Ep. 326: Remembering Robert Redford

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome Friends Podcasts podcasting the show Jack again by they're
talking about the movie back.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
I Welcome to Movie Film. It's episode three twenty six,
brought to you by mister Boyd Productions. I'm Zaki the Sign.
I'm here with Brian Hall.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
Hey, how's it going, Zachi? Hey?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
You know there there are what is the saying? You
know there are some weeks where decades happened. Yes, and
it does feel a little bit like that.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Yeah, yeah, I'll get into it, but I'm gonna talk
briefly about the movie The Long Walk.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Yes, and that came at the end of a day
where I was like, what a day, but it really
felt like what a week, and maybe even more like
what a month? And it's it's a horror film.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
I suppose if it had to be in the video store,
you know, that's the section it would fall under. And
so I realized as I was walking to the screening
room that there was gonna be twenty five minutes of
horror trailers before it, and I was like, not today,
I literally I like walk. I was like no, and
I like sat in a chair and I know at

(02:10):
my theater you can set your watch to it. There's
twenty five minutes of ads and trailers before the film,
and so I just sat till it was about twenty
two to twenty three minutes and then I walked in.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
That's like I don't need any any more ounces of this, like,
you know, like just.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
I mean, I had planned to watch that movie and
I'd still liked her, but it was literally that was
my just this week. I'm like, you know, I just
don't have it in me.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yeah. Yeah, and I saw it because you said you
were going to see it.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
I know.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
That's that's the real shitty thing and all of that. No, no, no,
it's fine.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
But actually I like the approach we're taking because, yeah,
these these days have felt pretty heavy, and that movie
is just I mean, the timing couldn't have been crazier
because it is a remarkably heavy movie. And I think
you and I were like, you know, let's let's celebrate
something today, and I couldn't have been more on board

(03:06):
for that.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
I'm glad we see approach we're taking.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
We are going to celebrate a true legend, a one
of a kind legend, the likes of which we'll never
see again. But that's going to be in the second
half of the show.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
What did you think of The Long Walk though?

Speaker 4 (03:25):
It's like, you know, it's.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Actually a tricky movie for me to sum up how
I've felt about it. I'll say this, I didn't have
a lot of interest in it because for people who
don't know the premise, this is a very early Stephen
King story, an adaptation, and it's basically about like an
alternate United States after some like a second Civil.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
War, and as a way, so it's set like two
years from there.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
I mean, I seriously, the timing and the feel of
this movie just couldn't have come at a worse moment.
But like it, it's basically about as a way to
rally or inspire the country. For reasons I still don't
entirely understand. They take a kid from each state, so
like eighteen to twenty one, twenty two year olds, fifty kids,

(04:14):
and they go on a long walk and they're these
soldiers with machine guns pointed at them and cameras pointed
at them. Apparently people are watching this. And they walk
until they can walk no more. And if you can't
walk any longer, you get shot in the head.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
So that's the plot.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Cool, and so seeing this trailer, I was like, look,
it's got some good actors in there, Cooper Hoffman, you know,
and then oh, shoot, what's the guy's name? The guy
from he was an alien Romulus, which I didn't recognize
him because he played like an android in that, or
a synthetic or whatever they're called. And uh, no, that's
a blade Runner, David.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
No, that replicant is a blade Runner.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
Oh Replica, you're right, you're right, I'm confusing my eighty
sci fi yeah with it. But David Johnson, I guess
that's right. He totally pops in this movie. And so
I googled him, like what has he been in anything?
And then saw, oh, he's the guy who totally popped
in Alien Romulus too, So yeah, this guy's a star.
I can't wait to see what else he does. But anyway,

(05:14):
the premise, though, I was like, do I really want
to spend an hour and fifty minutes just getting to
know fifty kids to watch them all die?

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Jeez?

Speaker 4 (05:23):
And so, but then the reviews were pretty positive, so
I was like, all right, well, maybe there's something to this.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Right.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
It's sitting somewhere around eighty eight percent right now, and
I would say it's it's very watchable. I mean, you
do get to enjoy the camaraderie of these kids, but
which was also what makes it devastating, because then you're
going to watch them all die. And I would say
it has strong moments. There's emotional moments that are really

(05:53):
potent and sweet and tender, and there's something nice about
seeing a bunch of boys being tender, know and and
building a camaraderie and looking out for one another and
sticking up for one another, which you don't see a lot,
you know, in stories.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
And so but at other times, you know, it felt
a little.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Clunky and cliched, and some of the characters are big,
big cliched type people, and and you know, Mark Hamill
as the major, who's the guy who's overseeing this and
you know, overseeing all these kids being killed. I like
Mark Hamill, but like, I don't know that he was
rightly cast here. It almost felt like he was playing

(06:33):
dress up a little bit in this role. Like I
was picturing more someone like can you help me with
the name the guy from Avatar step Stephen Lang? Kind
of it is like Mark Hamill puffing his chest and
playing a Stephen Lang type. Okay, So, and he's also
kind of a major. He's a key to this story.

Speaker 4 (06:53):
And there were times when I even forgot he was there.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
So it's it's it's a little clunky, and even the
metaphor itself. I mean, you can kind of apply what
you would like to think about it, like maybe it's
the grind of living in modern society, or maybe it's capitalism.
You know, you just got go on this long walk
and then eventually you die.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
I don't know, but it.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Wasn't particularly clear. And then when you get to the
end and it is what it is, I was like, so, look,
it had its moments. The actors did a pretty good job,
but it was you know, a little bit of a
mixed bag for me. And at the end of the day,
what am I walking away with here?

Speaker 4 (07:31):
You know?

Speaker 1 (07:31):
So it's hard to recommend. While still at the same time,
I have to admit it was very watchable. It was
more watchable than I expected. So you know, if you're
up for the bleakness, or you have an interest in
this story, or if you read the book and you're
curious about it, you know, you might find some things
here to go. All right, Well, then I chose to

(07:52):
experience this, and you know, but I wouldn't say it's
something for anyone.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
To casually walk into.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Okay, you know, it's really hard because I do I
regret watching it no, like, there was some interesting moments
and some good performances. And I would say the third act,
and I'm not speaking about how the movie ends, but
the third act itself, when things start to really come
to a head and what's going to happen and watching
whoever is left interact with one another. I was like

(08:21):
leaning forward more than I had for most of the
movie because it was really potent. Okay, but at the
end of the day, I mean, what's it really all about?
So you know what I mean, kind of a mixed bag,
like some of it well done, some of it not
as well done, but a hard.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Movie to recommend at the end of the day.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Okay, So the long walk that was a short walk.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
Yeah, yes, yes, I will say. I'll get to something
a little more up beat in a second. But I
do want to call out I've been talking about the Regal.
The Regal, at least by my place. I don't know
that everyone's doing this. They're doing a flashback series for
the months September. Sometimes they'll do every Wednesday, they'll show
an old movie or a Christopher Nolan movie or something,

(09:04):
but this is literally every single day in September almost
They're showing a classic, and I talked about seeing Paper Moon,
I think by the last episode, but since I've seen Interstellar,
which I mean, jeez, it's one of those movies I
remember liking in twenty fourteen, but you watch it now
and you're like, what a towering achievement.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
I like it more every time I watch it.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
Yeah, And that was really special getting to see that
on the big screen. Then I watched The Godfather, which
was very special on the big screen, and I had
a moment where I saw it and then I came
home and it was on TV, and so I well,
TV quote unquote, people know I've cut cable, but it
it was on Pluto.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
But it was weird. It was trippy to see what
I had just seen look so small all of a sudden,
which made me greater appreciate. Wow, how amazing I got
to see it so.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
Big totally with surround sound and all that.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
So that was special.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Citizen Kane, which was really amazing on the big screen,
you know, for a movie that gets praised so much
for its visuals, it was that was really special.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
I love that movie.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
You don't think either of those movies insist upon themselves, you.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
Know, I know Citizen Kane. Well, Godfather, of course is
the movie that gets called out for that. No, I
think maybe.

Speaker 4 (10:28):
Because it is a good movie.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
I think maybe you could get annoyed with people who
are very emphatic about it, right, you know, or or
they insist upon it. But I do think it's a
really amazing movie, you know, and I'm glad that it
teed me up to now I want to watch Godfather
two and three because it's been a while.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
When you watch three, I just want to say, I
would say, watch the original theatrical cut instead of the
Death of Michael corleone version.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Which, by the way, speaking of Pluto, they are showing
all the Godfather movies a lot late, and they are
showing the new cut of Godfather Career, I.

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Know because they've memory hold the original one.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Wow, So you think this is gonna or not gonna?

Speaker 1 (11:09):
It is the George Lucas Special editions of Star Wars now,
like this is the Godfather three they will.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Show first in essence, yes, however, they they have not
made it completely unavailable. So for like the recent four
K set of the Godfather films that they came out
with the trilogy is one, two, and the Death of
Michael Corleone. But if you look on the there's a

(11:36):
bonus features disc and it has the original cut of
Godfather three in four k.

Speaker 4 (11:43):
Wow as a bonus feature.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Can you believe that? Meanwhile, as far as digital purchase
and things like that, it's not available. I happen to
have it in my voodoo locker because I bought the
previous version of the Godfather trilogy.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
So they don't update that, right, do what you say?

Speaker 3 (12:01):
So because I already purchased it, I still have it.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Well, that's a nice case for digital purchases, you know,
in this moment where people are sort of some people
are a little wary about it. Yeah, interesting, okay, okay,
yeah hmm.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, well that's what I'll do.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
And I mean, I obviously I people know why I
like to use your voodoo from time to time. And
also I do have the Blu rays, so you know,
I'll definitely watch the original cut of that.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
But I I, well, sorry, I don't mean to cut
you off. Yeah, no, no, I think here's the problem.
First of all, I love both of those movies. Just
to be clear, Citizen Canaan cover, I was joking when
I said insisting upon. But I think the problem is
people whenever people put it on, they're like, I'm about
to show you one of the greatest movies ever made, right,
And it's like, well, don't, don't, don't do that right, right,

(12:54):
you know. I just feel like, here's a good movie,
you know, which.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
I was going to say, speaking of Francis Ford Coppola
and recuts or recutting his films. So, today, September nineteenth,
my brother's birthday, by the way, So happy birthday, Dan.
There's a documentary coming out called Mega Doc.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well, I know what you and your brother are doing tonight.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
Yoky imagine.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
So it's a documentary. I don't know if it's fly
on the Wall, but I've heard it's pretty intimate. Someone
got to follow the making of Megalopolis.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Well it's Mike Figus, right, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 4 (13:37):
I forgot about that.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, and i've here it's gotten pretty good reviews and
I actually looked it up and it's not playing near me,
so I was like, like, I want to see it.
But anyway, Following that news, Coppola said that people are
wondering why Megalopolis isn't streaming at least in the us,
it's not streaming or available for physical purchase, and he's like, well,

(13:59):
I'm recutting and even.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
And then once they watch it they'll be like, oh.

Speaker 4 (14:04):
Right, right, But he's all right.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
I mean it came out this year and he's already
recutting it and going to put out a new version
apparently by this Christmas.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
So I'm just throwing that out there. Who knows which
one will be the bonus feature if there ever is
a disc with bonus features on it, I don't know. Yeah,
but yeah, Citizen Kane, I think is really great.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
That, you know.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
I think any resistance to that movie may be for
the reasons you just said, where people are like, oh,
do you want to see the greatest film ever made?

Speaker 4 (14:36):
You know, and it's like, you know, don't put that
pressure on it. It's just it was.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
It's certainly one of the most innovative movies ever made,
and we movies today have a lot to thank because
of the innovations and ideas that Orson Wells did in
that movie. But I do think it's a very good movie,
and I do even think for a modern audience, if
they go into it with an open in mind, you know,
a willingness, like I think they'll He's still a Charles

(15:04):
Foster Kane is a really compelling character.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
The mystery is really interesting. It's it's got a lot
of great moments.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
I and I do think see its interesting because the
first time I saw it, I was in high school,
and I liked it, Like I for sure liked it.
So it wasn't even like, oh what is this?

Speaker 2 (15:19):
You know?

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, but I do think. I mean, I've got a
couple of decades of experience since then, and I've come
to appreciate it a lot more. M you know, obviously
knowing the history of you know, you know, William Randolph
Hurst and who it's meant to be an evocation of,

(15:40):
but but the more general sense of, you know, somebody
who can have everything and yet have nothing, you know, hm,
that rings in a much more resonant way now.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
Absolutely, and uh, you know, we know a lot more
about Sea Montgomery Burns and so we can appreciate.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
The parallels between.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
You know, I was reading a thing and it was
probably just like a you know, a tabloidy type thing
about how Jeff Bezos is trying to get his wife
Lauren Sanchez into the next Bond movie.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Oh yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
And in Citizen Kane for people who don't know, Cain
marries this singer and he is determined to make her
an opera star, so he builds her an opera house
and he makes her perform in this opera and people
think she's terrible. Yeah, and she wants to quit, but.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
He's like no, he's like willing it.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
That scene where like like he's the only one applauding yes.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Which is a meme I think people have probably seen.
That's right, Yeah, yes, Oh, it's this movie's really good
for people who haven't seen it. And the reason I
bring up mister Burns from The Simpsons is I didn't
realize it as I was growing up, but I mean,
you could probably do a side by side of scenes
from The Simpsons riffing on Citizen Kane very specifically, and

(17:06):
the actual scenes from Citizen Kan. I wonder how many
minutes you could see that they recreated through the history
of the Simpsons. Yeah, So when I watched Citizen Kane
for the first time in college, I couldn't believe how
many moments I already knew that you know.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Funny, you know the other thing, By the way, I
you know, Orson Wells was in his twenties.

Speaker 4 (17:24):
And oh it's infuriating, right yeah, and not just the.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Behind the scenes, but the way he portrays this character
from youth to death amazing, you.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Know, absolutely, Yep, he's got a real grasp on that
character in every phase of his life, you know, for
someone who was like twenty seven or twenty nine or
whatever it is. Yeah, but I mean that was really special.
I never thought that's something I'd get to see in
a in a modern movie theater. Real quick, I'll just
rattle off to I saw Forrest Gump, which I really
really enjoyed. That was That was a weird moment for

(17:57):
me because Citizen Kane got god Father. Of course, you know,
seeing those as classic films, but seeing I remember seeing
Forts Coump you knows, as a fourteen year old and
so seeing it on the big screen again brought back,
you know, teenage memories and it was weird to think
that now it's like some sort of thirty, you know,
thirty year old classic. I had like a weird existential moment.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
But that was you have a new appreciation for the
villainous Jenny.

Speaker 4 (18:27):
A little bit, a little bit.

