June 27, 2025 • 29 mins
CHRISTIAN TOTO ON TO TALK HOLLYWOOD As he does at his website and podcast called Hollywood In Toto (find them here). Christian has been writing a lot lately about what it's like to "come out" as a Trump voter or conservative in Hollywood and it's not pretty. It actually makes me like the folks who have done so even more, because it's a real act of bravery. Read a story from Newsbusters here, and from early January about stars who support Israel. He joins me to talk about this and summer movies at 1.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am pleased to ask punch tab one of my
friends here in the studio with me again, Christian Toto
from Hollywood in Toto. We're gonna talk to him in
a moment, but I have to do something first. Oh,
someone has sent something to the common spiritual text line
that I have to address. Mandy, you didn't know how
delicious fried okra is at the Black Eyed be Oh
contrary or my friend? I do because I get it
(00:20):
every time.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What's your opra reaction? What if fried okra?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yes or no?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
When I grew up, I didn't eat blueberries or raspberries.
My diet was as simple as you could pot like
a like a toddler's right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Still, I've gotten much better, okay, but I haven't done
the okra.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
O fried okra. There's nothing offensive about yeah, I mean
regularly like if you don't cook okra, right, it is
like it's snotty. It's for lack of a better way
to put it, but fried okra is very innocuous. It's
like a it's like an entryway into okra.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Describing it as snotty means I will never eat it.
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I believe in truth in advertising. I'm never going to
be one of those people that hands you a bowl
of like mash cauliflower and says, you're not even going
to know it's not potato. So, yeah, you are going
to know it's not potatoes. It's still good.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Do you make fried uh? I don't do that.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Kind of deep frying at my house just because it
makes I mean, I can, but it makes a mess.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's tricky.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well it's not tricky, it just makes a mess. Then
you got to deal with the oil afterward. Blah blah blah,
et cetera, et cetera. I have a pretty good fried
auting myself. Actually, oh yeah, I'm not afraid Christian. First
of all, let's get this out of the way. Christian
has a phenomenal podcast, a phenomenal website. He now writes,
you're everywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I just looked down.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And I see there's Christian Toto's name again.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Good for you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I'm with the Daily Wire at the Blaze once a
week at NewsBusters, which is such an amazing resource for immedia.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I love Newsbsters.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I have loved them for years and they never They've
never changed, and that is a compliment. They've always been
very consistent with the stuff they call out. It's not
like they've gone crazy, you know, in one way or
the other. I mean, they've been so consistent the entire
time they've existed. That's an extremely good point. And it's
also in our times right now, we're seeing major players, platforms,
(02:06):
commentators just losing their minds. And we can all point
to some fingers there not them.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, I agree, and I when I see what they share,
it's very clinical, it's accurate. I don't remember ever being
fooled by right right, which is all the more important.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Exactly they're right, They're just they're very journalistic at NewsBusters. Okay,
so let's talk about two things. First of all, you
wrote a great column the other day, and and this
is going to be one of those things that there's
going to be a percentage of my audience that is
going to say, Mandy, why do I give a crap
if any of these lefty Hollywood people get canceled, Like,
why do I care? But I think there's some stories
(02:43):
of a little bit of courage starting to show in Hollywood.
And so let's talk about a massive, massive producer. Brian
Grazer has now he came out of the closet.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
He did, and he's a pretty big Democratic donor for years.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I remember just seeing his name.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
He's done a lot of the Ron Howard films, you
know that best you know backdraft of about thirteen. Just
he's got incredible resume, and he was captured on camera.
There's a Fox Nation docu series where he admitted to
voting for Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And this was a you know, came out recently.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I think that the footage was maybe from a few
months ago, but that is an amazing admission. And listen,
you could, like you said, who why do we care?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
But there's several reasons too care.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
First of all, when anyone of the culture of consequence
comes out and is able to say that, especially.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
In the industry, that's we'll chew up and spit you out.
That does matter.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
We need to be brave, we need to be outspoken,
need to be oh, it's okay to say that I
voted with half the country and more. And also, again,
he's such an interesting player behind the scenes. You don't
know his name, you've just seen his movies for decades.
And the fact he's willing to stick his neck out
and not worry about it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
That doesn't matter. Now. I watched the coverage of it, Variety,
the Hollywood Reporter.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Got the vapors.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, they all kind of they all circle, they want
more comment.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Can you elaborate on this?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You know?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, I didn't know you were so hateful. It's interesting.
I saw the comment where people are upset, but people
have also said, but I'll still work with him if
he call me Brian, Yeah, I think you're a racist.
Call me Brian.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I mean that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
You're a fascist.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Call me Brian. I mean it's like it must kill them.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But I'm hoping because now you've got Brian Grazer has
come out, granted he's probably in his seventies getting a
little bit older.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You've got Slice.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Stallone, who has just banged open the door as a
Trump supporter and with absolutely no blanks to give right
as he did it. Maybe there's cracks in the blue
wall of Hollywood. Maybe it's going to become maybe not accepted,
but at least not a death sentence for you to
be a conservative in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's complicated now. Listen. Stallone is Stallone, He's an icon.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
He's got a hit show in Paramount, which is terrific,
by the way to love Tulsa King. And also Grazer
is still making movies. He's got his Howard Run Howard connection.
He still plugged in, so he has juice within the industry.
But I talked to so many people again and again
and again over the years. They're still afraid, they still
understand they could be canceled. And often it's the people
who you don't know their names right, say, it's the hairdresser,
(05:14):
it's the cast member, it's the crew member. And I've
talked to people who worked with a group called Friends
of Abe, where these people would get together and commiserate
and cry and talk about how they're mistreated. And again
and again you see examples of this going on. I
mean the fact that a Hollywood producer says, I voted
for X, not Y, and it's news that says it all.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So, my sister, do you remember the John Travolta movie Basic,
Oh gosh, I don't know our sign A mediocre film
at best. I cannot recommend that you go back and
give it a look. But my sister, isn't it She
was Connie Nielsen's stand in Wow. Well, they were filming
that in Jacksonville, and so they're in Florida and Jeb
Bush was the governor at the time, and so Jeb
(05:55):
Bush was coming to visit the set because there were
filming a big movie in Florida. And before he showed up, everybody,
like the cast and the crew like a kind of grumbling,
and one of the people on the set, a more
important person than my stand in sister right says, we
don't even know any Republicans. And she goes, I'm a Republican. Oh,
(06:16):
and when she said it, she said, everybody just wo
heads on a swivel. But then everybody was super nice
to do a Bush as well. They were very gracious
and they were very kind, and nobody said anything else
about it. So I was like, well, you don't matter,
but good for you for saying. Actually, a couple other people,
like in craft services, were like, yeah, I'm a Republican.
