Ep. 319: Thunderbolts* Underwater

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome Pensis podcast podcasting Don Sho jackigin By. They're talking
to Bob moming down back by.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Welcome to movie Film. It's episode three nineteen. I'm Zaki
Hassan up here in northern California and coming to us
from the post apocalyptic hellscape that is Los Angeles. Uh
hunkered down in his bunker with with with fire whizzing by.
He he's living in the nineteen ninety six portion of

(00:38):
Demolition Man. It's Brian Hall oh with it.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
There were high end tuckle bells around me right now, Zaki.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Oh No, that's the future portion.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
I know. I'm saying. I wish I was in whatever
future I'm supposed to be living in right now.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
You're you're in the portion where Wesley Snipes is like
those school bus drivers were coming into my territory. They
knew what was coming, right. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
We laugh, I laugh and cry. We gotta do both, Yeah,
we gotta do both.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Well. I feel like we for for historical context, we
should say that the reason we're saying this is because
the Marines have been sent in to you know, to
tame the just the riots and you know, absolute pandemonium
down there, which is confined to like a city block
or two.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Right, Yeah, it's important to note that we're scratching the
surface of an issue out here that's nuanced and has
a lot of components and is very serious and tragic.
But yes, regarding everything going on in LA right now,

(01:45):
my understanding is this past weekend there were protests in
a very small area and while it was largely peaceful,
you know, as always, there are always a few knuckleheads
that show up and start throwing rocks and knocking things over,
and you know, crappy behavior definitely, but nothing the police

(02:10):
apparently didn't have under control. So the next thing you know,
the president is sending out the National Guard, which had
our governor like, why, you know, we didn't ask for this,
we don't need this, And so national Guard is sent out,
which of course heightens tensions, and you know, people looking

(02:34):
for a fight, not the initial protesters, but people looking
for a fight show up and want to start something,
and then you get the aggressive footage you'd expect to
see on the news. The good news is, unlike past disturbances,
this isn't spilling out over miles and miles.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
So you're saying it hasn't it hasn't gotten as bad
as a Lakers winning the championship event from.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Where I'm sitting as far as I can understand it, No,
like La, there's definitely been escalation, Okay, so like we
got to be realistic there. It's been car set on
fire and things like that. But this hasn't been the
same sort of crazy eruption that sort of happened in
twenty twenty or you know, even earlier than that. This

(03:20):
feels like something that got prodded and escalated and and
you know, truthfully, when that happens, yeah, you are going
to get some people that really want to cause some stuff.
You are going to call those people out, and then
they're going to do it, and then you're going to
get what you wanted. You're going to get the narrative
you wanted that you almost imposed.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
That's the messy moment that's happening right now. But you know,
I just I think it's pretty obvious. I'm sort of
trying to be sort of at a distance and objective
speaking about the facts that are happening right now. But
I mean that's the dance truly, Like, even as I'm
trying to about this, like I have my opinion on this,
and I'm trying to like honor that, but I'm also

(04:05):
trying to be like objective and say that, yeah, no,
it's not good, Like it's not good when you've got
stuff burning down there, and that's stuff you do want
to squash. But then there is an appropriate way. Well,
so that's exactly a thing.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
And I want to I wanted to nudge on that
a little bit, right because because as you said, this
stuff there has been there have been things that that
were in the past. I mean, we're further along in
terms of property damage and things like that, things that
have happened in the past.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Right, this is different.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yes, this is this isn't at that point yet and
hopefully it won't. But the quest, I mean, did it require,
you know, calling in the National Guard? Did it require
calling in Marines previously?

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Well no, in my in my opinion, from where I'm
sitting and from the the news that I have tried
to ingest to get to the truth of it all, No,
that that does feel like an attempt at prodding and
manufacturing a narrative.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, that's that's what what sticks out to me, right,
And I think I think that's really and and it's
extraordinary because what I'm seeing from people I know from
the Midwest who are commenting on this, whose whose opinion
is shaped solely by what they're seeing on the news,

(05:29):
it is literally what I said, Oh my gosh, it's
it's just uh, it's it's just the city's on fire.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Yes, yes, same same. I've had people reaching out and
being like, what the hell is going on out there? Like,
you know, not exactly what I imagine you're hearing.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, and and and I think that's really a crucial thing.
One thing I've understood just from conversation, conversations with people
and also just from uh, from things that they're posting whatnot.
I don't think people grasp how big the Los Angeles
area is.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
In normal rightmos.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
Like there's the city proper, is itself pretty big. I
think you've got LA County, which is even bigger. And
so I mean, at this moment, what we're talking about
is really confined to you correct me if I'm wrong,
a couple of city blocks.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
That's my understanding. Yeah, I keep saying that, like those
caveats because I haven't actually shared a TV today, so
I don't have like the latest news but yeah, that's
my understanding. It's been limited to a couple of blocks.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
I mean it. Look, I'm going to sound like a
like a broken record at this point. And I'm sure
you've seen these references, but I mean, this is what
and Or season two is talking about. I mean, not
not this particular, but this idea of the truth as
a manipulable thing, and that when we lose our grounding

(06:47):
and we're unable to to have an objective truth that
we can all agree on, things can get very dangerous.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Absolutely, and we're seeing that. And look, let let's look
and this is me, I'm speaking for me. This is
not Brian, this is this is what this administration has wanted. Uh,
they've spoken of it even before they came in, and
and they're arranging uh the deck chairs to have that.
They they want to precipitate something, they want they want

(07:20):
the tinder box to catch fire.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
Absolutely because it helps it helps their their narrative.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
It helps their narve. And and I will say, man,
you know, I knew. I knew this was I knew
things would be bad. I always knew that when when
the election happened. I have to be honest, I did
not think they would get this bad this fast.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean, and you have the receipts right where.
One of the big first pokes I think that happened
this past weekend was again, yes, you're always gonna have knuckleheads,
and the police were managing it. But then you have
the president calling in the National Guard, going over the
governor's head that did not order the national guard, which

(08:01):
is the way you know that it's supposed to go.
The governor calls in requesting something for their state. But
then you can go back to old footage from like
twenty twenty or something like that, and you have our
now president saying that that's not the you know, the
president shouldn't call in the national guard. That's something the
governor is supposed to do, like the exact opposite of
what he has just done. So it's he does whatever

(08:24):
suits his agenda to push the narrative he is willing
into into existence.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
It's scary, you know, it's scary because I'm just like,
I'm like, if we're at a point now, I mean literally,
we're not even six months in where we're okay with
American troops being deployed on American soil, If we're shrugging
it off culturally collectively, what else are we going to
be okay with? H Right? And I'm not trying to catastrophize,

(08:54):
and anybody who knows me knows I'm not that way
by nature. But again, this is where we're at, less
than half a year in, you know, and we got
three and a half more of this.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah, and look, we've got complicated issues. Yeah, in this country,
there's a lot of things over time that have become
very tangled, and you know, they have to be managed.
But doing that with a sledgehammer and a blowtorch is
not the way to do those things. And that's the

(09:29):
thing that's really frightening to me. That's those those are
the tools of choice in this moment.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
And it's like very well said. You know, I was
talking to my son a few weeks ago, and that's
the point I was making to him. And this was
not specifically about politics, but I was like, you know,
anybody who who who shows up in your life and
offers a simple solution to a complicated problem, you should
walk the other way because that ain't how life works,

(09:56):
you know, right, you know, they're they're probably trying to
to shiney on yea, and and you know, I see
a lot you know, I see a lot of that
which is applicable here. Oh we got this far. I'm
gonna take care of it. Oh, only I can do it.
And it's like there's a lot of harm you know
that that I worry about. I mean, it is. It's

(10:16):
one of those things where you're just like, oh my gosh,
and then there's this thing help happening, and this thing happened,
and you sort of it's like, how much of my
brain space do I need to devote to being aware
of what's happening without being engulfed by it? Yeah? Right,
Like I just saw, you know, the Vaccine Advisory Board.
We're just gonna fire everybody on that. I'm like, well,
hey that nothing could go wrong there. Yeah, you know,

(10:42):
like all these things. You're like, this is a lot.

Speaker 3 (10:45):
As you're saying that, I was like, oh, yeah, I
forgot about that.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yes, But thank goodness, thank goodness, we have the movies
and we have our at least this forum to vent
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
This is frankly a nice retreat for me. You know,
I like coming here and talking about these things. And
the movies are in escapism and getting to talk about
them with you is the most wonderful escape for me.
So thank God for this.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Well, and you've had an opportunity to revisit some of
your favorites recently. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Well, you know, there's just so many things that I
am looking forward to checking out, and I feel like
they're all in the future, Like, you know, I'm seeing
Materialists tomorrow, how to Train your Dragon Dragon. I'm curious
about the life of Chuck, you know, I'm curious about
so in anticipation of all those things, I had this
time where I wasn't really going to the movies, and

(11:39):
I was very much anticipating Wes Anderson's newest movie, The
Phoenician Scheme.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Yes, and so.

Speaker 3 (11:48):
Because I was anticipating it, I was like, you know,
I'd kind of like to go back and watch his
last two movies, okay, because Asteroid City was one of them,
The French Dispatch and Asteroid City, and the reason being
I was like a little cooler on those.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
I remember that.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Yeah, And I've been a huge Wes Anderson fan ever
since the mid nineties. I mean when Bottle Rocket was
this undiscovered gem that my friend Jason and I discovered
at the video store and we're like, this speaks to us,
you know, I mean, that's that's how far I go back.
And then of course you know, Rushmore Life, Aquatic, Grand Budapest, Like,
I love all those movies, but I so it was

(12:30):
sort of like weird to me that I didn't really
feel like I connected with the last two, and I
wanted to kind of understand why, And in rewatching French
Dispatch in Asteroids City, I think I kind of figured
it out. So we talk about a lot in this show,
Early Spielberg and Papa Spielberg, Right, So Early Spielberg is like,

(12:51):
you know, Et Jaws, Indiana, Jones, Jurassic Park, all those
sorts of films, And then there got to a point
where he was like, look, I told those adventure stories,
and I love you for it, you know, for loving them,
But now I want to tell you something about history.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
You know about Lincoln.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yeah, let me tell you about Lincoln and you know,
Munich and all these sorts of things, and they're great,
but they're a different Spielberg, right, a little darker historical,
more serious. So I've realized that there's basically Early Anderson
and storybook Anderson. Okay, so Early Anderson. Let's just go

(13:33):
all the way back to Bottle Rocket. Like it's it
has oddball characters in it who exist on planet Earth,
and while occasionally kind of droll, they still have a
lot of emotions. Okay, there's a lot of the experienced
joy and heartbreak and laughter and whatever. And I feel
like as the movies went along, his style kind of increased,

(13:55):
and I loved it. And then you get to The
Grand Budapest Hotel, which I think was the perfect merging
of these two eras, Early Anderson and Storybook Anderson, because
it is a highly stylized movie that takes place in
a storybook feeling world, but its characters still emote and
get frazzled, you know, and scramble and are out of control,

(14:18):
out of their depths, and it's really fun to watch.
Then when you get to French Dispatch and Asteroid City,
I feel like we are in like full blown, highly
stylized world and characters. So the characters are very deadpan throughout.
I mean I've said this and I've seen other people
say this, but it almost feels like those later movies

(14:38):
feel like these elaborate dioramas that Anderson has made and
the actors are just dolls. He's kind of shuffling around
in them rather than feeling like, you know, like human
characters with a whole range of emotions. So there was that.
But one thing that really hit me when I revisited
these two specific later movies was going with what I

(15:02):
just said, they are sensory overload, Like all the visual
information that's packed into the frame. The framing itself is
super interesting and is drawing my attention. A lot of
dense story information is being conveyed through characters in very
monotone speech patterns, and I think they can be These

(15:23):
later films can be so dense that I almost need
two viewings to even really have a feeling about them,
the first viewing to let that stylized wave crash on me,
and then another one to not be so distracted by
all the dense visuals and storytelling and actually be able
then to sit in the story, you know, because I

(15:44):
found my eyes wandering a little bit because there was
so much to take in as I was watching these movies,
And then I was like, oh, I didn't even listen
to what that guy said, and I kind of missed
it because he is saying it in a monotone speech pattern.
So now that I'm at home, I rewound it and
then I was like, oh, that was clever, you know
kind of a thing. So yeah, well that in mind,
if you'll indulge me, just because this is all I'm

(16:06):
really going to talk about. But French Dispatch. I found
it was interesting. I stand by what I originally said.
Actually it's an anthology movie with three main stories, and
I still enjoyed the first and third stories the most.
I still just don't really connect with the second story
very much, which was how I felt the first go around.
But this time I was like, man, these are really good,

(16:29):
you know, and I was getting acclimated to this now
pretty intense tone that Anderson is employing story about Anderson, right,
and even the third story especially, I just really loved it.
I mean, it's this really wacky tale about a policeman's
son who gets kidnapped, but the story itself is told

(16:51):
from a food journalist's perspective through his lens, and the
story really is about feeling like an other Oh that's interesting,
you know, socially right, or like living in a new
place that isn't your home. And Jeffrey Wright plays the journalist,
and he is incredible in this, and it's just he's

