March 20, 2026 • 33 mins
In this episode, Benjamin Norris and Brose of Avard dive into the cinematic mission of reviewing the film "Project Hail Mary". They share a hilarious story about their cinema experience, where they were initially excited to watch the film but ended up stuck in a technical difficulty. The hosts discuss the film's unique blend of humour, science and self-discovery Plus explore themes of identity, purpose and legacy. They also praise the film's practical effects, costumes and score. Discuss the chemistry between the lead actors, Ryan Gosling and the ensemble cast. Inc a robot.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload, the podcast Last Pig That Lie Yet Everyone,
Welcome back to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris
and once again I'm joined by my co pilot, the
Rocky of North Melbourne for this cinematic mission, Brose of Art.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good day to you, sir, Good day to you, and
what a film to unpack today project Hey how Mary?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Which is funny because you were saying before we went
into it, you were like, you know, oh, I think
it's a pop conflict. I don't think it's going to
be as complex as The Martian. But then we've quickly
realized afterwards that it's actually based on a book but
the same author.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Same author. It is the same author as The Martian,
and it makes sense it's got a similar I mean,
if it wasn't by the same author, then it was
by someone who'd read The Martian. Perhaps, I don't know.
There are a lot of similarities in the Martian and
a lot of other space going films we found as
we watched it was a bit of a plava to
get to watch it though. Should we start with this
before we get into the review, Ben, should we tell
(00:58):
our a little tale of woe? Should we share our
little incident that happened We went to the cinema to
watch this film. We sat in the cinema. I'm not
sure should we name in Shane? I think we should.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We went to We should because they re shared my
tweet last night because I tweeted them in to say
we were seeing in a project hal Mary in their
fabulous cinema and that's where things went south. But they
re shared that without realizing that, in fact, we did
not get to see the movie in their fabulous theater.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So we're at Houts Melbourne Central. As we said last week,
we'd be at either Houts or the District and guess what, guys,
we're at both. So we're sitting at the Heutz in
Melbourne Central. We get we watched what ten minutes do
we think ten minutes of the film, and then it
just went to black and it wasn't space black with
a few stars dotted around. It was just pitch black
(01:47):
as in the film stopped working and then we just
sat there in darkness for a while, and eventually a
twelve year old came out and told us that there
was a technical difficulty, which we surmised. I think we'd
already worked that out.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And you are correct that there was a young person.
A young person came in and told us that the
movie would not be happening and that they could offered us,
you know, a refund or other options.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
But let me just say too, by the way, that
cinema is a large cinema at Houts Melbourne Center, and
it was full, it was ran back. It was awesome
to see as a cinema full of people. It's the
same one they used for the big Blockbuster previews and stuff.
It was very exciting to see a full cinema. And
I was excited to see the movie.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think it's so great to see that many people
going along, paying to be in cinema, watching it as
a community event like that. And I and it was
great because in the ten minutes we got to see it,
i'max Hoots Melbourne Central, there was a really good laugh
right at the start. And what I noticed about going
back and rewatching it at the other cinema.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, which was about thirty people in there. It was
a much smaller audience.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, Yeah, it was much smaller audience because it was Yeah,
it's a smaller cinema, and actually it was quite full.
When I went to the bathroom, I could see that,
you know, there was a lot of people in there.
But it did lack the laughter from that first.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Gag, and I found myself laughing on It felt like
I was laughing on my own a lot during the
film when there were funny moments, whereas in that big
cinema it would have been awesome. And when you've got
a big blockbuster like this and it's supposed to be
a big money maker and it's supposed to be good
for movies in general, it's a shame that I don't
know that they just don't There was something lacking, and
I don't know if it's I don't know what fell
(03:20):
through on Thursday night at Melbourne Central, but it's disappointing
that what looked like a couple hundred people a few
hundred people were turned away and there wasn't a secondary
option immediately available by any means either. We found that
there was a screening at the District at Docklands and
we realized it about what ten to seven or so
that if we busted our chops. Is that not even
(03:42):
the word I wanted to I tailed down there. If
we high tailed down there, then we'd be able to
get to see that screen. But it wasn't the Imax screening,
which I am disappointed, which I guess, well, we might
have to I might have to go and see it
again in Imax.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
But get to stress to people that they have to
go and see this movie in Imax because the difference
in what we saw in that ten minutes to what
we saw in the other cinema in terms of cinema scale,
it's such an impressive film that needs to be in
the IMAX.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I agree. And I was shot in Imax and it's
you know, it's a space epic in some ways, and
you know it deserves to be seen the way that
it was was shot.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And full disclosure, I appreciated you laughing with those gags
as though you were watching a Jim Carrey movie in
the nineties, whilst the rest of the cinema did not
make a noise, nothing, no.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Not a peep, not a peep. And anyway, let's do
the intro and then we can talk about the film.
It was disappointing, Hoyts. That's all I'm going to say. Ben,
you're going to tell us what this thing's about.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Ryan Gosling, alone in space, trying to save the entire
planet with science vibes and honestly some questionable social skills.
This film, it did more for me than I thought
it was going to. I don't know, how how do
you describe this, bros? Like, how did you describe this film?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I don't know. Yeah, it's a man alone in space.
He's trying to get he's trying to get over his
own well, he's trying to discover who he is in
more ways than one, I guess is one of the
big things all the way through this And.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Before we get into it, let's just play a little
thirty second promo so that people can get a gist
of what we saw and hopefully what they will see soon.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Please state to your name, Ryman Grace.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Please woke up from a coma. There's several light years
from my apartment. And I'm not an astronaut. I'm not
an astrono.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm not an astronaut.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
If you don't go, you die with the rest of us.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
The sun is dying.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
You're the only scientists who might know what this is.
I'm just a teacher at Glover Cleveland middle. You have
a doctorate in molecular biology. I need you to come
with us. This is project Tell Mary, the Sun is
not the only star dying. Every star was infected by
its neighbor except one, which is why we build a
ship to go there and find out it's eleven point
(06:04):
nine light years a week b astronauts Diane's base. That's
why do you Americas for color lung?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Shut hell, Mary, I get it.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Well.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I was just going to say, after this, should we
do nothing? Everything on a planet book going sting?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, you know, bros, if you woke up in space
alone with no memory, how long would it take before
you would panic?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, I mean his reaction without I don't want to
give anything away too much, but his reaction is exactly
what my reaction would have been, and probably longer than
he did. He wallowed for a while, and I reckon
I would. Yeah, it'll be intense, And that opening sequence
is it is quite funny, so let people, you know,
laugh at it. It is quite funny. Waking up and then
(06:49):
having a robot shove clippers in your face is kind
of startling. But yeah, no, exactly as he did is
exactly how I would have reacted like, it's such a
bizarre idea that when we've looked that kind of thing
before alien alien films, I should say discuss that idea
of going into hypersleep whatever they call it, because you're
going to be traveling years and years and years and
you wake up when you've arrived at your destination. But
(07:10):
I like this take on it. It was a bit
unique and a bit different. I'm not sure if it's
from the book or from the writers, but yeah, it
was excellent.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
The first last really sets the tone for this movie.
I don't know of everyone who'd seen the trailer knew
a few of the elements, Like there's quite a lot
that they held back from that trailer to set the
tone for this film. But it is very much a
space film. But it's very funny, it's very deep, and
there are aliens.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And it's the subtext of this film, as we talked
a little bit about it last night without getting too
far into it. So there are themes of, like, you know,
self discovery and self esteem and pushing yourself a little
bit harder to achieve things. It's that kind of stuff
that made this film all the more enjoyable for me.
