WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.000 The Chili Effect is sponsored by Wallstreet, Windows dot com and listeners like you 2 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:15.119 now and our media O'Kelly. Ah, and look at that. It is 3 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:19.640 May the eighth, twenty twenty four, allegedly according to that thing we call 4 00:00:19.640 --> 00:00:22.800 a calendar. I almost didn't have the date right in my mind. I 5 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:26.079 had to go double check the well, not double check, triple check, 6 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.800 because it's been one of those kind of weeks. To be honest with you, 7 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:33.039 anyway, Wednesday, Wodnesday, middle of the week, as I speak 8 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:35.359 to you live. Of course, most of you will catch this further on 9 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:39.679 down the stream via your final slab of choice, your applicable application, and 10 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:44.479 your podcatcher d joure. That's the way you'll usually hear this show. But 11 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.200 we are live at O'Kelly dot com and on your radio apps and all that 12 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.920 good stuff, so welcome to it no matter how you have come to us. 13 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:56.399 So Wednesday we have Albert Lanier back with us. Now. Usually I 14 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.799 bring mister lanieron to talk about journalism and us in a way. We're going 15 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:06.040 to talk about journalism again today, but it's not going to be exactly as 16 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:11.079 it has been, although we have touched upon the subject of film and entertainment 17 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:17.719 in the past. I find this interesting because mister Lanier's gonna launch a project, 18 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:19.280 or maybe he already has. He's gonna tell us about it in a 19 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:23.959 moment regarding something that he used to do. But when he used to do 20 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.359 it, it was a different time. What do I mean? Well, 21 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.519 Okay, film in general, the industry. We know, the industry has 22 00:01:32.599 --> 00:01:37.359 changed, not because just the technology has changed, but also due to the 23 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:44.120 implementation of social media, the relativity and the ever changing landscape of how movies 24 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:49.719 and entertainment products are marketed, how they're distributed, how they're actually consumed by 25 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:55.760 the consumer streaming services. You can sit at home now and get a first 26 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:00.400 run movie that was the big boogeyman to Hollywood too long ago. Am I 27 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:05.040 going to focus on that? Maybe? Maybe not. There's a lot to 28 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:07.919 unpack here, because there used to be this thing called film critics as well. 29 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:13.280 Some of my friends, some of my good friends, John Barber, 30 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.120 who's been on this show, was a film critic many years. Whole book 31 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:19.919 about it, somebody just put it out. I tried to get John on 32 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.240 recently to talk about that book. He got busy. We'll get him on 33 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:27.919 soon. But he used to do it in La right in the prime spot 34 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:31.039 on TV and all that. And when I was a kid, I do 35 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:36.479 recall these guys, Ciskel and Ebert. Ciskel and Ebert were two guys. 36 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:39.520 They would give a thumbs up or thumbs down to movies and yeah, I 37 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.719 know, Grandpa, that's back in the days when you use something called TV. 38 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:46.439 And the thing weighed four hundred pounds and also was a piece of furniture. 39 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:51.000 Yes, yes, I know, children, calm down. But it 40 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.159 was interesting because we would see previews of movies, we would see ads for 41 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:58.960 movies on TV, on the radio, et cetera. These guys would get 42 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:01.719 to see them before us. Some people in your local newspapers would see him 43 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:06.400 before us. As a matter of fact, those two guys rose to prominence 44 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:10.199 and got that TV show because they were the biggest film critics in Chicago, 45 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.879 and somehow that translated into national audience TV show and they were the big deal. 46 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:21.840 What did Ciskel and Ebert say? In fact, movie ads would be 47 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.120 readjusted. They would come out, the movie would be out there as an 48 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:29.039 ad, and you know, they'd be talking about it and they would say, 49 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:30.280 well, look, you know this is a great film, blah blah 50 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:34.840 blah blah, and Ciskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up or whatever. 51 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:38.960 If it was a positive review, there might be other places, sort of 52 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.080 like when a book comes out the New York Times, is it on the 53 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:46.039 bestseller list or not? That would tell you if it was successful, if 54 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:50.639 it was big. All of that's gone. Now things are instantaneous. They 55 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.879 know right away how many downloads it got. What are the ticket sales reported 56 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:01.240 immediately instantaneously. There's always been bookkeeping and other chicaner redone with the numbers there 57 00:04:01.240 --> 00:04:05.039 in Hollywood, holly weird as it was. I'll tell you a strange thing. 58 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:10.120 Quarter billion tickets sold for Star Trek, the motion picture in nineteen seventy 59 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:15.360 nine, right, and the movie studio basically ran off at the mouth, 60 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:18.120 telling everybody would listen that they had a financial disaster on their hands with Star 61 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:24.120 Trek, even though they sold a quarter billion tickets for that movie and ever 62 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:27.920 after that movie made money, but they said they lost money. A lot 63 00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:30.680 of movies that seemed to take in millions, and indeed, in today's dollars 64 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:35.399 billions seem to lose money, et cetera. Et cetera. Okay, so 65 00:04:35.480 --> 00:04:40.519 the finance, the industry, the business, the idea of critiquing it. 66 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:47.079 Nowadays people have YouTube channels, Instagram, TikTok, whatever, and it's all 67 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:51.560 all all almost an alien world compared to what it was that we grew up 68 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.480 with many many years ago. Get off my loan, I know, but 69 00:04:56.560 --> 00:04:59.839 I'm wondering how it is that a guy who is you don't no offense, 70 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.079 Lanier. You're a little older than me, I think, uh, and 71 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.639 you had a whole career that you se me retired from journalism, et cetera. 72 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:13.319 This this was part of your career as well. And you've always been 73 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:15.839 fascinated by things in entertainment. I can tell that just by talking to here. 74 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:21.000 But odd thing, right, you're like more of the old school guy 75 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:26.720 who recognizes every reference I just dropped regarding the way things used to be regarding 76 00:05:26.759 --> 00:05:30.959 movies. But toyay, today there's a whole other landscape and you're looking to 77 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:38.199 re enter that that that odd world, that that that hollyweird, that other 78 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:41.480 entertainment. And it's not even necessarily I mean, I'm sitting in Georgia, 79 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.680 and believe it or not, we have a significant film and entertainment industry right 80 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:51.079 here in the state of Georgia. Absolutely things have changed. Georgia is one 81 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:57.560 of the major production hub states. A lot of TV shows, reality, 82 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:03.720 maybe some hour law, and certainly movies produced in Georgia. Georgia's come a 83 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:10.319 long way since Dukes of Hazard. I think they filmed the pilot in town 84 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.480 in Georgia. Yeah, and it wasn't Hazard County. Funny thing though, 85 00:06:13.600 --> 00:06:16.879 is that Georgia not only makes live action TV shows. It was famously the 86 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.240 home of the Walking Dead and the Walking Dead universe for many years. But 87 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:24.920 let's be honest, there's a whole Mate in Georgia logo that you see at 88 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.879 the end of a lot of TV shows, tons of animation, Ted Turner's 89 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:31.600 Network and all of the things that shot off of that. Yeah, there's 90 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:34.680 a lot going on in Georgia. Am I here to talk about the you 91 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:39.000 know, the economic changes? No, because at one point there were parts 92 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:43.839 of Canada that it seemed like were more Hollywood than Hollywood. Things change over 93 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.480 time and different states make deals with the industry. But you know what, 94 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:50.439 that's not what we're here to talk about. Even I want to talk to 95 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:56.560 you about the strange change and what makes you want to jump back into an 96 00:06:56.800 --> 00:07:00.839 unrecognizable ocean that you were once in. So, because I'm serious, it's 97 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:04.680 like, it's almost like I want to go back into doing something. I'm 98 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:08.600 going to go back in and get into the video game business. Well when 99 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:11.279 was the last time you were in the video game business, sir? Well, 100 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:14.800 you know pac Man was brand new. No, you are not looking 101 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:17.720 at the same universe, you know what I mean. So I want you 102 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:21.680 to talk to me about that, what has inspired this, and give us 103 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:26.720 an idea about the before and after. And now I'll shut up because I'm 104 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:30.360 just fascinated by your desire to dive into this, and I want you to 105 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:32.680 tell us all about it, so you know how you doing, first of 106 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:36.240 all, and secondly, please lay this out for us, mister Lanier. 