(17:13):
good and everything. He's good and everything, and he's good
in every Anderson movie too, by the way. And so
it's just so heartbreaking and heartfelt, and there's so many
incredible details and ideas, and I was like, wow, I
remember liking this the first time, but I feel like
going back into it knowing what it was not being
hit so much by its density. Like I was like, man,
that was really lovely, and I just appreciated it so

(17:34):
much more than I remember on first viewing, and likewise,
revisiting Asteroid City, that was the one I actually think
I connected with the least.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
It just.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Highly stylized, gorgeous, gorgeous to look at. But every character
in this is very flat, frankly, like they speak very flat,
and they're very monotone. It's it's a wavelength you gotta catch.
It's you know what I mean, It's a current you
got to try to get in on. And the first

(18:06):
viewing I just kind of didn't, And I think because
I was overwhelmed by the incredible production design and whatever,
I just wasn't getting on its trip, you know what
I mean. And so this time, knowing what I was
getting into and knowing it was kind of a wacky
story and there's an alien in it, and you know,
I just totally connected with it. It was amazing, Like

(18:27):
I almost wish I had seen it again in theaters.
It's really just but the story itself does make it
a little bit difficult, because really it's just about a
group of people, some who are kind of sad, some
of who are outcasts, and they're stuck together in this
quarantine situation, experiencing these extraordinary things like an alien, you know,

(18:49):
appearing and then disappearing in whatever, and then it's all
over and life moves on, you know, like the theme
of the movie really is, and so it goes, and
I think, not being so distracted by everything, or at
least I'll speak to my own brain just because I'm
so fascinated by filmmaking. I'm just drawn and sometimes distracted

(19:10):
by the filmmaking itself. Getting to experience this movie again
and really seeing it being sort of this meditation on
grief and the theme is, you know, really and so
it goes. You know, there's this brilliant moment where a character,
in sort of a meta way It's hard to explain,
but basically, this character in a meta way is able
to ask someone in the movie like, I don't I

(19:31):
don't get this. I don't get what's happening. What does
all this mean? And the person is just like, oh,
the fact that you don't get it, that's fine, Just
keep going, and that's it. It's about life, like there
are highs, there are lows, you're going to be sad,
You're going to meet people that make you happy, those
people are going to leave, and so it goes. Just

(19:54):
keep going, you know. It's I don't know, I really
connected with it on this viewing, and I I'm almost
sad that I dismissed it in a way that I did.
But also I think it's a kind of a reality
of his movies, is like you've got to be calibrated
if you're going to step into his world. So having
said all that, I was really happy to have my
headspace adjusted going into the Phoenicians scheme because this is

(20:18):
which I wish.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
This was Wes Anderson adapting a Robert Ludlum novel.

Speaker 3 (20:24):
I would love nothing more. But this is very much
storybook Anderson So's it's highly stylized, brilliantly stylized, and it's
a very dense story. And the characters they don't emote
very much, and they're progressing the narrative through their flat,

(20:46):
non emoting you know, dialogue. So you've got to be
prepared for that, ready to step into that. But Benicio
del Toro, he's the lead, and he is really good.
He is really fun, really interesting character. The story it's
basically about a rich guy who has a plan to

(21:08):
exploit a country and all the people living there by,
like building its infrastructure, basically ripping them off to build
this infrastructure that's going to make him crazy wealthy. And
as this is you know, being set up, he's continuing
to have these assassination attempts on his life that are

(21:29):
kind of funny. And so he's realizing, I might I
might not last much longer, and I need to leave
my wealth to somebody. So he reconnects with an estrange
daughter who wants to be a nun okay, and so
he's this selfish rascal and she's this kind of pious,
self serious person. And along the way, as they're making

(21:51):
these frantic moves to try to pull off his scheme
to get this business deal done. They start to rub
off on one another and it actually goes in some
really sweet directions, which I I liked. And Michael Sarah
is in this He now joins the Wes Anderson troop
and he feels like he was born to be in
here and he has a lot of funny business to do.

(22:11):
But yeah, so I thought it ended in a really
sweet place, which was nice. But I was a little
conflicted because I was like, Okay, wait, what do I
think of this?

Speaker 2 (22:21):
This was a lot.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
And as a person who you know, boarded the Anderson
train in the early era and I do love all
those high emotions you get in Bottle Rocket and whatever,
I do kind of wish the characters had emoted a
little bit more. I wish we would see them crack
a smile occasionally or WinCE or something, and we don't
really get that. But having calibrated, having watched all these movies,

(22:45):
I was on his wavelength and I was able. I
wouldn't say this is one of my favorites, but I
really did enjoy the experience as a romp. Okay, So
for people who like Wes Anderson movies, I do think
they will enjoy the experience ultimately, Well, I.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Think people who listen to this show for a long
time know what a big Wes Anderson fan you are,
So I think that will carry a certain amount of weight.

Speaker 3 (23:11):
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. At the end of
the day, I'm gonna always experience a baseline happiness watching
any new story from him, So I'm always gonna have
that too. But yeah, I'm just really enjoying being back
in his universe, and I'm thinking I'm going to just
go back and kind of go through his whole thing again.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
So we'll keep us posted.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, Well what about you, I mean, are you what
are your feelings on Wes Anderson?

Speaker 2 (23:34):
And So I watched Bottle Rockett at your behest.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
Right, Yeah, that was a real formative movie for me.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
Yeah, so that that was not the first Wes Anderson
movie I saw, because pretty sure I saw Rushmore before that.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
So Rushmore is a movie I appreciated, and like, I
guess that's that's where I'm at. Like I appreciate all
of his movies, you know, I I I think that
that the craft that goes into them is so unique
that that you know, you can you can do a like, Oh,
here's you know what if Wes Anderson did a Batman

(24:18):
movie and you can sort of imagine that in your mind, right, Yeah,
And I think that speaks to his his approach, right,
But I would say I don't rush out to watch
his movies totally. You know, I haven't seen his most
recent ones. I think I think the last one of
his I saw the theater is probably Grand Budapeste.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
I think I feel like, speaking of his two eras
or whatever, if all both those eras are equally him,
that feels like his his like masterpiece where he really
all the best attributes of him came together in a
perfect yarn.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
I love that movie. Yeah, it's yeah, But what about you?

Speaker 3 (24:58):
What have you been watching?

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Man?

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I've been so busy the last few weeks. It's weird
because my my, you'd think with the spring semester ending,
I had a little breathing room, but it's just like
I'm trying to prep for my my summer classes and
so it hasn't been a ton of time. But but
I I, well, you know, actually one thing I watched
is Iron Man. My my eleven year old was like, hey,

(25:22):
can we watch Iron Man. I've never seen Iron Man?
Oh wow, I was like, have you never seen Iron Man?
And then I realized, well, yeah, he's like I've watched
it with the other ones, you know, And so him
and my daughter we watched Iron Man together. And and
this is not a new observation. And this feels extra
stupid coming right after You're very very eloquent statement of

(25:44):
Wes Anderson's you know, filmography. But Iron Man's good.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
But you know what though, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
That's a good movie, isn't it. Yeah, So I'm feeling
like like my younger ones might want to like go
through those those early MCU movies maybe you know, probably
turned this into like Infinity Saga thing, which which would
be fun for me, just because I'd enjoy going through.
You know. Again, my daughter's is kind of in that

(26:19):
in that zone now. She's like, oh, when are we
gonna watch the Obi Wan Kenobi show? You know?

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Right, And I'm like, right on, man, like she's she's
she's I feel like, well, this is the time to
get her geek on, you know.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Yeah, Well actually that kind of makes me wonder. I mean,
obviously these are popular things at the moment, but what
are the sorts of things she's bringing back from school,
Like are they into these movies as well? Like is
this what the kids are sort of talking about, like
oh I watched iron Man? Oh yeah, I watch Ironman
with my parents too, Or are there other things that
she sort of brings home we are like what is that?

Speaker 2 (26:54):
That is a good question, to be honest, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
I do remember when I last time I visited, she
really wanted to see dog Man.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah. I think she's watched it.

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Okay. She kept asking me, She's like, Brian, will you
take me to dog Man?

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Yeah? I think she was like mad that I wasn't
taking her, and I'm like, look, I'll take you.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
You know.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Either that or she's letting me know listen, I'd rather
have this man as my father. You have failed the test.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
No, But it was just it stuck in my head
because I was like, oh, so that's I'm not super
familiar with the books, but.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
I obviously it's like a it's spun off of Captain Underpants.
I believe, right, right, And I think she's watched it.
I think it's on Peacock at this point, so she
must have seen it at some point. I suppose. Really,
I should talk to my daughter. I think that's the takeaway, clearly, don't.
I don't know what's happening in her life. I know
she's super into Hello Kitty.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Oh really?

Speaker 2 (27:46):
And I didn't realize Hello Kitty was still a thing,
but apparently it is. And and Hello Kitty, by the way,
is not a cat as I thought. It's a horrible
mutated girl who is human.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
Yeah, I feel like I knew that. Yeah, I'm very
confused by Hello Kitty. I mean, obviously it's iconic, the
design is great, but I've so it makes sense to me,
is like stickers. But is she watching a show or something,
or is there like a story that she's following with

(28:19):
Hello Kitty? Or she just like the characters and the doll.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
No, I think she just likes the characters and stuff. Yeah,
it's yeah, it's it's funny, you know, because I see her,
you know, Disney Plus, like she maybe a year or
so ago, she would watch all the all the little
girl like princess shows and you know, you know, the
little cgi you know, and now she's transitioned into like
Phineas and ferb and like that's the stuff she likes now,

(28:44):
you know. So it's it's fun to see see her
moving through these things, you know. Yeah, yeah, but but
I will say, I mean when it comes to when
it comes to Star Wars, she's she's very adamant. She's like,
I don't like the Jedi. I like the Sith. Are
you serious? Yeah, which is slightly concerned.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
What about them?

Speaker 2 (29:09):
I don't know. I'm afraid to ask, to be honest.

Speaker 3 (29:13):
She's like, you know, with them, there's no rules.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
She's like, you know the you know, the the what
is it, you know, the Whateverrannakin says, you know, the
the Jedi turned against me.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
You know.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
I'm like, the Revenge of the Sith was her on ramp.
So I guess I'm kind of right. Maybe it's my fault, right.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
That is hilarious.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
It's it's like literally the because she she calls the
like the Star Wars theme. She calls that the Jedi theme,
even though it's not right. But she's like, oh, that's
the Jedi theme. I don't like the Jedi theme. I
like the Sith theme. And that's you know, the Imperial March.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
You know what that reminds me of. This is one
of the funniest stories you've ever told me. And then
I think you've ever said on the podcast, but you
talked about seeing the Force awakens in the theater and spoiler.
But when Kyla Wren kills Hans Solo, you were looking
at your kids, just kind of curious how they would react,
and you said, they were all looking at the screen,
you know, wrapped with attention and shocked. But your second

(30:17):
oldest turned and looked at you, and you said, it's
almost like you had to look in his eye, as
if we can do that, like like he had just
been introduced to the idea of patricide.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
So funny.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
That story is stuck with me as one of the
funniest stories you've ever told me. It was so funny.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
And that he was six, that was that was ten
years ago, if you can believe that. Wow, you know,
uh yeah, so she's following in that trajectory. I suppose.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
All right, Hey, you.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
Know, actually, while we're talking about Star Wars, I wanted
to mention this. You know, I just finished my second
rewatch of and Or Which Which have you have you watched? Andre? Yet?

Speaker 3 (30:57):
I am knee deep in it.

Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well, I'm glad, I'm glad. You're you're you're your knee
deep at least.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, you know, I still I still have some episodes ago.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
I just my my my wife wanted to watch it,
so so we we We finished the season. That was
fun watching the third But and this is not a
spoiler about the show, but you know, every episode ends
with the and or theme and it's this very mournful
piece of music and you know whatever. And the last
episode it has that, and then at the very as
the as the the credit sequences ending, that and or

(31:29):
mournful theme you know, morphs into you know, like every
Star Wars movie and you have this sudden like, oh, yeah,
this is Star Wars, you know.

Speaker 3 (31:41):
Yeah, yeah, And and I don't know, for for.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Me, there was just something really cool about that because
it it to me, it enriches the whole universe, right right,
you know I I I love the idea of watching
a new Hope with all of this new context that
that makes the victory they achieve at the end of
that movie feel even more precious.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Mm hmm, yeah you will put yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
You know, and that's the best thing. I don't know
for me, we talk about this enough, but but that's
what I want. I want. I want all kinds of
different Star Wars set in this universe.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
You know, Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
I don't. I don't want everything to be and Or,
but I'm glad and Or exists.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
No same And I have to to say. I was out,
I need to buy a pair of pants, and I
was at the mall and I was buying my pants
and I was wearing my Lucasfilm hoodie nice and the
cashier is like, oh, cool lucasfilm and he goes, if
you watched and Or? And I was like, I'm knee
deep in.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's your go to.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Actually I didn't say that specifically, but I was just like, damn,
all right, I really got to finish this.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
That's hilarious. Yeah, and that's and that's a real thing
that happened. Somebody out in the wild US asked you
if you'd seen andwer, yeah, yeah, that's kind of interesting
anecdotal data point yep. It has definitely broken through to
a non like a non devote audience, you know.

