and it collects dust for week one,
week two, week three, you're not that enthusiastic to go vote.
So will these people who get mail in ballads vote?
(01:27):
Most of them absolutely will. But if they're not excited
to go vote by mail one it's delivered to their house,
how excited will they be to show up on election day?
That is a big question. That is the question that
has plagued mikey Ryl's campaign this entire time. She's not
popular with a lot of minority voters, and it is
starting to show in the mail in ballads, even though
(01:49):
she has a very very strong ground game. So I
told you all that this episode be a non political episode.
I said, I wanted to do something easy in light.
There's a lot of dark news I'm in the last
few weeks to months, you know, since I think Charlie
Kirk's assassination. So I said, let's do something not intense.
Let's do something free of a lot of polling conversation,
(02:09):
and let's just talk about something interesting. And I said,
let's do a movie episode. I picked ten movies for
conservatives to watch. Movies are very tough for me to
give advice on because I am not a movie snob.
But the movies I tend to like are only liked
by movie snobs. So I like a lot of art
house films, some foreign films. I like a lot of
(02:30):
love old movies. You know, it hurts my heart. And
when I say old movies, it hurts my heart when
people sit there and say young people sit there and
say movies made before two thousand are old, because no
they're not. My grandparents, my mom's parents put a very
big influence on me. I grew up watching a lot
of movies from the forties and fifties and sixties. And
(02:52):
to any zoomer listening, this is going to shock you.
But back then, if you watched a movie on television
and you didn't write the name down, there is a
likely chance you would never see that movie again. I
mean unless it came on you know, like TBS would
play it multiple times. I watched the satire about World
War Two, about the French resistance in Africa. Don't know
the name of it. Loved the movie, Never be able
(03:14):
to see it again. I saw a movie about a
British kid. It was a kid's show about a British
kid who like went to an alternate reality to talk
about time and wasting time, and it was I loved
that movie when I saw it when I was a kid.
Can never see it again, don't know the name of it,
We'll never be able to find it. That was your
relationship to television growing up in the nineties and to
movies in the nineties. Unless you knew about it and
(03:35):
you knew the name of it, you were never seeing
those things ever again. I and anyway, So that's where
I come from in my opinion, what an old movie is.
And it's very difficult. So they said for me to
recommend movies, I like a lot of things that people
don't like. For this list, I tried my hardest to
pick movies that you may not have heard of, but
(03:56):
you would find compelling.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Right.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I didn't want to pay like The Dark Night Rises
because everyone's seen that movie, right, even though it's a
great movie that has a very conservative message to it.
Everyone's seen it, So I don't, like I said there
in sand movie that everybody's seen. I picked movies that
were a little bit more obscure but also great and
a little bit more mainstream that I think that people
could watch them. So yeah, I did my homework. I
(04:19):
did my best. I brought my friend John mcintee one time,
who was the head who was Trump's ppo director for
the first term. I brought him to see a movie
called The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and he
still brings it up as like that was the worst
movie we have ever seen before in my life, and
of course you brought me to it. So I tried
(04:39):
really hard to pick something out. I tried really hard
to find something that I can recommend, and I think
most people would sit there and like that have a
great story, that have a lesson in them. I think
conservatives can take home with them and maybe things that
you haven't heard of. So my conversation about ten movies
every Conservation to watch is coming up next with me
(05:02):
on today's episode is my buddy, gian Carlo Sopo. He
is a writer of culture for National Review and an
all around great guy, also a media strategist for Hispanic outreach.
Gen Carlo, thank you for being here. It's great to
be with you. Okay, So, gian Carlo, you are a
movie buff. You write about culture. When someone says, what's
it like, give me a good movie? What would you
(05:24):
consider it a good What is the making is.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Of a good movie? You know? A lot of it
is really just instinctual, like I have to experience it.
I don't think there's a perfect formula. But I do
think that good movies tend to have a couple of
things in common. They tend to have some kind of
recognizable moral order, something that we could that we could recognize,
(05:51):
that we could say, Okay, I understand the rationale of
these characters. I understand there's some depth to them. I
understand what either doing, what they're doing, and what's driving
the story. I also think that there needs to be
an attention to craft. Not to go classical on you,
(06:14):
but I do believe that the definition that a quiet
has put forward for something being beautiful really holds right.
It has to have integrity, harmony, and radiance. You know
it when you see it. And then finally, I think
the very best movies speak to enduring themes, themes that
(06:37):
really resonate across the ages. That's why we're still talking
about The Godfather today. That's why we could look at
a film like Lawrence of Arabia, which is over sixty
years old, and really recognize something in it, because they
do tend to speak to enduring themes the humans care about.
