Ep. 329: Predator: Badlands

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:53):
Welcome Friends Podcasts podcasting the show jacky yet by yeah,
they're talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
The movie da can't. Welcome to Movie Film. It's episode
three twenty nine, brought to you by mister Boy Productions.
I'm Zaki is on. I'm here with Brian Hall. Hey,
how's it going, Zachi? Hey it's going man? You ready
to go on the hunt? I am. I'm always I'm
always on the hunt. Yeah, I'm ready to youcha this

(01:25):
thing up? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Have they been identified those those creatures as yaoucha before?
Is that like a thing from the lore?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Okay? So now now now here's me. I think I'm
a reasonably plugged in person. And I'm like I was
I was I mentioned in my class having watched Predator
bad Lands. I was like, yeah, and you know, apparently
they're called yaouja. How long has that been a thing?
And and there was more than one person who was

(01:54):
quite vehement, Oh that's what they're called. And I'm like, oh, hey,
I had no idea, and b hey, like, maybe settle
down about the things you get that exercised about. Hey,
we're on the same team, man. Yeah, I mean I've
watched every single one of these things. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah,
I thought they were they came from the planet Predator Predatorn.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
Right, that's what I assumed.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, Predatron. There you go, that makes more sense.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, I mean these guys, there's been like comics and
all sorts of ancillary sorts of stories and things that
I know I haven't seen. So I guess I wonder
Dan Chrackenberg if he's like steeped in all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
It sounds like he must be then if he knows
all that stuff. I don't think I was even aware
of just how much Predator extended literature there is.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm like semi aware. It
is kind of interesting, the whole uh you know, Terminator
robo cop kind of pairing thing, and then the Predator Alien,
like we just accept that now, like, oh yeah Alien,
you know, Whalen Utani exists in the Predator thing. But
that was like kind of a novelty comic y thing
right at one point, but then it just got adopted

(03:15):
by the films.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
That's right, Yeah, I mean it that all started because
back in the late eighties, dark Horse Comics had the
license to both Alien and Predator, and both of them
are twentieth Century Fox property, so they're like, why don't
we why don't we just pair these two together? And
it it. I mean, for a while that was like
Aliens versus Predator was like the best selling comic of

(03:38):
all time. Wow? Right, I mean I remember watching Predator too,
and you have that scene at the end where Danny
Glover goes into the Predator's trophy room and you see
a big old xenomorph skull, and I was like eleven.
I was like, you know, by the way, I got
to ask, So you went, you watched it like opening

(04:02):
night basically, right, like sneak preview night whatever, Thursday night? Yeah, yeah,
Thursday night. So I went on Wednesday night where they
had an all access fan screening. Okay, so yeah, what
does that involve. Well, it's really it's just showing it
a night earlier. Okay, But I was curious, what was

(04:23):
your crowd like when you watched it? Uh?

Speaker 1 (04:28):
You know, it was Uh, it was pretty full. I
will say this, by the way, so when I used
to talk about full theaters, I my theater used to
be one of those really enormous places with the stadium
seating and everything. And it has since been remodeled. It
used to be an arc light rip and now it

(04:49):
is a Regal, which is great. I've come to love Regal,
but they've remodeled the rooms into these, you know, the
reclining seats and there's even like a wall behind each row,
so it's almost kind of private.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Okay, so there's less seats.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Now and there, so when I say full, I'm not
talking about an auditorium anymore. But there's still I should count.
I'm kind of curious how many it is. Anyway, just
wanted to paint the picture. But it was it was full,
I think last night, and people people were like, kind
of I could hear responses, you know, laughter or like, oh,

(05:27):
like a clap or something, but it wasn't like big.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
It wasn't a big response. See. Okay, So that's an
interesting data point because I went again. I went Wednesday night,
all a FANTS screening. I'm like, okay, great, because I did.
I skipped the press screening because I'm like, I don't
feel like driving into the city. That was going to
be one right by my house anyway, So I go there. Now,
this is in the big Imax and in my theater.

(05:51):
You've been in that, yeah, the Big Imax. And there
were about eight people oh in this entire joint. Wow,
single digit people for sure, right, And I was like huh,
And again I just data point. I have no idea
how this movie is gonna play. But based on the

(06:12):
all Access fans screening, I'm wondering, I'm wondering if there's
an audience.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Well shooting now. I want to do my diligence here.
But I thought I saw it was projected for something
like sixty million this weekend, really, which is okay, huge.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
So I guess folks just didn't get the memo in
my neighborhood preture I'm looking at right now.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Yeah, so what did you get? Oh okay, oh maybe
that's worldwide. Yeah, global projection is sixty to sixty eight,
Domestic is twenty five to thirty.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Okay, that that sounds yeah, based on what I saw,
that sounds more more sensible.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah, you know, but I in this some moments it's
pretty good. I mean, possibly seventy million globally opening weekend
for Predators twelve, you know what I mean? Like I
don't know, like maybe maybe I'm glasses half full at
the moment, but obviously it could you know, years ago
that would not have been as what they would have wanted.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
But well, I'm just pulling up this is from Variety.
It says, what did it make for previews? Four point
eight million in previews with the box office so on
track to make twenty five to thirty million. It's opening
weekend debby. In that range would make the second highest
launch for a Predator movie, behind the two thousand and
four sci fi crossover Alien Versus Predator, which opened to

(07:41):
thirty eight million. Yes, that sounds about right. Yeah, it
says here Disney is hoping bad Lands can use its
broader PG thirteen a people to hunt down a profit
after disappointing returns from Last Months to tront Aries and
Springsteen delivered Me from Nowhere Man, that movie just disappeared, right.
I thought that would have have much more of a

(08:01):
shelf life. Me too.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
I mean, I'm not a big Springsteen person, and not
that I don't like him. I just didn't grow up
with him. So I don't have like a connection really
to Bruce Springsteen or the music. But I was kind
of curious. I was sort of waiting for people to
tell me it was worth it, sure, and then it
feels like that just didn't happen and it disappeared, and
I'm like, WHOA, Okay.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
I My sole question when it comes to music biopics
is does it pass the Dewey Cox test.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
Which is to say, does it follow that formula or
does it does it break out of that forum breakout? Yeah,
and my sense is that it does not huh well,
at the very least as I understand it. It focuses
on one moment with him versus trying to encompass his
entire life. Sure, which is you know, I don't know,

(08:49):
maybe good.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
I don't know. It's great casting. I'll tell you what though. Yeah,
kind of interesting.

Speaker 1 (08:57):
I mean I've only seen the trailers, but it seems
like he uh physically when he's performing on stage.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
It kind of reminds me of HOWT Bruce Springsteen looks. Yeah, yeah, eh,
do we just want to talk about Predator now? Like
I feel like we're you know, it's appropriate because this
movie kind of flips the paradigm. So maybe maybe we
just uh. The only reason I hesitate is because the spoilers. Okay,

(09:25):
that's fair. Sorry, do you want to do it? We
could do it. I mean, it's just weird that we
started and it's like, but come back in an hour
you know. Oh that's a good tease, right, Okay, that's fair. Yeah, yeah,
stay tuned.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
You want to hear what we thought. Hey, we showed
up on opening night. Do you want to hear what
we thought about it?

Speaker 3 (09:43):
Stays? Okay, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, I'd have to ask real quick because you went
to the fan thing, did you get like a coin
or a key chain?

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Uh? No, nothing, Okay, I got I got a near
empty theater, so that But this is kind of a thing.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
I mean, you have like the popcorn buck that they're
doing now, which is there was a moment where it
really did feel like those things were rocking and rolling
because the movies were doing well and people were buying
all the buckets. I mean, of course the Dune Bucket
lives in infamy now and everything, but now it feels like,
I mean I saw a black Phone two bucket and
I was like, I don't know about that one.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
I feel like the Dune bucket. You could have done
a predator version of that. That's just like a predator
face just give in and like, yeah, missed opportunity. Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
But it's just it's wild that they are doing it
with every film. Yeah, and it does feel like, you know,
occasionally when I do get popcorn, they'll be like, oh here,
we just put it in a How to Train Your
Dragon bucket. Just take it, you know, because it's months
later and they have all these extras.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
So I we're at like the nineteen ninety six phase
of Beanie Babies now right right right, It's like, okay,
it's it's done.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Now. Well, so there is that thing. But I'm noticing
occasionally now there's like little tokens that you'll get when
you see I mean certainly posters like I'll talk about
I saw Back to the Future for its fortieth re release,
and there was posters for that. I'm noticing that I
got a poster when I saw The Naked Gun.

Speaker 3 (11:18):
Wow. And then last night for Predator there was and
what's that? There's that movie it's based on the book
like Remembering You or Remember Media or the from the
mckennag But who's the author, Colleen somewhere? Yeah, right, who

(11:38):
did the this is showing our this is so I'm
like hearing I'm stepping outside my body and hearing this
and I'm unsubscribing to the podcast or I'm.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Picturing you know, the other people who listen who that
you know, that is their jam and they're like, I'm sorry,
but but I will say I did see the trailer
and I did think Colleen Hooper reading Colleen Hoover, yes,
regretting you, And I did think it looks sweet anyway.
But I noticed at the table like regretfully yours, yeah,

(12:09):
wang fu, Julie Newmar. I don't know regretfully yours Julie Numar.
But I noticed there was like little necklaces that they
were giving you if you saw that film. And then
for Predator last night, there was like a coin, like
a coin that had the mask on it and on
the back it said Predator bad Land. So I was
just curious if they had that. I got nothing. Yeah,

(12:32):
they got they got my time and attention, and they
gave me nothing in return.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Yeah that's okay. I got this show. I got this show. Yeah,
we got each other. That's that's right. Sharon. The laughter
and love one might say, sha la la lah. Yes,
So you saw Back to the Future.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Okay, wait, I'm gonna speak on that, but real quick,
I do want to talk about another flashback film I
saw just to kind of am this wasn't.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Gonna This is those re releases that your theater has
been doing. Well.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, in September they did, I think they called it
the Month of masterpieces, so it was it could be anything.
In October they were showing horror films and I don't
know if I even talked about it, but I saw
a Nightmare and Elm Street one which I like. I'm
not a big horror guy, but I liked that one,
and no i'd seen it before, but man, it was
really cool. I mean, in these remodeled theaters, these big screens,

(13:28):
I mean, it was really fun. And it made me
also just marvel at the way that they can clean
up these older movies now, and it just looks so sharp.
I mean, it still looks older, like from nineteen eighty four,
but like it's really crisp and clean and beautiful. And yeah,
it looked nice.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
But that's the one with Johnny Depp, right.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
Yes, yes, But I almost wasn't gonna bring this up,
but I saw, well, I saw Halloween three is what
I should start with, and even of the season of
the Witch, which I had not seen before, and I'll
get to it in a second. But I wasn't going
to bring it up. But then I was looking on
Facebook and I saw that Mike Snyder shout out to

(14:09):
Mike Snyder, who's written in and listens and friends on
social media, and there's a picture of himself on there
and he had a button. Okay, and it's the button
that's on the masks in Halloween three. Okay, So I
was like, I was like, all right, I got to
bring this up for Mike.