It was more than just a guy in space trying
to fix things. It was a guy in space trying
(07:53):
to overcome his own belief in himself and his own
belief of who he is. And that's quite spectacular. So
those are and so connected with quite well.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And I also think that what I've realized from these
films is that I like characters in Solitude and there
is a few reference points to Castaway, you know. And
I was thinking to yeah, right, because I'm like the
alien in this movie is that of the volleyball to
Tom Hanks in Castaway? You know. I think there's an
emotional relationship that's developed there that's very similar. But there's
(08:24):
something about putting a man or a woman alone in
a space where they have to you know, tell the story,
you know, and and survive.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
They use a couple of devices in this film, but
definitely the And this is an alien film, by the way,
which is not udn't think all that obvious in the
trailer and we're not giving too much away, but because
it becomes an alien film very quickly, a friendly alien film,
I should.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Say, pro romance or something.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, romance. Yeah, there's there's bro hugging and fisting bumps
and all kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
To be careful with the word fisting, But yes, do
you know what I think? And I want to ask
you this question. There's a lot of practical effects in
this film, and I think that the practical effects really
helped with the dynamics between the relationships of said alien
Rocky and Ryan Gosling's character. Do you think of it
was CGI, that it might not have been as believable.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I don't know, And that comes down to a lot
of factors. What I love is, you know you kind
of want that invisible connection between the practical and the CGI.
I don't want to know which is which when I
watch a film like this, and if that helped the actor,
if that helped Ryan Gosling connect better, and I mean
the things that you'd obviously would want to do practically anyway,
I don't think you'd want this set to be one
of those blue sets. Warren Gosling moves around like. I
(09:38):
like the fact that it's a practical set, But I
don't know. To me, I don't have a preference one
or the other. As long as it's I can't tell
the difference, And you know it all works to tell
the story. But yeah, I do love that this film
has a bit of an eighties kind of throwback feel
as well, which we did discuss last night as well.
It's got a bit of an et feel or a
Mac and Me or the Explorers if anyone saw the
Explorers back in the day.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Flood of the Natigator.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Oh yeah, definitely. It's got a bit of a fifth
Element kind of feel too at times, with the carvings
on Rocky and things like that. So it's got a
very warm feeling and that you feel like you're in
a familiar place the whole time, even though we're in
the middle of space and you know, very far away
from anything except Venus. So yeah, I thought that was
very very cool too. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wrote
(10:20):
and directed based on the on the original book. As
we've mentioned that it's an adaptation, but they did the
Spider Verse films and the first Lego movie they did,
and they executive produced on Brooklyn ninety nine with Andy Samberg.
These are a couple of guys that are very very
solid writers. They did the Cloudy with This Chance of
meat Balls films as well, very clever, very intelligent, very
(10:41):
sharp humor as well, and all of that comes through
in this film. But this, I would say is their
first super serious film that they've written and directed together.
A lot of lightness, a lot of lightness, a lot
of levity, and you know, some really good character stuff,
and that's I think that what makes us film so watchable.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, if you look at some of those films, when
I saw Spider Man into the Spider Verse and I
saw the Lego movie, I wasn't expecting the depth and
humor to be so well intricated. Like, yeah, if that's
the word, it works really well for these guys. They
managed to give a lot of heart to the humor
and to the situation.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
It just be very adult though obviously a bunch of
those films or animations so they tend towards younger audiences,
but this does feel like they're very much there. They're
stepping out as adult film. Makes is their adult movie.
I think they nailed it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, considering that this is a story about Ryan Gosling,
a school teacher who gets sent to space and survives
up there for you know, however long. I don't want
to give that away, but that's a pretty unbelievable thing
for the audience to get on board with. But these
guys managed to create that and make us believe that
it's possible.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I mean, there's some backstory to how he became a
teacher as well, so he's not just a teacher, but
we'll let you to discover that as we go. But
what's great too about him being a teacher on top
of what he was before he was a teacher, is
that they kind of use his experience as a teacher
to inform some of what his character does throughout the film,
which is really nice as well. You know, it's not
like being a teacher was just like some job that
(12:06):
he picked up because he had no other choice. He
you know, really embraces that role and it matches his personality,
and then he gets to use that with Rocky on
the ship and later on as well. I think it's
a really nice touch. It's a more of a tribute
or a bit of a celebration of teachers as much
as it is scientists.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I think, yes. And I also want to just jump
in here with a side fact that has nothing to
do with anything you've just said. How good was the
costuming in this film? Did you not want to buy
every because I know.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You're every T shirt, every single TE shirt.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You had a heart on for every T shirt. Ryan
goslingg got out and I think everyone that will watch
this movie will be noticing the fashion or the styling.
It was so amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
If they don't release the project how Mary Trucker caps,
I'll be very disappointed because I'd love a project help
Mary cap. They looked fantastic. He wore a T shirt
from the musical Cats at one point, the poster with
just the eyes on it. Ah, it's just brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So many little nuggets like that that you can tell
they've spent a lot of time working on. But the
interesting thing that I don't know if you clocked, was
that pretty much every time we had a scene change,
he was in a different T shirt. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
We were not watching him wear the same T shirts again,
which I thought was really an interesting decision because I
just how much did you pack in the space.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I just assumed that he'd gone through without giving too
much away, he'd gone through everybody's luggage, yeah, and just
you know, snatched stuff that he liked. And you know,
Ryan Gosling is so slender that he could fit into
men's or women's T shirts. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I just did am I correct by saying that through
the movie you then mentioned to me that it could
have been better with a different actor.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
That's what I actually said was, I can't really imagine
another actor, and I was trying to work out who
else might be able to pull it off. And obviously
Matt Damon's done it in The Marshall already, but I
don't know if he'd get the humor. My point was
because there's such a balance between the humanity and the
humor and even just the science uff all the way
through it. I can't think of many other if there
are any other actors that could have nailed it the
(14:04):
way Ryan Gosling did, so I did. Who did? I
suggest at one point Ryan Reynolds is someone that you
might think.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Of, But no, he couldn't do this. Ryan Reynolds.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
They need lean more towards the goofy than the serious potentially,
so he's not it. Like I was mentally trying to,
you know, go through a list of actors that you
might you know, cast and then crossing them off and
leaving me with Ryan Reynolds. And I feel like Barbie
is a huge factor in that because we did see
his ability to nail comedy, and he can do subtle
comedy as well as broad comedy, and he maintains a
(14:35):
humanity like that Ken character had a lot of humanity
for a doll. And you know, you wouldn't have thought
maybe you wouldn't have thought of Brian Gosling five years
ago or six years ago.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
You know, this is very much a Hymn film though.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
This is a point, and I couldn't think of anyone
that I would recast him with. That was my point.
Who would you like? I don't think there is anyone.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
No one could have done this. The interesting thing about
Ryan Gosling at the moment is that we always feel
seen by him like this small part of all of
us that is a little bit weird and quirky, and
we're all complex people, do you know what I mean?
And yeah, exactly effortlessly creates this complex character that's relatable
to I think everyone.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It's one of those things with Ryan Gosling where I've
always loved him in all of his films, and I've
always thought he was a solid actor. But you know,
you're just kind of waiting for that one performance or
a couple of performances that elevate him to being you know,
like I don't know, Oscar Worthy or something, you know,
being one of those upper reschelon actors. He's always just
kind of drifted around the middle, doing great things in
great films, but never being the great actor himself, if
(15:34):
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Is he believable as a scientist? Do you think?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah? I thought he was great the way that he
handled that and losing his memory and then having some
of that those gags there where who remembers things?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Skipping timelines can be really interesting in these films if
we're going back and forward too much, because you're quite
often thinking, oh, where are we? But this film does
this in a way that I've never seen before. We're
just as interested in the current story as we are
in going back and forward. It feels like it's all
seamlessly being put together. And I think Ryan Gosling has
done that well, considering that it really changed his looks
(16:05):
too much, you know, because normally you exactly, oh, here
we go, here's the young version of him. So they've
given us, like what we saw with the movie the
week before, we got that guy with a bum fluff
you know, so.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Because they didn't ever going to talk about reminders of
him ever again, ever again. Yeah, I think those flashbacks
worked quite well and they were timed well. They were
placed well within the inverted Commas current day narrative or
the you know, lost in space narrative, and that you know,
they explained little bits and pieces, you know, as you
watch the current day narrative, like, oh, what's that all about,
then we go to a flashback and explain a little
(16:36):
bit more, and you know, we could put the pieces
together as we went. It was almost a bit of
a subtle kind of mystery all the way through as
he's trying to work out who he is and where
he is and why he's there, and then you know,
they slowly tell us and then the reveal right at
the end, which I won't give away, was just spectacular
because you know, you're, you know, thinking about it the
whole time and then they show you. So that's nice.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Andrew, who I only really knew from Anatomy of a
Fall you'd seen her in something else is that.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
She's in Zone of Interest as well. Have you seen
Zone of Interest? It's a very dark film about the
commandant of of our switch building a garden and house
like a state next to the concentration camp.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
That's right. She was in two films that year, so
she was She brings a really grounded, authentic performance to
this and I think, you know, considering that all nations
leaders are involved in making decisions for them to go
to space, that's a really smart element to bring her in.
