Welcome friends, its podcast podcasting John Jack again by they're talking Tony now Buck.
Welcome to Movie Film. This is episode two hundred and eighty six.
I am Zaki Stillgar Hassan here with Brian muadeb Hall. Hey, how's it
going? Zachi? What DEEB? Tell me what you would have me do?
I would have you continue whatever it is you're Dune. It's good Dune.
I debated you making a pun before, like hours ago? What deep?
I am slightly disappointed, but I will do as you ask. I
many apologies, Still, Gar Hasan, did you watch Dune Part two?
You know what I did, Zachie? You know what I did not see
on my twenty twenty four calendar. What's that Brian catching Dune Fever? Well,
it feels like the world has caught caught Dune fever, it, you
know, And I love that because it really, aside from how big it
is, it seems a little unlikely, doesn't it. I mean, just
for how dense and complex and yeah, you know it is. And it's
been really fun seeing the memes, you know, and everything all over Instagram,
and yeah, you realize there's there's like the good natured memes and the
the the mean spirited memes and like Madam Webb and Morbius got the mean spirited
memes, yeah yeah, and Dune gets the h see we're all part of
the club memes. Absolutely, yeah, yeah, I mean yeah, and
even just again for a movie it's so I mean so weird. It's weird.
It's a weird movie. And it was just so cool being there in
a packed theater with just like an incredibly diverse audience and just like everybody into
it, like I don't know, and it's something that's almost three hours long.
Like it's it's kind of fun. It's surprising. It's surprising. I
think at the end of the day, that's what it is. It's like
we've come to expect the big movies that everyone is going to show up for
in the past ten years. It's like kind of superhero Temp Pulley stuff.
But this to me seems a little you know, not necessarily a sure thing,
and it's so cool to see something like this catch on. Yeah,
and to the point that you're just making I think definitely the fact that I
went to the big Imax near me, you know, opening night and it
was virtually full, but I went again last night and it was again virtually
full wow. And and this is the big remember the imax that you and
I we watched the Flash in. Remember when you came up here. Oh
yeah yeah, so pretty big size, you know, oh yeah yeah.
And and the fact that people were there and they were in it, they
were plugged in, they were laughing at the humorous moments, like it was
all it was all kind of working, which which I was. You know,
I guess this is how sort of like the the bar has been lowered.
We're just like, hey, people were enjoying a movie. I know,
I know, I know, And I mean going back to when we
were younger, you didn't necessarily know what was going to catch on culturally.
You know, it could be something that kind of came out of nowhere,
and it's like, hey, everybody loves Speed this year, you know what
I mean. It's just like some action thing that Fox is putting out,
and it's like, well, hey, now we're talking about Speed thirty years
later. You know. It's like you couldn't predict all the time what those
things would be. And it's kind of cool. Going back to what I
was saying, where it's a little surprising that this is caught on the way
that it has, and I love that. I love the unpredictability. Yeah.
Well, and and that's obviously that's a that's a discussion we'll come back
too, well and later in the episode as we go through our thoughts on
Dune Part two. But what else have you seen that's a little bit further
in the past. Yeah, well, yeah, going back to the eighties.
I mentioned I think in our last regular episode that I had watched the
documentary by Penelope Spherus called The Decline of Western Civilization and it's well, I
watched all three of them, and it's like a punk documentary, heavy Metal
and then kind of another punk one. And after I mentioned that, you
know, listener Charles Landy recommended on our Facebook page that I check out a
documentary called heavy Metal Parking Lot, like, oh, if you like that,
you're gonna love this. And so I tried to find it and I
queue it up and it's it says it's seventeen minutes long, and I was
like, oh, okay, so this is like a chunk, like a
long clip or something like. So I googled it, like, all right,
what's the real documentary? Seventeen minutes long, oh okay, And I
was like, oh okay. So I started up and basically, I if
I understand it correctly, it's a like a public access channel thing where these
guys went to document a crowd that was tailgating outside of a Judas Priest concert
in nineteen eighty six. And when you start it, you're like, oh,
so this is just kind of it, huh. And it's just this
camera going by and like, hey, you like Judas Priests and people like
yeah, you know, and just saying why. But as you go along,
you just meet this cast of characters and they become so oh like I
remember that group, but like as you go through, you you can identify
all the groups that you've just sort of encountered. And when it was over,
it was funny because it felt fast and I was like, oh okay,
yeah, no, that was that was entertaining. Interesting. It just
goes by so quickly. But then I just went down a rabbit hole on
the internet like heavy metal parking lot, what's that about? And so come
to find out, it has this huge cult following people artists like from I
don't know, like early two thousands of artists like Backstreet Boys, they've made
music videos that have directly parodied heavy metal parking lot, like making one to
one references to people who are featured in that parking lot. And I was
like, that is how did I miss this? Like this has like kind
of been there, you know, as this cult artifact. And I was
reading like Nirvana used to watch it on their tour bus, like it's it
was crazy. And then what was kind of interesting all these years later now
is that the filmmakers went and tracked down some of the people who were featured
in the documentary. And there's one guy who makes a huge impression because he's
wearing this like like tiger striped skin tight jumpsuit kind of thing, and he's
just like yelling like ye punk music, like make it, you know.
And so then eventually in the present, well quote unquote present, it was
probably fifteen years ago, they catch up with that guy and he's just this
mild mannered guy living in suburbia now who has no idea that this movie is
like a thing and that people have been watching him and quoting him and dressing
up as him for years. So I don't know, I just I am
so thankful that Charles recommended it to me because I feel like it it just
brought me into this funny, cult little universe that I didn't know about,
but like totally enjoyed getting lost in for like an hour and a half,
you know, going through it. So that's great heavy metal parking lot.
It's out there, and you know what, you've probably heard it referenced.
I'd be willing to bet you have seen a reference from it around read it.
Someone has like quoted it or put a little clip from it, and
you didn't realize it was from that. So anyway, I appreciate that recommendation.
And then I also this was a movie. Okay, a couple maybe
a year or two ago or something, I talked about a movie called Beyond
the Infinite two Minutes, which was this Japanese movie, very small, under
ninety minutes. I saw it on Amazon Prime, and it was basically about
a guy realizes that his laptop can see two minutes into the future, and
so he starts conversing with himself and then they it just starts escalating. Well,
if I can predict that, then we can figure out how to make
money, and then you know, but then he the money comes from like
bad people and then he can see two minutes in the future that something bad
is about to happen, but you don't know how it's going to happen yet.
And you watch the movie, you know, work its way to that
situation that's already been teased and is I still highly recommend that movie. It
is so inventive, so fun. Anyway, I saw that those filmmakers,
the director and the writer, had another movie that came out last year called
River, and I immediately went to Amazon and watched it. And it's also
under ninety minutes, and the premise sounds, you know, totally in their
wheelhouse, where basically the staff at this hotel in Japan is realizing that they're
living in a groundhog Day situation that only lasts two minutes keep looping two minutes.
But the thing is is it's not one person experiencing this. Everyone in
the hotel is experiencing this, and so they're like, well, what's didn't
I just have this conversation with you, like, yeah, didn't I And
then two minutes later, boom, they're back at their starting points. So
then to try to figure out what's going on, they have to race from
where they keep starting to meet one another and try to figure out why this
is happening. Did one of them accidentally cause it does one of them not
want it to end? Did you know? Like what? There's different characters
too that are experiencing different situations. You have an author who can't figure out
how to complete his novel. You have like a couple who's about to split
up and maybe one of them doesn't want to, And and this seeing how
this affects all of those little stories along the way too. It's just so
whimsical and adorable and inventive and fun. And again, I love these guys.
I'm gonna go, like try to figure out what else these these filmmakers
have made because I am like these guys. I'm a huge fan of what
they've done in these last two movies, So I just want to see more
of their work. That's great. Yeah, I just feel like, I
don't know how else you would hear about this. I heard about it on
another podcast, and I just want to spread the good word of just these
sort of whimsical, fun time travel little esque movies. The only thing I'll
say, I don't know where it's available, all the avenues it's available on
or all the streamers. But I watched it on Amazon Prime and the subtitles
felt like they were like one second off, and so I started being like,
wait, did he say that? Or did she say that? And
it's kind of important, you know, so you feel like you're watching the
action be a little bit ahead of your understanding of what they're saying, which
was becoming a little frustrating. And I even like reset my Apple TV and
everything, just hoping that it would kind of knock them into place and didn't.
So that was my experience with Amazon Prime. So if anyone wants to
check it out, I might see if it's available elsewhere. Swere okay,
but big recommend, big recommend, very cool this one. I do not
expect to talk about it very much, but I just want to throw it
on the record. Zachie. I finally watched Hudson Hawk. I did it,
Zakie. Someone say, well, mazel Tov, what brought you to
this momentous moment in your life? Well? Have you ever seen it?
Many many moons ago? Oh? You did see Okay? So I mean
this is like an notorious flop from the early nineties, Bruce Willis, and
it's from the director of Heathers. It's the screenwriters of Heathers and die Hard
and it's this Bruce Willis Cat Burglar comedy. And I know it involves like
musical numbers, and I'd always been kind of curious about it. And when
I had watched, I talked about an episode or two ago, watching Judge
Dread and just enjoying nineties movies. I just love their aesthetic. I love
the way that they're put together, the way that they look. And I
wanted to kind of go through ones that I had missed. Well. Had
to talk same same writer, Stephen Desusa. Yeah, and I and I
was like, well, maybe it was misunderstood in its time, you know,
like I just I just I don't know. I wanted to give it
a shot, and I have to say, unfortunately it is not good.
Yeah that's my that's my recollection as well. Yeah, yeah, and it's
it's I won't even it's not even worth spend that much time on. I
really just wanted to say that I've finally seen it. But it's just interesting.