Speaker 3 (14:27):
Halloween three starring Michael Huntsecker and the Old Man from RoboCop.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yes, yes, Well, what's fascinating about Halloween three and why
I was interested in it is I've seen Halloween one
and I like it enough. I've maybe seen it once
or twice, but I haven't watched all of them. But
you know, of course, everybody knows it's Michael Myers, the shape,
you know, the silent killer who walks very slowly with
the knife and.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Chases people and or pursues people.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
And Halloween three is different in that John Carpenter when
he started Halloween, he wanted to make it an n
series so it would be these different stories that just
happen to take place at Halloween. So in Halloween two,
he kills off people can correct me if I'm wrong,
it's something I read, But he kills off Michael Myers

(15:14):
and doctor Loomis and is like, all right, now, Halloween three,
we're doing something different, and the plot is it's eight
more days till Halloween and there's this commercial telling kids,
you know, to buy these masks from this company and
to wear the masks on Halloween night and watch this
commercial and you know it'll be fun, right, But the

(15:36):
movie begins with this guy who seems crazed and he's
carrying one of the masks and he's like, they'll kill
us all and so he gets put into this hospital
and he is killed by a mysterious person in a suit,
and the doctor's like, what's going on. There's a conspiracy afoot,
and so the doctor and the guy who's died his daughter,
they team up. They go to this company town where
the masks are made, and they try to get to

(15:58):
the bottom of, you know, this conspiracy with these masks,
and it turns out that it, yes, the people who
are making the masks want all these kids to wear
them on Halloween night watch the commercial and everyone will die.
And I was like, that sounds fun, Like that sounds
like like they live John Carpenter, you know, like sci
fi Twilight Zone conspiracy, fun B movie kind of thing.

(16:21):
And I had a good time with it. Have you
ever seen it?

Speaker 3 (16:25):
I have never seen it.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's you wish it was like a hair better, you know.
And and still I wouldn't lose any of the corniness,
any of the like, questionable acting, any of the like. Basically,
the masks are powered by stone hinge, which.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Okay, it begins as they tend to be.

Speaker 1 (16:44):
Well that that was where I was like, I love this.
At the beginning of the movie, there's a news report
like a piece of stone hinge is missing, and you're like, well, gee,
I wonder who's using that, you know. And so then
you see the bad guy in his layer and he
has all these workers literally just chipping away at stone hinge,
and then there's ma asks on these conveyor belts, and
I was like, yeah, this is why I'm here.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
That's what this kind of movie is exactly.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
And so it still plods a little bit more than
it should, okay, but yeah, it was fun and like,
it was fun seeing it on a big screen, and
I was I'd been curious about it, and and I
had heard that people didn't really love it, Like it
didn't do well when it came out, because people were like,
where's Michael Myers, you know, and where's the horror? This
is not really a horror movie, but I think maybe

(17:26):
that's why I got a kick out of it.

Speaker 3 (17:29):
So anyway, that was cool.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
And what I mean, if a theater is going to
show an old Halloween movie, what are the odds are
going to show this one? The one without Michael Myers.
So I thought it was fun and I saw it
on Halloween Night, which was like a fun way to
watch it.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
That's all, all right, Well you did see Back to
the Future though, yes, so you know you mentioned you
got a poster for the fortieth anniversary. I still have
the poster that you and I got, you know, when
we watched the twenty fifth anniversary screening, Wow twin crazy
and this was forty Yeah, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
I mean, well, I mean for people who are longtime listeners,
you know, obviously this goes back for the both of us.
But in my lore is that I saw this when
I was five. It was one of the first movies
I ever saw in the theater, and I was never
the same since. I've just been in love with it
ever since. I've seen it so many times, and I've

(18:25):
been lucky enough to see it on the big screen
a couple times, and so I almost wasn't sure if
I was going to go, And then one afternoon I was.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Like, you know, it's playing.

Speaker 1 (18:36):
I just I was kind of actually having like a
rocky day, and I was like, it'd be silly not
to go, right, And man, I had a blast. I've
seen this movie so many times, but watching it on
this enormous screen, I just had the biggest smile on
my face for two hours.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
I laughed at.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Jokes like they were the first time I heard them.
I got like, you know, a little lump in my
throat when Marty hugs Doc at the end. It's a miracle.
This movie is a miracle. It's lightning. You were literally
looking at lightning in a bottle. I mean the casting,
and we know that that casting almost didn't happen. The direction,
the score, the story itself, all its execution is just

(19:21):
lightning in a bottle. And it remains magical forty years later,
and it's and I love that it. In its re release,
it cracked the top five at the box office that weekend.

Speaker 3 (19:31):
It is so special. Love that movie. Did you get
to see it? I didn't get to see it this time,
only because I took the whole family two years ago
when it was re released. Yeah, that was an expensive
proposition all on its own. So I'm like, you know what,
we can watch it at home, but it's an annuity
for Universal that they could put it out every couple

(19:53):
of years and people will want to have that experience,
you know, And it makes you realize the value of
these films of this is that they are a finite thing.
You know. I've said this before. It's those three and
it says the end, and that's what makes it special. Yeah,
it doesn't stretch into the horizon, right, and so you

(20:15):
just get to cherish it as you know, as a
limited resource, you know.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
Yeah, well I highly recommend if it's playing on a
big screen and you're able to go. I mean, I
was noticing background people I've never seen before, you know.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
And just little details.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
And it wasn't this this time, but a couple times
ago when I saw it on the big screen, was
the first time I ever noticed certain lines, Like there's
a line when Marty sees Doc for the first time
at the mall parking lot and he's wearing that hazmat
suit and Marty just goes is that a devo outfit
and I never noticed that for like thirty years, and

(20:54):
I was like, oh, that's funny. Yeah, like a teenager
might think that in nineteen eighty five. So it's it's
just fun to continue to discover new things with that film. Yeah,
But two more things I wanted to talk about, and
then I'm looking forward to hearing what you've been watching.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
But I watched. Uh, let's pick which one am I
going to talk about?

Speaker 1 (21:17):
You know, I'll talk about this movie Good Fortune, which
is I.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Hopefully still playing at a theater near you.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
It was written and directed by AZ's Im Sorry. It
stars A Z's. It stars Seth Rogan, Kanu Reeves, and
basically what it's about is there's this angel named Gabriel
played by Keanu Reeves, and he wants to help people.
Like basically, he has a menial sort of job, but
he wants to do something and he wants to change

(21:47):
a person's life. And so he sees A Z's playing
this character who is just you know, lives in his car,
struggling to make ends meet. And this Azes's character is
sort of jealous or feels like his life would be
better if it was more like Seth Rogan's character, who
I think he's like an angel investor type and has

(22:09):
it all. So the Angel is like, oh, I know,
I'll do it like it's a wonderful life kind of
thing and have them switch lives. And then A Zesu's
character will see that it, you know, having all this
money doesn't solve all his problems, so he has them
switch and then A Jesu's Character's like, wow, money solves
all my problems.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
So the Angel's like, oh no.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
And basically a funny little story conceit is that Azesu's
character has to want to go back. He has to
learn that his life was better before and choose to
go back, but he doesn't want to, and so then
it creates this mess for everyone. And this was another
one I was like, oh, maybe I'll catch this. I
don't know, and I ended up going one night, and.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
I really enjoyed this movie.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
It's it's too bad that I feel like it got
slept on and it didn't really perform. I think people
who eventually discover this are going to really enjoy it.
It's just really sweet, really funny, a really funny idea,
and it has a lot of fun with those ideas.

(23:17):
And Keanu reeves. He's just so unique, isn't he. I mean,
he's got this really interesting style that I don't think
it lends itself to everything, honestly, but the thing that
he does when it's utilized, well.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
You just love the guy.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
And I feel like he does a great job playing
this angel that's just trying to do his best and
things don't go so well for him, and just seeing
him struggle is just really fun and sweet and endearing.
You know, it has its since we're not having a
long discussion about it. Occasionally, some of the decisions to
make the story continue forward, you're like, Okay, I'll go

(23:56):
with it, you know, because characters do things that I
don't know that they would always do, but it needs
to happen. But again, it's just so sweet and funny
and fun it almost feels like a throwback in a way.
I haven't seen a comedy, like a sweet comedy like
this in a while. So I'm like, you know, I
don't even care. I'm having a great time and I
like where it ended up. I recommend it. I think

(24:18):
you and Amena would like it. Yeah, okay, I recommend
I recommend. I mean, if you can see it in theaters.
It's a nice ninety minutes at the theaters or you know,
when it eventually streams.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Well, and I mean, we need to talk about how
screaming has just massacred the prospects for movies like this,
and it's so goddamn frustrating.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
This movie should have been like one of those you know,
back in the day, like makes ninety million dollars. Yeah,
you know, yeah, but I don't know. I mean, I
actually it's funny. I was talking with someone and they said,
without realizing they may be a little conditioned with Seth

(25:02):
Rogan now to think of him as a streaming person
because of the studio and platonic and stuff. So it's like,
Seth oh cool, Yes, that's Rogan movie. Yeah, I'll watch
that when it's on Apple TV. Plus, you know, which
is funny too. I wasn't even gonna bring this up,
but I saw a black phone too. And in the
time that I saw that, and me saying that now

(25:22):
on the show, it is already streaming, right, which is insane.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
Well, all of these you know, I was reading about
The Smashing Machine, which which you know, I haven't heard,
you know, great things about, but that feels like something
that would have had an audience maybe ten years ago.
M M, yeah, right, it's it's it's Dwayne Johnson. He's

(25:49):
a big star, but he's doing something a little more
actorly like there there used to be an audience for
stuff like that. Yeah, right, because it had a budget
of like forty million. There's a movie that would have
made you know, emately totally right. And so it's just
like we're at a point now where these mid level
things aren't performing. Superhero things aren't performing. Yeah, where's the audience?

(26:13):
You know?

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah, it seems like a lot of the hits are surprises. Yeah,
you know, like weapons and things like that where everyone goes, well,
I'll be darn, I didn't huh, you.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
Know, or your your five Nights at Freddy's or your
Minecraft things that are aimed at younger yeah, demographics, you know. Yeah,
kind of fascinating. I saw, well, I saw, I saw
you know that, now you see me? Now you don't.
That's coming out okay next week as we record this,
so I can't really talk about that yet because the
embargo's not up. But after watching that, I was like,

(26:48):
you know, I want to revisit the other two the
previous ones and I pop those on and I you know,
I had a, I had a I had a grand
old time. Just they're just such a throwback, right like, Yeah,
I don't know that they felt like a throwback at
the time, but they certainly feel like that now.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's that's the perfect way to describe them. I feel
is a fun for quadranty throwback.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
Yeah, you know, just I think that it's the first
film which you worked on. Yes, uh there, it did well,
but I remember there was some critique over the third
act twist.

Speaker 1 (27:29):
Sure, like maybe there was one twist too many or something.

Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah, which I mean, the movie is twelve years old.
Can we talk about it. I think we can talk
about it.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
Right, Uh well, I'll say this, Yeah, I think we should.
And if anyone is intrigued by the third one and
hasn't seen the first two, maybe skip ahead like two
three minutes.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
There you go. So you know, the whole movie sets
us up that you know, you've got you've got the horsemen,
the magicians who are doing their little heists, and then
you've got Mark Ruffalo as the FBI agent who's on
their case. And then and then third act reveal turns
out that Mark Ruffalo is actually the guy who's been
behind it all and he they've been they've been doing
heists on his behalf, right, And and I remember seeing

(28:09):
that bad that's a reveal.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
They didn't realize they were working for him, right, that
was a surprise to them.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
It's a surprise to them and the audience. But I
remember at the time there was criticism of how that
was structured, and and and I mean, I haven't seen
the movie since it came out, so watching it again,
I'm like, no, I get why. It's kind of it
rubbed people the wrong way because the movie doesn't give
you enough rope to make that feel like an honest reveal. Right,

(28:40):
So there's too many scenes where he's clearly not pretending. Mmm,
does you get what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I'll be honest, Like, I'm
pretty close to it, right, Well, like I it's hard
for me to even.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
Well, so I'm looking at it from from the perspective
of having seen the first two. Yeah, and you know,
I like like in the second one, Ruffalo's part of
the gang, right yeah, right, right, right, And and I
like that because I like Ruffalo. I like his character
so watching the first one, I'm like, well, like, well,
I'm glad that he's you know, I'm glad he's in
on it, you know, because I like his character. But

(29:18):
like trying to switch that off. I'm like, I can
see why it was frustrating to people. Sure, sure, because
it's like people like being tricked. They don't like being fooled,
you know, and so so that that's it's sort of
interesting watching it from from that perspective. But anyway, the
point I wanted to make is I watch movie one,

(29:38):
I watch Movie two with my kids, and and oh
my god, my daughter never seen them. She is so
on board. Oh that's awesome. She's like, take me to
see the third one. I'm like, well, I understand now
why they're doing the third one. It's been nine years,
because these movies have just lived and lived on streaming. Yeah.
So weirdly, I'm like contradicting everything I was just saying,

(30:00):
like ten minutes ago, you know, But that's the thing, right,
You got to put these things out in movies and
then you let them have their afterlife on streaming. Yeah. Yeah,
you know, because the first one it did well in theaters,
second one didn't do as well, but then it continued
to do well as something that people could go back
to again and again. And that's really like both of

(30:21):
the films. They work largely because the characters are fun.
I enjoy seeing you know, Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson and
then the Banter and you know, Dave Franco's like just
they're fun together, and I'm just like any more of
this totally, you know.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Well, and I think what's cool too is you get
the superhero not vibes, but you know what I mean,
Like you get the razzle dazzle, but it's different, Yeah,
you know what I mean. It's like a whole different
you know arena where it's like magicians, like they can
do what seems like superpowered things, but it's because they're

(31:03):
clever and they're setting up tricks. So you still get
that kind of energy that I think people enjoy from
blockbusters these days, but it's through a different you know whatever, Yeah,
a different style.

Speaker 3 (31:16):
I well, And I hope that there's enough of an
audience to watch this third one because because I think
we just need mid tier these type of movies. Totally. Yeah,
I agree, you know, I hope people aren't like, oh whatever,
I'll just watch it on streaming. But I'm looking are
you planning to watch the third one? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,

(31:37):
I'm looking forward to discussing that one. Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Actually, you know, I obviously I've seen the first one
a lot, but the second one I've only seen once.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Okay, it might be kind of fun.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
I mean, they're just they're just popcorn films, you know,
in the best way possible. So like I it'd be
kind of fun to, like you did, to watch the
first two and then go catch the third one.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
I think there's just something about heist movies. Man, Well
you know what, isn't that funny?

Speaker 1 (32:00):
I agree, But I didn't realize there were people who
don't like heist movies.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Really.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
Oh yeah, yeah, there's people who just uh, well, have
you ever seen that Rick and Morty episode, by the way, No,
oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you son up a bit chime in,
which is brilliant, but it's basically, yeah, how you know,
uh what's the name?

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Rick?

Speaker 1 (32:18):
I guess hates heist movies and he complains about them.
But basically then he becomes involved in a heist story
as it's happening, and he's like critiquing it along the way.
But no, I love heist movies because it's like, I mean,
I get that there's familiar tropes to them and character
types and you know, oh well, basically they're gonna show

(32:38):
you everything they need to do and you know everything
is gonna go wrong and how they gonna get clever
and get get out of it. But I don't know
that's fun for me.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, yeah, so we should say bad the way. I
mean you you you did post production on the first film. Yeah,
I worked on that movie for a year and a half. Man,
I remember, I remember, I remember you were a burnt
out husk of a man by the end of that process.
Just but in terms of the sheer amount of hours
that you were putting in.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Oh man, yeah, I mean it wasn't one of the worst.
You know, the worst were way back in the day,
like mister Missus Smith and things like that. But like, yeah,
it was a lot. But you know what was great
is the people. I mean it was like the editing editors,
they were like amazing and they're still friends of this day.
Louis is like an awesome guy and an amazing leader.

(33:26):
Louis yeah, the director, and he made.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
It like fun. Okay.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
You know, he made sure we were having like a
good time while we were there because we were there
a lot, you know, and he'd buy like remote control
cars and do all sorts of stuff and we'd be
racing them in all ways. Like that's one of my
favorite jobs I've ever had working.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
On that movie. That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
Yeah and yeah, and they even slipped my voice in
toward the end.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yeah, you said that was Was that in the the
extended version?

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Well, there's I'm in the theatrical version as the FBI
or whoever's descending on the what is it called the
Five Points, right, Yeah, and there's an FBI guy who
speaks into a microphone and goes copy that that's me.
And then I did a news report after the freeway chase.

(34:18):
That's in the extended version on the blue so I'm
the news reporter.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
Yeah. But yeah, I mean it's just a great experience.
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
Yeah. Lou Lutia to the first one. John M. Chew
of Wicked to the second one. Yeah, and then this
new one is Reuben Fleischer. Hmmm, who I mean? He
did Venom and Gangster Squad, but he did the two
Zombie Land Movies, which explains you know Whatoody Harrelson and
Jesse Eisenberg probably oh funny. Yeah, yeah, good rapport there.

(34:47):
And I gotta say, Dave Franco, it's been kind of
cool to see him. His profile has grown quite a
bit in the last ten years. Yeah, it really has.
You know, he's he's matured into more of a leading man,
so he gets a little bit more to do in
this one. I'm just looking I am I'm looking forward
to discussing I am looking forward to rewatching it with
my kids, but I'm looking forward to discussing it with you. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
I'm just picturing me in the reclining seat with a
bucket of popcorn, just like ready to just have some fun.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
What does that popcorn bucket look like? Exactly?

Speaker 1 (35:18):
It'll probably be a good fortune popcorn bucket.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
I'll just take it. I know. Hey, we got we
got some headlines Brian school. Hey, here's some news Brian.
Uh yeah, you like that Adam Driver Feller I do

(35:45):
quite quite a good actor. I'd say, uh, well, you know, uh,
he had an idea a couple of years back to
bring back his character Ben Solo. Oh. He came up
with an idea. He teamed with another another young young
whippers snapper. You might know filmmaker Steven Soderberg. I'm familiar
with his work. Yeah, he's done a few things. He

(36:06):
has done a few of those heist movies we were
talking about.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna be like, he have bubble fame,
that too, Bubble.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
They came with an idea movie called The Hunt for
Ben Solo. That's a big deal.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
I mean you think that's something that they would have
to entice Adam Driver to revisit that character after he's
had a whole arc. Yeah right, but he was one
of the driving no pun Intendant forces behind this.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Double no pun Intendant. Yeah, yeah, you're right. So it
pitches it to Disney, No No pitches it to Lucasfilm.
They're like, hey, this sounds great. They pitched it to
Disney and they shut it down. Yeah, they're like nothing
to see here. They're flicking the lights like it's closing

(36:57):
time at the bar. Yeah, they're like, get your out. Nothing.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
And they had a script, right, Like, they had a
script and Drivers Soderberg and Lucasfilm were like, this is good,
let's do this. And it was Disney that said no.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
Now I have to say yeah. Up to this point,
I have been generally pretty pretty amenable to to how
Disney has handled the Star Wars franchise. I've had my
disagreements a big picture. I've been like, you know, they're
just doing their thing. This is probably the first time

(37:31):
where I'm like, what the f are you people doing?
Do you know what you're doing? Right? Because it seems
to me the sequel trilogy is somewhat somewhat polarizing. Huh.
It's a very very kind way of putting it. But
it feels like, and you correct me if I'm right,
it feels like the one thing most people agree on

(37:53):
is that Adam Driver is frigging great in these movies,
right right. He's great as Kylo Renn. He's great as
Ben Soul, He's great all around. He's great when he
says please, mister Kennedy, oh, which the movies needed more of.
If he asked me, I agree. So he comes up
with this idea and the idea that Disney. Disney's like,

(38:13):
there is no way to explain Ben Solo coming back,
say the people who have turned Somehow, Palpatine returned into
a meme for.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
The ages, yeah, and had an entire series about Boba
Fett crawling out of the Sarlac pit.

Speaker 3 (38:29):
Yeah. Yeah, Now this this makes not even a little
bit of sense to me, because because forget, forget like
the money side. I'm like, as as a story, right,
this is something you and I talked about when we
did our comment track for Rise of Skywalker. I was like,
you know, maybe they should have left Ben Solo alive,
because that sounds kind of interesting to me. Here's a
guy who's not redeemed, he doesn't get into Jedi Heaven.

(38:51):
He's got to deal with the fall out of all
the horrible shit that he did.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
You get a whole new trilogy, right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
So I'm like, I don't even care how Ben Solo
comes out. I think anybody cares. You could just you
could the movie could start with a flash of lightning
and suddenly there's Ben Solo going like, what the hell happened? Right? Right? Right?
I mean it doesn't even matter really, right, because it's
just a mechanism, yes, to get to the interesting stuff.
So I do not understand this, and I need you

(39:21):
to explain to me why Disney did this. Okay, hold on,
let me get them on the horn, thank you.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
No, But I I love your take, Like I remember
when Force Awakens happened and he killed Han solo and
you said there's no coming back from that, absolutely not,
and I remember thinking, I know he will because that's
just the playbook and that's what they did, and you know,
to mixed results with that film.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
But I love your take, like, what.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
If it wasn't that simple? What if it feels like
he should that should be the playbook, but he doesn't
get into Jedi Heaven. There's more work to do, like
and what is that work?

Speaker 3 (39:58):
And what you like? That's interesting?

