February 25, 2025 • 32 mins
ICYMI: Hour Three of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – A special conversation with Jake Isgar; Head of Alternative & Specialty Programming at Alamo Drafthouse, who joins the program on Twin Peaks Day, to introduce Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s theater in downtown LA amazing March programming lineup featuring - ‘IN DREAMS: Films of David Lynch,’ which offers “a month-long retrospective of the dimensionally transcendent filmmaker behind surreal neo-noir masterpieces like ‘MULHOLLAND DRIVE,’ ‘BLUE VELVET,’ and ‘TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME’ just to name a few” … PLUS – A Look at the Weekend Box Office AND memories of iconic R&B Vocalist Roberta Flack, gone at the age of 88 - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Sixty thirty six years ago, an FBI agent named Dale
Cooper drove into the small town of Twin Peaks and
by extension, the multiverse of madness. If you will, that
David Lynch brought to the world today on Twin Peaks Day.
Alamo Drafthouse has announced their March programming lineup, which will
include In Dreams Films of David Lynch, a month long
(00:26):
retrospective of the transcendent filmmaker behind masterpieces such as Moholland Drive,
Blue Velvet, and of course Twin Peaks, Fire.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Walk with Me, just to name a few you know
the movies.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
But joining me right now to discuss this amazing activation
is Jake Isgar, head of Alternative and Specialty Programming at
Alamo Drafthouse, who is also the sponsor of Name That
Movie cult classic every week here on Fridays on Lady
with mo Kelly. Jake is good to talk to you
this evening. How are you, sir, John, wonderful man?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I was looking forward to this conversation as a in
a file, someone who loves movies, but let me ask you.
David Lynch, who passed away at the age of seventy eight,
recently left an indelible mark on cinema. How would you
describe his impact not only on movies but movie theaters.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, to me, David
Lynch's cinema.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
I mean, he is He's one of the great artists
of the twentieth century, someone that left this indelible impact
on not just American popular culture and American cultural imagination,
but just on the art form writ large, someone that
dedicated his life to art as a painter, as a musician,
as a filmmaker. It was I think it's a seismic
(01:41):
loss that in that way, but it's also been so
galvanizing to see so many people that were impacted not
just by his work, what his work is influenced, but
also just see all the people that he'd collaborated with,
that worked with him, like speak so kindly and generously
about him.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
He's someone that I think you had.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
A sense of him as a person and an artist,
and it really feels it's one of the mostly I
said seismic earlier, but it's remarkable. But I but going
back to your question about theaters. I mean, his movies
are meant to be played loud. I mean he's a
visual stylist in so many ways, but it's all about
the sound in his movies. I mentioned to being a
(02:23):
musician and a sound designer. They're in congest an incredible
theatrical experiences. Eraserhead is a picture that essentially was one
of the few that launched even the idea of a
midnight movie with its New York and the Eastern screenings
and its nineteen seventy seven release, and his movies have
engendered that experience. And that's always his movie's gender, a
(02:45):
sense of discovery. We've seen a movie for the first
time with a million time. It's just you're always finding
out something about the film itself, finding out something about yourself.
When you watch his movies, they're endless wells of great
art and inspiration. And I just I can't say enough
how impactful his work has been on me personally and
professionally as well. And you know, loving cinema being a
(03:06):
centel worker.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Speaking of what you do professionally, movie theaters today compete
with all sorts of distractions in media delivery vehicles such
as streaming and other entertainment options. I need not tell you,
but how does Alimo draft House offer something different and
cut through some of that noise?
Speaker 5 (03:23):
And that's a great question. I mean, I think that
at the end of the day, people are social creatures.
We need to get out and be around folks. And
I think the movie theaters are often you know, the
lowest barrier of entry for or lower lower barrier of entries,
are just like great community spaces and event spaces. And
I think that i'mand draft House for the course of
it's in that tinety seven where we're at twenty eight
(03:45):
years of being being a leader. It's always liked, engendered
that and it wanted to be a space not just
for like film lover specifically, but for folks that just
want to night out and want to connect and connect
with people and connect with cinema and just have a
great time. It comes to our our presentation, these is
top notch. We don't run ads in front of our programs.
(04:07):
These beautifully curated pre shows, uh that you know kind
of gets you into the world of the movie, but
just kind of gets you just relax when you get there.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
The food and drink aspect is amazing.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
I think our teams do an amazing job of, uh
just getting people, making people feel good and comfortable when
they come into our space, and they're incredibly personable.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
They're the lifeblood of each of each venue.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I just the it's the total package of when people
want their dollar to go somewhere, they.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Want to they want to feel comfortable in this space.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
And I think that you know, our our our theaters
have trendous personality. Uh They're they're themed off of you know,
either different different movies or different properties. Uh. I think
a great example are our cellphla More location in Austin, Texas,
is is deemed after the work of Stanley Kubrick. You
walk in, you kind of go through the shining hallway
and you can see a display of the The Twins
(05:00):
kind of photographs done to the wall.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
You know.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Our Los Angeles location has our video Vortex set up
where you just go and you can rent movies in
there if you want to.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
For free.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
You can just hang out in this this great bar
space where the.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Window the window doors kind of open up.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
It's like a garage and just feel just I think,
just I don't know, I get the serotonin drop that have,
so don't mean rush that happens to my hit of venue.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Is out of this world.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I just think that you need that people need to
People need spaces to feel comfortable. And I also think
that we provide them, provide that outlet for people, and
so long as people come, we'll be open, we'll be
doing stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So that's that's how I feel about what we do,
what we provide the folks.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Let me follow up on that very quickly before we
go to this first break.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I understand, and you understand better than anyone what a
movie theater provides. And I think we all remember when
movie theaters are at their best what they provide us.
But we have a younger generation now who may not
have that same type of emotional connection or the nostalgia
when it comes to movies. How do you go about
reaching the younger person who has their phone in their
(06:06):
hand at all hours of the day.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
That's as old question, right.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I mean, I think that people talk about theatrical as
if it's this theatrical experience as this you know, more
bespokes or art form.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
But the same is true of vinyl.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
I mean, there's a whole generation offorn that you know,
wanted to look at somebody and be like, hey, this
is This is the type of experience that is very
specific and tactle and the thing I can feel like
when you're in a room with people and you feel
that energy and sense when people are locked in and engaged,
you feel it. The movie experience is as much what
you see on screen is how you connect with it,
(06:42):
how you feel others connecting around you with it, or
going to a concert, going to a sporting event like
it's the act of being around each other. And I
think that it's important for the spaces to make that
known and make feel comfortable. We have a no talk
and no tax policy that are our teams are really
good at enforcing. But this at the same time, it's
not to castigate, it's not to making people feel bored,
(07:02):
to shame anybody. It's remind you you're in a public
space and you're you know, we're you're with people, and
it's important to knowledge you're with and around people. And
I think just providing that outlet in that space and
giving people a reason to get out and a reason
to connect is what's important.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
And I think our.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Team does a remarkable job in all facets of reminding
folks of is this is a cool thing and you
all should just sit back and you know, enjoy the ride,
like we're here for that. So I think that's it's
a big piece. And we see a lot of younger
people coming to our repertory screenings because they might not
have experienced something when it was released, Like there are
people that mull and drive from two thousand and one
(07:42):
audience now that may have been born after that during
the early twenties. It might be the first time seeing this,
but that's important. We all remember our first time experiencing things,
and our first time is going to have that. We
want people's experience at going to forth, going to a
movie theater and with the actual experience to be a
positive one. And I think that our experiences up notch.