I mean, you could have had a number of other
actors in this role, but I think her, with the
(17:36):
accent and everything, she pulled this off and gave this
film some gravitas.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
You know, she's a military woman, and she comes across
as a military woman but still has a bit of
empathy kind of in there. But yeah, she does a
fantastic job, and her and Gosling seem to have really
good chemistry on screen too, which they really did. It's
an unusual relationship in some ways, but the chemistry was
definitely there. Like there's one particle you're saying that if
(18:00):
one or other had leaned in for a kiss, it
wouldn't have seemed out of place at all.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
That's we were doing that.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
There's no romantic interest in this film at all between
a man and a woman. But you know, we've already
talked about the romance, but it was incredible and that
was quite magnetic watching them on screen together that they
just I don't know, it just seems so easy and relaxed,
and there's great chemistry between the two of them every
time they're on screen together.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Because it could have been like this big pop conflict,
but there's like sort of an art house feel to
this whole film. It's kind of what does bespoke mean?
I feel like this is this very intricate movie and
I feel like that's the terms that I want to
use without properly understanding that definition.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Well, look, I'm not going to discourage you from using
the term bespoke, even if it's not quite right. But
I like what you're saying, Like, I know what you're saying,
Like every element of this film feels handcrafted and intentional,
which is probably what you're taking from bespoke. You know,
it's not just thrown together, not that films are generally,
but it's not just let's get this bit done because
(19:00):
it needs to be done. That it's been crafted by
the directors, and the screenplay's being crafted, and the actors
have crafted it, and obviously everyone else that's involved production
design and so forth, costumes, but it does. It does
feel like it's very hands on, does feel more like
it's seeing a play or something where each minute is
you know, discussed and directed and created, rather than a
movie where you just got in two seconds. Do your
(19:22):
lines next, we'll move on, kind of Clint Eastward style.
So not that his films aren't great, but it's.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Kind of problem solving versus action. When you're used to
going and seeing like a space big film, you're expecting
big action sequences, and that's where they've kind of lost me.
You know, when you're watching it and at the end
of the movie, there's got to be all these spaceships
flying around everywhere and there's this big moment, and I'm like,
I didn't need that. And that's what this film does well.
It doesn't lean into any of those old space warish
(19:50):
type films. For me, the thing that really lands with
this film is the conversation about our life, about who
we are and what we want to achieve and what
our purpose is. And I thought that's where there's such
an emotional undertone the whole way through this movie where
it made me think about this. It made me think
(20:11):
about the value of my life and what I need
to achieve before I die.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, exactly. There is a line, a really good line
in that kind of twist part that I loved, which
Karl says, who's kind of the security cia, kind of
guy that hovers around Grace played by Lionel Boyce, who's
also in The Bear, plays Marcus in The Bear. But
that little line there again, I don't want to give
anything away, is really sharp, really cleanly showing us those
(20:38):
themes of you know who you are and who you
want to be and what your legacy wants to be
and things like that.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So did it make you think about that as well?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah? And that's what I loved about the film is
that you're not just thinking about the space of it all,
You're also thinking about the humanity of it all and
the self image of it all.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It is a movie that has certainly not been made
just for the closeted and closet nerd fans that are
like science science fiction nerd fans. It's not there's at all.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
This could have been set in the wilderness, This could
have been.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Set you could have isolated him anywhere.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Do you know what the stock market like any situation
you can get someone alone with they have to think
about these things, you know, in any situation. Yeah, it
was spectacular, but the space of it all is exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
When you're in a movie and you're sitting next to you,
you can actually feel that you are too detoing in
your seat when a score is amazing. A but the
score of this film is incredible, and it really takes
you the whole way through the movie seamlessly. But it
also gives you something that you referenced a few weeks
ago about your desire for a film to have a theme,
(21:38):
a big orchestral theme. Yeah, it's powerful.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, I think the score not only is it a
really well written score, and like you're saying, there are
some strong themes Musically all the way through it. It felt
like an old school John Williams kind of theme in
some ways. But it's just the cues are just used
perfectly all the way through it. And you know, there's
a really exciting moment where there's a big, kind of
happy score that's bouncing along, but then the way the
(22:03):
score pulls itself back to be a little bit more
subtle underneath what happens immediately after, Like there's just some
really beautiful work done. All the way through this. I
was absolutely blown away. It didn't feel cut and paste
at all. It felt like, you know, every every note
was written to go, you know, next to every action
that happened on screen. Daniel Pemberton was the was the
composer who did the Trial of the Chicago Seven. Did
(22:25):
you see that one? Though? I did say that that
was Aaron Sorgan. He did Steve Steve Jobs, which is
also Aaron.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Spiderman into the Spider Verse.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And into the Spider Verse as well. Yeah, and Slow Horses,
which people are absolutely loving on Apple TV at the
moment as well.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
We've got friends that are obsessed with that. Yeah, they
love that that series.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
How did you feel about We talked a little bit
about this last night, but how did you feel about
the what I'll call drop needles or the pop music
tracks throughout this film? There's only probably about three or
four or five iound what.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
You were saying so like this is you know you
were saying that, you know, I'm.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Still developing a theory though I haven't settled on it yet.
But it's just I find in films at the moment,
and they're films being made by people around my age,
and so I absolutely get the references, but I just
think some of the music references that are used are
a bit old. And there are a couple of old
folk tracks used in this, and there's a Beatles track
I won't give away used in this, and I just
wonder if there aren't more recent, you know, like sixty
(23:17):
year old tracks are being used in a brand new film.
I don't know if there aren't more recent musical references
that people could be using in a similar way that
would make I don't know, the film feel a little
bit more contemporary. But maybe that's the idea that you
want to make it feel ageless by using old films.
I'm not saying I'm for or against it. I'm just
curious about the fact that there are a lot of
films being made using old music throughout them. And I'm
(23:38):
not talking about in the Stranger Things way or the
James Gunn way of you know, revitalizing old songs. I'm
talking about, you know, even background music.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
There's something about like a warm Sunday afternoon, being wrapped
up in a blanket and watching a Sunday moving movie
that I think comes from digging out a classic on
the wheel.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
This isn't a Sunday movie, This is a Friday night.
This is a full cinema. This is full of energy,
this is excitement, And if they want to get the
younger people into the cinema, maybe the references in the
music should be a little bit more contemporary than nineteen
sixty eight or something. That's all, well, they.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Need to invest I mean, that's the same thing across
everything at the moment. You know, there's a real struggle
to get young people's eyeballs on stuff because they're so
connected to short, sharp pieces of information with their phones,
and there needs to be an investment in bringing in there.
And maybe you are right, and that investment making film
is to include music that they're more familiar with. But
I think with this particular movie where they did make
(24:33):
those choices, I needed that warmth. I needed that bit
of nostalgic sort of in your DNA type music. You know,
when you hear the start of a song, you go, oh,
this is my childhood this You've got a lot of
reference points to this song. And I think that's why
those choices were made for this film.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, yeah, And look, I've got no problem with the
creative choices, and my reaction is the same as yours.