Speaker 1 (18:29):
You know, like I mean, I will say there's I've
always found Jenny to be a fascinating character, and I
don't think she's easy to paint with, you know, just
her being black or white, and certainly seeing it when
you're fourteen is one thing.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
I mean, not just Jenny, but the film itself.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Like seeing it as a fourteen year old and then
seeing it again at forty five is really something, and
it's interesting more things that you bring to it. And
I know, I know it has its detractors, and I
wouldn't argue with them, like it's a personal thing, the opinion, but.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
I do know Italy, if I if I am a brain. Yes, sorry,
I don't mean to cut you off, but I think
the contrast of a long life as depicted in Citizen
Kane versus Forrest Gump could not be a more This
is how you want to be, This is how you
don't want to be sure.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
You know?

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I really do hope we do
a commentary for that at some point, but I think
I expect we'll do both of them, to be honest, fantastic, Yeah,
I mean, I just I feel like there's more there
than to Forrest Gump. Than some people give it credit for.
And I do think it is an incredible achievement. I mean,
that's one of those movies that speaking of, well, I
say speaking of, I'm talking about something they said in

(19:47):
another episode weeks ago, like walking a tightrope. You know,
I just think that movie is a real tightrope. And
for some people they would argue that, you know, Zameca
slipped a little bit, but I just feel like it
could have either been really too solemn or like really
stupid and ridiculous, and like I just I'm revisiting it

(20:07):
recently with all my attention on it, I was.

Speaker 4 (20:09):
Just really wowed by it. Also real fast.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
I saw Sunset Boulevard, which I'd seen before, but it
is just another thing to get to watch it and
just really focus on it.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
And I know that I really liked that movie, but
I was like, man, this movie's depressing.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, it's really sad, but also in a meta way,
it's kind of impressive.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
That's Billy Wilder, right, Billy Wilder.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Sorry, I could probably talk for like an hour and
a half about all the things I've seen, so I'll.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
Speed it up a little bit. But Sunset Boulevard really good.
For people who haven't seen it.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
And then I'm seeing Psycho tonight with Chad, which I've
seen actually a couple of times. I've seen that screened,
but it's it never gets old.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
I screened Psycho for my students, and the great thing
about that movie now is it it's old enough where
people don't know that Norman, Oh, that's amazing, right, And
so that's like a neat surprise. And like I didn't
when I saw Psycho, I knew, I knew already, like
when we were growing up, everybody knew Norman bases the
villain in Psycho, right right. So I don't know if

(21:12):
that's a spoiler right now that I just said it,
but I feel like anybody listening to this knows.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
But just the filmmaking alone, the performances, the tension, the
twists and turns. There's other twists and turns that happen
in that movie that is true.

Speaker 3 (21:26):
So it's.

Speaker 4 (21:29):
Sometimes you have to.

Speaker 1 (21:32):
Forgive a movie a little bit for its pacing just
because it comes from a different era. But I think Psycho,
you know, it's not hyperkinetic or mile a minute like
a horror movie today, but I do think it moves
at a clip that any you know, if you were
to show it to like your your teenagers or something
like that, they might be a little resistant at first,

(21:53):
but I think.

Speaker 4 (21:53):
They would get engrossed.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
And then just the ones for people who have these
theaters nearby. What's Left, which I'm really excited about, Cinema Pairdiso,
which I've never seen, and I'm oh, yeah, it's like
to see Casablanca two thousand and one, Lawrence of Arabia,
and then I'm hoping to catch there will be Blood.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
So ah, he got some good movies in your future.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
What an incredible series. I mean, I feel I hope
they do this again. And speaking of Paul Thomas Anderson,
I am really excited about one Battle after another. Same
because you know those trailers, I think we might have
talked about it. They were doing very little for me.
I couldn't write, like, I couldn't tell what the movie
was about. The tone was a little odd. I was
literally only going to show up because it was Paul

(22:35):
Thomas Anderson.

Speaker 4 (22:36):
And just trust that, you know.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
I mean, I like the trailers didn't turn me off,
but it was more like, well, I mean, yeah, I'll
be watching that.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Yeah, I just didn't get it, and he was the draw.
He was why I was going to show up. But
now Yo and Leo, of course, I mean Leonardo DiCaprio,
feel what you want about him, but like he he
always picks interesting projects exactly, like if he's in it,
it's probably going to be in thing, right. And then
now seeing the reviews start to trickle in where they're
all like five out of five, you know, I'm I'm

(23:07):
very excited. But the last thing I'll talk about because
I want to get to what you've been watching. I
saw Spinal Tap two.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
Oh so you're the one. I'm the one, so.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
Context about my screening out here. They showed it at
the Chinese Theater in Hollywood before it was going to
come out, so it was like a night or two
before it actually came out in theaters, and there was
a Q and A with Rob Reiner and the lads
in character.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
So Rob Reiner was playing Marty de.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
Burgee okay, you know, and Christopher Guest was you know,
they're all wearing wigs, Nigel Toughnel and David Sainthubans and
all those people. So needless to say, I mean, this
thing was sold out and it was a huge crowd
at this magnificent theater and on an Imax screen, and

(24:05):
so and I should say, you know, this is spinal
Tap from nineteen eighty four I've loved for many, many years.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
I'm a big fan.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
And I should also say I worked for Christopher Guest
for a little over a year, so I actually knew
him personally for a while. All that said, I went
in very nervous because I mean a lot of these
lega sequels, you know, Happy Gilmore two. I know some
people liked it, but and I didn't hate it, but

(24:32):
it was also like, I don't view this as an
actual movie, you know, like a legit sequel to a
comedy from nineteen ninety something that I love. This just
feels more like a Netflix variety special release where Adam
Sandler pretends to be a character and then it's just
stuffed with cameos and you know, I or Dumb and

(24:53):
Dumber two too is a good example of this, where
it's like, Wow, a new Dumb and Dumber.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
And Jim Carrey and oh my gosh, Jeff Daniel.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
Jef Daniels. Yeah, I was gonna say Daniels something and
I could go out of my head, you know, are back,
and then you watch it and you're like, oh, wow,
this is not just like not good, like this is bad,
you know. So sometimes you.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Can't go home right and time has passed, humor has changed,
and it's almost sad to see these people that you
really loved older and not doing well, like flailing on screen.
So anyway, I went into this very nervous, and I'm
happy to report.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
I really like this movie.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (25:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
The consensus, the general consensus seems to be a pretty
positive one.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
You know what, I.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
And I bring up all the context earlier, because like
I said, I was with a crowded theater of willing fans,
you know, willing audience members there who wanted to be
there and wanted to love it. So I may have
got swept up in something to a degree, but I
know for sure out of side there were moments I
laughed where other people didn't laugh, Like I was laughing
at certain things because they were just so nuanced and

(26:06):
small little moments. And so I don't think this is
for everybody, Like I don't think if someone's looking for
a funny thing on a Friday night and they have
no context for Spinal Tap or haven't seen the first one.
I don't know what they're going to feel about this.
But for people who are fans knowing that this movie,
I don't think it's as funny as the first one.

(26:26):
It's just different. It's like it's our mantras and Zachi.
But if you don't go and expecting the same thing,
which is good, you don't want the sequel to be
the exact same thing. There's like a different context, there's
a different story. They are older, that plays into it,
but it's just more of them being those characters, and
they have these little set pieces that are I think

(26:49):
are pretty funny, and they might not make you laugh
as hard because you haven't been laughing at the moment
for thirty years at this point. But I was really
really relieved and happy that I thought it was pretty fun.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
So yeah, Spinal Tap two.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
I mean, I would say catch it in theaters if
you can, but I don't know if that's possible.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
I don't think you can.

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I've listened to another podcast and
someone went to see it opening night and they said
they were the only one, and yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
I mean, look, this one is probably like I think
they knew going in that theatrical was a loss leader,
and I think the mere existence of the movie is
the win.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
I think so too.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
I think fans will find it, it'll stream, it'll make
its money back that way.

Speaker 4 (27:35):
But it's just I think it's nice that it's there.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
I mean, really, I would think of it as an
accompaniment and not like another thing that needs to stand
next to something that you is beloved. And I think
in viewing it that way, I found it to be
a pleasant surprise, and I laughed enough to recommend it
to people who are fans of Spinal Tap one.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
So either way, I don't know if you had this experience,
but for me, my first exposure to Spinal Tap was
there on The Simpsons one right when when Bart goes
to the concert and I thought they were a real band.
I had no idea that it was, you know. I
saw the movie later and then I realized it was
a mockumentary. But when I watched The Simpsons, I just
thought it was a real band.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
I found it confusing because I think I I didn't
think they were a real band, like I hadn't heard
of them, okay, but they clearly were different voices than
the regular cast, oh interesting, and they spent so much
time on them that I was just confused by it.
All that's so funny, although I thought it was funny.
And so then yeah, I eventually saw Spinal Tap, and

(28:37):
I mean, just a personal anecdote, I have this memory
of being like a boy like maybe I don't know
ten or something, and I had seen Spinal Tap, and
I was sitting in church and you know, you're sitting
in a pew, you gotta be quiet, and suddenly I
remembered the moment from Spinal Tap where Christopher Guest in
character was talking about his trademark is his solos, and

(28:58):
you cut to this moment of him on stage and
he's just making noise, and then he takes this violin
and starts rubbing it against his guitar as if that's
doing something unique and interesting. And then he like looks
at the violin for a second and studies it, and
then he tweaks the tuning as if that's gonna fit,
you know, like make something even different, and it's just
and then it just hard cuts away from that, and

(29:18):
I remember bursting out laughing just thinking about that moment,
and like my family being like what what?

Speaker 4 (29:27):
Why is Brian laughing?

Speaker 3 (29:31):
And then you're like, I was thinking of Spinal Tap
and they're like, no, what were you really thinking of? Right? Right?

Speaker 1 (29:37):
But anyway, I've I love that movie anyway, So for
people who know, you know, like Christopher Guests has seen
Best and Show Mighty Wind, who maybe haven't seen Spinal Tap,
I definitely recommend it.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
There we go.

Speaker 4 (29:48):
So how about you? What have you been so?

Speaker 3 (29:51):
I well, I've seen a couple of documentaries. I saw
one documentary that kind of everybody's been talking about, which
is the Unknown Caller one from Netflix. It's the High
School Catfish or something like that. Yeah, oh okay, okay,
this was this was the documentary was not on my radar,
but enough of my students brought it up that I

(30:14):
put it on and it's it's it's actually it's so
it is a true story. But I read the story
that it that inspired the documentary like whenever, like a
year ago, year and a half ago, and it was fascinating.
It was a real deep dive, long form piece, you know,
it was really engrossing and I and then I forgot
about it and so this as I was watching it,

(30:34):
I was like, oh, wait, oh, I know this, you know,
so I kind of and the whole it builds up
to an ending that if you don't, you know, it's
meant to be kind of a twist. So the gist
of it is that you've got a high school girl
and her boyfriend who start receiving these harassing text messages
that are like everybody hates you and like you should
break up with each other, and like like the person

(30:56):
sending the text is implying that they're having a reallyationship
with a boyfriend, and it's like very messed up, right,
And eventually, I mean, it's so voluminous. We're talking like
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of text messages. This port
girl's self esteem is just getting destroyed. The couple ends
up breaking up, and the school administration gets involved, and

(31:16):
there's various twists and turns, and then it lands somewhere
where you know it certainly an indictment of society, I
suppose in many ways. I don't even know what it says,
but it is worth watching. If you don't know the story,
it's worth watching just to get to the end.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
Okay, Okay, I actually I do. Unfortunately, I know how
the sense.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
But yeah, I mean it's pretty screwed up twisted.

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Yeah, okay, but you found this this was a yeah,
like personally, so I knew.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
Again this is like as I'm like halfway through the
doc and then I'm like, oh, wait, I know this,
and then I was like, wait, I know how it ended, right,
and so then I was just kind of it was
going through the paces. But if you don't know, oh,
I would assume it's a pretty good twist. It does
sort of it. It doesn't go as deep as I
would have liked into the story. But but the doc

(32:08):
is about ninety minutes, which I feel like that's probably
the right length, Like I don't need four episodes about this,
you know.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, as they tend to
do sometimes exactly, that's good.

Speaker 4 (32:20):
But that's good to know, you know.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
I wasn't gonna bring it up, but I will just
very very briefly. But I watched the aka Charlie Sheen documentary.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Oh yeah, is that good? Yes?

Speaker 1 (32:30):
Actually, And the reason you just jogged my memory on
it was it's two episodes, so I do feature.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
Length episodes, so three hours total, three hours total, and
it didn't hold me back. But I did. I was like, Oh,
that's so interesting when they do that. Are they dragging
it out?

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Is there some sort of psychological thing they think about
people seeing the two episodes that is more compelling than
if it was just one anyway, But I found I
didn't think it wasted any time. I actually found the
whole thing pretty compelled, and it really made me.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Like Charlie Sheen like really, oh that's interesting.

Speaker 4 (33:05):
Yeah. I mean he's obviously done a lot of excusable things.
You know, I'm not saying that I approve of all
of his behavior, but you can understand why people are
so drawn to him, Like watching him in this charismatic guy,
very charismatic, seems like a nice guy.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
I mean, he's got his demons, that's the thing, right,
But you can see why so many people fell in
love with him. You can see why so many people
want to be buddies with him. I mean I found
myself wishing I like kind of knew one, Like he
just seems like but he's got his he's got the
dark side, you know, and it seems like in this
moment when they were recording it, he could be reflective
about it and you know, regret it.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
And be able to speak about it and comment on
it and everything.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
But it's it's I don't know. I guess I didn't
really know a lot about him. And sure, you know,
you see, Martin Sheen just seems like the nicest dad,
you know, like always showing up whenever Charlie needed help,
like just going the extra mile, always being there for him,

(34:07):
you know. Maybe not always, I don't know, but in
this glimpse of their relationship, it was kind of sweet.
And so anyway, yeah, I think for anyone who's kind
of curious, like, it doesn't get very sensational.

Speaker 4 (34:18):
Too, which I appreciated. Like it didn't go like, now
here's the crazy chap, are you ready to get crazy?
Like it observes it rather.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Than revels in it, which I appreciate that choice, you
know what I mean. Yeah, And that was a moment, right,
I mean whatever that was early twenty ten's where yeah,
hopefully crap every night, Charlie Sheen's saying something crazier winning yeah, yeah,
you know, and Tiger's and stuff.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
That's all. He's in the throes of his addiction. He
walks away from being the highest paid actor on television,
and so this is he was on two and a
half Man and yeah, I mean it became kind of
a joke and you know, people had death pools about
how long Charlie Sheen would would make.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
It, you know that.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
And management came to him and was like, you should
do a tour like you're losing your mind and people
will pay to watch it.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
And so he does.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
He goes like multi city tours and there's people filling
auditoriums wearing hats and say winning and by winning because
people were saying, are you bipolar? And so he made
a hat that said I'm by winning, you know, and
it's it's it reminds me of those sort of Britney spears,
you know, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan days where it's like
these human beings are breaking and everyone can't get enough

(35:44):
pictures of it, right, you know, And so this this
is still like in that in that moment, and it's
kind of interesting to revisit it and grotesque.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
You know, and so it reflect on it.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
So in the documentary's he's on the other side of
all of this, you yeah, you hope.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
So, I mean he in this moment, at least at
this moment, yes, yes, and you know, Denise Richards is
talking head in it and his ex wife his ex wife. Yeah,
and again, I mean you you sort of wonder with
bits of his behavior, why would anyone marry this person
or why would they whatever? But then when you spend
time with him and he's so self deprecating and charming

(36:23):
and whatever, You're like, I get it, I get it.