But I do think to your point, there's so many
(06:37):
things in Hollywood because it's such a just honestly kind
of inherently gross the way people.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Become stars in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And I don't necessarily talk about the casting couch, but
it's about having to curb yourself and your personality because
you don't want to rock the boat ever, right, and
it's so arbitrary.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's a very weird culture, and you want to go
along to get along.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
And if you say you, if you're a rising star,
someone who wants to crack in the system to get
a gig, you can't get political. He certainly can't on
the right, for sure. That's just a death sentence. There's
no way I'd recommend that. But we do need more
people to speak out, you know, off the year we're
talking about sort of when you don't give a bleep anymore.
And there are people in our culture you think would
be in an exact situation, like Stephen King.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
A few years ago.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Stephen King came out and talked about art and diversity
and the Oscar. He said, you know, it should be
about a talent, It should be about making the best
picture possible. And he was hounded by the woke mob
and he backpedaled. He even wrote an op ed in
the Washing Post basically apologizing for saying that merit matters.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
But he's such a lefty. I mean, he probably never thought.
He probably thought he had enough lefty bon offends, you
know what I mean? Nobody was going to come after him,
and he could make a very valid point, by the way,
a rational, you know, well thought out point that makes
a lot of sense, and not the attack for it,
but low and behold, he underestimates the hatred of his
side of the aisle.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, you never can be woke enough. But also look
at like J. K.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Rowling, who's just been an absolute bulldog and will not
back down.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And she's similar to King.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Like this author, a superstar, all the money of the world,
all the gravitas in the world.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Her legacy is secure.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
She could retire today, spend the next thirty years just
you know, being in the garden. And she is who
she is. But she's been attacked for multiple years. There
was just a bookstore, thought it was in California. I said,
we will not sell her books anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, oh, okay, okay, Boomer, do what I should say?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Okay, gen z uh huh.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You know, to your point, I love JK Rowling for
that because she doesn't need to engage at all. I
kind of feel the same way about Elon Musk's actions
coming to try and work for government. Talk about a
guy that you know, leven or hate him, You know
lever hate the idea of doge What are the world did?
How in the world did that possibly benefit Elon Musk
(08:50):
So people cannot wrap their heads around Sometimes when someone
who is super wealthy continues to dip in in some way,
that is controversial because why would you think I would
buy an island and you'd never hear from me again,
which is exactly what I would do. I'm just letting
you know, so I do think those things kind of
go hand in hand. It's kind of sad though. I mean,
I remember when, you know, actors would go on Johnny
(09:12):
Carson and they would talk about what was going on
in the news of the day, and it was funny
and even if they you know a little bit of
push back here and there. But we don't get to.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Do that anymore. We don't listen to celebrities. Most of them,
not all of them are not really well thought out.
They're often angry, they're bitter. It just the way it
comes out is really corrosive. And we're living in a
time where we have a million different options of what
to watch at any given time. I just go on
my phone and watch YouTube videos for that six hours.
I don't need to see Brad Pitt's movie. So if
(09:41):
Brad Pitt says I'm an idiot for voting a certain way,
or says I'm a jerk because I don't want trans
women and women's sports, why would.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I go up see this movie? Right? So it's so counterintuitive,
but they keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Listen, if they were more well informed, if they were thoughtful,
if they weren't abrasive. Okay, I mean they have a platform,
They've got a pedestal. Listen, I'll hear what they have
to say. But also you know that they never get challenged.
It's an a worst show, it's an interview with a
lefty magazine, it's social media.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
They will never say, Okay, I'll take some questions.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Based on my beliefs, and I'll go back and forth
with you, and I'll be challenged and I'll defend my position,
and never do that.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Never, Well, do you think that after the Rachel Zieglers,
You know, just I believe her commentary probably killed what
might have been a decent opening weekend and the movie itself.
I've tried to watch it just so I you know,
be more. No, it's terrible. They I mean, they just
took a story that is a classic and made it
(10:40):
something so dumb it's just awful. Do you think contracts
are going to be written that say, during the until this,
you know, six weeks after release, you better keep your
pie hole shut.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
No, absolutely not, Maverick. We're seeing in real time right now.
Pedro Pascal, who's in Every third Time. He just keeps
blathering on and dropping f bombs and being corrosive. And
he's got he's got a movie coming out Eddington. He's
in the Fantastic four First Steps. He's a huge part
of that whole franchise. He doesn't care. Listen, I don't
want him to be sequestered. He should be able to
(11:16):
speak his mind. I get that, But just from a
pragmatic point of view, if you're doing press, excuse me,
that is to get people's fannies in the seats to
the movie period. That's the only reason why you're talking
to a journalist and they don't get it.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Well, it's I don't know to your point about all
these different opportunities for entertainment. I mean, we we deal
with this in radio all the time. Like it used
to be that when you were driving in the car,
the only thing you could do was listen to the radio.
Right then if you were lucky, you got an eight
truck tape pick. But now even in the car, you
can cultivate whatever you want to cultivate. It doesn't it
doesn't mean anything. So it is you know, you don't
(11:52):
want to drive away any listener like of course I
get the I'm never listening again text messages, but you
know you.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Couldn't mean a little emotional one day.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
But I do think that you have to be even
more aware of not giving people a reason to listen,
you know what I mean, or a reason to watch.
Don't give them if they're already competing for all of
this other stuff. You don't want to give them a
reason to say, absolutely not, I'm not seeing that.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I agree. I mean, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And the fact that that Rachel zeglerb went to that whole, I.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Don't even know how to describe it. I mean, just
being pummeled by it.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
What did she like.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Five just spouting off and I'll think of as nobody
told her how life works, how business works.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
In her meager defense, she was basically just reciting the
lines from all of her colleagues, all the people behind
the scenes, I'm the victim.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I hate Trump. I mean, just go on and on.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Old content is stuffy and antiquated. We have to reimagine it.
So she just really read the script that Hollywood has
been unofficially been giving her forever. But she got burned
and it just was a cavalcade of we're going to
not hire little people. Yes, we're gonna put little people
in there, but it's gonna be cgi and we're gonna
salt the source material and the trailer is going to
be terrible. I mean, it was just a perfect storm
(13:05):
of just bad buzz after bad buzz, and the movie collapsed.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
So we've seen this year Leelo and Stitch, the unanimated
version has kicked Booty at the uh box office. What
are there things are we looking forward to in the summer?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Well, I just real quickly. A Minecraft movie was huge.
Sinners was terrific and big big box office. Good for
that movie because it wasn't a sequel to remake. It
was an original film, beautifully told. Superman's coming out next month.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I cannot wait to see this new Superman. I am
stoked and I loved Henry Cavill like it hurt my
heart when they replaced Henry. I get it.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I mean, we all age out right, but this guy
looks pretty dang good.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean I think I'm just more curious about
how they're going to treat this and anything else. I
grew up in the Christopher Rie era and he was
the boy scout. Yeah, but he was amazing and he
was so perfectly cast for the role. And three and
four with bad movies, let's just put that way.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I liked the what was the one where they redid
the Zod storyline Man of Steel? Yeah, think like we
just watched that this past week because it and I
thought this is a really good reimagining of that first
movie because it's the same story essentially, right.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I thought they did a good job with it. Who's
directing this one? So this is James Gunn. He did
the Guardians of the Galaxy film. He's okay, He's talented.