When that Beatles song came on, I was humming along
and maybe singing along little bit, getting into it, and
it was a beautiful little moment.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Well, there was a dance routine that you also did,
which was very impressive.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Was I r too detoying again or.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I think that you are very much like myself. Not
last night because I was very tired, But normally when
I watched a movie, I react with my entire body,
the whole being.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, I watch it with my whole body.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
And we were talking a lot about our alien friend,
who was given the voice by James Ortis. I thought
did an amazing job to give that character connection so much.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Yeah, what's even more spectacular is he doesn't have a
lot of acting credits.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
He didn't and I'm looking at them now, like he's
done The Woodsman in twenty sixteen. That role could have
easily been done by like another big name, But I
actually think it worked having you know, this person who
is more of a character actor.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I thought it was great casting because his voice was
unique and it's uniquely his, but at the same time
felt familiar and it felt like something we'd heard before,
if that makes sense. Absolutely, and there were times where
he delivered different lines where he sounded maybe like another
actor that we knew. There was a real It was
a real incredible performance in terms of he didn't sound
like he was impersonating anyone, but he did sound familiar.
(26:10):
And at no point was I listening to that voice
going that's a weird choice. It just felt right, It
just felt natural, and it felt for We.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Went with them on the journey with the selection of
the voice, which was real funny, very clever. It's the
of the movie Meryl Street reference there, but I kudos
to Merrill for providing her voice for that moment. But look,
I think that when I will look back at this movie,
much like I look back at Castaway and I think
of the Volleyball Wilson, I think I'll be thinking about
(26:39):
our friend Rocky.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, he's definitely up there. As were saying earlier, everything
in this film has a familiarity. That's something that they've
worked really hard to do. And Rocky again has that
throwback feel that I was mentioning earlier. You know, he
does feel like other aliens we've met at other times
in different ways is that The Explorers where the aliens
talk entirely with quoting from TV, which is a funny
(27:01):
gag in that, and like it's got all that kind
of eighties feel, which you know, Lord and Miller obviously
are familiar with the eighties nineties alien kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
And they referenced that there's a moment in the movie
where you can you swear that you're in two thousand
and one space ot to see the first time you
saw it. There was a music node to that, you
know that made us go, is that the music from this?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, there was a musical reference.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
It was no, there was a music reference to close encounter.
There was definitely that. There was the Doo doo do.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, And I was like, so these people were very
clever into weaving some of those nods to the classic
space films that came before it.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, and it looks spectacular this film as well.
And I just wanted to point out a couple of
people we don't normally talk about some of the other people,
but the dop for this we do always talk about.
That was Greg Greg Fraser, who did June more Right
quite recently in Rogue One a Star Wars story. He
did The Batman, the more recent Batman film, and it
makes sense. This feels like a confident cinematographer for and
(28:03):
he does a great job. He makes it feel epic.
And the production design is Charles Wood who did Guardians,
the Galaxy, Avengers Endgame dtr Strange. You know he's got
some credit, this guy. You can feel it.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Lord and Miller have brought together in the studio, brought
together just the perfect group of people to make this
film believable and authentic and brilliant. So it's just nice
to shout those people out as well that did an
amazing job making the film look great.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I feel like we need to move into our review
on this film just because of our runtime. But I
would say this film for a lot of people that
I know, and this is what I said to you
before we went in. A friend of mine who is
savage and votes for the Golden Blood, gave this movie
four and a half stars. When she normally gives these
sorts of films like the movie you'll finish and you'll
(28:49):
think you've seen something original, something new, something exciting, and
she'd be like one star, and always she dropped a
four point five on that, But then another friend of
mine's saw it and said that they hated it and
said it was too long. It dragged on now for me,
I don't know whether it's because I was a little
bit tired, but I feel like this is like what
(29:10):
happened with Wuthering Heights. I think today I'm going to
give it a review, which I think is going to
be a grower, not a shower project. Hail Mary is
going to be something I'm going to watch again and
love more and more the more I become familiar with it,
if that has any sense. Overall, the runtime does kill
this movie if you ask me, there is a lot
(29:31):
that could have been taken out of it.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
If you ask a tired Ben who saw it last
night after very little sleep.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I don't understand these run times. I really don't understand it.
This movie should have been a four, and I'm going
to give it a three and a half and I'm
only going to I'm giving it a three and a half.
There's some really good conversational pieces for you to walk
out in cinema and talk to your friends about. There
is some heart in this film that I feel like
has been lacking. There's some originality in the story which
(29:58):
I think has been missing from s. It did feel like,
whilst there was some nostalgic beats, that this film gave
us something unique and original.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, and that's a good point to finish on. I
know we've hailed back to references to old films and
being nostalgic, etc. But it is a completely original thing
and at no point do you feel like they're stealing
or they're just retreading old ground, or they're doing what
everyone's done before. New territories, new territory, and those nostalgic
(30:27):
elements are just there to bring this amazing familiarity which
helps you connect with the characters rather than disconnect and
feel like it's ripping someone off. So that's a good
point to finish up on, or close to. For me,
this is easily a four out of five, and I
think in time, Ben, it's going to be a four
out of five for you too. This is my first four,
I think for the whole run so far. I've mean
(30:47):
saving those fours and fives for the right films. But yeah,
like you're saying, it's layered, it's textured, it's a space film,
but it's full of humanity and it's got an alien,
I should say, and it's full of humanity. So it
was a spectacular film to see. The end I think
could have been tightened up a fraction, but you know,
it left you with a nice feeling. So I guess
that's what you want when you walk out of a
film like this, especially when you're committing it's only what
(31:09):
two and a half hours? I think two hours thirty six,
and I think, yeah, if you one as tired, I
think you would have enjoyed the film a lot more.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I'm going to enjoy it more than next time I'm
facing Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. It definitely needs to be
seen multiple times.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
If you probably the first film in this a lot
of episodes we've done so far that genuinely that is
the case. This is a muss rewatch, and you're going
to enjoy it more and more each time. A solid
four out of five. Just I've enjoyed the hell out
of it. Yeah, I thought it was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
And next week we will be talking about something very emotional,
because I think you and I both have been very
excited about going and seeing this. It is a G
rated kids film that.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
A lot of people. Oh yes, we.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Are heading to the Magic Faraway Tree, which I'm very
excited about. So that is a release for March twenty sixth,
and we will be unpacking that next week. Bros, I
want to know, is this one of the books that
you were brought up reading?
Speaker 2 (31:56):
No, this is not one of my books. But I
have a lot of female for University onwards. They grew
up with this and have a lot of emotional attachment
to this book, and you grew up with it.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Now. My mum used to read me by right, was
a child educated for her career, and she was big
into making sure that her children were readers because she's
a big reader herself. It was of an age where
you know, your mum would hop into bed and read
a book with you, and there.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Was that's lovely. My mum never did that. Did not
do that.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Oh my god. My mom would hop into bed and
do story time before we'd go to sleep and read books,
which progressed into her reading books, you know, like roll
Dal books and things until we read them ourselves.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
But I was definitely a rolld Al Paul Jennings guy
at whatever the age that is. But the but yeah,
I didn't write with this, but I'm excited and I'm
excited for people that did grow up with it to get,
you know, a big budget film adaptation version of it.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I'm a little bit scared. I'm a bit scared. The
trailer looked a bit weird. The trailer does look a
bit bird. You know what it's like when you're growing
up and you have a vision of something, and I
was like, these characters ingrained into my personality with the
illustrations that came with these books, and so the characters
don't look like what they look like in the books.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
It's a lot brighter colors than I expected from The
Magic Far Away Tree.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
It's a Paddington effect, is what, Yeah?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Or Peter Rabbit. It's got that. Yeah, a little bit
brighter England. Trying to be Hollywood doesn't quite work. Just
be England, that's the.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Best way to describe it. In England, pretending to be
Hollywood does not work. Stay in your lane.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That's why Star Wars was so great because it was
an Hollywood film made in England. Yeah, that's what gave
it all the drab, dreary beautifulness. So yeah, let's go.