(08:02):
That's the way to reach people.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
I believe.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
My guest right now is Jake Isgar, who is the
head of Alternative and Specialty Programming at Alamo Drafthouse. We're
together now on Twin Peaks Day as Alamo Drafthouse has
announced their March programming lineup, which will include In Dreams
Films of David Lynch, a month long retrospective of the
filmmaker and his masterpieces. We'll have more with Jake Zgar
(08:24):
in just a moment. It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI
AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
I should point out that I sit in front of
you and I can point out that Eraserhead is still
playing in a London movie house, that the runs of
Eraserhead in New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles
not only set precedence, there are people who's still go
back to see Eraserhead and talk about it and on
the way blue Velvet being a reality. I still think
(09:03):
of that meeting that was set up between you and
mel Brooks, and you were terrified. You told a friend
that you were afraid that if mel Brooks saw eraser Head,
you'd never get the job directing The Elephant.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Man on film.
Speaker 7 (09:15):
Then mel Brooks came out afterwards and said, before he
met you, he expected to meet someone that looked like
a short, fat German with spit running down his chin,
and he met this wonderful, open faced, all American kind
of guy who made him think of Jimmy Stewart thirty
five years ago. Now, since you've heard this before, why
(09:38):
do you think people have this preconceived.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Notion of you, David, Well, it's pretty obvious.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
But this is what films for me are all about.
There's a surface of life and this is the tip
of the iceberg, and then there's so much beneath the surface,
and that's the interesting bits you can never tell.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
You can't judge your book by the cover, too true.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I am six forty it's later with Mo Kelly and
I'm joined right now by Jake Isgar, head of Alternative
and Specialty Programming at Alamo Drafthouse. We are together here
on Twin Peaks Day as Alabo Draft House has announced
its March programming lineup, which includes In Dreams films of
David Lynch and Jake. Before the break, we went over
(10:27):
the whole experience, the communal experience of a movie theater,
how you're reaching out to younger would be and also
present patrons. Let's now get into In Dreams films of
David Lynch and connect all these things. How is this
month long retrospective going to fit in what Alibo draft
(10:49):
House does and does so very well.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Ironically, we have been planning this program for this period
for several months, Like I had actually been laying this
out as early as mid December, uh and it was
going to be a little bit more focused and only
kind of cover a couple of his films. But given
the you know, what transpired in his passing, and we
felt it was really important to play as many of.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
His movies as possible. Uh.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
So we have all of his films represented in the step,
with the exception of The Straight Story, which we uh
speaking about theatrical experience and all of that an lpiece.
There's the business of it of you know, their titles
that you reach out to, reach out to you and
try to access and some you're not able to add
a certain scale. So we we you know, we're presenting
(11:34):
all of his films. It's not in chronological order. We
did our did our best to move and shake around those.
But I think that his movies, he often you know,
spoke about bringing people into a world and bringing people
into these spaces.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
And we you know, in Dreams.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Is the song that Dean Stockwell's characters uh lip syncs
in Blue Velvet, the wonderful Roy Orbison's song, So that
was a part of it. But his movies all deal
with a type of dream logic and nightmare logic at
the center of them. And I think that that sort
of language, like dream language and sounds are the basis
(12:14):
of just his cinema, but I think also the basis
of how we connect with things on a almost like
metaphysical level. When we watch we watch films collectively, it's
hitting your head, it's in your heart, it's in all
these different spaces and as movies there they share, you know,
a lot of a lot of feelings about you know, alienation,
(12:37):
about the alation particular of like post war America, about
what it's like to grow up in the suburbs. That's
what Kaal McGlaughlin's character does in Blue Velvet. He's this
kid that's coming back from school and kind of finding
himself into this mystery and slowly uncovering this like really
insidious sort of underbelly of this idyllic town. It's a
(12:57):
similar conceit that you see in the television show Twin
Peaks that's taken to an even greater degree in Firewalk
with Me. The world that's seen in the world that's
unseen and unspoken. I think it's at the center of
a lot of his work is his pictures that are
in Los Angeles. The sort of trio of Lost Highway,
(13:18):
mohalland Drive and The Inland Empire, I think kind of
speak to the rot of the dream factory of Hollywood
and Los Angeles, and Lost Highway in particular is one
that I always look at it as a transitional film
between Twin Peaks and the sort of idea of different
(13:38):
worlds people could live in, different personalities they take on.
And it's a movie that was written about He and
Barry Gifford, the novelists who put together Wild Air Heart.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
They've put this movie together after their.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Feelings of the OJ Simpson trial, which was a tremendous
obviously pop cultural event, but also something that was specific
to the fabric of Los Angeles. And I think that
that movie in particular kind of hints at the sort
of dualities of of of the of things that Bill
Pullman just transforms into bout the Guards, Bath is Argetti
in the second half of this movie, Uh, and it
(14:10):
just becomes this like really unfurling noir. The Elephant Man
is a remarkable, remarkable movie based off of the stage
play and person's you know, real life John Merrick.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And it's a major you'd think a departure from you know,
something like Eraserhead, which was the only feature he completed
at that time. But it's this like remarkably like poignant
character drama that you know, it's it's it's it's risky,
beautiful movie. And then Dune is this movie that was
you know, claimed, is this disaster, is this thing that
(14:43):
almost kind of wrecked his love of movies. This picture
is supposed to be the next Star Wars and it wasn't,
but it was Doune and and I think Dune has
I think been reclaimed over time as this amazing, uh
type of of sci fi and pop master work. And
you can compare it to you know, the two Danny
Villa Nuth pictures that have come out since then. While
(15:06):
I mentioned Wild Apart earlier, that's a movie that was
met with a tommage derision when it first came out,
and it was him at the height of his height of.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
His like I think sort of.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Commercial success Twin Peaks on At that time, it was
on major network television, airing weekly which is insane to
think about in retrospect. Waldpart was a movie that premiered
at the can Film Festival and was notoriously booed for
its reception for how extreme it went in terms of
sex and violence. But at the end of the day,
it's him kind of making an ode to a fifties
(15:38):
Elevis road picture to the stories of like Young Love.