He's a bit quippy and silly and boyish in a way.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
That's not a did.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
He do the thor love and No?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
That was a white no.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
We should never let him near any kind of superhero
movie again. That was shameful.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Take his camera away.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Somebody needs to be hurt for that needs to come
down the pike on that one. So we got the Couple,
Marvel a Marvel movie, One More, and The Fantastic Four.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, First Steps, that's coming out the end of July.
In New Jurassic World. Those movies just print money. Yeah,
you need to see Dinahaurs on screen. It gets scroll
at you a handsome big stars. So that's just gonna
make a hole the money.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Billion dollars. Yeah, what is bombed already since Memorial Day?
What was expected to be big and just it wasn't anything.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Mickey seventeen is new ish. That was a big bump
because the budget was so big and no one saw it.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It was it.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's a science fiction film. It's really kind of heavy handed.
Robert Pattinson, Oh.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I wanted to see that. I saw. It's not good.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It's tough sletting. No.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh no, you know what movie I just watched on
the plane on the way to Japan. Better man, I.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's the movie.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Loved it.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yes, that was a colossal bomb. It's such a weird.
It's so good. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
By the five minutes in, you don't even think about
the fact the main character is a monkey. The music
is fantastic, the cast is likable. It was so entertaining.
I absolutely loved that movie.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
That movie should have a good second life, but its
first life was pretty.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I feel like it's going to be in the category
of this is spinal tap and uh, you know, the
gods must be crazy. Let's think of all the movies
from the eighties that we that were always left over
on the video shelf. So that's how my family rented
I'm not even kidding. All the all the blockbusters were
gone and we were just like, oh, we'll watch the
Lows Brothers again. So I've seen that like one hundred
and eighty times. Mandy ask him about the new Jurassic
(16:06):
Park and the new Godfather movie.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Wait what, I'm not aware that a.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
New Godfather movie that we learned something from part three
and that.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Is we don't need anymore. We stop it too.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, I'm not aware that. Yeah, Jurassic World Rebirth is called.
I don't have much information about it. These are big,
big productions. Obviously, SCARLETJ. Hanson storing it is a major
you know, it's funny. You don't even need that. I
don't know why they hire her because it's Jurassic World.
That just itself as he needs the residuals she had
(16:39):
for poor Scarlett.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, I mean, I'm seriously we got to make sure
these Hollywood people can get by Mandy. Having worked in
film and TV, I rarely discussed politics. It's an industry
that makes the radio business look stable, and the industry
has had major downturns and it's even harder to find work.
So that also reaffirms you don't want to give anybody
a reason to say no.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, the industries really suffering on many levels.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
La. The productions are fleeing the city. Streaming platforms haven't
been making as much money as you think. The box
office has been not so bad, but there have been
some significant bombs, right you know the reason kroadit Kid Legends.
I thought it was perfectly fine, but didn't really get
a lot of attention. So there's been some box office disappointments.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
For sure. Elio is a new Pixar movie. No one's
seeing that.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
You know, didn't even hear about that movie. But then
I don't really watch commercials, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
You know, that one didn't get a lot of buz
didn't get a lot of promotion.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
So that's often a sign with the studio says, we
know this is not an A plus product. We'll just
put it out there. If it catches fire, wonderful family
go to video in three weeks and people will in
it for their kids. What about F one, the new
Formula one movie? Was that Bruckheimer, He may be a
producer in that. The director is the same person who
did Top On Maverick. It comes out today. That's who
I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Brad Pitt is the star. It is very Maverick esque.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
An older guy who once had great, you know, success
in his field. Now he's trying to recapture his youth.
One more stab at greatness. There's a younger driver who's
threatening his place on the teme.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I gotta tell you, I still am shocked and delighted
at how amazing Top Gun Maverick was. I mean, talk
about picking up the mantle and just just using it perfectly.
He just did such a great job that I am
not necessarily excited about car racing, but I'm totally going
to see this because if you can pull off those
male dynamics, and this is.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
What's so good about those movies, And I just said
this to a friend of mine.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Those movies allow the men to be unabashedly male and
it makes them not jerks while doing it, except the
one guy who's you know, egotistical and all that stuff.
And that's it. They're manly men doing manly things and
it's fantastic to see on the big screen.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
It is.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It feels like a throwback experience and this film is
not that good, but there are definitely echoes between the
two films, and there's just listen to get an older
movie star who still looks amazing, right, and what he's doing.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's it's working quite well.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
But I mean, come only we thought it was a movie,
but the story of his life there was a document. Yeah, exactly,
all right. Find Hollywood in Toto at Hollywood Intoto dot com.
He's got a great podcast with the name always look
for Christians reviews And if you're wondering if you want
to go see a movie, hop on over to Hollywood
and Tote where they have a lot of reviews from
that right leaning perspective, so you can kind of get
(19:17):
an idea on what you want to do there. I
appreciate you. Can you stick around for one more segment.
Somebody just asked the question, and I think we need
to address it, but I'm going to give you a
moment to think.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Because actions are briefs, which is worse.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Blues Brothers two thousand, We'll be right back. You should
check them out on Hollywood intoto dot com. SEU im clever,
that is, did you see the graphic I'm made for you?
I love it My AI graphic, little squirrely things up
on the right there I couldn't get rid of. But
I went to Rock and Chat and they let me down,
and then I went to Canva AI and that's what they.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Came up with.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I was very proud of my It was utilization of AI.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It was beautiful. It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
And I think in two you there's all these little
squiggles and all the like hands got five six fingers
that of five, it's all gonna go away.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It's gonna get even creepier. But well, it's a great tool.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I And of course they just in a study of
what am I trying to think of of AI and
how it affects your brain use and there's two different
things that emerged out of study.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
One people that use.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
AI to do their work for them. Okay, kids that
are using AI and copying, pasting, and putting that stuff.
They would have a kid write an essay using AI
and then turn the essay in and then give them
a quiz like four or five minutes later on the essay,
and they would not even know what was in the essay.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
They just turned.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And then they studied brains and it actually showed that
the part of your brain that is for information processing
and creativity just basically started shrinking and usage. But people
who were using AI as a tool, meaning you and
I use AI all the time to do stuff like this.
Compare these downtown vacancy rates of these twelve American cities.