Speaker 4 (36:26):
Like I'm sure in his healthier moments, he's a guy
you want to be around.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 4 (36:33):
So it's it's interesting, it's interesting. I would recommend it.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Yeah, I read. I don't know if this is a
quote in the documentary, but it's a quote from John
Cryer connected to the documentary. He's talking about how, you know,
when they were on Two and a half Men, you know,
he showed up every day, he did his job and
he didn't cause any trouble, and he made like a
third of what Charlie Sheen made, And the more drama

(37:00):
she created, the more he was spinning out, the more
money they were giving him. Yeah, and I'm like, man,
if that's not just like a fascinating reflection of the
Hollywood mentality, I.

Speaker 4 (37:11):
Know, I know he's he is in it. John cryer.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yeah, and he is candid, I would say, like he
he doesn't seem pleased about all this stuff. Really, it's
a shame because I mean, certainly when that show started,
I mean they began it as friends.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
M interesting. Yeah. I you know what though, I like
that he's not like acidic or anything like. He's not.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
This isn't his opportunity to take him down and say
all the things he's probably been thinking in his head
for the past decade. But he's honest about how he felt,
and he didn't feel great. So we appreciate that an
honest point of view.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
Yeah, okay, you're making me interested in watching it. Here
here's a documentary that is playing in select theaters. Actually,
my review just went up at the Chronicle today. It
is called Predators. Not to be confused with the Alien
franchise from Fox.

Speaker 2 (38:02):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
This is about to Catch a Predator. Oh, the show
the Hanson Yeah that's right, the dateline NBC investigation series.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Oh I'm which was such a phenomenon. It really was
all right, and I definitely watched that so yeah, yeah, well.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
That's I mean, I that's what made me interested in
this documentary because I remember watching To Catch a predator
all the time, right, and there was there was an
element of prurient you know, a cathartic release watching these
bad guys get theirs, you know, that moment of oh
they think they're about to so for those of you

(38:41):
don't know. So they would set up a decoys online
pretending to be children or under age teens to lure
would be predators to a decoy house. And then you
would have somebody who an adult who could pass for
a teenager or a child being like, hey, hey, come
on in. You know, hey, I'm going to get dressed,

(39:03):
just have some lemonade. I can't wait to spend time
with you or whatever.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
And you're seeing this, this is like you're hidden the
camera foot hitting, like security camera footage of it exactly.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
So this person comes in, sits down and oh boy,
here we go, you know, pour that lemonade, and then
outwalks Chris Hansen from NBC News and he'd just be like, hey,
so what are you doing here?

Speaker 4 (39:23):
Yeah, he'd be like, what topics did you get on
that pizza you brought?

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Right exactly? So what what's in the bag? You know,
you tell them, yeah exactly.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
It was satisfying.

Speaker 3 (39:31):
It right, that's exactly it.

Speaker 5 (39:33):
Right.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
So it's like, you know, well, whose house is this?
You know, it's like, well, it says here, and then
he'd pull out, you know, five hundred pages of transcript transcript,
Well it says here, you want to do the peep
to the peep, you know, right, right right, And and
so that was the show. And it was twenty episodes
all over the country. And it was that, I mean,
it was there was an element of just watching bad

(39:57):
guys get theirs right yep. But of course you are
talking about real people, and you know, there was always
it was always an ethical gray area, even if the
show didn't get into it. So this documentary gets into it.
The initial impact of the show, the the the decoys,
their lives afterwards interesting. You know some of them are

(40:21):
like I can't even watch it, you know. Some of
them like are have fans, you know, like they'll go
to crime conventions and sign autographs.

Speaker 4 (40:29):
That is something, right, I don't don't I'm processing. I
don't even know what to think.

Speaker 2 (40:33):
You know that.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
And then you know, now like the bear in mind
this is pre YouTube and stuff like now you just
have folks doing this stuff on YouTube, yeah, yeah, or
something similar, right, So in other words, this is pre
dating a lot of the stuff, right, Like when you
think about it, the the the audience for to Catch

(40:56):
a Predator is very similar to the audience for your
you know, your Karen video of like here's here's you know,
barbecue Karen, and people want to see that person get
taken down a few pegs, you know. Yeah, yeah, it's
that same sense. I mean, it's it's different. Obviously, the

(41:17):
the wrong is different, but the instinct is the same.
Does that make sense?

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Yeah, yeah, And so I mean we have like want
to be to Catch a Predator type things on YouTube.
And then to me, the most interesting thing is that
in the final portion of the documentary the director sits
down with Chris Hansen and and I was like, that
was my I was like, are they going to talk

(41:44):
to Chris Hansen? You know? And it's so interesting because like,
you know, he's like whatever, sixty mid sixties now, you know,
and this is his legacy, right, and it's a legacy
he's very proud of, he's very content with, but like
there is a seeming questionable side to all of it,

(42:08):
you know, and seeing him respond to questions about that
it's it's not like, ah, gotcha, gotcha, bitch, It's not
like that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:19):
Actually, I was kind of wondering what the point of
view of the doc was or the point of interrogating this,
or is it just the point of so.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
So the director is somebody who was abused as a
child mm hm. And so they watched to Catch a
Predator when they were younger, with hoping to find some

(42:49):
kind of catharsis, but they didn't. And so it's like
this is it's a it's a very like it's not.
The documentary doesn't end, and you're like, oh, okay, well
they cracked the case on how I'm supposed to feel
about all this. It's not. I mean, it's like it's

(43:10):
very it's very vague and nebulous, and that is the point.
And I found all that whole journey really interesting.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
I would definitely like to watch this because I did
watch that show, yeah frequently.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
I saw a lot of it. But I get what
you're saying, because there was.

Speaker 1 (43:30):
I don't know how to explain it, like a satisfaction
in watching terrible people getting taken down. But there's like
a voyeurism to it, right, that's just sort of like
bordering on yeah, see me, like you said, like you know,
like we're licking our lips to watch unsavory stuff. Yeah,

(43:55):
and with or something, you know what I mean, Like
it's just something I don't know.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
It teeters well because it's like, look, it's like nobody's
going to defend any of these people, right, so yeah, yeah, yeah,
of course right, like they are they are bad people
doing bad stuff, and so you know, bring him in.
But to the point that you raise that voyeuristic aspect,
the fact is that this this type of voyeurism has

(44:19):
now extended beyond catching predators, and I mean it's at
least worth asking like, is this a culture that we
want to be a part of where we participate in
the process of pointing fingers at those people whoever they are,
you know, because because again it's not just predators anymore.

Speaker 4 (44:44):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
I think that Chris Hansen interview was the most fascinating
part of all of it to me, because I don't
know what I think about this guy being honest, you know,
that's so good.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
Because I mean, he is the face of this and
like you said, this is his legacy. So I'm very
curious to hear him. I don't know his point of view.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
Of it all. There's just something very there's I don't know,
there's a dystopian element to all of it. It just
it feels like something you'd see in a movie. You know.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
I hesitated saying it because it isn't exactly right, but
I keep thinking it reminds me of The Running Man.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
I was thinking that exact thing, which is very different.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
It's about, you know, prisoners playing this game where they
can die, and people watch it on TV for entertainment.
But there's something very, very broadly maybe in the same
sort of arena, where it's like these bad people and
there's just gross elements to all of it and they're
gonna get taken down and we can like make a
bowl of popcorn and sit with our families and watch

(45:49):
it like just something yeah, just slightly dystopian about that.

Speaker 4 (45:53):
I want to be fair by the way I watched it.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
I did. I watch every episode. I watch every episode,
and and this is these thoughts. I mean I always,
I mean, there was always an icky element of it,
but it wasn't something I myself spent very much time
thinking about. But when you really think about it, like
the people that showed up, you know what about getting

(46:16):
them treatment? Sure, right, like they showed up, they had
they had an intention, but they had not done the thing.
So why not use that as your moment to get
them help?

Speaker 4 (46:29):
Right? And ended up like catching them and releasing them
back into the wild.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Yeah, or putting them in prison for that matter.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
You know.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
The film like it. It gets into those questions and
you know, like I said, uh, I found it very
very watchable.

Speaker 5 (46:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
It debuted at sun Dance earlier this year, and like
it's it's in limited release here in the Bay Area.
I'm assuming it's probably playing around you too, all right.

Speaker 4 (46:57):
Yeah, I'll definitely look into that. I'm interested.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Yeah, so that is that? Yeah? What a what a
quite the grab bag?

Speaker 4 (47:06):
Well you got quit the bag.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
Well, I'm just gonna say something that I kind of
haven't thought about in a while, but I definitely remember
definitely feels of an era And now it's interesting, all
these years later we can see it sort of examined.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
I mean literally twenty twenty plus years later. Wow, Hey,
we got some listener letters. Brian, who i'll call been
for eighteen thousands, I'll addressed that.

Speaker 4 (47:43):
You've got mail.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Hey, I love I love that music me too.

Speaker 4 (47:49):
I'm glad. Thank you.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
So here's the comment we got on YouTube on our
last regular shows from Luke's mail twenty four, who says,
just as a movie lover, thank you for someone on
line finally providing a fair and balanced view on the
box office of Superman versus Man of Steel online. It
feels like we've been in the two man enter, one
man leave arena since that is true since the new

(48:12):
movie was announced. Please keep up the great work and
may more podcasters find inspiration in your much needed views.

Speaker 4 (48:20):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
Yeah, the you know, that's the what we tried to do.
What what what he's referring to is as somebody had
emailed me being like, how can how can we say, uh, Superman,
this new movie was a hit. When people are saying
Man of Steel was a flop and Man of Steel
made more domestic, more internationally worldwide than Superman, and the

(48:44):
point I was making was, well, neither of them was
a flop there, you know. And and the gap in
the box office between the previous one and this one
is just about what China's chunk of it would have been.
M right, It's about you know that you know, it

(49:06):
made like sixty million in China and that's about the shortfall.
Oh interesting, Man of Steel. The other thing is like
we see this thing. Oh well, if you account for inflation,
then Man of Steel made way more. And it's like
I hate that. That drives me crazy, Yeah, because yeah,
you know inflation. Okay, well then you know what, Gone

(49:29):
with the Wind is the number one movie of all time. Okay, well,
so what cool?

Speaker 4 (49:34):
Like it's like, it's great for your revial pursuit.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
That's all it is, exactly right. Like what we're talking
about is is relative success in the market in which
the movie exists, not the market from in this case
thirteen years ago.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
That's a really great point. Yeah, I mean specifically, I
mean Gone with the Wind. I mean movie going was
such a different experience and economy than it is now,
you know what I mean, Like you just post COVID
even between Man of Steel and Superman. So it's just
it's almost you can do the inflation calculator, but it's

(50:11):
just I don't know, they just can't. They're never going
to be the same. The realities of the world that
they were released in are just different.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Yeah, it's just functionally different. The other thing to realize
is that when when we're talking about the prior iteration
of this DC stuff, and this is ground you and
I have covered quite a bit, but it's worth reiterating. Look,
Man of Steel did well enough for them to announce
the follow up within six weeks, right, they announced Batman
Versus Superman very shortly after. Right, Now, you can say, oh,

(50:40):
they put Batman in there because they were disappointing what
it made whatever, Regardless they weren't. They were like this,
we're doing that, We're continuing. Everybody's coming back. The band
is back together. Right. They didn't kick Zack Snyder off
or anything like that means that means they were satisfied
with the movie's performance. Now, when we look at Batman
Verus Superman, this is important. It opened very very well,

(51:02):
but the drop from Weekend one to weekend two was seismic.
It was substantial. It was it was one of the
biggest drops at the time. Right, So all of these
these are like important parts of the grid here that
we have to be looking at. So you know, there
was concern back then about the fact that people turned

(51:25):
up for the second one and weren't weren't crazy about it,
repeat viewing wasn't what it should be, sure sure, sure,
Right And then and this is this is probably the
most crucial thing if you remember it. When Justice League
opened the following year, one year later, it was dead
on arrival, right, And bear in mind, at that time,

(51:46):
nobody knew about all the bring back Zack Snyder and
released the Snyder cutting all that. Nobody knew that, not
the not the larger audience, right right, right right, so
Justice League. The fact that Justice League was dead on
arrival was a reflection of people's dissatisfaction with family mean
versus Superman. Does that make sense?

Speaker 4 (52:06):
Yeah, totally right.

Speaker 3 (52:07):
So in other words, this is the trajectory we're looking at.
And obviously there are there's a variety of other factors here,
but none of that points to Man of Steel having
been having flopped or been perceived as a flop neither,
which is the case. Yeah, all the all the the other,
the other stuff all happened, but that was later. And
guess what, there's still room for this new DCU to

(52:28):
shit the bed in all new and exciting ways, right
right right, which history being our guide, Hey, they probably
will do that, who knows.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, for me, I think the healthy
way to look at this, because I love looking at
box office stuff when we do our commentaries, I always
look it up and it's interesting as a context, yep.
But I think the healthy way to look at all
this is as fun trivia that's right, you know, and
not not.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
A war to be one.

Speaker 3 (52:54):
Yeah, the I mean it has been deeply weird seeing again,
and I think I use this example before, but you've
got people on the internet who are still convinced that
the current Superman movie flopped, like even now, you know.
And these are like Japanese soldiers on Pacific Islands who,
at decades after the war ended, had no idea that

(53:16):
it was over.

Speaker 4 (53:19):
It's funny, it's very weird, you know, you know, talk
amongst yourselves.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
I guess everybody needs a hobby. I guess. Here's a
note we got from James Garcia. He emailed as a
movie film podcast at gmail dot com. Says Zaki and Brian,
I hope you're doing well. I'm loving the show as always,
especially the random convo Patreon drops. Oh great, I would
literally listen to YouTube chat about anything. Oh thanks, that's

(53:44):
very nice, Thank you, James, it says Brian's recent adventures
into the world of cord cutting brings up an idea
I hope streamers utilize in the future channel surfing mode.
Yeah tell you this, How great would it be to
open up Netflix and have it start randomly playing something
from your cue, whether that be a movie or random
episode of a TV series you've had in your list

(54:05):
for ages. It could pick some random time in the
middle and give you the option to start over if
it's something you find you actually want to watch, or
you could just skip to the next random thing and
relive that classic channel surfing experience. I, like Brian, suffer
from the affliction of too many choices and will often
find myself scrolling around for at least forty five minutes,
debating with myself about what's worth turning on or what

(54:28):
I actually want to get invested in. This usually ends
with me going between multiple streamers and either choosing nothing
in the end or falling back on an old favorite
I've seen a bunch of times already. I know Netflix
had some kind of randomizer option in the past and
would love to see them or another streamer utilize it
in some way. Would either of you find this to
be an enjoyable compromise in the current streaming world. Anyway,

(54:50):
apologies again for the email length. Keep doing what you're doing.
You are my absolute favorite movie podcasting duo and I
always look forward to new episodes and commentaries. Best James,
Thank you, James.