107 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:42.240 Well, first of all, I really enjoyed that setup, especially the Star 108 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:48.120 Trek the motion picture, or as those of us who are trekkers sometimes call 109 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:53.279 it, the motionless picture. I call it two thousand and one a Star 110 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:58.839 Trek honysy. But that's that's an aside. But you were kind of delving 111 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:03.399 a little into creative accounting there, Hollywood creative accounting there, oh yes. 112 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:15.160 But as regards to my change, what's occurred is the fact that I have 113 00:08:15.879 --> 00:08:22.480 returned to film writing. Basically, I've been on podcasts and talk shows and 114 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:26.480 radio shows since two thousand and nine, and I guess since I've been interviewed 115 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:33.120 on shows mostly it's been about a variety of other subjects. Very little of 116 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:41.480 it has been film oriented because basically in my twenty two year career as a 117 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:48.519 journalist and a writer, I spent about eight years being a film critic and 118 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:54.240 reviewer. This is from two thousand and two to twenty ten, and before 119 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:58.840 that, starting in nineteen ninety four, which is when I started being a 120 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:03.559 journalist and a writer and a freelance writer, I went and I covered my 121 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:07.720 first film festival as a reporter as a journalist, and after a couple of 122 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:13.679 years where I moved from Honolulu, which is my hometown where I covered my 123 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:20.000 first film festival, and moving to Seattle and LA and I then went to 124 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:24.879 film festivals there just as a regular filmgoer. So I went to the Seattle 125 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:31.279 Film Festival a couple of years, and then I went to AFI for one 126 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.000 one festival at the A five Festival. Okay, so how much is there 127 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:43.039 film institute festivals? How much of that? In nineteen ninety seven and I 128 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:48.440 covered the festival for newsapers for newsapers from about ninety seven to two thousand and 129 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:54.919 one. So my background has been covering film festivals, primarily in regards to 130 00:09:54.399 --> 00:10:01.240 not only being a journalist but also being a later a film critic and reviewer, 131 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.799 which I was. From two thousand and two to ten, I wrote 132 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:09.159 for a film website called Eate It Cool News. I was a contributor to 133 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:16.159 that by now rather infamous film website. Okay, okay, well look it's 134 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.320 not as it's not as infamous as what mister skin or whatever, But yeah, 135 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:26.039 I got you. Yeah, I follow this stuff quick. I have 136 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:30.679 followed things, you know, and believe it or not. I wrote as 137 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:35.120 a reviewer, not so much for films. I did it mainly for music, 138 00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.720 and I think it's a similar kind of situation where you attend live shows, 139 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:43.480 you know, you get the new albums, you try and get advanced 140 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:46.440 copies at certain points. Matter of fact, it's the only professional journalism that 141 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:54.080 I was ever paid for was was writing music articles. I've written JFK stuff 142 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:58.679 for free and only a few articles there and I'm not a big writer. 143 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:01.200 I started life thinking and I might be. I mean, you know, 144 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:05.039 if you go back to my high school and junior high school newspapers, you 145 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:09.960 can find at some point me doing reviews of music, and it's because I 146 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.720 was interested in music. So how much of this was part of your professional 147 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.080 life and how much of this was more or less I don't want to say, 148 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:22.360 a hobby, but more like a just a passionate aspect of your life 149 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:28.120 film the industry itself. And you also mentioned you're going back into being a 150 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:33.759 writer of films, which is different than being a journalist of films or being 151 00:11:33.799 --> 00:11:37.720 a reviewer. So tell me about that a little bit the past for you. 152 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:45.799 Well, in regards to past, it's very interesting because I think when 153 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:50.440 I look back in terms of movies in my life, and I thought about 154 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:56.799 this recently because I'm basically I've launched a brand new substack called Final Cut, 155 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:01.559 which is a film substack. People can go to al Lanier dot substat dot 156 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:05.639 com to check that out, and I'll bring that up later on. But 157 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:11.080 basically, in talking about this and doing interviews about this and talking about films 158 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:18.919 again, it's brought back kind of memories from way back. Basically, my 159 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.639 interest in movies doesn't really stem from watching movies as it does for most people, 160 00:12:26.440 --> 00:12:31.279 or kind of being a fan of movies. When I was a kid, 161 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:35.840 I wasn't really someone who was a pure fan of movie. I like 162 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.399 movies, but I like watching specific movies. I was interested in the movie 163 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:43.440 I was interested in, and I watch it and yeah, I like that 164 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:46.039 movie. But that was about it. When I was twelve or thirteen years 165 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:52.559 old, was back in the early eighties, I happened to see a class 166 00:12:52.679 --> 00:13:00.639 for at my local library. It was literally called movie making course something along 167 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:05.240 that line, okay, and I signed up for it. And my interest 168 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:09.120 in film really stems from learning filmmaking. At the age of twelve and thirteen, 169 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:13.679 I took this course. It was from I think September of nineteen eighty 170 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:20.759 two to about spring of eighty three, and it was every Monday after school, 171 00:13:20.919 --> 00:13:24.320 I guess about three pm or so to get there for my j junior 172 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:31.679 high and I was I learned all the basic shots you know, close up 173 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:37.240 in master shots, you know, wide shots, and various other shots. 174 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:45.200 And I learned various other components of filmmaking. For example, I storyboarded at 175 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:48.600 that age, you know it was working on storyboard. Well that was my 176 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:52.360 next My next question, my hang on, my question, Hang on a 177 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.799 second. My question is your goal with the classes that you were in and 178 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:00.840 what you were trying to do, is this. Were you interested in being 179 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:07.120 a script writer or a director or did you have another specific sort of area 180 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:11.960 of interest that you wanted to get involved with and get your hands on with. 181 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.679 I mean, you could be a set designer, you could be a 182 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.360 lot of different things. From these descriptions, were what was your ultimate goal? 183 00:14:18.399 --> 00:14:20.279 We were you somebody who wanted to write scripts as a writer, That 184 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:24.320 would be the most logical thought. Well, good, well at that age, 185 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:30.240 I was like twelve. At thirteen years old, The reality was I 186 00:14:30.279 --> 00:14:35.360 didn't have As I mentioned before, I didn't have an interest in films to 187 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:37.799 the extent that a lot of people that you've seen do. I didn't have 188 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:43.879 that kind of comprehensive, all embracing, really devoted interest in films. I 189 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:48.559 just like watching certain kinds of films or certain films I was interested in. 190 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:54.240 It was going to that class that made me interested in movies in general, 191 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.120 and eventually it was part of the journey. I hate to use that because 192 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:03.399 it's such a cliche that people us in regards to movies. It's a journey, 193 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:07.159 but it was a journey that led me to eventually become a film critic 194 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:13.960 because I learned all, like I said, the basic shots. I storyboarded. 