Speaker 3 (33:16):
Right right, Well, I mean because it was so well received.
You know, I've seen so many people saying this isn't
just a good Star Wars show, it's a good television show.
And so I think that's what I was hearing from
so many different places, so I'm sure people heard that
and were like, well, all right.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Yeah this is and don't I don't want to hype
it up too much for you.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
Oh no, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know why. It's
just I've been clearly with all this anders and stuff've
been in kind of a whimsical mood or something, and
I'm very much the type of person. Just anecdotally. I'll
talk about this maybe another episode. But our mutual friend
Bush Rawh, she loaned me the movie Drive My Car Okay,
which is a three hour drama, and I've had it

(33:57):
for months, and it's not that I didn't want to
watch it, but I'm like, no, I have to be
in the right headspace for this, gotcha, because I'm the
type of person and I know most of us and
everyone listening is this too. But like, I don't pick
up my phone when I'm watching something like I give
myself to it. And so if I want to watch
something funny, I want to be in the mood for something.

(34:18):
I'm not just going to put that on tonight because
I have two hours. Like, I pick the mood where
I'm going to respond to it best and I think
for that one, I'm like, maybe like some weekend where
I can just kind of go through it all as
a whole, yeah, or something that's I think that's what's
sort of keeping me from just doing one or two
at night.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
Well, I if you're not in the mood for and
or I think I know exactly a little scratch your
itch and it is. It's the new Netflix series fu Bar.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
All right, I.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Should say nothing new. This is the second season of Bar,
starring starring Arnold Schwartzenegger.

Speaker 3 (34:52):
So, Arnold Schwarzenegger has a show on Netflix.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yes, which which is in its second season. Now, wow, okay,
and you had no idea?

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Ah this rings a bell?

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Yeah, like shaking some cobwebs loose for you a little bit.

Speaker 3 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I feel like I see it's funny.
All this later more recent Schwarzenegger stuff. It's sort of
like this weird swampy whatever in my brain where I'm like, wait,
wasn't it in a movie where like his daughter was
a zombie. He's like a TV show and like, so
like I'm aware of these things, but I don't, like,
I don't remember if that was the show. I don't

(35:28):
remember if this is the movie.

Speaker 2 (35:29):
I don't I kinda yeah, yeah, so so well, the
second season of this just dropped on literally today as
we're recording this, and I reviewed it for the paper
and it's not it's not good. In my opinion. I
didn't like it. The premise. The premise is that he
he is. He plays CI agent Luke Brunner, which actually,

(35:50):
on the spectrum of Arnold Schwartzenegger's character names, is kind
of on the more acceptable end.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
You know, yeah, yeah, you've always been really you've always
had like a good, a great like bit about that
about it. What's niggers name?

Speaker 2 (36:01):
John Matrix, John Kimball, Yeah, my favorite, Gordie Brewer.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Gordie Brewer. This is like a hockey player.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Yeah. And it's Monica Barbero from From Top Top Gun Maverick.
And of course she was dominated from the Academy Award for.

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Oh Complete Unknown. Yes, that's John Bias. She's great, she's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
She's a Barrier native, by the way, so we claim
her proudly here. Nice and she plays his daughter, who
is also a CIA agent. It's sort of it's like
a mister and missus Smith type thing where they're both
CIA agents, but they didn't really each didn't realize the otherwise.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Okay, are they posed?

Speaker 2 (36:38):
No, no, they're they're on the same side. Okay. So
it's like mister and missus Smith meets True Lies kind
of you know, got it? And and what I realized
watching it's certainly the second season. I'm like, this is
eight episodes of about an hour each. I'm like, this
is this is what I said in my review. It's
it's ninety minutes of story slashing around an eight hour bag.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
Wow. Yeah when you said an hour, I was like
an hour, right, It feels like a thirty minut show
to me.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
But yeah, yeah, that's exactly my thought. I was like, oh,
this should have been broken up into those chunks. And
and so it's you know, it's him and his daughter
and their team and you know, and they've got like
a case that they're trying to unravel and it's you know,
carry Anne Moss is kind of the heavy for this season,
and she's great, of course, any chance to see her.
The tone it's see this is this is they were

(37:27):
clearly going for like a true lies thing. But I
think what True Lies does is it true lies very funny,
but you never lose sight of the stakes. Yeah. Yeah,
and and and I think this one it leaned. It
can't figure out where where it wants to land tonally interesting. Yeah,
and and so that was my problem. I just couldn't

(37:48):
get And I think it would work better on a
smaller canvas, you know, if it was again, if it's
if it's two hour movie, then then that's the interesting thing.
By the way, Sorry, I'm talking into my own tangents.
It's a If it's a two hour movie on Netflix,
it's deemed instantly forgettable. If it's an eight episode series

(38:09):
on Netflix, it's deemed potentially prestige TV.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
That's so funny. Yeah, I remember saying this like an
episode or two ago, where it was I was watching
some documentary and I was a little put off because
I thought I thought it was going to be a
two hour or less documentary, right, And then I saw
it was multi episodes, and I was like, are you
so I almost didn't watch it, But then I saw
the episodes were only thirty minutes and the whole thing

(38:34):
only totaled about an hour and forty five minutes, and
I was like, what are we doing?

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Yeah, so I think Fubar kind of gets into that.
I will say this every time Arnold is on screen.
He is fantastic man. He knows the assignment. He is
fun to watch. It all works, you know. He does
a reenactment of the famous nineties catchphrase, which honestly, just
give me that and just release that on Netflix. Forget

(39:04):
all the other eight hours, just give me those thirty
seconds and give the man his emmy.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yeah, that'll be a good gift.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
I think it's gonna end up being one for sure,
you know. And there is like this is the thing
because it's like clearly, like you know, I mean, the
guy is like pushing eighty right, so it's got to
modulate his workload. And he looks great obviously, but they
have to give the other character stuff to do it.
But it's like every time we cut away, I just
become less interested when it's not Arnold and Monica Barbero. However,

(39:34):
there is an amusing plot line involving Jay Bearschell, who
is her boyfriend, and he's just completely out of his
depth and he's very funny. J Barshell is always funny.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Like Kim, He's charming, he is, so that is all good.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
I would not recommend Fubar season two, but I'm glad
to see Arnold is out there, still work and still
doing his thing.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Did you see you know, Variety has their Actor on
Actors series, and there was one with Colin Ferrell and
Danny DeVito okay and Penguin, Yes exactly. And then there
was a behind the scenes clip that's been going around
that I saw where Schwarzenegger I think he's talking to
his son, Patrick Swarzeningger and Danny DeVito kind of you know,

(40:25):
pokes in like, oh hey, hey, and Schwarznager's like hey,
and they're talking to one another, reminiscing, and it's you know, twins,
a twins reunion or junior reunion if you.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
Will, and.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
It's you know, they look much older, but it's so
nice seeing them together. And there's a moment where there
a lot of people are this is the thing. People
are reposting and kind of their hearts are bursting, you see,
day DeVito's like, hey, let's go find Colin Ferrell and
bother him. And so as they're walking away from the set,
de Vito puts his like arm around Schwarzenegger's army. It's

(41:02):
a little older you know, and it's a little more
difficult to walk, and he's just like leaning on his
much bigger pal. And there are just these two old
men that are looking kind of affectionate with one another
and just like real old friends. And it's just a
really sweet thing to see that.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
That just sounds lovely, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Yeah, well, I I yeah, it is nice. I was
curious if you've seen it.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
I haven't seen that. No, but I'm going to seek
it out now. Yeah. Uh, but but yeah, don't don't
rush to seek out fu bar I would say, you
you've got You've got drive my car waiting for you.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
So, yeah, oh I did watch that.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
I did watch you did watch it?

Speaker 3 (41:37):
Okay, now I have well, I have a lot of
movies come out this weekend or whatever that I'm looking
forward to. But and Or I'm gonna make that a
priority so I can talk about that next episode, right,
you hit best? Yeah, you best get on that.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Yeah we we uh, I'm and and I we went
right into Rogue one after that, because she hasn't seen
that since it came out right and and without spoiling anything,
I mean and Or AND's right where Rogue one starts. Oh,
I like that. Yeah. So I'm like, oh, we obviously
got to go right into this so that that's fun.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
Which is fitting because Rogue One goes right into where
a new Home starts.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, and and what's really cool to me is that, like, again,
let's say, and Or isn't your on ramp into the franchise.
You've got a conception of the universe that's like relatively grounded,
you know, and then and then you get you get
into Rogue One, and you know, it's still somewhat tonally
consistent with and Or. And then at the very end

(42:30):
you've got a Darth Vader doing with the space laser
sword and flipping people in the air and doing all
this stuff, and it's like the it just completely it
turns into this different thing, you know. Yeah, and so
I'm just like, man, what what is that?

Speaker 1 (42:45):
Like?

Speaker 3 (42:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (42:47):
What is that like? For somebody experiencing it this way?

Speaker 3 (42:49):
That's kind of a nice tease out of the and
Or universe to be like, wait, people can do that,
yeah right you know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
But yeah, so so that is that And oh hey
we have we have a whole bunch of listener letters.
I ontr to mention no great, I believe you.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Have been for me eighteen thousand, Lass all addressed.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
You've got me all right. Here's a comment we got
from Charles Landy. He was referring to our Gooney's commentary track,
which we just dropped last week. He says this might
be one of the greatest ensemble movies ever. The character
interactions and banter are absolutely unmatched. It's no wonder they're
all still friends now when we all watch them become

(43:43):
friends on screen forty years ago. The gold standard of
action adventure for kids. Agree it, It really like it.
It set the bar to the extent that again, you
don't get Stranger Things without the Goonies. Yeah, you don't
get Elton Crew who was being of Star Wars without
the Goonies, you know, because they're kind of like, well

(44:04):
it needs to be something like that, or or it
needs to contrast with that, you know. And it holds up,
I'll tell you. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
And the chemistry with those kids is through the roof
and you still feel it all these years later, so
absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
Yeah. Here's another comment on this from Rob Kelly, who
says I was really enjoying this commentary until Zachie mentioned
the nutty Putty Cave. I didn't know anything about this,
so I stopped the commentary and found a YouTube video
about Oh I wish I hadn't.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
I gotta be honest, I didn't know what he was
talking about because I had forgotten the name. But I
do remember this, and yes, it's awful.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
And so naturally now here I am bringing it up again,
I'm like, well, I had to live with this awful thing,
so I might as well, you know, have it live
in other people's minds.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
Well, at least now, I'm pretty sure you probably gave
some sort of warning when you mentioned it in the commentary,
at least I hope. But now we can say, you know,
if you get disturbed by the idea of being trapped
in really really tight areas, do not seek out that
the story of the Nutty Putty Cave.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
Well, and I heard let me let me give like
a high level so that so that people you know,
essentially there there there is a cave system in Utah,
and it's called the Nutty Putty Caves because of the
consistency of the walls right and and so the system
had been mapped out to some extent. People would go
in and explore now now I've said this before, I'm like, uh,

(45:35):
don't explore caves, just just don't, you know. And and
I think partially it's because of this story. Right, So
there's this, uh, this fellow named John Jones again, who
is married. He had a kid on the way who's
visiting his family, and this is like Thanksgiving Thanksgiving week,
and so he and his brother and some friends they
went to explore this cave system and essentially they not

(45:59):
even they he just took a wrong turn. And so
it was like you go through and it gets very
very narrow. You're crawling on your hands and knees. And
he was going through something he thought was called the
birth canal. Right, so in essence, you you squeeze through
very tightly, and then it opens out into a larger
room and then then you have the ability to sort
of turn around within there and then you go back right.

(46:23):
And it turns out he was completely asked backwards. He
was not in any way anywhere near the what he
thought was the birth canal, and it was in fact
in an unexplored area. And so this thing that was
narrowing actually kept narrowing until it basically just stopped at
at like a facing downward. So he was stuck facing

(46:46):
downward with one arm to his side and one arm
out in front of him, and he was I mean,
he was essentially inverted. Yeah, and so that's I mean,
it's horrifying to even think about, right completely stuck, unable
to move. And they began the process of trying to
get him out. They set up a pully lever system.

(47:07):
The pully lever broke, so it actually lodged him further in, Yeah,
and eventually he just, I mean, his body gave out.
Because the human body is not meant to exist in
an inverted state for very long. Right are the entire
equilibrium is built built around the idea of being right
side up, And it's a horrible story. They actually they

(47:29):
made a movie about it also, really yeah, about about
ten years ago. I think I should look up the
name of the movie. But regardless, it's a horrible thing.
And I only bring this up because it came up
in my YouTube feed one day and I was like, oh,
what is this And then I watched it and I
was just sort of horrified, and then just in my thoughts,

(47:51):
you know, for the rest of the day. And then
it screwed up my algorithm and now I just get
spilunking gone wrong videos.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Yeah, well you were like, you know, this really messed
me up. I couldn't get out of my head. Hey
Brian watched this, Yeah, you pulled it up. I was like,
what's this, Zachy? I trust anything you put.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
In front of me. Yeah. So, so the movie is
called The Last Dissent, Okay, and yeah, and and I
have not seen it. I saw I saw the trailer
for it, but I was like, you know, I don't,
I don't. I don't want to watch that.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Yeah, I see it now. Yeah, it's from even imagine like,
there's just no could just be such a downer?