It's like this duo Cat Burglars, Danny i Ello and Bruce Willis and
they sing to each other as they're supposedly supposed to be quietly cat burgling,
and you know, it involves like Da Vinci and his inventions and these wacky
villains, and it's it's definitely something to behold. I mean, if if
anyone's interested in, like I said, that at aesthetic, that whole nineties
thing and seeing like a lost sort of dud that they missed, I mean,
maybe there's something to see there. And it was fun to go watch
the Cisco Neibert review afterwards and just watch them be like, I don't know,
man, I don't know, you know, but it's it's sort of
there's kind of a Hubris involved in that movie one which right, like it's
Bruce will Is sort of drinking his own kool aid a little bit. And
yeah, well and because he was a singer also yeah right, I mean
he had like two albums before. Yeah, but this was this was a
moment where every every actor thought they could out crank out a single, right.
I mean, you know, Don Johnson has this has an album like
it doesn't mean much, you know, so anymore, you know, nobody's
gonna confuse Bruce Willis with Bruce Springsteen. You know. Yeah, Hubris is
definitely I mean just exactly. Yeah, but it's and it's just not it's
hard watching someone trying to act like a different persona than they can pull off,
you know, like he's trying to be this wise cracking, like not
kind of character, and it's just really weird. Like well, and you
know, Hudson Hawk cost sixty five million dollars. Yeah, and and just
to put this in perspective, this is one year after Die Hard cost thirty
five million. Yeah, so so what where did that extra thirty million go?
Right? Yeah, So I mean this is it's just pure excess,
and you're you're you're you're mortgaging this movie on the belief that that Bruce Willis
will put enough butts and seats uh to manage that. And one sees why
he uh you know, he was sort of you know, first on board
to get get a Diehard sequel going, you know, yeah yeah, and
he he I think co wrote it too, or he has a story credit
like this was his getting child with a friend of his. Yeah. Yeah.
So it's it's a fascinating artifact. And because because Bruce Bruce Willis right,
so he does he does die Hard. He does Die Hard too.
And then and then after die Hard too, it's sort of these these remarkable
misfires, right, you had like Bonfire of the Vanities, Hudson Hawk,
what was that one with Sartatisica striking distance, making distance? Yeah, right,
and so it was a minute before like pulp fiction whatever, but like
before he became bankable. It was like kind of like Die Hard three basically,
yeah, yeah, yeah, so yeah, anyway, Oh, you
know what was fascinating to me too was just reading how he references Nintendo a
lot in it, which feels just like this clunky running joke that just isn't
funny, it's weird. And I was reading about how they made a Nintendo
game about it, and there was going to be a Super Nintendo game but
they canceled it after it's yeah, and I'm just like weird. It's this
R rated like movie that's really difficult to describe, and it's just funny thinking
like the kids love it, you know, like for a video game.
Well, what's so funny is that when it came out, the pro the
poster was like catch the excitement, catch the adventure. Yeah, and then
you watch the movie and it's not particularly exciting. It's not particularly adventurous,
so on home video they changed it to catch the laughter, you know,
like, oh seriously, yeah, that's funny. Yeah. I have to
say there was one sequence though that I really loved where he's in the back
of an ambulance being held captive by these bad guys and he's on a gurney
and he gets out, but they're on the Brooklyn Bridge, so he's like
hanging onto the ambulance while he's rolling on a gurney with all these cars whizzing
past, and it looks great. I mean, it looks like dangerous,
like they really did it right, So that was kind of exciting. But
then he let's go and he's free wheeling through traffic and he approaches a toll
so then he's like oh and he like reaches into his pockets and grabs change
and throws it into like the change bind and then the poll like goes up
so he can go continue, you know, bounding ahead. And I was
like, okay, like that's where like kind of w I was like,
that's funny, like that it's like bugs Bunny or something. But then you
know, the rest of the movie just but then there's the rest. Yeah,
I mean it's it's one hundred minutes, and again, it's been close
to three decades since I've seen it, but my recollection is that it felt
a lot longer than one hundred minutes. Yeah, I think I stopped it
and then I watched the last twenty mins. It's the next day, and
I remember even thinking like, I don't have to do but I kind of
love that. You're like, no, okay, here we go. Well,
I mean, if I'm going to do this at all, if I'm
gonna be able to check this off some sort of list that literally no one
is checking on, it's not like Saint Peter's Gate is going to require this.
Before No, I was like, yeah, no, I was like,
I'm, by jove, I'm going to finish it. So I all
right, Well, mission accomplished. So I guess her applause Maybe I am.
I don't know. You know, there you go, oh, thank
you, thank you? A complete opposite. What were you say? Sorry?
I well, I was just gonna say. Stephen E. Desuza also
wrote and directed the movie Street Fighter, which celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this year.
So if you think we're going to commentary track through that, Brian,
uh, Well, You're probably right, which I've never seen. So this
is another nineties thing I get to check out for the first time and then
talk about with you, which I can't wait. I think that'll be.
That'll be a fun one. Yeah, but on the complete opposite end of
the spectrum in every way I watched. Finally, I watched another movie.
I watched this last night. It's called The Teacher's Lounge and this is a
German film that's currently nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Have
you heard of this one? I have not. Yeah, I just heard
someone say that it was an unexpectedly tense drama that takes place in a school,
okay, and in like what that's like to have something sort of high
stakes but taking place in this unique ecosystem of like an elementary school, And
I was like, oh, what's that all about. So basically, the
story is there's a series of thefts at this elementary school and there's a teacher
who's new to the school who wants to get to the bottom of it.
But the way she goes about her investigation and the ways, you know,
she tries to sort of extend fairness to the students as she investigates in opposition
to like the more totalitarian methods that the other teachers are using. It just
creates a series of problems for her and then eventually for other people, and
it just kind of spirals and becomes this drama, this drama for everybody,
and it's really interesting. I'd heard someone call it uncut Gems in an elementary
school, and well, I was like, you know, I mean,
the movie's not that wild, but I was really tense watching this, and
I enjoyed it a lot. I thought it was really really good, and
I think it's so interesting is it's it's like a weird thriller in the like
civilization that exists within a school. So you know, like from the outside,
I kept thinking like, if, like anyone who's like on the outside
of this school, if you were to look at the situation, you'd be
like, well, just do this or just say that, or why don't
you just I mean, yeah, I mean, clearly kids lying or you
know, or something like that. But within the school, you know,
it has its own rules, and it has its own societies with the teachers
and the kids, and there's a code and for this teacher, you know,
there's also decency. You know that she thinks the other teachers aren't extending
everyone and so navigating all that while she's trying to get to the bottom of
all this. It becomes like sort of surprisingly tense and high stakes and I
don't know, I really enjoyed it. If that sounds interesting to you.
I would definitely recommend watching this. And I love the idea that it's nominated
for a Best Foreign Film too, because it'll give it a little bit of
a spotlight on it. You know, performances are great that like, the
direction is really subtle but effective. It's just one of those movies I love
discovering, you know, because it's just so from another country. It could
have easily slipped past me. But it's just like a really I mean,
it could have taken place anywhere, and it made me just think about how
crazy it must be to be in school right now, to be a student,
to be a teacher, and like just all the policy and rigormarole that
you have to go through just to try to solve a simple thing, and
how much drama that can generate. Yeah, really, really good. I
really recommend this one. The Teacher's Lounge will I will seek it out.
So what about you? What have you been checking out? You know,
well, this last week it's been I've just been so caught up with just
about everything else, and I've gotten two viewings of June in that there hasn't
been much time. You know, this is the challenge for me, Like,
I'm envious of you being in this position where you're just like, I'm
going to watch this thing and you just watch it because I'm you know,
I have this house full of kids, and so now what inevitably ends up
happening is I will start watching something and then one of the kids will sit
down and start watching with me, and they have to go do their own
thing because they're living their life, you know. But they'll be like,
oh, don't watch without me, and I'm like, okay, we'll turn
that off. And so I've gotten about ten minutes of that one under my
butt and then I put something else on and then one of the other kids
walks in and they got don't watch without me. So this is this is
my day, right And really I only have night time to watch stuff,
but I've decided that sleep is my preferred mode of just of just living.
Really. Yeah, so it's kind of although I will say, Brian kind
of a momentous event in the world of television. In the last week,
Sam Waterston departed Law and Order. Whoa has he been there since the beginning?
Not since the beginning? He joined in the fifth season at the start
of the fifth season, and what are we on now? This is like
the twenty third season, okay, And there was like that gap in the
middle, right, there's like a twelve year gap when the original lawn out
there. But all told, he did four hundred plus episodes of that show.
Wow. Can you imagine which man say what you will that that is
an achievement and that is a hell of a lot of job security. Yeah,
yeah, it would be nice. I mean, it's extraordinary because he
came on. You know, he was in his like, you know,
early fifties. He's kind of younger, dashing, he's got dark hair,
he's like the the rogue, you know, ada. And now he's eighty
plus he's the distinguished old man, you know. And I was like,
man, this is just like it's like we're saying goodbye to our heroes one
by one. Brian, and certainly for me, Jack McCoy was was that
for me as as surely as you know Han Solo in Indiana Jones. Jack
McCoy was a hero of man By Gum. Yeah, you know, just
a part of your life, you know. I mean, to be on
a show that long, to be playing one character for that long straight,
such a difficult thing for him to say goodbye to. I would imagine I
would, Yeah, I would think, so, you know, but you
can't. You can't say it's not a help of legacy. I think in
terms of of like an uninterrupted run on a law and order show. I
think Murshca Hargete gets the crown because she's been on Special Victims Unit since Bill
Clinton was president. Holy cow, all right, think about that one.
It's a lot of messed up things she's been dealing with. I was about
to say, it's it's a lot of broom handles in rectums being being testified
to in court. Seems like it seems like whenever a channel surf past SVU,
somebody's in the witness stand talking about a broom handle and a rectum.