It feels much. It feels like the sort of ballad
in a lot of ways, like it reminds me a
lot of Marty Robbins's El Paso, one of those amazing
like story songs that kind of unfolds, and his movies
are just always kind of tapped into the levels of
Americana and levels of.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
The sort of cultural consciousness. It's nuts.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
I mean they all if they were in any other
filmmaker's body of work, they would be considered the greatest achievement.
But in my opinion, but the fact that this person
created this, this the slightest legacy or this artistic world
and this is just his features. I mean's he's an
accomplished like producer and musician.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
The TV show He's the TV show, Oh yeah, both,
you know.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Turn is one of the great pieces of art of
the past, like ten years if in twenty first century,
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
I wish we could show it, Jake.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I have to jump in it because my time with
you has run out, but I would love to be
able to offer some listeners an opportunity to attend in
Dreams Films of David Lynch at Alamo Draft House and
so let's give away two pairs tonight and then we'll
give away the other eight pairs later as part of
naming that movie called Classic. So to give away these
two pairs tonight, I need two numbers from you between one.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And ten.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Numerology Arry Lynchian, I'll take three and seven, caller number
three and caller number seven.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Give us a call it eight hundred five two zero
one KFI eight hundred five two zero one five three
four caller number three, caller number seven. You and a
guest will have passes and to be able to attend
in Dreams Films of David Lynch as part of Alamo
Drafts House month long retrospective on the transcendent filmmaker and Jake.
I isgar who joins me now as head of Alternative
(17:29):
and Specialty Programming at Alamo Draft House. Thank you so
much for the opportunity, Thank you for sharing David Lynch's work,
and hopefully we get to talk to you again sometime soon.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
It was absolutely my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
Thank you so much for having me on, and I
hope you all have a chance to see his movies
with us.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty. We
are live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And looking at the box office this week is kind
of good news bad news if you you were a
fan of Marvel movies. Captain America Brave New World still
number one did not lose any theaters. In other words,
there was no theater count drop off, but it had
about a sixty eight percent drop off from its opening weekend,
(18:17):
which is not good for any movie. But you also
have to put it in context. It's going to hit
three hundred million this week. It's going to hit three
hundred million, and it still has another five weeks or
so in theaters. It's probably going to break even or
probably even a little better, depending on how the next
couple of weeks Ago, and I am amazed.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Actually, I'm not amazed.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I am a bit surprised how hard people are trying
to go against this movie, as if they put their
own money into it, or they have some sort of
personal interest in seeing the movie fail.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It's not going to fail, it's just not.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
It has another at least four to five weeks run,
and it's still in forty one hundred theaters, and it
hits three hundred million this week.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I think the break even is like four to twenty
five million.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
It's weird how the anti Cap campaign is so strong,
as if there is something inherently wrong with the film,
as if there is some reason why they should hate
it as much as they do. Now, you and Imo,
we may have our ideas as to why such outrage
(19:30):
for this film, but it's shocking a film that already
has said the fan base has turned against Ron Tomatoes
original reviews and said, nah, y'all put that out there
a little too early.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
We actually like.
Speaker 9 (19:44):
This film, And then it does better than any of
the previous Cap films before it in theaters, showing that
it is a success. It's a damn good film. It
may not be the best Marvel film ever, but you
know what they don't do with their in between films.
Every one of them is not a hit. The big
(20:05):
films are the hits.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
And the Avenger level films are expected to degenerate a
billion dollars. Yes, and when you have a movie like
Deadpool and Wolverine and all the cameos, that's like an
Avengers level movie.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We do have Blade and Gambit.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
That's an Avengers level movie, even though we hadn't seen
them in previous MCU movies. This movie, you had one kip,
I don't want to give it away, one major cameo
and one very minor cameo.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's doing about what I expected to do.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It's still number one, and I don't think anything of
consequences coming out next week, it will still be number one.
And I was looking for whether it was going to
be dropped from theaters, not box office drop off, but
drop from theaters, which says that the theaters don't think
that there's any interest in a movie. Didn't lose any theaters,
so that's the thing that I was looking for. And
(20:57):
it's per screen average. It's still number one in the country.
I don't know, you know, Yeah, the drop off was significant.
Relative to the great week it had the week before,
but it wasn't like it had a fair to middland
debut week and a precipitous drop off.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
And this film had.
Speaker 9 (21:20):
Of all of the recent Marvel films released, this film
actually had the lowest budget going into it. This film
was one hundred and eighty million one hundred that's peanuts
by comparison to the films that came before that really did.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Not do good at all.
Speaker 9 (21:38):
Shagshi, The Eternals, at Man, and The Quantumania. These are
all films that had humongous budgets going into them, and
still and still they broke even. So today this to
say that this film will not break even it's ridiculous.
It only got like another one hundred million or so
to go.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I know that I'm not really good at math, but
I did decent in math. I think I got a
D plus and geometry. Not horrible at math. I can count, yeah,
I can count, Mark, Can you count on.
Speaker 8 (22:12):
My fingers to ten? Okay, you're halfway there? Eleven if
I go south a little further, okay, just.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Very weird.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
I wonder what problem people could possibly have with this
capta in America movie like I said a couple of
weeks ago, it's not their best, but it is far
from their worst, far from it.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
My issue is the visceral response.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
There are movies that we don't like, will say we
don't like it, and we move on. It's not in
a personal affront to us. It's not like we need
to wage a campaign. It's like, how dare you watch
that movie? Look, it's for as much as I disliked
Avatar two and I didn't really believe in the box office.
It's not anything I'm trying to go on message boards
(22:58):
and talk about James Cameron and calling the movie woken.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Just the personal obsession that I.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
See with so many entities movie websites trying desperately to
make this movie into a failure. I wouldn't say confounds me.
I should say the emphasis on trying to achieve that
confounds me. The motivations behind it, No, they don't, not
at all, not even a little bit.
Speaker 8 (23:28):
Well, I haven't read the review at David Duke at
themovies dot com, but it sounds as if you're saying
there's something about this movie what sticks in people's cross.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I'm talking about semi legitimate, reputable sites like I'll call
them out by name, Radar, Online, screen Rant and others,
which calls into question whether they're actually trying to review
a movie or they're trying to ruin a movie, because
you would think after the second or third week they
move on. And there was this steady drumbeat in advance
(23:59):
of the movie, and the continuing the drum beat after
it's been released in the week two. That says to
me that there is something more involved than just an
analysis of the movie itself.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I stopped thinking about it after the week the week
I did too.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I did too, but I guess it's now a story
for an altogether different reason. And I was pointing it
out when in my battles with people on social media
first and when it was gonna fail at the box office.