They could be civilizational, psychological, whatever, but I do think
(07:01):
that those are three of the key components. And then, honestly, look,
it just has to click. There's a lot of subjectivity
in art. It's gonna click differently for some people. But
those are the three things that I look for.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna give our
top ten list of movies that conservatives should watch. These
are not ranked, so number ten is not the least
best and number one is not the best. It's just
ten movies. I'm just gonna rank them because it's easy
to understand nine seven, eight, nine ten. Why did you
first of all pick the movies you picked?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
So I've been working on a project now for most
of this year, pretty much the entire year that'll be
coming out in a few weeks, which is a list
of one hundred and fifty films that speak to the
conservative imagination. I don't want to show my cards a
little bit too early. In terms of the movies that
I've selected for that project, I could have easily made
(07:55):
that a list of two hundred and fifty films. So
I've tried to focus on films that were not on
that list, but also films that I think speak to
a certain conservative sensibility. Whether they're right politically right wing
or not doesn't really matter to me. If they're a
movie that if it's a movie that it's essential for
conservatives to see, uh, because it speaks to something that
(08:16):
that interests the conservative imagination. Those are the types of
films that that I selected. Yeah, and I.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Picked movies that were not like too. I like a
lot of arts nob films like I do. People hate
movies I go see, but they will never be a
mass shooting at a screening for a movie I'm going
to go see because I'll be the only person in
the theater. So the the so the movies they see
are a little bit more obscure, but more recent movies
(08:44):
than that. I tried to make it, and I because
I could watch old movies all day, but like I
try to make it a movie that people will kind
of interest in. So my first film that I suggested
to movies that people go see was hacks Our Ridge
from twenty sixteen, made by Mel Gibson. It was it's more.
It's not super well known. It's not saving Private Ryan,
but I think it's a very compelling anti war not
(09:08):
anti war, but it gives a cautionary tale about war,
especially World War Two, which is so oftentimes glamorized in Hollywood,
and the real cost of conflict and war. And there's
a real Christian element in it. And I love this
movie for that reason. I'm sure you've seen it.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's a fantastic film. I think it's some of Gibson's
best work. It was nominated for Best Picture, right, i'd
say in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
If it was not only for Best Actor, I knew that,
but I don't know it was not only for a
few wars. It wasn't at the box office. It didn't
make hundreds of millions dollars. It did fine, but some
people may have seen it, but it's not, as far
as World War two movies goes, not the most well known.
What's a movie you gave.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So the very first one on my list is They
Live by I've never seen It Yeah, by by John Carpenter.
It's a movie from the eighties. This is by no
means a conservative movie. In fact, the most common reading
of the film is that it's a Marxist film. It's
it's about an alien invasion. That's that's happened on Earth.
(10:13):
We're not aware of it. It's and but by just
by way of background, the film is a critique of
the Reagan administration. So it's essentially it's about mind control.
Humanity is dominated by these aliens. We don't know who
they are, we can't see them, but there's an underground
sect led by or not led by but he's been
(10:33):
joined by Roddy Piper, the old wrestler uh and and
they have like these really cool glasses where they could
when they wear the glasses, they look like like almost
like ray bans. They could see who's an alien and
who's not. And then they realized that the aliens control
all the media, they control all the banks, and there
(10:56):
are subliminal messages across society telling people consume conform. So
it's an amazing film in terms of if you're into
political filmmaking that is about as good as it gets.
It's fantastic. I love I love John Carpenter. Obviously I
don't share his politics, but he's a brilliant He's dead now, right, No, no, no, no,
(11:20):
he's still alive. But you know, yeah, to follow up, yeah,
to follow up Halloween The Fog They Live, you know,
I'm sorry, those two with They Live is a hell
of an addition to his canon. And that is just
like grade A eighties propaganda. That's just fantastic, all right.
(11:44):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
My second pick is the film X Machia from twenty
fourteen by Alex Garland. This is also not a super
well known movie. It is about artificial intelligence and at
the center of the the center theme of the movie
is what makes somebody a human?
Speaker 2 (12:03):
A lot.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
It's a very slow paced movie. This is not a
very action film movie. But it's about a billionaire who's
making a lifelike source, a lifelike you know, robot, and
someone who works with men who falls in love with them,
and there's a lot of moral questions. It's a lot
like Frankenstein. It's a lot like a lot of movies
(12:26):
in those themes of what you know life is who
God is. You know, can you become a guy when
you create this artificial life? A lot of those deep
questions not for everybody, but I really like it. I
think people should go see it, especially as AI is
advancing specifically quickly. And this is from ten years ago.
So that's my second pick.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
What is yours? Well that and I just want to
say that's a fantastic pick, and he it is is
it would would it be unfair to say that it
is like an Elon Musk type character.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Well, Elon wasn't as well known back then. First of all,
I want to say the audience one more for one second,
Jim Carl and I did not like go through our list,
So I don't know we have repeat movies on them.