Oh man, I'll be icedy here. That's messed up. So you're telling
me, yeah, uh, but yeah, that he's he's going to be
replaced by Tony Goldwyn on that show. Oh interesting, he of U.
Well, I will always think of him as carl In in Ghost. I
was just gonna say, that's the first thing that comes to mind for me.
Yeah, but I think for for more recent people, he was the
president on Scandal, you know. Uh, yeah, I'm looking at it
now. Yeah, Scandal. Oh he's in Planes. How did I miss
Plane? I was so excited. I want to see Plane. I know
I need to watch that. Yeah. I would think being the the DA
on Lawn Order is actually a pretty cushy gig, right, because you're not
the ADA. You're not the one who has to do the test of you
know, get presenting the case and re the jury and and and you know,
cross examining whatever. You just you have like two scenes where you're like,
here's what I think you should do, and now settle it or whatever,
and then you know, at the end of the day, you walk
out, they hand you your bag with a dollar sign on it, and
man, I here off to the races. It's amazing. Good for him,
Good for him. I hope he's enjoying all that money on a beach.
I hope so too. But that's it for me, So why don't
we take short break. We'll come back. We got some listener letters and
we are back. And hey, Brian, here's a note that we got
from Mark le Chance, who you know. We've been getting a lot of
letters from folks who are sharing their memorable movie going experiences. I love it.
It's like getting to watch Wonder Year's episodes. Really, I want to
encourage anybody listening, please send them in. We love this stuff. Oh
yeah, so here's Mark, he says. The film is Batman eighty nine,
the release date of which June twenty third, nineteen eighty nine, coincided
with my fourteenth birthday. Unfortunately, at the time, I was in a
Boston hospit all being treated for complications of liver disease, which resulted in a
transplant that August. However, my mother was able to come down from Maine
for the weekend to visit me, and she took me out on a day
pass to see the movie. We saw a showing at a great old school
movie theater with a giant screen and fantastic surround sound. I of course thought
the movie was terrific and saw it a couple more times that summer and purchased
the VHS when it was released in November. Thanks for all the great content.
I look forward to each new episode and commentary. Well, thanks for
that, Mark, I you know, it's it's funny because I mean when
even just when he said the video cassette of it like that immediately conjures feelings
for me. I remember that video with the commercial in the in the beginning
you had the right yeah, yeah, like in my friend's basement, Like
I just have like a weird emotional sort of reaction. And it's just I
love that Mark has the same although it's very different, you know, his
experience, but it's just like these total you know, but the different things
that we feel and remember in response to them. I love hearing it well
and Batman eighty nine, you know, we've talked about it plenty of times.
I mean, that really is like a for people of a certain age,
that was the moment when you became part of film culture. Yeah,
sure, you know. And it's so interesting because because people slightly older than
us don't have the same experience with that movie is obviously people slightly younger than
us can't. So it's just this specific window of about five years. Yeah,
it's the first juggernaut I remember, yeah, you know, Like I
mean there were big movies and movies like Roger Rabbit and things I loved,
and I knew they were kind of popular, but Batman was a juggernaut and
that that's the first experience I had with that. Yeah. Like I remember
a couple of months back, I talked to Mark Altman, who produced that
documentary you know, Greatest Geek Here everineteen eighty two, the Movies in nineteen
eighty two, and I made that comment to him. I was like,
you know, for me, it's eighty nine, and he's like, oh,
yeah, I get it. Yeah, because Batman, like everybody knows,
everybody associates eighty nine with Batman, you know. Yeah, but for
him it's not going to be the same obviously, because for him it's it's
eighty two. Yeah. But I don't know, you know, because when
I talked to Jake Kasden about about Willow, about the Willow TV series,
right, kind of kind of the same. Sorry, not not Jake Keston,
Jonathan Casden, who's our age, and you know, he talked about
watching Willow and I was like, yeah, but you know, it's like
the year the year after is when sort of you kicked into gear with with
the film fan and he's like, yeah, yah, of course Batman you
know, is right right right, Yeah, there's just that shorten. Do
you remember I sent you that picture. Somebody created a blanket that's the Batman
VHS case. Yeah, as if it was sort of like cut along the
spine and then opened up so it's like a beach towel that has like the
front cover, the spine in the middle, and the back cover as one
image. Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing. And I was thinking, I
was like, man being wrapped up inside that blanket is just like the most
perfect metaphor for like what I wish my life was. Right, it's just
these memories I just want to be. I just want to be curled up
inside of them. Just just can they just hug me for a little while?
Yeah, exactly right. Actually, you know, going on, I
hope we continue to get these these emails with these experiences, and I want
to add to this. I would be very curious to hear what were those
pivotal years for people from different from different age groups, you know, Like
to me, that's just so locked down, like eighty nine, Yeah,
of course, but like it could be like ninety seven for someone and I
wouldn't know why, but I would love to know for for people of that
vintage, why you know another year is so important or was an awakening for
them or or a movie specific movie going experience. Yeah, yeah, I
love keep them coming. Please send us your your eye was there opening night
for Freddy Got Fingered Letters? Well, this is this is a moment for
those those people because did you see that's on the Criterion Channel. Now.
I don't know what to make of that news, to be honest, I
don't think it doesn't have a release, Like there's no Blu ray or four
K whatever, but it is on Criterion Channel. If you're a subscriber,
Freddy Got Fingered is now on Criterion. Well, those of you've been waiting,
your ship has come in. So that was that was you know,
there was there was like this eight month period where Tom Green was was the
toast of the town. Oh yeah yeah, And that too is sort of
fascinating, right, like with the benefit of a quarter century almost of hindsight,
like, yeah, what what was happening there? You know, I
you gotta give him credit because he weirdly was ahead of his time in terms
of what I feel like, I'm seeing a little bit in TikTok culture where
it's like he would but like something you would see where like someone is just
you know, on a farm and leaning against a fence and going like,
my bum is on the fence, My bum is on the fence, and
you'd be like, what is that? I don't know, but I need
to share it with everybody, you know, like it's just But that's what
Tom Green was doing. That's literally what he did. And he had a
show on MTV just doing that that stuff. It's yeah, you're right.
He was the toast of the town for a minute there. And he was
in Charlie's Angels. Remember that because he was I think, well he was
married to Drew Barrymore remember, yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds strange,
strange time. All right, Hey, let's take another short break. We'll
come back, and we got some trailers and headlines and we are back,
and hey, you know, Brian, one thing I've realized is that Kevin
Kostner in Western movies is kind of like my sweet spot totally. And I
had that realization after watching the trailer for his new epic the movie He had
to make so desperately that he quit his hit TV show in order to do
it. Yeah, which says a lot. We were talking about people with
plum gigs. I mean, I don't know what he was making on Yellowstone,
but I'm sure it was great and it brought him back. I mean,
it is one of, if not the most popular show on you know,
cable television. He was a star all over again. And by the
way, you were wondering about his salary, he was making one point three
million an episode on Yellowstone, right, and so for him to be like,
no, I'd rather do this, you know, like I'll leave all
that. This is more important to me, right, We can look at
it and be like you fing goddamn idiot. Sure, yeah, which I
do feel a little bit of that, because I do think like you should
at least wrap up whatever's going on on Yellowstone at least, Yeah, I
would. I mean, look, I don't know what the behind the scenes
stuff is to that, who knows, but like from the outside looking in,
yeah, dude, I mean, for out of respect for the show
that did this for you, out of the respect for the audience that loves
you, like, just finish the story, right, because my concern is
that they're gonna do like a Jeff Garland in The Goldbergs to Kevin Costner's character,
which, for those of you listening, Yeah, so for those of
you listening, like what does that mean? So basically like The Goldbergs,
it just ended recently, but like the season before, it's last season.
Halfway through or like a third of the way through, they fired Jeff Garland,
who played the dad. Right, he's the dad on the show.
It's kind of antant things, so you can't not acknowledge it, and so
they didn't want to like kill them off or whatever, although they did eventually,
but instead they kept him alive on the show by just randomly putting like
archival footage of him, like photo shopping it in or like doing like a
kind of a weird CGI type thing, right, Brian, you've seen it,
right, Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of like when they didn't have
enough footage to finish the Radioactive Man movie, and so they just use clips
from other scenes where they're in a completely different setting, you know, and
it's like him clearly from a different scene, nodding in response to something that
has nothing to do emotionally or tonally with what they're actually trying to drop him
into. So it just feels really otherworldly and disconnected. Yeah, so kind
so it didn't work. Nobody liked it, and they, I mean,
obviously that show was on the downward trajectory anyway, But I have to imagine
there were better ways of handling Jeff Garland's absence than that. But regardless,
Kevin Costner is obviously the central character on Yellowstone, and by all accounts the
last batch of episodes, which they I don't think they've shot yet, he's
not involved at all. Oh is that true? That's my understanding. Oh
wow, because I yeah, they, I mean that was it. They're
like, okay, fine, like we'll wrap you up, We'll wrap your
character up. And then obviously there's hiccups with strikes and things like that,
but like, interesting, okay, So I mean it was just a matter
and of course this movie got in the way also, but it was like,
just let us wrap up our six episodes or whatever we have to do
to finish telling your story. And he just couldn't make it easy. Now
that all being said, the movie is called Horizon in American saga. It's
a two part Western that's coming out this summer, like six weeks apart.
Yeah, part one and part two. Yeah, so end of June and
middle of August. And I gotta be honest, man, I watched this
trailer and I'm like, plug this into my veins. Yes, same,
absolutely right. So I'm like, okay, I think the way we ended
up here is less than ideal, but I can't let me put this way.
I want someone in my life who loves me as much as Kevin Costner
loves making epic westerns. That's funny, you know, I don't know.