195 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:18.399 In the class that I was in, everyone had their own project, 196 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:22.720 so and if you weren't working on a project, you were helping out somebody 197 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:26.039 on a project. So I had to shoot b roll. And because we 198 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:28.960 were doing it on video, I didn't learn on film. I learned on 199 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.399 I learned on video. Well that was a video in the eighties, was 200 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:37.279 I don't need to tell you. Well, it was cheaper. It was 201 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:41.639 cheaper. It was more accessible if you were going to go to community college 202 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:45.480 or you were going to go to some sort of you know, auxiliary class, 203 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:48.080 or even work because at that age you could you could work in high 204 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:52.639 school in the av or junior high school in the av well department. Again, 205 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:56.039 I was, I guess I was fairly Again, I was twelve thirteen 206 00:15:56.120 --> 00:16:00.159 years old, right, So I was, I was. I was. 207 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:06.080 It wasn't like into high school if I ever had been in high school because 208 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:08.720 where I was in Hawaii, which is where I'm from. There weren't any 209 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:15.120 film schools. There really weren't any programs. So in a way, I 210 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:18.000 was fortunate that I took this class. It was taught by a guy who 211 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:22.320 owned a video store. It was in another neighborhood. I don't know why 212 00:16:22.360 --> 00:16:26.440 he did it there, but he did it, and you know, it 213 00:16:26.519 --> 00:16:30.480 was over a period of months, and I learned about, you know, 214 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:36.039 all the basics of filmmaking there and that's what prepared me, strangely enough to 215 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.840 be a film critic reviewer, to cover film festivals, to write about film 216 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:45.600 and that's what separates me from I think a lot of people. Okay, 217 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:51.159 so I learned account taking me nowadays with what you see, I don't know 218 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:55.000 that they have a film background. Some people do, but they don't because 219 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:57.519 I have a filmmaking background. That's what I never got to become a student 220 00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.120 filmmaker, right, That's what I'm trying to do. Wasn't any outlet for 221 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:03.080 it, but yeah, that's what I'm trying to get to is that you 222 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:07.359 actually went and delved into the mechanics at that age a little bit how this 223 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:11.720 is done. But you still didn't have an aspiration really as far as being 224 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:17.920 on the creative side, and this led you more into combining it with your 225 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:22.240 Obviously you wanted to be a writer early on as well, so you combined 226 00:17:22.279 --> 00:17:26.880 your two aspirations, your passion for learning the mechanics with Okay, I'm getting 227 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.440 the story. So let's move ahead in your age, because now you know 228 00:17:30.519 --> 00:17:33.440 at some point you start your professional life. You went to school all that, 229 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:38.079 So how does this continue to develop as you get older? Well, 230 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:42.079 interestingly, when I was in high school, I have started writing film reviews 231 00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:51.319 for my high school newsaper, and I also had you know, I was 232 00:17:51.400 --> 00:17:53.680 still at that point interested in possibly being a filmmaker, but I didn't have 233 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:57.079 the outlets for it. I didn't have the reason, the ability because I 234 00:17:57.079 --> 00:18:00.359 didn't have a film camera, I didn't have a video came, I didn't 235 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:03.680 have any means of making movies. So I was able to take that and 236 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:10.640 translated into film reviewing. And in high school I went and I was going 237 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:15.039 to film festivals. When I was fifteen, I went to a film festival, 238 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.440 so that was the first one, and I went to film festivals at 239 00:18:19.480 --> 00:18:22.720 the time I was a junior because I missed one or my sophomore year. 240 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:27.319 My junior year yacht. By the time I was a senior until I graduated 241 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:32.480 college, i'd gone to my local hometown film festival, which was the Hawaii 242 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:37.440 International Film Festival. And I did that initially this as a regular filmgoer, 243 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:41.559 and then in nineteen ninety four, once I became a writer and a journalist, 244 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:45.519 once I became a freelance writer and journalists, I then covered the film 245 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.599 festival, as I mentioned before, And the reason I was able to do 246 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.200 that is because I had been going to film festivals, you know why, 247 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:55.759 for years, and so I was able to take that and pitch it to 248 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.319 the editor of a local newspaper that I was just starting to freelance for, 249 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:06.960 and so it was very convenient. So I would say my involvement in regards 250 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:12.000 to covering film festivals and eventually becoming a film reviewer a film critic was as 251 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:18.079 much about convenience and experience, the experience of having been the film festivals, 252 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:25.720 watching, going to screenings, seeing filmmakers, talking to some filmmakers, and 253 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:30.880 using that as a springboard to freelance work. Okay, so tell tell the 254 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:33.880 listeners, tell the experience. Yeah, yeah, well tell the listeners this. 255 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.839 Why would you bother going to film festivals as opposed to just going to 256 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:44.759 movie theaters or going to see premieres when you could catch them stuff like that. 257 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.160 Why would you bother going to the film festivals? Like, why is 258 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.880 that a big focus? Because you keep mentioning it. What is the difference 259 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:55.680 there for the film festival versus you know, just going to see what the 260 00:19:55.759 --> 00:20:00.559 latest thing is that's in the commercial market or the odds, theed that might 261 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:03.519 be, you know, might have a thematic sort of thing where there's sort 262 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:06.480 of more art house kind of movies running in one place. See, I'm 263 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:08.400 not really you know, I'm used to the idea of New York where everything 264 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:15.039 is right right, and Jersey sort of had that too. So the thing 265 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.440 is in Hawaii, I'm not sure what it's like. Why the film festivals 266 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:22.880 as opposed to again, the regular you know, just general mill that's out 267 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.920 there that anybody can go to and like I said, you could catch the 268 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:30.119 premieres, early releases, et cetera. Why didn't you do that as opposed 269 00:20:30.119 --> 00:20:33.680 to the you know, explain to me why the film festivals or the listeners 270 00:20:33.720 --> 00:20:40.359 really well, for me, for one thing, the film festival that I 271 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:42.480 went to it used to be a free film festival, so that was part 272 00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:45.359 of the reason that I went it. Initially it was a free film festival 273 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:52.519 for a number of years. I think the aspect it relates back to learning 274 00:20:52.559 --> 00:20:55.440 about film. When I was a kid, I had taken the course the 275 00:20:55.480 --> 00:21:00.119 library in a way that was like my film school, but let's call that 276 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:08.599 undergrad What film festivals represented was kind of like graduate school. You know, 277 00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:14.480 you're getting to be in the immersive film environment. So when you're going to 278 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:18.799 a film festival, you're going to X amount of days of screens, of 279 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:23.200 seeing sometimes filmmakers introduce and then take Q and A, of sometimes getting to 280 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:27.279 meet filmmakers, of sometimes getting to meet film critics, as I did at 281 00:21:27.319 --> 00:21:36.640 the festivals I attended and later covered. It's a completely inundated, marinated and 282 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:42.480 immersive experience in terms of filmgoing and in terms of cinema in general. So 283 00:21:44.240 --> 00:21:47.559 you don't get that going to your local theater, because you go and see 284 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:49.640 a movie and then you're back in your life, right, You're back to 285 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:56.240 normal, houndra, mundane, you know, world. But when you're in 286 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:00.119 a film festival environment, you're in a different world for a certain amount of 287 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:03.759 time. That certainly was the case when I covered film festivals both as a 288 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:07.880 writer and as a journalist, and it was mostly the Hawaiian and ash the 289 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:12.279 Hawaiian Film Festival, but there were also smaller festivals. I went to Cinema 290 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:18.200 Paradise, this tiny like Postcard Festival, and a couple others. There used 291 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:22.200 to be a Spring Film Festival and they still have it. So well again, 292 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:32.960 it's that kind of immersive you know, so sort of completely you know, 293 00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:40.359 completely complete experience. I get, I get it. So my next 294 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:44.160 question is this then, Uh, you know, sometimes they have seasonal stuff 295 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:48.440 where you have, like in October, there'll be like horror movie festivals. 296 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:52.920 Uh, you know, there are seasonal movie things that come up or whatever. 297 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:56.039 I don't know if Hawaii does that kind of thing or ends up with 298 00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:00.680 those events, or ends up with the touring events like you know, even 299 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.920 back in the nineties, there would be sometimes these short like limited showings where 300 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:10.519 the filmmakers would travel with their film or even at the conventions. Look Star 301 00:23:10.599 --> 00:23:12.640 Trek, I'll mention it again since you and I have that in common. 302 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:15.119 I mean, it was a great thing when people could go to the Star 303 00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:21.279 Trek convention and there would be a film festival section of the convention where you 304 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:26.119 might get to see something that nobody's seen yet or you know. Roddenberry famously 305 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:29.640 ran around with some of the outtakes and stuff that was never meant to be 306 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:33.160 shown on TV and promoted Star Trek. I mean he did that early. 307 00:23:33.200 --> 00:23:36.400 It went to something nice. He went to like a very early time of 308 00:23:36.480 --> 00:23:40.359 the early days of Star Trek and brought some film from Star Trek. I 309 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.960 think initially he went to a sci fi convention that was just a general one, 310 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:45.599 I think, and was like, hey, I got Star Trek. 311 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:49.079 It's a new thing. And he showed the pilot that was going to go 312 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:53.359 on NBC. People loved it so much he pulled out the pilot they rejected 313 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:57.519 and put it on afterwards, and then took questions and was there to promote. 