Speaker 1 (40:00):
We haven't seen that play yet, and so yeah, I
think I'm very interested in what this story could be.
And what I read into this is well, actually I
don't exactly know, but I was gonna say, what is
the direction they want to go with Star Wars? That's
the overarching thing that I'm getting out of this, Like

(40:22):
whatever this is, this isn't a direction they want to head.
But what I find interesting is it seemed like lucasfilm
was okay with it. Yeah, so I don't maybe those
two in this moment, you know, are not sympatico about
where they're they're going next.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
So it seems to me, just to just to pick
up on what you're saying, Disney is trying to sprint
as far away from the sequel trilogy as they can interesting,
which is ironic because if you recall the whole the
marching orders of the sequel trilogy were to sprint as
far away from the prequel trilogy as they could. Right.
So to me, this is this is really the first

(41:03):
time I've come across a decision in the in the
in in the Disney era of Star Wars where I'm like,
I don't I don't see any rationality. It doesn't even
make sense to me, right, because because you should be
following the story, you should go where there's an interesting story,
and then at the end of it you get to say, hey,
well maybe maybe it didn't play whatever, but we got

(41:25):
something that we can be proud of. And I'm a
Steven Soderberg Star Wars, you know you're not interested.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
In that with Adam Driver on board to play reprizes
character that, like you said, everybody agreed they liked.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
It's it's really weird, man.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
But I can I don't know about this decision specifically,
but I can respect how just bewildering it must feel
to like figure out where to go next, because basically
the galaxy has been saved twice. Yeah, like how many
times can you say the galaxy Like, you gotta keep

(42:02):
moving forward, but you can't keep doing the same thing
over and over, so you've got to do a lot
of thinking about what direction you're gonna head. Sure, so
I can appreciate that, but yeah, this just feels like,
even if you're not so sure about whatever this specific
thing was, just having those people on board and interested
it almost feels like, well, let's begin a dialogue.

Speaker 3 (42:25):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
So it is just kind of fascinating that it is
dead like that thing, the idea that they.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Just shut it down, as opposed to like you're saying,
we're like, okay, well we have questions about this. Can
you answer these questions right? Right right?

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Or we were kind of thinking this is there a
way we can mold and shape and try to, you know,
head in this direction.

Speaker 3 (42:47):
We're all feeling together. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Now.
What's interesting is is this all came out in the
course of Adam Driver and doing an interview for something
or other whatever new project he has out and he's like, well,
the thing is dead, so I can talk about it, right,
And boy did people go ape shit once they heard

(43:10):
all that went down. People were mad. Steven Soderberg, He's like,
oh yeah, he oh yeah, I got a whole scirt.
It's it's one of the best things I've ever written
or whatever you.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Said, right, which should be fair. They always say this
is true.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
What.

Speaker 3 (43:21):
Yeah. Part of this is people being like, oh, they're
trying to like stir the pot.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Here kind of Deadpool exactly that Ryan Reynolds, which frankly
was genius and it paid off.

Speaker 3 (43:33):
And it paid off, so I don't doubt that that's
at least in the mix. I hesitate to go right
towards that as a as a motive. However, there's plenty
of you knows, there's a lot of hashtags trending all
of a sudden, people flying banners literally yeah, people actually
did that. Yeah yeah, So I'm like, well you should have.

Speaker 1 (43:54):
Sorry, So people who don't know, like, yeah, people made
a banner saying that I wanted this movie.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
What and it flew over with an airplane yeah yeah,
over Disney Studios. Yeah, And I'm like, well it worked
for the Snyder cut so, hell, that's a great point.
I mean, maybe you know, Yeah, it's like Disney's in
a weird place when it comes to Star Wars. And
we talked about this a couple of weeks ago when
we when we were discussing the trailer for Mandalorian and

(44:24):
Grow Group, which I I just saw that trailer on
the big screen for the first time, and honestly, I
got to stand by what I said before. It's doing
very little for me.

Speaker 1 (44:34):
I know, I know, I like the sights and the sounds,
yeah I do, But I don't know that that, you know,
those characters themselves are getting me, you know, eager to
purchase a ticket, although of course I'm gonna go.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
We're gonna watch it. So so that all of that
is we're in the bag. We're o thing.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
I mean, even as we talk about this, like we're fans,
like we're rooting for this right, you know. So it's
all we can do is speculate. But we just want
we want this to keep happening, and we wanted to.
We want it it's light to shine as bright as
it it once did again, you know, and.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
I just wonder if it ever will, you know, I mean.

Speaker 1 (45:14):
You know, I was talking about this with my brother,
and I think what's interesting about it is when as
it's it's it's light has dimmed a little bit in
recent years, it feels jarring to us, you know. But
at the same time, it's unusual for you know, an
ip's light to shine bright for forty years. That's true,

(45:34):
that's weird. Yeah, you know, what else has ever done that?
So in a way it's kind of inevitable. You just
hope then they can study that and figure out, Okay,
well here's why that's possibly happening, and how can we
rejuvenate it and you know, make it shine bright again.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
The problem is that scarcity is good, right, yeah, sure,
And so in just keeping the spigot on, you know,
they turned what was Philet Mignon into a big mac sure, sure,
like a mass produced yeah right, it's just and it's
it's it doesn't have any inherent value because it's so

(46:15):
easy to get. And obviously they're trying to dial back
the the the ubiquity of Star Wars product. But I
don't know that there's any unringing the bell. I think
I think that we're where we are now. Yeah, you know,
and and that's a shame. I'm I'm very curious again,
I I I have I don't even I'm not even

(46:38):
to begin to guess how the Mandalorian and Grogu will do.
But I can't tell you how I'm feeling. And I
don't think I'm alone. And so that's when I when
I hear this premise, I'm like, well, that's a great idea.
That's just in terms of the story possibilities. There's so
much there, you know.

Speaker 1 (46:56):
What's interesting about that Also is a lot of times
I hear people like can we please get away from
the Skywalker saga? Which I sort of understand, and I
think that might be if there's like a note behind
the note. It might be the repetitiveness in the stories
that are being told.

Speaker 3 (47:14):
I'm I like the Skywalker.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Stuff, like I want to see new things with the
Skywalker stuff. I don't want to see the galaxy saved
again from.

Speaker 3 (47:24):
A giant weapon.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
I don't you know, but like you, I'm telling you, man,
I love your take. Sold I'm sold Like we got
a Skywalker and things he didn't have the arc we
we thought we were going to see for like the
third time. It's like, didn't quite work that way for him,
So what's that journey? I like the Jedi, I like Lightsabers,

(47:47):
I like the Force. I do want more of that. Like,
I think it's fine that they have these other stories
that you know, and or of course, which are more
about the politics.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
And you know what was the one with the kids
that was pretty good? Oh yeah, Skeleton Crew?

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Skeleton Crew, which is like different, you know, great, great,
that's what the TV stuff should be for. But like I, yeah,
I want to see another cool Jedi story, you know,
and this seemed like an interesting opportunity with a character
that's already proven that we like, you know, to do
that and try something a little different.

Speaker 3 (48:17):
Yeah, especially, I mean again, it's like you got Adam
Driver on board. He's like, hey, this is something I'd
be interested in doing. Well at least come on guys,
you know. Yeah, I don't know. And again, if the
crux of your argument is, oh, we can't you know,
it doesn't make sense that ben Soil would come back
to life. Well I call that a failure of imagination.
Because Star Wars has more more resurrected characters than you

(48:40):
can then you can shake a lightsaber at Yeah, yeah,
they're coming back constantly, you know. Yeah, I think the
idea of somebody coming back from the force, I find
that really interesting.

Speaker 1 (48:52):
Mm hmmmmm, yeah, sure, sure.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
I mean it's all it's all fantasy anyway, the outer
limits of the Force have never been established. We didn't
know that they could fly and zoom around, you know,
until we watched The Phantom Menace, right right. I mean
it's you know, it's like, I don't know, it's very
it's it's baffling. Yeah. Well, anyway, while we're talking about

(49:18):
studios not knowing what to do with franchises, with the
word star in the title, star Search is back star
Search the next generation Star Trek Paramount, which was recently
acquired by sky Dance. Did you see this, Whether there
was an article in I think it was variety of

(49:38):
just looking at at David Ellison and all his all
his plans for what he what he intends to do
at Paramount now that he's the big, the big hancho there.
And he's also talking about potentially acquiring Warner Brothers. Yeah,
and I just read that and I just found it
all depressing me too, me too, And not even because
of the person. I don't really care about but I'm

(50:00):
just like, you know, these are these are studios with
these proud legacies, and we're just turning them into content farms.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Yeah, and I mean, variety is the spice of life,
you know what I mean, Like, you don't want two
studios making everything.

Speaker 3 (50:14):
Yeah, and we're sure heading there. Yeah. Right. So, so
it had been you know, when when the acquisition happened,
one of their mission statements was to was to start
doing something with Star Trek again, because if you recall,
I mean the last time they did a movie was
was nine years ago. Wow. But over the course of
those nine years, they'd always been the intention of bringing

(50:34):
the band back together who was in the jj Abrams
produced films and do do a fourth and potentially final
movie starring that cast. But as of this article that
we see, they have now moved on from that idea. Yeah.
So the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek stories are now presumably finished. Yep.

(50:54):
How do you feel that up? Well, partly part of
partly I'm like, oh right, but all so I'm like, well,
it's been done for a while, did know, right, Like,
let's be honest, Yeah, Like I would have been more
surprised if they came back than if they did it
than if they didn't, right, same, you know, because because

(51:14):
every year that went by, the further away it went.
And I think the the impetus behind making those films
initially was we want to introduce a brand new audience
to Star Trek. And I think they did that to
whatever extent. But how much of that audience that you
got was going to come back now nine years later

(51:36):
after the last one.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
Right, and all those actors you know, probably can command
bigger salaries these days, Like it was just didn't feel
very sustainable, especially like you said, they were perfect.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
In their moments.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
Yeah, who knows how they would have played in twenty
twenty seven or whatever.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Yeah, right, And by the way, look, I mean the
original Star Trek actors played those characters well into their
you know, golden years. Yeah, so there are always possibilities. Sure, sure,
you know, I don't. I don't rule that out, you know,

(52:16):
in some form. I mean, hell, Patrick Stewart came back
and played Captain McCard, you know, twenty years after the
last time, that's right, That's right, So these characters live on,
So I don't I don't think the door's permanently shut.
But I think in terms of creating a big blockbuster
with one hundred and fifty two hundred million dollar budget,

(52:36):
I don't think it makes sense, right, I just don't
know that, especially just look at how the industry is
right now. Yeah, you know. Plus the other thing is
that between the time and by the way, the last movie,
I mean you and I we watched that together back
in twenty sixteen. I remember, yeah, and it was great.
I mean I really enjoyed it. You know. Yeah, I

(52:57):
would say, you know, they got hey, they got a
trilogy that's more than than most most franchises get Yeah,
but between yeah, sorry, go ahead, Well no, I was
just gonna say it.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
And I mean it's it really was. When I talk
about it being perfect for its moment, I mean J. J.
Abrams was the perfect director. Like the sizzle that he
brought felt very two thousand and nine, and I mean
that as a compliment. And like, you know, recasting those
characters Chris Pine, Zachriquento, Simon Pegg's always sild down it like.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
It it worked.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Yeah, Like that's such a risky thing and it worked.
And it does make me wonder now, like, oh, you
have to try that again you try to find these
new actors that capture the essences of these characters like that.
That feels daunting to me, but that's the that's sort
of my curiosity.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Right So, right now, there's a whole slew of television
shows that have been on the Paramount Plus streaming service
between Star Trek Beyond and now right so, that was
Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek Thecard, and there's currently
Strange New Worlds, which is on for another couple of seasons.
You know, so they've they've built out that corner of
the franchise again. So when you say you've moved on

(54:06):
from this past reboot, does that mean you want to
recast these characters again. I'm not really interested in that,
you know. I am curious like what they plan to do.
You know. I think these studios would love nothing more
than to decouple the characters from the actors and just
be able to keep you know, people show up to

(54:28):
watch Captain Kirk as opposed to you know, William Shatner
or Chris hard But I think it's hard. I think
it's hard to do. You know. Yeah, yeah, I was,
you know, just the other day, speaking of Paramount, I
saw a promo for there's this show which I didn't
even know exists called NCIS Origins. Have you heard of this?
Feels like I have. So this is a prequel to NCIS.