Speaker 4 (55:02):
This is what do you What do you think, Zach?
Actually I'm curious. I have something to say, but I
want to hear what you think about this.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
I think, well, I think it's it's absolutely a good idea,
but I think I think the mere fact that so
many of these streaming services have taken on a live
stream option is sort of a tacit acknowledgment that people
kind of want that.

Speaker 1 (55:24):
Right, because Disney Plus has a simple channel, right yeah, yeah,
where they're just playing all the episodes and you don't
know where it is is like television.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Is if it and it's literally I will I will.

Speaker 3 (55:35):
Do that because of my kids are like I put
on Simpsons and and instead of scrolling through all thirty
five seasons and finding I just go to the live
stream and whatever happens to be on.

Speaker 1 (55:46):
Yeah, I think I think that'd be interesting. I A, Yes,
I think this is a great idea, and I feel
like I found this a bit in Pluto. I really
have been enjoying Pluto a lot. I scroll through it
all the time and they'll be something like cone Heads
or something where I'm like, I would never choose this movie,
But do I want to see the last ten minutes

(56:06):
because I don't remember it and I saw it when
I was thirteen. Yeah, So literally last night I watched
like the last ten minutes of Coneheads and it wasn't good.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
I'm glad you needed to watch those ten minutes, but
that's my choice.

Speaker 4 (56:19):
That's what I wanted to do at eleven forty five
pm last night.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
So apropos of nothing when it goes to Coneheads. I
remember there was a massive marketing campaign with regards to
the Coneheads movie.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
Oh yeah, and there's million people in it by the way.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
Yeah, but it's such a weird like like who was
the audience for that?

Speaker 4 (56:39):
Well? You also you know what I was thinking about,
because it's so weird. It's very very weird.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
The ending and then the uh end credits has like
a song made for the movie where they're like we
all want mass consumption or something like really silly and
like whatever, that's never gonna appeal to like, you know,
like a kid listening to alternative rock in the nineties
or something.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
But I but it reminded me that there was a Red.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Hot Chili Peppers music video tied with this, and I
was just picturing dan Aykroyd fascinating, you know, doing press
for Coneheads, which is like a sketch that was even
a little before.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
My time or our time.

Speaker 3 (57:11):
Yeah, that was like first five years, right, yeah. And
then I was just picking on SNL for those of
you don't know.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
On SNL, yes, like, and I was picturing him on
Entertainment Weekly being like, oh yeah, and the Chili Pepper
has got a song for us, and like what like
it is.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
Such a weird mishmash of generations.

Speaker 3 (57:28):
And I remember there was a toy line. Oh really yeah,
Playmates had a Conehead's toy line. Now this is this
is when toys were for kids. You didn't have like
adult toys like you do now, right, what kid? What kid? Brian?
What child is going to drag his parent by the
finger down the aisle of toys r us and being
like give me give me Beldur cone Head I know,

(57:51):
I know.

Speaker 4 (57:54):
Yeah, I mean you know, And speaking of I keep
saying speaking of and I'm speaking of no thing. We
have not referenced this yet. I'm going to that.

Speaker 1 (58:05):
But a point I'm going to make is some movies
should remain as three minute sketch ideas.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
Absolutely, that's SNL inspired movies.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Yeah, like it's Pat or Stuart Smally saves his family.
Wayne's World was a miracle, Blues Brothers is a miracle,
that's it.

Speaker 3 (58:26):
And mcgroober I would put in the groover is so good.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
But yeah, you watch this and you're like, oh, this
isn't funny past two and a half minutes. Yep, you know,
and uh, and there are some funny ideas like oh,
him mowing the lawn, him doing the whatever.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
Okay, that's a great sketch.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
But then having them back on their home planet and
he's fighting this big monster while he's wearing a diaper,
and like, it's just.

Speaker 4 (58:49):
I was like, what is happening?

Speaker 3 (58:51):
This is so wild? You know, I don't think I
realized just how many SNL movies there are. What are
some of the others, Like, okay, so well, Blues Brothers
and Waynsworld those are the first two, right, yep. So
Coneheads was ninety three, and then we and oh Wayn's
World two, afgo Waine's World two.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
I like.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
I think people people talk about that.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
I don't love it as much, but it's definitely if
you like the first one, it's it's enough.

Speaker 3 (59:16):
I agree with that, So here we go. It's Pat
nineteen ninety four, Stewart Saves's Family in nineteen ninety five,
Blues Brothers two Thy nineteen ninety eight, There's a Gem
A Night at the Roxbury nineteen ninety eight, Superstar nineteen
ninety nine, The Ladies Man Wow two thousand. How many
at bats before you realize, oh wait, nobody cares about

(59:36):
any of these?

Speaker 1 (59:38):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I haven't seen most of those.
I'm going to be honest, but uh, I don't know.
I mean, Wayne's World was just like lightning in a bottle.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
Really, so it's Pat. It cost eight million dollars. You
want to take a guess how much it made at
the box office?

Speaker 4 (01:00:02):
Two point something.

Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
Not quite it made sixty thousand dollars. Whoa wow, which
look not for nothing. But I could have told you that.
I wouldn't have told you it would make that little.
But there was no audience for an It's Pat movie.

Speaker 4 (01:00:23):
No, And do you know I think Quentin Tarantino did
a pass on that script?

Speaker 3 (01:00:27):
Did he really?

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Yeah, because he's friends with Julius Sweeney because she's in
pulp fiction.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
Yeah, you're absolutely right, it says here after six months
of work, which included a script of the input from
Quentin Tarantino that involved Pat being pursued by a relentless suitor. Fascinating. Okay,
well but again who I never liked those sketches, I know,
I know, I mean or they were like, huh, yeah,
what's next? You know it was it was about one

(01:00:52):
and a half minutes of premise packed into you know,
six minutes or whatever however long those were, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
Yeah, yeah, but I don't know, but really quick going
back to James's email, it was funny because I do
think it would be interesting if they were like, hey,
this is based on your algorithm, and you seem to
like true crime things, and you like comedy stuff, and
you like documentaries. They have like a set of channels
that are just looping a bunch of their things in

(01:01:18):
those categories, so you can kind of get a taste
and then pick it. I think that's a great idea.
I Also, as he was talking about that, I had
this thing where I was thinking, like, that makes sense
to people of a certain age, because that's the experience we.

Speaker 3 (01:01:33):
Grew up with.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
Yes, can you introduce that to a younger audience and
they will go, oh, this is interesting maybe?

Speaker 4 (01:01:39):
Or do they just have no interest at all in trying?

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
Isn't scrolling through TikTok comparable to channel serving?

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
Dude, you're so right, You're okay, well, there you go,
there you go. But I was what I was thinking
was maybe it only appeals to people of a certain age.
And it reminded me of the scene in Minority Report
where there's those like cocoons or whatever capsules that people
are sitting in and you know they're paying for like
some sort of holographic experience.

Speaker 4 (01:02:08):
Usually it's like sort of pornographic or something.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
But I was picturing like for older people like us,
it's like, I want to watch TV like I did
when I was young, and so you go on this
capsule and it's like you can actually flip through channels,
like you have.

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
To pay for the experience.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
So so here's my thought. First of all, I would
pay for that experience. I think the problem the problem
is we we are living in such an algorithmically designated
world that I think that is something I'd like to believe.
That is something people are reflexively pushing back against, right,

(01:02:45):
because because you look at like you look at your
homepage on whatever your you know, your Netflix homepage, that's
sort of the algorithm is putting stuff in front of you.

Speaker 4 (01:02:57):
Sure, sure, sure, sure, TikTok.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
It's fully algorithm generated. But the what made channel surfing
a thing was that stuff that would never cross your
radar is put in front of you and you're like, huh,
what's this? Mm hmm. You know, I lost an afternoon
watching CPO Sharky starring Don Rickles, because that was what

(01:03:22):
happened to be on I don't even know what that is. Yeah,
it was a sitcom where where you know, Don Rickles
was quite the curmudgeon. Oh really in this Man's Navy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
It was.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
It was some good, clean fun for twelve year old Zachie.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
Sure sure right.

Speaker 3 (01:03:40):
My point is like that's kind of the fun of it, right,
Like that's that's what's missing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
Well, I agree, I mean this is spinal tap was
something I caught randomly late at night flipping channels. On
TV Fear of a Black Hat, which is sort of
like an early nineties rap version of like this is
Spinal Tap. Would have known that existed? And I really
love that movie They Live. You know, all these movies
that I endeared to now and that have kind of
become classics is because I discovered them late at night,

(01:04:08):
flipping channels, not knowing that I've.

Speaker 4 (01:04:11):
Not knowing they existed. Yeah, so there's there's still something
to it. There's something to it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
Yeah, you know, I I think again, I'd like to
believe that that we are seeing just a general not
like an active pushback to just a general sense of like,
you know, I'm sick of these apps picking my next
thing for me. M I'd like to believe that anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:04:38):
It would be nice.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Yeah, because of course your inclination is going to well,
you don't even get to have an inclination to your
point there, They are curating, you know, your options.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
So yeah, it's like I want to make sure I'm
not missing something that could become my new favorite thing.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
Yeah, you know, it's it's tangentially connected to this. You know,
I screen the movie Spotlight in my classes. Right we're
doing journalism unit and so normally I show stuff from
my my Voodoo account, and just by chance, I was
having some issues logging into my Voodoo, so I logged
into Prime Video, where I have like a parallel acount

(01:05:15):
set up, you know. So there are movies anywhere, a
lot of this. You can own the same movies across
multiple platforms. Right, So we're watching Spotlight. The kids are
really into it, and I don't know if you've seen
the movie, you know, it ends and then we get
this these you know, like the in these these are
the cities where other sexual abuse scandals were uncovered, and

(01:05:37):
it's just silence is like page after page of of
these cities, you know, and then normally, you know, it
fades to black and you have like a you know,
maybe a second or two of silence, and then the
credits start. So here it's like page you know again,
it's like page after page and then hey, if you're

(01:05:58):
done with this, subscribed to football on Amazon Prime Video.
Really and literally, my students are like, whoa, like, not okay, movie, right,
let us sit in our feelings, you know, like yeah, yeah,
and it was it was somewhat comical, you know, that's hilarious.

(01:06:26):
This is this is you know, look, a lot of
this is admittedly to middle aged.

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
I'm a little self awares of. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
However, I think there's something to how this stuff is
rewiring us psychologically that we should at least, you know,
be aware of, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
Yeah, yeah, And I mean for me, I think it's
just it's I don't want, like I keep saying, I
and I don't want this for other people to miss
out on things that might not an algorithm might think, oh, well,
based on what they've seen, they won't be interested in
this thing, and you might be missing out on something
that means a lot to you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
You know, I agree.

Speaker 4 (01:07:01):
So I don't want to be denied that.

Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
Well. Hey, hey, we got some headlines here, Briant extra.
So I don't know if you heard this, but our
president is Donald Trump. I don't know if you I
get that. Yeah, afraid so okay, and he has opinions. Oh,

(01:07:30):
you know, you know, I gotta say I missed the
days when we didn't need to know every thought that
flitted through the brain pan of the commander in chief,
whoever that happened to be.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
Yeah. Yes, And this is a story.

Speaker 3 (01:07:44):
This is a story that relates to all the stuff
we talk about here, and I find it relevant. So
you're familiar with with the one Tom Hanks, I believe
I am. So it had been announced by West Point
in June, just a couple of months ago, that they
were going to give Tom Hanks a twenty twenty five
Sylvanus Thayer Award. So that's given annually to an outstanding

(01:08:07):
citizen of the United States whose service and accomplishments in
the national interest exemplify personal devotion to the ideals expressed
in west Points motto, Duty, Honor, Country. And this award
was going to be presented, as it happens, on September
twenty fifth, my birthday, so it would have been presented
a week from today as we record this. And this

(01:08:28):
is the quote from the board chairman, Robert McDonald says,
Tom Innks has done more for the positive portrayal of
the American service member, more for the caring of the
American veteran, their caregivers and their family, and more for
the American Space program and all branches of government than
meant many other Americans.

Speaker 4 (01:08:47):
Without question.

Speaker 3 (01:08:48):
Yeah, and this is a quote from Tom Hanks. He says,
to have my first ever visit to the Academy be
to accept such an honor as the their award is
simply astounding. West Point's legacy of leadership, character, and service
to the nation is a powerful example for all Americans.
To be recognized by an institution whose graduates have shaped

(01:09:09):
our country's history through selfless service is both humbling and meaningful. Now,
think about the kind of person you have to be
to dislike Tom Hanks. And even as I say that,
I think you already know where this is headed. Because
Tom Hanks is no longer receiving that award, and this

(01:09:31):
was done at the behest of one Donald John Trump,
and the reason being, if you recall, Tom Hanks during
the last election endorsed Kamala Harris and in the election
before you know, on Inauguration Day, Tom Hanks was like
the master of Ceremonies on the National Mall. And you

(01:09:53):
know that is a step too far. So as a result,
west Point was essentially told no, you cannot give him
the award, and the cancelation was reported. And then on
top of that, just to make sure that we all
knew who was responsible, we got a post from Donald

(01:10:14):
Trump on his own social media site truth. He says,
our great west Point Getting Greater all the Time has
smartly canceled the awards ceremony for actor Tom Hanks. Important move.
We don't need destructive, woke recipients getting our cherished American Awards. Exclamation, exclamation, exclamation.

(01:10:36):
Hopefully the Academy Awards and other fake awards shows will
review their standards and practices in the name of fairness
and justice. Watch their dead rating surge.

Speaker 4 (01:10:47):
You just had some time on his hands to I mean,
isn't this.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
Something like this is real life? That this is this
is this We're back.

Speaker 4 (01:10:57):
Here, I know, I know, And.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
This is.

Speaker 4 (01:11:04):
Regardless of your politics. This is immature and embarrassing behavior
for a president. And west Point's reasoning for wanting to
give Tom Hanks this award is objective and like true,
he really has through his platform, he's brought a lot
of attention to the military, to the space program, to

(01:11:24):
all those things.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
And hearing Tom Hanks's humble response and you know, being
honored by this sort of thing, it all adds up,
you know. So for someone who has presumably a lot
on their plate to concern themselves with this is confusing.
And then the like you said, this post, this reaction

(01:11:46):
is just immature and embarrassing.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
And I don't get it. I don't get it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
You know, we keep coming back to this, but I'm
just like, how can you be this advanced in yours
and be this immature in behavior? I truly like, like,
by even before being president, he had achieved most measures

(01:12:12):
of worldly success, and yet he was always petty and
vindictive and cruel. And it's troubling because of how much
this behavior is a reflection of what his supporters want, right,

(01:12:35):
and and that manifest in a variety of ways, which
we'll be talking about. But this Tom Hanks thing really
crystallized for me. What does he lose? What does Donald
Trump lose by Tom Hanks getting an award? Right now, Ultimately,
Tom Hanks doesn't lose anything big picture by having this.
You know, he'll he'll, he's fine, you know, but there

(01:12:58):
is something about what it had signifed and who is
deemed worthy?