I'm excited for this. This is this is this is my kink. It's
like epic western starring Kevin Costner. Now, now, according to Costner,
it's his his plan is for this to be four parts. Okay, so
so presumably these first two are only half the story. And as I understand
it, this is like covers like a fifteen year span, right, like
of time, like pre imposed Civil war kind of a thing. Like it's
sprawling. I mean, I mean, look at the cast. Man.
Okay, so obviously got Costner, who was also directing, Cianna Miller,
Samuel Orthington, GUVANNARBC, Michael rookerd Luke Wilson, Jeff ay he Will,
Patton, Thomas, Ayden Church, I mean, Angus McFadden, Wow Man,
Kathleen Quinlan, I'm in, Baby, I'm in, I'm in.
I mean, we'll definitely be talking about this soon. I'm sure have you
ever seen Open Range? I don't believe I ever have. So that's that's
the movie he directed from two thousand and three, starring stars him. But
Robert Dubal gets top doing It's that's like, oh and Diego Luna. It
was just like a kid, and that he's in it. Also, Uh,
it's it's a I don't know. It doesn't get talked about very much
because sort of, you know, because because Costner. His previous directing effort
before that was The Postman, which obviously was was not particularly well regarded.
But but Open Range is like, if you haven't seen it and you're in
the mood for just like an old timey western flick in that vein, I
suspect you'll you'll enjoy it. Yeah. I just I just headed it to
the list. I mean it just feels so it feels like there was like
a little span. I think I was in college at that time, and
there's a few things I missed, like Postman I remember missing. Yeah.
So, even though I know it was regarded even on its release as a
bomb, it's still something that I'm sure I would like to at least check
out for myself, and I just I want to revisit it. I do
want to revisit it because because I definitely didn't hate it as much as everybody
else did. I definitely think it was way too long for the story it
was telling. It's a post apocalyptic Western, right, yes, that's right,
Okay, yeah, and then it's like, yeah, no, good
good. He's like a guy who who like finds a male sack in the
post apocalypse. He starts delivering the mail and people are like, look,
the mail is back, like civilization's coming back, and kind of the deal
trig Yeah right. Actually, you know, if you're looking for another good
Western, kind of a modern Western, not Kevin Costner, but Robert Duvall,
it's called Broken Trail from two thousand and six, I want to say,
and it's co stars Thomas Aden Church, directed by Walter Hill, and
really really good. Okay, yeah, I think it aired originally as like
a mini series, but it's it's it's like one hundred and eighty minutes.
It's like a three hour thing. But it's really good. Oh okay,
they piece it together. I think at this point it's just like considered a
feature. Yeah, okay, cool. Speaking of Walter Hill, they're showing
The Warriors in a theater near me coming up, and I was just like,
I don't know, like I hadn't seen it after all these years,
and I finally checked it out and immediately I was like, I love the
Warriors, Like you know, I'm all excited to go see it on the
screen and nice. Yeah, yeah, I need to. I need I
saw that in film school. Mm so so that one too. It's been
a while. I should revisit that. Fun But hey, we got some
headlines too, Brian, what do we got? Well, you know,
just to start things out, a little bit of sad news, Richard Lewis
passed away. Yeah, yeah, that was really sad. I don't know.
This one really bummed me out because I feel like I get to hang
out with them every year, every couple of years because of Curb your Enthusiasm.
Yep, yep. It's funny because I haven't watched a lot of curb.
It's one of those things when I'm flipping channels, I stop on it
and I enjoy it. I really need to do that. But yeah,
for me, I mean I remember him from like the nineties, like his
stand up and his Boku commercials. Boku was definitely where I saw him first.
Me too. I mean, I think for our age that makes the
most sense, right, But yeah, I mean and then he because he
was on a He was on a sitcom with Jamie Lee Curtis. Do you
remember that? Yeah, I was on Fox. He had some Fox sitcom,
didn't he He did have a Fox He had a Fox sitcom with with
with what's his name? Don Rickles? Wow? Okay, but he was.
He had a show called Anything But Love which aired on ABC. That
was which is the most generic title, right, but that was opposite Jamie
Lee Curtis. That lasted for actually several years. It was like, how
many seasons was it? Wow? Four seasons? Wow, Jamie Lee Curtis
network sitcomb. Yeah weird, that is kind of weird. But yeah,
obviously you know, he he was on a show with with with with with
Don Rickles, Daddy Dearest. I think that was called Oh that title rings
a bell, right, Yeah, and of course, of course he was
Prince John in in uh men in tights, you know, but but definitely
stands such a such a presence in the nineties. I'm definitely associated with that
and and Curb Enthusiasm, which is now in his final season but it's been
on for almost twenty five years at this point. Yeah, and so you
watch that so you can you can see, you know, everybody getting older.
But I mean, obviously Larry David kind of looks the same, you
know, he kind of does, doesn't, right, But Richard Lewis you
definitely see that aging process now because he's he's appearing in this current final season
died at age seventy seve He had been suffering from Parkinson's but but my understanding
is he died from a heart attack. But you know, obviously that's that's
awful for us as fans. But I mean, you really you see the
tributes from from his friends, you know what Larry David had to say about
him, and you're like, man, I can't even imagine. You know,
it's just this is a lifetime they spent together, you know. Yeah,
real loss there. So he will definitely be missed. Here's some other
news. In our last regular show, we we we sort of took a
mallet to Madam Webb. But it's not like we were alone. I feel
like it was like, you know that scene an airplane with all them people
lined up to smack that person around. That's right, that's right. We
were. We were near the tail end. I think we were. You
know, they'd already had the boxer and the person with the monkey wrench.
You know we were behind that. Yeah. Uh, that movie has not
done well. Let's just say nope, nope, I expected as expected.
The box office take as of now is a globally ninety two million dollars,
which again against a one hundred million dollar budget, and this thing is not
going to enter the black anytime soon. Yeah. Now that all being said,
I kind of appreciate Dakota Johnson, the titular Madam Webb is kind of
like, yeah, it sucks. She's in a difficult position. She's been
in a difficult position for a while now, because I mean, ever since
the trailer, this movie has been a punchline. And then she had to
go endure a whole press tour where she knows everybody's just waiting to get their
little clip, you know, to go viral where they can kind of pick
on the movie to the star's face, you know. And so I think
we were talking about that, right, We were so feeling bad that she
had to go out there and like, yep, yep, I know nobody
likes this, but I'm gonna talk about it here, you know, for
an entire day with all of you. Yeah, it felt a little bit
like when Jerry Seinfeld in the in the Seinfeld episode where he has to wear
the puffy shirt and he goes on the Today Show and Bryant Gumbels just like,
I mean, what's with the shirt? You should do like a whole
pirate act, and he finally he's just like, look, I know,
I look ridiculous. And then I feel silly and I don't want to be
wearing it. I feel like that's where Dakota Johnson was by the end of
this. Yeah, I think so. And then I guess she did some
interview. I actually have the quote here, I'll say it, but yeah,
she said this is her. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that this has
gone down the way it has. It's so hard to get movies made and
in these big movies that get made decisions are being made by committees, and
art does not do well when it's made by committee. Films are made by
a filmmaker and a team of artists around them. You cannot make art based
on numbers and algorithms. And then, which I agree with, you know,
and I I appreciate that she has that perspective, and she's being honest
about the perspective of probably what befelled this movie. But then she goes on
to talk about her personal experience a little bit here, and she was saying,
sometimes in the industry, you sign on to something and it's one thing,
and then as you're making it, it becomes a completely different thing,
and you're like, wait what, And she was saying, you know,
it's a real learning experience. Of course, it's not nice to be a
part of something that's ripped to shreds. But I can't say that I don't
understand so well a lot of interesting perspective, you know, from her specifically
talking about like, yeah, good movies don't get made the way that this
movie was made, and it's not fun to be a part of that.
And so yeah, I mean, you know, in that vein right,
you have Josh Brolin right now making the Dune rounds, and of course he's
he you know, he's he's had a few clunkers, most notably Jonah Hex,
which kind of you know that that's like, that's like his Madam web
Sure, yeah, yeah, And you know he was talking about that with
the benefit of now whatever it is, fourteen years of hindsight, you know.
And he has this good quote where he's just like, this is this
is Jonah Hex, which which if you folks, if you haven't seen it,
I mean you at least know of it. It's sort of a legendary
flop his I think it was a piece of shit. But it's funny because
I've always spoken about it in a way that I think is disrespectful to the
director. I don't think it was the director's fault. I think he did
his best. I think it was a piece of shit film, but for
many different reasons. And I am included in that too, But you know,
we can't win them all. It happens, okay, Okay. He's
kind of owning it because that the project was kind of like a you know,
it was like his baby, because he was the one who wanted it
made he wanted to play that character, and I've said myself, I think
he's good. He is certainly not the problem with that movie. I've never
seen it. Yeah, you're not missing anything. Is it Madam Webb esque,
you know, in terms of in the sense that it looks like it
was chopped to pieces by the studio. Absolutely, Yeah, and maybe like
a misunderstanding of the character. Yeah. I was gonna say, just hacked
to death in an effort to fix it kind of a thing. Yeah,
I think you know. The sense is I mean the director who he's referring
to, Jimmy Hayward. I mean, he had just done animation before.
This was like his live action debut, and it may have been a little
bit been in a little bit bit over his head. I think that it
was probably shot for an R and then it got cut down. I see,
But I mean it's not I mean, look, this is this is
again, this is this is Brolin, he says. I brought in a
lot of really good people. I brought in John Malkovich, I brought in
Megan Fox. I brought in Michael Fassbender, who hadn't really hit yet.
He'd done some great work, but he hadn't really hit, And that's true.
The first time I ever saw him wasn't wasn't Jonah hexxs. I brought
in Michael Shannon, but he was cut out. He says, I don't
know what happened, but it happened. Just kreened a little bit, hit
a couple of cars. Everybody survived. But I don't think it was Jimmy
Hayward's fault. I think that's a misconception. He was a big Jonah Hex
fan. We gave him a shot, So I guess I guess it helps
if you're Josh Bolan that you got fourteen years of subsequent success. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, right, so you can compartmentalize it a little bit.