(54:52):
So it's about Mark Harmon's character like in the nineties.
Oh okay, interesting, So they got like a guy who
vaguely looks like Mark Harmon. Anyway, I've never seen NCIS.
Never seen it. I mean it's been on since like
the Bush administration, so so respect you know, I've never

(55:12):
watched it, but I'm watching this show a promo rather
and it's like young Mark Harmon, what's his character's name, Gibbs,
and and it's like this is the episode where Gibbs
meets Ducky, and Ducky was the character played by David
McCallum on on the original series, and he's an old

(55:34):
friend of Mark. Bear in mind, I've never seen the show,
but I watched this promo when I got kind of interested,
like is this so he's you know, he's played by
David McCallum, and you know they have they have kind
of a a Kirk and Bones kind of relationship. Okay, okay,
and this is how they meet. So they got like
a young David McCallum look alike and he's playing the
character there. That's how they meet, you know. And I
was thinking, I was like, this is Paramount doing their

(55:56):
Star Trek JJ Abrams reboot with NCIS. Sure you get
to keep those original characters around. Obviously, Mark Harmon is
he's you know, he's he's still around, but he's not
on the show anymore. You know, we get to see
those characters again, right, And I'm like, this is what
studios want to do. Yeah, let's just cut the chord,
you know, right, and then the characters can live forever. Yeah, yeah,

(56:20):
you know. So I don't like that this stuff is is.
I don't like viewing it through such a cynical lens,
but I feel like that's how the studios are doing it.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Sure, you know, well we've been watching this stuff for
so long. It's hard not to because we're observing it.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
Yeah, but you know, if it works they can pull
it off, then that's great for everybody. I think when
it comes to Star Trek, it's real tricky, right because
it's is Star Trek the characters or Star Trek the
concept and it's both. But does it devalue the earlier

(56:57):
versions if you keep recasting the characters hmmm, right, Like
I like we said before, like with the with the
with the JJ Abrams movies, they kind of they somehow
managed to do it. They recast those characters.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Right and remain reverential right to the past, you know,
like bringing Leonard Nimoy in that.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
Yeah, good point, right, and then and then you know,
on on start Strange New Worlds, which is show running
right now. They've got a young Spock and they've got
a young Kirk. But even that is meant to be like, yeah,
but this is before the original series, so it becomes that.
So it's not replacing it, right, you get it like
Abrams movies, Well, it doesn't replace it because this is
an alternate timeline. It doesn't wipe out like they've gone

(57:40):
out of their way to do that. And I'm just like,
how many times do you get to do that? Well?

Speaker 1 (57:46):
And also it's uh, how our audiences in those moments conditioned? Yeah,
you know, I think about that a lot, where that's
interesting sci fi concepts now or let's just a superhero
are just so freaking complicated, you know, whereas in you know,
in the year two thousand they were afraid to put

(58:08):
X Men in yellow spandex. You know, they're like, no,
they have to be in black leather because the matrix
or audiences.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
Won't accept this.

Speaker 1 (58:14):
And then you cut to you have Spider Man No
Way Home, and it's just like, all right, well, this
guy's from this movie from a different studio, but it
all makes sense and that's why he's here, and you're
gonna cry at the end anyway.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
You know, like you get it, you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Like it feels like we get conditioned along the way
and there are new things we are willing to accept.

Speaker 3 (58:36):
Yeah. Yeah, so it's interesting, you know. Yeah, Actually in
that vein, so we're talking about continuing franchises, are their
audience for this? So news just broke this week that
there's another Mummy in the works.

Speaker 1 (58:54):
Yeah, I did not see that coming, to be honest.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
I'm glad that Tom Cruise and Jake Johnson they're gonna
be back their adventures.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Doesn't that feel like that's been completely erased? Like I
feel like that that Beatles movie, where like if I
were to bring it up, no one would remember that
that Mummy movie ever existed. But I'd be like, no,
I swear did Tom Cruise was in a Mummy movie?

Speaker 3 (59:18):
It's really I mean, yeah, it has been. It has
been left in that submarine that Ethan Hunt went to
and you know, the last mission impossible. Now here's the
thing I should say this. So earlier this week, I
was I got out of class and I was driving
home and I had Spotify playing and I put, you know,

(59:38):
like soundtracks on shuffle on Spotify. So up comes Jerry
Goldsmith's music from the Mummy. I'm sitting in my car listener.
I've been listening to a soundtrack in a little while,
and I'm listening to music. Am this nice music? I
was like, you know, you know, Mummy, that's a good movie.
You know, Like I remember when we talked about it
last year. I was like, this is fun, you know,

(01:00:00):
and I was like, when was the When was the
last Mummy movie? That was two thousand and eight, So
it's been seventeen years, all right, Well, you know, we're
getting getting getting a little further back. But you know,
if we do another one, it's probably the window might
be closing. But I feel like if they do one
in the next year or so, that's like kind of

(01:00:21):
get that nostalgic sweet spot. You know, I just had
that thought all right, some driving home. I go home,
I take a nap because I got a class at
the evenings. I take a short twenty minute nap, lie down,
and then and then I hear it on my phone
and I reach over to my phone and I see
a push notification and it says Brendan Fraser and Rachel

(01:00:42):
Weiss in negotiations for new Mummy movie. And I just said, well,
I did that, so I guess. I guess I have
power over all things now. And and you're welcome, world.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
I was just picturing you like mister Burns when he's
coaching that softball team and he's like, hit me a
home run, and then the player does, and he's like, ah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
I told him to do that. It's like you. I
made that happen all by my loansome. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:12):
Well, so what your feelings? I mean, were you like good,
you know?

Speaker 3 (01:01:17):
Or were you excited? Were you just like well, that
makes sense? I feel I think what I said is
still applicable. I feel like the window may in fact
be closing. M And I don't mean in terms of
people's affinity for it. I just mean in terms of
like these actors' ability to do it. You know, yeah,
they're not getting any younger. I mean Brandon Fraser, he's
like an older guy now, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Sure, and the budget that they would be willing to
spend on what a movie like that would require exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Now that all being said, I know there is a
lot of a crude affinity for these films. Yep, the
first two. I don't think anybody really likes the third one.
So I'm like, well, I definitely see the desire to
do it, and I know that the Mummy Ride at
Universe Studios has been a consistent like performer, so like

(01:02:05):
you can see why Universal wants to do it. But
my sense is that people everybody who saw the news
seemed genuinely you know, excited, which makes me happy. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I mean, like you said, I think there's a lot
of good will toward Brendan Fraser just in general, and
you know, he's had a bit of a resurgence lately,
and it seems like everybody's loving that. And yeah, like
you said, I mean, it's this feels like a very
generational film, like it's it's celebrated by a generation. And
I could see that audience being excited and showing up

(01:02:39):
for this.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
I think it's a good idea. Yeah, Like I think,
I mean, they would need to get it out if
they're if they're everyone signing up now, you'd be looking
at probably in two years from now, I'm guessing, right.
I feel it feels like it would be a good
wrap up for the whole thing. Yeah, I think so.
I think the fact that Rachel Weiss they're bringing her

(01:03:01):
back is obviously the smartest thing they can do because
I mean, you know, she did not come back for
number three, right, and that was a I mean, there's
a litany of issues with that third movie, but that's
certainly near the top, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Well, and it's interesting too. It's coming from these younger directors.
They call themselves Radio Silence, and they did the most
recent screen film, right I think, and then that movie
Ready or Not with smaw Weaving, which is pretty good.
So like they have an interesting energy, let's say, Yeah,
you know, like a style of voice.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
So they're kids, they grew up watching these movies obviously.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
Yeah, yeah, so it'll be interesting seeing them, you know
attack this.

Speaker 3 (01:03:44):
Yeah, I am I am interested. I do feel like
it'd be nice to have Stephen Summers involved in some capacity. Yeah,
if only because he got the whole thing started. And
I feel like he's been in movie jail for some reason,
which is weird, right because he I mean, he did
Van Helsing, which I didn't. I wasn't crazy about that,

(01:04:06):
but he did. He did G I. Joe, which, okay,
that was bad, but it was not good.

Speaker 1 (01:04:12):
But it did well, right, I don't even remember. That's
a movie that just kind of doesn't exist for me.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
As far as I know, it did well. I mean,
it did well enough to warrant a second one, right,
but I'm just like, I mean, the guy seems like
a company man, and he's you know, sure, seems like
just just rope him in somewhere, give him, give him
a EP credit exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, so
that would be probably were looking at like two years
from now. I hope, you know what, I hope it happens.
I hope it's good. I hope it's because I know,

(01:04:39):
if nothing else, I know, Brandon Fraser, when he was
making the rounds talking about the Whale and getting his oscar,
he was talking about how much he loved playing Rick
O'Connell on how much you love to do it again?
And I'm like, give that man a Rick O'Connell movie,
Come on, Hollywood.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
Well that and also I'm in like I you know,
we've talked about it. I think I talk about it
on the commentary. I feel like I missed that movie
by like two years at least in terms of being
like in the right moment to be passionate about it. Yeah,
for decades to come.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
I saw it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:11):
I thought it was fun, and it just is like
a fun thing that I had seen, you know. So
I don't have I don't carry that passion, but like
I enjoy it, and when I see it, I enjoy it.
But now in the you know, the landscape, theatrical landscape
these days, like I definitely want to see like a
desert adventure, you know, Indiana Jones style movie. I want

(01:05:33):
to see that. So I'm excited for this.

Speaker 3 (01:05:36):
Well, India is done. Yeah, so we're just wrapping up
all these old characters.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
Yeah, well you have to imagine though, they're going to
team them up with like three young characters that they
hope carry things forward. Kind of like now you see me,
now you don't, right, I mean, when I watched that trailer.
I'm like, how many characters are in this thing? You know,
you've got the true I mean it's already like a
big cast the four Horsemen, right, that's four characters you
gotta keep tabs on.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
But it looked like.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
They introduced at least three more younger people, because I
assume if the older actors don't want to continue forward,
then it's like, oh, well, these are the new Horsemen.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
And you got the ponies.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Ponies, Yeah, so I have to assume that's what they're
going to do here.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Probably probably uh well, hey, speak of speaking of bringing
things out from the closet. Here's another piece of news
that just broke earlier this week. This wu is be
a this is coming from Warner Brothers. We got Gremlins
three on the calendar.

Speaker 1 (01:06:30):
I mean not just like we're with Goonies. I think
they were developing it, right, like we're working on this,
we're working on a script. But this is on the calendar.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
So all right, it has been thirty five years yeah,
since the last Gremlins movie. Thirty five Yeah, that's like
that's like two generations. Yeah, so here's my prediction. This
movie will not be made. No, oh Zachy don't say that.