Speaker 4 (01:13:02):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
Who is deemed worthy? Like if we're calling Tom Hanks destructive,
given his his truly a lifetime of service along with
his film work, right, he's used it. He's leveraged his
success in meaningful, measurable ways that have benefited people that
have benefited veterans, that have benefited research and exploration, you

(01:13:24):
name it. But he's not deemed the right kind of American.
And who's deeming the right kind of American the man
currently in the White House, right.

Speaker 1 (01:13:34):
Not the people who are handing out the award. Yeah,
they deemed it already. Yeah, it's their business, you know. Yeah,
to step in like that, it's just.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
It.

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
Unfortunately, we can't look at these things in a vacuum,
right because obviously we have the news this week as
you and I are recording, this is just you know,
in the last thirty six hours about Jimmy Kimmel being
pulled off the air, and this has been one of
those stories that I've been following from the moment it

(01:14:06):
sort of it crossed over from just every day run
of the mill events into oh, this is the thing
that's driving the online discussion now, and you know what
we have, So bear in mind we're talking in the
aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk right in Utah, which, obviously,

(01:14:27):
it goes without saying, was horrific. Did you see the
video the footage of it?

Speaker 4 (01:14:33):
No, I avoided it, I you know, I saw it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:37):
Unfortunately, I've seen it from multiple angles, and I was thinking,
I was like, is this the first time we've had
a political assassination available in four K from multiple angles?

Speaker 4 (01:14:45):
Right?

Speaker 3 (01:14:46):
Is that the rubicon we've crossed? Now?

Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
I've thought about that actually with JFK and the Zapruder film.
You know, you've got one grainy, you know, kind of confusing,
jittery account video account of that. But if that were
to happen now, yeah, you would have one hundred angles
in four K that everyone could upload and you know,

(01:15:09):
sell to the news. It's just such a different thing.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
Yeah, And you know, the the aftermath of that incident
was very telling for me, right because because well, okay,
a couple thoughts. Number one, I think anybody who saw
it or anybody heard about it, is like, that's really
messed up. That shouldn't be happening. Right. That being said,

(01:15:32):
I said, you look, I think that he had a
you know, he he he said things throughout his life
that make me say, well, I don't I don't support
the things he said. I I support his right to
say them. I support debate, you know, and that's you know,

(01:15:54):
that's as you know, look at what he said about
about Islam over the years about Muslims over the years.
He literally the day before he died, is like, oh,
Islam is going to slit the throat of the West.
That's what he says about my religion. So you know,
I'm like, well, this is these are horrible things that
you're saying, right. So the lionization that I've seen after

(01:16:14):
his passing is very perplexing to me because I'm like,
I mean, look, he's saying bad things, you know, Like
we we have to be able to say, look, I
disagree with what somebody says, but I also disagree with
this thing happening. We have to be able to accept
both those things, right, And I the lionization the sense

(01:16:39):
of all he was just bringing the word of the
Lord to people. I'm sorry, I disagree with that, I
will say.

Speaker 4 (01:16:47):
Yeah. It was a little confusing for me because when
it happened, I literally had to google him.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
Okay, and so and then I was like, that's good.
That means you have a healthy you know online.

Speaker 4 (01:17:00):
But uh, I so to me, yeah, I mean for
different reasons. It was a little.

Speaker 1 (01:17:09):
Startling, the the sort of you know, like lionization to
use your word, you know, just I was like, huh,
who what you know, it's very surprising to me.

Speaker 3 (01:17:21):
Yeah, it it really to me. I'm just like, this
is like my experience looking at my Facebook feed. Right,
It's like you it's like you glance to the right,
you see one reality and then yes, you glance to
the left, you see an entirely different reality. Right, And
that's just life. Now, That's just what it is. That's

(01:17:42):
just what it is, right, And so so this is
this is the thing, like I I'm I'm looking at it.
I'm like, look that this is deeply left up. What
happened to him?

Speaker 4 (01:17:53):
Without that question?

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
But I'm not going to say that that he did
a lot of great stuff, uh with his platform, because
in my opinion, he didn't. But those are two contrary
thoughts that we just have to be able to encompass. Right,
That's not the point I want to make. The point
is this in the aftermath, how it how things began

(01:18:16):
to spin out, right, And actually before I even get there,
there were plenty of people who were not his fans,
who felt the need to get on online platforms and
rejoice in his death right. And to that I say,

(01:18:36):
you could just like not do that, Like you could
just try not doing that and see how that works. Yeah,
you know what I mean, Like, there's there's something broken
with the incentive structures across the board. This is not
a right wing problem or left this is this is
a human brain problem. Yes, that we're seeing a lot
of right detachment, right because because here's the thing, folks,

(01:19:01):
plenty of people die who you disagree with, and before
social media, you would just have that thought. You'd be like, well,
whatever process I'm going through, it's happening inside of me
and that's it. So you don't need to show your
work on you know, threads or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:19:23):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (01:19:24):
Right, So then we got people who are you know,
getting docked and they're losing their jobs, right to which
I say, well, I don't think that should be happening.
But I also think you didn't need to do the
thing that got you your job lost. So a lot

(01:19:45):
of complex things.

Speaker 4 (01:19:46):
Happening, a lot of complex things, right, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:19:51):
So what we've seen over the last it's we're now
just over a week out is again two things this
utter reinvention of charge. Arley Kirk from literally I saw
Glenn Beck say without an ounce of irony, I would
assume say he was not a conservative activist. He was
a civil rights icon. And I said civil rights for

(01:20:14):
who because it wasn't for black and brown people, right,
So words still have meaning, is what I'm saying. Yep, yeah,
but this like, oh, we can't don't watch what you say.
If you say anything, we're gonna We're gonna call your
place of work. We literally literally peep hag sat is

(01:20:36):
like if any service members are saying anything critical of him,
not even like I'm glad he's dead, which is nussed up,
but like, but like I didn't like what he said.
You know, I'm sad he died, but he shouldn't have
said this stuff like that that becomes troubling and and
it's being used as a vehicle to gin up a

(01:21:00):
government backed mechanism to tamp down on people's speech, right,
And so that's how we arrive at the Jimmy Kimmel situation. Now,
you and I in one of our Patreon episodes a
couple of months ago, we talked about how Stephen Colbert's
show had been canceled and it was done in the

(01:21:20):
in the shadow of Paramount and sky Dance merging and
you know, trying to trying to increase the likelihood of
government approval, and so even though they said it was
a purely financial decision, it at least smelled bad. Well,
here we have a situation where Jimmy Kimmel goes on
his show Monday and he makes a joke which which

(01:21:44):
you know, Brian, maybe we can we can pipe in
the the audio of what he said. It's not that hard,
I mean, it's well here it is.

Speaker 5 (01:21:54):
We hit some new lows over the weekend with the
Maga gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered
Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and
do everything they can to score political points from it.

Speaker 3 (01:22:07):
So that joke, I mean, it's like, it's a joke.
Is it a good joke, It's a whatever joke, it's
it's it's a nightly talk show joke. And and what's
at issue is he's saying it's he is making it
sound like the person who's in custody is it was
a mega person and maybe he's not a mega person.

(01:22:29):
Like what he's there's enough wigg room in what he's
saying that I could say it's probably just misinterpretation, but
it's irrelevant. That's kind of my point, even if that's
what he said, Even if that's what he's implying, that
the person who's in custody is is a not a
mega person from from our the most recent information we have, right,

(01:22:51):
he implied that it was okay. Even if that's the case,
Are we saying he doesn't have the right to say that.
Does he not have the right to to, you know,
make a correction if needed?

Speaker 4 (01:23:02):
Sure? Sure?

Speaker 3 (01:23:03):
Right, So that was used. And I saw this spinning
out in real time. I saw it on Tuesday. He
should get in trouble for this. He should lose his job.
So Wednesday morning, the head of the FCC is on
some podcast and he says in essence, actually not even essence,
this is what he said. You know, Disney needs to
take care of this, or we can do this the

(01:23:25):
easy way, or we can do this the hard way,
which is some straight up mob enforcers. Shit, right, that's
like a scene from The Untouchables.

Speaker 4 (01:23:34):
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:23:35):
And then within a few hours, ABC says they're benching
him indefinitely. And in case the meeting wasn't doubly clear,
that same head of the FCC, when asked his response
tweets a gift from the office of Michael and Dwight
like doing.

Speaker 4 (01:23:53):
Raise the roof, very professional.

Speaker 3 (01:23:57):
Yeah, and so that's where rat. So now you have
the free seech warriors who are like, oh, well, you know,
ABAC is a private company and they can make any
decisions they want, right, And it's like, okay, well, this
doesn't happen in a vacuum. This didn't happen in a vacuum.
You know. Rolling Stone had a piece up saying that
most of the executives at the network thought he didn't
do anything wrong, but they were scared of Trump. They

(01:24:20):
were pissing their pants most of the day. And so
this is where we're at now. I think we have
to ask ourselves where are This is where we're at.
Where are we m because this troubles the shit out
of me.

Speaker 4 (01:24:37):
Yeah, I mean I was wondering what it was like
for Colbert and Fallon, like being on the air that evening.
You know, are they just like.

Speaker 1 (01:24:49):
Thinking triple time about every word that comes out of
their mouth for fear of if some one particular person
doesn't like what they're saying, it could be off with
their heads.

Speaker 3 (01:24:58):
I mean, this is the thing, right, Like what for
the FCC to stick its fingers in the pie like this?
I'm fairly certain it's entirely illegal. If ABC had said, hey,
kick rocks, you know, to sue us, you know what
would happen. Right. But the problem is, like there's this capitulation,

(01:25:20):
there's preemptive capitulation. Instead of these companies being like, you
know what, we got the First Amendment? What do you got,
it's like oh sorry, sorry, oh sorry, And and I
have so many thoughts about this. I'm like, you know,
presidents get to be made fun of by people, right,

(01:25:45):
Like that's because here's this is the important thing. They're
using Charlie Kirk as the pretext. It's not Charlie Kirk,
it's Donald Trump doesn't like these guys making jokes about him.

Speaker 4 (01:25:53):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:25:54):
We know that because when Colbert's show was pulled, or
when it was announced that it was canceled, he says,
Jimmy Kimmel is next.

Speaker 4 (01:26:01):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (01:26:02):
I'm not even sitting here defending Jimmy Kimmel as like
the pinnacle of comedy. I think he's he's fine doing
that show. Whatever. That's not the point, is it. No?
The point is late night comedians get to make fun
of the president. Everybody gets to make fun of the president.
You know why, because you get to be the president.

Speaker 4 (01:26:21):
All right, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
Sorry, no, no, I appreciate you laying this all out.
I was just listening because I think you're doing a
really good job of laying out what's been a series
of really intricate and complex things these past couple of days.

Speaker 3 (01:26:40):
Do we think it ends here, Let's let's let's say,
let's go to the let's go to the the tweets
or whatever. Yeah, he says, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers
your next do it NBC?

Speaker 1 (01:26:52):
Well, this is I had it because I I was
shaking my head reading most of this, but this line
really bothered me. He just said that leaves Jim and
Seth two total losers, And I was like, don't you
have other things to do? And again it goes back
to like, regardless of your politics, I really want to
stress that regardless of your politics, this is embarrassing behavior.

Speaker 3 (01:27:14):
It really is.

Speaker 4 (01:27:15):
This is embarrassing immature behavior.

Speaker 3 (01:27:18):
For our leader. You know, I don't know if you saw.

Speaker 4 (01:27:22):
I don't know if this could unite us.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
Frankly, I wish we could like all sort of acknowledge
that this is strange, embarrassing behavior from the person who's
representing us to the world. And even if we can't
agree on certain things, at least we can agree on that.

Speaker 3 (01:27:38):
Right, you know, you'd think so, But people are so
dug in on their side of the trench.

Speaker 4 (01:27:45):
Again. I know, I don't know what it's going to take.

Speaker 3 (01:27:49):
My worry is it's going to take something a lot
worse than what we have going on right now in
terms of economic calamity, or God forbid, something worse than that.
You know, Yeah, because because so many of the elements

(01:28:10):
are in place for you know, something bad. And that's
what I worry about, you know. Yep, this is this
is just yesterday. So yesterday afternoon, he tweets. He posts
about Jimmy Kimmel again, this is Donald Trump, he says,

(01:28:32):
So this is He posts a clip of the twenty
twenty three Oscars. Do you remember when Kimmel made that
joke about Donald Trump? No, So, it was like, let
me see if I can remember. It was like it
was near the end of the show. I think it
was before the Best Picture announcement, and Trump was posting
just posting whatever shit about Kimmel. And so Kimmel read

(01:28:55):
his post while hosting the Oscars, and he goes, isn't
it past your jail time? This is from twenty twenty
three r and so this.

Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
Is like Steve Buscemi and Billy Madison. Then he wrote
his name on a piece of paper on the wall
that in that moment, Kimmel.

Speaker 4 (01:29:11):
Right, you're not row.

Speaker 3 (01:29:14):
So this is a tweet from a post a truth
you know, from yesterday by Donald Trump, he says, Jimmy Kimmel,
just before an announcement of the Best Picture of the Year,
felt that he had to respond to a truth put
out by me. Toward the end of the show, he
made a total fool of himself, his wife an agent
begging him not to do it, while also proving to
be one of the worst hosts in the history of

(01:29:34):
the Academy Awards. Watch the clip now, think about the
fact that this is the President of the United States
pulling out a two years old clip about a comedian
making a joke about him.

Speaker 4 (01:29:47):
Yeah, I mean, what do you what do you say?

Speaker 2 (01:29:50):
Like?

Speaker 3 (01:29:51):
This is everything we teach our kids not to be,
you know. And the broader point I want to make here.
And I promise folks, we don't normally get into politics.
This is relevant given what just what the everything that's
going on? Do we think it ends here? Right to
your point? Okay, you get all your nightly news, your

(01:30:15):
nightly talk show hosts off, Okay, you got your comedians
off the air. You think Saturday Night Live is safe? Right,
They're already talking about the view. And I never thought
in my life I'd be defending the view. I don't
care about the view. But that's not really the point is.

Speaker 1 (01:30:29):
It's That's what I wanted to say too, because it's like,
why we even would bring this up on this show
is because this really does have to do with media
and entertainment, and news is a part of that. And
if a precedent is set where just because someone is irked,
someone in a position of power is irked by something
that someone says on TV, and they can use the

(01:30:53):
people that they've put into certain places to be like,
you know, I don't like that person, figure it out
through your job to the boots that person off the air.