314 00:23:57.559 --> 00:24:02.680 Did you go to stuff like that as well? I've been to Comic 315 00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:07.359 Con. Yeah, so I've been to several conventions comic I've been to Comic 316 00:24:07.400 --> 00:24:11.319 Con Honolulu, for example, the Comic Con here. I've been there about 317 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:14.680 two or three times. The first time I went to Comic Con Honolulu, 318 00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:18.359 I actually was there as a panelist. I wasn't as there as a regular 319 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:22.920 participant. Okay, I was there. That's a whole other experience, but 320 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:26.559 I was there to talk about TV show. It was a sci fi show 321 00:24:26.640 --> 00:24:30.759 called Sci Fi Channel show called Uika, which I'm a still bit of a 322 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:34.200 fan of, and so I had a kind of different experience. But you're 323 00:24:34.279 --> 00:24:38.200 right about the cons they had that film component, and some of them may 324 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:44.319 still have that aspect, depending on the bigger conventions like San Diego Comic Con 325 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:51.640 and for example. But I would say, again, getting back to wrap 326 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:57.359 up, I now see that my experience again, I think it's in stages 327 00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:03.559 for me in regards to movies, okay, because it's kind of woven in 328 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.720 the fabric of my life. But I've had that kind of balance it with 329 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:14.799 other things. So I took the fact that I got it was weird because 330 00:25:14.839 --> 00:25:21.440 I took this education that I had, this basic grounding and filmmaking that I 331 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:23.960 had when I was a kid, was really young, fairly young, and 332 00:25:25.039 --> 00:25:27.400 I didn't have outlets for it because I didn't have a camera. I didn't 333 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.759 have movie or film video camera. I didn't have other means of making a 334 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:34.920 film, not like today where you can just take a phone and start shooting 335 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.920 stuff, shooting video and editing it on the laptop. Well, indeed, 336 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.960 some people have made entire films off of their phones, which, by the 337 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:47.279 way, just for the listener, you do have a YouTube video up that 338 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:52.480 talks about the creation of this substack. And I'm going to include the link 339 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:57.400 to that YouTube video which is on your YouTube channel. And where's the title? 340 00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:00.279 I had it in front of me a second ago, but it's actually 341 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:03.119 my channel. No, not the youth. Well yeah, tell them about 342 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:07.039 the YouTube channel. Go ahead, tell them about the YouTube channel, and 343 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:10.960 I will get to the special films. So here a brand new substanct outlet 344 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:15.039 to brand new substant called the Final Cut. It'll deal with movies and films, 345 00:26:15.079 --> 00:26:18.440 so you'll get criticism, analysis, maybe some reviews will see go to 346 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:22.759 Alaneer dot substact dot com. There you go. Okay, I didn't meet 347 00:26:22.799 --> 00:26:26.759 it playing, but I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, 348 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:32.559 I did say it better myself. There you have it dramatically incorrect, but 349 00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:37.200 myself said it exactly. So anyway, I'll give you guys the link to 350 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:38.519 that video as well. You just heard some of the audio from it. 351 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:42.079 But uh yeah, but please continue, tell us about, you know, 352 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:45.799 how this evolves in your professional life. Now you've gone on to be a 353 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:51.480 freelance journalist. Some years have gone by and you sort of got away from 354 00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:53.359 this because you had other things to do, you had other things to focus 355 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:56.519 on. So tell us about that now you sort of fell away from it, 356 00:26:56.839 --> 00:27:00.279 and then tell us about going back to it now, please, right, 357 00:27:00.839 --> 00:27:03.759 So, like I mentioned before, I had kind of set up the 358 00:27:03.799 --> 00:27:08.599 fact that from the time I had started as a journalist and as a freelance 359 00:27:08.599 --> 00:27:15.000 writer, I had covered film festivals and I had been to them early on, 360 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:18.559 so it was convenient for me. It was using experience I had attending 361 00:27:18.599 --> 00:27:22.519 screenings and going to them just as a regular filmgoer, and using this as 362 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:26.799 a freelance gig, and you know, you know, using it as a 363 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:32.799 consistent gig every year. And what happened, I think was that eventually, 364 00:27:32.839 --> 00:27:36.440 as I mentioned, I became a film review, film critic, and reviewer 365 00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:41.039 from about two thousand and two to twenty ten. Because I was covering film 366 00:27:41.079 --> 00:27:45.519 festivals, I was a part time film reviewer, so I was only able 367 00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:49.599 to really cover film festivals and review films. When I became a film critic 368 00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:56.599 and reviewer at film festivals. I wasn't a general release film critic, nor 369 00:27:56.640 --> 00:28:02.640 a full time film critic in a way part of me, you know, 370 00:28:03.400 --> 00:28:07.240 years ago I reached a point where I would have liked to have focused just 371 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:11.920 on being a film critic full time and on doing entertainment, and that was 372 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:15.319 something I kind of wanted to do and just going on the festival circuit. 373 00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:21.319 But living where I was in Hawaii, a very expensive state, and being 374 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:26.839 a freelancer financially just was impossible, and I think work wise it really was 375 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:32.839 impossible. I had to focus on getting assignments that would pay and working as 376 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:36.240 much as possible, grabbing as much work. When you're a local, regional 377 00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:37.680 freelancer, you know, you got to work as much as you can. 378 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:45.720 And that's what I did, and I was glad to have the experience to 379 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:52.759 get to film festivals, to meet filmmakers, to interview actors, and which 380 00:28:52.559 --> 00:28:56.759 I talk about actually in my new final cut sub Stack I do it. 381 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:03.519 I have an article there called My Favorite Years where I talk about covering film 382 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:08.039 festivals and in Hawaii and in general and some of the people that I met. 383 00:29:10.160 --> 00:29:14.720 It was a great time. It was a wonderful time. And of 384 00:29:14.759 --> 00:29:18.440 course I have a lot of stories about doing the film, the local film 385 00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:22.200 festival circuit in Hawaii, and being a film critic and reviewer and the people 386 00:29:22.200 --> 00:29:27.599 that I met. One guy I met was John Ritter, who, of 387 00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:33.160 course is people who are fans of Three Company will know star of that sitcom, 388 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:37.839 and in my respect, I was on another show and I was talking 389 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.799 to someone who was a big John Ritter fan. I said, John should 390 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:47.720 have been a movie star. I don't know why he didn't, but somehow 391 00:29:47.720 --> 00:29:52.359 I didn't translate. But I met John Ritter. I got to interview him. 392 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:57.680 So I've had some interesting experience. Briefly met Quentin Tarantino. He had 393 00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:02.039 come to the festival one year. It was one of those situations where it 394 00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:03.720 was kind of I was coming out of a restaurant, he was coming into 395 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:07.480 a restaurant. I said, hey, how how are you introduce myself? 396 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:11.920 We briefly chatted for I think a minute, and I had to move on 397 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:18.359 to a screening. One of the things I say about my background and covering 398 00:30:18.359 --> 00:30:25.519 film festivals was the movie metaphor that I use is back to the future when 399 00:30:25.559 --> 00:30:30.400 Martin mcfought Marty mcflies getting into the DeLorean and try to get back to nineteen 400 00:30:30.440 --> 00:30:33.559 eighty five. That's what it felt like a lot of the time, just 401 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:40.440 hurried and busy and trying to put the pedal to the medal and get to 402 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:47.799 screenings and get to a hotel to interview someone. So Quentin Tarantino. I 403 00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:59.079 briefly met Jeez Pat Marita Karate Kid. That was interesting. Happy. I 404 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:03.119 was at a party, Happy Days, Happy Days, and a whole other 405 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:08.440 career before he was at I don't know what the movie he was involved with, 406 00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:11.240 but he was at a party. I was at some party and he 407 00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:15.119 was there, and I had to go off to some screening. Again. 408 00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:18.160 I was always going to some screening or added to an interview or added to 409 00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:22.519 a party when I was covering film vessels. And I thought, I'll go 410 00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:26.240 up to him and I'll meet him. And I did, and the guy 411 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:32.680 never made eye contact with me. He was like looking everywhere but in front 412 00:31:32.839 --> 00:31:37.480 of me. Uh. It was really interesting, polite. He shook my 413 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:40.599 hand and I was great, but it was like, oh yeah, yeah, 414 00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:45.480 I began to feel like Crease in that movie The Karate Kid. People 415 00:31:45.640 --> 00:31:51.160 understand what I mean, but yeah, that was an interesting experience meeting bat 416 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:59.200 Marita. You know, let me see Tony Collette, and people are fans 417 00:31:59.240 --> 00:32:02.079 of the movie Terry and some of the other movies she's done. I remember 418 00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:07.759 meeting her years ago. I think she was a juror at the film Festival, 419 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:09.759 and I had seen her in a movie I think a couple of years 420 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:14.319 before called Muriel's Wedding. I think that was one of her first big movies, 421 00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:17.920 and it was actually I think the first year that I covered the festival 422 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:22.480 in ninety four. I had gone to the screening and I liked the movie 423 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:27.799 a lot because I had seen some dogs, some terrible movies, and by 424 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:30.640 the time I got to that day, the morning screening for that, it 425 00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:36.480 was like great. And that's how film festivals were. You get in the 426 00:32:36.519 --> 00:32:39.559 morning, sometimes you have a bad screening, or get to the afternoon maybe 427 00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:44.599 you have a better screening or better film. Interesting, but I spoke to 428 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:52.480 her. She was very pleasant lady to see. I met Roger Corman. 