I don't think we do, because I think our tastes
a little different. It's it's an Elon Musk type fit. Well,
Elon also is not big on AI, so I mean
he was, I mean now he is, but two years
(13:21):
ago he called for a halting of AI research. So
I don't think it's him. I just think I think
it's a doctor Frankenstein character. It is that kind of
personality that does exist, and there are a lot of
people in Silicon Valley who you know, they may they
may have watched the Frankenstein movie or read the book
and rooted for the doctor and said, just do it
(13:42):
again until you get it right. So, yeah, that's what
I think anyway, So what was your second one? So
my second pick is A Man for All Seasons?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Okay, I've seen this, yeah, which is that is the
nineteen sixty six Classic Best Picture winner, The story of
I think if you're a Catholic, it's a must it's
an absolute must watch of you're a conservative, and it's
almost like sacramental if you're a Catholic. It's a story
story of Sir Thomas Moore and his falling out with
(14:13):
Henry the Eighth. I think it's it's not just only
a beautiful film in the cinematography and the story and everything,
but in terms of philosophical and moral complexity, it is.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
It stands on its own. Uh. There's there's nothing like it. Uh.
It's really a film for the ages. And you know
he obviously, uh well, Saint Thomas Moore is a patron
saint of the Catholic Church and a martyr. And you
see very clearly why in this film. This his level
(14:49):
of integrity. And the other thing too, what I like
about the film is that it's not it's not oversimplified
his moral choices. He does, he does try to get
out of what he's facing. He tried every possible avenue
and he but at the end of the day, he
felt that his soul was worth a lot more to
him than expedients. He just didn't want to bless essentially,
(15:12):
didn't want to bless the marriage. And it's it's it's
a monumental film, one of the greatests ever made.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
All Right, that's uh, yeah, I like it. I've seen
it a long time ago now, but it is a
really good movie. My third pick is is an old
one of not the same that gave up close to
it. It is Zulu from nineteen sixty four by side Enfield.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
This is a classic. This is.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
The I'm now Michael, Sir Michael Kaine's early work is
and he's a he's the actor and one of the
actors in it. It is a story of the British
takeover of South Africa and that will fight with the
Wulu over the Zulus. And you know it's a good
movie because when you stream on HBM Max. There's a
warning disclaimer at the very beginning that says, this is
(15:57):
not culturally reflective of like the times, like this is
made in a certain time. When you have to make
a warning like that, it's offensive because it's of a
certain time. You know, it's a good movie. It really
glorifies British colonialism.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And I like it.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
The acting is good, it's interesting, it moves, even though
it's a little long.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
But it is a great, great.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Film, and I think that it's probably more accurate to
what happened than a movie that was made. Probably, Now,
what is your third if you haven't seen that, but
you like, make a comment on it, But if you
haven't seen it, then it's.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
A great film. I watched it for the first time
last year actually, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic, right,
so great. Yeah, that battle scene at the very end
is one of the all time great battle scenes in
the history of cinema. It also just looks beautiful, I believe,
if I'm not mistaken that Martin SCORSESEI made a list
(16:50):
of the most beautiful looking films ever made and he
ranked that very high on it. So, okay, if you like,
if you like seeing beautiful art. That is you. You
really hit it out of the park with that choice.
So my thing is is a very obvious selection. Yet
I can't tell you, like, maybe it's just because we're
(17:12):
getting older and so many years have passed. You and
I are geriatric millennials. How I encounter people all the
time now who have not seen this film. I once
almost fired a client who told me they had not
seen this movie, And I'm just like, how can you
understand American culture without having seen this film? And that's
Francis Ford coppol is the Godfather.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Okay, I mean people of a certain age may not
have said I was a little older when I saw
The Phone for the first time.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Sure, yeah. And so obviously it's not just a gangster film.
And I think Coppola himself intended it almost as a
critique of American capitalism. In reality, I think it's a
moral parable. It's almost Shakespearean. It tells, obviously, the story
of a crime family and the moral compromises that they're
(18:02):
making in the process toward what they believe are good ends, right, Like, Hey,
we eventually want to get out of this mob business.
We want to go legitimate we want to protect each other.
We literally want to protect our children who are being murdered.
And it tells the story of how some of those
(18:23):
compromises it seems small, even if you think that they're
toward good ends, how they can ultimately doom someone and
then you just can't escape that evil. And then obviously
in the sequel we see how it could just destroy
a man from within and I absolutely kill his soul.