Speaker 3 (01:31:01):
Yeah, where does it end? Where is this where we're at?

Speaker 4 (01:31:05):
I mean, and and and just real quick for people
who are like, yeah, but I didn't like what Kimmel said. Well,
some at some point it's going to be something that
you you know, agree with.

Speaker 1 (01:31:15):
That's the point, right, Like this, it's this, This shouldn't
be a moment that's about sides Like this is like
what is what is at stake here?

Speaker 4 (01:31:25):
Yeah, we stand to lose, That's.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
Really it, right, I mean, look, people say all kinds
of shitty stuff on TV, and there is Look, there
is a price attached, right the First Amendment. Freedom of
speech does not mean freedom from consequences. We get that.
The however, the reality is when it comes to this
specific situation, the Kimmel situation, it happened as a result
of the government putting its thumb on the scale in

(01:31:50):
ways it's not supposed to do.

Speaker 4 (01:31:52):
That's I think the biggest part of that story.

Speaker 3 (01:31:55):
Yes, yeah, you know, And and yeah it's it's irrelevant
whether whether you like what he said, but whether you
know that's that's just chumming the water. What comes next?

Speaker 4 (01:32:09):
Yep?

Speaker 3 (01:32:09):
And and you know, look, he has been back in
office for for like eight months. We've been aging in
dog here since then, you know, I know, and this
is eight months in where do you think we are
three years from now.

Speaker 4 (01:32:28):
I don't know. Yeah, I really don't know. And again
for I know how I feel about this. This feels
very dark to me, Like the possibilities that lay ahead
as a result of this sort of thing. What this allows,
the seed that this is what is this plant? You know,
what grows from this?

Speaker 1 (01:32:45):
That scares me. And for some people, again, this might
be swaying in a direction that they like. Well, I
I don't mind that this person I don't like was
taking off the air good. I didn't like that person anyway.
But the point is, it doesn't.

Speaker 4 (01:32:59):
That person.

Speaker 1 (01:33:01):
It's gonna be your person next, you know, like if this,
if this continues, if this becomes the way that it is,
you know, And so you have to be okay with
someone you don't like saying something you don't like as
much as the person you do like saying the thing
you do like.

Speaker 4 (01:33:18):
That's just what we get to do. And if you
don't like the person, turn the channel.

Speaker 3 (01:33:22):
Yeah, couldn't have said it better, you know, but thanks
for thanks for letting me vent about this.

Speaker 1 (01:33:30):
Yeah, yeah, I mean we'll see, we'll see where this
all goes. But it's it doesn't feel good and I
appreciate you. You know, this is something that is looming,
you know, even when we're thinking about the happier things
during the day, and so I appreciate you letting it
out a little bit, you know, and just it's nice
to talk about it.

Speaker 4 (01:33:50):
With someone, and by the way, talk about with someone
who I.

Speaker 1 (01:33:51):
Feels levelheaded about all this, because that's that's the thing too,
And I think it's really important to point out, you know,
we don't like these things that are happening, but we're
not like calling people poo poo heads and saying, you know,
calling for like heinous things to happen to people we
don't like. That's not okay, But like we're just trying
to take a step back and look at what's happening,
just objectively and go, that doesn't look right, that doesn't

(01:34:14):
look like a.

Speaker 4 (01:34:15):
Correct use of power. And if this continues, what does
that mean for all of us? You know? And I
don't I to me, that doesn't that's bipartisan. Frankly, it
should be.

Speaker 3 (01:34:26):
It should be.

Speaker 4 (01:34:26):
It should be.

Speaker 2 (01:34:27):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:34:28):
I think that that's the most worrying thing, right is
when we lose the common ground of a shared reality,
of a shared set of facts, which is rapidly where
we're at right now. It's been happening anyway because of
the de emphasis on traditional news and just you know,

(01:34:50):
instead this this societal shift towards whatever my algorithm puts
in front of me. Think about what that does to us, right,
It's all of us are are are within our silos,
and we're not talking to each other. We're not focusing

(01:35:10):
on the shared things we can do together. Right, Like,
so this is an analogy I'm making my classes right
where I'm talking about, Like, politics is the art of
the possible. It's about getting stuff done right. And it
used to be it's like, well, this is what I want,
this is what you want. Let's sit down, let's figure
this out. Maybe I don't get one hundred percent what
do I want? You don't get one hundred percent of

(01:35:30):
what you want. But at the end of this, we're
at least moving. We got a little bit of what
each want and we're all moving in the same direction.

Speaker 2 (01:35:36):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:35:37):
But things in the last fifteen years or so, the
incentive structure of social media and stuff has made for
regular folks and for politicians, has made it such that
it has to be zero sum.

Speaker 4 (01:35:48):
It makes me think of an Anakin and revenge of
the Sith. If you are not with me, you are
my enemy.

Speaker 3 (01:35:54):
Yeah, I mean, I mean that's the thinking. That's right. Yeah,
And yeah, you know, even though phrasing wise is not great,
but yeah, I only deals in absolutes, right, which is
itself an absolute statement. Let's get into that which you know,
what that says is you know, even Obi Wan has
a capacity to be a little Sith. There we go.
There's my right. But it's true, right, Like like when

(01:36:18):
you're on the highway and somebody's trying to merge from
an on ramp, You're not like, screw this guy, I'm
gonna block his path, right, you either speed up or
slow down so that he has a way to get
in right, right, Because it's not zero sum. It's well,
we're all we all want to be on the highway.
I don't want to crash and I don't want to
cause a big thing. So well, well we're all in
the highway of life here.

Speaker 5 (01:36:39):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:36:39):
That's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I'm nodding my head. I
like your.

Speaker 3 (01:36:43):
You know, but that's but that's what it's become. And
and this sense of like, oh well, I love Trump.
His enemies are my enemies. So I'm going to go
after his enemies. And it's like, okay, it's at this
point it's such a cliched chestnut, but here we go.
Imagine if if you know, a Barack Obama was like,

(01:37:03):
all right, you know, find a way to take you know,
Fox News off the air.

Speaker 4 (01:37:09):
Mm hmm right, people would be pissed.

Speaker 3 (01:37:11):
I'd be pissed.

Speaker 4 (01:37:12):
Yeah, right.

Speaker 3 (01:37:14):
I mean that's and Fox News different because it's cable.
And again it's it's an imperfect analogy, but that's using
the levers of government in some way to go after folks.
I'm like, this is this is just two bit mob
boss shit.

Speaker 4 (01:37:27):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:37:28):
And and again, living in a country where comedians are
not allowed to make fun of the president, I don't know, man,
that's not a country I want to necessarily live in.

Speaker 4 (01:37:41):
That's not the United States of America. Yeah, yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
So, as of this moment, Jimmy Kimmel has been suspended.
He has not been fired. The show has not been canceled. Honestly,
if I were to guess, I would say that it
will be back sooner rather than later. M because I
think I don't think Disney anticipated the ship storm they
were going to be getting from the other side on this,

(01:38:08):
So like, oh, you know, in trying to appease the
folks who are anti, I don't think they counted on
all the people who are pro. Yeah, And I don't
think this is something they want to deal with. So
my suspicion is, what do we as we record this.
We're in the tail end of September. I would not
be surprised if he's back by the beginning of October,

(01:38:32):
you know, because because think about it, I mean, Jimmy
Kimmel has been synonymous with that network for a long time.

Speaker 4 (01:38:40):
Yeah, longer than I think I realize.

Speaker 3 (01:38:44):
Yeah, I mean, the show has been on for twenty
two years. Right, and then he you know, he hosts
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, He hosts the Academy Awards, occasionally,
he hosts the Upfronts every year. He's been a good
company man.

Speaker 4 (01:38:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:38:59):
Right, And and I I don't think I mean, I
mean CBS, they they at least gave Colbert the courtesy
of a season sure to say goodbye, right m hm.
So I don't see this being like that said, you're
you're done, unless Kimmel's like, you know what, I'm done,

(01:39:21):
But I don't even see him doing that necessarily because
I mean there's a lot of people who rely on
that job, right right, right, this is not just one person,
this is this is a crew, a crew and everybody,
you know. So I'm very curious. I mean, we're we're
in you know, we're in kind of this weird interregnum

(01:39:42):
where we don't really know where this is going to go.
But but I think we are at a moment where
like folks need to ask themselves, you know, like what
where do we want things to go? Like we we
all of us have agency, and this is what I'm saying, you.

Speaker 4 (01:39:56):
Know, yep, And and it's gonna take.

Speaker 1 (01:40:01):
I like, it's like my prayer, Like it's gonna take
some bravery from people to speak up against someone who
they've stood by for a long time. Like I mean,
you would hope I would hope this for myself if
there was someone that I supported and looked up to
but they did something where I was like, that's not right.

Speaker 4 (01:40:20):
I don't know about that. Well what are you gonna
do about that?

Speaker 3 (01:40:24):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:40:25):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:40:26):
Like at some point you might have to stand up
to your guy, and that's just I don't know. I
wish I had more hope in that than I do
in this moment. But like, and at some point it
might be my guy.

Speaker 4 (01:40:37):
I don't know who. I'm just made up person at
this point.

Speaker 1 (01:40:39):
But like, I just would really love for some people
to just sort of take a couple steps back and go, look,
I know I support this person. I know for some reason,
this is the banner I've been carrying or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:40:49):
But like that ain't right. Yeah, that ain't right? And
I how do I feel about that? What am I
gonna do about that?

Speaker 3 (01:40:57):
Yeah? You know, you know I was talking to my
son earlier this week, and I was kind of making
that point where I was like, you know, put principle
over people. That's right, exactly right. Like I was like,
I was like, if you put people on pedestals and

(01:41:19):
you make them the locusts of your personality, what have you? Man,
you were just asking to either become a cult member
or to go through life eternally disappointed.

Speaker 1 (01:41:32):
I think that is so important, Zachi, because I don't know.
I think it's partially my upbringing with my parents, where
they made sure I didn't like idolize anybody, you know,
even athletes or whatever, like they're just people. And then
also I really do credit the Simpsons with like giving
me a perspective where it's like everybody's kind of kind
of goofy and we're all we're all neighbors, you know,

(01:41:54):
the right like like so like I you know, I
mentioned earlier, like growing up in church, and I think
for a lot of people they would see someone standing
at a podium on the stage in a church and go, well,
he said it, he's behind the podium.

Speaker 4 (01:42:12):
You know, for a lot of people, that's enough. Right,
And I don't mean to make this just about like
a church or something, but as an example.

Speaker 3 (01:42:17):
No, but but actually, if if I can just just
interject here, yeah, I think your point just to connect
with your thoughts, right. You look at Reverend Lovejoy, yes,
and you say, here is a man of faith who
is nonetheless flawed, and we can encompass both of those thoughts. Yes,
And that's what the Simpsons has taught us ext And well.

Speaker 1 (01:42:39):
It's just my point being like no one, no matter
their title or position, should be looked up to or
followed without question.

Speaker 4 (01:42:50):
They are just people. And even if you admire them.
If they do something that doesn't feel right, it's okay
to question them or change.

Speaker 1 (01:42:58):
Your opinion on them. And I think that's an important perspective.
I wish more people shared, you know, instead of following
and worshiping and never questioning people that they've aligned themselves with.

Speaker 3 (01:43:13):
You know, I mean it makes sense to me. You know,
we live in this age of stand culture.

Speaker 4 (01:43:19):
It feels like it's risen. Yeah yeah, but I see.

Speaker 3 (01:43:23):
I can understand teenage kids, teenagers sure, putting you know,
athletes up up you know in a high place, or
singers or whatever. But what about grown ass adults who
are putting politicians on a pedestal, Like don't you know better?
I dude?

Speaker 1 (01:43:41):
I remember even with Obama, I liked Obama, but like
the way people would sort of revere him as almost
this like holy fel Like, no, he's just a dude,
you know. I remember even with in media Joss Whedon,
you know, like people wear these shirts like Joss Whedon
is my God or whatever.

Speaker 3 (01:43:55):
It's just like what, like you said, you were just
asking to be disappointed.

Speaker 4 (01:44:01):
Exactly and exact we all need to do that. These
people aren't gods or whatever, like they're.

Speaker 1 (01:44:07):
Just people, and like we can like some of the
things we do, but we have to have the perspective
when they do do something that we don't agree with
and we know doesn't pass the sniff test, we haven't
like put them in some sort of point where we're like, well,
I'm gonna ignore.

Speaker 3 (01:44:20):
That, you know, like yeah, yeah, I mean, and that
that's where we're at right because because what we're seeing
right now is suddenly the free speech warriors are silent
and why because, oh, well because their guy who they
like is doing this thing, and so I better shut
my trap. And it's like, look, life is life is gray.

(01:44:45):
I mean, it'd be nice if it wasn't, but more
often than not, you're trying to choose between different shades
of gray.

Speaker 4 (01:44:51):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:44:51):
Right, But there are some things there it's pretty clear cut. Yeah,
and you know it's it's gratifying when something is as
clear cut mm hmm uh. And and I think I
think standing for the First Amendment is as as first
principles go, that's not that's not a bad place to be,

(01:45:12):
you know.

Speaker 4 (01:45:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:45:13):
Ah, So that that's all of what's going on right now. Anyway,
that's this, Like I said, this is a developing story,
and I suspect by the time we record our next episode,
you know, our next regular episode will have some some clarity.

Speaker 4 (01:45:29):
Yeah, I'm very curious for this.

Speaker 3 (01:45:31):
We'll know if Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers still have shows,
you know, you know, on on on sn L, who's
who's going to be playing? You know, if Channing Tatum
is there. Donald Trump of record, we know they he
got to them too.

Speaker 1 (01:45:49):
You know, I'm very curious. I see what you're saying,
right right, I'm very curious when they come back. They
have a lot to work with, and I'm very curious
how they were with it.

Speaker 3 (01:46:01):
I mean, when it comes to Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers,
both of those shows are under Lauren Michaels's aegis, and
he he has a lot of power at NBC. So
you know that I suspect they are to whatever extent
they have his protection, you know, but that doesn't really

(01:46:21):
mean much when we're talking about broadcast licenses and things
like that. Things the government should not be doing but
now are suddenly in play.

Speaker 4 (01:46:27):
Right, we'll see, watch the space, We'll see we'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:46:33):
Oh hey, hold one second, here, I'm just I'm just
seeing this pop up right now. I guess Conan O'Brien
tweeted something about this, which is kind of unusual for
him because he doesn't always.

Speaker 3 (01:46:43):
Conan a desperate nation turns right, turns to you, give us,
give us guidance. Conan, Well, his brand, yeah, you usually
is just sort of a political Yeah, a.