Now it's like, well it hasn't made all of its
box office budget yet.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Back it's like, why do you keep moving the goalposts?
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Gone is the idea that it's going to be an
abject failure. Sorry, that train has already left the station.
It can't be that. So now it's like, well it's
gonna make all this money back, Well, it's not a
bigger hit as such and such. It just keeps sliding along.
What is the hate for this movie? It's not on
the merits of the on screen product. I'm just racking
(24:57):
my brain. I can't figure out why there is so
much much pushback against Anthony Mackie as Captain America. I
can't quite put my finger on it.
Speaker 9 (25:07):
It's so darn weird. Remember this film also opened in
fewer theaters total than most any other film of its kind.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yes, it did.
Speaker 9 (25:22):
So, even four hundred feet so it already started behind
the behind the starting line. It didn't even start at
the starting line.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I was going to I didn't want you could you know?
Wasn't behind the Q ball. I'll wait. That was good.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
That was like a double an Ye, little self dealing there,
I know it was. But the bottom line is some
things are pretty transparent. This movie is not being judged
on merits. This movie is being analyzed to an American
political lens.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
How do I know?
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Because it's international take is higher than the US ever
so slightly.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
It's still a very balanced movie.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
But internationally it's brought in more money than domestically, which
says that people who are not invested in this whole
political ecosystem and making sure movies represent our own political
viewpoints and worldviews.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And people are just watching it as a movie. They
enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Imagine that because there are fewer people who are viewing
it put potentially as far as a number of theaters
outside the US than there are inside the US, and
they have flocked to the movie. And it's not what
I'm saying, it's just what the math is saying. It's
Later with mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Hey, Mark, have you started watching Zero Day? Because I
just started on Netflix. I'm like two episodes in. And
for those who don't know, Zero Day is about a
massive cyber attack which shuts down all of America and
there's a threat that they're going to do it again.
It's a limited series about six episodes, so I'm two
set two episodes in.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Where are You?
Speaker 8 (27:16):
I'm about where you are? Started watching it last night
made me kind of tense, so to I. It stars
Robert de Niro.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
He plays an ex president and I won't give away
too much, but some of the characters are on the
nose as far as analogus for real people, we know.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
That's the way I perceive it well, and real things.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
You imagine that de Niro himself would probably want to
say right.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Right, But I think it's a more muted performance for him,
kind of understated so far.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Compared to what he said publicly.
Speaker 8 (27:48):
Yeah, I don't think we need to go in any
further nomail on that.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
No, we don't, but there's a lot of topical fodder,
particularly is when it comes to debates about privacy and
so forth. I think it's worth a watch. I don't
think it's great, but it's good enough to keep my attention.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
In case you haven't read the Sinclair Lewis novel, it
can't happen here. First of all, put it on your
list because it's happening. This seemed to me last night
as I was sitting through the two hours of the
first couple episodes, like a kind of a modernization of
that story.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Sounds like it. But it's holding my attention, so I'll
probably have a full review before the end of the week.
Speaker 8 (28:28):
Oh you're gonna go home and watch the rest tonight?
I know you, Yes, I am.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And for my final thought before we get out of here,
the morning started in an uncomfortable way, of course, with
the passing the reported passing ROBERTA. Flack, and the easy
way to describe her musical contributions is that she wrote
some of the most memorable and impactful love songs of
(28:53):
all time. No hyperbole. My all time favorite of Flack
was feel Like Making Love. I would play all music,
but it's not gonna last in the podcast. We can't
put it in so charge that to us. But you
know her music. My favorite was feel Like Making Love,
but the world also knows her name for songs like
tonight I Celebrate My love, her duets with Donny Hathaway,
(29:18):
The Closer, I Get to you?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Where is the Love?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
No, you don't want me to sing it, but you
just have should I twalla, just like a lot of it?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Where is the love? Where is the love? That's where
it's love?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Closer, I get to you, The Closer, I get to you.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
You know with.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
In rush hour they stay in a rush hour. Okay, let
me be serious.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face another one
of her hits, and of course killing Me Softly. In fact,
the last two The first time I Ever Saw your
Face and killing Me Softly. I bet you don't know this.
They won back to back Record of the Year. Gravity's
unprecedented at the time. And I can't personally personally remember
(30:07):
a time in which her music wasn't played in my house.
And there's a kind of a personal connection here. My
parents were in the Howard University choir with ROBERTA. Flack
while they were in college, so they had a rapport.
So her music was always on in the house, and
I was listening to her music, I guess long before
(30:29):
other people, because her music was much older than me,
listening to songs like the closer I Get to You,
Where is the Love Tonight?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I celebrate?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
My love had nothing for me as a child, but
I had a greater appreciation of her music and Donnie
Hathaway's by extension, by the time I got older. And
here's the best part of ROBERTA. Flack, unfortunately, even though
she had to pass, But this is the best part
of moments just like these, because ROBERTA. Flack, of course
(30:59):
was and it's being rediscovered right now, but also rediscovered
many years ago. Remember when the Fujis did their cover
of Killing Me Softly? And the funny thing is you
talk to someone under thirty they have no reference point
with ROBERTA. Flack in that song and killing me softly.
They think the Fujis were the ones who originally did it,
(31:21):
and no they didn't.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
They think of Lauren Hill and saying it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's like, no, it's a nice rendition, a nice cover,
but it's ROBERTA.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Flax's song.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
But nobody has duplicated her impact on music or created
the melodies which would endure for generations. You can sample it,
you can do a cover it, but you can't really
create that magic. And that, for me, is the truest
test of the strength of someone's legacy.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Will they know.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Your name and your positive contributions after you're gone, beyond
just the memory of your living relatives.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I'm confident that ROBERTA.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Flax's music still will be played one hundred years from now,
long after you Me, Tuala, Mark Stephen, everyone listening right
now are also gone. Don't want to be morbid, But
one hundred years from now, they still will be listening
to ROBERTA. Flack, and people will still continue to enjoy
(32:21):
the majesty of her music. They will her music will
continue to help people fall in love, find the love,
celebrate their love and rededicate their love. And you know what,
that's not a bad legacy to leave. We should all
be so lucky. Rest in power, ROBERTA. Flack, Your eighty
eight years will be easily outlasted by all the time.
(32:43):
In the future, the world will celebrate your music for
k I am six forty I'm mo Kelly.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
KFI is literally the Kfi of talk radio k FI
and KOSTHD two Los Angeles, Orange County, everywhere on the
Younger radio app
You're listening to Later with Mo Kelly on demand from
KFI AM.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Sixty thirty six years ago, an FBI agent named Dale
Cooper drove into the small town of Twin Peaks and
by extension, the multiverse of madness. If you will, that
David Lynch brought to the world today on Twin Peaks Day.