To me, it's it's a must watch for anyone left,
(18:43):
right or center, but especially I think if you're a
conservative and you want to understand culture, it's an absolute
must watch. It's maybe it's commonly listed on all of
these lists of the ten greatest movies ever made, and
for a good reason.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
Yeah, it's one of those movies that if it's on,
if I passed by the television it's on, I will
stop and watch more than I should, even though I'm
busy doing something. Whenever I hear Diane Keaton's scream it
was an abortion, Michael, It's so, I mean, just peak
greatest And did you see there was an interesting story
since she died. That was an old interview that they
(19:19):
didn't want to hire al Pacino for that movie, and
Diane Keaton was like, I'm not doing about al Pacino,
and she got him cast them, which is crazy. I
think anyone besides al Pacino.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Yeah, they were looking at Nicholson originally, which would have
been horrible.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Okay, My next movie, I think this is number four
four on the list is it's a recent movie. But
it's a foreign language film, and I know people are
like a foreign line. I don't want to read. I
promise you this movie is brilliant. It's called Godzilla Minus one.
It's in twenty twenty three by Takashami Yamazaki.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I think I pronounced that name.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I know I didn't pronounce the name right, but whatever,
Godzilla minus one. I know you're like, oh, a Godzilla movie.
This is a beautiful post World War two. It's a
look at post World War two Japan. It is a
look at a man who was supposed to be a
Kamakazi pilot and decided not to fly his plane into
a warship, an American warship, and the guilt that comes
(20:14):
from losing a war, and the responsibility towards community, the blame,
the shame that goes with it, how to rebuild after
that it is like, if Godzilla was not in this movie,
it would still be a great movie. Godzilla just happens
to be in the movie, and it's I cannot cannot
recommend this movie enough. It is so, so, so good.
(20:38):
It was the best movie I saw in twenty twenty
three by far. So Okay, have you seen it? Yeah,
It's absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
And what I love about this film is that you
watch it and you think it's like a two hundred
million dollar movie. I think they made it with like
fifteen million bucks or something like that, which in Hollywood
numbers is pretty small in terms of a budget, and
it looks for nomenal and like you said, the story,
there are scenes in it that are almost like Godzilla
(21:06):
as Jaws. Yes, yes, absolutely what I watched it. I'll
tell you a funny story. When my mother in law
moved to America from Cuba, it was the very that
weekend the movie came out, and one of the very
first things she did is that we took her to
(21:27):
watch that in the movie theaters and she was just
blown away. She'd never been she'd never been in a
normal movie theater. The movie theaters down there are very
different than ours and she was absolutely blown away. It
has that kind of an impact that is so impressive.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Okay, so what was your movie? Number four?
Speaker 2 (21:44):
So my next one is I think one of the
great hidden gems of the twenty tents and it's by
Ridley Scott and it's called The Counselor.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I've not seen this one by Ridley Scott.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
So this came out in twenty thirteen, and I don't
know if it was because of the politics of the
era or whatever, but it's a story about the border
right and it's about a lawyer who has a cartel
client and he essentially tells himself, Okay, I am going
(22:17):
to dabble in my client's business just this one time,
this one time, and that's it, and I'm not going
to touch this again. And unfortunately, like scripture teaches and
like life teaches itself, sometimes some some sins are so
bad that you just can't wash your hands of him.
And he sees how dabbling in the cartel business, along
(22:41):
with hybrid bardem, how it could really undo his entire existence,
in his entire life. It's a very bleak film. I'm
not going to tell you you're gonna feel great, but it's
a fantastic script, which is funny because it's like what
people hated about the film, and I like the script
and it's a very powerful story. And it also just
(23:02):
shows about very few films I think treat the border
with the seriousness that it deserves, and this is one
of those films that really got it right about some
of the dangers on our southern border. And it's absolutely fantastic.
It's got Brad Pitts in it too, Cameron Diaz. So
if you haven't seen it, make sure to check out
(23:24):
The counselor.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Okay, So my next movie is from number I think
six now or five or whatever. My next movie is
also in the art from the twenty tens. It is
Hotel Mumbai from twenty eighteen by the director was Anthony Maras.
It was about the Mumbai terrorist attacks in two thousand
and eight. I did not even know there were terrorist
attacks at the Hotel Mumbai in Mumbai, Doesney, because it
(23:46):
happened like two days after Obama was elected, so the
American media really didn't cover it. But it's about Islamic
terrorism in India. It is fast paced, it is foreign,
but they has a lot of English speaking in. It
is past, it is quick, it is action packed, it
has a real moral lesson in it. Absolutely a movie
I've seen probably three or four times and worth watching,
(24:10):
especially for people who are like, you know whatever, foreign films.