Speaker 1 (01:46:56):
Political So anyway, he just he wrote the suspension of
Jimmy Kimmel and the promise to silence other late night
hosts for criticizing the administration should disturb everyone on the right,
left and center. It's wrong, and anyone with a conscience
knows it's wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:47:16):
This is this is on Twitter.

Speaker 4 (01:47:18):
Yeah, yeah, I literally, I guess this just came out
while we were recording.

Speaker 3 (01:47:21):
Oh wow, Okay, And he doesn't usually chime in on
this stuff, like you said, so that is itself interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:47:28):
Yeah, and I love it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:29):
Because I feel like he just distilled everything I was
trying to say into basically two sentences. So and I
really do I appreciate that. I think that's really what
we're getting at here too. Speaking to this specifically, you know,
this isn't about right, left or center. This is just
about reason, you know, and thank you Conan for putting.

Speaker 3 (01:47:50):
It so well. I think this is appropriate because the
man who Conan replaced on the Late Night Show. He
also chimed in, Oh, David Letterman, this was at the
Atlantic Festival twenty twenty five. This is on Thursday in
New York, and he says, this is misery talking about

(01:48:11):
Jimmy kim obing cancered. I feel bad about this. We
see where this is all going. Correct. It's managed media,
and it's no good. It's silly, it's ridiculous. And you
can't go around firing somebody because you're fearful or trying
to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the
Oval office. That's just not how this works. In the
world of somebody who is an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship,

(01:48:33):
sooner or later, everyone is going to be touched. Look
at this. He added, The institution of the President of
the United States ought to be bigger than a guy
doing a talk show.

Speaker 1 (01:48:44):
I mean, yeah, you know, I think that should sound
reasonable to anybody.

Speaker 3 (01:48:50):
Yeah right, you know, he says, specifically kim ol being fired.
This is the quote. It was predicted by our president
after Stephen Colbert got walked off. So you're telling me
this isn't pre made, it meditated on some level.

Speaker 4 (01:49:06):
That's Letterman.

Speaker 3 (01:49:07):
Yeah, that is Letterman. Yeah, I'm just reading Letterman's quotes
and and you hear it in his voice.

Speaker 4 (01:49:13):
I know, I'm like I can see him.

Speaker 3 (01:49:17):
He's you know, I was talking to you before about
uh how how a. Brendan Carr is like, we can
do this the easy way or the hard way. This
is Letterman, he says, who's hiring these goons? Mario Puzo, that's.

Speaker 4 (01:49:30):
Pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:49:32):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:49:32):
I missed Dave too. Yeah, shoot, uh hey, here's here.
You hear something. I was gonna say, some better news,
but this is this is not I mean, it is
sad news, but but it is something to celebrate. I
would say, m hm life. To celebrate the life of

(01:49:54):
Robert Randford.

Speaker 2 (01:49:55):
It is it.

Speaker 3 (01:49:55):
This was This is one of those headlines that I mean,
obviously the older somebody get you know you're gonna read
that eventually, right, But it was one of those headlines
I never hoped i'd read.

Speaker 4 (01:50:07):
Yeah, yeah, I just I'd never thought about it.

Speaker 3 (01:50:10):
Frankly, to me, he's been there, right, I was like,
he's a he's eternal, he's like Mount Rushmore, you know,
and and so he he he did pass away at
age eighty nine this past week. And I have to say,
I mean, first of all, a life, a long life,
well lived, well loved, and I think a model of

(01:50:34):
how to live. You know. This is something that you
and I were texting about a little bit, and somebody
had posted this on social media, I which I could.
I don't remember who it was, but essentially talking about
all the people, all the all the female actors who
had who he appeared alongside, coming out and just really

(01:50:55):
being quite gracious in their praise for him, talking about
him as a co star, as a person, and when
you looking the way he did, especially during the peak
of his stardom, when he was at the peak of
his stardom, the era, when you think of all the
heinous stuff that he conceivably could have gotten away with,

(01:51:20):
you don't hear anything, right, And I think that's a
reflection of the fact that he was just a decent person,
you know. And the same thing about Paul Newman, by
the way, right, But definitely it feels like the end
of some kind of an era.

Speaker 1 (01:51:39):
Yeah, And it's kind of impressive now that I think
about it because he often Brad Pitt often gets compared
to Robert Redford, like being like the Robert Redford of
another generation. And I was kind of fascinated thinking about
him starring as the old person in quotes.

Speaker 3 (01:51:54):
In F one one, and to me, he's playing he
was playing the Robert Redford in Sneaker.

Speaker 4 (01:52:00):
Yes, and he's older. Red Pitt is older and f
one than Robert Redford wasn't Sneakers?

Speaker 3 (01:52:05):
Is that right?

Speaker 4 (01:52:05):
Absolutely? Wild, just by like a couple of years.

Speaker 3 (01:52:07):
But oh my god. Right.

Speaker 1 (01:52:10):
So for for younger kids, they might go see F
one because it's cool and it's a fast race car
movie or whatever, and to them that's like an elder
actor that they're maybe being introduced to and being like, oh,
well else, this guy been in a twelve month's interesting, right,
you know? So I mean, but but Robert Redford was
kind of that for me. Like the first movie I
saw of his was Sneakers. Oh it was Sneakers, yeah,

(01:52:32):
because I think I was twelve or something when that
came out, So I saw it. I was like, I
like this guy, you know, and then you start singing
more things and your parents are like, oh, butch Gassidy,
you know, kind of a thing. And then in college,
you know, I was in I did journalism for a
little while and they showed us all the President's men
and the sting and all these things and the natural
and so you know what I mean, Like he was
kind of like a you got a crash course. Yeah, well, so,

(01:52:55):
I mean he he kind of crossed generations in an
interesting way.

Speaker 2 (01:52:58):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:53:00):
You know when I think my first concept of Robert
Redford was there was a I had a book when
I was a kid. It was like a guide to movies.
It was there used to be this magazine called Dynamite.
I don't know if you ever heard of that. It
was like a kid's magazine.

Speaker 4 (01:53:18):
Yes, I do remember. Was that through Scholassic Book Club?

Speaker 3 (01:53:21):
It was yeah, okay, good. So I figured some people
listening might remember that. So they used to have little
books too, So they had Dynamite's Guide to the Movies.
And I got that book. I was probably seven eight
something like that, and I just imbibed that shit, man,
like that's you know, probably my origin story right there,

(01:53:42):
how movies are made and all the stuff. This is
a list of great movies, which included Planet of the apes,
by the way, say I remember that, but anyway, it
said it included a poster where you can star in
a Blockbuster with Robert Redford. A poster, yeah, okay, And

(01:54:03):
basically it was like a fold out poster and it
was like a painted thing and it was like an
earthquake or something, and there's like a painting of Robert
Redford and a kid and and at the top of
the thing it says Robert Redford. And then there's like
letters that are like lick and stick letters in that
same funt, and so you can put stick your name

(01:54:24):
huh along side? Does that make sense?

Speaker 4 (01:54:26):
Yeah? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:54:27):
And so I didn't know who Robert Redford was, but
I was like, oh, he must be a big deal,
right and then and then probably I think, God, I'm
trying to think, like what was the first Robert Redford
movie I watched? I can't remember, but that book was
my first exposure to him. For sure.

Speaker 1 (01:54:45):
That's kind of a funny conceit, isn't it. That poster
you know, Yeah, your names in like a made up movie,
I'm guessing I don't. Yeah, an earthquake, Yeah, it's like
Blockbuster or something like that was called you know, but
he so he was a are you know, from before
I was born, all throughout my life exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:55:06):
That's that's what I was trying to say. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:55:08):
Right, And and when you think of the number of
people who were able to span that length of time,
I mean it's a very short list, right, I mean
his last screen appearance was Avengers Endgame?

Speaker 4 (01:55:24):
Was it really?

Speaker 3 (01:55:25):
Yeah? It was just six years ago? Wow?

Speaker 1 (01:55:28):
How well even he got into the Marvel universe.

Speaker 3 (01:55:31):
Well that's the funny thing because I because I mentioned
his passing in my class this past Tuesday, So you
know that the news came up that morning and this
afternoon I'm teaching and they didn't know his name, and
I was like, oh, he's the you know in Captain
America Winter Soldier, he's the villain, Like, oh, oh you know,
oh that's you know. And he even said he did

(01:55:53):
that movie because of his grandkids.

Speaker 4 (01:55:55):
Right, that's nice.

Speaker 3 (01:55:56):
So it is like a little slice of extra in
more mentality.

Speaker 5 (01:56:00):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:56:00):
Well, and for people who are listening now and might
still not be quite familiar with him, you may know
him from one of my favorite memes from the movie
Karamia Johnson, where people.

Speaker 3 (01:56:09):
Think he's that galfin Akus.

Speaker 4 (01:56:11):
Yes, yes, exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:56:12):
It's like this real shaggy haired, bearded woodsman who's looking
almost into camera and just sort of like has this
subtle smile and a nod like hey, thanks, like kind
of a nod which gets sent a lot. That's I
didn't even know that when I first saw it, by
the way, I didn't know who it was, and then
found out that that's Robert Redford.

Speaker 3 (01:56:32):
Yep, yep. So an amazing run. You know. There's a
great quote that's been making the rounds from him, and
I just wanted to share that. So this is from
twenty seventeen in an interview with Esquire UK and they
asked him how he'd like to be remembered. He was
twenty seventeen, so he's kind of nearing the end right,

(01:56:55):
and he says, for the work, what really matters is
the work, and what matters to me is doing the work.
I'm not looking at the back end, what am I
going to get out of this? What's going to be
the reward. I'm just looking at the work. The pleasure
of being able to do the work, that's what the
fun is. To climb up the mountain is the fun.
Not standing at the top, there's nowhere to go, but

(01:57:16):
climbing up that struggle. That to me is where the
fun is. That to me is the thrill. That's something. Yeah,
I mean, you talk about like good advice for life,
like never stop climbing, you know, you know, But here's
the important thing. He climbed, but he helped other people up.

Speaker 4 (01:57:39):
I was going to bring that up yet, right, And
this is the key thing.

Speaker 3 (01:57:42):
I mean. And we'll talk about about some of our
favorite movies of his, but the key, massive part of
his legacy is the Sundance Film Festival YEP, which when
you look at some of the greatest movies of the
last forty years, they emerged on the scene because of Sundance.

(01:58:04):
And it was Robert Radford saying, the studio system is
not enough to allow great artists to get their workout.
So pulp fiction or reservoir docs certainly smoke signals, hoop dreams.
This is just off the top of my head. The
you know, Predators, the movie I just saw. You know,

(01:58:25):
these are all Sundance movies, right.

Speaker 1 (01:58:28):
And it's almost it's harder to imagine now because sometimes
it's Sundance. They'll be these like multimillion dollar films already
packed with stars. But back in the I don't remember
exactly when it started, but like maybe late eighties, early nineties.
I mean we're talking filmmakers nobody knew working on budgets
of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Clerks frankly, I mean,

(01:58:49):
it's hard to remember because everyone knows Kevin Smith now
and he's like everywhere, But like Clerks was like a
movie made for like twenty five thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (01:58:57):
It started in seventy eight, by the way, Oh seventy eight.

Speaker 1 (01:59:00):
Oh my gosh, I know, sexualized and videotape came from
there too, Yes, eighties, But you know, I mean like.

Speaker 4 (01:59:06):
Clark's was just like.

Speaker 1 (01:59:09):
I mean, you know, it's hard to remember, but that
was like literally a guy that worked at a convenience
store that got all the money he could muster made
a thing in black and white that looked terrible but
was pretty good, and he got it into Sundance, and
now you know, you get you get Kevin Smith. And
of course I mean movies like Little Miss Sunshine, like
I said, sexualized in videotape, Steven Soderberg, Whiplash, No, it

(01:59:34):
shined all and pul fiction of course, reservoir dogs, you
know what I mean, Like these weren't inevitable. That's right,
He's had a light shined on them thanks to the
Sundance Film Festival.

Speaker 3 (01:59:45):
A film film festival named after, of course, one of
his most famous characters, a Sundance Kid, which I was
rewatching parts of that movie yesterday, buchecasting the Sundance Kid.
What a joy that movie is. Yeah, watching these two
great actors just at at their peak, you know, I

(02:00:09):
mean both of them. I honestly I was missing Paul
Newman too watching that movie.

Speaker 4 (02:00:12):
Yeah. Yeah, that's when I need to revisit it's been
a while. I had recently revisited Sneakers.

Speaker 3 (02:00:20):
Okay, yeah, you mentioned well, and you and I the
last time we saw each other, we happened to watch
a Robert Redford movie, that's right, Yes, a lesser known one,
The Last Castle. The Last Castle, And you talk about
a perfect example of his understated stardom, right, because it's
not a very showy performance, but it's a very comfortable

(02:00:41):
Robert Redford performance. And he's just effortlessly charismatic, Yeah, which
suits the character he's playing. But it's also him just
just sliding in here, and you know, and he plays
a guy who's sort of you know, the fomentsa a
rebellion at a prison, but he plays a guy who
are like follow this guy, uh huh, you know, and

(02:01:02):
he does it masterfully.

Speaker 4 (02:01:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:01:04):
Well, I mean, as long as we're talking in filmography.
Last night I watched All the President's Men, and he's
doing that same thing, but in a different.

Speaker 4 (02:01:12):
Way, you know what I mean, like his style.

Speaker 1 (02:01:15):
Well, and for you know, people who haven't seen that movie,
it's a true story about two journalists, Bob Woodward Carl Bernstein,
and they begin reporting about the break in at the
Watergate Hotel in nineteen seventy two and discover a conspiracy
that goes all the way up to the White House.
And they're, you know, these two guys just spirit and

(02:01:37):
gumming their way in the seventies without the technology that
we have now, doing detective work to try to get
the clues and the evidence and the hooks that they
need for their story. And it's not just that, but
they need to confirm all these details, and they have
these really clever ways that they figure out how they're

(02:01:57):
going to like speak to these other human beings to
coax confirmations out of them in unconventional ways, and watching
Redford's performance just being this like, you know, like he's
he's got a it's not a desperation, but he's eager,
but he knows how to be very comfortable too and
deal with people. Like Hoffman's character Bernstein is a little

(02:02:19):
more forceful, it makes people a little bit more uncomfortable
at times, but Redford has this ease, you know, he's
able to put all these people.

Speaker 4 (02:02:25):
At ease and make them relax and tell him what
he wants to get out of them. And it's just
so fun to watch.

Speaker 1 (02:02:31):
And then there's this, you know, incredible scene that's like
uncut for about six or seven minutes where Redford is
on he's fielding phone calls, like juggling multiple phone calls,
trying to get at the heart of something he's trying
to figure out, and you're just watching it. You know,
you sort of take for granted, like when you watch
a movie and you got these different cuts, which is normal,

(02:02:53):
and that's perfectly fine, but you're able to get the
best moments out of several different takes, right, But when
you're watching a guy for sick sminut straights and the
camera is just slowly zooming in on him and you're
watching him, you know, not being very completely comfortable, but
having to present is comfortable on the phone to people

(02:03:14):
to try to get the information that he wants out
of them. And there's like even a moment where he
stumbles and he like you know, says the wrong name
to someone, but then he gets it back, and like,
there's just he doesn't have the in that moment. You
don't have the luxury of different.