But but I feel like Dakota Johnson is kind of in that same same position
a little bit. You know. That said, you know, I was
thinking about this as far as what a what A just a just an utter
mess. That movie is, right, and it occurs to me, well,
why wouldn't you just make Spider Woman and you've got Sidney Sweeney anyway,
and she seems to be somewhat popular, and just make Spider Woman starring Sidney
Sweeney, Like, what's the what's the what's the misconception there? You know
what I mean, why do you think people are interested in all this other
stuff? Right, Spider Woman is an actual character. That's a very good
question. I mean I wondered as you were saying it, I wondered if
Marvel was like, hey, maybe lay off this person. We have some
thoughts down the line with something we can do with her. On the other
hand, they did use her, Marvel. Yeah, yeah, I don't.
I mean, quote unquote they use her. I mean, she's you
get a glimpse of her for like six seconds, right, I don't know.
I mean, it doesn't make any sense to me. You know.
You know, maybe there Calculus was we are well, I think this was
it, right. They thought they were setting up several series at once.
Maybe they thought they were sure. It's like a cheat code, right where
they can all of a sudden, like we make this one movie and then
all of a sudden, we can start three new franchises. You know.
Okay, well that was obviously a clear miscalculation. Yeap. Yeah. Now,
now that being said, speaking of Sydney Sweeney, I'm not super familiar
with her other than this movie and a couple of other things I've seen just
you know, on YouTube. But I did see the Saturday Night Live she
hosted a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, and I don't know, I'm
gonna say that maybe one of the worst episodes of that show I've ever seen.
I feel like they've been on like a pretty bad run lately. That's
true. It's kinda I don't know. I mean, yeah, the performers
have been it seems like a lot of the timing has been off in the
past couple of weeks. This one felt this one felt like January Jones level
bad. Oh wow, that's really saying something there that's let's not saying we
can't take back you know. No, No, I I still have not
formed a proper opinion on her yet. I don't feel like I get her
yet. Like I don't watch Euphoria. I saw her in this HBO movie
called Reality where she was actually really good. Well, I'm sure she's I'm
sure she's a fine actor. It Actually I'm not. I'm not blaming her
at all because I you know, like they've had it, Because you're right,
they've had a couple of recent the d quote, it's not like the
du Kota Johnson one was particularly good a couple of weeks ago. But but
it's definitely weird. It's been weird, and we're entering that phase. Maybe
it's just the phase of our lives, Brian, where we're like, wait,
who is this person again? When you look at the host? You
know, I'm sort of split on that because or undecided. I I feel
like, I know he's very popular now, but I didn't really know Nate
BARGHETSI sure, that's a good point, you know, And he had like
a knockout episode and then even and by the way, on the strength of
his SNL hosting, I got tickets to go see Nate Burghetzie next month.
Wow, well there you go. Did the trick for me? Yeah,
and I and what I was gonna say that? And I The Travis Kelce
one stands out also because I remember this is before I really knew who he
was, because I don't really follow football, and this is before the Taylor
Swift stuff. But like he hosted and I was like, oh, boy,
like you know, like a football player, it's gonna be like kind
of stiff sort of thing. And I remember his episode being really good.
So sometimes it just has to be this perfect marriage of all the above.
You need the writing to be good, you need the actor the right I
right writing for the performer. You need the performer then to have a good
night right where you could have someone that could knock it out of the park
two hours earlier, you know, But then for some weird reason, there's
a little hiccup or something gets thrown off, or a card isn't read correctly,
or and it just throws off that one moment live when it happens,
and so right, But I just feel like writing in the past couple episodes,
I feel like it stood out to me where it just feels really really
undercooked where they have like a joke or an idea or a notion and they
don't know what to do with it beyond acknowledging the notion, and then they
just kind of end and you know, but then it's like you you get
that brilliant sketch with Bargetzi where you have the whole thing about the metric system
and all that, and that felt like someone who took that thought and like
use it to its fullest potential. But for some reason, the last two
or three episodes, to my mind, it just has felt like really undercooked
sketches enough that I've noticed it and been like, oh man, it feels
like they're off their game a little bit. Well, well, I acknowledge
all of what you're saying, but you tell me if you feel this way,
I think part of like when you know and like the whole you go
in with a little bit of like extra rooting for them, for sure,
And definitely I'm finding, well, I don't know who this person is,
so if they're good, hey, great, you know what I mean?
Like Bergetsy's a good example that other football player who did the Rudy sketch,
you know what I'm talking about, because this is like a couple of years
back. I can't remember the name. I can't remember. It was a
sketch. It was Chris red As like the Rudy and the the other players
want to give him, like they want to give up their slots so he
can play it, but he's terrible. It was a filmed piece, you
know, talk called Robbie. It's called Robbie. Okay, that's really funny,
but that was a really funny idea. And the I don't remember the
host, but he was a football player, but I didn't I didn't,
you know, I don't particularly follow football, but but it's I don't carry
that extra identification in versus like if I'm watching you know, you know,
I don't know somebody I I already meyer or like you know, yeah,
definitely. And I think if you also understand the writers there, if they
understand how to write to a person's strengths or the things that we want to
most enjoy from that person, that helps too, right, And I think
that goes along with what you're saying, where if I don't really know Jacob
ALORDI very well, I don't really know what I want to see from him.
You know, it seems like I've seen a lot written about how they
basically just kept making sketch. Oh he's handsome. He's handsome, Yeah exactly.
So it's like, all right, it's funny once maybe, but then
and then I remember that as long as we're doing sn'll talk. I remember
something. The one I remember most from that episode was where they did the
bowling sketch where it's like, you know, you bowl and then after you
throw the ball and the pins whatever you end up with, there's those animated
things that end up on the screen, right, where it's like an animated
bowling ball taking a shotgun and shooting the rest of the pins down, you
know, spare or something like that. But then they kept getting more and
more dark and extreme, and I was like, yeah, no, I
saw that already, Like you people have been doing that joke for years,
right right, And I felt a little like like, think you just stole
that and didn't do it as well. But yeah, I don't know,
just a little off their game. But you and I are like longtime SNL
people. I mean, I'm always gonna watch That's that's the thing. Yeah,
Monday Morning Quarterback, get a little bit. We're we're sort of we're
lifers at this point, right, Yeah. Yeah, Well, hey,
in terms of other stuff that's happening, this is this is a topic we
talked about, I think a couple of weeks ago, with a glimmer of
hope in our eyes, but that hope has been extinguished. We're talking about
Coyote versus Acme. This is the Warner Brothers live action animation hybrid about about
Wiley coyotes suing the ACME Company for pain and suffering for all of their inventions
that never worked, right, I mean and will forte Place's lawyer. Now,
yeah, I think you're saying the same thing. You hear that premise,
You're like, dude, I showed me this movie. So the good
news, Brian, is that the movie has been filmed and finished and it's
ready to go. That's the good news, fantastic. The bad news is
it is gone. Sorry, what do you mean where to go? Did
it fall down a cliff holding up? No? David Zasloff is the human
personification of the Acme Company. He is, of course, the head of
Warner Brothers Discovery and per you know, Imperial Fiat. He decided that no,
this film, which is completed, has been testing well and his by
all accounts very well regarded, will not see the light of day, because
why if they disappear it, Warner Brothers can get one of them their tax
breaks that they love so very darn much. You know who he is,
He's Judge Doom. He really is walking around with his barrel of dip and
he just keeps putting things in there and melting them, and is the smoke
rises a smile crosses his face. I I find it difficult to quibble with
that characterization, because he took so much shit for having done this already with
the Batgirl movie like two years ago, and also this you know, Scooby
Doo Halloween Haunt or whatever that was, and there's various other things that have
just been memory hold. But I think everybody assumed that they were done with
this, and the fact that they said they were going to do this with
the Coyote versus ACME and then they were like, but we'll get We'll let
other studios bid on it, which I guess was just kind of for show
basically because they had no intention of actually letting that happen. You know what
happened they did, and they got offers and I think they said we want
this amount and I don't know what it was. Say I'm making this number
up, but say it was like we want ninety million whatever it actually costs
or something, and I think like Netflix or whoever, some streamer was like,
we'll give you sixty five and they're like nah. So people did offer
substantial amounts of money to take it off their hands and they still said no.
And you can sort of understand the twisted logic behind not selling it,
right, because the problem Warner Brothers had was, let's say they sold it
and it became a hit, they would still look like the assholes because they
let it go, right, So I mean, you know what I mean,
it's it's baffling. And yet once the decision was made, there was
no unmaking the decision. Well, you know what. Also with Batgirl,
which by the way, I mean Sony had the balls at least to put
on Madam web you know, but that felt like, okay, I'm coming
and Brian, I I will go so far as to say there is no
possibility Batgirl is worse than Madam Webb. Dude. I actually I was like
how and after that Michael Keaton Batman in it. There's a whole movie with
more Michael Keaton Batman that I deleted that will that will never exist. It's
it's gonna sit in a drawer alongside that that that Jerry Lewis Holocaust clown movie
forever one I heard that might be screening. Oh okay, well there you
go. Well maybe maybe to that, I thought, well, it had
to be after his his passing a certain amount of years, or oh I
think I did hear that. I think I did hear that, yes,
but no exactly exactly And and that's the thing, you know who who knows
really where it resides. But apparently they delete it. I mean because if
they ever do show it, then they the text write off is like null
and void, right, thinks unbelievable but but so anyway, So with the
the when they did this to Batgirl, it almost felt like, Okay,
Warner Brothers having money issues, We've got to like rip the issue out of
the bag and throw it away and okay, now we're good. That hurt.