Alamo Drafthouse has announced their March programming lineup, which will
include In Dreams Films of David Lynch, a month long
(00:26):
retrospective of the transcendent filmmaker behind masterpieces such as Moholland Drive,
Blue Velvet, and of course Twin Peaks, Fire.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Walk with Me, just to name a few you know
the movies.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
But joining me right now to discuss this amazing activation
is Jake Isgar, head of Alternative and Specialty Programming at
Alamo Drafthouse, who is also the sponsor of Name That
Movie cult classic every week here on Fridays on Lady
with mo Kelly. Jake is good to talk to you
this evening. How are you, sir, John, wonderful man?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm doing well.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I was looking forward to this conversation as a in
a file, someone who loves movies, but let me ask you.
David Lynch, who passed away at the age of seventy eight,
recently left an indelible mark on cinema. How would you
describe his impact not only on movies but movie theaters.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, to me, David
Lynch's cinema.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
I mean, he is He's one of the great artists
of the twentieth century, someone that left this indelible impact
on not just American popular culture and American cultural imagination,
but just on the art form writ large, someone that
dedicated his life to art as a painter, as a musician,
as a filmmaker. It was I think it's a seismic
(01:41):
loss that in that way, but it's also been so
galvanizing to see so many people that were impacted not
just by his work, what his work is influenced, but
also just see all the people that he'd collaborated with,
that worked with him, like speak so kindly and generously
about him.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
He's someone that I think you had.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
A sense of him as a person and an artist,
and it really feels it's one of the mostly I
said seismic earlier, but it's remarkable. But I but going
back to your question about theaters. I mean, his movies
are meant to be played loud. I mean he's a
visual stylist in so many ways, but it's all about
the sound in his movies. I mentioned to being a
(02:23):
musician and a sound designer. They're in congest an incredible
theatrical experiences. Eraserhead is a picture that essentially was one
of the few that launched even the idea of a
midnight movie with its New York and the Eastern screenings
and its nineteen seventy seven release, and his movies have
engendered that experience. And that's always his movie's gender, a
(02:45):
sense of discovery. We've seen a movie for the first
time with a million time. It's just you're always finding
out something about the film itself, finding out something about yourself.
When you watch his movies, they're endless wells of great
art and inspiration. And I just I can't say enough
how impactful his work has been on me personally and
professionally as well. And you know, loving cinema being a
(03:06):
centel worker.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Speaking of what you do professionally, movie theaters today compete
with all sorts of distractions in media delivery vehicles such
as streaming and other entertainment options. I need not tell you,
but how does Alimo draft House offer something different and
cut through some of that noise?
Speaker 5 (03:23):
And that's a great question. I mean, I think that
at the end of the day, people are social creatures.
We need to get out and be around folks. And
I think the movie theaters are often you know, the
lowest barrier of entry for or lower lower barrier of entries,
are just like great community spaces and event spaces. And
I think that i'mand draft House for the course of
it's in that tinety seven where we're at twenty eight
(03:45):
years of being being a leader. It's always liked, engendered
that and it wanted to be a space not just
for like film lover specifically, but for folks that just
want to night out and want to connect and connect
with people and connect with cinema and just have a
great time. It comes to our our presentation, these is
top notch. We don't run ads in front of our programs.
(04:07):
These beautifully curated pre shows, uh that you know kind
of gets you into the world of the movie, but
just kind of gets you just relax when you get there.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
The food and drink aspect is amazing.
Speaker 5 (04:18):
I think our teams do an amazing job of, uh
just getting people, making people feel good and comfortable when
they come into our space, and they're incredibly personable.
Speaker 4 (04:27):
They're the lifeblood of each of each venue.
Speaker 5 (04:31):
I just the it's the total package of when people
want their dollar to go somewhere, they.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Want to they want to feel comfortable in this space.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
And I think that you know, our our our theaters
have trendous personality. Uh They're they're themed off of you know,
either different different movies or different properties. Uh. I think
a great example are our cellphla More location in Austin, Texas,
is is deemed after the work of Stanley Kubrick. You
walk in, you kind of go through the shining hallway
and you can see a display of the The Twins
(05:00):
kind of photographs done to the wall.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
You know.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Our Los Angeles location has our video Vortex set up
where you just go and you can rent movies in
there if you want to.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
For free.
Speaker 5 (05:11):
You can just hang out in this this great bar
space where the.
Speaker 4 (05:16):
Window the window doors kind of open up.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
It's like a garage and just feel just I think,
just I don't know, I get the serotonin drop that have,
so don't mean rush that happens to my hit of venue.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Is out of this world.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
I just think that you need that people need to
People need spaces to feel comfortable. And I also think
that we provide them, provide that outlet for people, and
so long as people come, we'll be open, we'll be
doing stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So that's that's how I feel about what we do,
what we provide the folks.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Let me follow up on that very quickly before we
go to this first break.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I understand, and you understand better than anyone what a
movie theater provides. And I think we all remember when
movie theaters are at their best what they provide us.
But we have a younger generation now who may not
have that same type of emotional connection or the nostalgia
when it comes to movies. How do you go about
reaching the younger person who has their phone in their
(06:06):
hand at all hours of the day.
Speaker 4 (06:09):
That's as old question, right.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I mean, I think that people talk about theatrical as
if it's this theatrical experience as this you know, more
bespokes or art form.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
But the same is true of vinyl.
Speaker 5 (06:20):
I mean, there's a whole generation offorn that you know,
wanted to look at somebody and be like, hey, this
is This is the type of experience that is very
specific and tactle and the thing I can feel like
when you're in a room with people and you feel
that energy and sense when people are locked in and engaged,
you feel it. The movie experience is as much what
you see on screen is how you connect with it,
(06:42):
how you feel others connecting around you with it, or
going to a concert, going to a sporting event like
it's the act of being around each other. And I
think that it's important for the spaces to make that
known and make feel comfortable. We have a no talk
and no tax policy that are our teams are really
good at enforcing. But this at the same time, it's
not to castigate, it's not to making people feel bored,
(07:02):
to shame anybody. It's remind you you're in a public
space and you're you know, we're you're with people, and
it's important to knowledge you're with and around people. And
I think just providing that outlet in that space and
giving people a reason to get out and a reason
to connect is what's important.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
And I think our.