But this, I promise you it doesn't miss abeat. It's brilliant. Okay,
your next movie.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
My next movie is also a foreign film. It is
nineteen sixty seven's Less Samurai by John Pierre Melville. Okay, now,
this is the coolest movie ever made. There is no
debate in terms of just the aesthetics. It is the
coolest movie ever made. It's been copied a million times.
(24:40):
Tarantino has copied it in reservoir dogs and in pulp fiction.
It tells the story of a you know, a professional
killer who is a hired gun and he's played by
Alain Delonne. So, for those who don't know, is align
(25:00):
the loan. He's uh, you know, just a terrific actor
who would have you know, It's funny because it's almost counterintuitive.
He would have gotten a lot farther in his career
if he weren't so damn handsome.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Uh, you know, you would have been taking a lot
same I have that same problem yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
So, uh you know. So it's about a killer, a
contract killer who has a moral code, and it's got
a great story. But the real reason I think for
watching this film is for the aesthetics. It's the director
is maybe the greatest director that you haven't that most
people haven't heard of. His name is John pire Mellville.
He made some of the best movies of the sixties.
(25:42):
He was an American file like, he loved America. That's
not it's not even his real name. He he adopted
that name. He was famous for driving around Paris and
a big Cadillac and wearing a stetson and and and
ray ban. So this this is the guy who loved
American gangster films and really wanted to bring that vibe
to France. It is a cool It is just one
(26:03):
of the coolest looking films I've ever seen. So if
you have not seen Les Samurai or The Samurai, definitely
check it out. It's been copied, I said by Tarantino.
One of its most direct descendants, though, is the Ryan
gosslingfilm Drive. Mm hmm, yeah, I saw it. Yeah, so
it's absolutely fantastic. It's one of my favorite movies.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Okay, is a my next one? Number six I actually
I counted because I was very off, But number six
of the ten that I suggest is an oldie, but
a classic and a class that people kind of forgot
in the last thirty years. It's from nineteen ninety one
by Steven Spielbert and it's Hook, and it is the
story of Peter Pan grown up. Robin Williams plays Peter Pan,
Julia Robbers plays tinker Bell, Dustin Hoffman plays Captain Hook.
(26:45):
And why it is great is if you deconstruct. I
watched the movie recently and deconstructed it is really a
celebration about fatherhood, and that's really the essence of the
entire movie is not about not growing up. It is
about five fatherhood and why bothers are important, and movies
like that don't get made very often. So nineteen ninety
(27:08):
one Hook is my thing, especially if you have younger
kids and it's not gonna be a Disney movie you
just turn on. It's a movie you kind of don't
remember to look for. Just check it out. It is
very very good. What was your next?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Don't those stories hit harder now as a dad? Yeah? Yeah,
So what's your nexte? My next? Movie is nineteen ninety
threes falling Down. Okay, I've never seen this, So this
is the Michael Douglas goes ape shit movie. So I
(27:42):
think it's a it's a look. It's a movie about alienation,
it's a movie about social instability. Conservatives who understand conservatism
will pick up on a lot here. You know you're
not gonna like this guy because he's a vigilante and
because he goes around shooting up a fast food place
(28:02):
because of false advertising, but you will appreciate how if
things move too fast, be it through societal change, due
to changes and laws, due to economic changes, due to
a lot of new people moving into your community, you
will recognize how that could really destabilize a society and
(28:26):
push people who were already vulnerable or on the margins
or on the fringes towards really dark places. So it's
not a perfect film. I think it could have been
a perfect film. I think they made some decisions in
the third act where you kind of you end up
thinking that what happens to him is what deserved to
happen to him. I think a Boulder version of that
(28:49):
movie would have had him a little bit more restrained
in the third act, like he shoots a cop in
the third act, you should not have done that in
the script.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Spoiler alert for anyone going to see it, Well, that's
not a major spoiler.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, that's not a major spoiler. But you it's a
kind of movie that I think if the studios had
had more balls in the early nineties, this is like
a feel good era and we were like in that
nineties glow where they would have made a film where
the ending would have been a little bit more ambiguous,
(29:25):
where you wouldn't have walked out of there thinking, Okay, well, yeah,
this guy's a case study, and not in What Not
to Do. You would have walked out of there thinking
a little bit more like, Okay, maybe he had a
point and yeah, and it would have forced you to
grapple with some of the tensions that he was dealing
with a little bit better. Okay.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
My next one is I think number seven or six
or whatever. My next one is Sabrina from nineteen fifty
four by Billy Wilander. It is a black and white film.
It's an older film with Audrey Hepfern and Humphrey Bogart,
and it's an easy movie to watch. It's basically a
Cinderella story. Why I think Conservits could watch it is because
Humphrey Bogart gives one of the best defenses of capitalism
(30:05):
you will watch in a movie when he discusses why
he is so in love with his job and how
great industry is very very easy movie to watch, has
a good lesson in it, but overall quick and easy.