429 00:32:52.119 --> 00:33:00.799 Roger Roger Corman was interesting. I remember we were at a nightclub and I 430 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:05.279 think he was there for a tribute at the festival. I think on a 431 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:07.079 neighbor island. He's going to go to Neabor Island. But we had a 432 00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:14.160 conversation. I think I met Roger and his wife Julie, and I asked 433 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:17.359 him at one point, I said, how come the studios don't do what 434 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:23.200 you did, and that is like make cheaper movies and you know, make 435 00:33:23.319 --> 00:33:28.079 leaner movies. And he said, well, that's because they don't want to 436 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:36.200 spend one hundred thousand dollars to make seven hundred thousand dollars. Probably right, 437 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:38.759 So, okay, there's a lot to the financial elements of this. There's 438 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:45.319 a lot to it. But anyway, so you mentioned about writing, though, 439 00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:49.079 and it sounded to me like you were talking about actually getting involved in 440 00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:53.279 content creation and not just being a film critic at the beginning. Did I 441 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:59.039 misunderstand you? No, yeah, you did. I'm not interested in being 442 00:33:59.079 --> 00:34:02.960 a screenwriter. No. I lived in LA a couple times. I lived 443 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:08.960 in LA in the nineties and I lived in the late two thousands, first 444 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:15.480 decade of the two thousands, and in the nineties when I was in LA, 445 00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:20.159 I would get bothered by the average individual. I don't think these were 446 00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:22.880 people that worked in the industry, and like I'm sure they didn't. I 447 00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:25.519 would get bothered by people who were who found out I was a writer, 448 00:34:25.559 --> 00:34:28.599 and they say, well, do you write scripts? I would say no, 449 00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:30.440 said well, you should be writing scripts. I'm like, no, 450 00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:34.239 I don't really want to write scripts. I don't want to be a screenwriter. 451 00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:37.920 And they would look at me like I was crazy or something. And 452 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:40.920 I was always bothered at times by people that'd be like, you should be 453 00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:45.719 writing scripts. Why aren't you writing for TV? You know? So that 454 00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:51.400 kind of drove me nuts. I liked living in La but I that part 455 00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:54.199 of living in La So I've never wanted to be a screenwriter. I had 456 00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:59.719 thought about being a filmmaker many years ago, but I never I don't want 457 00:34:59.719 --> 00:35:01.519 to be a screenwriter. I mean, what I know about the industry and 458 00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:06.400 what I've found out over the is I really don't want to. Especially after 459 00:35:06.440 --> 00:35:09.519 this past writer strike. I'm like, nah, I'm fine. Yeah, 460 00:35:09.519 --> 00:35:13.639 but if you're lucky enough to get you know, if you're lucky enough to 461 00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:17.800 swim through the ocean, because I mean there's literally like millions of people trying 462 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:22.679 to be screenwriters. It seems like, you know, they're everywhere you go. 463 00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:25.320 If you're in La certain parts of LA and all the surrounding cities. 464 00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:29.159 Everyone. I mean, there are a lot of people that want to be 465 00:35:29.599 --> 00:35:36.519 directors, producers, actors, actresses, you know, anything in that business. 466 00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:42.480 And I was one of those people that came to LA to continue to 467 00:35:42.519 --> 00:35:45.840 be a freelance writer and journalists. So I wasn't one of those people. 468 00:35:45.960 --> 00:35:51.639 And it's hard to kind of for some people, it was hard for them 469 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:55.440 to understand that in La. Not anywhere else it's fine, but in LA, 470 00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:59.719 I mean, Las are very different. I'll be rudely honest. People 471 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:02.480 don't really understand LA. If you haven't lived there, you don't get it. 472 00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:08.199 I mean, what you see in movies about a Los Angeles and TV 473 00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:15.880 shows is not It is a myth. It isn't the real La. I 474 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:20.840 mean it, and it's really kind of complicated to go into. But that's 475 00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:23.119 one of the things I've noticed on social media in fact, and talking to 476 00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:30.079 people who people who talk about like, I've lived in LA twice and it's 477 00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:35.920 very rare to see a movie or a TV show deal with how California, 478 00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:39.840 how Los Angeles really is. And one of the things I was confronted with 479 00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:45.000 people bothering me a love writing the scripts when I was twenty six years old. 480 00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:50.880 I just didn't care about it. I must have been unusual in la 481 00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:52.960 and that I went, yeah, I don't want to be a screenwriter. 482 00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:58.800 Yeah, because I'm you know, I needed to write articles that made me 483 00:36:58.880 --> 00:37:02.320 money. I had to survive. What is writing a screenplay that's you know, 484 00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:07.320 that's not going to make you any money hoping somebody options it. I 485 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:10.280 don't think so. But look, it never occurred to me. But it's 486 00:37:10.320 --> 00:37:14.639 strange that its a very different place. It's like any other you know, 487 00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:17.679 art okay, where you get into the especially in entertainment, but any sort 488 00:37:17.719 --> 00:37:22.880 of artistic endeavor. Quite honestly, there's a certain point at which you're going 489 00:37:22.920 --> 00:37:27.960 in there. You're gonna do this regardless of whether somebody buys it or not, 490 00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:30.039 okay, and it's just something that you're gonna do. Now. You 491 00:37:30.119 --> 00:37:34.239 got to survive in the meantime, which is why there's a you know, 492 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:37.320 like I said, a million stories of the waiter that tries to you know, 493 00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:42.320 approach people with a script and this and that you can hear those stories 494 00:37:42.360 --> 00:37:44.639 all the time, or like you know, they meet a film star and 495 00:37:44.679 --> 00:37:46.280 say, oh, you know, i'd be great in your next movie because 496 00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:51.079 they want to be an actor or whatever. Hey, listen, I direct 497 00:37:51.079 --> 00:37:52.960 stuff. I'm a great director. I went to film school. You know. 498 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:55.719 I know I'm washing your car right now, but I went to film 499 00:37:55.760 --> 00:37:59.599 school. I'd be good to work with you on your next show, et 500 00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:05.079 cetera, et cetera. All kinds of people's totally alien to me. I 501 00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:07.360 have to be honest that that's stuff I've seen in movies and TV shows, 502 00:38:07.400 --> 00:38:14.599 but also on YouTube and other places. I was never any you know, 503 00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:17.960 because I was just when I lived in LA. I was a freelance writer 504 00:38:19.039 --> 00:38:22.039 and journalist. I wrote for a living. That's what I did. So 505 00:38:22.960 --> 00:38:28.960 unless you experience that kind of aspect, it's totally alien and removed from me, 506 00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:31.639 and it totally is. I mean, it's maybe that's why I don't 507 00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:37.039 talk about living in LA that much, because I don't have those stories. 508 00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:40.320 You know, Like I saw people that were actors. I didn't bother them. 509 00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:44.400 I left them alone because I'm like, they want their privacy. I 510 00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:47.599 want. The only time I met actors is really covering film festivals. I 511 00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.400 didn't go out of my way to meet actors when I was in LA or 512 00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:54.239 anybody, even if I saw them on the Streen. It was just they 513 00:38:54.440 --> 00:38:58.519 they went their way. I went my way, right, you know. 514 00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:01.719 But that's a whole theme. I could talk about la. That would be 515 00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:08.480 a whole other episode. Getting back, I think to my experience in terms 516 00:39:08.519 --> 00:39:19.000 of writing about films, and you know, I think it was interesting because 517 00:39:19.039 --> 00:39:25.960 I wrote for this this website, eighty cool News, and it was interesting 518 00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:30.920 to me being a film finally being a film critic. I wasn't looking to 519 00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:34.760 be a film critical reviewer. I liked kind of covering film festivals because it 520 00:39:34.800 --> 00:39:37.719 was easy for me. Initially, all I had to do was like write 521 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:40.320 a round up article for this local newspaper. You know. I'd go and 522 00:39:40.360 --> 00:39:44.960 do ten or or whatever, eleven or twelve days and then write one article 523 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:46.519 and I was done. But once I went over to eighty Coole, I 524 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:52.280 was writing reviews, I was writing coverage. I was just exhausted. So 525 00:39:54.039 --> 00:39:59.360 and that was kind of an interesting place. Eighty Cool. I was a 526 00:39:59.440 --> 00:40:04.039 contributor, so I didn't know half the things that were going on at its 527 00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:10.039 hub in Austin. Well, yeah, but there was controversy behind the scenes 528 00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:14.159 with that, right, It wasn't necessarily the material that was going out on 529 00:40:14.199 --> 00:40:17.519 the site or am I misremembering? Well it was? It was. You 530 00:40:17.599 --> 00:40:23.599 know the thing about in okool ones. It was kind of a groundbreaking film 531 00:40:23.639 --> 00:40:28.199 site. I think it started about ninety six or so. I didn't start 532 00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:30.719 writing for it until two thousand and two. I didn't know anything about inocool 533 00:40:30.920 --> 00:40:35.559 because I really didn't know anything about websites. I didn't I wasn't an internet 534 00:40:35.599 --> 00:40:37.760 guy, right. I went online, but I didn't really go on a 535 00:40:37.760 --> 00:40:40.719 lot of sites and so forth. I knew nothing about film site. I'm 536 00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:45.400 trying to remember if Rotten Tomatoes was around. Oh yeah, well I in 537 00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:50.199 the nineties. Today you have that, But