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Yeah, I mean it's I mean, you know, if you
know that he he didn't make it at the end,
I don't it would seem like not a great way
to spend my time, my emotional capital, you know. Yeah. Yeah,
but but the story itself is very sad because he
seemed like a genuinely decent guy. And I can't imagine

(48:56):
being in that situation knowing you're not going to see
your child who's going to be born. I it, my
brain stops working. You know.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Well, there you go, Rob, Now everybody is sharing in
that in your misery.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
Sorry, but thank you for your comment. Rob.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:12):
Hey, here's the one we got from Tyler Kloster who
listened to our episode talking about Karate Kid Legends. Remember
Karate Kid Legends.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
It doesn't feel like ages ago.

Speaker 2 (49:20):
It feels like it came out five years ago. It
feels like it came out before the twenty ten Jaden
Smith movie. I think it's going to top out at
about fifty million dollars state side, well, which I like.
I think they spent very little on it, so like,
I guess you take the win.

Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah, I mean hopefully it's one of those things that
they had it structured in such a way through streaming
and whatever it all kind of pans out.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
But yeah, well, and I was thinking, I was like,
did Cobra Kai actually kill the box office prospects for
this movie? Why? Is that because Cobra Kai conditioned people
to think of Karate Kid as a streaming thing?

Speaker 3 (50:05):
Oh that is very that's a good point.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
I don't know, right, Like, you know, obviously Sony looked
at the fandom of Cobra Kai and was like, hey,
we should branch this out. Yeah, and maybe the lesson
is well, it worked there. You know. I saw Scott Mandelson,
who's a box office reporter. He made the point when
referring to Karate Kid Legends. He said, it's the same

(50:30):
as as a NBC seeing the streaming success of Suits
and being like, let's make Suits La and then that
show comes on it gets canceled after one season, right,
like something that's uniquely fitting into its streaming platform. Maybe
it's just it's what people are actually have become conditioned to.

(50:51):
Is no, this is the thing that gets fed to
me in my in my magic box in my house.

Speaker 3 (50:57):
That makes a lot of sense. I mean for me,
cry Kid is theatrical, that's right. But yeah, for I'm
sure a lot of the audience of Cobra Kai they
associate it with streaming And I'm just trying to think
in my head. So with something like Stranger Things, if
they put out a theatrical Stranger Things movie, would I
feel compelled to see it? I don't know if I would, honestly,

(51:19):
because because I'm used to Stranger Things being a thing
I see on Netflix.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
Yeah. Yeah, Like the twenty ten Karate Kid was the
biggest hit in the entire franchise. Box office wise, and
you think that the calculus there was well, obviously there's
a lot of installager for that movie from the people
who grew up with that. So there's your mister Han
and then there's the Cobra Kai in Nostalgia, there's your Daniel. Yeah,

(51:42):
and you know the algorithm certainly says, hey, that makes sense.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Yeah, yeah, exactly on paper, right.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
But I think what it comes down to is people
just being like, well, I don't feel they need to
rush out to see this for whatever reason, right, right,
even though it is a perfectly cromulent movie. Yeah, yeah,
we agreed. But here's what Tyler said. He says, I
saw the movie today and enjoyed it for what it was.
It didn't reinvent the wheel by any means. And if
there has been a less developed and nuanced villain in

(52:13):
a sports movie than here, I haven't seen it. Yeah,
I would agree with that. But it was an entertaining,
feel good movie and the crowd laughed a lot, and
the mid credit scene was the biggest roar I've heard
in a theater this year. Wow. No spoilers there, However,
shouldn't the caption of the opening scene have said nineteen
eighty five instead of nineteen eighty six. The Karate Kid

(52:33):
Part two was set in the summer of nineteen eighty five,
after he won the All Valley Tournament in December of
nineteen eighty four, and before he successfully defended his title
the following December. How can I believe in anything anymore?
And I'll be damned, I think that's right.

Speaker 3 (52:51):
Yeah, no, that completely makes sense. Let's get Sony on
the horn.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
That type of thing does bug me when it's like
a very simple thing to just double check.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Yeah, yeah, Well then you kind of want to ask
the person who did choose the incorrect year, like, how
did you come up with that?

Speaker 2 (53:10):
Well, it's obviously the year that the movie came out.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
Oh oh, I see, I see.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
I agree with Tyler. I think there's no point believing
in things anymore. If the Karate Kid franchise lies to us,
what else? What else lies to us? Brian. Here's a
note we got from Charles Ogan who listened to our
Karate Kid Part two commentary, and he says, I thought

(53:37):
I'd share an anecdote about my experience seeing the film
back in the day nineteen eighty six. I was sixteen
and decided to take my girlfriend to see The Karate
Kid Part two at Ogden six theaters. Whoa, hey, look
at that. Hey we've been there, we have many times.
I remember us both laughing at Daniel's abrupt and completely
off screen break up with Ali, the ridiculousness of the

(53:58):
drum technique, and howling when chosen zip line Daniel. While
we did enjoy Kardi could too, I guess it didn't
quite live up to the original. I think I think
most people would agree with that, he says. When the
movie ended, I decided we should sneak into another screening,
taking advantage of the classic multiplex setup at Ogden six,
which I'm sure you and Brian both remember. Well, Oh

(54:20):
I do, Oh yeah, I can picture it in my mind.
Same for those of you don't know. Ogden six was
like the second run theater in the where was like
the Nighberville area?

Speaker 3 (54:29):
Where was that nearing it right around the borders of
it maybe, but it was like a dollar theater right
Where's right? These movies have been out for a couple
months already, and so before they were on video, they'd
show here and it was only a buck.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Yeah that's right.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
And Charles's for those who have never had the pleasure.
Ogden six had three screens on one side a central
concessions area, and three more screens on the other. Are
you picturing it, Brian.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
Dude, it's taking me back. I mean, I'm seeing that
thing you do there.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
I remember, Yeah, I watched Jurassic Park there.

Speaker 3 (54:58):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Is that they were a horror movie? Watching Karate Kid
two again or the animated Transformers movie. Having just endured
Daniel Song's latest adventure, I needed a palette cleanser and
the slasher flick wasn't going to cut it, so I begged, okay,
insisted that we go see Transformers. I think I said
something like, let's go see that kiddy movie Transformers. It'll
be fun. Secretly, I just wanted to see animated robot

(55:22):
on robot violince. We successfully snuck in, and honestly, watching
Optimist Prime and Megatron battle to the death was far
more satisfying than watching Daniel win the drum technique. I
will agree with that absolutely. Somewhere during the second act,
around the time hot Rod accepted the matrix of leadership
to become Rotomus Prime, a few innocent teenage kisses were exchanged.

(55:44):
Who knew the original Transformers movie had that kind of effect.
In any case, while I went to see Karate Kid
two for the Glory of Love, after all was said
and done, I walked out a winner. I guess you
could say I or the Transformers had the touch.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
That was beautiful.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
That's great, young young love ran.

Speaker 3 (56:04):
I love it very good.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Hey, we also have some headlines extract. All right, So,
as of yesterday, tickets for Superman are on sale.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
No, do you have yours?

Speaker 2 (56:26):
You know I got tickets for the Tuesday night screening
sponsored by Amazon Prime. Oh I saw that.

Speaker 3 (56:33):
Yeah, but I didn't do that. Can you do that
through your A list?

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Or is that like a special that's a special thing?
And I, being somebody who only uses my A list usually,
I got three tickets for eighty dollars and I'm like,
mother effort. Wow, cow, this is why people don't go
to the movies.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
Yeah, yeah, good lord. Well anyway, okay, no, but you
know I see that a lot. I get the emails, oh,
advanced tickets for Superman or Durassic World or whatever. I'm
always like, I don't I can't think that far ahead,
Like I don't know, I may go by myself. I
may see it with some people. I don't. I don't know,
like i'll know that week.

Speaker 2 (57:15):
So it's yeah, I have artime. You you live life
on the edge. I respect them. Yeah, you know you
don't need to follow people's rules. I've had it up
to hair with your rules. When we get the freaking guns. However,
it has already gotten the most pre sales of the

(57:37):
entire year.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
Hey, that's good because there was a lot of like
early tracking, just interest right through internet travels and whatnot,
and it was not tracking as high as I think
people are expecting.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
But I like that.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
I'm glad.

Speaker 2 (57:50):
I'm it seems like there's some enthusiasm. But but in
the ramp up to that, they they did drop a new,
presumably final trailer. M hm, so uh in my opinion, yes,
I don't like this new trailer.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
Do tell Okay, wasn't expecting that.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
I'm I'm already on board, Like, I don't think it's
not making me be like, oh, I'm not gonna watch
this movie. But I'm just like, I don't. I don't
like the tone. I don't. I don't like like I
it it feels too slight for me.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
I'm having a hard time understanding the tone, if I'm
being honest in this, in this new trailer, or just
what this is going to be.

Speaker 2 (58:32):
Yeah, I'm in the bag.

Speaker 3 (58:35):
I'm it doesn't matter what the trailers are. I'm still
going and optimistic for a great Superman movie.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
But I agree with you.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
I think there's a lot that I do like I
every time I see him stepping in for someone. I
mean it's in every trailer, but when he steps behind
that girl and protects her from all those metal things
flying everywhere, we get the camera going around that car
revealing him holding a building from falling on her, all
that stuff, I'm like, yeah, I'm not loving all the

(59:03):
fish eye.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
Right, there's a lot of odd, very odd, and I
know I swear that I wouldn't do this as much.
I'm trying to be a little bit more forgiving, realizing
that we live in twenty twenty five and movies look
in twenty twenty five differently than they did when in
nineteen ninety five. That's fine, I am Brian, but it

(59:25):
just kind of has that artificial, yeah, feel like a
synthetic sort of feel to the backgrounds and some elements
that makes it feel a little video gamy, and that's
kind of not what I really want. And actually I
have a big question for you. Yes, what do you
think about the teeth getting knocked out and hitting the camera?

Speaker 2 (59:42):
I did not like that. Shit, didn't it be weird? Yeah?
I didn't like it. It was distracting.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
It feels like kind of a weird early two thousand's
superhero gimmicky kind of thing, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (59:53):
Yeah, where it calls to mind, you know in Superman
Returns where you have the where the bullet like smashes on.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
His eye evoked the exact same thought in my head.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Yeah, you know. The other thing I'll be this is
just just from the trailer. But I'm not crazy about
Nicholas Holtz Lex Luthor voice.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Yeah, not as commanding or something.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:16):
I mean I'm not saying he needs to sound like
Gene Hackman or something, you know, but but he just
it sounds very slight, you know. And I'm like, well,
I'm sure it'll I'll grow into it, you know, like
it'll I'll get used to it. But those are just
sort of like little little pricks I'm feeling, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
I agree, I agree, it's it's I'm more enjoying like
little moments, you know, like the guy Superman's like holding
something up or struggling or been beaten up, and someone's like,
stop messing around, and he's like, I'm not messing around.
I'm doing important stuff like out of the Yeah, he
was like, yeah, that's funny.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
I like that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
I want like a real personality from him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
Yeah. So I feel like I think Corn Sweat's got
got this in the bag. I think he'll be fantastic.
I just from what I see a lot of the
other stuff. I think I'm curious to see the world
that James Gunn creates in the movie. And I trust
that James Gunn has enough experience with this, like he knows,
he knows what he's doing, so I have no reason

(01:01:20):
to think that it's going to be bad. But I'm curious,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
Yeah, well I I yeah, I had those feelings, and
I almost feel relief or something that you feel the
same way. But still very much excited, like not even
like going in cautiously optimistic. I'm still very excited for
this movie.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, I look, you know, I'm any look, any anytime
we get a new Superman movie, that's gonna be special,
you know, for me. I actually, like I told am
and I'm like, look, I got tickets for the two
of us. Let's just have the kids watch the baby.
Let's you and I let's go see Superman together, so
we'll see.

Speaker 3 (01:02:03):
What was her response?

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
Uh? She you know, I think it's a matter of
does she trust the children to watch? Right, That's really
what it comes down to, right, the baby, you know,
the baby is going to be a year old? Wow?
And then nuts that's coming up. They grow up fast,
Brian And yeah, that's something I'm grappling with lately.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
Anyway, So that's that's June eleventh, the week of June eleventh.
But in addition to that, a few weeks before that,
we have h F one, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
Which I wanted to mention because there is a new
trailer and it's not really worth playing because you know,
it's a lot of race car driving and everything that
we've seen before. It still looks very kinetic and exciting.
But what was interesting about this is Apple put out
this haptic trailer yes F one, meaning if you watch

(01:02:59):
it on your iPhone, you know when your phone is
on silent and you get a text and it's like
kind of buzzes in your hand, much like forty X
at Regal theaters where you have a movie and they've
programmed a chair to you know, buzz and vibrate and
punch you in the back coordinated with what's happening on
screen this trailer, when cars rev, your phone buzzes like

(01:03:25):
it's reving like I you know, and as things zip by,
your your phone goes.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
So as we are speaking, my phone is in my hand.
So you sent this to me yesterday, You're like, check
this out, and you haven't done yet, and nothing happened. Yeah,
And I was like, why is this? And then it's like, oh,
you need you know OS, like you know whatever, eighteen
points something And I'm like, I clearly have not done
many updates in a while because it's like sure fourteen

(01:03:52):
something or other. And I'm like, okay, I guess I've
been putting this off. So so as we started, when
we started recording, I was like, okay, I'm going to
update the OS on my phone now and now it's
brick So thanks Brian. No, So I'm gonna I'm going
to experience this trailer, the haptic trailer as we are talking.