But I do love that movie from Billy. Billy Wilder's
probably top three greatest American directors that ever lived, so
it's great.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
Absolutely. I'm glad you didn't mention the Harrison Ford remake.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
And no, I would not do that to anybody.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
My next film, it's a movie from nineteen seventy directed
by Bertolucci. It's an Italian film. It's called The Conformist,
which is it's a great lesson for anyone who works
in politics. It's a story about an operative for Mussolini
who essentially gets hired or ordered to knock off somebody
(30:56):
close to him. And what you eventually start realizing about
this guy is that he's just a careerist. He was
never really a Mussolini guy or a Fascist or whatever.
He was just a guy who was in this for
personal advance in it. So, you know, I think that
if you work in this business, it's always good to
have a north star and to be very clear about
(31:20):
why you're in this and I think this movie has
a lot to offer that. And by the end of
the film you see that he didn't believe in anything
at all. I'm not giving away any spoilers, but it's
also just one of the best looking films you'll ever see.
If you'd like cinematography, The Conformist is one of the best,
and honestly, it's also just one of the most influential
(31:41):
movies ever made.
Speaker 1 (31:42):
One of you know something, very typical people in policies.
They end up not believing in anything at all. Okay,
my third to last mine is Belfast from twenty twenty
one by Kenneth Brana. This is the story of Belfast,
Ireland during the Troubles. I have family in Ireland during
that who moved from New York to Ireland during the troubles.
I should have a whole episode on that one day.
(32:04):
He but it is a story of life in Northern
Ireland and it is black and white for most of
the movie. It is sad and it is happy about
being said, it is the most Irish movie I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
But I love it.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
It's a story of childhood, youth and both longing for
a better life, of being being confined to certain things.
Everyone's on a different path, everyone's in a certain different thing,
and so there's a real love for community, even when
community is terrible. Great, great, great movie love it really
(32:39):
really recommend this. I shouldn't have my grandparents and it
was like their favorite movie ever. So Belfast by Kenneth Brono.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
It's yours.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
My next one is a movie called Joe from nineteen seventy.
This is a grindhouse movie. It's a okay, this is
like cinema veritas American style in the seventies. It is
directed by John Adilson, the same guy who did Rocky
and Lean On Me and The Karate Kid. And the
(33:08):
reason why I say that is because a lot of
people say that this is like an anti right wing movie,
and I don't think a guy who made those films
and was set to direct Reagan but died of cancer
before he was able to do it, it could be
really that anti right wing. So it's I think it's
better understood as a critique of the right from within
(33:30):
the right. So it's also a story of an upper
middle class executive whose daughter goes down the wrong starts
hanging out the wrong people in the counterculture, and she
gets involved with the hippie. The guy kills the hippie,
and so he's so the executive guy's already on the
(33:53):
wrong track. But then he goes to a bar and
there's this loud mouth at a bar who's saying, like
these obscene, crazy racist rants. And the whole point is
is like, this guy is a caricature. Everybody in this
movie is kind of a caricature of the worst versions
of themselves. But the point though, is that this guy
(34:16):
should have been at a stage where he's okay, like
facing justice and some kind of contrition. But because he
befriends this guy, he creates almost like a permission structure
for what he just did to his daughter's boyfriends. It
has a very tragic ending. It's also just a fun movie.
You're gonna laugh your ass off by hearing the things
that this guy says that are I could ever say
(34:38):
and we would all get canceled. But you can imagine
people laughing in movie theaters in the seventies watching some
of this. It's called Joe. It's not easy to find,
I think, but you probably it's probably found it on YouTube.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
It may even be on Amazon Prime. This really quick story.
I was I would see Death Wish in the theaters
in New York, but it was like a very hipster
theater Death Wish from the seventies. And when watching it
too like hipster Transplants. Clearly Transplants said New York can
have possibly been that bad. It's like, I hate these people,
but I love movies from the seventies, so you mention it, okay.
Second to last from me, This is from twenty eighteen
(35:14):
by Armando in New Scene. He's a director. It's called
Death of Stalin. It is a dark comedy and I
mean dark, but it is very very funny if you
pay attention to the conversations happening. And I think, why
a conservation watch this movie is it's actually accurate. It
is more accurate than not accurate detail of what happens
(35:35):
in a non democracy when there is a transfer of power,
and how violent it is, and how the section of
power happens, and how oftentimes what follows is what follows
a dictator is usually chaos and destruction and not this
clean transition towards you know, Jeffersonian democracy. So Death of
Stalin from twenty eighteen is my second to last pick.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
What's yours? That's a great pick. My second to last
is a silent film, nineteen twenty One's The Kid all Time?