there used to be what film 538 00:40:50.280 --> 00:40:54.679 Threat magazine. A lot of magazines transferred or translated into websites at a certain 539 00:40:54.719 --> 00:40:59.920 point because there used to be entertainment weekly in magazines like that, that were 540 00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:02.920 the places people went for film reviews. What are they saying about the film 541 00:41:02.960 --> 00:41:07.760 that's coming out? That's great? Right? You have Variety and Hollywood Reporter, 542 00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:10.880 and i'd met I certainly have met people from Variety when I was covering 543 00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:15.800 blon festivals, right, Doctor Chatman, and in New York and in New 544 00:41:15.920 --> 00:41:17.480 York and in New York. If you wanted cutting edge stuff, you went 545 00:41:17.480 --> 00:41:21.719 to the Village Voice, which you know, was cutting edge on a cultural 546 00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:24.920 on a cultural scale all up and down the spectrum. But when it came 547 00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:29.320 to you know, brand new films or lesser known films, or you know, 548 00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:32.119 deep intellectual dives into things, you could go to the Village Boys get 549 00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:36.719 their film reviews. And on top of it, there was also just the 550 00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:42.920 newspapers, right each many newspapers had their own like many celebrities that it was 551 00:41:42.920 --> 00:41:45.199 like, well, what are they saying about this film? Like I said, 552 00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:49.880 Ciskel and Ebert were like the forerunners for that, and they were just 553 00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:52.559 big and famous coming out of Chicago. But New York had their version of 554 00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:58.639 Cisco and Ebert, La had their versions. You know Texas like Dallas and 555 00:41:58.960 --> 00:42:02.239 every big city pretty much had a big film reviewer. Yes, that's right. 556 00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:09.039 I think that's essentially correct. And I actually knew Roger Ebert. I 557 00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:15.480 had met Roger Ebert when I was actually seventeen years old, and it was 558 00:42:15.519 --> 00:42:20.719 at a screening of Citizen Kane at the Hawaii Theater in downtown Honolulu. It's 559 00:42:20.760 --> 00:42:23.960 the first time I met Roger Ebert because he was doing one of his patented 560 00:42:24.360 --> 00:42:30.360 scene by seeing laser disc analyzes of Citizen Kane at the University of Hawaii at 561 00:42:30.360 --> 00:42:34.800 Manoa, which I went to, and that was when I first met him 562 00:42:34.920 --> 00:42:38.760 and I got to talk to Roger. Over the years, Roger would come 563 00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:43.280 to the festival. He loved the Hawaii Film Festival, and I see him 564 00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:47.760 at the press conference that he would always he always had time for me to 565 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:52.559 interview him. And that's one of the memories that I have of Roger. 566 00:42:53.039 --> 00:42:57.159 You know, there are people online, you know Rogers past. He died 567 00:42:57.199 --> 00:43:02.760 of cancer, of course, but you know people who don't like Roger Ebert 568 00:43:02.920 --> 00:43:08.360 or they don't agree with his views of a number of movies, and I'm 569 00:43:08.400 --> 00:43:14.159 biased. I got to talk to Roger and got you know, I knew 570 00:43:14.199 --> 00:43:20.159 him a little and he you know, it's a little hard for me to 571 00:43:20.199 --> 00:43:22.880 talk now about it because I haven't thought about this in a while, but 572 00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:29.440 you know, for me, he was such not only not only was a 573 00:43:29.559 --> 00:43:34.280 very good writer, an excellent writer, a good news saperman, but I 574 00:43:34.360 --> 00:43:38.039 thought he was a thoughtful critic and he was always good to me personally as 575 00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:43.519 another journalist and as a writer. So I have very fond memories of Roger 576 00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:47.400 Ebert, and you know that could be a whole other show talking about Roger 577 00:43:47.480 --> 00:43:52.199 Ebert. Yeah, absolutely, his impact on the movies. So let's let's 578 00:43:52.280 --> 00:43:54.480 let's get back to the meat of this here, okay, because okay, 579 00:43:54.519 --> 00:43:58.760 now we've heard a lot about your background, your passion, what you've been 580 00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:01.480 into, hints about your your career, and your experiences in the past with 581 00:44:01.559 --> 00:44:05.800 this. So now you have this substack. Tell us. I mean, 582 00:44:05.880 --> 00:44:08.159 look, I hate to say this because it's gonna don't take this the wrong 583 00:44:08.199 --> 00:44:12.440 way, but I swear to God, I'm getting inundated. Everybody and their 584 00:44:12.480 --> 00:44:15.960 mother's got a substack right now, and they all have different reasons for it, 585 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:19.480 and they all have different reasons for why they're special. Now, I 586 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:22.159 pay attention to certain people. I pay attention to your writing because it's good 587 00:44:22.159 --> 00:44:28.840 writing, okay, and I pay attention to subjects I care about. Tell 588 00:44:28.880 --> 00:44:34.239 me what is the purpose? What is special about Albert Lamier's film Substack? 589 00:44:34.920 --> 00:44:38.280 The final cut it's called the final cut or just final cut. It's final 590 00:44:38.320 --> 00:44:44.239 cut, final cut. Basically, final cut is for me a return to 591 00:44:44.320 --> 00:44:51.599 film writing. I left film criticism and reviewing in twenty ten. In my 592 00:44:51.840 --> 00:44:54.239 article my favorite years. I talk a little about why that happened. I 593 00:44:55.679 --> 00:45:00.039 had to write another article during a film festival one year, and I was 594 00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:06.639 so exhausted with coming home after midnight of covering a festival and having to transcribe 595 00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:08.599 an interview and all that, I got tired. So I took a break 596 00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:13.239 in twenty ten, twenty ten with my last film festivals, I took a 597 00:45:13.239 --> 00:45:16.280 break not only from film festivals but also from reviewing and being a critic. 598 00:45:17.360 --> 00:45:23.880 And so it is a return to film writing for me. And it's a 599 00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:30.360 return that I think has kind of been in stages, much like going to 600 00:45:30.400 --> 00:45:37.920 film festivals and eventually becoming a journalist covering film festivals and then a film critic. 601 00:45:37.119 --> 00:45:42.800 Was I made the decision to actually try to return to film writing and 602 00:45:43.079 --> 00:45:54.159 movies and entertainment in twenty nineteen. And what happened was that I sort of 603 00:45:54.239 --> 00:45:58.440 weighted in. At the time, I was writing a blog, I know, 604 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:00.440 you know, my blog that used to be on medium dot com, 605 00:46:00.559 --> 00:46:07.800 which was about media and current events, and so I consider doing a film 606 00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:15.519 blog, but I didn't really want to. And then so what I did 607 00:46:15.639 --> 00:46:22.000 was start to slowly get back in to the grid. So to speak into 608 00:46:22.039 --> 00:46:28.159 the world of film. I was on a show called Crooked Table the podcast, 609 00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:32.199 the Film Podcast, where I analyzed Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. And 610 00:46:32.320 --> 00:46:37.800 from that point on, I've become a film analyst, not a film critic, 611 00:46:37.880 --> 00:46:39.920 not a reviewer, which I've already done, but an analyst. So 612 00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:45.920 what I've done over the years is I take older movies and I assess them, 613 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:47.960 I analyze them, I dissect them, and I've done that on shows. 614 00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:52.239 I've done it on this show. I did an episode where I had 615 00:46:52.280 --> 00:46:57.360 dissected about four movies dealing with journalism. I think one of them was Killed 616 00:46:57.360 --> 00:47:00.880 the Messenger. In fact, I think another was All the President's Men. 617 00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:07.079 So I've been doing that since twenty nineteen, but that hasn't been like a 618 00:47:07.119 --> 00:47:13.119 full commitment. I haven't really been able to do so. Strangely enough, 619 00:47:13.599 --> 00:47:16.280 it was watching like three horror movies in a row. I don't know why 620 00:47:16.320 --> 00:47:20.159 it was horror movies. It was three horror movies in a row. One 621 00:47:20.239 --> 00:47:24.320 was Humanoid to the Deep, another was David Cronenberg's Rabbit. Another was a 622 00:47:24.360 --> 00:47:30.599 movie called Chopping Mall by Jim Way Norrison, and I saw, Yeah, 623 00:47:30.719 --> 00:47:32.920 I saw these films, and I kept thinking about them because I didn't normally 624 00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:37.159 think about movies after I saw them, and I thought, you know what, 625 00:47:37.760 --> 00:47:44.039 I think it's time, So well are you going to have made the 626 00:47:44.079 --> 00:47:49.679 decision to set up final cut? And I have about four, I guess 627 00:47:49.760 --> 00:47:53.400 about four pieces of content and it's all film content, but different kinds of 628 00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:58.880 film content. So my first essay is my first piece is an essay on 629 00:47:58.960 --> 00:48:04.320 Quentin Tarantino's of Our Dogs called Dishonor Among Thieves. The second is My Favorite 630 00:48:04.360 --> 00:48:07.320 Years, which is a personal essay about covering film festivals. The second is 631 00:48:07.360 --> 00:48:14.280 a footo album that shows me at film festivals with actors in some celebrities. 632 00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:17.440 And the last one is more recent. I did an interview with an actress 633 00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:22.840 based in Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada called Ali b. So I'm looking 634 00:48:22.840 --> 00:48:25.559 to get back. I know that I have a piece I want to write 635 00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:30.760 about William Freakin's to Live and Die in La I want to get to So 636 00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:36.599 for me, it's been a long time coming. You know, it's finally 637 00:48:36.679 --> 00:48:38.440 been able to do this. I just I think I've had other things that 638 00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:43.639 I've done and I haven't really just been able to do it. Part of 639 00:48:43.679 --> 00:48:47.639 it is I've been retired from journalism since twenty seventeen, and when I was 640 00:48:47.639 --> 00:48:52.239 a journalist, I had the multitask. When I was a freelance writer, 641 00:48:52.239 --> 00:48:55.519 I had to get things done all the time, otherwise nothing would get done. 642 00:48:55.599 --> 00:49:00.679 And now that I've been retired, I can just focus on a project 643 00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:04.639 or on something, and so that slows things down because I'm not in a 644 00:49:04.679 --> 00:49:07.719 hurry. I'm not in a rush right now. I think that's been a 645 00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:08.639 great deal of it. Well, let me ask you this. Are you 646 00:49:08.679 --> 00:49:12.880 gonna do all classic content? Are we going to go with a lot of 647 00:49:12.920 --> 00:49:15.159 throwbacks, a lot of movies from the past, or are you going to 648 00:49:15.239 --> 00:49:20.400 get into some brand new releases or are you gonna mix it up? What's 649 00:49:20.440 --> 00:49:25.039 the direction of this going to be In the future For Final Cut, I'm 650 00:49:25.079 --> 00:49:31.719 looking to do possibly a retro review. I'm looking maybe because I recently took 651 00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:35.519 some time off, about a week off, and I was watching stuff on 652 00:49:35.719 --> 00:49:38.719 streaming. I caught up to some films I hadn't seen before. So I'm 653 00:49:38.760 --> 00:49:45.199 thinking of possibly reviewing doing like an old just like I analyzed movies, maybe 654 00:49:45.639 --> 00:49:50.880 possibly like a retro review. I'm thinking about it. Most of what I'm 655 00:49:50.880 --> 00:49:55.159 doing is continuing what I'm doing now, which is analyzing movies, doing analytical 656 00:49:55.280 --> 00:50:01.039 essays. Maybe I'll do a interview