It's painful, but we're doing better. Now we forge forward. Right
It felt like a potentially one time, messy, ugly fix. Yeah.
Then to see moving forward that they are still willing to consider this or do
this to another movie. I mean, how do you feel if you're over
there at Warner Brothers not making a Batman movie, you know what I mean,
Like you're making some sort of mid budget whatever. Do you have in
the back of your mind that there's always the possibility that they could just you
know what deleted? You know is their m O now moving forward? That
is an option? Huh, Yeah, I don't know how. I mean,
the Warner Brothers, you know, filmmaking environment is going to exist moving
forward, knowing this guy David Zaslov is like a sort of Danically, he's
hanging over everything, you know, h it's so cynical. That's what pisses
me off. Like, I mean, let's not kid ourselves. It's always
about it's you know, they don't call it show art. I get it,
Yeah, no, I do too, But but the the idea And
you know, I'm looking at this quote from from Will Forte right he again,
he stars in the film, he's the attorney, and he talked about
it on Twitter, and he says to the cast and crew of Coyote Versus
acme, I know that a lot of you haven't gotten a chance to see
our movie, and sadly, it's looking like you never will. When I
first heard that our movie was getting deleted, I hadn't seen it yet,
so I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking. This thing must
be a hunk of junk. But then I saw it and it's incredible,
funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant in a
very earned way. As the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how
lucky I was to be a part of something so special that quickly turned to
confusion and frustration. This was the movie they're not going to release. Look,
when it comes to Hollywood business stuff, I don't know shit about shit.
Even when a movie tests very well like ours, there's no guarantee that
it's going to be a hit. And at the end of the day,
the people who paid for this movie can obviously do whatever they want with it.
Doesn't mean I have to like it, I effing hate it or agree
with it. And it doesn't mean that this movie is anything less than magnificent.
You would be so proud of it, a movie that should be seen,
but won't please know that all the years and years of hard work,
dedication and love that you put into this movie shows in every frame. That's
all folks. That's a lovely statement, it really is. And it broke
my heart reading that, you know, I know. And it's funny because
I find myself I'm actually like getting like worked up thinking about this right now,
and I realize what I'm talking about too, getting worked up. There
are much much larger problems in the world, and so with full acknowledgment to
that, you know, but like it's just it is still a frustrating thing.
I mean, it's just people worked hard on a thing, and I
don't know, it just feels so like you said, cynical to just delete
it because it looks better on your taxes. It's just such a gross thing
that I as gross as this. You know, the entertainment industry already is.
It's just like another thing to add to it that just makes me sad.
Yeah, well, Brian, here's something that may make you sad or
it may make you happy. I don't know. Me let me bounce this
off you. We have a Naked Gun a reboot coming. I heard about
this, so this was announced. It feels like a while ago, and
I kind of just wrote it off as like, well, this is probably
never gonna happen, but no. Paramount has scheduled it for release next summer.
July eighteenth, twenty twenty five. Up next year, we have the
Naked Gun starring starring Brian. I think you'll like this Liam Neeson as Frank
Dreben Junior. I mean, look, you and I get weird when they're
like, Okay, they're going to make a sequel to some movie that's beloved
from your childhood, right because you just know it's going to feel wrong.
Or it's gonna just not going to be the same. And the second I
heard that Liam Neeson was going to be in a Naked Gun movie, I
was like, oh wow, that is the only thing that makes sense,
you know, like who else you know? That's what you do? You
know, like, you don't get a comedian to play Dreben or Dreben Junior,
right, like you get a dramatic actor who knows how to be a
funny straight man. So I'm on board. I'm on board for this,
I definitely. I remember back in the day there was talk of doing a
new Naked Gun with Ed Helms, and that was my that was my issue
with that, which I love. I love at Helmes, but I'm like,
no, that's wrong, because yes, he's a comedian, he's gonna
play it funny. Now here's a fun fact. Leslie Nielsen was sixty eight
when he played Frank Drevin in the Naked Gun movie the first one sixty two.
Sorry, he was sixty two, sixty two and sixty in the first
movie. Liam Neeson is seventy one. I feel like we talk about this
a lot, but doesn't it feel like the understanding of ages has changed a
lot? Or the perception at least. Yeah, you know, I mean
if you told me like a seventy year old when you say seventy, I
sort of have an image in my mind, but that image has changed over
time. I mean Harrison Ford though he looked old and Dial of Destiny,
I mean he's eighty. Yep, you know it's but I don't view him
as what eighty is in my head likewise, that's true, right, Yeah,
But but I definitely Liam Neeson has has a deft hand when it comes
to playing humor, totally straight. You know, he's he's for me.
One of his funniest things is when he was in that that Ricky Gervay's thing
with with Wark Davis. Oh my god, brilliant, you know. Yeah,
yeah, so you tell me he's gonna do it. I think I
think it's a great choice. So I'm actually very excited about this now,
if I'm not mistaken. Seth MacFarlane was involved at one point in the Snaked
Gun sequel. I don't know if that's the case anymore, but I had
heard that would make a while back, like it was kind of his thing,
And yeah, I think now there are other writers because Akiva Schaefer of
The Lonely Island is directing it, and I think one of his guys,
not Lonely Island, but someone who worked on Chippendale is now on so they're
probably tailoring it a little bit from Well. McFarland is still involved though,
Yeah, oh sure, sir, I mean I'm sure he's probably still credited,
right, But it sounds like as Schaeffer boards, yeah, put his
spin on it. Yeah, because I pulled up the wrap here and here's
Seth MacFarland and this is his quote. He says it's being worked one as
we speak. A Kiva Schaffer has written, the drafted, his team has
done a hell of a job, and it's in development. Okay, So
in other words, Seth MacFarland got it to the starting line and then handed
it off. But hey, I'm down for that. Here's another reboot,
Brian, which I'm sure you're going to be equally excited about. We have
a brand new version of the Crow coming yes, uh yeah, boy.
They released the first picture of this one this past week. Not now,
They've been threatening a remake of The Crow forever. Yeah, I mean,
at one point Jason Momoa was attached. I remember that that seemed to get
pretty far along they finally land the edge of him, like test footage of
him on you can look out on YouTube. Is that right? Oh I
never saw that? Think so yeah, So that that one didn't end up
happening, and then they ended up going with Bill scars Guard, who is
a fine actor. I have no problem with him, but I feel I
feel very very bad for Bill scars Guard because, if nothing else, the
first still that they released of Bill scars Guard as Eric draven Uh is not
a particularly flattering image of the character. Let's say, he looks like the
guy from d Ant Word Ninja. Yes, I was gonna say it looked
like Jared leto Joker cosplay, but yeah, I think yeah, I saw
that a lot, you know, people being like, where's all this missic
is damaged across his forehead. Now, now this is a weird one,
right because because there have been like I don't even know how many sequels to
The Crow. Yeah, well there was the big one obviously with Brandan Lee,
but then there was like directed video sequels, well at least a few
of those were not direct to video. Oh really, yeah, yeah,
we get okay, So I just pulled it up, so we got so
we got the Crow, which came out thirty years ago, and obviously that's
that's the legendary for a variety of reasons, not least being you know,
it was the movie that Brandon Lee died while making, and so it kind
of it's sort of sanctified a little bit, you know. But in nineteen
ninety six, it was The Crow City of Angels. That one went to
theaters, The Crow Salvation, I believe that one went to theaters. And
then there was the last one, which is The Crow Wicked Prayer with Edward
Furlong as the Crow, and I feel like that one went straight to video.
Okay, I'm mistaken. I didn't realize there's a few. And then
there was also the TV series The Crow Stairway to Heaven, which nobody remembers,
but I remember that that was a that was a syndicated that was that
was not even WPWR syndicated. That was w CiU syndicated. Are you really
that's true? The Channel twenty six the you had The Crow Stairway to Heaven,
which that so that actually was the Eric Draven They redid that. Okay,
so it's been done. You know what, I mean I'm not I'm
not like, oh, this is rarefied eron, nobody can touch it.
I mean, they did it on a syndicated CiU TV series, but I
feel like, if you're gonna do it, you have to really do it.
And given how many times this has been done without needing to revisit that
character, I don't know why they felt this, you know what I mean?
Does that make sense? Like like why why why set yourself up with
that direct head to head comparison? Yeah? Yeah, I mean it's just
not a I just don't I don't think it's a great idea to begin with,
maybe because the one the version of course that everyone remembers, I think
is Brendan Lee and the look of Brendan Lee. And so you just already
like going against something that feels, like, you say, a little sanctified.
So it already is like, all right, so what what's what's your
purpose here? You know, first of all, but then to like introduce
a character that doesn't even resemble the Crow, but he also looks like something
that we're immediately already making fun of, you know, like it's just this
just feels like a series of bad decisions. Yeah, And the thing.