I'm excited by the Magic Far Away Tree.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Well, thanks for joining us this week and make sure
you do drift off into space with Ryan Gosling and
also order a trucker hat for tail Mary. Go and
see this movie. It's a feast for the eyes in
its food for thought to check it out.
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload, the podcast Last Pig That Lie Yet Everyone,
Welcome back to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris
and once again I'm joined by my co pilot, the
Rocky of North Melbourne for this cinematic mission, Brose of Art.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Good day to you, sir, Good day to you, and
what a film to unpack today project Hey how Mary?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Which is funny because you were saying before we went
into it, you were like, you know, oh, I think
it's a pop conflict. I don't think it's going to
be as complex as The Martian. But then we've quickly
realized afterwards that it's actually based on a book but
the same author.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Same author. It is the same author as The Martian,
and it makes sense it's got a similar I mean,
if it wasn't by the same author, then it was
by someone who'd read The Martian. Perhaps, I don't know.
There are a lot of similarities in the Martian and
a lot of other space going films we found as
we watched it was a bit of a plava to
get to watch it though. Should we start with this
before we get into the review, Ben, should we tell
(00:58):
our a little tale of woe? Should we share our
little incident that happened We went to the cinema to
watch this film. We sat in the cinema. I'm not
sure should we name in Shane? I think we should.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We went to We should because they re shared my
tweet last night because I tweeted them in to say
we were seeing in a project hal Mary in their
fabulous cinema and that's where things went south. But they
re shared that without realizing that, in fact, we did
not get to see the movie in their fabulous theater.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
So we're at Houts Melbourne Central. As we said last week,
we'd be at either Houts or the District and guess what, guys,
we're at both. So we're sitting at the Heutz in
Melbourne Central. We get we watched what ten minutes do
we think ten minutes of the film, and then it
just went to black and it wasn't space black with
a few stars dotted around. It was just pitch black
(01:47):
as in the film stopped working and then we just
sat there in darkness for a while, and eventually a
twelve year old came out and told us that there
was a technical difficulty, which we surmised. I think we'd
already worked that out.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
And you are correct that there was a young person.
A young person came in and told us that the
movie would not be happening and that they could offered us,
you know, a refund or other options.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
But let me just say too, by the way, that
cinema is a large cinema at Houts Melbourne Center, and
it was full, it was ran back. It was awesome
to see as a cinema full of people. It's the
same one they used for the big Blockbuster previews and stuff.
It was very exciting to see a full cinema. And
I was excited to see the movie.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I think it's so great to see that many people
going along, paying to be in cinema, watching it as
a community event like that. And I and it was
great because in the ten minutes we got to see it,
i'max Hoots Melbourne Central, there was a really good laugh
right at the start. And what I noticed about going
back and rewatching it at the other cinema.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah, which was about thirty people in there. It was
a much smaller audience.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Yeah, Yeah, it was much smaller audience because it was Yeah,
it's a smaller cinema, and actually it was quite full.
When I went to the bathroom, I could see that,
you know, there was a lot of people in there.
But it did lack the laughter from that first.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Gag, and I found myself laughing on It felt like
I was laughing on my own a lot during the
film when there were funny moments, whereas in that big
cinema it would have been awesome. And when you've got
a big blockbuster like this and it's supposed to be
a big money maker and it's supposed to be good
for movies in general, it's a shame that I don't
know that they just don't There was something lacking, and
I don't know if it's I don't know what fell
(03:20):
through on Thursday night at Melbourne Central, but it's disappointing
that what looked like a couple hundred people a few
hundred people were turned away and there wasn't a secondary
option immediately available by any means either. We found that
there was a screening at the District at Docklands and
we realized it about what ten to seven or so
that if we busted our chops. Is that not even
(03:42):
the word I wanted to I tailed down there. If
we high tailed down there, then we'd be able to
get to see that screen. But it wasn't the Imax screening,
which I am disappointed, which I guess, well, we might
have to I might have to go and see it
again in Imax.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
But get to stress to people that they have to
go and see this movie in Imax because the difference
in what we saw in that ten minutes to what
we saw in the other cinema in terms of cinema scale,
it's such an impressive film that needs to be in
the IMAX.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
I agree. And I was shot in Imax and it's
you know, it's a space epic in some ways, and
you know it deserves to be seen the way that
it was was shot.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
And full disclosure, I appreciated you laughing with those gags
as though you were watching a Jim Carrey movie in
the nineties, whilst the rest of the cinema did not
make a noise, nothing, no.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Not a peep, not a peep. And anyway, let's do
the intro and then we can talk about the film.
It was disappointing, Hoyts. That's all I'm going to say. Ben,
you're going to tell us what this thing's about.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Ryan Gosling, alone in space, trying to save the entire
planet with science vibes and honestly some questionable social skills.
This film, it did more for me than I thought
it was going to. I don't know, how how do
you describe this, bros? Like, how did you describe this film?
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I don't know. Yeah, it's a man alone in space.
He's trying to get he's trying to get over his
own well, he's trying to discover who he is in
more ways than one, I guess is one of the
big things all the way through this And.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Before we get into it, let's just play a little
thirty second promo so that people can get a gist
of what we saw and hopefully what they will see soon.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Please state to your name, Ryman Grace.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Please woke up from a coma. There's several light years
from my apartment. And I'm not an astronaut. I'm not
an astrono.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm not an astronaut.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
If you don't go, you die with the rest of us.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
The sun is dying.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
You're the only scientists who might know what this is.
I'm just a teacher at Glover Cleveland middle. You have
a doctorate in molecular biology. I need you to come
with us. This is project Tell Mary, the Sun is
not the only star dying. Every star was infected by
its neighbor except one, which is why we build a
ship to go there and find out it's eleven point
(06:04):
nine light years a week b astronauts Diane's base. That's
why do you Americas for color lung?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Shut hell, Mary, I get it.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Well.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
I was just going to say, after this, should we
do nothing? Everything on a planet book going sting?
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Well, you know, bros, if you woke up in space
alone with no memory, how long would it take before
you would panic?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Oh, I mean his reaction without I don't want to
give anything away too much, but his reaction is exactly
what my reaction would have been, and probably longer than
he did. He wallowed for a while, and I reckon
I would. Yeah, it'll be intense, And that opening sequence
is it is quite funny, so let people, you know,
laugh at it. It is quite funny. Waking up and then
(06:49):
having a robot shove clippers in your face is kind
of startling. But yeah, no, exactly as he did is
exactly how I would have reacted like, it's such a
bizarre idea that when we've looked that kind of thing
before alien alien films, I should say discuss that idea
of going into hypersleep whatever they call it, because you're
going to be traveling years and years and years and
you wake up when you've arrived at your destination. But
(07:10):
I like this take on it. It was a bit
unique and a bit different. I'm not sure if it's
from the book or from the writers, but yeah, it
was excellent.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
The first last really sets the tone for this movie.
I don't know of everyone who'd seen the trailer knew
a few of the elements, Like there's quite a lot
that they held back from that trailer to set the
tone for this film. But it is very much a
space film. But it's very funny, it's very deep, and
there are aliens.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
And it's the subtext of this film, as we talked
a little bit about it last night without getting too
far into it. So there are themes of, like, you know,
self discovery and self esteem and pushing yourself a little
bit harder to achieve things. It's that kind of stuff
that made this film all the more enjoyable for me.
It was more than just a guy in space trying
to fix things. It was a guy in space trying
(07:53):
to overcome his own belief in himself and his own
belief of who he is. And that's quite spectacular. So
those are and so connected with quite well.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And I also think that what I've realized from these
films is that I like characters in Solitude and there
is a few reference points to Castaway, you know. And
I was thinking to yeah, right, because I'm like the
alien in this movie is that of the volleyball to
Tom Hanks in Castaway? You know. I think there's an
emotional relationship that's developed there that's very similar. But there's
(08:24):
something about putting a man or a woman alone in
a space where they have to you know, tell the story,
you know, and and survive.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
They use a couple of devices in this film, but
definitely the And this is an alien film, by the way,
which is not udn't think all that obvious in the
trailer and we're not giving too much away, but because
it becomes an alien film very quickly, a friendly alien film,
I should.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Say, pro romance or something.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, romance. Yeah, there's there's bro hugging and fisting bumps
and all kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
To be careful with the word fisting, But yes, do
you know what I think? And I want to ask
you this question. There's a lot of practical effects in
this film, and I think that the practical effects really
helped with the dynamics between the relationships of said alien
Rocky and Ryan Gosling's character. Do you think of it
was CGI, that it might not have been as believable.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I don't know, And that comes down to a lot
of factors. What I love is, you know you kind
of want that invisible connection between the practical and the CGI.