(21:03):
I did that the other day. It's fantastic, and they
showed those folks they actually interacted those parts of the
lit up more because you were using it informationally and
not as a replacement for your own actual work. So
I think we're going to have to deal with that
as kids are cheating with AI.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
I talked to your professor recently and he had nightmare
stories about the cheating and the school not even having
as back in certain ways, and they're still kind of
feeling the way around.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
What do you do with this? Yah, it's a huge problem.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Oh, it's ais lead passed us in this issue. Let's
talk for a moment about this text messenger's question, because
they sent the question and then they sent another text
that just said excuse me, Mandy, and I feel like
that was a quiet repro small So let's just go
ahead and get this question out, Mandy. What are Christians
thoughts about the late composer Lelo Schiffrin.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Lalo Schiffrin. I should say, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
As a movie critic, I don't really zero in on
music as much as I should, so it's definitely a
fallacy of my part.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
But I mean, mission impossible. He done some other the namesers.
Give me.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Can I have my audio please, Anthony? Because he also
did this original soundtrack.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The Mtville Horror.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, that's Lalla is different. You know, these these composers,
I only noticed the music when it's bad or sat well, no,
because spectacular just makes the entire experience so much better.
So you're more likely to say, you know, golly, what
(22:35):
an amazing film that was because the music was so good.
But boy howdy, a bad soundtrack and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
What the deuce? What are they like?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Buy this on the internet? What is happening? A bad soundtrack?
And some of those eighties.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Movies that synth sound it might have been good at
that specific moment.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Instantly, h all.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Of the Roger Moore, John j are all that horrible
digital synthesizer stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
It's so bad.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Let me ask you this, like now that we're seeing
some of the animation AI and I'm sure you see
it on X as well.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's insane.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Did you see the cat diving competition that's been making
its way around the internet.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
No, but I mean I see everyone's transformed in to
a baby. I mean, that's just tell you those are hilarious.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Baby Trump is very fun of me. I find that entertaining.
But no, there was a video this week. I saw
it and it was cats diving off of a diving board.
And if you drop that into nineteen eighty five, you
would have had the entire world going, oh my god,
did you see the cats jumping off the diving board?
(23:43):
It looks that real. What does this mean for Hollywood?
This is part of the writer's strike or the last
contract negotiations.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
They've put in a lot of protections against AI. But
this is you cannot hold this back at some point. Also,
you're gonna have independent studios, people who aren't with the
different guilds, just saying Hey, I want to make a story.
I've got a script. I can use AI to animate
it and do it at a fraction of a fraction
of the cost.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
It's inevitable. It's inevitable.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I have a friend who does like training stuff. That's
her job, and she sells training to individual corporations and
things like that. She's now working to use AI two
when she gets a question from somebody that she is
in a training cycle with and she we're talking at
thousands of people training at the same time. Okay, when
(24:29):
she gets an individual question, she'll be able to program
that into this program and it will create a video
of her visually answering the question. Because she is found
in her work that retention is better when people feel
like they're getting that personal feedback. So she's now going
to be able to basically fake personal interactions. And she said,
people love it.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I mean, I understand it is great technology.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I think about you know, when pages went away, we
were like, oh boohoo.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Pages are gone.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
You have to adapt I mean, whoever is selling pages
out a pager business there in trouble.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I feel like so many industries, so many people could
be significantly impaired by this. By my job is gone
because you know, I mean, I can create a graphic
for my website right now using AI and doing this
and that where I don't have to hire a designer,
And that's a title I can't help myself.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Sometimes it's there.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I mean, other people are using it same token, like
I should be hiring a designer do that. I mean,
it's just a microscopic example of how things are going
to change.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I feel a little bit guilty, But the fact of
the matter is is that this kind of AI technology
that we're talking about right now, how long is it
before some kid or some woman you know, working in
their basement is going to be able to create an
animated movie from scratch by themselves in their basement and
(25:48):
it's going to win an oscar. That's going to happen
sooner rather than later. And I think that much like
I think the Internet for the arts, for artists, for musicians,
for actors is one of the great things in the
world and also one of the worst. You know, in
terms of how they get paid and everything else. But
I just think those who adapt to the technology and
(26:08):
adapt quickly and figure out how to use it to
their advantage instead of having a steamroll them.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Are going to be the ones who survive.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
And I agree, and that you know, you have storytellers
now who can make something and put it up on
YouTube where they can never they never had the tools
to do that at a low price point ever before.
I mean, you know, the Tim Dillon podcast is very
popular on YouTube and it probably gets more views than
like CNNA Times. Oh and imagine the budget of C
and N versus Tim Dillon in a studio, cracking wise.
So those are great things, and it's kind of you know,
(26:37):
democratizing the whole process. But be careful what you wish for,
because you know, maybe Disney goes out of business because
they've got You've got a kid who's got a great story,
but then today it's a great story and he or
she did it with this technology, and all of a sudden,
we've got a wonderful yarn to spend that makes our
lives better.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So that is you know, maybe maybe it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Would inspire a little more creativity, you know how many
of the movies that we're talking about for this summer,
I have no connection to a prior film. Yeah, you know,
F One I don't think has a prior connection to
a prior film. But other than that, you got Leelo
and Stitch. That's a remake. You've got another Marvel movie
(27:17):
that already has a lure and a history. We have Superman.
I mean, we're just and don't get me wrong, I
love some of the regurgitations. But man, that's why I
think I love Better Man so much because it was
so different and so strange and so fun.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
And that's why Centners was so magical, because it was
absolutely fresh. It's a vampire movie, but it's really about
a set in the Deep South in nineteen thirties.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's about racism.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
It's about these black brothers who are trying to create
like a juke box joint. This I forget the exact
terminology there, but just a club for people with their neighbors.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Can you enjoy themselves? Subject joint? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:54):
And things go awry of gost I had a thought
that so yeah, we do we do well? Oh this
is what to say.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Did you hear them making a prequel to Young Frankenstein.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
What called very I'm not even lying. They're gonna call
it very Young Frankenstein. I think it's either Hulu or FX.
I think it has mil Brooks's Blessing. Is a series
no stops.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I mean that's it sounds so farcical.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
But you talk about like regurgitation, reimagining, sequels, prequels, remakes.
I mean, at some point we have to put put
down the brakes, right, and this is ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I mean, how do you replace those actors? What's sacred?
That's what I'm saying, is nothing sacret. We never answered
what is worse, Blues Brother two thousand or Caddyshack two.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
I don't think I ever suffered through Blue Oh my god, I've.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Seen them both. I've seen them both. And this is
Sophie's choice.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I mean, is such a beautiful example of a terrible, awful,
no good sequel.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So I have to just default to that.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
They should have just called it Caddyshack too. We just
want your money anyway, Christian Toto, thank you for stopping by.