The thing about the original film is that it has such a distinct look and
its directed by Alex Proyus, who did he did Dark City a couple of
years later, I mean, very esoteric filmmaker, because he also did Gods
of Egypt. I think, so, you know, it's it's it's not
like his his his filmography is without blemishes. But regardless, he gave that
original film a really distinct look and it's so reflective of that era that in
a weird way, that itself is what makes it timeless. Like I don't
think. I mean, it's been a little while since I've seen it,
but I feel like you can watch the first Crow and not feel like,
oh, this movie is so dated. No, not at all. I
caught maybe like twenty minutes of it on cable the other night. I mean,
I love that movie. That was one of the first like bootleg VHS's
I ever had a friend of ours he had like two VCRs, and every
now and then he'd be like, hey, you want to Crow, And
I'm like yeah, And so I have this memory of it a little wobbly
on the screen, but like yeah, I mean I think to this day
it holds up in a way it's a little cornier than you remember, probably,
Yeah, but it's so moody, and the way that it's filmed is
just so haunting, and it just still feels haunting. And you know,
Lee looks so awesome, you know, in that get up and the way
that he the action in there is just so evocative, and the soundtrack and
I mean it just really is one of those things where it's a perfect encapsulation,
you know, And so it's a really hard thing to want to say,
like, hey, let me try that. Let me try that too,
and like have it stand next to that, Like it does feel like
if you feel like you can't stand next to it, I don't know why
you would want to even try. Yeah, you know it. Like there's
two properties that I feel like have been kicking around the just the development pipeline
since forever, one of which is the Crow, which going at least as
far back as two thousand and eight, they've been trying to get it going
right sure. And then second is Highlander, right, and that is moving
forward. I think Henry cavill is going to be in that. But to
me, the impetus behind something like Highlander makes sense because in a way that
the Crow doesn't, because I feel like the Crow you got it, you
nailed it, Like there's no topping it, clearly because they've they've done all
those sequels, none of them even even you know, they can't even get
close to that first one, right, Highlander. It's a franchise that spanned
various and sundry things. But let's face it, even the first film,
which is the best, that's like, you know, it's like a B
plus sure at Betty. I mean, you know, it's it's fixable,
is my point, Like there's something there to go back to. I don't
know, maybe I feel like I'm gonna piss people off of this, but
I mean, you know, it's it's like a it's it's a flawed but
watchable film, is what I would say the first Highlander. So there's something
there. Does that make sense? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah definitely.
I mean, and thinking of this Crow thing and trying to be charitable with
it. I mean, look, I realize I'm like ragging on a picture
I saw, right, yeah, but no, but Brian, this is
not some paparazzi picture. This They took this picture and released it. Know,
I think the look is ridiculous, Like I stand by that, but
like I do see the potential in the story. I mean, you know,
it's you can see where you could do this over and over again.
Like someone who's killed unjustly, you know, and his loved one is killed
unjustly, gets the opportunity to come back and seek revenge with supernatural powers and
you know, against the people who acted against him, and that's so you
could plug and play that so many times. So I think the thing that
will make me interested in this, and I'm really hoping I would love to
love this, is if they can find like an interesting angle, something interesting
new characters, yeah, some sort of theme or take using that premise,
and make something affecting, something emotional, something that I feel thrilled and satisfied
by at the end. It's possible, That's my hope. But I definitely
don't like the way it looks so far. I think, well, I
think they failed on the look front, which is which is a problem because
that's the first thing about this movie that they've they've put out into the world.
So they are starting off on the wrong foot most likely, by the
way. So I'm just looking at it on IMDb and you know they have
like a little synopsis at the top. The synopsis for the Crow remake is
a modern reimagining of the beloved character the Crow, but not based on the
original look of the character from the graphic novel. Okay, the story description,
so that one comes out this coming summer. Brian's I suspect we'll be
talking about it before too long. I I'll check it out. I love
the first one so much that I'm out of curiosity. I have to know
what they do with it. It is directed, by the way, by
Rupert Sanders, who previously did Snow White and the Huntsmen and also Ghost in
the Shell, both of which were reboots or reimaginings of stories that were that
garnered mixed receptions, shall we say to give him a little bit of credit.
I don't remember a lot about Ghosts in the Shell, but I do
remember the opening like action sequence with all those guys in that room. Oh
yeah, that was very interesting and unique. Okay, well, there we
go. We can we can carry that with us into the theater. Come
come June. Yeah. Actually, while we're talking about reboots, I thought
this was interesting. Superman Legacy is now filming The New The New the launch
of the big DC Cinematic Universe launch. You say, didn't we already have
one? No, this is the new one, Ryan, God, get
with it. This is this is twenty twenty four now, yeah, give
it the wait? Is this coming out in twenty twenty five or six twenty
twenty five next summer? Okay, okay, so we haven't seen much.
However, the big news we have seen the s which you know, looks
it's like another it's another T shirt for Warner Bros. To sell that basically
it looks like some it looks like a variation of the Superman simple But I
thought this was interesting that James Gunn said he started out calling it Superman Legacy,
but he has gotten rid of the colon legacy and it's now just Superman.
Okay, how do you feel about that? That makes me happy?
Brian? Okay, you don't feel like that steps on seventy eight Superman,
No, because I think that movie will forever be referred to as Superman seventy
eight, the same way we call it Batman eighty nine. Right yeah?
And plus I mean, really that movie, the what it's referred to as
is Superman the movie, right right. But this I'm actually glad about this
because it it divests us of thinking it's a sequel of some kind. Hmmm,
sure, because that was really my I can it's starting over. That
was my concern is people will think it's just another Superman sequel and you call
it Superman. Well, that feels like a pretty good line of demarcation,
and it also to me at least signals some sense of guns approach, right,
which is he wants this to be something that is introductory, if not
in terms of the character's origin, which he said he's not gonna tell,
but something that plays to as wide an audience as possible is like, welcome
in. This is this is where it all starts, you know what I
mean? Yeah, yeah, well I'm I mean I'm excited. I Superman.
Your Superman is your guy. You've loved Superman, he's your favorite.
Yeah, and I've of course watched them all and whatever, and maybe the
fact that we haven't gotten as many as Batman or some of the others still
makes him feel really special to me. And like, I like Superman,
I haven't had a lot of Superman, so I am very eager for a
new Superman film. Yeah, well, I definitely agree with that. And
I feel like, you know, it has now been eleven years since the
last solo Superman movie, which we like so made of steel. We did,
we did like it, you know. So I mean in the middle
there obviously that was Batman vus Superman in Justice League whatever, but like just
something about Superman all by himself. I think I think we need it.
I am disappointed, however, that the Superman and Lowest television series is heading
into its final season as a sop to this new movie coming out. But
the good news there, Brian, is that, well that means you've got
like a good show that's pretty contained waiting for you if you eorite decided to
check it out. Yeah, you showed me a bit of an episode once
and I remember thinking, oh, I like this. This is the way.
You know, this is always here for me. If I want to
check this out, I need to. I'm very bad about starting TV shows.
So yeah, I mean they're coming back for one five like ten episode
season, which is the fourth season, so so you know, whatever to
whatever degoe, they're gonna wrap it up. Actually that show, I'll tell
you. They recently added Michael Kutletz as Lex Luthor, who I don't know
if you know who he is, but he I guarantee you know him,
like by face. He's one of those guys, you know, kind of
this big, burly guy. And and I was thinking, like, that's
what's so interesting to me about the Lex Luthor character is like Nicholas Holt is
playing him in this new movie Cutletz is on the this current series. You
know, John Cryer played him in the arrow Verse. I'm like, it's
in that fascinating like you can do that with Lex Luthor. Mm hm,
you know, from Gene Hackman to John Shay to Michael Rosenbaum to I mean
it's you're running a gamut, yep. And I find that, you know,
I'm charmed by that. Well. It's funny because with who Lex Luthor
is, you know, is eras change in the world, that type of
person can look very different. You know, you can have a Jesse Eisenberg
Zuckerberg ye kind of Titan of Industry person, you know what I mean,
versus Yeah, in the eighties, you imagine a Titan of industry more like
you know, Michael Douglas or something. Yeah. Yeah, And you know,
you know, we just did the Loew's and Clark Pilot. I mean,
John Shay was kind of doing his own thing, you know, yeah,
very distinct, you know, and I think that's that's that is fun.
So I'm I'm, I mean, obviously it's superman. I'm going to
be excited. But but like we said before, next summer, not this
coming summer, the following summer is already starting to stack up. Oh yeah,
yeah, it's so funny. We're in twenty twenty four, but you
and I are very excited about twenty twenty five. Yeah, so let's take
another short break and then we come back and talk about the latest big hit
leaders. And we are back, and you know who else is back?
Brian? Who's that? Zachi? Why it's Joe Biden and Donald Trump running
against each other again? What the hell is going on here? Didn't we
just leave this party? Doesn't this, Brian? Doesn't this feel like in
Temple of Doom, you know, when Indian short round are in the spike
room and then it's like we are going to die, and then you know,
the election ends, the spikes come up, and then you know,
you you made the mistake of relaxing, kind of leaning back into the spikes
start coming down again. That is brilliant, Zachi. That is one of
the best analogies. I think I've heard about this moment as as soon as
you know, like as we record this Super Tuesday's two days ago. It's
like, Okay, Donald Trump has clinched denomination. He's like Musica. But
anyway, we're not here to talk about We're not here to talk about,
you know, lunatics with Messiah complexes. We're here to talk about Paula.
Treaty's very good, very good. I went to the theater for some escapism.
I didn't really feel a lot of escapism watching Dune Part two. My
gosh, a little too real. So, as we said at the top
of this episode, man, you know packed houses this movie is playing for.
And what's been kind of fun for me is as walking out of the
theater, you hear people talking about the movie as they're walking out, and
that's new for me, Like, I haven't felt that type of energy in
a while, in a while, I agree with you. So you recently
watched part one when they re released it to theaters, yes, and that
sort of prime for this, And then you watched the Lynch movie in the
middle there, so you're like, you're all doomed up at this point,
man. I yes, I am very very glad that I watched part one,
just because I've actually heard other people say this as well. But when
it came out, I was like, yeah, that was very impressive,
but I didn't feel like I was going to watch it again. And they
put it back in theaters about two weeks ago, and a friend of mine
was like, Hey, do you want to go see it just to kind
of catch up, and I was like, oh, okay, you know,
I mean, I wasn't planning on it, and I really enjoyed it
a lot more the second time. And then when we watched the David Lynch
One. Unfortunately, I had a cold when we did that, and I
can tell that I sound like I'm on cold medicine. When I was editing,
I was like, wow, I sound really stuppy, unfortunately. But
the Lynch One is very interesting. I'll say that, like, it's not
a great movie, but it's very interesting and it makes me really even more
interested in the world because it gets into other things that the remakes don't get
into, and I was like finding myself really intrigued and interested in the whole
Dune world, and so I was eager to go into part two, and
I felt prepped to go into part two. And I really enjoyed this movie
a lot. Wow, Okay, yeah, I was very into it,
and I just found it it just felt so epic, you know. And
it's just like, I feel like we have a lot of movies that have
a lot of special effects or visual effects, but they just all feel and
look kind of the same, right, And I'm not thrilled as much as
I probably should be relative to the amount of special effects we're seeing on screen.