I don't want to know which is which when I
watch a film like this, and if that helped the actor,
if that helped Ryan Gosling connect better, and I mean
the things that you'd obviously would want to do practically anyway,
I don't think you'd want this set to be one
of those blue sets. Warren Gosling moves around like. I
(09:38):
like the fact that it's a practical set, But I
don't know. To me, I don't have a preference one
or the other. As long as it's I can't tell
the difference, And you know it all works to tell
the story. But yeah, I do love that this film
has a bit of an eighties kind of throwback feel
as well, which we did discuss last night as well.
It's got a bit of an et feel or a
Mac and Me or the Explorers if anyone saw the
Explorers back in the day.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Flood of the Natigator.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Oh yeah, definitely. It's got a bit of a fifth
Element kind of feel too at times, with the carvings
on Rocky and things like that. So it's got a
very warm feeling and that you feel like you're in
a familiar place the whole time, even though we're in
the middle of space and you know, very far away
from anything except Venus. So yeah, I thought that was
very very cool too. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wrote
(10:20):
and directed based on the on the original book. As
we've mentioned that it's an adaptation, but they did the
Spider Verse films and the first Lego movie they did,
and they executive produced on Brooklyn ninety nine with Andy Samberg.
These are a couple of guys that are very very
solid writers. They did the Cloudy with This Chance of
meat Balls films as well, very clever, very intelligent, very
(10:41):
sharp humor as well, and all of that comes through
in this film. But this, I would say is their
first super serious film that they've written and directed together.
A lot of lightness, a lot of lightness, a lot
of levity, and you know, some really good character stuff,
and that's I think that what makes us film so watchable.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Yeah, if you look at some of those films, when
I saw Spider Man into the Spider Verse and I
saw the Lego movie, I wasn't expecting the depth and
humor to be so well intricated. Like, yeah, if that's
the word, it works really well for these guys. They
managed to give a lot of heart to the humor
and to the situation.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
It just be very adult though obviously a bunch of
those films or animations so they tend towards younger audiences,
but this does feel like they're very much there. They're
stepping out as adult film. Makes is their adult movie.
I think they nailed it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Yeah, considering that this is a story about Ryan Gosling,
a school teacher who gets sent to space and survives
up there for you know, however long. I don't want
to give that away, but that's a pretty unbelievable thing
for the audience to get on board with. But these
guys managed to create that and make us believe that
it's possible.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
I mean, there's some backstory to how he became a
teacher as well, so he's not just a teacher, but
we'll let you to discover that as we go. But
what's great too about him being a teacher on top
of what he was before he was a teacher, is
that they kind of use his experience as a teacher
to inform some of what his character does throughout the film,
which is really nice as well. You know, it's not
like being a teacher was just like some job that
(12:06):
he picked up because he had no other choice. He
you know, really embraces that role and it matches his personality,
and then he gets to use that with Rocky on
the ship and later on as well. I think it's
a really nice touch. It's a more of a tribute
or a bit of a celebration of teachers as much
as it is scientists.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
I think, yes. And I also want to just jump
in here with a side fact that has nothing to
do with anything you've just said. How good was the
costuming in this film? Did you not want to buy
every because I know.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You're every T shirt, every single TE shirt.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You had a heart on for every T shirt. Ryan
goslingg got out and I think everyone that will watch
this movie will be noticing the fashion or the styling.
It was so amazing.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
If they don't release the project how Mary Trucker caps,
I'll be very disappointed because I'd love a project help
Mary cap. They looked fantastic. He wore a T shirt
from the musical Cats at one point, the poster with
just the eyes on it. Ah, it's just brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So many little nuggets like that that you can tell
they've spent a lot of time working on. But the
interesting thing that I don't know if you clocked, was
that pretty much every time we had a scene change,
he was in a different T shirt. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
We were not watching him wear the same T shirts again,
which I thought was really an interesting decision because I
just how much did you pack in the space.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
I just assumed that he'd gone through without giving too
much away, he'd gone through everybody's luggage, yeah, and just
you know, snatched stuff that he liked. And you know,
Ryan Gosling is so slender that he could fit into
men's or women's T shirts. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I just did am I correct by saying that through
the movie you then mentioned to me that it could
have been better with a different actor.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
That's what I actually said was, I can't really imagine
another actor, and I was trying to work out who
else might be able to pull it off. And obviously
Matt Damon's done it in The Marshall already, but I
don't know if he'd get the humor. My point was
because there's such a balance between the humanity and the
humor and even just the science uff all the way
through it. I can't think of many other if there
are any other actors that could have nailed it the
(14:04):
way Ryan Gosling did, so I did. Who did? I
suggest at one point Ryan Reynolds is someone that you
might think.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Of, But no, he couldn't do this. Ryan Reynolds.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
They need lean more towards the goofy than the serious potentially,
so he's not it. Like I was mentally trying to,
you know, go through a list of actors that you
might you know, cast and then crossing them off and
leaving me with Ryan Reynolds. And I feel like Barbie
is a huge factor in that because we did see
his ability to nail comedy, and he can do subtle
comedy as well as broad comedy, and he maintains a
(14:35):
humanity like that Ken character had a lot of humanity
for a doll. And you know, you wouldn't have thought
maybe you wouldn't have thought of Brian Gosling five years
ago or six years ago.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
You know, this is very much a Hymn film though.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
This is a point, and I couldn't think of anyone
that I would recast him with. That was my point.
Who would you like? I don't think there is anyone.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
No one could have done this. The interesting thing about
Ryan Gosling at the moment is that we always feel
seen by him like this small part of all of
us that is a little bit weird and quirky, and
we're all complex people, do you know what I mean?
And yeah, exactly effortlessly creates this complex character that's relatable
to I think everyone.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It's one of those things with Ryan Gosling where I've
always loved him in all of his films, and I've
always thought he was a solid actor. But you know,
you're just kind of waiting for that one performance or
a couple of performances that elevate him to being you know,
like I don't know, Oscar Worthy or something, you know,
being one of those upper reschelon actors. He's always just
kind of drifted around the middle, doing great things in
great films, but never being the great actor himself, if
(15:34):
that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
Is he believable as a scientist? Do you think?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah? I thought he was great the way that he
handled that and losing his memory and then having some
of that those gags there where who remembers things?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Skipping timelines can be really interesting in these films if
we're going back and forward too much, because you're quite
often thinking, oh, where are we? But this film does
this in a way that I've never seen before. We're
just as interested in the current story as we are
in going back and forward. It feels like it's all
seamlessly being put together. And I think Ryan Gosling has
done that well, considering that it really changed his looks
(16:05):
too much, you know, because normally you exactly, oh, here
we go, here's the young version of him. So they've
given us, like what we saw with the movie the
week before, we got that guy with a bum fluff
you know, so.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Because they didn't ever going to talk about reminders of
him ever again, ever again. Yeah, I think those flashbacks
worked quite well and they were timed well. They were
placed well within the inverted Commas current day narrative or
the you know, lost in space narrative, and that you know,
they explained little bits and pieces, you know, as you
watch the current day narrative, like, oh, what's that all about,
then we go to a flashback and explain a little
(16:36):
bit more, and you know, we could put the pieces
together as we went. It was almost a bit of
a subtle kind of mystery all the way through as
he's trying to work out who he is and where
he is and why he's there, and then you know,
they slowly tell us and then the reveal right at
the end, which I won't give away, was just spectacular
because you know, you're, you know, thinking about it the
whole time and then they show you. So that's nice.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Andrew, who I only really knew from Anatomy of a
Fall you'd seen her in something else is that.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
She's in Zone of Interest as well. Have you seen
Zone of Interest? It's a very dark film about the
commandant of of our switch building a garden and house
like a state next to the concentration camp.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
That's right. She was in two films that year, so
she was She brings a really grounded, authentic performance to
this and I think, you know, considering that all nations
leaders are involved in making decisions for them to go
to space, that's a really smart element to bring her in.