I appreciate you you so much. Hollywood and Toto is
his website where you can get to his work and
his reviews, and you can also listen to his amazing podcast,
We'll talk to again too, My friend sounds good soon soon,
not tune too well. Next time, we'll do the entire
segment in song. Ah, you don't want that, okay ye
I am pleased to ask punch tab one of my
friends here in the studio with me again, Christian Toto
from Hollywood in Toto. We're gonna talk to him in
a moment, but I have to do something first. Oh,
someone has sent something to the common spiritual text line
that I have to address. Mandy, you didn't know how
delicious fried okra is at the Black Eyed be Oh
contrary or my friend? I do because I get it
(00:20):
every time.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
What's your opra reaction? What if fried okra?
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yes or no?
Speaker 3 (00:25):
When I grew up, I didn't eat blueberries or raspberries.
My diet was as simple as you could pot like
a like a toddler's right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Still, I've gotten much better, okay, but I haven't done
the okra.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
O fried okra. There's nothing offensive about yeah, I mean
regularly like if you don't cook okra, right, it is
like it's snotty. It's for lack of a better way
to put it, but fried okra is very innocuous. It's
like a it's like an entryway into okra.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Describing it as snotty means I will never eat it.
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
I believe in truth in advertising. I'm never going to
be one of those people that hands you a bowl
of like mash cauliflower and says, you're not even going
to know it's not potato. So, yeah, you are going
to know it's not potatoes. It's still good.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Do you make fried uh? I don't do that.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Kind of deep frying at my house just because it
makes I mean, I can, but it makes a mess.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
It's tricky.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well it's not tricky, it just makes a mess. Then
you got to deal with the oil afterward. Blah blah blah,
et cetera, et cetera. I have a pretty good fried
auting myself. Actually, oh yeah, I'm not afraid Christian. First
of all, let's get this out of the way. Christian
has a phenomenal podcast, a phenomenal website. He now writes,
you're everywhere.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
I just looked down.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And I see there's Christian Toto's name again.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Good for you. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I'm with the Daily Wire at the Blaze once a
week at NewsBusters, which is such an amazing resource for immedia.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I love Newsbsters.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
I have loved them for years and they never They've
never changed, and that is a compliment. They've always been
very consistent with the stuff they call out. It's not
like they've gone crazy, you know, in one way or
the other. I mean, they've been so consistent the entire
time they've existed. That's an extremely good point. And it's
also in our times right now, we're seeing major players, platforms,
(02:06):
commentators just losing their minds. And we can all point
to some fingers there not them.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, I agree, and I when I see what they share,
it's very clinical, it's accurate. I don't remember ever being
fooled by right right, which is all the more important.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Exactly they're right, They're just they're very journalistic at NewsBusters. Okay,
so let's talk about two things. First of all, you
wrote a great column the other day, and and this
is going to be one of those things that there's
going to be a percentage of my audience that is
going to say, Mandy, why do I give a crap
if any of these lefty Hollywood people get canceled, Like,
why do I care? But I think there's some stories
(02:43):
of a little bit of courage starting to show in Hollywood.
And so let's talk about a massive, massive producer. Brian
Grazer has now he came out of the closet.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
He did, and he's a pretty big Democratic donor for years.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I remember just seeing his name.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
He's done a lot of the Ron Howard films, you
know that best you know backdraft of about thirteen. Just
he's got incredible resume, and he was captured on camera.
There's a Fox Nation docu series where he admitted to
voting for Donald Trump.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
And this was a you know, came out recently.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
I think that the footage was maybe from a few
months ago, but that is an amazing admission. And listen,
you could, like you said, who why do we care?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
But there's several reasons too care.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
First of all, when anyone of the culture of consequence
comes out and is able to say that, especially.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
In the industry, that's we'll chew up and spit you out.
That does matter.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
We need to be brave, we need to be outspoken,
need to be oh, it's okay to say that I
voted with half the country and more. And also, again,
he's such an interesting player behind the scenes. You don't
know his name, you've just seen his movies for decades.
And the fact he's willing to stick his neck out
and not worry about it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
That doesn't matter. Now. I watched the coverage of it, Variety,
the Hollywood Reporter.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Got the vapors.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, they all kind of they all circle, they want
more comment.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Can you elaborate on this?
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You know?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Yeah, I didn't know you were so hateful. It's interesting.
I saw the comment where people are upset, but people
have also said, but I'll still work with him if
he call me Brian, Yeah, I think you're a racist.
Call me Brian.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I mean that's what it is.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
You're a fascist.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Call me Brian. I mean it's like it must kill them.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
But I'm hoping because now you've got Brian Grazer has
come out, granted he's probably in his seventies getting a
little bit older.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You've got Slice.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Stallone, who has just banged open the door as a
Trump supporter and with absolutely no blanks to give right
as he did it. Maybe there's cracks in the blue
wall of Hollywood. Maybe it's going to become maybe not accepted,
but at least not a death sentence for you to
be a conservative in Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
It's complicated now. Listen. Stallone is Stallone, He's an icon.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
He's got a hit show in Paramount, which is terrific,
by the way to love Tulsa King. And also Grazer
is still making movies. He's got his Howard Run Howard connection.
He still plugged in, so he has juice within the industry.
But I talked to so many people again and again
and again over the years. They're still afraid, they still
understand they could be canceled. And often it's the people
who you don't know their names right, say, it's the hairdresser,
(05:14):
it's the cast member, it's the crew member. And I've
talked to people who worked with a group called Friends
of Abe, where these people would get together and commiserate
and cry and talk about how they're mistreated. And again
and again you see examples of this going on. I
mean the fact that a Hollywood producer says, I voted
for X, not Y, and it's news that says it all.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
It really does.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So, my sister, do you remember the John Travolta movie Basic,
Oh gosh, I don't know our sign A mediocre film
at best. I cannot recommend that you go back and
give it a look. But my sister, isn't it She
was Connie Nielsen's stand in Wow. Well, they were filming
that in Jacksonville, and so they're in Florida and Jeb
Bush was the governor at the time, and so Jeb
(05:55):
Bush was coming to visit the set because there were
filming a big movie in Florida. And before he showed up, everybody,
like the cast and the crew like a kind of grumbling,
and one of the people on the set, a more
important person than my stand in sister right says, we
don't even know any Republicans. And she goes, I'm a Republican. Oh,
(06:16):
and when she said it, she said, everybody just wo
heads on a swivel. But then everybody was super nice
to do a Bush as well. They were very gracious
and they were very kind, and nobody said anything else
about it. So I was like, well, you don't matter,
but good for you for saying. Actually, a couple other people,
like in craft services, were like, yeah, I'm a Republican.
But I do think to your point, there's so many
(06:37):
things in Hollywood because it's such a just honestly kind
of inherently gross the way people.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Become stars in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
And I don't necessarily talk about the casting couch, but
it's about having to curb yourself and your personality because
you don't want to rock the boat ever, right, and
it's so arbitrary.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's a very weird culture, and you want to go
along to get along.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
And if you say you, if you're a rising star,
someone who wants to crack in the system to get
a gig, you can't get political. He certainly can't on
the right, for sure. That's just a death sentence. There's
no way I'd recommend that. But we do need more
people to speak out, you know, off the year we're
talking about sort of when you don't give a bleep anymore.