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, my favor at all time.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah. It's one of the greatest movies of all time.
It's it's one of the greatest stories about well, it
is the greatest story about surrogate fatherhood. What I love
about this film and why I think conservatives should watch it,
is that it really speaks to a sense of duty.
This guy was not planning to be a dad. He
was just like some tramp. He like literally stumbles upon
(36:29):
a kid. There's a and he the only reason why
he takes him home is because he doesn't want the
cop who saw him stumble over the kid to think
that he was kidnapping the child. So he just acted
like everything was going was honckey dor and he just
took the kid home, and he ended up growing very
attached to the kid and raising him. It's a beautiful film,
(36:49):
Like everything that Chaplin did, It's it shows you some
of the rough edges of society at the time, but
with very deep, like humanistick lessons that you could really
take away. And it's one of my favorite films too.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
That is my favorite, is my number one favorite movie
of old I see it constantly.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
My last pick for this number ten movie conservatives watch
is a movie called April Ninth. It was made in
twenty fifteen by Ronnie Ezra.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1 (37:18):
I've not heard of this one. Okay, Wow, I found
on a movie that even Jim Carlos. It is free
on YouTube to watch. It is a Danish movie. It
is all in Danish. It is the story of Danish
resistance to Nazi Germany from the perspective of a lieutenant.
And it is really a question of what is your
role when you are faced with insurmountable odds? How much
(37:39):
do you owe to a cause or to a country
when you cannot succeed in what you're trying to do.
I think a lot of conservatives when things are very bleak,
would resonate with this message. It's a very very powerful movie.
There's one really powerful scene where the farm woman was
like you could just hide out and she goes, you know,
this country was Germany, then it was Denmark. Doesn't matter
to me, and he says it matters a lot to me. Beautiful,
(38:00):
beautiful movie in Danish, free on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
Jim Carlo, your last movie, So my final pick, and
on a positive note, is White Christmas. Kay, So I
wanted to end on a high note. I'm not going
to tell you that I think it's the greatest Christmas
movie ever made. It's a little kitch uh, it's a
little Sacharin, a little sentimental, but it's very sincere. So
(38:27):
it's it's about a couple of army buddies who they
essentially they go on vacation and they end up at
the at the at the Vermont Inn of their old
military superior and the place is about to go out
of business because it hasn't snowed, and so they essentially
(38:50):
so it's Bing Crosby and Danny k and they summon
they they're able to go on TV and they summon
their entire platoon to join them. At the end time, Yeah,
it does have one of the most heartwarming and beautiful
endings in all of cinema. I every time I watch
(39:11):
that film, I just look over to my wife, and
I'm like, yeah, this got to me. It's just a
great movie about camaraderie, patriotism and loyalty and friendship, and
you know it's it kind of masksself as a romantic film.
I don't really think that's that's the heart of it.
And I don't think it's a coincidence that that movie
(39:31):
was made at a time when we had a general
as president. So I think it's a It's a gorgeous
film and definitely put it on your watch list for
this Christmas season.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
Well, gian Carlo, where could we go to read more
of your stuff?
Speaker 2 (39:47):
So they could read me at National Review or they
can follow me on Twitter. I've been posting a lot
less there, just just busy with being a dad. But
you could follow me at National Review and I'll I'll
have a lot more to share about movies on this
project that I've been working on in the next couple weeks.
I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I'm going to retweet it when it comes out, So
I'm very excited. Giancarlo, thank you for coming on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
No, thank you for having me. Ryan.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Hey, we'll be right back after this. Now it's time
for the Ask Me Anything segment. If you guys want
to be part of the Ask Me Anything segment, email
me ryanat Numbers Gamepodcast dot com. That's Ryan at Numbers
gamepodcast dot com. I love getting these questions. I have
a few built ups, so I'm trying to get through
more than one per episode. This question comes from Jennifer
(40:34):
in Florida. She writes about a month ago she started
tracking local registration in her county, which has a large
university as a blue county in Florida. Because of the
Supervisor of Elections announced that she would be doing outreach
at college campus events. Weekly net registration by party has shown,
but she included the attachment that there are no new
(40:54):
Democrats in the last three weeks and one hundred and
seventy new Republicans and two hundred and sixteen new others.
Why do you think some people are registering as others
basically not in either party? And why are so few
registering as Democrats? And are you of ver any state
laws that require university students to vote in their home
precincts if they're still dependence on their parents. Okay, so
(41:15):
the first question is the purge three weeks ago about four.
A few weeks ago, Florida did a regular voter registration purge.
All states do it. They said, there in state who's
been inactive for years, and they assume that they moved.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
Or they died.