I mean, you could have had a number of other
actors in this role, but I think her, with the
(17:36):
accent and everything, she pulled this off and gave this
film some gravitas.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
You know, she's a military woman, and she comes across
as a military woman but still has a bit of
empathy kind of in there. But yeah, she does a
fantastic job, and her and Gosling seem to have really
good chemistry on screen too, which they really did. It's
an unusual relationship in some ways, but the chemistry was
definitely there. Like there's one particle you're saying that if
(18:00):
one or other had leaned in for a kiss, it
wouldn't have seemed out of place at all.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
That's we were doing that.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
There's no romantic interest in this film at all between
a man and a woman. But you know, we've already
talked about the romance, but it was incredible and that
was quite magnetic watching them on screen together that they
just I don't know, it just seems so easy and relaxed,
and there's great chemistry between the two of them every
time they're on screen together.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Because it could have been like this big pop conflict,
but there's like sort of an art house feel to
this whole film. It's kind of what does bespoke mean?
I feel like this is this very intricate movie and
I feel like that's the terms that I want to
use without properly understanding that definition.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Well, look, I'm not going to discourage you from using
the term bespoke, even if it's not quite right. But
I like what you're saying, Like, I know what you're saying,
Like every element of this film feels handcrafted and intentional,
which is probably what you're taking from bespoke. You know,
it's not just thrown together, not that films are generally,
but it's not just let's get this bit done because
(19:00):
it needs to be done. That it's been crafted by
the directors, and the screenplay's being crafted, and the actors
have crafted it, and obviously everyone else that's involved production
design and so forth, costumes, but it does. It does
feel like it's very hands on, does feel more like
it's seeing a play or something where each minute is
you know, discussed and directed and created, rather than a
movie where you just got in two seconds. Do your
(19:22):
lines next, we'll move on, kind of Clint Eastward style.
So not that his films aren't great, but it's.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Kind of problem solving versus action. When you're used to
going and seeing like a space big film, you're expecting
big action sequences, and that's where they've kind of lost me.
You know, when you're watching it and at the end
of the movie, there's got to be all these spaceships
flying around everywhere and there's this big moment, and I'm like,
I didn't need that. And that's what this film does well.
It doesn't lean into any of those old space warish
(19:50):
type films. For me, the thing that really lands with
this film is the conversation about our life, about who
we are and what we want to achieve and what
our purpose is. And I thought that's where there's such
an emotional undertone the whole way through this movie where
it made me think about this. It made me think
(20:11):
about the value of my life and what I need
to achieve before I die.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah, exactly. There is a line, a really good line
in that kind of twist part that I loved, which
Karl says, who's kind of the security cia, kind of
guy that hovers around Grace played by Lionel Boyce, who's
also in The Bear, plays Marcus in The Bear. But
that little line there again, I don't want to give
anything away, is really sharp, really cleanly showing us those
(20:38):
themes of you know who you are and who you
want to be and what your legacy wants to be
and things like that.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
So did it make you think about that as well?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Yeah? And that's what I loved about the film is
that you're not just thinking about the space of it all,
You're also thinking about the humanity of it all and
the self image of it all.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
It is a movie that has certainly not been made
just for the closeted and closet nerd fans that are
like science science fiction nerd fans. It's not there's at all.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
This could have been set in the wilderness, This could
have been.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
Set you could have isolated him anywhere.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Do you know what the stock market like any situation
you can get someone alone with they have to think
about these things, you know, in any situation. Yeah, it
was spectacular, but the space of it all is exciting.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
When you're in a movie and you're sitting next to you,
you can actually feel that you are too detoing in
your seat when a score is amazing. A but the
score of this film is incredible, and it really takes
you the whole way through the movie seamlessly. But it
also gives you something that you referenced a few weeks
ago about your desire for a film to have a theme,
(21:38):
a big orchestral theme. Yeah, it's powerful.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, I think the score not only is it a
really well written score, and like you're saying, there are
some strong themes Musically all the way through it. It felt
like an old school John Williams kind of theme in
some ways. But it's just the cues are just used
perfectly all the way through it. And you know, there's
a really exciting moment where there's a big, kind of
happy score that's bouncing along, but then the way the
(22:03):
score pulls itself back to be a little bit more
subtle underneath what happens immediately after, Like there's just some
really beautiful work done. All the way through this. I
was absolutely blown away. It didn't feel cut and paste
at all. It felt like, you know, every every note
was written to go, you know, next to every action
that happened on screen. Daniel Pemberton was the was the
composer who did the Trial of the Chicago Seven. Did
(22:25):
you see that one? Though? I did say that that
was Aaron Sorgan. He did Steve Steve Jobs, which is
also Aaron.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Spiderman into the Spider Verse.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
And into the Spider Verse as well. Yeah, and Slow Horses,
which people are absolutely loving on Apple TV at the
moment as well.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
We've got friends that are obsessed with that. Yeah, they
love that that series.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
How did you feel about We talked a little bit
about this last night, but how did you feel about
the what I'll call drop needles or the pop music
tracks throughout this film? There's only probably about three or
four or five iound what.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
You were saying so like this is you know you
were saying that, you know, I'm.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Still developing a theory though I haven't settled on it yet.
But it's just I find in films at the moment,
and they're films being made by people around my age,
and so I absolutely get the references, but I just
think some of the music references that are used are
a bit old. And there are a couple of old
folk tracks used in this, and there's a Beatles track
I won't give away used in this, and I just
wonder if there aren't more recent, you know, like sixty
(23:17):
year old tracks are being used in a brand new film.
I don't know if there aren't more recent musical references
that people could be using in a similar way that
would make I don't know, the film feel a little
bit more contemporary. But maybe that's the idea that you
want to make it feel ageless by using old films.
I'm not saying I'm for or against it. I'm just
curious about the fact that there are a lot of
films being made using old music throughout them. And I'm
(23:38):
not talking about in the Stranger Things way or the
James Gunn way of you know, revitalizing old songs. I'm
talking about, you know, even background music.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
There's something about like a warm Sunday afternoon, being wrapped
up in a blanket and watching a Sunday moving movie
that I think comes from digging out a classic on
the wheel.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
This isn't a Sunday movie, This is a Friday night.
This is a full cinema. This is full of energy,
this is excitement, And if they want to get the
younger people into the cinema, maybe the references in the
music should be a little bit more contemporary than nineteen
sixty eight or something. That's all, well, they.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Need to invest I mean, that's the same thing across
everything at the moment. You know, there's a real struggle
to get young people's eyeballs on stuff because they're so
connected to short, sharp pieces of information with their phones,
and there needs to be an investment in bringing in there.
And maybe you are right, and that investment making film
is to include music that they're more familiar with. But
I think with this particular movie where they did make
(24:33):
those choices, I needed that warmth. I needed that bit
of nostalgic sort of in your DNA type music. You know,
when you hear the start of a song, you go, oh,
this is my childhood this You've got a lot of
reference points to this song. And I think that's why
those choices were made for this film.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, yeah, And look, I've got no problem with the
creative choices, and my reaction is the same as yours.