And there are people in our culture you think would
be in an exact situation, like Stephen King.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
A few years ago.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Stephen King came out and talked about art and diversity
and the Oscar. He said, you know, it should be
about a talent, It should be about making the best
picture possible. And he was hounded by the woke mob
and he backpedaled. He even wrote an op ed in
the Washing Post basically apologizing for saying that merit matters.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
But he's such a lefty. I mean, he probably never thought.
He probably thought he had enough lefty bon offends, you
know what I mean? Nobody was going to come after him,
and he could make a very valid point, by the way,
a rational, you know, well thought out point that makes
a lot of sense, and not the attack for it,
but low and behold, he underestimates the hatred of his
side of the aisle.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, you never can be woke enough. But also look
at like J. K.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Rowling, who's just been an absolute bulldog and will not
back down.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
And she's similar to King.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Like this author, a superstar, all the money of the world,
all the gravitas in the world.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Her legacy is secure.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
She could retire today, spend the next thirty years just
you know, being in the garden. And she is who
she is. But she's been attacked for multiple years. There
was just a bookstore, thought it was in California. I said,
we will not sell her books anymore.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, oh, okay, okay, Boomer, do what I should say?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Okay, gen z uh huh.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
You know, to your point, I love JK Rowling for
that because she doesn't need to engage at all. I
kind of feel the same way about Elon Musk's actions
coming to try and work for government. Talk about a
guy that you know, leven or hate him, You know
lever hate the idea of doge What are the world did?
How in the world did that possibly benefit Elon Musk
(08:50):
So people cannot wrap their heads around Sometimes when someone
who is super wealthy continues to dip in in some way,
that is controversial because why would you think I would
buy an island and you'd never hear from me again,
which is exactly what I would do. I'm just letting
you know, so I do think those things kind of
go hand in hand. It's kind of sad though. I mean,
I remember when, you know, actors would go on Johnny
(09:12):
Carson and they would talk about what was going on
in the news of the day, and it was funny
and even if they you know a little bit of
push back here and there. But we don't get to.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Do that anymore. We don't listen to celebrities. Most of them,
not all of them are not really well thought out.
They're often angry, they're bitter. It just the way it
comes out is really corrosive. And we're living in a
time where we have a million different options of what
to watch at any given time. I just go on
my phone and watch YouTube videos for that six hours.
I don't need to see Brad Pitt's movie. So if
(09:41):
Brad Pitt says I'm an idiot for voting a certain way,
or says I'm a jerk because I don't want trans
women and women's sports, why would.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I go up see this movie? Right? So it's so counterintuitive,
but they keep doing it.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Listen, if they were more well informed, if they were thoughtful,
if they weren't abrasive. Okay, I mean they have a platform,
They've got a pedestal. Listen, I'll hear what they have
to say. But also you know that they never get challenged.
It's an a worst show, it's an interview with a
lefty magazine, it's social media.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
They will never say, Okay, I'll take some questions.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Based on my beliefs, and I'll go back and forth
with you, and I'll be challenged and I'll defend my position,
and never do that.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Never, Well, do you think that after the Rachel Zieglers,
You know, just I believe her commentary probably killed what
might have been a decent opening weekend and the movie itself.
I've tried to watch it just so I you know,
be more. No, it's terrible. They I mean, they just
took a story that is a classic and made it
(10:40):
something so dumb it's just awful. Do you think contracts
are going to be written that say, during the until this,
you know, six weeks after release, you better keep your
pie hole shut.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
No, absolutely not, Maverick. We're seeing in real time right now.
Pedro Pascal, who's in Every third Time. He just keeps
blathering on and dropping f bombs and being corrosive. And
he's got he's got a movie coming out Eddington. He's
in the Fantastic four First Steps. He's a huge part
of that whole franchise. He doesn't care. Listen, I don't
want him to be sequestered. He should be able to
(11:16):
speak his mind. I get that, But just from a
pragmatic point of view, if you're doing press, excuse me,
that is to get people's fannies in the seats to
the movie period. That's the only reason why you're talking
to a journalist and they don't get it.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Well, it's I don't know to your point about all
these different opportunities for entertainment. I mean, we we deal
with this in radio all the time. Like it used
to be that when you were driving in the car,
the only thing you could do was listen to the radio.
Right then if you were lucky, you got an eight
truck tape pick. But now even in the car, you
can cultivate whatever you want to cultivate. It doesn't it
doesn't mean anything. So it is you know, you don't
(11:52):
want to drive away any listener like of course I
get the I'm never listening again text messages, but you
know you.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Couldn't mean a little emotional one day.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
But I do think that you have to be even
more aware of not giving people a reason to listen,
you know what I mean, or a reason to watch.
Don't give them if they're already competing for all of
this other stuff. You don't want to give them a
reason to say, absolutely not, I'm not seeing that.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
I agree. I mean, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And the fact that that Rachel zeglerb went to that whole, I.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Don't even know how to describe it. I mean, just
being pummeled by it.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
What did she like.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Five just spouting off and I'll think of as nobody
told her how life works, how business works.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
In her meager defense, she was basically just reciting the
lines from all of her colleagues, all the people behind
the scenes, I'm the victim.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
I hate Trump. I mean, just go on and on.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Old content is stuffy and antiquated. We have to reimagine it.
So she just really read the script that Hollywood has
been unofficially been giving her forever. But she got burned
and it just was a cavalcade of we're going to
not hire little people. Yes, we're gonna put little people
in there, but it's gonna be cgi and we're gonna
salt the source material and the trailer is going to
be terrible. I mean, it was just a perfect storm
(13:05):
of just bad buzz after bad buzz, and the movie collapsed.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
So we've seen this year Leelo and Stitch, the unanimated
version has kicked Booty at the uh box office. What
are there things are we looking forward to in the summer?
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Well, I just real quickly. A Minecraft movie was huge.
Sinners was terrific and big big box office. Good for
that movie because it wasn't a sequel to remake. It
was an original film, beautifully told. Superman's coming out next month.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
I cannot wait to see this new Superman. I am
stoked and I loved Henry Cavill like it hurt my
heart when they replaced Henry. I get it.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I mean, we all age out right, but this guy
looks pretty dang good.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Yeah, I mean I think I'm just more curious about
how they're going to treat this and anything else. I
grew up in the Christopher Rie era and he was
the boy scout. Yeah, but he was amazing and he
was so perfectly cast for the role. And three and
four with bad movies, let's just put that way.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I liked the what was the one where they redid
the Zod storyline Man of Steel? Yeah, think like we
just watched that this past week because it and I
thought this is a really good reimagining of that first
movie because it's the same story essentially, right.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
I thought they did a good job with it. Who's
directing this one? So this is James Gunn. He did
the Guardians of the Galaxy film. He's okay, He's talented.