Speaker 4 (02:03:26):
Takes to get the best little eye twitches out of him,
or the moments where he seems confident but then he
loses it.

Speaker 1 (02:03:31):
Like it's just all six minutes of a human being
right in that moment and just watching him do it.
You know, he's he's he exudes like a confidence, but
it's not a superhuman confidence, you know, it's just like
a competency, and it's it's amazing to watch, and I'd
highly recommend it for anyone who hasn't seen that film.

Speaker 3 (02:03:52):
It really, I mean, I'm I'm a sucker for investigative
journalism movies.

Speaker 4 (02:03:56):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (02:03:57):
I was just talking about Spotlight earlier, you know, I mean,
but this, this is very much any investigative journalism movie
is going to be measured against all the presidents men.

Speaker 1 (02:04:05):
Yeah, it's a real process film. So for people who
enjoy like, Okay, well they need this, well, how are
they going to do that? Well, first, all they have
is this little nugget, this little clue, these initials.

Speaker 4 (02:04:15):
So they have to make, you know, fifty phone calls.

Speaker 1 (02:04:20):
Yeah, and most of them are going to yield nothing,
but that one call will give you this one little
nugget which will lead you to having to go to
the library to go look through checkout cards, which, like,
it's just it's riveting to watch and to know.

Speaker 3 (02:04:33):
What you know.

Speaker 1 (02:04:35):
At the beginning, people didn't even believe in what they
were doing right, and they were getting pushback. But we
know where it goes, and so it's it's fun watching
them not give up and watching all the sweat that
they have to endure to get to their end result.

Speaker 3 (02:04:50):
Yeah. Well, and by the way, I mean that movie
was Redford's Baby.

Speaker 4 (02:04:54):
Yeah, I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (02:04:55):
I was.

Speaker 1 (02:04:56):
I went on Wikipedia and all this stuff last night
sort of looking into the history of it.

Speaker 4 (02:04:59):
I didn't know all that.

Speaker 3 (02:05:00):
Yeah, I mean he was involved. I mean, he he
bought the rights, he he put the whole thing together.
Ah and and so you really you see his his
fingerprints on it. So it wasn't much of a leap
going from that movie to his eventual career as a director,
which again that's like a whole separate, uh isle of

(02:05:23):
his career amazing films. I mean, I uh, first of all,
ordinary People. Have you have you seen Ordinary People? I haven't.
Oh you got you got a good movie waiting for you. Yeah,
just just it's a it's a performance piece, you know.
Donald Sutherland's amazing and Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for that.
I'm pretty sure that one Best Best Picture, Best Director.

(02:05:46):
So it's his first movie out to shoot and he
got he got, you know which Hollywood loves awarding actor directors.
But he did a good job with that. But Quiz Show,
mm hmm, you've seen Quiz Show.

Speaker 4 (02:05:59):
I have, but it's been a while.

Speaker 1 (02:06:01):
That's actually I actually made a little bit of a
list of movies of his. I wanted to revisit them
as one see Quizz Show.

Speaker 3 (02:06:06):
I watched just about every year, a couple of times
a year, because I screened that in one of my classes.

Speaker 4 (02:06:10):
Oh interesting, so, you know, I mean he was just
a very good director.

Speaker 3 (02:06:15):
You know. I saw this great video a couple of
days ago of Scarlett Johansson talking about working with him
on The Horse Whisper, you know, because he acted in
and directed that, and she was like twelve, I think,
and just talking about how you know, he would be
so focused on the on the creative side on the set,

(02:06:37):
in the camera, but then he was fully available to
talk to the actors and help them get their performances out.
And I mean that's the unique ability you have when
you are an actor director to be able to do that,
you know. Yeah, I mean, gosh, there's movies like we
I mean, it's like it's hard to just pluck out
of there. Actually. Well, we've talked about Spy Game many.

Speaker 1 (02:07:00):
A time, yes, which is another one I'd like to revisit.
I saw that multiple times in its moments, okay, because
I liked.

Speaker 4 (02:07:06):
It a lot. But I haven't seen it in a while,
but I remember really liking.

Speaker 3 (02:07:09):
That that one. Well, I want to come back next
year and do a commentary track for that, sure, because
Tony Scott, I mean, that's that's that's like peak Redford Peak,
Tony Scott got something really special. But when we look
at the last decade of his career, he ended on

(02:07:32):
in terms of starring roles the Old Man and the
Gun yep, which you saw that.

Speaker 4 (02:07:37):
Right, I did? Yeah, I remember why I did that
on an airplane?

Speaker 3 (02:07:40):
Yeah, David Lowry director. That was again just just a
showcase for this guy. But in twenty thirteen, my favorite
movie of that year was was All As Lost.

Speaker 1 (02:07:50):
I want to bring That's the one I keep when
I'm talking to people about this, That's the one I
keep bringing up.

Speaker 4 (02:07:53):
Oh really, yeah, just I mean, well Sneakers.

Speaker 3 (02:07:56):
I remember I was a real pain in the ask
to you about watching that.

Speaker 4 (02:07:58):
Yeah, but I mean you were right. I mean it
was so at my alley.

Speaker 1 (02:08:02):
I mean it's a real survival film, right where you're
just spending time with a guy in life raft figuring
out how he's gonna survive, and it's just him. I
think I read that the script is only thirty two
pages because there's not a lot of dialogue, but you're
watching a guy who's very compelling to watch, just moment
by moment figuring out how he's gonna try to survive.

Speaker 3 (02:08:26):
Yeah. Other than his dialogue like through a radio like
you know, may Day or whatever. He says, he has
one other line of dialogue, which is just far you know,
at the top of his life.

Speaker 4 (02:08:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:08:48):
What are some of his other films that come to
mind for you?

Speaker 1 (02:08:51):
Well, I have to I mentioned it already, but Sneakers,
I mean that was the one, the first one that
I saw, and it hit me. It's just one of
those ages where you start watching movies that are a
little bit older, intended for an older audience, but you
are starting to connect with things like that. Yeah, it's
just this, you know, for people who haven't seen it,
it's like.

Speaker 4 (02:09:11):
This one of a kind thrills caper.

Speaker 1 (02:09:13):
It's a caper, you know, and it's like Sidney Poitier
and dan Aykroyd, River Phoenix, you know, it's just Mary
McDonald and Robert Redford obviously, it's just so many people
in that film, and it's it's this really fun caper, yeah,
about a gang of like skilled technos and security expert

(02:09:35):
misfits who are threatened by the government, threatened by the
government to steal something for them, and it just goes
from there and it's just like their dynamic as they
work together as fun because they're such different characters. But
there's also this really cool like early nineties what we
would now think of as like low fi spycraft, you know,
where it's.

Speaker 3 (02:09:53):
Not like tech then was highest of high tech.

Speaker 1 (02:09:55):
Yeah, but but what I mean by that is like
they don't have a computer like I think of just
how the top of my head Italian job, where like
someone from a laptop can just change all the stop
lights or something like. For them, it's like we need
to get this box out of a room, and you
can't walk faster than this, or an alarmo go off,
and you can't be at a temperature higher than this

(02:10:16):
or or lower than this, or you know, alarmo go off.
So it's really I think of the scene all the time.

Speaker 4 (02:10:22):
There's this slow.

Speaker 1 (02:10:23):
Speed chase of Robert Redford with the item in his
hand in a room where he can't go over like
three miles per hour, so he's slowly going and you
know the room has been raised to body temperature so
it won't detect him in there, and all the while
you cut to all these like guys running up the
stairs who are ready to pounce on him, and he
can't go any faster and he's got to get out

(02:10:43):
of that room.

Speaker 4 (02:10:44):
It's just like a really.

Speaker 1 (02:10:45):
Really fun movie and I I've been in dear to
it forever and it's it's funny because I feel like
it got forgotten about for a while. It just wasn't
rerunning on TV, and I just never heard people talking
about it. I don't even remember it coming out on
Blu Ray or anything. But he was playing at the
New Beverly a couple of years ago and I got
to go and it was just cool being at a
theater full of people who all chose to watch Sneakers that.

Speaker 4 (02:11:07):
Day, you know.

Speaker 1 (02:11:09):
And then I feel like, even before Redford's passing, I've
been hearing it come up a little bit more often,
and recently a group of my friends we watched it
again together, and it's just, I don't know, it's this.

Speaker 4 (02:11:20):
Gem that I think people would really enjoy if they
sought it out.

Speaker 3 (02:11:23):
Yeah, no, I agree with you. Yeah, there is. You know,
there's a tendency to call it underrated, and I've always
said I don't. I don't think it's underrated. I think
it's generally admired, you know. But but yeah, one other
movie actually, while we were talking about seventies political thrillers

(02:11:43):
is Three Days of the Condor.

Speaker 1 (02:11:45):
You know, that's a movie I've had in my DVR
for like two years. Oh and I haven't seen it.

Speaker 3 (02:11:51):
Clear out your dvr, buddy.

Speaker 4 (02:11:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:11:54):
Yeah, Oh that's a good one.

Speaker 4 (02:11:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:11:56):
It's interesting because because you know, Redford and Warren Bate
he had sort of these parallel heart throb careers, you know,
and they both did like similar movies around the scene,
you know, so like for for Redford it was it
was Three Days of the Condor right around then Warren
Batty did the Parallax Views. Similar but different, but you

(02:12:20):
know there is that sense of like, here's these two
handsome heart throb guys who are trying to prove that
they're more than just a pretty face, and so they
have they find a very successful side light as filmmakers
in their own right, right right, Yeah, very similar in
that regard.

Speaker 4 (02:12:38):
You know. You know, it's funny I have parallax view
in my TVR also to me, I mean it.

Speaker 3 (02:12:44):
Seems like that's the fastest way to make sure you
don't watch something, to have it in your view.

Speaker 4 (02:12:48):
You know, it's funny.

Speaker 1 (02:12:48):
I mean, I like it that way because it does
become like a list for me. So then when I'm
looking for something, I can flip through there and I
see all the tiles of the things I've like sort
of saved. But like I would say, like THEE is
a pretty big blind spot for me. I feel like
I'm catching up sure films, you know.

Speaker 4 (02:13:05):
So I'm happy I have those waiting.

Speaker 3 (02:13:07):
I you know about about uh, you know, twenty four
years ago when I first saw The Godfather, that really
lit a spark in me for seventy cinema. And so
that's that. That was when I really began a deep
dive into a lot of this stuff, you know that
because I saw Three Days of the Condour, then French Connection,

(02:13:30):
you know, hell Rocky. I think it was the first
time I saw Rocky the whole way through.

Speaker 1 (02:13:33):
Sure You've been kind of none that I think about,
it pretty instrumental in leading me through the seventies.

Speaker 4 (02:13:38):
I mean, the conversation I watched.

Speaker 3 (02:13:39):
Because of you, Oh oh, no kidding, Oh that's great.

Speaker 4 (02:13:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:13:41):
And then well then I remember Sorcerer, which in the
past ten years, that was one of those you know,
like a Friedkin movie that had kind of been lost.

Speaker 4 (02:13:50):
I think it was available for a while and then.

Speaker 1 (02:13:53):
They restored it put it on Blu Ray, And I
don't just on the strength of everybody's opinions on it.

Speaker 4 (02:13:58):
I just bought it like a blind by, and I
love that movie. So it's just like you we watched that.
Oh it's so good, and so it's fun.

Speaker 1 (02:14:06):
It's kind of like there's this whole like toy chest
of films that are really good that I have yet
to discover that I look forward to enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (02:14:14):
I mean, it's such a unique era, right, especially when
contrasted with the era we came up in. Very different, Yes,
very much so, right because and and for us too,
like it's you know, I wonder how nineties do nineties
kid view eighties movies the way we view seventies movies?

Speaker 4 (02:14:30):
You know, Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:14:31):
Possibly because there's a great family guy joke. I don't
remember the exact specifics, but they're the family is watching
a movie and it's like some guy is like trying
to figure out a conspiracy, and oh, I know it's
he's like I got it, I got it, And he
runs out of the steps of a library and he's like,
you know, like, I solve the thing and then he
gets shot and killed and it says like the end,
And I think Peter's like, oh, it's a seventies movie,

(02:14:57):
because then in the eighties it was all about like
fantasy and all your dreams coming true, you know.

Speaker 3 (02:15:02):
Yeah, seventies was no dreams. Don't have dreams because they
won't come. They will be squashed most likely. Yeah. Yeah,
but yeah, So Robert Radford, I'm really glad we had
this opportunity to really drill down and just appreciate, you know,
as somebody who was really essential in making this medium

(02:15:23):
that you and I love so much, that's kept us
here at our microphones for thirteen years at this point,
He's an essential part of making it.

Speaker 4 (02:15:34):
Why we love it definitely, definitely.

Speaker 3 (02:15:38):
But hey, everybody, let us know, let us know your thoughts.
What are some of your favorite Robert Redford memories. You
can email us at Moviefilmpodcasts at gmail dot com. You
can also hit like on our Facebook page Facebook dot
com slash Movie Film Podcast and message us there. As always,
please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review and
leave a star rating. Every little bit helps. Also, if

(02:15:59):
you're listening to us on YouTube. Please subscribe and hit
like and leave a comment on there. We did read
them on here. We also have a Patreon page, Brian.

Speaker 1 (02:16:08):
Yes, if you head over to patreon dot com slash
moviefilm podcast hit subscribe for only five dollars a month,
you'll find every commentary we've ever done in every episode
moving forward, absolutely ad free. Our free feed will always
be available, but this is our way of providing what
we believe is the most satisfying way to enjoy the show,
So no random interruptions or ad breaks. Plus, your subscription

(02:16:30):
goes a long way and helping to support us and
helping to sustain producing this show. So if you're interested
in Abele, please head over to patreon dot com slash
moviefilm podcast and subscribe.

Speaker 3 (02:16:41):
We'd be very grateful. And if you're looking for me online,
you can find me on social media at Zachi's corner.
That's the Akis Corner. You can also find my writing
and reviews at the San Francisco Chronicle and also at
IGN and The Rap What About You, Brian.

Speaker 1 (02:16:58):
You can find episodes I've written of Puppy Dot Pals
and Young Jedi Adventures. Fun for the whole family. They're
streaming over at Disney Plus.

Speaker 3 (02:17:06):
Well with that on behalf of my partner Brian Home.
My name is Zaki Hassan. This has been Movie Film
three twenty six. We'll catch next time.

Speaker 4 (02:17:13):
Thanks folks.

Speaker 2 (02:17:15):
Welcome friends with the movie podcast Podcasting time show Jack
again Rye. They're talking about the Ruby Mommy Now podcast
on read

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Ep. 326: Remembering Robert Redford

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