Speaker 5 (07:21):
Team does a remarkable job in all facets of reminding
folks of is this is a cool thing and you
all should just sit back and you know, enjoy the ride,
like we're here for that. So I think that's it's
a big piece. And we see a lot of younger
people coming to our repertory screenings because they might not
have experienced something when it was released, Like there are
people that mull and drive from two thousand and one
(07:42):
audience now that may have been born after that during
the early twenties. It might be the first time seeing this,
but that's important. We all remember our first time experiencing things,
and our first time is going to have that. We
want people's experience at going to forth, going to a
movie theater and with the actual experience to be a
positive one. And I think that our experiences up notch.
(08:02):
That's the way to reach people.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
I believe.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
My guest right now is Jake Isgar, who is the
head of Alternative and Specialty Programming at Alamo Drafthouse. We're
together now on Twin Peaks Day as Alamo Drafthouse has
announced their March programming lineup, which will include In Dreams
Films of David Lynch, a month long retrospective of the
filmmaker and his masterpieces. We'll have more with Jake Zgar
(08:24):
in just a moment. It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI
AM six forty. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty with Mo Kelly.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
I should point out that I sit in front of
you and I can point out that Eraserhead is still
playing in a London movie house, that the runs of
Eraserhead in New York and San Francisco and Los Angeles
not only set precedence, there are people who's still go
back to see Eraserhead and talk about it and on
the way blue Velvet being a reality. I still think
(09:03):
of that meeting that was set up between you and
mel Brooks, and you were terrified. You told a friend
that you were afraid that if mel Brooks saw eraser Head,
you'd never get the job directing The Elephant.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Man on film.
Speaker 7 (09:15):
Then mel Brooks came out afterwards and said, before he
met you, he expected to meet someone that looked like
a short, fat German with spit running down his chin,
and he met this wonderful, open faced, all American kind
of guy who made him think of Jimmy Stewart thirty
five years ago. Now, since you've heard this before, why
(09:38):
do you think people have this preconceived.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Notion of you, David, Well, it's pretty obvious.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
But this is what films for me are all about.
There's a surface of life and this is the tip
of the iceberg, and then there's so much beneath the surface,
and that's the interesting bits you can never tell.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
You can't judge your book by the cover, too true.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I am six forty it's later with Mo Kelly and
I'm joined right now by Jake Isgar, head of Alternative
and Specialty Programming at Alamo Drafthouse. We are together here
on Twin Peaks Day as Alabo Draft House has announced
its March programming lineup, which includes In Dreams films of
David Lynch and Jake. Before the break, we went over
(10:27):
the whole experience, the communal experience of a movie theater,
how you're reaching out to younger would be and also
present patrons. Let's now get into In Dreams films of
David Lynch and connect all these things. How is this
month long retrospective going to fit in what Alibo draft
(10:49):
House does and does so very well.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
Ironically, we have been planning this program for this period
for several months, Like I had actually been laying this
out as early as mid December, uh and it was
going to be a little bit more focused and only
kind of cover a couple of his films. But given
the you know, what transpired in his passing, and we
felt it was really important to play as many of.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
His movies as possible. Uh.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
So we have all of his films represented in the step,
with the exception of The Straight Story, which we uh
speaking about theatrical experience and all of that an lpiece.
There's the business of it of you know, their titles
that you reach out to, reach out to you and
try to access and some you're not able to add
a certain scale. So we we you know, we're presenting
(11:34):
all of his films. It's not in chronological order. We
did our did our best to move and shake around those.
But I think that his movies, he often you know,
spoke about bringing people into a world and bringing people
into these spaces.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
And we you know, in Dreams.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Is the song that Dean Stockwell's characters uh lip syncs
in Blue Velvet, the wonderful Roy Orbison's song, So that
was a part of it. But his movies all deal
with a type of dream logic and nightmare logic at
the center of them. And I think that that sort
of language, like dream language and sounds are the basis
(12:14):
of just his cinema, but I think also the basis
of how we connect with things on a almost like
metaphysical level. When we watch we watch films collectively, it's
hitting your head, it's in your heart, it's in all
these different spaces and as movies there they share, you know,
a lot of a lot of feelings about you know, alienation,
(12:37):
about the alation particular of like post war America, about
what it's like to grow up in the suburbs. That's
what Kaal McGlaughlin's character does in Blue Velvet. He's this
kid that's coming back from school and kind of finding
himself into this mystery and slowly uncovering this like really
insidious sort of underbelly of this idyllic town. It's a
(12:57):
similar conceit that you see in the television show Twin
Peaks that's taken to an even greater degree in Firewalk
with Me. The world that's seen in the world that's
unseen and unspoken. I think it's at the center of
a lot of his work is his pictures that are
in Los Angeles. The sort of trio of Lost Highway,
(13:18):
mohalland Drive and The Inland Empire, I think kind of
speak to the rot of the dream factory of Hollywood
and Los Angeles, and Lost Highway in particular is one
that I always look at it as a transitional film
between Twin Peaks and the sort of idea of different
(13:38):
worlds people could live in, different personalities they take on.
And it's a movie that was written about He and
Barry Gifford, the novelists who put together Wild Air Heart.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
They've put this movie together after their.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
Feelings of the OJ Simpson trial, which was a tremendous
obviously pop cultural event, but also something that was specific
to the fabric of Los Angeles. And I think that
that movie in particular kind of hints at the sort
of dualities of of of the of things that Bill
Pullman just transforms into bout the Guards, Bath is Argetti
in the second half of this movie, Uh, and it
(14:10):
just becomes this like really unfurling noir. The Elephant Man
is a remarkable, remarkable movie based off of the stage
play and person's you know, real life John Merrick.
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
And it's a major you'd think a departure from you know,
something like Eraserhead, which was the only feature he completed
at that time. But it's this like remarkably like poignant
character drama that you know, it's it's it's it's risky,
beautiful movie. And then Dune is this movie that was
you know, claimed, is this disaster, is this thing that
(14:43):
almost kind of wrecked his love of movies. This picture
is supposed to be the next Star Wars and it wasn't,
but it was Doune and and I think Dune has
I think been reclaimed over time as this amazing, uh
type of of sci fi and pop master work. And
you can compare it to you know, the two Danny
Villa Nuth pictures that have come out since then. While
(15:06):
I mentioned Wild Apart earlier, that's a movie that was
met with a tommage derision when it first came out,
and it was him at the height of his height of.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
His like I think sort of.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Commercial success Twin Peaks on At that time, it was
on major network television, airing weekly which is insane to
think about in retrospect. Waldpart was a movie that premiered
at the can Film Festival and was notoriously booed for
its reception for how extreme it went in terms of
sex and violence. But at the end of the day,
it's him kind of making an ode to a fifties
(15:38):
Elevis road picture to the stories of like Young Love.