here and there. We'll see. But 657 00:50:01.679 --> 00:50:07.159 in terms of new movies, I don't know if I if I decided to 658 00:50:07.199 --> 00:50:12.239 come out of retirement and become a journalist again, I'm interested in possibly writing 659 00:50:12.239 --> 00:50:16.920 for film magazines or entertainment magazines, so I might do that in terms of 660 00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:21.599 new content or new films. I don't want to call it content new films, 661 00:50:22.239 --> 00:50:25.360 but maybe for publications. I don't know if I'll do it for You 662 00:50:25.360 --> 00:50:28.800 don't know if you'll do it for this. Okay, well you think you'll 663 00:50:28.800 --> 00:50:32.119 write about TV shows or just you know, films, you know, motion 664 00:50:32.199 --> 00:50:35.840 picture? What do they even call it? At this point, it's it's 665 00:50:35.880 --> 00:50:37.840 just films. I don't do TV. No TV, Okay, I'm not 666 00:50:37.880 --> 00:50:42.079 a TV credit well, you know, but there's a bit of a blurry 667 00:50:42.159 --> 00:50:45.679 line right where you got like made for TV movies too, right, which 668 00:50:45.719 --> 00:50:49.280 is it's a movie, but it really wasn't made to be, you know. 669 00:50:50.639 --> 00:50:52.679 So and even with retro stuff, you might have full length things that 670 00:50:52.760 --> 00:50:58.239 are films, but they weren't made for the theater. You're looking to go 671 00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:00.800 at things that were made for the theater that are full on films only, 672 00:51:01.199 --> 00:51:07.920 and it's going to be I'm looking at to look at movies and films, 673 00:51:07.960 --> 00:51:13.239 whether it's on streaming released for you know, like Netflix or whatever. If 674 00:51:13.320 --> 00:51:15.800 I were to write for publications, if I write for magazines, and I 675 00:51:15.800 --> 00:51:20.480 don't know about newspapers, I don't know how many newspapers around anymore. But 676 00:51:20.599 --> 00:51:23.119 if I were to write for publications again, that's what I would be doing. 677 00:51:23.119 --> 00:51:29.480 I'd be doing the newer stuff cut I would be doing if I review 678 00:51:29.639 --> 00:51:34.360 for Final Cut, I'm looking at retro review like doing older stuff. So 679 00:51:34.559 --> 00:51:37.039 you're doing retro reviews for you. You're open to the idea you'll take a 680 00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:43.559 job doing the newer stuff, but generally speak if I'm offered it. You 681 00:51:43.559 --> 00:51:46.239 know, if there are no magazines or publications out there I'm looking at, 682 00:51:46.400 --> 00:51:50.639 you know, I would. I would co matter of retirement and I would 683 00:51:50.719 --> 00:51:53.960 do it. You know, I'll state my email right now. My email 684 00:51:54.119 --> 00:52:00.679 is at imperious reader at gmail dot com, so if they want to contact 685 00:52:00.719 --> 00:52:05.239 me, they can contact me there. There you can know if anybody from 686 00:52:05.239 --> 00:52:08.679 a film, magazine or or a film website or whatever listening to this, 687 00:52:08.840 --> 00:52:14.719 but you never know, they can you never never know. Do me a 688 00:52:14.719 --> 00:52:17.679 favorite and and send me send me your email address, because I won't remember 689 00:52:17.679 --> 00:52:21.039 it from the way you just put it out there. Send it to me, 690 00:52:21.320 --> 00:52:24.280 uh in our message. We'll do that after this, after this, 691 00:52:24.920 --> 00:52:29.519 after the show, right obviously, but send it to me there so I 692 00:52:29.519 --> 00:52:31.239 can make sure to include it with the podcast. And I'm also going to 693 00:52:31.320 --> 00:52:36.840 include a link to the substack. I'm gonna include a link to the to 694 00:52:36.920 --> 00:52:39.760 the YouTube video that you did explaining about this a bit, the one that 695 00:52:39.800 --> 00:52:44.599 I played a clip from just a few minutes or some minutes ago whatever now, 696 00:52:45.280 --> 00:52:50.679 but either way, final cut, And it's at Albert Lanier substack dot 697 00:52:50.719 --> 00:52:58.000 com, right, and actually it's aller is another substack, so it's alanear 698 00:52:58.599 --> 00:53:02.199 dot substack dot com. Well, I'll have the correct link, exactly. 699 00:53:02.239 --> 00:53:07.920 I'll have the correct link. People going to my other substack, which is 700 00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:14.199 Albert Lemier dot substant God at the articles there too. Yeah, no, 701 00:53:14.400 --> 00:53:19.679 obeah, you know, you know I have to say this again. It's 702 00:53:19.960 --> 00:53:24.360 kind of like in a sense in regards to the film world, it's like 703 00:53:24.519 --> 00:53:30.440 Rip van Winkle, like I've woken up and it's you were saying earlier. 704 00:53:30.480 --> 00:53:35.679 It's a brand new film world. And I think the points that you made 705 00:53:35.719 --> 00:53:40.159 I think were interesting points, because I I when I left it was twenty 706 00:53:40.199 --> 00:53:44.760 ten, it was a whole different kind of world, you know, being 707 00:53:44.840 --> 00:53:47.800 a film critic and reviewer, I think meant something, and I don't want 708 00:53:47.800 --> 00:53:52.360 to say it means nothing, but I think a lot has been lost, 709 00:53:52.480 --> 00:53:58.800 even about ten fourteen years, nearly fourteen years, it's a very different environment. 710 00:53:59.559 --> 00:54:04.239 And I think part of this is the Internet environment. And I think 711 00:54:04.320 --> 00:54:07.840 the problem that I see is that what you have or are a lot of 712 00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:14.079 film pretenders and not film reviewers. I think the problem with the Internet and 713 00:54:14.840 --> 00:54:19.079 not so much social media. Social media is okay, but it's the YouTube 714 00:54:19.119 --> 00:54:22.239 and TikTok. Because I had heard about movie Talk I was on another show 715 00:54:22.280 --> 00:54:28.360 and having a discussion about it. I mean, what little I've been able 716 00:54:28.400 --> 00:54:36.199 to see since last year, I have to say I'm not impressed. There 717 00:54:36.199 --> 00:54:38.159 are some people that are doing good work on YouTube, and there are a 718 00:54:38.199 --> 00:54:43.480 couple of YouTube channels that I go to, you know that I look at. 719 00:54:44.079 --> 00:54:49.239 Be Time Rewind is one you have. Oliver Parker's retrospective reviews. If 720 00:54:49.280 --> 00:54:53.800 that's a good one. James Whale bakes sale. So I want to note 721 00:54:53.800 --> 00:54:58.679 these because I think they're important ones. But you have a lot of these 722 00:54:58.920 --> 00:55:05.920 other unfortun What you have is this right and kind of right wing wacko conspiratorial 723 00:55:06.119 --> 00:55:13.360 clowns that are really they really hate movies. That's the weird part. These 724 00:55:13.440 --> 00:55:17.119 right wingers hate movies, and they hate these Marvel movies in DC and these 725 00:55:17.159 --> 00:55:22.400 other pieces of entertainment and resent strong female characters. It's bizarre to me. 726 00:55:22.800 --> 00:55:27.480 Well, you know what I like some of the world. Yeah, you 727 00:55:27.519 --> 00:55:30.239 know, I mean, just think about it. Is this a lot of 728 00:55:30.239 --> 00:55:34.480 these people on YouTube and TikTok they need to get the hell off. Well 729 00:55:34.519 --> 00:55:37.400 they're not qualified, see, but here you go. They need to get 730 00:55:37.400 --> 00:55:38.800 off. They need to get off. But here we go. We have 731 00:55:38.840 --> 00:55:43.840 an open world right where it's still available to everybody personally. You know what 732 00:55:43.920 --> 00:55:46.039 I like is some of the some of the specialists out there that stick to 733 00:55:46.079 --> 00:55:51.880 one genre and they just talk about that one thing, and you know, 734 00:55:51.960 --> 00:55:53.960 some of them are very good at it and others are not so good. 735 00:55:54.280 --> 00:55:57.480 But I mean, even some of the comedic ones, like one of my 736 00:55:57.519 --> 00:56:01.559 favorite ones dealing with films is cinema of sins and cinema sins. Yeah, 737 00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:04.920 I've heard of it. Yeah, I mean, but that's a comedy thing. 738 00:56:05.159 --> 00:56:07.679 They're making fun of the movies. They actually write they like movies, 739 00:56:07.920 --> 00:56:12.760 but they're also making fun of it, and they make light of a lot 740 00:56:12.800 --> 00:56:14.960 of stuff, and they make, you know, light of the fact that 741 00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:19.440 they're repeated tropes and there are mistakes in the movies and silly things. And 742 00:56:20.079 --> 00:56:22.559 I love that because they're having fun with it. And to be honest with 743 00:56:22.599 --> 00:56:27.639 you, I've actually been motivated to see some movies that they made fun of 744 00:56:27.719 --> 00:56:31.000 on there after the jokes because I wanted to see the whole thing. So, 745 00:56:31.239 --> 00:56:34.599 believe it or not, it actually, even though you know they're taking 746 00:56:34.639 --> 00:56:37.760 ten minutes to you know, bust the movies chops, they're actually motivating me 747 00:56:37.840 --> 00:56:43.079 to want to see the thing. And I that is kind of a part 748 00:56:43.079 --> 00:56:46.199 of it. But here's just to kind of, you know, sort of 749 00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:51.280 bring in a couple aspects. One the online aspect and also the state of 750 00:56:51.320 --> 00:56:55.119 the industry. The problem that I see in the time that I've been away 751 00:56:55.199 --> 00:57:00.599 and that I'm now coming back to somewhat is that you have have a lot. 752 00:57:00.719 --> 00:57:05.360 It's a DIY kind of world because of YouTube, because of TikTok, 753 00:57:05.440 --> 00:57:10.239 because of online platforms, not websites per se, but a lot of video 754 00:57:10.280 --> 00:57:16.280 sharing platforms. You have people like critical Drinker and Asthma Gold. I think 755 00:57:16.280 --> 00:57:22.400 his name is a neurotic, I mean critical jerker. I looked at a 756 00:57:22.519 --> 00:57:25.320 video from this guy. I didn't know anything about him. This guy knows 757 00:57:25.360 --> 00:57:32.639 nothing about movies. I mean, this man is essentially a political ideologue. 758 00:57:34.559 --> 00:57:39.639 He's and that's fine. A lot of these right wing conservative types should be 759 00:57:39.679 --> 00:57:45.000 talking about politics and not movies because they hate movies. They rail against superhero 760 00:57:45.079 --> 00:57:49.760 movies and comic book movies and other types of movies. And my response to 761 00:57:49.800 --> 00:57:53.920 that is, why are you making these videos? To be a film reviewer, 762 00:57:54.559 --> 00:57:58.920 and to be a film critic, as I was, means a love 763 00:57:58.960 --> 00:58:04.079 of movies. To like movies, you may hate bad movies. I'll give 764 00:58:04.079 --> 00:58:07.199 you an example. I got to finally see a movie called The Seduction with 765 00:58:07.440 --> 00:58:12.280 Morgan Fairchild and Andrew Steemens. I wanted to see it for years. It's 766 00:58:12.320 --> 00:58:17.639 a terrible movie, but I don't hate the company that released it. And 767 00:58:19.159 --> 00:58:22.239 I'm a Morgan Fairchild fan. So I love Morgan Fairchild. I think she 768 00:58:22.280 --> 00:58:24.519 should have been a movie star. Frankly, I think Andrew Stevens, Okay, 769 00:58:24.599 --> 00:58:30.840 poor guy was typecast. But I don't even though I hate that movie 770 00:58:30.920 --> 00:58:34.440 or I think it's a terrible movie, I don't really hate it, but 771 00:58:34.440 --> 00:58:39.079 I think it's a terrible movie. I don't load and despise movies and people 772 00:58:39.199 --> 00:58:45.760 like critical Drinker, or if I like to call him critical stinker, he 773 00:58:45.880 --> 00:58:50.199 did a video. The only video I've seen of this guy is his railing 774 00:58:50.320 --> 00:58:54.079 against themes in movies. And I'm going let me get this straight. You're 775 00:58:54.159 --> 00:59:02.000 against scenes in movies. That's like being angry at opera, of being angry 776 00:59:02.199 --> 00:59:07.159 at different kinds of opera because singers hit high notes. This is ridiculous. 777 00:59:07.400 --> 00:59:14.599 Well, the problem is that you have a world of film amateurs, not 778 00:59:14.760 --> 00:59:17.239 film professionals. And when I was working as a film critic, you have 779 00:59:17.280 --> 00:59:22.880 to understand I had a bachelor's degree. At a bachelor's degree, I'd studied 780 00:59:22.920 --> 00:59:28.440 literature, I'd studied English, and I had come having an education in film, 781 00:59:29.280 --> 00:59:34.320 a practical education, having this class when I was a kid, learning 782 00:59:34.320 --> 00:59:38.960 about learning about different shots, all the technical aspects of movies. I come 783 00:59:39.039 --> 00:59:44.719 to movies with not only the technical side, but also kind of the literary 784 00:59:44.800 --> 00:59:47.800 side as a writer and also as a journalist. And what I find is 785 00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:52.840 you don't find that with these people. You don't find that what you find 786 00:59:52.960 --> 01:00:00.360 is not eloquence and excellence but excrement. What they're interesting and you know what 787 01:00:00.400 --> 01:00:05.280 the point is. And this speaks for a lot of the content in general 788 01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:08.280 that's being put out there across the board, is that it's very opinion focused. 