Speaker 3 (01:04:11):
Okay, okay, you're starting it right now.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
I'm hitting play.

Speaker 3 (01:04:15):
Okay, right now, Okay, So describe what you're seeing and feeling.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
Well, there's the Jerry Bruckheimer logo and Brad pittskin. Wait,
I'm feeling he's in this car. The phone is is
vibrating ever so slightly. The engine is revving and the
phone is shaking, and and yeah, here we go. Look
at that? Oh wow, look at that?

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
Are you noticing like variations though, Like it's not just
the phone like uniformly buzzing, right, it's kind of calibrated
to the images you're seeing. It is.

Speaker 2 (01:04:48):
Yeah, absolutely wow. I'll tell you this, holding this phone
in my hand is as close as I've ever felt
to being in an F one car, sitting in my
house on my iPhone as watching this car crash into
the sidewall. There, it's exactly the same. Me and the

(01:05:12):
F one driver. We are one.

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
You're making me realize I don't love the forty X experience.
I just find it kind of distracting. But I did
watch the original nineteen ninety six Twister okay that way,
and I was like, Okay, that's what this is made for.
This was really fun, And you're making me think, oh,
maybe F one. Maybe F one would be a good
one to do that way.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Okay, well, first of all, this movie, this is another one.
I'm watching it in the theater anyway, like immediately. But
I have to admit the novelty of this trailer that's
vibrating my phone this way, and that is pretty fun.
I gotta say.

Speaker 3 (01:05:52):
Yeah, I'm well good, I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm glad
I got to hear your reaction in real time. But
I was just impressed. My memory was there's two cars
on screen and they have kind of the flames coming
out of the back, and I remember feeling each flame.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
Yeah, I'm it's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
Like each burst, Like my phone was already vibrating because
the cars are idling, but then with each like foom foom,
I felt it on different areas of my phone, the blasts,
and I thought it was pretty amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
I'm I mean it is. It is quite novel, you know,
this notion of the haptic trailer. I do want to
see more. I want to see what they do with them,
you know. Yeah, yeah, that's my hands are like tingling,
you know. Very cool.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
Well, that's just interesting. I don't know, like finding new
ways to use the things we already have.

Speaker 2 (01:06:45):
I am. I am intrigued. Yeah, the movie this is
like are we entering like our old man era now?
Because we're like Brad Pitt racing? Sign me up? You know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:57):
Well, I think we had talked about this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
I don't know about this super Man movie with the
teeth flying, I don't know. I don't like, I don't
like that sort of thing. Just give me some of
that Brad Pitt racing.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Along those lines. And we've kind of covered this territory.
But some people that I placed in a matrix with
we use Sneakers for one of the answers, and someone
was like, oh, you know, I love Robert Redford in
that movie, like older Robert Redford. And I looked it
up out of curiosity, and Brad Pitt is older now
than Robert Redford was in Sneakers as older Robert Redford.

(01:07:29):
So yeah, Like to my eyes, I'm like, it's Brad
Pitt in a race car movie, Like what about it?

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
But like for your kids, it's like, yeah, it's old
man Brad Pitt in a dad.

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
Movie, in a dad movie. Yeah, right. I think I
think we talked about it before, about how they're doing
a Greyhound sequel.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
Oh, yes, the Tom Hanks Submarine, right right, yeah, and
it's like yep, yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
You're like, I gotta tell my dad. I'm like, I
got I'm gonna watch this with my boys, you know, yeah,
down and Bubble. Yeah. So uh f one that's coming
out at the end of this month, I think.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
Right, oh yeah, well that's coming up, yeah, coming up soon.
And seeing those trailers for a very long time.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
Yeah, well, you know, I will say it is an
Apple film, but I'm glad that it is full on theatrical.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
Oh man, yeah, oh that would be such a waste.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
Right. Well, I think Apple learned their lesson with the
with the with the one two pantsing of uh Napoleon
and The Killers of the Flower Moon.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
That was theatrical, wasn't it right?

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
But they were? They were very limited, right, And and
it's kind of like you gotta you gotta make theatrical
experiences that people are gonna want to show up for.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
Yeah, I make it less about check this thing out
for a couple of weeks and then right an excuse
to subscribe to Apple TV plus, right because.

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
Yeah, because both both of those were essentially intended as
lost leaders, right and and it was more loss than anything,
right And And I think I think I fully believe, like,
well Napoleon was basically like, oh, this is the trailer
for the longer version. Yeah, this three hour movie is

(01:09:18):
the trailer for the five hour one that we're gonna
have in the streaming service. And it's like, well, I
don't know. I I think I think somebody like Scorsese
is going to be in a position of saying, well,
I want to make my movie. Though I'm going to
make it, you can't stop me. And it's like that's fair.
But I think there are different economic interests when you
have a streamer versus theatrical and and I think it

(01:09:42):
would have played better theatrically if it was it was,
if it was trimmed down to reflect it. I don't know,
you know what I mean? Yeah, Yeah, I think people
like three and a half hours. I'm not going to
see that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:09:55):
And I do think, as I like that movie, I
think you could have trimmed it down.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Yeah. I mean, I I loved it, and I read
the book. I really I thought the movie did a
great job.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
But I.

Speaker 3 (01:10:07):
I mean, I have no notes personally, but like I
can see for putting something out in the theaters and
trying to make it more palatable generally speaking. Yeah, three
and a half hours is a long time.

Speaker 2 (01:10:19):
It's I mean, that's that's a commitment, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
Yeah, yeah, but regardless. But then again, if it was
a Netflix documentary that was four hour episodes, you'd be
like that. I like, yeah, like everybody would be like,
oh yeah, I bene it one night and then started
something else.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
Yeah, yeah, we got we got lots of problems. Hey,
here are some folks who passed away, and I wanted
to mention. Uh, well, while we have an opportunity to talk.
So so here's somebody I suspect. You don't know who
this is, but Peter David died. Uh. He was a
legendary comic book writer and uh, you know, certainly from

(01:11:00):
during during the time I was reading comics in the
eighties and nineties. I mean, he he was one of
those names where if he was writing a comic I
would read it. Oh wow, okay, you know, a tremendous
writer who's also novelist whatever. But he had he had
a witty approach to character interaction and really an intricate
plot set up. He had a run on The Incredible
Hulk for about ten years, which is, you know, one

(01:11:23):
of the most definitive runs on that character, right. He
also created Spider Man twenty ninety nine, who is you know,
the character that we see in the second Spider Verse movie. Yeah,
And he wrote Aquaman, he wrote X Factor, and I
mean a whole whole bunch of characters. But but he

(01:11:43):
he'd been dealing with with health issues for several years
and ultimately, you know, he'd had strokes and whatever, and
you know, it's it just became too much. But he
was he was sixty eight, which again I say this
a lot, but it's not that old, right now. It's
not so old that you should be a dying almost destitute,

(01:12:05):
right because he was in a situation where his family
had to set up a GoFundMe, yeah, to pay for
his medical bills. And and the thought I had it
was tragic all the way around, because this was somebody
who had a meaningful, measurable impact on my life in
terms of reading his work and my concept of shaping
story and humor. You know, but think about this. He

(01:12:29):
in the in the Last Avengers movie, we have the
Professor Hulk. You know who created the Professor Hulk, Peter David.
He did it in his Hulk comics. Wow, the merger
of Bruce Banner and the Hulk spider Man twenty ninety nine,
who created him as Peter David. Aquaman as played by
Jason Momore. You know who's the first person to do
the long hair and the beard? Really that was Peter David,

(01:12:52):
you know, And think about this, Aquaman is the most
successful DC Comics movie ever made period. That's crazy for
star but right, yeah, yeah, right, And and and Avengers Endgame.
We obviously we know how successful that was. Spider Man,
the Spider Verse movies, and and I'm just like, how
is it that the person who was who was an

(01:13:12):
essential component in those film success was not looked after
by these companies completely?

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
Yeah, that's a shame, right, I.

Speaker 2 (01:13:22):
Mean, it's it's it's more than a shame. It's disgraceful.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
Yeah, it really is.

Speaker 2 (01:13:26):
You know, that should not have happened. And yet we
hear this again and again when it comes to the creators,
the Comico creators who are responsible for this stuff, they're
they're given they're given a ticket to the premiere and
expected to say thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
Yeah, you know that reminds me of in the screenwriting world.
I mean, at least in the WGA. It's like, you know,
you create characters. Yeah, say, this is not a great example,
but like Lethal Weapon, right, where you have Shane Black
creating you know, Riggs and MYRTA, right, and then you
have Lethal Weapon for with Shane Black's not involved in, right,
but he's still gets a credit, he still gets a

(01:14:01):
little piece characters created by you wouldn't have that movie
without what he created. And in the television series, Yeah, exactly,
you know. So yeah, it's it's it's shameful that that's
not the same for these people who are created these
characters and scenarios and situations that are making bookoo bucks
right now.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Yeah, yeah, I mean during his lifetime, Marvel was putting
out hardcover collections of his writings. So you know there
are five hardcover volumes of his incredible Hulk run I have.
I'm looking at him right now. They're on my shelf.
His Spider Man twenty ninety nine, his well, his Aquaman,
it has been collected. I have my own copies. My
point is these are these are evergreen comics, right, And

(01:14:43):
I hope people listen to this who maybe don't know
him will seek him out because because they they will
give you enjoyment.

Speaker 3 (01:14:52):
That's great. Well, I'm glad you put a spotlight on him.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:14:55):
I again, a lot of us will enjoy looking into these.

Speaker 2 (01:14:58):
This one hit me hard, not gonna you know. He
was somebody who really was was formative for me growing up,
you know, and he he had a lot more years
of creativity left. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:15:16):
Wait, so what happened? You said it was?

Speaker 2 (01:15:19):
Yeah? He so he had he had been dealing with
health struggles for for the last several years. Just he
had had strokes and whatnot. His his ultimate cause of
death was a heart attack, but it was after literally
years of his body just failing, kidney failure. Uh, you know,
just one thing after the other, you know, I mean eventually,

(01:15:45):
I would imagine that in addition to just everything that
you're going through, there's the stress of how am I
supposed to pay for this? Right? Right?

Speaker 3 (01:15:54):
Which is terrible, Right, I think you should have to
think about when you're experiencing all that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
Nobody should have to deal with it, and certainly somebody
who has given these corporations as much success thanks to
his ideas. His brain power should not have had to
suffer like that. Yeah, So, Peter David, he will be missed. Also, Hey,
Brian alf Clawson passed away.

Speaker 3 (01:16:18):
Yeah yeah, who was the musical composer for The Simpsons
for twenty seven years. Amazing, amazing, I mean also moonlighting
Alf which is the kind of amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:16:30):
That was the first time I heard of him, was
seeing his name in alf and being tickled by that.

Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
Yeah, But I mean, obviously everybody knows The Simpsons is
a hugely formative show for us in so many ways,
and because we're so immersed in it, We've been so
immersed in it for the majority of our lives. I
mean his music, I mean the hours we must have
listened to it. And it's just, you know, sometimes it's

(01:16:58):
hard to appreciate. I think, a good score that isn't
calling attention to itself, right. A lot of times you
watch a comedy I'd like to watch a comedy film
or something, and the score tanks it because the score
is trying too hard. The score is telling you it's funny,
right right, right right, and and he it's almost like

(01:17:19):
you could commend Alf Claws and for maybe not even like,
you know, noticing all the things he was doing, but
he set the tone of that show, the wackiness of
that world, without going over some sort of line where
it's just calling attention to like, isn't this wacky kind
of kind of score?

Speaker 2 (01:17:37):
You know, it's just it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
It did exactly what it was supposed to do and
made that show, contributed to making that show as brilliant
as it is. And I really, you know, it's it's
sad that he passed, but it's really great to recognize him.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
Yeah. Well, and I think he even spoke about how
initially he was reticent about doing doing the show until
he was told no, it's he didn't want to do
a cartoon. He's like, no, and he was told it's
not going to be a cartoon. Treat it like it's
just a regular sitcom. And again, it's I think we
just sort of take for granted what he did because

(01:18:12):
it's just so woven in with the identity of that show.

Speaker 3 (01:18:17):
Oh absolutely, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
And I remember a few years back when the show
parted ways with him, Yeah, and it was kind of
a bitter parting. He sued them, as I recall, and
what they essentially just wanted to do it via computer.

Speaker 3 (01:18:33):
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to assume. I don't
exactly know what they're thinking was, but part of it
was probably like, look, we've got twenty seven years worth
of material, and like, do we need to continue paying
someone to generate new stuff? Is there like a way
we can sort of recycle what we have or generate
something that just sort of does the trick? Yeah, which
you know, I mean the way that they've kept the

(01:18:56):
actors on Yeah, you know, like I would look at
him is equally important in the voice of that show,
and I just feels a little disrespectful to me.