When that Beatles song came on, I was humming along
and maybe singing along little bit, getting into it, and
it was a beautiful little moment.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Well, there was a dance routine that you also did,
which was very impressive.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Was I r too detoying again or.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I think that you are very much like myself. Not
last night because I was very tired, But normally when
I watched a movie, I react with my entire body,
the whole being.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Yeah, I watch it with my whole body.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
And we were talking a lot about our alien friend,
who was given the voice by James Ortis. I thought
did an amazing job to give that character connection so much.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Yeah, what's even more spectacular is he doesn't have a
lot of acting credits.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
He didn't and I'm looking at them now, like he's
done The Woodsman in twenty sixteen. That role could have
easily been done by like another big name, But I
actually think it worked having you know, this person who
is more of a character actor.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I thought it was great casting because his voice was
unique and it's uniquely his, but at the same time
felt familiar and it felt like something we'd heard before,
if that makes sense. Absolutely, and there were times where
he delivered different lines where he sounded maybe like another
actor that we knew. There was a real It was
a real incredible performance in terms of he didn't sound
like he was impersonating anyone, but he did sound familiar.
(26:10):
And at no point was I listening to that voice
going that's a weird choice. It just felt right, It
just felt natural, and it felt for We.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Went with them on the journey with the selection of
the voice, which was real funny, very clever. It's the
of the movie Meryl Street reference there, but I kudos
to Merrill for providing her voice for that moment. But look,
I think that when I will look back at this movie,
much like I look back at Castaway and I think
of the Volleyball Wilson, I think I'll be thinking about
(26:39):
our friend Rocky.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, he's definitely up there. As were saying earlier, everything
in this film has a familiarity. That's something that they've
worked really hard to do. And Rocky again has that
throwback feel that I was mentioning earlier. You know, he
does feel like other aliens we've met at other times
in different ways is that The Explorers where the aliens
talk entirely with quoting from TV, which is a funny
(27:01):
gag in that, and like it's got all that kind
of eighties feel, which you know, Lord and Miller obviously
are familiar with the eighties nineties alien kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
And they referenced that there's a moment in the movie
where you can you swear that you're in two thousand
and one space ot to see the first time you
saw it. There was a music node to that, you
know that made us go, is that the music from this?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
Yeah, there was a musical reference.
Speaker 1 (27:23):
It was no, there was a music reference to close encounter.
There was definitely that. There was the Doo doo do.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah, And I was like, so these people were very
clever into weaving some of those nods to the classic
space films that came before it.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah. Absolutely, and it looks spectacular this film as well.
And I just wanted to point out a couple of
people we don't normally talk about some of the other people,
but the dop for this we do always talk about.
That was Greg Greg Fraser, who did June more Right
quite recently in Rogue One a Star Wars story. He
did The Batman, the more recent Batman film, and it
makes sense. This feels like a confident cinematographer for and
(28:03):
he does a great job. He makes it feel epic.
And the production design is Charles Wood who did Guardians,
the Galaxy, Avengers Endgame dtr Strange. You know he's got
some credit, this guy. You can feel it.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Lord and Miller have brought together in the studio, brought
together just the perfect group of people to make this
film believable and authentic and brilliant. So it's just nice
to shout those people out as well that did an
amazing job making the film look great.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I feel like we need to move into our review
on this film just because of our runtime. But I
would say this film for a lot of people that
I know, and this is what I said to you
before we went in. A friend of mine who is
savage and votes for the Golden Blood, gave this movie
four and a half stars. When she normally gives these
sorts of films like the movie you'll finish and you'll
(28:49):
think you've seen something original, something new, something exciting, and
she'd be like one star, and always she dropped a
four point five on that, But then another friend of
mine's saw it and said that they hated it and
said it was too long. It dragged on now for me,
I don't know whether it's because I was a little
bit tired, but I feel like this is like what
(29:10):
happened with Wuthering Heights. I think today I'm going to
give it a review, which I think is going to
be a grower, not a shower project. Hail Mary is
going to be something I'm going to watch again and
love more and more the more I become familiar with it,
if that has any sense. Overall, the runtime does kill
this movie if you ask me, there is a lot
(29:31):
that could have been taken out of it.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
If you ask a tired Ben who saw it last
night after very little sleep.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
I don't understand these run times. I really don't understand it.
This movie should have been a four, and I'm going
to give it a three and a half and I'm
only going to I'm giving it a three and a half.
There's some really good conversational pieces for you to walk
out in cinema and talk to your friends about. There
is some heart in this film that I feel like
has been lacking. There's some originality in the story which
(29:58):
I think has been missing from s. It did feel like,
whilst there was some nostalgic beats, that this film gave
us something unique and original.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, and that's a good point to finish on. I
know we've hailed back to references to old films and
being nostalgic, etc. But it is a completely original thing
and at no point do you feel like they're stealing
or they're just retreading old ground, or they're doing what
everyone's done before. New territories, new territory, and those nostalgic
(30:27):
elements are just there to bring this amazing familiarity which
helps you connect with the characters rather than disconnect and
feel like it's ripping someone off. So that's a good
point to finish up on, or close to. For me,
this is easily a four out of five, and I
think in time, Ben, it's going to be a four
out of five for you too. This is my first four,
I think for the whole run so far. I've mean
(30:47):
saving those fours and fives for the right films. But yeah,
like you're saying, it's layered, it's textured, it's a space film,
but it's full of humanity and it's got an alien,
I should say, and it's full of humanity. So it
was a spectacular film to see. The end I think
could have been tightened up a fraction, but you know,
it left you with a nice feeling. So I guess
that's what you want when you walk out of a
film like this, especially when you're committing it's only what
(31:09):
two and a half hours? I think two hours thirty six,
and I think, yeah, if you one as tired, I
think you would have enjoyed the film a lot more.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
I'm going to enjoy it more than next time I'm
facing Yeah, yeah, no, no, no. It definitely needs to be
seen multiple times.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
If you probably the first film in this a lot
of episodes we've done so far that genuinely that is
the case. This is a muss rewatch, and you're going
to enjoy it more and more each time. A solid
four out of five. Just I've enjoyed the hell out
of it. Yeah, I thought it was fantastic.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
And next week we will be talking about something very emotional,
because I think you and I both have been very
excited about going and seeing this. It is a G
rated kids film that.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
A lot of people. Oh yes, we.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Are heading to the Magic Faraway Tree, which I'm very
excited about. So that is a release for March twenty sixth,
and we will be unpacking that next week. Bros, I
want to know, is this one of the books that
you were brought up reading?
Speaker 2 (31:56):
No, this is not one of my books. But I
have a lot of female for University onwards. They grew
up with this and have a lot of emotional attachment
to this book, and you grew up with it.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Now. My mum used to read me by right, was
a child educated for her career, and she was big
into making sure that her children were readers because she's
a big reader herself. It was of an age where
you know, your mum would hop into bed and read
a book with you, and there.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Was that's lovely. My mum never did that. Did not
do that.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Oh my god. My mom would hop into bed and
do story time before we'd go to sleep and read books,
which progressed into her reading books, you know, like roll
Dal books and things until we read them ourselves.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
But I was definitely a rolld Al Paul Jennings guy
at whatever the age that is. But the but yeah,
I didn't write with this, but I'm excited and I'm
excited for people that did grow up with it to get,
you know, a big budget film adaptation version of it.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I'm a little bit scared. I'm a bit scared. The
trailer looked a bit weird. The trailer does look a
bit bird. You know what it's like when you're growing
up and you have a vision of something, and I
was like, these characters ingrained into my personality with the
illustrations that came with these books, and so the characters
don't look like what they look like in the books.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
It's a lot brighter colors than I expected from The
Magic Far Away Tree.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
It's a Paddington effect, is what, Yeah?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
Or Peter Rabbit. It's got that. Yeah, a little bit
brighter England. Trying to be Hollywood doesn't quite work. Just
be England, that's the.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Best way to describe it. In England, pretending to be
Hollywood does not work. Stay in your lane.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That's why Star Wars was so great because it was
an Hollywood film made in England. Yeah, that's what gave
it all the drab, dreary beautifulness. So yeah, let's go.
I'm excited by the Magic Far Away Tree.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
Well, thanks for joining us this week and make sure
you do drift off into space with Ryan Gosling and
also order a trucker hat for tail Mary. Go and
see this movie. It's a feast for the eyes in
its food for thought to check it out.
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