It feels much. It feels like the sort of ballad
in a lot of ways, like it reminds me a
lot of Marty Robbins's El Paso, one of those amazing
like story songs that kind of unfolds, and his movies
are just always kind of tapped into the levels of
Americana and levels of.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
The sort of cultural consciousness. It's nuts.
Speaker 5 (16:04):
I mean they all if they were in any other
filmmaker's body of work, they would be considered the greatest achievement.
But in my opinion, but the fact that this person
created this, this the slightest legacy or this artistic world
and this is just his features. I mean's he's an
accomplished like producer and musician.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
The TV show He's the TV show, Oh yeah, both,
you know.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Turn is one of the great pieces of art of
the past, like ten years if in twenty first century,
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
I wish we could show it, Jake.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I have to jump in it because my time with
you has run out, but I would love to be
able to offer some listeners an opportunity to attend in
Dreams Films of David Lynch at Alamo Draft House and
so let's give away two pairs tonight and then we'll
give away the other eight pairs later as part of
naming that movie called Classic. So to give away these
two pairs tonight, I need two numbers from you between one.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And ten.
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Numerology Arry Lynchian, I'll take three and seven, caller number
three and caller number seven.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Give us a call it eight hundred five two zero
one KFI eight hundred five two zero one five three
four caller number three, caller number seven. You and a
guest will have passes and to be able to attend
in Dreams Films of David Lynch as part of Alamo
Drafts House month long retrospective on the transcendent filmmaker and Jake.
I isgar who joins me now as head of Alternative
(17:29):
and Specialty Programming at Alamo Draft House. Thank you so
much for the opportunity, Thank you for sharing David Lynch's work,
and hopefully we get to talk to you again sometime soon.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
It was absolutely my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
Thank you so much for having me on, and I
hope you all have a chance to see his movies
with us.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty. We
are live everywhere in the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
And looking at the box office this week is kind
of good news bad news if you you were a
fan of Marvel movies. Captain America Brave New World still
number one did not lose any theaters. In other words,
there was no theater count drop off, but it had
about a sixty eight percent drop off from its opening weekend,
(18:17):
which is not good for any movie. But you also
have to put it in context. It's going to hit
three hundred million this week. It's going to hit three
hundred million, and it still has another five weeks or
so in theaters. It's probably going to break even or
probably even a little better, depending on how the next
couple of weeks Ago, and I am amazed.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Actually, I'm not amazed.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I am a bit surprised how hard people are trying
to go against this movie, as if they put their
own money into it, or they have some sort of
personal interest in seeing the movie fail.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
It's not going to fail, it's just not.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
It has another at least four to five weeks run,
and it's still in forty one hundred theaters, and it
hits three hundred million this week.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I think the break even is like four to twenty
five million.
Speaker 9 (19:07):
It's weird how the anti Cap campaign is so strong,
as if there is something inherently wrong with the film,
as if there is some reason why they should hate
it as much as they do. Now, you and Imo,
we may have our ideas as to why such outrage
(19:30):
for this film, but it's shocking a film that already
has said the fan base has turned against Ron Tomatoes
original reviews and said, nah, y'all put that out there
a little too early.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
We actually like.
Speaker 9 (19:44):
This film, And then it does better than any of
the previous Cap films before it in theaters, showing that
it is a success. It's a damn good film. It
may not be the best Marvel film ever, but you
know what they don't do with their in between films.
Every one of them is not a hit. The big
(20:05):
films are the hits.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
And the Avenger level films are expected to degenerate a
billion dollars. Yes, and when you have a movie like
Deadpool and Wolverine and all the cameos, that's like an
Avengers level movie.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
We do have Blade and Gambit.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
That's an Avengers level movie, even though we hadn't seen
them in previous MCU movies. This movie, you had one kip,
I don't want to give it away, one major cameo
and one very minor cameo.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
It's doing about what I expected to do.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
It's still number one, and I don't think anything of
consequences coming out next week, it will still be number one.
And I was looking for whether it was going to
be dropped from theaters, not box office drop off, but
drop from theaters, which says that the theaters don't think
that there's any interest in a movie. Didn't lose any theaters,
so that's the thing that I was looking for. And
(20:57):
it's per screen average. It's still number one in the country.
I don't know, you know, Yeah, the drop off was significant.
Relative to the great week it had the week before,
but it wasn't like it had a fair to middland
debut week and a precipitous drop off.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
And this film had.
Speaker 9 (21:20):
Of all of the recent Marvel films released, this film
actually had the lowest budget going into it. This film
was one hundred and eighty million one hundred that's peanuts
by comparison to the films that came before that really did.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
Not do good at all.
Speaker 9 (21:38):
Shagshi, The Eternals, at Man, and The Quantumania. These are
all films that had humongous budgets going into them, and
still and still they broke even. So today this to
say that this film will not break even it's ridiculous.
It only got like another one hundred million or so
to go.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I know that I'm not really good at math, but
I did decent in math. I think I got a
D plus and geometry. Not horrible at math. I can count, yeah,
I can count, Mark, Can you count on.
Speaker 8 (22:12):
My fingers to ten? Okay, you're halfway there? Eleven if
I go south a little further, okay, just.
Speaker 4 (22:23):
Very weird.
Speaker 8 (22:25):
I wonder what problem people could possibly have with this
capta in America movie like I said a couple of
weeks ago, it's not their best, but it is far
from their worst, far from it.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
My issue is the visceral response.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
There are movies that we don't like, will say we
don't like it, and we move on. It's not in
a personal affront to us. It's not like we need
to wage a campaign. It's like, how dare you watch
that movie? Look, it's for as much as I disliked
Avatar two and I didn't really believe in the box office.
It's not anything I'm trying to go on message boards
(22:58):
and talk about James Cameron and calling the movie woken.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Just the personal obsession that I.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
See with so many entities movie websites trying desperately to
make this movie into a failure. I wouldn't say confounds me.
I should say the emphasis on trying to achieve that
confounds me. The motivations behind it, No, they don't, not
at all, not even a little bit.
Speaker 8 (23:28):
Well, I haven't read the review at David Duke at
themovies dot com, but it sounds as if you're saying
there's something about this movie what sticks in people's cross.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
I'm talking about semi legitimate, reputable sites like I'll call
them out by name, Radar, Online, screen Rant and others,
which calls into question whether they're actually trying to review
a movie or they're trying to ruin a movie, because
you would think after the second or third week they
move on. And there was this steady drumbeat in advance
(23:59):
of the movie, and the continuing the drum beat after
it's been released in the week two. That says to
me that there is something more involved than just an
analysis of the movie itself.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
I stopped thinking about it after the week the week
I did too.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I did too, but I guess it's now a story
for an altogether different reason. And I was pointing it
out when in my battles with people on social media
first and when it was gonna fail at the box office.