Speaker 2 (01:19:07):
Well, it seems to be the theme of this current
discussion we're having. Yeah, is that the corporations don't care. Yeah, yeah,
but you care alf Claus and the contribution that cannot
be adequately measured up. But it is remarkable what he
was able to achieve. Absolutely, Actually, while we're talking about musicians,
Brian Brian Wilson.

Speaker 3 (01:19:29):
Yeah, this was wild. I mean, Brian Wilson, what a
what a life? I mean icon every sense of the word,
and yes, absolute icon, I mean a true musical genius.
You know, something that I always Stuck with Me was
in the sixties.

Speaker 2 (01:19:46):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
He and the Beatles openly spoke about how they pushed
one another creatively, like Brian Wilson would write a Beach
Boys song and Paul McCartney would go, oh crap, you know,
and then be like, well, I got to make something
is good, and then he would and then Brian Wilson
would hear that and go oh crap, you know, And
like these two geniuses pushing one another and giving us

(01:20:09):
some of the greatest pop music ever created. You know,
it's amazing. I mean he was a writing like his melodies,
his chord progressions, I mean, things as grand as God
only knows to something as poppy as helped me Ronda.
They're all brilliant. The hooks of those songs, they're just
songwriting marvels. So it's yeah, a true genius and crazy

(01:20:37):
eighty two eighty two.

Speaker 2 (01:20:39):
And a life well lived, a legacy that will will
live on.

Speaker 3 (01:20:44):
Yeah yeah, Well, and have you have you seen Love
and Mercy, the movie about him from a literally what
I was just about to say, I was gonna say,
I want to call out this movie Love and Mercy. Yes, well,
I'll let you go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:20:53):
And oh it's fantastic. Yeah. It stars Paul Dano and
John Zach both as as Brian Wilson. And and it's
it's not your I mean it it it defies the
Dewey Cox you know, Trope Patron, you know. Yeah, And

(01:21:16):
and I I appreciate it, I think most.

Speaker 3 (01:21:18):
For that, you know, absolutely, I mean it's yeah, it
takes place in two different eras, and it covers I mean,
he he had a lot of mental health struggles and uh,
he also had some people who were not being very
helpful to him and taking advantage of him in certain
points of his life. And he was also in the
sixties creating incredibly brilliant music. Like it's so many things

(01:21:43):
in his lifetime and this movie does a really good
job of covering all of them, right, right, And it
through the conceit of having half the movie b in
the sixties and half of it in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
Right. Yeah, A terrific movie worth a look.

Speaker 3 (01:21:58):
Definitely.

Speaker 2 (01:22:00):
Oh hey, here's another This person just passed away yesterday
as we record this. Harris Eulin, Yeah, you sent me this, so,
Harris Elyen. You know, on this show, anybody who knows
we celebrate character actors the Hey that guy Entourage, you know,
and and Harris Julin is truly in the Hey that
guy Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (01:22:20):
When you sent it, I didn't know the name, and
then I clicked on the link and I was like, oh, yep, right.

Speaker 2 (01:22:26):
So a tremendous character actor. He's in a scarface, He's
in Ghostbusters two, he's the judge in Ghostbusters two. Shut up,
so funny, so brilliant. He is in Cutthroat Island, He's
in Clear and Present danger. Is great than that, alongside
Henry Churney, who we've just been celebrating another great Hey

(01:22:49):
that guy, Yeah, Rush Hour two, he was in that.
Just just somebody who embodied a type and you would
just plug him in and boy he would give you
exactly which you need it. And really, you know, the
work that they do goes unsung to some extent, and
yet it's so essential totally.

Speaker 3 (01:23:10):
Yeah. I mean, when you when you populate your film,
if it's only you only have two like magnetic leads,
you know, your world doesn't feel robust and full and memorable.
But when you surround those people with incredible character actors,
the whole film has a personality. It's every scene is
bursting with personality, right, They really lift those things up.

Speaker 2 (01:23:33):
Yeah. He had been a consistent presence on television. He
was on twenty four. He played the character Roger stanton
Man that rings such a It's.

Speaker 3 (01:23:43):
Been a while, but I'm certain.

Speaker 2 (01:23:44):
I yeah, yeah, I forget which season that was. But
you know, he's also in a probably one of the
best Star Trek episodes of all time. He's in an
episode of Deep Space nine from the first season called Duet. Okay,
and this is you know, I'm gonna one of these days,
I'm gonna twist your arm and make you watch this
just like you watch that Next Generation episode recently, which
I loved. Yeah, I suspect you will enjoy this one too.

(01:24:06):
And it's and it is it is. I mean, it's
a showcase for the guest star, who is Harris Yulin
as a Cardassian character. And so he's he's acting under
this elaborate appliance and he's he's absolutely tremendous in it. Okay,
one last passing I wanted to note very quickly, and
this is Chris Robinson has died. Brian Chris Robinson. You

(01:24:29):
know Chris Robinson. I'm not sure so Chris Robinson was
an actor on General Hospital. And you say, okay, well
I didn't watch General Hospital. I didn't watch General Hospital.
I don't know how many people listening watch General Hospital.
But he had a long career on that. But but
Chris Robinson, who just passed away at eighty six, his
little stickpin in time, his little his little historical footnote

(01:24:50):
all to himself. He was the very first actor to
say I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.
No really, And that's something was that.

Speaker 3 (01:25:01):
I mean, you hear that parodied so much. What does
that come from it?

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
So he was the spokesperson for vis products.

Speaker 3 (01:25:09):
How funny?

Speaker 2 (01:25:10):
So these TV commercials from the mid eighties. Wow, its
like vix cough syrup. Yeah, I'm not a doctor, but
I do play one on TV. And that became something
that was just absorbed into the cultural bloodstream and it
is now part of our forever lexicon.

Speaker 3 (01:25:28):
Yeah that's so interesting, right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:31):
So Chris Robinson a long and distinguished career, but if
nothing else, he will be remembered forever because of his
contribution of that phrase, having performed it, he didn't write it,
but still yeah, yeah, but.

Speaker 3 (01:25:45):
I mean I think that would be so incredible and
special to have something that you said that people you know,
know you for saying that lives on.

Speaker 2 (01:25:53):
Like that lives on and it will live on likely
for a long long time. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:25:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:25:58):
So hey, here's some other news. Brian, all right, what's that? So?
So this isn't strictly movie related, but I do it's
movie a Jason and I thought this was relevant. I
saw an article this is a courtesy of futurism dot com,
which is talking about how people are becoming obsessed with
chat GBT and spiraling into severe delusions.

Speaker 3 (01:26:21):
Yeah. Yeah, let's let's talk about that. You sent me this,
and it's it's really kind of haunting.

Speaker 2 (01:26:27):
It really is. So I read this and I was like,
this is good. What is idiots doing now? You know
you kind of you're like, I'm gonna laugh at some morons,
is my thought when I hit the link. Okay, and
and then by the end again, I was just kind
of staring at a corner in the wall, pondering and
not only my fate but that of humanity.

Speaker 3 (01:26:49):
Yeah well, so tell me, like, I mean, what's the
sort of thing that these people are falling prey to?

Speaker 2 (01:26:54):
Here? So we have a situation where the the interface
of chat GPT, which provides the illusion of a person
on the other side, has has become so enveloping, so
inviting to people who maybe feel a lack in their
own lives that they have formed parasocial attachments to chat GPT.

Speaker 3 (01:27:18):
Okay, so I think you might have said this in
our text exchange. But it's like the movie Her. It
is like the movie Her, right, So someone who.

Speaker 2 (01:27:25):
Minus minus Scargo minus at least that you know the
idea of Hey, Scargo's talking to me with her with
her sultry tones.

Speaker 3 (01:27:36):
So that's a good point. Is this like text or
is there an actual voice speaking back?

Speaker 2 (01:27:42):
This is a text as far as I know at
this moment. Interesting. I mean, we have a situation where
so I'm just reading the quote here. More and more
similar accounts keep pouring in from the concerned friends and
family of people suffering terrifying breakdowns after developing fixations on AI.
Many said the trouble had started when their loved ones
exchanged in a chatbot. Excuse me engaged a chatbot in

(01:28:06):
discussions about mysticism, conspiracy theories, or other fringe topics. Because
systems like chat GPT are designed to encourage and riff
on what users say they seem to have gotten sucked
into dizzying rabbit holes, in which the AI acts as
an always on cheerleader and brainstorming partner for increasingly bizarre delusions.

(01:28:27):
Oh man, and I mean this is so let me
just say this. This is not merely abstract. I personally
know of someone. It's not me, just a clearvery it's
not me. It's not you either. Yeah, maybe it is, Brian.
I think this is an intervention. I know of somebody

(01:28:50):
who says chat GPT knows me better than anyone, even
my wife.

Speaker 3 (01:29:00):
Huh. So this person, like after dinner, will then just
strike up a conversation like type in, let me tell
you about my day.

Speaker 2 (01:29:10):
How are you? I mean, it is like Joaquin Phoenix
and her.

Speaker 3 (01:29:17):
I have so many things swirling through my mind. Yeah,
all of it kind of a fascination like wow, that's
amazing sort of, but like also wow, that is incredibly sad.
I'm really scared because you know, it's there are so

(01:29:37):
many people out there that have delusions and without this
in their lives. Like hopefully there's people to bring them down,
you know, talk to a family member or a friend
be like, hey, hey, I know you've been talking about
this lately, but let's talk about that. Let's like down
to earth, not down to earth, down to earth, yes, yes, yes,
but it with this if they can kind of sneak

(01:29:58):
away with their phone something well all have in our pockets,
and it's encouraging every thought in their head.

Speaker 2 (01:30:05):
I don't know, man, Well, see this is so, this
is the thing, right, And by the way, this person
is a reasonably intelligent individual, you know, not wacky that
I know of, you know what I mean. So it
shows anybody susceptible to this. And and my thought is
there's no way out of this. That's that's my immediate thought, right.

(01:30:25):
I'm like, we are in it. We are, we are
in the pot that is boiling.

Speaker 3 (01:30:29):
I feel like for you and I, in the history
of this show, we always have like some sort of
marker where we're like, there's no put in the toothpaste
back in the tube. And for a long time it
was social media, and like maybe we weren't ready for
that and you know, mental ramifications of it. And now
here we are with something new and it's doing the
same thing.

Speaker 2 (01:30:49):
Right because social media, I can I can I can
say whatever thing, and you know X number of people
will hit like on it, and those likes just feed
my ego. Sure, right, and and so I feel validated. Well,
now we've got chat GPT. That's not just hitting like

(01:31:11):
out of courtesy, but it's like, oh go on, they're
leaning forward and saying, oh, tell me more. H right,
I mean, and that makes sense, right, like encouraging exactly.
And it doesn't matter what kind of nutty nonsense it is,
right and and and that's the dilemma we have, is
is chat GPT and and I'm just using that as

(01:31:34):
an example, but all of these ais are only gonna
get more sophisticated.

Speaker 3 (01:31:37):
Yeah, right, and and.

Speaker 2 (01:31:41):
And you know this, like they're in our in the
creative fields, there's a lot of like consternation about the
impact is going to have. And I think what people
are solely reckoning with is the social stigma surrounding the
use of AI is not gonna last much longer because
it's gonna be become normalized when I feel.

Speaker 3 (01:32:02):
Like, excuse me, certainly in my creative circles, yeah, there
is like a stigma. But when I talk to other people,
like non non creative types, yeah, yeah. They generally speaking,
they love it. They use it for everything. And that's
not to say that there aren't valuable applications for it,
you know what I mean, Like, I can recognize that,

(01:32:22):
but it's just kind of fascinating how much people are
using it and how much they're how many things are
using it for. I didn't even realize. I mean, my
cousin's son, he just graduated high school and he has
like a landscaping business that he started up, and he
was just showing me stuff and flyers that he makes

(01:32:43):
and stuff. He's like, oh, I made this some chat GPT.
I was like, really, like why, like why don't you
just make a flyer that has your rates on it?
You know? But it's just they use it for everything, yeah, everything.

Speaker 2 (01:32:54):
Yeah. Look, I mean I mean my my perspective as
an instructor right now, right, I mean, I've talked about
it on the show. I'm dealing with this constantly, right,
you know, subjective assessments don't no longer have value as
originally created because I can say, write an essay and

(01:33:17):
spend two weeks writing it, and they'll do it in
thirty seconds. Literally.

Speaker 3 (01:33:22):
Now, how often do people do something like that and
then take the effort to try to like tweak it
a little bit to make it not as obvious. Does
that even happen or are people just at this point
like screw it.

Speaker 2 (01:33:35):
Some people are very obvious to the point where it's insulting.
And I can say, hey, no, AI, I'm not giving
you points for this, and I won't even get any pushback.
So that's how transparent it is, you know, Right, I'd
almost applaud them for taking the effort to tweak it
and whatever. You know what I mean, Like, I'm here,
here's here's what I'm struggling with. Right. Look, I've been here.