He's a bit quippy and silly and boyish in a way.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
That's not a did.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
He do the thor love and No?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
That was a white no.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
We should never let him near any kind of superhero
movie again. That was shameful.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Take his camera away.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Somebody needs to be hurt for that needs to come
down the pike on that one. So we got the Couple,
Marvel a Marvel movie, One More, and The Fantastic Four.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, First Steps, that's coming out the end of July.
In New Jurassic World. Those movies just print money. Yeah,
you need to see Dinahaurs on screen. It gets scroll
at you a handsome big stars. So that's just gonna
make a hole the money.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Billion dollars. Yeah, what is bombed already since Memorial Day?
What was expected to be big and just it wasn't anything.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Mickey seventeen is new ish. That was a big bump
because the budget was so big and no one saw it.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
It was it.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
It's a science fiction film. It's really kind of heavy handed.
Robert Pattinson, Oh.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I wanted to see that. I saw. It's not good.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It's tough sletting. No.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Oh no, you know what movie I just watched on
the plane on the way to Japan. Better man, I.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
That's the movie.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Loved it.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yes, that was a colossal bomb. It's such a weird.
It's so good. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
By the five minutes in, you don't even think about
the fact the main character is a monkey. The music
is fantastic, the cast is likable. It was so entertaining.
I absolutely loved that movie.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
That movie should have a good second life, but its
first life was pretty.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I feel like it's going to be in the category
of this is spinal tap and uh, you know, the
gods must be crazy. Let's think of all the movies
from the eighties that we that were always left over
on the video shelf. So that's how my family rented
I'm not even kidding. All the all the blockbusters were
gone and we were just like, oh, we'll watch the
Lows Brothers again. So I've seen that like one hundred
and eighty times. Mandy ask him about the new Jurassic
(16:06):
Park and the new Godfather movie.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Wait what, I'm not aware that a.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
New Godfather movie that we learned something from part three
and that.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Is we don't need anymore. We stop it too.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
Yeah, I'm not aware that. Yeah, Jurassic World Rebirth is called.
I don't have much information about it. These are big,
big productions. Obviously, SCARLETJ. Hanson storing it is a major
you know, it's funny. You don't even need that. I
don't know why they hire her because it's Jurassic World.
That just itself as he needs the residuals she had
(16:39):
for poor Scarlett.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Yeah, I mean, I'm seriously we got to make sure
these Hollywood people can get by Mandy. Having worked in
film and TV, I rarely discussed politics. It's an industry
that makes the radio business look stable, and the industry
has had major downturns and it's even harder to find work.
So that also reaffirms you don't want to give anybody
a reason to say no.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, the industries really suffering on many levels.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
La. The productions are fleeing the city. Streaming platforms haven't
been making as much money as you think. The box
office has been not so bad, but there have been
some significant bombs, right you know the reason kroadit Kid Legends.
I thought it was perfectly fine, but didn't really get
a lot of attention. So there's been some box office disappointments.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
For sure. Elio is a new Pixar movie. No one's
seeing that.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
You know, didn't even hear about that movie. But then
I don't really watch commercials, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
You know, that one didn't get a lot of buz
didn't get a lot of promotion.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
So that's often a sign with the studio says, we
know this is not an A plus product. We'll just
put it out there. If it catches fire, wonderful family
go to video in three weeks and people will in
it for their kids. What about F one, the new
Formula one movie? Was that Bruckheimer, He may be a
producer in that. The director is the same person who
did Top On Maverick. It comes out today. That's who
I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Brad Pitt is the star. It is very Maverick esque.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
An older guy who once had great, you know, success
in his field. Now he's trying to recapture his youth.
One more stab at greatness. There's a younger driver who's
threatening his place on the teme.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
I gotta tell you, I still am shocked and delighted
at how amazing Top Gun Maverick was. I mean, talk
about picking up the mantle and just just using it perfectly.
He just did such a great job that I am
not necessarily excited about car racing, but I'm totally going
to see this because if you can pull off those
male dynamics, and this is.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
What's so good about those movies, And I just said
this to a friend of mine.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Those movies allow the men to be unabashedly male and
it makes them not jerks while doing it, except the
one guy who's you know, egotistical and all that stuff.
And that's it. They're manly men doing manly things and
it's fantastic to see on the big screen.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
It is.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It feels like a throwback experience and this film is
not that good, but there are definitely echoes between the
two films, and there's just listen to get an older
movie star who still looks amazing, right, and what he's doing.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
It's it's working quite well.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
But I mean, come only we thought it was a movie,
but the story of his life there was a document. Yeah, exactly,
all right. Find Hollywood in Toto at Hollywood Intoto dot com.
He's got a great podcast with the name always look
for Christians reviews And if you're wondering if you want
to go see a movie, hop on over to Hollywood
and Tote where they have a lot of reviews from
that right leaning perspective, so you can kind of get
(19:17):
an idea on what you want to do there. I
appreciate you. Can you stick around for one more segment.
Somebody just asked the question, and I think we need
to address it, but I'm going to give you a
moment to think.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Because actions are briefs, which is worse.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Blues Brothers two thousand, We'll be right back. You should
check them out on Hollywood intoto dot com. SEU im clever,
that is, did you see the graphic I'm made for you?
I love it My AI graphic, little squirrely things up
on the right there I couldn't get rid of. But
I went to Rock and Chat and they let me down,
and then I went to Canva AI and that's what they.
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Came up with.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I was very proud of my It was utilization of AI.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It was beautiful. It's so funny.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
And I think in two you there's all these little
squiggles and all the like hands got five six fingers
that of five, it's all gonna go away.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
It's gonna get even creepier. But well, it's a great tool.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
I And of course they just in a study of
what am I trying to think of of AI and
how it affects your brain use and there's two different
things that emerged out of study.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
One people that use.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
AI to do their work for them. Okay, kids that
are using AI and copying, pasting, and putting that stuff.
They would have a kid write an essay using AI
and then turn the essay in and then give them
a quiz like four or five minutes later on the essay,
and they would not even know what was in the essay.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
They just turned.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
And then they studied brains and it actually showed that
the part of your brain that is for information processing
and creativity just basically started shrinking and usage. But people
who were using AI as a tool, meaning you and
I use AI all the time to do stuff like this.
Compare these downtown vacancy rates of these twelve American cities.