Speaker 1 (41:30):
And I looked at this data for this precinct and
this county, and there was enormous drop off for Democrats
who either had moved or died or were completely inactive
for a long period of time. So they registered not zero,
they registered more than zero, but the numbers that they
lost in that purge exceeded that the numbers that they gained.
(41:51):
And why are they registering so few voters is because
their brand is terrible. I mean the brand of you know,
if you're not registering for an election that's coming up, right,
if you like, if you like the presence she's coming up,
I got a register to vote.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
I got to registered to vote.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Unless thing like that is happening that's motivating you to vote,
you're more than likely just either someone who just moved
to an area or someone who just turned eighteen. And
the Democratic Party is not They just don't have a leadership,
they don't have a message. They're very isolating to a
lot of different people. Republicans don't have an amazing brand name,
but it's better than Democrats. And a lot of people
(42:30):
are just picking independence because they don't want to belong
to a party one of the two parties that they
feel are you know, service to the country or to
voters as a whole. This is the question on voter
registration for college kids. I looked up the law in Florida.
College kids can register either at their home that their
parents live at, or at their college campus and their dorm,
(42:53):
so they don't need to have registered where where they're
dependent on their parents. They can register to vote in
the dorm that they live on. That is the case.
Every state is a little different. That is the case
in a lot of important swing states like Wisconsin, where
there's a lot of college kids at Wisconsin who register
at their dorms and they have to be lefties. But
that's a New Hampshire I think is the same exact way.
(43:14):
That's a big question from individual states. But Florida, you
can register at your dorm. I did look that up. Okay.
Next question comes from Ryan Shannon. He writes, farmers and
Democrats say you can't get rid of illegal workers because
our crops will go up.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
You touched on the show.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
On your show, why don't Republicans Dems whoever actually helps
shows a chart of how much it will cost the
strawberries would be how much if we hired Americans? I
will help one side of the aisle. So clearly they
don't care. Okay, So he said, welcome to my TED. Well,
thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Thank you Ryan
for asking that question.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
I was by way.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
It was National Ryan Day the other day, so I
hope you celebrated by liking and subscribing to this podcast.
The question of how much will crops go if you
hire only Americans?
Speaker 2 (44:01):
One?
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Okay, A, you don't need to hire only Americans. You
could hire h two A vs A holders because hwavs
holders all have an unlimited supply and they're legally here
and farmer farming companies manufacturing companies manufacturing, but agriculture companies
have to subsity have to pay for some of their
housing and transportation and other things in case they get
(44:25):
injured or where they have to stay. That would otherwise
who knows where they would go, But they don't want
to do that. They want to go to illegal aliens.
Speaker 2 (44:30):
Two.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
You can hire Americans. It's perfectly you know fine, and
a lot of places do hire Americans to do some things.
And third is that you could just mechanize. You can
go to machines and have a one time increase for
the cost that your your machine's never going to get sick,
it's going to work harder. There's cameras like this is
this is so, this is so nonsensical. They're arguing that
(44:52):
it's only going to go. But if you have to
hire an American for forty dollars an hour, it's just
that's not true. It's such a lie. And the reason
they can't keep a their estimate out is because look
at what happened during the terrified during the first Trump
term over things like tuna. They were saying, tuna cans,
we're going to cost like ten dollars a can because
of tax tariffs on aluminum. That never happened, like it was,
(45:14):
it was all a lie. A lot of these statistics
and numbers they throw out for projections are to make
a case for their side. Sometimes it happens a lot
of times it doesn't. Uh And as far as what
the answer is, the answer for your industry is to
do what other countries that don't depend on slave wage
(45:34):
labor to do. Japan does not import a million Mexicans
to pick rice every year. They've mechanized the process. We
can mechanize the process. We can make it cost efficient
that farmers can sit there on hire machines to do
the work and to make sure that crops grow. It
will make things cheaper. Ultimately, the one important detail is
that the number one driver of food costs, besides regular
(45:58):
monetary inflation, is energy supplied. How much it costs to
get your food to your local grocery store is a
big reason as to why your food prices are going up.
Energy energy, energy, energy, and then also electricity to store
and cool those things. And as electricity prices arising, is
(46:18):
that those numbers are moving and filtering down to your
local grocery store. So that's the answer. Why it's something
they don't care. They bring up these kinds of statistics
all the time. Ryan, It's just that they are using
whatever data they need to use to make their case
and for political reasons. It's not just the most accurate
place I think you would find them, but someone's going
to talk about it more so, thank you for bringing
(46:39):
this up. Thank you all for listening. If you like
this podcast, please like and subscribe to the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. Monday, we'll be
back to politics, back to the election season, back to campaigns,
so please like and subscribe check us out on Monday.
Have a great weekend.
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Clay Travis
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