(01:33:58):
I've been teaching long enough now that I remember when
Wikipedia first started and the whole like, oh, don't use Wikipedia,
and it's like, well, everybody uses it, yeah, you know.
And what I say to my students with regards to
Wikipedia is like, I'm not going to say don't use
it because you use it anyway and whatever, like there's
no point, but use it the right way. You know.
There's a way to assess the information that you find
on Wikipedia, and you know, I exercise some critical thinking,

(01:34:20):
follow the sources back, and judge them accordingly. You know,
and I feel like, well, there is a way potentially
to utilize chat GPT as a as a partner in
the process, right, And I don't I don't know what
that is yet, And I certainly don't think college students
are remotely equipped to treat it as a as a

(01:34:43):
conversation rather than a destination, because it's just again, here here,
your professor says, write me a six page essay. Here's
a thing that'll do it for you instantly. Yeah, And
it's it's like, I mean, this AI is causing real

(01:35:06):
harm to the planet. Yeah, right, the environmental collapse. Right,
but it's like it's like the story you know, the
box you know or the.

Speaker 3 (01:35:14):
Button you know that is so weird that literally was
running in the back of my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
Yeah right, Oh well there's some trees dying somewhere. But
here's my essay.

Speaker 3 (01:35:22):
Yeah, but I have a magic wand that creates a
paper for me. Then even my professor knows I didn't write.
But what's he gonna do?

Speaker 2 (01:35:29):
Yeah, right, I mean we are literally killing the planet. Yeah,
so all of this stuff I've said this to you,
it probably over text. I'm like, we're in the prologue
of a movie. I just don't know what movie it is.

Speaker 3 (01:35:44):
I know, I know, I think that all the time.
I mean, you look at all these different points in
history where they have a name, you know, and it's
just like and then all this ceased being and then
it became this, Like we're in that moment. We're at
the beginning and I don't know what whatever the gets called.
I don't know what this is going to look like,
but we're at the start of it.

Speaker 2 (01:36:05):
Yeah. Anyway, this story crossed my radar, and I just
found it worth at least having a conversation about. I
think we're screwed. I think that's the Yeah, I think
big picture, but hey, at the very least, Brian, we
may be screwed, but hopefully it won't be before we

(01:36:26):
get to watch Spaceballs two.

Speaker 3 (01:36:29):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:36:30):
And if it's not called The Search for More Money,
I'll be very upset.

Speaker 3 (01:36:36):
Yeah, yeah, so, I mean Spaceballs. It's a joke right
in Spaceball's one about sequels and merchandising and kind of
riffing on Star Wars and all that, and you know,
we never got one, but we did get Do you
remember there was an animated series in the early two
thousands that was for freaking awful, terrible. Yeah. I never,

(01:37:01):
in my wildest imagination thought we would actually get a
Spaceball's sequel. But this is Josh Gadd, the actor. He
had mentioned that this was something he was trying to
develop and write. Yeah, and it turns out this is
that thing, right, this is the Josh Gadd project, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:37:16):
Yeah, so mel Brooks is involved in that. He will
be reprising his role as Yogurt yeah, and hopefully President
scrub yes, but he's not directing it. And more importantly,
I were bearing the lead here, right, We got Bill
Pullman coming back as Lone Star, and and and Brian

(01:37:41):
Rick moranis. Rick moranis making his first movie since nineteen
ninety seven.

Speaker 3 (01:37:47):
Now you have to imagine that the Ghostbusters sequels of.

Speaker 2 (01:37:51):
Late reached out to him, That's what I'm saying. Brother
turned down one to three Ghostbusters movies. Uh huh, and
yet he decided this was worth his time.

Speaker 3 (01:38:04):
Yeah. Well, and to be fair, I mean, the reason
he left making movies was because his wife passed away
and he decided to you know, focused on raising his kids.

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
Yeah, the most noble of goals. Of course. However, again,
he's had plenty of opportunities to show face. Sure, sure,
and instead he's quietly accepted his place outside the spotlight.
All the respect in the world, but that dark helmet beckoned,

(01:38:36):
you know what. I can picture it though.

Speaker 3 (01:38:37):
I mean he would get like a colorful scene or
two possibly in Ghostbusters, but here it's a whole meal
for him.

Speaker 2 (01:38:44):
That's a good point, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:38:47):
I mean that is a huge selling point for me, right,
having those actual people back instead of people like newer
actors feeling like they're doing Spaceball's cosplay or something.

Speaker 2 (01:38:58):
Right, I'm excited, man, I honestly this I got. First
of all, they did a little trailer with a with
a not a trailer, but like a scroll. I'll h
a crawl, I'll lah Star Wars, you know, very funny.

Speaker 3 (01:39:14):
Oh it's hilarious. I mean, I don't have it all here,
but I have a little bit. Whereas it basically says,
thirty eight years ago, there was only one Star Wars trilogy,
but since then there have been dot dot dot, a
prequel trilogy, a sequel trilogy, a prequel to the prequel.
I'm skeeping it a little bit, countless TV spinoffs, and
then it goes two Dunes, seven Jurassic Parks, two avatars
plus three upcoming avatars, making five avatars. I just keep

(01:39:38):
saying all at the DCU second attempt at yes, genuinely hilarious,
very funny.

Speaker 2 (01:39:46):
And then you get mellow Brooks looking quite spry in
his nineties. I have to say, ninety eight amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:39:53):
I gotta hesitate, but hurry.

Speaker 2 (01:39:57):
I was thinking that exact thought. I was like, can
we just shoot portion as soon as possible?

Speaker 3 (01:40:01):
Plea ye, because it's supposed to come out in twenty
twenty seven.

Speaker 2 (01:40:04):
Okay, so yeah, let's go.

Speaker 3 (01:40:05):
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (01:40:06):
Yeah, let's clock's a ticken. I appreciate that that mel
Brooks presumably found Josh Gadd's script worthy of putting his
name on. You know.

Speaker 3 (01:40:16):
Yeah, well his remark in the trailer facing camera cracked
me up. It's so perfect, he said, After forty years,
we asked what do the fans want? But instead we're
making this movie.

Speaker 2 (01:40:31):
Sign me up. We here at the movie film show,
we celebrate Spaceballs the original.

Speaker 3 (01:40:36):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:40:36):
Yeah, So we're we're we need hope, we're looking for
reason to hope.

Speaker 3 (01:40:42):
I really really want this to be good.

Speaker 2 (01:40:44):
So is it actually going to be called the Schwartz Awakens.

Speaker 3 (01:40:47):
Oh is it?

Speaker 2 (01:40:48):
I don't know that would be funny.

Speaker 3 (01:40:50):
I guess that's funny. Yeah, I like it.

Speaker 2 (01:40:53):
But hey, you know, it is a big marketplace worth
mentioning that Sinners too is still rocking and rolling in theater. Man.

Speaker 3 (01:41:01):
Yeah. Yeah, and it's one of the few movies I
saw twice yeah this year.

Speaker 2 (01:41:05):
But did I tell you a'mna and humsa they went
to see it. No, Yeah, they loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:41:10):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:41:10):
I had tried to, like, I tried to tell both them, like,
just don't don't read anything about it, don't. I said,
it's kind of like a scary movie. But they had
no idea because the first hour is like this character
drama about you know, yeah, post segregation life, you know
or whatever. Yeah, and then and then you have the

(01:41:31):
horror movie the vampires.

Speaker 3 (01:41:32):
And the horror movie begins.

Speaker 2 (01:41:33):
Yeah, and clearly audiences are feeling much the same because
it is the highest grossing original movie since twenty ten.
That is wild. That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:41:47):
Yeah. So that right behind it now is inception from
twenty ten.

Speaker 2 (01:41:53):
Okay, Now, I remember when when Sinners opened several months ago, now, right,
there was a lot of tut tutting in the reporting, like, well,
it still has a long way to go to be profitable.

Speaker 3 (01:42:09):
Yeah, it was performing really well, especially for an original film,
but it was always there was caveats, which is weird.

Speaker 2 (01:42:16):
It felt like, all right, what's your angle here?

Speaker 3 (01:42:20):
Yeah, like why why? Why not celebrate this?

Speaker 2 (01:42:24):
And I have to imagine that part of the rationale
was that some of the POV was from the perspective
of studio execs who were terrified that this movie was
going to succeed. Yes, and the reason for that being
that Ryan Coogler, the genius who is responsible for this film,

(01:42:45):
was very far sighted in the deal that he made,
which said that after I think it's twenty five years,
he will own the movie. Yeah, so it belonged to him,
not Warner Brothers. And studios don't want deals like that
because they want to own your your creativity hook you know,
lockstock and Barrel forever.

Speaker 3 (01:43:06):
Yeah. They want to be making money off of like Casablanca.
They want to get you know, as long as people
are watching movies, they want to keep making money off
of the things that they invest in.

Speaker 2 (01:43:14):
That's right, And this film is explicitly about we want
your songs yeah, yes, so of course Ryan Kugler was
going to ensure that they could not have his songs,
so to speak.

Speaker 3 (01:43:27):
Yeah, we'll put you know.

Speaker 2 (01:43:30):
Yeah. So it makes me happy that it's doing well
because I love Ryan Kugler and the movie is good.
It makes me happy that there's an audience for original movies.
And it makes me happy because few Warner Brothers. I mean,
thank you for funding it, that's nice to you, but
a few Warner Brothers.

Speaker 3 (01:43:48):
Seriously, I actually have to make a correction. I said
that it was past Inception. That's not true. Inception is
still in the lead, but that is from twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:43:56):
Ten so and Sinners is nip at its heels. I
would not be surprised when all of a sudden done
if Sinners ends up on top.

Speaker 3 (01:44:07):
Yeah, so Inception is that two hundred and ninety two million,
Sinners is at two hundred and seventy five million and
still climbing.

Speaker 2 (01:44:14):
There's still juice in the tank, so I will I
would not be surprised at all if we see re
release closer to once it leaves theaters around Halloween, they
put it back in theaters.

Speaker 3 (01:44:28):
Oh totally right, Yeah, yeah, and I just I'll mention
it because I know if I was listening, I'd be
curious about this. But the top original films, I guess
in the original yeah, top ten most recently.

Speaker 2 (01:44:42):
And by original, we mean not a sequel, not a
pre existing IP, not a novel and nothing. It sprang
from the screenwriter of the film.

Speaker 3 (01:44:52):
Yep, yep, So we have I'll just go through them
quick inception, Sinners, Gravity, Dunkirk, A Quiet Place, Inner, Stellar,
Get Out, Us, Bridesmaids The Heat and La La Land.

Speaker 2 (01:45:06):
The Heat that is fascinating.

Speaker 3 (01:45:08):
That is fascinating. And then I mean Bridesmaids in there
is pretty amazing. You have two Jordan Peel movies, get
Out and Us, a whole lot of Christopher Nolan.

Speaker 2 (01:45:19):
Yeah. So it's and I'm looking at this the the
top grossing original films of the twenty twenties. Sinners is
number one. And then you have Sound of Freedom, Elemental
the Wild Robot that's based on a book that's uh,
that feels like a mistake, My Great Migration. Oh, that's interesting.

(01:45:42):
That's that CG. Did you see that one? That's a
CG animated movie.

Speaker 3 (01:45:46):
The Oh was that The Ducks?

Speaker 2 (01:45:47):
The Duck movie?

Speaker 3 (01:45:48):
Yeah, it looked cute, but I didn't see it.

Speaker 2 (01:45:49):
It was it was fun. I liked it. That was
the one where I in my review, I I I
dropped a magnificent Amberson's rep friends, No, I did you.
And I was quite happy about that because that was
the quote that Rotten Tomatoes pulled that that they they
use that as their pull quote.

Speaker 3 (01:46:07):
Amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:46:10):
I was quite proud of myself for that. Yeah. The
twenty twenties have been kind of interesting migration Nope, free
guy if smile and the Lost City and the Lost
City made remember with.

Speaker 3 (01:46:24):
Sandra Bullock, and then you have Sandra Bullock on that
previous list with the heat that's right, huh.

Speaker 2 (01:46:29):
But but the returns are much lower because the Lost
City is one hundred and five million, right, So so
I think this speaks to many things. Look, I mean
we say this all the time. If you build it,
people will come people. People want to watch original stuff. Yeah, right,

(01:46:49):
And and Sinners clearly clearly spoke to that. So so
that that is I'm glad. I'm glad it's doing well.
I hope the takeaway is not, oh, we need to
make a sequel to Sinners, right right, because I do
not want that.

Speaker 3 (01:47:06):
I do not need it, right right? And hey, look,
if he's got a good idea, okay, fine, But like
what I really want is, hey, this guy comes up
with good ideas, what else do you got That's well,
that's exactly like Christopher Nolan.

Speaker 2 (01:47:18):
I think that Cougler is very smartly putting himself in
the Christopher Nolan, Jordan Peel, you know class, where it's
their names become the brand totally, you know. And and
I think the Marvel folks are very smart to get
in business with with Coogler. I think they'll benefit from that.

(01:47:41):
And I have a feeling that at this point it's
probably more beneficial for Marvel to have Cougler than the reverse. Yeah, yeah, right,
With that in mind, here we're talking about box office returns.
And I thought this is interesting. Just today, this is
in Variety's this Thunderbolts lost millions of dollars despite great reviews. Hmmm,
where does Marvel go next?

Speaker 3 (01:48:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:48:03):
And I think this is fascinating. Right, So we've got
a piece here which says that six weeks after it's released,
Thunderbolts has cratered at the box office with three hundred
and seventy one million globally, it's one of the lowest
grossing installments in all of Disney's Marvel cinematic universe. If
this is the second coming of Marvel, the superhero Empire
might need another reboot.