(01:07:03):
I think right now, Warner Brothers is trying to get
sold and they're trying to make it right, why did
you do that? They're trying to make it like, oh
we got this coming, Oh oh you want you want
some Gremlins, We got Gremlins coming too. That's true.

Speaker 1 (01:07:20):
There are so many people interested in possibly making offers
to Warner Brothers that Warner Brothers is releasing all their
financial information.

Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
Yeah, and this puffs it up. Now they announced we
got we got Steven Spielberg back as executive producer, and
we got Chris Columbus back as director. And I'm like, well,
he didn't direct those movies. Yes, right, that was his
first produced script. He wrote the first one. He wasn't
involved in the second one. I don't think. Yeah, that

(01:07:49):
feels right. It feels very different. So I'm kind of like, Okay,
thirty five years ago was the last time you had
a Gremlins movie, and people weren't interested back then. But
what they say like distance makes the heart grow fonder.
Now listen, I will I will watch a new Gremlins movie,
and I don't doubt that Warner Brothers would love to

(01:08:10):
sell some some mug why dolls. That's I thought of that,
by the way. Yeah, but they're doing that anyway.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
Yes, but much like tron I'm sure was to help,
you know, boost ticket sales for their ride at the
Disney World. And I mean, why not put a little uh,
you know, extra in there and boost some even you
know what I mean, like in dear well, in dear
your kid, well, your kids are a unique case, and
dear other people's kids to get some up for the

(01:08:40):
first time.

Speaker 3 (01:08:41):
My kids know the Gremlins, they know, they know Stripe
and all them, you know, but but like most kids,
I mean, it just it makes no sense to me,
Like if if we're sitting here, we just watched tron
aries die a horrible slow depth, which is a very
esoteric concept. Gremlins is less esoteric.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
I do think it's like it's this adorable little teddy
bear that every dude I want one on my desk.
Like that thing is so like undeniable, it's so freaking adorable.
Show that little thing to a bunch of kids who
have no idea what that is. They're gonna want one,
and it's so simple, like don't get it wet, don't
feed it. This thing otherwise these little monsters are going

(01:09:24):
to take over your town.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
I think it's perfect. I think it's perfect to bring
that back. Well, you know what, I guess we'll find out.
So my contention is that this movie does not get made.

Speaker 1 (01:09:36):
Well it is on the calendar for November nineteenth, twenty
twenty seven.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
My secondary contention is that if it gets made, nobody's
gonna watch it. Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Well you know it is coming though, so I think
Chris Columbus is gonna co write it, which you know,
maybe he's just come up with a story or maybe
he's co writing.

Speaker 3 (01:09:51):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:52):
But it's also going to be with the duo who
wrote the latest Final Destination movie. Okay, who are also,
if I'm not missing taken, possibly going to be directing
another Steven Spielberg project. I think they got attached to
it like a story that he had had for.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
A long time he wanted to do.

Speaker 1 (01:10:11):
So, I mean, I don't know, like people seem hot
on these guys. They can do anything they want right now.
That gives me a little bit of hope. They seem
like a hot thing right now. And if they are
interested in doing this, you know, brings their audience over
brings us over. I think this movie makes a lot
of sense right now. Actually, but I you know, I

(01:10:31):
think it's very simple. It's a very simple monster.

Speaker 3 (01:10:34):
Movie, and it has the plus.

Speaker 1 (01:10:38):
Of, you know, also having these adorable toys that you
can get. Yeah, I don't know, you know what, let's
pretend like it's going to exist for a second. What
I'm very curious about is what the story is going
to be like, because the first one is very much
its own thing, and the second one is very much
its own thing, right, very very different those two movies.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
See, I think that just to mix things up, they
should bring back Billy. Obviously I think so too, but
he instead of Zach Gallaghan, he should be played by
Zach Galifanakis. I'd watch that.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
So and I and you put like a like a
curly wig on him.

Speaker 3 (01:11:19):
Yeah, you know, you're you're respecting the legacy. You're you're
playing to a modern audience.

Speaker 1 (01:11:25):
Yeah, wait, we're respecting the Okay, yeah, all right, all right,
let's roll it up.

Speaker 3 (01:11:31):
You're respecting the character and the first name and first
two letters of the last name of the other lead actor.
You're respecting the legacy.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
But see what I'm you know, I don't think it's
going to be like a suburban tail this time, because
that's not big enough. I think, you know, they'll take
over New York or something like that and not just
a building.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
No, Brian, here's what you do. You have Daniel klamp
as President of the United States. Well there you go, yeah, yeah,
there you go. Bring back John John Glover, you know, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:12:02):
Absolutely well, and then now you also you had the
visual effects that you can you know, I know Chris
Columbus a couple of years ago said if he were
to make a Gremlin sequel, he would it'd be a
requirement to still use puppets, and I think they should
and I hope they do, and you can enhance those
puppets of course, but I mean, obviously you're going to
have visual effects involved, and then yeah, they can take

(01:12:22):
over Manhattan.

Speaker 3 (01:12:24):
Or something, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
Like I I don't know, I'm totally on board for this.

Speaker 3 (01:12:28):
I maybe you just caught me at like a cynical
moment sure this morning as we're recording this. Yeah, but
I'm just like, man, I don't know, I don't I
don't see this movie happening interesting, Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:12:41):
We would versus the Mummy, which I guess now that
I even say that out loud, I think, well, those
that's a little different because you had these two big stars, and.

Speaker 3 (01:12:50):
It is different and it's more recent. Man, I mean again,
you're like, no.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
You're right, you're right, You're right to me, I'm looking.

Speaker 3 (01:12:56):
At tron ares As as our compass setting moment right now.

Speaker 1 (01:13:02):
But who's the star tron Areas Jared Leto, who cares?

Speaker 3 (01:13:05):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
And like Gizmos the star of that thing, and like
I want to see Gizmo again. And then like an
eight year old who sees Gizmo for the first time
is going to want to see that. I think that's
a plus, right yeah, And then also again it's like
I don't know, there's like a coldness to try. And
by the way, and I like Tron, like I want
a fourth Tron, but like I just feel like this

(01:13:27):
is just so just cute little monsters taken over your time.
Like it's just so simple, it's so perfect. You could
do that twelve times.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
Yeah, I don't know. All right, well, I like this.
I like that we have I'm very curious now where
this goes. No, I mean I'm I'm with you as
far as all the possibilities. Yeah, I just feel like
I question whether there's an audience for it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
Yeah, you know, well, I mean that's the other thing too,
And people have been been wrong in the past, but
I feel like these things get so researched these days
that there must be some you know, piece of paper
ripped off of a printer that was put in front
of all these people that would make them.

Speaker 3 (01:14:14):
You know what, thought, it's so funny.

Speaker 1 (01:14:15):
I'm having like a tennis match in my brain even
if i'm speaking, because now I'm thinking about what you
said where they're trying to make Warner Brothers enticing for
purchase and that is pretty good. Like Steven Spielberg's doing
a thing for one of our most attached to one
of our most well known and popular properties.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
And yeah, yeah, I don't know, man, right, I don't know.
We'll see, you know, if there's more news to be had,
I'm sure we'll have it. I still I honestly the
I said this during our commentary track for the first film.
I know Joe Dante makes me less interested.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
I agree, it makes me sad. I will no disrespect
to Joe Dante. I agree, But it did make me
happy having Chris Columbus involved because I feel like he
come from an era that I like. I'm not saying
I love all of his movies, but there's like a
tactility to what he does.

Speaker 3 (01:15:08):
That's true. But the way he is being hyped in
the media, it's like, it's like, yeah, but he didn't
make that first movie he wrote. He wrote the script,
but the script he wrote was pretty far removed from
what it became Number one, that's true. But but I
do like, Oh, the director of Stepmom is bringing Gremlin's death. Yeah,
that's one way to sell or of Harry Potter, you know. Yeah,

(01:15:30):
I like Stepmom better as a selling point, right and
home alone and you know wrote the Goonies, I mean obviously.
And he's from Chicago for goodness sake. You know, I
don't care. All right, you're selling me, Bryan. I'm I
am skeptical but hopeful. Yeah. Yeah, I'll say the same thing.

(01:15:51):
When I held my oldest son for the first time
after he was born, I said, I'm skeptical, but I'm hopeful,
and that skepticism has has been well placed. That's great
with that, lad, The hopefulness less so but the skepticism,
Oh boy, that's been rewarded. Hey there's new release in theaters, Brian,
you want to talk about it, Yeah, let's do it.

(01:16:17):
And now we're pleased to bring our feature present.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
Gremlins three now in theaters.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
This well, you know, honestly, the performance of this movie
might might give us some tea leaves as far as
how well a Gremlins three would do. Sure. Yeah, Predator
bad Lands is in theaters currently. This is the This
is the eighth Predator film. Wow, which that's kind of
crazy when you think about it. It really is, you know,

(01:16:52):
it is. It is the seventh Predator film with the
word predator in the title, however, because the last one
avoided that. That's right, pator or prey. I should say.
It was directed by Dan Tracktenberg, and that was released.
That was dropped onto Hulu by accident. It feels like
and it and it got some of the best reviews
in the whole series. Yeah, at which point I think
Disney rightly was pivoted back to theatrical, which I'm glad

(01:17:16):
for me too, despite me questioning whether there's an audience.
So so the same folks came back. We got we
got Predator bad Lands as we follow a young young
Youtja Deck as he as he attempts to prove he's
a he's a real manly man. Yeah. Uh, this is
an interesting one. I I you know, I I I

(01:17:39):
had two thoughts as it ended. I was like, I
I really enjoyed this well made movie. That was thought one.
Thought two was it felt nothing like a Predator movie. Yeah,
you know, so I'm like, I'm trying to figure out,
like which means more to me?

Speaker 1 (01:18:00):
You know, I mean it's hard when you have eight
Predator movies, how do you.

Speaker 3 (01:18:08):
Continue moving forward? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:18:11):
You know, And I think Prey was really brilliant where
they said it in a different time period, right, so
it's like we still get the Predator Prey you know,
thing happening, but it's like they you know, our our
hero didn't have machine guns. That was really fascinating, but
she was a warrior. So you know, the game was

(01:18:33):
a little different and I loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:35):
I loved Pray.

Speaker 1 (01:18:38):
So what you were saying, you know, where the yeah,
the lead Predator what's his name, Deck, I'm gonna call
him Deck Deck Deck. When you said he wants to
be a manly man, I think why, like right off
the bat, why I was into this movie. I went
into it like I'm glad this is coming from the
same people who did Pray. That makes me optimistic, But
I can't say that. I'm like, I'm expecting a ton

(01:19:01):
from this, Like I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):
You know, I was kind of in the same boat. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19:05):
And so when the first ten minutes, it's basically deck
are you know hero? You know, he lives on his
planet of these like ruthless, emotionless warriors, you know, and
but he's kind of the runt and he wants to
prove himself, but his dad doesn't believe in him so
much that he's willing to kill him because if he's weak,

(01:19:28):
he's not worth you know, he brings shame to them,
and he's not worth having in his life at all.
And so then you know, Dek has an older brother
who's willing to defend him and against their dad. And
I was like, oh, I'm like feeling stuff, you know,
which I don't know if that's what Predator fans want, Yeah,

(01:19:50):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:19:52):
That's so this is my thought, right I'm watching it,
I'm I'm fully I'm tracking with the character arcs all.
This is a very well made movie, right, and it
hits all of those bases. The only thought I have
is like, I, well, I don't want to feel bad
when Schwarzenegger is like killing these dudes.