Now it's like, well it hasn't made all of its
box office budget yet.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Back it's like, why do you keep moving the goalposts?
You know?
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Gone is the idea that it's going to be an
abject failure. Sorry, that train has already left the station.
It can't be that. So now it's like, well it's
gonna make all this money back, Well, it's not a
bigger hit as such and such. It just keeps sliding along.
What is the hate for this movie? It's not on
the merits of the on screen product. I'm just racking
(24:57):
my brain. I can't figure out why there is so
much much pushback against Anthony Mackie as Captain America. I
can't quite put my finger on it.
Speaker 9 (25:07):
It's so darn weird. Remember this film also opened in
fewer theaters total than most any other film of its kind.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Yes, it did.
Speaker 9 (25:22):
So, even four hundred feet so it already started behind
the behind the starting line. It didn't even start at
the starting line.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I was going to I didn't want you could you know?
Wasn't behind the Q ball. I'll wait. That was good.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
That was like a double an Ye, little self dealing there,
I know it was. But the bottom line is some
things are pretty transparent. This movie is not being judged
on merits. This movie is being analyzed to an American
political lens.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
How do I know?
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Because it's international take is higher than the US ever
so slightly.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
It's still a very balanced movie.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
But internationally it's brought in more money than domestically, which
says that people who are not invested in this whole
political ecosystem and making sure movies represent our own political
viewpoints and worldviews.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
And people are just watching it as a movie. They
enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Imagine that because there are fewer people who are viewing
it put potentially as far as a number of theaters
outside the US than there are inside the US, and
they have flocked to the movie. And it's not what
I'm saying, it's just what the math is saying. It's
Later with mo Kelly.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Hey, Mark, have you started watching Zero Day? Because I
just started on Netflix. I'm like two episodes in. And
for those who don't know, Zero Day is about a
massive cyber attack which shuts down all of America and
there's a threat that they're going to do it again.
It's a limited series about six episodes, so I'm two
set two episodes in.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Where are You?
Speaker 8 (27:16):
I'm about where you are? Started watching it last night
made me kind of tense, so to I. It stars
Robert de Niro.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
He plays an ex president and I won't give away
too much, but some of the characters are on the
nose as far as analogus for real people, we know.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
That's the way I perceive it well, and real things.
Speaker 8 (27:36):
You imagine that de Niro himself would probably want to
say right.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Right, But I think it's a more muted performance for him,
kind of understated so far.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Compared to what he said publicly.
Speaker 8 (27:48):
Yeah, I don't think we need to go in any
further nomail on that.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
No, we don't, but there's a lot of topical fodder,
particularly is when it comes to debates about privacy and
so forth. I think it's worth a watch. I don't
think it's great, but it's good enough to keep my attention.
Speaker 8 (28:06):
In case you haven't read the Sinclair Lewis novel, it
can't happen here. First of all, put it on your
list because it's happening. This seemed to me last night
as I was sitting through the two hours of the
first couple episodes, like a kind of a modernization of
that story.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Sounds like it. But it's holding my attention, so I'll
probably have a full review before the end of the week.
Speaker 8 (28:28):
Oh you're gonna go home and watch the rest tonight?
I know you, Yes, I am.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And for my final thought before we get out of here,
the morning started in an uncomfortable way, of course, with
the passing the reported passing ROBERTA. Flack, and the easy
way to describe her musical contributions is that she wrote
some of the most memorable and impactful love songs of
(28:53):
all time. No hyperbole. My all time favorite of Flack
was feel Like Making Love. I would play all music,
but it's not gonna last in the podcast. We can't
put it in so charge that to us. But you
know her music. My favorite was feel Like Making Love,
but the world also knows her name for songs like
tonight I Celebrate My love, her duets with Donny Hathaway,
(29:18):
The Closer, I Get to you?
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Where is the Love?
Speaker 2 (29:22):
No, you don't want me to sing it, but you
just have should I twalla, just like a lot of it?
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Where is the love? Where is the love? That's where
it's love?
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Closer, I get to you, The Closer, I get to you.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
You know with.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
In rush hour they stay in a rush hour. Okay, let
me be serious.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face another one
of her hits, and of course killing Me Softly. In fact,
the last two The first time I Ever Saw your
Face and killing Me Softly. I bet you don't know this.
They won back to back Record of the Year. Gravity's
unprecedented at the time. And I can't personally personally remember
(30:07):
a time in which her music wasn't played in my house.
And there's a kind of a personal connection here. My
parents were in the Howard University choir with ROBERTA. Flack
while they were in college, so they had a rapport.
So her music was always on in the house, and
I was listening to her music, I guess long before
(30:29):
other people, because her music was much older than me,
listening to songs like the closer I Get to You,
Where is the Love Tonight?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I celebrate?
Speaker 2 (30:37):
My love had nothing for me as a child, but
I had a greater appreciation of her music and Donnie
Hathaway's by extension, by the time I got older. And
here's the best part of ROBERTA. Flack, unfortunately, even though
she had to pass, But this is the best part
of moments just like these, because ROBERTA. Flack, of course
(30:59):
was and it's being rediscovered right now, but also rediscovered
many years ago. Remember when the Fujis did their cover
of Killing Me Softly? And the funny thing is you
talk to someone under thirty they have no reference point
with ROBERTA. Flack in that song and killing me softly.
They think the Fujis were the ones who originally did it,
(31:21):
and no they didn't.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
They think of Lauren Hill and saying it.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
It's like, no, it's a nice rendition, a nice cover,
but it's ROBERTA.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Flax's song.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
But nobody has duplicated her impact on music or created
the melodies which would endure for generations. You can sample it,
you can do a cover it, but you can't really
create that magic. And that, for me, is the truest
test of the strength of someone's legacy.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Will they know.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Your name and your positive contributions after you're gone, beyond
just the memory of your living relatives.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I'm confident that ROBERTA.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Flax's music still will be played one hundred years from now,
long after you Me, Tuala, Mark Stephen, everyone listening right
now are also gone. Don't want to be morbid, But
one hundred years from now, they still will be listening
to ROBERTA. Flack, and people will still continue to enjoy
(32:21):
the majesty of her music. They will her music will
continue to help people fall in love, find the love,
celebrate their love and rededicate their love. And you know what,
that's not a bad legacy to leave. We should all
be so lucky. Rest in power, ROBERTA. Flack, Your eighty
eight years will be easily outlasted by all the time.
(32:43):
In the future, the world will celebrate your music for
k I am six forty I'm mo Kelly.
Speaker 5 (32:49):
KFI is literally the Kfi of talk radio k FI
and KOSTHD two Los Angeles, Orange County, everywhere on the
Younger radio app
Later, with Mo'Kelly News
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