Speaker 3 (01:48:23):
See this is fascinating because I haven't we saw it.
We both liked it. Yeah, I haven't thought about it
much since.

Speaker 2 (01:48:29):
Sure, I saw it twice, I should say, and I
enjoyed it both times.

Speaker 3 (01:48:31):
Yeah, meaning I haven't like tracked it it's box office.
I haven't been paying attention to how it's been performing.
So I was like, oh, I thought people liked this one.

Speaker 2 (01:48:40):
Well, what's interesting is that the Captain America Brave New World,
which was widely viewed as lesser than Thunderbolts, performed better.
Huh because that one topped four hundred globally. Wow. Right,
And so this is kind of interesting because because I

(01:49:00):
think you and I both agree it's a good movie. Yeah,
I liked it, But I think what we see and
I will say, I think this goes beyond there being
like a an antipathy towards a Marvel. I don't think
that's the case, because it looks like fantastic forest tracking
to do pretty well.

Speaker 3 (01:49:17):
That will be a real interesting test, I think so.

Speaker 2 (01:49:21):
I think I think if that one, if that one
doesn't perform, then there's gonna be some serious conversations happening
at Disney, right. But I think, to me, this gets
to something similar that we were just talking about with
Karate Kidd. I think that the availability of all these
Marvel shows on streaming, some of them very good, some

(01:49:43):
of them maybe not so good. But I think just
the ready availability has made Marvel seem like something that
you get to and you get to sure. I think
I think that that's my takeaway, is that the streaming
shows on balance have been more harmful than beneficial.

Speaker 3 (01:50:03):
Yeah, I can see that oversaturation.

Speaker 2 (01:50:07):
Yeah, you know, because well the Marvels that tanked completely
Brave New World just did okay this one. And I
think they'll probably be fine in the long run with Thunderbolts,
because I do think people are gonna end up watching it.
And I think that's the other thing in this article
mentions it too. I mean, the economics surrounding the MCU
are different, right, because there's just a longer runway for

(01:50:32):
these things. But definitely, when you have this movie making
money on par with like movies MCU movies from you know,
the twenty tens, early twenty tens. Yeah, that's at least concerning.

Speaker 3 (01:50:48):
Yeah, because then that's just the vibe that's out there
now is people like, Oh, I guess people don't find
these special anymore, right, you know, And I mean they
have almost forty movies.

Speaker 2 (01:51:00):
It's bananas.

Speaker 3 (01:51:01):
I mean that's another thing. How do you keep it fresh?

Speaker 2 (01:51:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:51:05):
How many times can you do this kind of thing
and make the thing that everyone wants to see but
not repeat yourself. That's a real challenge.

Speaker 2 (01:51:14):
That's the thing. I think that when we look at
next year, they've got Spider Man fors in the summer, right,
and then you got the Avengers in December. So that's
sort of like they're putting all their chips on those movies. Yeah, yeah, right,
and one presumes both of those will do pretty well.
I think so, right, And and so I think I

(01:51:40):
think if Avengers Doomsday is following a similar attract Avengers
Infinity War, it's gonna be part one of a story
that sets up, you know, the next one. So what
you're gonna have is a lot of people who are
gonna be like, oh, I need to go back and
watch the other ones. And that's that's what happened. We're
talking nowt Phase one. That's what happened when the Avengers
came out. The first Avengers, people who skipped Captain America

(01:52:00):
and Thor they went back and watched them. Yeah. So
I think we may be in kind of a retrench period.
And I don't think that's the worst idea in the world.

Speaker 3 (01:52:08):
Yeah, yeah, it might be necessary, right, And I also.

Speaker 2 (01:52:11):
Think that, Okay, if we are re if we're setting
the ceiling lower for these movies, that's not the worst
idea in the world either. Yeah, Like, I think that
if if it let's assume that that it was always
a stupid assumption anyway, but oh like billion dollars like that,
you know, right, right, that's a given. Well that was

(01:52:32):
always stupid. But let's say let's say we're setting you know,
between three fifty and four hundred as the as the
ceiling for these these secondary tier movies, which Thunderbolts is,
let's face it.

Speaker 3 (01:52:45):
Sure, what's wrong with that? Yeah, I mean, I agree
with you. I can see that that might be hard
to accept. Sure, when you were King of the Mountain
for so long and by like rgin.

Speaker 2 (01:52:58):
Assume that your Avengers is going to to do better.
Assume that your Spider Man is going to do better, right,
your marquee, like, whenever they get around to X Men,
that's going to be huge. Yeah, but you know, there
should be different metrics. So if we're at a point
where hey, Marvel Studios immediate hit, that's not a given.
I would say that's not the worst idea. See.

Speaker 3 (01:53:17):
But here's the thing. I completely agree with you entirely.
But can you imagine trying to convince a board to that, right,
They're like, well, why why does that one make this
and this one doesn't? Like figure it out? We have spoken,
you know, I.

Speaker 2 (01:53:31):
Think, I mean, I think right, because because when you
think about it, Guardians of the Galaxy was as much
of a gamble as Thunderbolts and ended up spawning a franchise,
you know, very very successful franchise, and and so you

(01:53:53):
have to be able to to roll the dice on
these things, you know, like if we get the output
post end game, Okay, Eternals wasn't you know, it wasn't great,
but they roll the dice on it. Shang Chi I
thought was pretty good. They roll the dice on it,
you know, like, I'm I'd rather that.

Speaker 3 (01:54:16):
Same And just out of curiosity, I just googled it.
I wanted to see. Guardians of the Galaxy was the
tenth film on the MCU. So it's we're still in
a high, you know, Like I I still feel like, yeah,
even if they did come out with something out of
left field right now, it would be pretty hard to
make everyone which is in a different moment, They're gonna
have to win back the audience clearly. Yeah. Yeah, So.

Speaker 2 (01:54:40):
You know what that means is they got all the
marbles are are resting on Avengers Doomsday?

Speaker 3 (01:54:48):
Oh totally?

Speaker 2 (01:54:49):
Yeah, right, I mean, I mean if that one and
this this is this is talk about the worst situation
to be in. I mean, you are competing with yourself,
right yeah, not just because it's a vand but you've
got the Russo's back, You've got the same writers back,
You've got Robert Downey. So make me feel like Avengers
Endgame did good luck?

Speaker 3 (01:55:09):
I know, I hope.

Speaker 2 (01:55:10):
So, I mean I'm rooting for them. I want them
to do well.

Speaker 3 (01:55:13):
Because I want to have that experience again too.

Speaker 2 (01:55:16):
Yeah, And I think that what we are seeing is
there's a shuffling of how the TV side is going
to do stuff, so they're not going to try to
be so tied in, you know, like you know, like
they have Daredevil born again and that's kind of doing
its own thing. It's not really connected to the movies.
I think that's good, you know. Yeah, I think it's

(01:55:36):
the problem. Right, And this goes to Star Wars too, right,
Like you and I we've discussed this, and I suspect
we will more. What's going to happen with this Mandalorian movie?

Speaker 3 (01:55:46):
I am so curious, right.

Speaker 2 (01:55:48):
Like, honestly, I suspect that unless it really blows people's
hair back, I think it's just going to do okay.

Speaker 3 (01:55:55):
I think it's going to be like this, like a
thunderbolt Sea kind of scene.

Speaker 2 (01:55:58):
You think, so, yeah, yeah, I mean unless it's really exceptional,
you know, yeah, but.

Speaker 3 (01:56:05):
It could have that issue that you're talking about where
it's like, oh, wait, no, I watched Grogo at Home.

Speaker 2 (01:56:10):
Right, yeah. Well, And that's the thing, right, is the
big appeal of these streaming shows is oh, they look
just like the movies, And I worry that now it's
like we watch the movie and be like, oh, it
looks just like the show. You know.

Speaker 3 (01:56:23):
Wow, that's a real monkey paw kind of situation. I
remember that growing up when I would watch dramas on TV,
and I would always think, like, why can't they make
them look like movies? I mean they're using the same tools, cameras, lights, whatever. Like.
It used to bother me, like why does it look
like TV? And you're so right now TV looks like movies.
So do movies feel special?

Speaker 2 (01:56:42):
I think that, And this is something we've said a lot.
You got to increase the scarcity if you want people
to value when the stuff is released in theaters totally.
I don't care what it is, whether it's Star Trek
or Star Wars as Marvel stuff. I mean, that's one
thing that James Bond folks did, right, Yeah. Yeah, yeah, which,
let's see let's see what Amazon does with that.

Speaker 3 (01:57:03):
Yeah for a while.

Speaker 2 (01:57:04):
Yeah, let's see how well this age is what I
just said, you know, Yeah, but it's a developing story,
so I guess we will we will track it in
the weeks and months ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:57:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:57:13):
I think it's a good place to leave this discussion
that what do you think?

Speaker 3 (01:57:16):
Yeah, well, I I will say I forgot to mention
a movie that I watched Friendship with Tim Robinson.

Speaker 2 (01:57:21):
Oh man, I've been wanting to watch that.

Speaker 3 (01:57:23):
And there's a line in there where he's talking to
his family about something to do that night, and he's like,
do you guys want to see the new Marvel?

Speaker 2 (01:57:28):
Here?

Speaker 3 (01:57:29):
It's nuts, Like it's just such a coming out of
his mouth, like we should see the new Marvel.

Speaker 2 (01:57:34):
It's nuts. Do you like the movie though? I did? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:57:38):
Man, I very I beat little dark, but totally his humor.

Speaker 2 (01:57:42):
I have booked a ticket for the last few weeks,
and I just something keeps coming up.

Speaker 3 (01:57:46):
So m hmm.

Speaker 2 (01:57:47):
It's a little upsetting to me.

Speaker 3 (01:57:49):
Yeah, yeah, you'll you'll. I think you're gonna like it.
It's it's not as uh the show I think you
should leave is. I wouldn't call it like bright or
happy or anything, but it's Detroiters is very much. This
is a little darker, okay, but but it's fun and
he's it's just fun being in the theater with people laughing.

Speaker 2 (01:58:09):
You know, that's that's a good feeling. Yeah. Uh, well, hey,
I think uh that that we have covered a lot
of ground.

Speaker 3 (01:58:18):
We have Yeah, this is great.

Speaker 2 (01:58:20):
Uh And and the nice thing is that We've still
got plenty of summer movies to discuss in the in
the weeks ahead two. So yep, we'll be back next
week with the commentary track. Oh yeah, I'm not I'm
not gonna say what it is. People gotta people gotta
you know, subscribe. It shows up, you know, in their
feet and the and they'll have they'll have hopefully a
smile of of of a recognition, uh huh, or a

(01:58:43):
look of confusion. It could go either way.

Speaker 3 (01:58:45):
I will say this is a movie I have never seen,
so there, Yeah, I'm gonna have to watch this one.
And uh, most people I talk to have seen this,
so it's it's an older one.

Speaker 2 (01:58:57):
This is one we have gotten many recommendations. Yep. Yeah,
people have requested them, requested it many a time. So
we're happy to We're happy to be your dancing monkeys.
It's what we do.

Speaker 3 (01:59:10):
Oh was that a hint?

Speaker 2 (01:59:12):
Oh? Possibly? But hey, if you have any questions or comments, first,
you can email as a movie on podcast didjmail dot com.
You can say like on our Facebook great Facebook dot
com slash movie film Podcasts and message us there. As always,
you can hit like on our Facebook page and send
us messages that way and also leave comments. We do
love hearing from you. If you want to show us
even more support, we have your Patreon page, Bryan who.

Speaker 3 (01:59:32):
That was fast? We see if I can do it.
If you head over to patreon dot com Slash Movie
Film Podcast hit subscribe for only five dollars a month,
you'll find every commentary we've ever done in every episode
moving forward.

Speaker 2 (01:59:43):
Absolutely ad free.

Speaker 3 (01:59:45):
Free feed will always be available, but this is our
way providing what we believe is the most satisfying way
to enjoy the show, no ads, no breaks. Plus your
subscription will go a long way and helping to support
us and helping to sustain producing this show. So if
you're interested in able, please head over to patreon dot
com Slash Movie Film Podcast and hit subscribe.

Speaker 2 (02:00:01):
You'd be very grateful. And there we go. And if
you're looking for me online, from me on social media
at Zaki's corner. That's the Akais Corner. You can also
find my reviews at the San Franciso Chronicle and The
Wrap and IGN. Coming up at IGN, I have a
look at Batman Forever for its thirtieth anniversal so that'll
be a fun one. And Brian what about you, What
do you have going on?

Speaker 3 (02:00:20):
Episodes I've written of Young jedday Adventures as always streaming
on Disney Plus and with that on.

Speaker 2 (02:00:26):
Behalf of my partner Brian All. My name is Zakie
iss On. This has been movie filmed three nineteen. We'll
catch you next time. Thanks everybody.

Speaker 1 (02:00:34):
Welcome Friendsis the Movie Podcast Podcasting time show Jackie again Brian,
they're talking to mom down Lockcast

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2

Dateline NBC

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 319: Thunderbolts* Underwater

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2

Dateline NBC

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

All Episodes

Ep. 319: Thunderbolts* Underwater

Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2