Speaker 1 (01:20:10):
You know, like you know that that's a really good
point because yes, normally we don't know what's going on
in their heads, right, like they they may as well
just be like evil incarnate, you know, so we never.

Speaker 3 (01:20:22):
See translations of their various clicks and noises that they make,
yeah or no, their hopes and wants.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
And it was I will admit it was a little
jarring at first reading the subtitles, like hello brother, you
know it did and I was like, is this silly?
I can't tell. I really did have that feeling.

Speaker 3 (01:20:40):
But then I did get caught up in the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:20:41):
I always get caught up in sibiling stuff, and like,
I don't know, I was able to get on its wave.

Speaker 3 (01:20:49):
I guess, oh, no, same, Yeah, I mean that's the
thing is is like it it almost feels like this
great sci fi story that they sort of had to
put the predator label on.

Speaker 1 (01:21:04):
I wrote a note that was almost exactly what you
just said. Yeah really, yeah, right, doesn't it feel like
that a little bit, you know, yes, because it also
usually it is like a monoemano or it gets down
to a mono emano, you know. Yeah, evil incarnate on
two legs versus a skilled warrior, and how are they gonna,

(01:21:25):
you know, outmaneuver this thing that seems unbeatable. That seems
to be the template we've seen so far. But I
don't think this is a spoiler, but to you know,
halfway through this movie, you have that Evil Incarnate character
thing that we've come to know, but like now he's
got like a robot friend and also like a cute
little buddy.

Speaker 3 (01:21:43):
You know. It's like a creature that like is really adorable,
you know, and it feels very different from what we
know from this series, right, and so yeah, so that's
the that's the thrust of it. It's a it's like
you should know that going in anybody watching like this

(01:22:03):
is not in any way evocative of that nineteen eighty
seven movie. Sure, yeah, the marching orders for that movie
are very different. But if you're interested in seeing the
mythology expanded in kind of an interesting direction, this will
scratch that itch. But I mean, it's just doing something

(01:22:25):
vastly different, and that's again it's like, well, what do
you want out of a Predator movie? Right, And to
the point that you were making it's like, well, we've
done the man versus Predator thing enough times that you've
probably tapped that. Well.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
Yeah, and I mean not even that long ago with
Shane Black doing Predators.

Speaker 3 (01:22:46):
Well, I mean Shane Black, you know, after seeing Prey,
he went up to Dan Trachtenberg at some event and
he shook his hand and he said, I killed the
Predator franchise and you saved it. You know.

Speaker 1 (01:23:00):
Well, I do remember, yeah, being kind of underwhelmed by Predators.

Speaker 3 (01:23:04):
Oh, we were not fans of that one.

Speaker 1 (01:23:05):
Yeah, I mean, even though it had all the elements
that I should love. The thing I remember most was
it's on Earth the Predator and it's walking on top
of a school bus in the suburbs, and I was like, dude,
that is my jam, you know, and like it's in
the suburbs, what does that look like? And just still
the movie just didn't get there. So it does feel

(01:23:28):
like pivoting and expanding is kind of what you have
to do.

Speaker 3 (01:23:33):
Well, I think I think one of the problems that
we had with The Predator was that you could very
you could see the studio scissors all over the frames,
and we know that the ending was just kind of
a mishmash Frankenstein of a thing. And so, you know,
I think if Pray showed that you could have a

(01:23:55):
smaller budget and let somebody follow their creative music, interesting
directions and have it be something worth doing, then I'm
I'd prefer that. Yeah, totally right. But going back to
what we were talking about earlier, the question is are
you are you willing to to sympathize with and sort

(01:24:16):
of imprint on this Predator character? I mean, they're not
exactly pleasant to look at, and isn't that kind of amazing?

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
Maybe we spend pretty much two hours with this kind
of hideous thing.

Speaker 3 (01:24:28):
Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:24:29):
But what's I liked about it too and I appreciated
was I remember there was a moment, probably with the
Star Wars prequels, where I thought, Man, we're never going
to see a puppet again, are we?

Speaker 3 (01:24:41):
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:24:41):
And I remember thinking, I think I am on record
on the podcast saying like someday someone's going to make
another movie or another Star Wars movie, and they're going
to use a puppet and everyone's going to say they're
a genius. And they did, and they did with the
Star Wars sequels, and in this one, I like that
not all the creatures, but you know, the main one
is like a suit and a mask, and I'm sure

(01:25:03):
it's plussed and enhanced, but like when El Fanning's touching
you know, his face, I mean, it's just it just
feels very present and tactile, and and through that mask,
they were still able to have the actor inside emote, right.
You know, you can see him sort of get sad

(01:25:26):
when the dad approaches and fights his brother, and you
can see his hurt and his horror, you know. And
I don't know, I thought it was pretty successful when
that could have gone way wrong and you aren't able
to connect with that thing at all, and it just
tanks the story, right. It's a point though, by the way,

(01:25:46):
sorry just wrote I'll just say real fast. I remember
again in the Star with sequels, where they're basically like,
oh yeah, all the stormshoopers, They're like, you know, kids
have been ripped away from their families. Shoot them, shoot them,
you know, And I was like, oh my gosh, Like
I don't know if I like knowing that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:01):
Well, it's a little bit like in the Book of
Boba Fet which we were talking about, you know, where
you have entire episodes that put us inside the culture
of the sand people. Oh yeah, that's right, right, And
you're supposed to be horrified by sort of the genocide
that's committed against them. And then it's hard to watch
Star Wars and not be a little bit like, well, damn, Luke,

(01:26:22):
why don't you just stay out of their land? Right?
I know.

Speaker 1 (01:26:27):
I mean that's the inherent problem, right with taking a
story where well enough was well enough, but then it's
like we got to keep expanding, expanding. It's like, well,
in these people need to become a little more nuanced,
and then if they become more nuanced, we're gonna care
about them to some degree. Yeah, But but it doesn't
bother me enough because there's still people like this, like

(01:26:49):
Deck's dad, who are ruthless and willing to kill their
own children for some sort of code or honor or whatever.
And it's like, well, those are the people that are
probably out there shooting at our schortznigger, so have about it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:01):
So but this is the thing, right, like if the
journey for this character is to be like, oh, but
like it's good to be empathetic or whatever, Like what
does what does the future look like? For him?

Speaker 1 (01:27:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:27:25):
I mean maybe, yeah, he comes from a race there
that it's that's not really on the agenda. So I'm like,
you know, it's it's like, I mean, it's like, okay,
it's cool that like this is where you're at, but like,
what what options do you have? You know?

Speaker 1 (01:27:43):
It makes me think of that line for pulp fiction
where Samuel Jackson's like, I'll be like Kine from Kung Fu?

Speaker 3 (01:27:49):
Is he going to be like Kine from Kung Fu?
You know?

Speaker 1 (01:27:51):
I do wonder if these characters now will go on
some sort of other adventure and eventually, at some point
I imagine he'll have to confront yeah, you know, his
family again or well, I mean not at some point,
I mean in this movie. Well yeah, yeah, well, I
just mean or you know, somewhere down the line, he's
going to encounter someone who's like who he could have

(01:28:14):
been or something and he'll yeah, well, no, you're right,
I guess he does kind of do that.

Speaker 3 (01:28:18):
Yeah. But now now that said, you mentioned el Fanny
and she's terrific in this.

Speaker 1 (01:28:25):
Yeah, you know, when she was first introduced, I was like,
she's either going to get on my nerves yep, because
and the reason it's not her fault, but it's like
the type, the character type she's playing.

Speaker 3 (01:28:37):
I'm like, I know this type.

Speaker 1 (01:28:39):
You know, I've seen this before, the overly perky, enthusiastic
person who's paired with the grumpy person and if they
go too hard, you're going to be annoyed. Also, but
I think she she landed it perfectly.

Speaker 3 (01:28:53):
You you really grow to like that character? Yeah, you
you agreed? Oh yeah, yeah, you know. I think so.
She plays a synthetic kind of in the vein of
you know, Lance Handrickson's character and you know, Holmes, et cetera.
I mean, Wayland Tani, it's all right there front center,
which I think is also kind of cool, like it's
just like, yeah, by the way, it's all the same
universe yep. Right. Also, God damn, can this company be

(01:29:18):
slightly less evil about like everything? I mean, geez, you know, yeah,
like they are so evil. Yeah, it's a little less evil.
They're so evil. They make they make they make they
make robots evil, like they turn robots evil.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
Well, I was gonna say I thought el Fanny did
a good job playing both. Wait, sorry is spoilers now,
I don't want to Well, it's in the trailer.

Speaker 3 (01:29:43):
I'm pretty sure. Okay, she plays she plays two synthetics. Yeah,
like like l the the you know, the good one
is like accidentally good, yes, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
But anyway, but I thought she did a good job
like the distinction between the two. And I know there's
little costuming and makeup and whatever, but I really did
feel like they were these two different things, and I
thought she did a.

Speaker 3 (01:30:04):
Good job and that did a good job. But that
absolutely all the business about her trying to she's like
trying to get her legs back and stuff, all that
that all worked for me. Oh that was fun. That
was fun, right, I mean this is the thing, right,
Like I went into this movie being like, I don't
know if I want to spend two hours caring about

(01:30:25):
a you know, a predator. Sure youchja yeah, which again,
not everybody knows that. Come on, I'm sure it exists
as the mythology, but the way some people people like
you didn't know that, come on, I didn't knew that. Yeah. Again,
they come from Predatron, right, they're the Predators from Predatron, right,

(01:30:48):
that's my head canon. Damn it. But I went in
being like, do I want to follow weird crab face
guy for two hours? And by the end I was like, well, good,
I'm glad I did. Now do I want to keep
following weird crab faced guy for another two hours? I
don't know. I think I'm good. I'd rather follow a
human protagonist. Yeah, So, like, I don't know where this

(01:31:12):
goes next, right, but as another sort of expansion of
the Predator franchise the universe, I would say yes, thumbs up.
I will say I liked this better in my opinion
than Alien Romulus. You know, that's so funny you say that.

(01:31:36):
I was.

Speaker 1 (01:31:38):
Trying to decide how I felt.

Speaker 3 (01:31:41):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:31:42):
I guess they're a little too different from me. But
I was wondering if I connected with that a little
bit more because of the humans in the humanity of it,
and like, again, there's another sort of sibling thing that
happened in there that I really loved the girl.

Speaker 3 (01:31:56):
The reason I'll tell you why I like this one
better because I felt like Alien Romulus was sticking a
little too close to the template, Yes, definitely. And this one, man,
they swung hard. I mean it's not you can't. You're
not going to confuse this with the eighty seven Predator
or any of the other ones either, you know. Yeah, yeah,
so that's why I like this one. I also, you know,

(01:32:18):
the the effects work was really incredible. Yeah, the way
Deck like, I mean, there's a practical plus cg. The
way they did remarkable. Man. I agree that. You know,
there was.