789 01:00:08.360 --> 01:00:14.199 So what happens is they see points being made and they see the films 790 01:00:14.239 --> 01:00:17.039 and TV shows or whatever. Music doesn't matter. These things are now just 791 01:00:17.199 --> 01:00:24.920 vehicles for political agendas that they absolutely despise, so they feel obligated to respond 792 01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:29.800 as if they're defending no. Films should just be about having fun. I 793 01:00:29.800 --> 01:00:31.440 don't want to see your political agenda. Now, they don't mind it if 794 01:00:31.440 --> 01:00:36.599 it's their political agenda, but they don't want to see your political agenda. 795 01:00:37.000 --> 01:00:39.920 That freaks them out, you know, And honestly, you know, it 796 01:00:39.960 --> 01:00:44.239 does get a little sometimes things are too preachy and come on, you know, 797 01:00:44.320 --> 01:00:46.280 ease back, let me enjoy the movie and stop preaching to me. 798 01:00:46.360 --> 01:00:50.440 Sometimes or let me, enjoy the TV show. Stop preaching to me, 799 01:00:50.480 --> 01:00:52.599 sometimes, I gotta say, but I do that from all angles. I 800 01:00:52.599 --> 01:00:55.800 don't care which angle you're coming from. I'm not here to get preached at, 801 01:00:55.840 --> 01:01:00.119 you know. I'm here to see the interesting movie. And I get 802 01:01:00.119 --> 01:01:02.519 that to a degree. But some of these guys, You're right, they 803 01:01:02.519 --> 01:01:07.679 dedicate their lives to it where it's like, nope, they just created this 804 01:01:07.760 --> 01:01:12.000 female character because they want to destroy the American family, you know. And 805 01:01:12.039 --> 01:01:15.159 I'm like, all right, you know, is the movie any good? 806 01:01:15.280 --> 01:01:16.960 A lot of course. I mean, I'm just gonna call the mouth for 807 01:01:17.039 --> 01:01:21.519 what they are. A lot of these people are misogynistic races. They hate 808 01:01:21.519 --> 01:01:29.920 diversity, they hate strong female characters, and they're basically political ideologues political extremists. 809 01:01:30.920 --> 01:01:34.639 My view is, talk about politics. I have no problem with your 810 01:01:34.639 --> 01:01:38.760 political point of view if you deal with politics, But trying to graft the 811 01:01:38.840 --> 01:01:47.320 political point of view onto superhero and comic book movies and four quadrant blockbustered or 812 01:01:47.360 --> 01:01:55.480 a teaement is narrow and reductionist and idiotic. And again, these people really 813 01:01:55.559 --> 01:02:01.280 just do not have the eloquence and the excellence to be film critics and reviewers. 814 01:02:01.320 --> 01:02:06.440 Again, what a film critic is. Anyone can be a film reviewer 815 01:02:06.480 --> 01:02:09.239 these days, unfortunately, but they're not film critics. Since the film critic 816 01:02:09.320 --> 01:02:15.960 is a intellectual. It is someone who has the ability to not only deal 817 01:02:16.039 --> 01:02:21.400 with the construct that is a movie, but also be able to explain it. 818 01:02:21.800 --> 01:02:24.039 I define being a film critic when I was a film critic as a 819 01:02:24.079 --> 01:02:29.239 combination of being a judge and being an engineer. What you're doing as an 820 01:02:29.239 --> 01:02:32.360 engineer is you're taking a film apart. You're reverse engineering it in order to 821 01:02:32.440 --> 01:02:37.840 explain it to people, to examine it, to be able to tell people 822 01:02:37.920 --> 01:02:40.400 this is what this film, how this film functions, and this is how 823 01:02:40.440 --> 01:02:45.679 this film works. These are these plot points. I mean, maybe you 824 01:02:45.719 --> 01:02:50.119 don't go to that extent, depending on if you're just doing a basic review, 825 01:02:50.519 --> 01:02:55.880 newspaper review or magazine review as opposed to doing extensive magazine reviews film magazine 826 01:02:55.880 --> 01:03:05.960 reviews, which can happen fo that's the difference. Whereas the reviewer provides a 827 01:03:06.039 --> 01:03:10.480 point of view and a judgment, so does a film critic. Oh, 828 01:03:10.719 --> 01:03:15.039 that's it, it's a judge. But to provide a judgment, yes, 829 01:03:15.320 --> 01:03:20.360 I think that's why people have been uncomfortable with film critics. That's how I 830 01:03:20.440 --> 01:03:25.239 explained it. Well, a lot of these people just don't I'm you know, 831 01:03:25.320 --> 01:03:29.519 I find myself, Yeah, I find myself looking at a world that 832 01:03:29.679 --> 01:03:32.760 is totally utterly alien to me at this point. I mean, like, 833 01:03:32.800 --> 01:03:37.800 I'll give you an example. These people really are are nothing more than guys 834 01:03:37.840 --> 01:03:43.119 with jobs who should not be talking about movies. Do I sound like a 835 01:03:43.119 --> 01:03:46.480 snob? Yes I do. I don't care. Well, I'm somebody who 836 01:03:46.599 --> 01:03:52.840 was a professional, professional journalist and writer who covered film festivals, who spoke 837 01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:57.119 to filmmakers, who interviewed actors, who went into screenings, And what we 838 01:03:57.239 --> 01:04:02.159 see are a bunch of ignorant, ignorant missus, their total mattering nabobs of 839 01:04:02.199 --> 01:04:08.039 negativity. Yeah, but that's the thing when people are just you know, 840 01:04:08.159 --> 01:04:10.760 no, just look, we're gonna we're gonna close it out now because we're 841 01:04:10.840 --> 01:04:14.679 we're over an hour. But the thing is that when people are motivated just 842 01:04:14.760 --> 01:04:17.440 by wanting to make sure they get their opinion out there, they're not trying 843 01:04:17.440 --> 01:04:23.519 to deconstruct anything or explain anything, or identify what it is that they're even 844 01:04:23.559 --> 01:04:28.119 complaining about. They identify their complaint, not what it's based on. Not 845 01:04:28.199 --> 01:04:30.800 where it came from. Not you know, they're not gonna tell you about 846 01:04:30.800 --> 01:04:35.280 plot structure, the character development, exactly what the narrative goes through. Is 847 01:04:35.320 --> 01:04:39.280 this filmed? Well? You know, is the lighting any good? You 848 01:04:39.280 --> 01:04:42.119 know? Is this a believable story? What kind of a job do the 849 01:04:42.159 --> 01:04:45.199 actors do? They don't care about any of that. It's just about I 850 01:04:45.320 --> 01:04:47.880 have an opinion. I need to spit it out, and that's pretty much 851 01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:55.199 everything anymore. But again, alar allanear as dot substack dot com. Is 852 01:04:55.199 --> 01:05:00.519 that the address alanear substack dot com dot substack dot com. I know at 853 01:05:00.519 --> 01:05:03.960 the end I come off as the kind of male Pauline tale here, and 854 01:05:04.079 --> 01:05:10.360 I know that it may come off as nasty or tough. I don't mind. 855 01:05:10.599 --> 01:05:14.400 Maybe it's try to get tough with a lot of these people. Hey 856 01:05:14.480 --> 01:05:18.079 look, actually I'm not sorry. They can exactly. They can speak their 857 01:05:18.119 --> 01:05:21.360 mind and you can speak yours. It's fine that, you know. It's 858 01:05:21.440 --> 01:05:25.719 just that, uh, we're basically done. So I want people to go 859 01:05:25.800 --> 01:05:28.639 check out your work. Like I said, there'll be links in the description 860 01:05:28.760 --> 01:05:31.599 here on the podcast, not only to the YouTube video, but also to 861 01:05:31.679 --> 01:05:35.239 the sub stack itself. Maybe I'll throw in some other links to Albert Lanier's 862 01:05:35.239 --> 01:05:39.920 work elsewhere. Of course you've heard him on the show before, so there 863 01:05:39.960 --> 01:06:01.639 are prior references. And uh so window dot Siller, the stock market, 864 01:06:02.800 --> 01:06:09.599 Wall Street, Indo dot do. Perhaps you're invested deeply, Perhaps you're not 865 01:06:09.679 --> 01:06:14.400 in deep enough. Maybe you're thinking about getting started Wall Street, windows on 866 01:06:14.639 --> 01:06:18.000 con doo don com. Michael Swanson, the brilliant author of The War State, 867 01:06:18.519 --> 01:06:23.559 understood these trends professionally for many years, and now he gives you the 868 01:06:23.559 --> 01:06:30.440 benefit of his knowledge. Wall Street, stream dot Dot Go there, now 869 01:06:30.559 --> 01:06:35.360 go there, now go there now. The War State by Michael Swanson explains 870 01:06:35.400 --> 01:06:40.920 the great national transformation that took place and put the Kennedy presidency in the context 871 01:06:40.920 --> 01:06:45.840 of the times, and reveals never before published information about the Cuban missile crisis. 872 01:06:45.079 --> 01:06:49.119 President Kennedy would not have been assassinated if he had been president two hundred 873 01:06:49.159 --> 01:06:54.599 years ago. His assassination took place in the context of the Cold War and 874 01:06:54.679 --> 01:06:58.440 the rise of the national security state. Before World War II, the United 875 01:06:58.480 --> 01:07:01.360 States was a continental republic. In the decade that followed, it became an 876 01:07:01.400 --> 01:07:06.400 imperial superpower. Generals such as Curtis LeMay not only wanted to invade Cuba, 877 01:07:06.480 --> 01:07:11.599 but knew that there were short range missiles on the island arn't with nuclear warheads 878 01:07:11.719 --> 01:07:15.760 that they could not destroy because they were on mobile launchers. Their invasion could 879 01:07:15.760 --> 01:07:18.440 have led to a Third World War, and they wanted to go to war 880 01:07:18.679 --> 01:07:24.239 anyway. The War State by Michael Swanson reveals why and will show you what 881 01:07:24.320 --> 01:07:29.199 President Kennedy was up against. For more information, The Warstate, dot Com 882 01:07:29.360 --> 01:07:35.719 Revelation to Conversation in Denial. Secret Wars with air Strikes and Tanks by Larry 883 01:07:35.760 --> 01:07:42.639 Hancock. Secret wars became a staple of US covert operations and are still happening 884 01:07:42.679 --> 01:07:46.599 today. Larry Hancock's book In Denial RiPPs the cover off many of them, 885 01:07:46.719 --> 01:07:50.360 using new files. It exposes things about the Bay of Pigs that no one 886 01:07:50.400 --> 01:07:55.440 has ever written about before. It shows why it really failed and why the 887 01:07:55.559 --> 01:07:59.800 United States did not learn from it. It also shows why other countries today 888 01:07:59.880 --> 01:08:03.440 are doing secret operations with more success. This is the book that puts what 889 01:08:03.679 --> 01:08:10.280 some want to deny into the light. In Denial, Secret Wars with air 890 01:08:10.360 --> 01:08:16.319 Strikes and Tanks Larryhncock. For more information, go to Larry Hyphen Handcock dot 891 01:08:16.359 --> 01:08:20.920 com. Pick up your copy of In Denial at Amazon dot com in digital 892 01:08:21.119 --> 01:08:26.720 or physical. Go ahead, call it. I'm about the DAFA assassination right, 893 01:08:26.760 --> 01:08:29.720 Well, what do you want to know? Dy Baker's wild claim Oswald 894 01:08:29.760 --> 01:08:33.000 girlfriends to new Ruby and Barry handswer weapons. Really I imagine I could claim 895 01:08:33.039 --> 01:08:35.640 I have four wheels. It doesn't make me a wagon. But okay, 896 01:08:36.680 --> 01:08:40.640 on the building and I'm trying to prevent the murder of John Kennedy. Come 897 01:08:40.720 --> 01:08:44.880 on now has a real effort on the day of Hay assassination. Go to 898 01:08:44.960 --> 01:08:49.520 Amazon dot com enter Judith Baker in her own words. You'll get the results 899 01:08:49.520 --> 01:08:55.319 for a digital copy of a book where Walt Brown utilizes her own words and 900 01:08:55.399 --> 01:09:00.399 the known evidence in the case to get at well a different perspective. Let's 901 01:09:00.439 --> 01:09:03.880 say you can get Judith Very Baker in her own words from the author himself 902 01:09:04.039 --> 01:09:09.479 signed if you request it by contacting doctor Brown at k I A S J 903 01:09:09.840 --> 01:09:14.760 F K at aol dot com. It's a fun book and it actually dissects 904 01:09:15.000 --> 01:09:19.319 the many, many fantastic claims Judith Very Baker in her own words than all 905 01:09:19.359 --> 01:10:24.880 the great information see what your son to see. But if you want your 906 01:10:26.079 --> 01:10:53.439 skirt, spron and sat can say from if we do not love sad. 907 01:10:53.680 --> 01:12:15.840 So students in the company don't think you can think about a searching. I'm 908 01:12:15.880 --> 01:13:17.039 talking to something you say such a coin. I think that's something you six 909 01:13:29.039 --> 01:15:03.079 I e. In games st if you was expressed by caller schools. There 910 01:15:03.119 --> 01:15:05.399 anyone else who happens to get on the air's jelly dot Com if you not 911 01:15:05.439 --> 01:15:10.439 necessarily reflect us O Kelly dot Com or job Chelly and we are not responsible 912 01:15:10.479 --> 01:15:18.079 for any stupidity which might issue revelation through conversation dot Com Radio network nuclear holocaust. 913 01:15:18.279 --> 01:15:23.039 You know what uranium is? Right you think about nuclear weapons and others? 914 01:15:23.520 --> 01:15:44.000 Lots of things have done to let them know. Okay, dot Com, 915 01:15:44.199 --> 01:15:46.399 the dot Com Radio networ