(21:03):
I did that the other day. It's fantastic, and they
showed those folks they actually interacted those parts of the
lit up more because you were using it informationally and
not as a replacement for your own actual work. So
I think we're going to have to deal with that
as kids are cheating with AI.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
All the time.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
I talked to your professor recently and he had nightmare
stories about the cheating and the school not even having
as back in certain ways, and they're still kind of
feeling the way around.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
What do you do with this? Yah, it's a huge problem.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Oh, it's ais lead passed us in this issue. Let's
talk for a moment about this text messenger's question, because
they sent the question and then they sent another text
that just said excuse me, Mandy, and I feel like
that was a quiet repro small So let's just go
ahead and get this question out, Mandy. What are Christians
thoughts about the late composer Lelo Schiffrin.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Lalo Schiffrin. I should say, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
As a movie critic, I don't really zero in on
music as much as I should, so it's definitely a
fallacy of my part.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
But I mean, mission impossible. He done some other the namesers.
Give me.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Can I have my audio please, Anthony? Because he also
did this original soundtrack.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The Mtville Horror.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Yes, that's Lalla is different. You know, these these composers,
I only noticed the music when it's bad or sat well, no,
because spectacular just makes the entire experience so much better.
So you're more likely to say, you know, golly, what
(22:35):
an amazing film that was because the music was so good.
But boy howdy, a bad soundtrack and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
What the deuce? What are they like?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Buy this on the internet? What is happening? A bad soundtrack?
And some of those eighties.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Movies that synth sound it might have been good at
that specific moment.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Instantly, h all.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
Of the Roger Moore, John j are all that horrible
digital synthesizer stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
It's so bad.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Let me ask you this, like now that we're seeing
some of the animation AI and I'm sure you see
it on X as well.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
It's insane.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Did you see the cat diving competition that's been making
its way around the internet.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
No, but I mean I see everyone's transformed in to
a baby. I mean, that's just tell you those are hilarious.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Baby Trump is very fun of me. I find that entertaining.
But no, there was a video this week. I saw
it and it was cats diving off of a diving board.
And if you drop that into nineteen eighty five, you
would have had the entire world going, oh my god,
did you see the cats jumping off the diving board?
(23:43):
It looks that real. What does this mean for Hollywood?
This is part of the writer's strike or the last
contract negotiations.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
They've put in a lot of protections against AI. But
this is you cannot hold this back at some point. Also,
you're gonna have independent studios, people who aren't with the
different guilds, just saying Hey, I want to make a story.
I've got a script. I can use AI to animate
it and do it at a fraction of a fraction
of the cost.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
It's inevitable. It's inevitable.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I have a friend who does like training stuff. That's
her job, and she sells training to individual corporations and
things like that. She's now working to use AI two
when she gets a question from somebody that she is
in a training cycle with and she we're talking at
thousands of people training at the same time. Okay, when
(24:29):
she gets an individual question, she'll be able to program
that into this program and it will create a video
of her visually answering the question. Because she is found
in her work that retention is better when people feel
like they're getting that personal feedback. So she's now going
to be able to basically fake personal interactions. And she said,
people love it.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I mean, I understand it is great technology.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I think about you know, when pages went away, we
were like, oh boohoo.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Pages are gone.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
You have to adapt I mean, whoever is selling pages
out a pager business there in trouble.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I feel like so many industries, so many people could
be significantly impaired by this. By my job is gone
because you know, I mean, I can create a graphic
for my website right now using AI and doing this
and that where I don't have to hire a designer,
And that's a title I can't help myself.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Sometimes it's there.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
I mean, other people are using it same token, like
I should be hiring a designer do that. I mean,
it's just a microscopic example of how things are going
to change.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I feel a little bit guilty, But the fact of
the matter is is that this kind of AI technology
that we're talking about right now, how long is it
before some kid or some woman you know, working in
their basement is going to be able to create an
animated movie from scratch by themselves in their basement and
(25:48):
it's going to win an oscar. That's going to happen
sooner rather than later. And I think that much like
I think the Internet for the arts, for artists, for musicians,
for actors is one of the great things in the
world and also one of the worst. You know, in
terms of how they get paid and everything else. But
I just think those who adapt to the technology and
(26:08):
adapt quickly and figure out how to use it to
their advantage instead of having a steamroll them.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Are going to be the ones who survive.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
And I agree, and that you know, you have storytellers
now who can make something and put it up on
YouTube where they can never they never had the tools
to do that at a low price point ever before.
I mean, you know, the Tim Dillon podcast is very
popular on YouTube and it probably gets more views than
like CNNA Times. Oh and imagine the budget of C
and N versus Tim Dillon in a studio, cracking wise.
So those are great things, and it's kind of you know,
(26:37):
democratizing the whole process. But be careful what you wish for,
because you know, maybe Disney goes out of business because
they've got You've got a kid who's got a great story,
but then today it's a great story and he or
she did it with this technology, and all of a sudden,
we've got a wonderful yarn to spend that makes our
lives better.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So that is you know, maybe maybe it.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Would inspire a little more creativity, you know how many
of the movies that we're talking about for this summer,
I have no connection to a prior film. Yeah, you know,
F One I don't think has a prior connection to
a prior film. But other than that, you got Leelo
and Stitch. That's a remake. You've got another Marvel movie
(27:17):
that already has a lure and a history. We have Superman.
I mean, we're just and don't get me wrong, I
love some of the regurgitations. But man, that's why I
think I love Better Man so much because it was
so different and so strange and so fun.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
And that's why Centners was so magical, because it was
absolutely fresh. It's a vampire movie, but it's really about
a set in the Deep South in nineteen thirties.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
It's about racism.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
It's about these black brothers who are trying to create
like a juke box joint. This I forget the exact
terminology there, but just a club for people with their neighbors.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Can you enjoy themselves? Subject joint? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:54):
And things go awry of gost I had a thought
that so yeah, we do we do well? Oh this
is what to say.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Did you hear them making a prequel to Young Frankenstein.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
What called very I'm not even lying. They're gonna call
it very Young Frankenstein. I think it's either Hulu or FX.
I think it has mil Brooks's Blessing. Is a series
no stops.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
I mean that's it sounds so farcical.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
But you talk about like regurgitation, reimagining, sequels, prequels, remakes.
I mean, at some point we have to put put
down the brakes, right, and this is ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
I mean, how do you replace those actors? What's sacred?
That's what I'm saying, is nothing sacret. We never answered
what is worse, Blues Brother two thousand or Caddyshack two.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
I don't think I ever suffered through Blue Oh my god, I've.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Seen them both. I've seen them both. And this is
Sophie's choice.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I mean, is such a beautiful example of a terrible, awful,
no good sequel.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
So I have to just default to that.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
They should have just called it Caddyshack too. We just
want your money anyway, Christian Toto, thank you for stopping by.
I appreciate you you so much. Hollywood and Toto is
his website where you can get to his work and
his reviews, and you can also listen to his amazing podcast,
We'll talk to again too, My friend sounds good soon soon,
not tune too well. Next time, we'll do the entire
segment in song. Ah, you don't want that, okay ye
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