Speaker 1 (01:32:31):
Some of the planet expansion or whatever you want to
call it, like you could tell they were in some
real locations but then built things out in the background,
and I thought that was.

Speaker 3 (01:32:41):
A really great approach to that.

Speaker 1 (01:32:44):
You know, it made the place feel real versus just
being on the volume the whole time or something. But
I will say when it started, I did connect with
the whole family drama and that made me endeared to Deck.
And then when he landed on that plan it and
it just felt like, oh, these are the plants that

(01:33:04):
you know, there are these grabby arm things on these trees.
I was like, oh no, Like I didn't love that.
And the reason is they seem to be coming out
of nowhere. Yeah, So I'm like the physics of this.
I can't even my brain can't compute this, like if
I saw them even attached to the trees somehow, But
they just sort of felt like they were coming out

(01:33:26):
of somewhere off camera that I couldn't see and could
reach really far, and just that felt very very cartoony
and video gamey to me. And then it was like
he enters like a field and these plants and they
you know, get too close and they blow up, and
then there's like a little bug and if you touch it,
it like blows up. And I was a little worried
the movie was going to become just and then this

(01:33:46):
thing happens, and then this thing happens, and there wouldn't
be much of a story to it, and it would
just be like, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:33:52):
The vibe I got Brian in that vein it reminded
me of After Earth. Uh wait, sorry, remind me of that. Yeah,
See that movie has been complete? Is that the Will
Smith one?

Speaker 1 (01:34:04):
Yeah, which opened against Now You See Me, Now You
See Me, and it got demolished.

Speaker 3 (01:34:09):
Which I've never seen. Actually, that was that was the
real magic trick. Yeah, is that they kicked a Will
Smith movie to the curb. That movie you've never seen
After Earth? No, okay, well that's basically you know, what's
his name, Jaden Smith, who's sort of the deck of
that whole thing, and he's going from from one locale

(01:34:30):
to the next where and he hears his dad's you know,
narration or what like he's in his ear. He's like,
you know, this place will kill you because of this,
you know, And it's very similar. So I got like
After Earth vibes, but it better this. I'll take this
over over after Earth. You know, it's funny not just
say I'll take dental surgery over after it.

Speaker 1 (01:34:48):
Well that's directed by m Night Shyamalan yep, And I
gotta say when he when this character Deck was going
through all these different landscapes and stuff just kept happening.
I actually thought of Lady in the Water. It reminded
me of someone telling a bedtime story where they were
just kind of like and.

Speaker 3 (01:35:04):
Then he goes in a field in the plants. If
you get too close, they like blow up.

Speaker 1 (01:35:11):
And and then he sees a bug and then if
you get to the bug too close, it blows up.

Speaker 3 (01:35:17):
And are you tired yet?

Speaker 1 (01:35:18):
You know, like to your kid, and like it just
felt like and then, and then and then, and I
was worried the movie was just gonna end then to
the end, so I was happy that that was not
the case. You know, then once he meets the the
l Fanning character, and then she's got an agenda, and
then her other synthetic friends got her agenda, and then

(01:35:40):
you know, like then the story kicks in. I did
like the characters and their their arcs, so you know,
I was a little concerned it in the first act,
but I was happy. I was pleasantly surprised that it.

Speaker 3 (01:35:56):
Was more than that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:35:58):
And I and by the way, I'm speaking very positively.
It's not something I can say I felt passionate about.

Speaker 3 (01:36:03):
No, at the end of the day, I was gonna say, like,
is it a movie I see myself revisiting not often?

Speaker 1 (01:36:12):
Yes, I would call it for me it was a surprising,
enjoyable romp.

Speaker 3 (01:36:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:17):
And that's a recommend for people who think this is
up their alley.

Speaker 3 (01:36:22):
Just again, just to reiterate, don't go in expecting anything
approximating that first movie, right, or any of the other
earlier movies. Right. So you're either down with that or
you're not. I mean, that's that's your fork in the road,
because if you want, you know, a determined human dodging

(01:36:43):
predator gadgets, this is not.

Speaker 1 (01:36:46):
That, although we do get that patented predator thing at
the end where Deck has learned more about his environment
and comes up with clever ways to utilize it, you know,
which is the thing that one of the things I
love most out the first one, you know, where Schwarzenegger
is setting up all the booby traps and yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:37:05):
Now now interestingly now that there was a a animated
anthology that was put up on Disney Plus made by
the same people, Dan Trachtenberg, et cetera called Predator Killer
of Killers. You see this, I haven't. I did not
see it, but the I got the highlights and and
the post credit scene of that show reveals that the

(01:37:29):
Arnold Schwarzenegger character and the Danny Glover character are in
like deep freeze on a predatorship or some such thing. Okay, right,
And apparently they have talked to Schwarzenegger about coming back
at some point, like they had to. They had to
sign off, right, he had to give permission to use likeness,

(01:37:50):
you know, about coming back for something in the future.
And now if you tell me we do like a
like a like a Dutch like old man Dutch teams
up with Deck movie. I'm interested in that absolutely, right, yep,

(01:38:11):
Like he's the mentor figure. Right. That's kind of interesting
in some way. I don't even know how that works,
but as the beginnings of a concept that that's I'm
intrigued by that.

Speaker 1 (01:38:21):
It's almost like Sarah Connor having to work.

Speaker 3 (01:38:23):
With the T eight hundred. Yeah exactly, yeah, right, yeah,
I do well.

Speaker 1 (01:38:29):
I read an interview with Dan Trachtenberg and he said
that he had three ideas for predator films and he's
done the two so far.

Speaker 3 (01:38:37):
Wow, you know, and.

Speaker 1 (01:38:38):
So I and I like that they're wildly different. You know,
the whole Native American woman fighting a predator without you know,
the conveniences of modern weapons. Great idea, this like what
if a predator isn't as tough as the others and
you know, goes out and yeah, learns a little empathy.

(01:38:58):
Interesting and then if we know that, yes, Schwarzenegger and
Danny Glover are frozen on a ship and maybe they
might have to yeah, team up with Deck and go
on some adventure.

Speaker 3 (01:39:07):
Yeah. Different, They're all wildly different, and I think they're
interesting ideas. Well, well, there we go. So in that case,
let's hope this one does perform. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:39:18):
I mean again, this is like low stakes for me,
Like I wanted to perform because I like this filmmaker
so far, and I think it's cool they're taking swings
with this kind of thing instead of just doing remixes
like you were saying about with Romulus. Yeah, so I
would love they're gonna do this. They're gonna mind ip
you know, studio Gunna studio. So if they can you know,

(01:39:41):
shake it up a little bit and pull it off,
that's to me, that's a good thing.

Speaker 3 (01:39:45):
You know. It's It's what I say often with regards
to the Planet of the Apes films, the new the
newer ones, right where it's like, do something different, Yeah,
give me something different with each one. And they've they've
done that with the Ape movies, and I'm like, well,
if if we can put Predator in that same bucket
of just successful enough to leave them alone and let

(01:40:06):
them keep cooking, that's fine with me. Same. Yeah, this
thing it does not need to be for quadrant by
the way, to be mentioned, it'st PG thirteen. No, we
haven't yet. It didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie. No,
I mean you still see Linbs getting cut off. Well

(01:40:27):
that's the funny thing, right. The rationale behind it being Pg.
Thirteen and not are is because well, these are synthetic
people and not people people. And I'm like, doesn't it
feel like we're splitting hairs a little bit? I mean, yeah, right,
because if you're thinking about not terrifying children, uh huh
does that matter if the goo coming out of somebody's

(01:40:49):
gaping wound is milk colored instead of red?

Speaker 1 (01:40:53):
You know, I gotta be honest. I saw Aliens, not
the whole thing, but a chunk of it for the
first time when I was young, and it was on
Fox thirty two on a Saturday afternoon, and seeing.

Speaker 3 (01:41:04):
Uh, what's his name? Bishop at the end Bishop, Yeah,
and he's like mangled in half on the ground in
like coughing up milk. I was like, yeah, ah, yeah, right,
that's what I'm saying, right, Yeah, we gonna take a
little kid to this. Well it's PG thirteen, son, come on,
you know right, it's very Some of the decisions are

(01:41:25):
baffling to me, that's all I'm saying. Yeah, but I
mean in a way.

Speaker 1 (01:41:29):
I mean, if they can hook some younger audiences into
this IP yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:41:35):
I hate that we even have to talk about it
in terms of IP, right.

Speaker 1 (01:41:37):
Like I would be so curious when we started this
in twenty thirteen or whatever, if we could listen to
an episode from the future, it'd be like, what is
that term I'm using? Why am I saying it that way?

Speaker 3 (01:41:47):
Like yeah, seriously, okay, So hey two, I guess it's
two thumbs up for Predator bad Lands. Yeah. Yeah, it's
a low risk, low reward.

Speaker 1 (01:41:57):
I went in not very excited about it, to be honest. Yeah,
And so I was like, oh, like I was trying
to say earlier, I don't know if I said it
well enough, but like this could have just been monsters
fighting monsters and like, okay, but like it actually had
some nice relationships mixed in that made me care about
the characters.

Speaker 3 (01:42:14):
And I was like, hey, well that was fun. It
made you feel things, It made me feel things, that's
all I ask. That's that's not nothing. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:42:22):
Yeah, and we got the fun unique little set pieces too,
like you said, you know, like the legs walking later
on their own to like fight their own battles.

Speaker 3 (01:42:31):
I mean that was fun. Yeah, So well, okay, there
we go. So those are our thoughts on Predator bad Lands.
But hey, let us know what you think. You can
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(01:42:52):
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(01:43:16):
your subscription goes a long way and helping to support
us and helping to sustain producing the show. So if
you're interested in abel, please head over to Patreon dot
com slash Movie Film Podcast and hit subscribe.

Speaker 3 (01:43:28):
We'd be very grateful. Oh and I should say actually
before we tap out the actor who plays Deck. We
did not mention him an well. His name is Demitrius
Schusterklo Matangi and he's from New Zealand and even through
all that you know, crab face business, he certainly he
had presence. I agree, so I want to put some

(01:43:52):
respect on his name. Yeah, if you're listening to this
on YouTube, please hit like and hit subscribe, because that
stuff doesn't matter. Leave a comment on there. We do
respond to those comments. If you're looking for me online,
you can find me online at social media at Zaki's
Corners the Akai s Corner. You can also find me
at the San Francisco Chronicle, where my review of Now
You See Me, Now You Don't will be up shortly

(01:44:14):
after you listen to this episode. You can also read
my reviews at IGN and The Rap What About You Brian.

Speaker 1 (01:44:18):
You can find episodes I've written of Puppy Dog Pals
and Young Jedi Adventures streaming on Disney Plus.

Speaker 3 (01:44:24):
There we go, and with that on behalf of my
partner Brian Hall. My name is Zachie Son. This has
been episode three twenty nine of the Movie Film Podcast.
We will catch you soon. Thanks everybody, Welcome

Speaker 2 (01:44:36):
Friends podcast, podcasting Time, John Jackie again, Bryan Talking Down
podcast on

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