Keep saying visual effects, but this felt epic and fresh, you know,
the visuals of it. The story is complex and kind of intriguing,
and you really have to listen because it's not the story you're expecting it to
be necessary. And I mean the filmmaking is on another level, you know
what, the mixture of visual effects and and tactile locations and everything, and
I just I feel like I just saw something epic, big blockbuster and somehow
still fresh. And that's really exhilarating, isn't it something It felt to me.
I got the same vibe after I felt it anyway with the first one,
but definitely with with both. I was like, this is what Peter
Jackson's Lord of the Rings felt like. Hmm sure, where it's a perfect
marriage of filmmaker and material. You can tell this is somebody who who has
lived in this world as a fan. You know, we talked about how
Lynch came at it, like not not as a fan. I mean,
he viewed it as a job and he did what he did. I'm not
I'm not criticizing whatever his his you know whatever, you know, muse to
prompted him to take the job on, but he wasn't coming at it as
a fan. And phil a move is like he is set in here.
He's like, my dream is to make Doune and he made his dream come
true. Right, It's remarkable. Yeah, yeah, And he just feels
like to give him a lot of credit. And by the way, I
have like things too, like a little few knits to pick and like,
well we'll get into those two, but like to to continue gushing. I
just feel like, you know, there's so many complaints about you know,
everything is just filled with CGI and everything feels so flat and whatever. And
you know, we've had people right in who work in visual effects and be
like, well, yeah, but it's it's you know, it's you can't
just make that a catch all excuse for the look of certain films, and
and I've tried to keep that in mind ever since. I really have.
And I feel like this is a movie you could point to where an artist,
a filmmaker who knows exactly what they're doing is wielding what we're capable of
today in exactly the right ways, where Okay, we'll go to a relocation,
we'll build the bottom half of this thing. This is the thing that
people actually have to interact with, and then we will fill in the top,
you know, like the way I was reading about the way that the
sandworms traveled, you know, and how they had these I can't explain it,
but basically these things running through the sand that made the sand break and
fall around the curvature of whatever they were standing on, acting as the sandworms
like they So that was practical, because you can sense that that needs to
feel practical next to our actor. But on the other hand, it's like,
well, this thing can be a visual effect and like just it was
the perfect marriage, so expertly married together to execute something that feels we're on
another planet and yet somehow I still feel like I'm in a very real place.
And so, I mean that was just a really awesome thing to see.
And I hope film other filmmakers take note, you know. Yeah,
no, I think exactly. And going back to what I was saying before,
I mean, that's what that's what Jackson did with Lord of the Rings,
right, he knew how to marry the practical and the digital. Yep,
you know. I like my main concern was will they be willing to
go to the dark place that the novel does. So it was gratifying to
see to see the story end where it does. And the great thing here's
the thing, right, Like, it's funny because the exact same drive that
prompted the the movie forty years ago to not go there, which is oh,
audiences won't accept it, has been disproven forty years later. Because this
is the one you're gonna remember. You're gonna remember how made you feel uncomfortable?
Just like you know, one of the greatest endings of all time is
when we see the door slamming on Kay's face at the end of The Godfather,
and this is comparable to that. Yeah, definitely, giving the story
room to Breathe allows us to get to hear, you know, navigating Paul's
own fears about what could end up happening. I think it makes it,
you know. I mean, the ultimate tragedy of the character, not just
in this book, but as we in the in the subsequent ones, is
that he's trapped in a box of his own making, you know, And
he is a tragic figure and that's what makes him interesting. And so to
me what I love number one, I'm like Dune part one, Dune part
two. It's we have they have completed the book. That is done,
and if we don't go a frame past it, that's fine because you finished
the book. But the great thing is that there is more story they can
tell, and you know, I do hope they get the chance to do
it. It feels like at this point that they likely will, right,
yeah, well this is I mean this the other thought I had as I
was watching certainly yesterday on my second being, I was like, man,
this movie would not have even gotten green lit in the Zaslav era. A
Yeah, sure, right, I mean, I mean it had everything going
against it. It's when you think about it, villain who just happened to
land in terms of chronologically where this movie got green lit. He it's he
almost he got went in under the fence, you know, right, because
certainly, like his his filmography up to this point is not one comprised of
blockbusters. I don't know of any movie of his that's been a massive hit.
Mm hmm. Blade Runner was a pretty big flop, right right.
But I mean he is somebody who every single movie of his I have liked,
you know, same, same, and so actually, I mean so
I was gonna say, I mean I can tell that you're you're, you're
favorable on it, but I don't know that I've actually heard, Like,
what are your feelings on it? I mean, you're you've read the book,
You're much more familiar with the Lynch's movie than I am. I mean,
what was your take on this conclusion to what began with part one?
Yeah? Well, yeah, going back to what I was saying before,
I mean, the best thing I can say is I knew exactly what was
going to happen, right, That's that's the best thing. And I think
I think the changes that Lynd that excuse me, that Lynch that Villeneuve made,
uh, which are not you know, multitudinous there's a few that are
pretty pretty substantial, but I think on the whole they work. They are
effective changes in service of the story. Not to say that that, you
know, the book needed to be improved on, but I just think in
terms of scaling down and telling this story and having it hit the way it
should have, I think his his instincts were correct. So I I thoroughly
enjoyed it. Again it ended, and my oldest just leans over to me
and he's like, that was awesome, right, yeah, which is great,
and he has not read the book. I I went, my brother
went with. My brother is a huge fan of the book, and we
both like throughout the movie, we were kind of like nudging each other,
you know, at various points, you know. Yeah. In fact,
I remember about a third of the way through just like leaning over and telling
him like, this is awesome. You know. So I absolutely loved it.
I think I think the ending is one that is very powerful and it
really stays with you. And honestly, I've seen it twice. I'd be
happy to watch it again, you know. Yeah, yeah, no,
I've as soon as it ended. I mean, it's so much and I
think there's probably a lot that I you know, missed just because I was
so excited about what I was looking at on the left side of the screen
or something. Yeah, I definitely planned to check it out another time when
I can find the time, and really, like, I mean, I
think chalomey is is very good and I think this is going to be kind
of his He's going to have a very long, lustrous career, but I
think this is going to be one of those performances that it defines him for
the Masses, you know, and I think it's a good it's a good
role to be identified with, you know. Yeah, and even having the
years between them, I think really helps because my agree journey that goes on
between the let's call this one story over two movies. But he is sort
of more boyish in the first one, and it's you know, when he
has to rise up and become a bit more you know, in front of
the masses, as he does in this one. I don't know that I
could imagine that kid in the first movie doing that. Yeah, I agree,
But then by the time you get to that moment, you know,
in the second half of this film, I was like, well, you
know, I was I was convinced I was convinced. I definitely agree with
that. I I I also I really liked, really liked Javier bar Dam
in this. Yeah. He was terrific, right, really, just a
great character. I loved Brolin. I was glad that we got to get
a little bit more focus on his character. And I Rebecca Ferguson kind of
taking a sinister turn. I thought that that worked pretty effectively as well.
Totally. Yeah. I mean I don't have any any major complaints, and
and like you said, we can certainly pick some knits, but I figure
we can do that in the spoiler section, right, Yeah, let's do
it. All right, So it's two thumbs up from us, but let's
talk spoilers right after this spoiler. All right, Brian, what are you
gonna bitch about now? No, I want to say now that we're talking
more specifically. I love where it just sort of picked up, you know,
seeing them being hunted in the desert, you know, yeah, like
literally right after right after the first one left off. Yeah, yeah,
I love that. And and then it's like sort of like his immersion into
the Fremen, you know, And it's I love that the movie can be
as long as it is so we can take our time with these sort of
things and experience, you know, seeing some of them like kind of doubt
him, but Zendas like, well, I don't know, there's something about
him, Like I just enjoyed all that that sort of stuff. I think
if I had a knit I would say it might be whenever it was cutting
to Batista and his pursuit. Yeah, I felt like all that felt a
little perfunctory. You know, I think that's valid. Yeah, right,
Like it felt a little bit like just checking it because we have to.
It's like we got to remember that there are bad guys in pursuit, there
are antagonists, and it would just sort of check in. He'd be like
where are they, and thegether like I don't know, like then I'm gonna
kill you, and then it would just like cut away, and then it
would have slamming somebody's head into a console. Yeah, And and I found
every time it cut to him, it almost felt like an obligation just to
remind us that there were villains. And I kind of wish we had gotten
just a little bit more into what he Boutista's character might be feeling or experiencing,
or like he at some point like him and Austin Butler's characters are a
little bit at odds, and I think digging in a little bit into how
does he feel about that? Like I wouldn't have minded just like a teensy
bit more. By the way, speaking speaking of Austin Butler, aren't you
secretly kind of hoping he's he's talks like stellin Scarsguard for the next year and
a half. Well, when I a character inhabits me, it's hard to
shake. I mean it was like it was a pitch perfect stellin Scars Guard,
he was doing the whole movie. When he started doing it, I
was like, oh, that is brilliant. I was like, does scars
Guard know what he's doing? You know, like he's doing it to his
face? Yeah? But that was that was really good. He's good.
He's no. I really liked him. He's no Sting Brandon. Where was
the metal underwear? I ask? You? See? And that's what's so
interesting too, is the differences between the two the Lynch movie. In this
movie, I mean, the characterization is obviously quite different. I mean you
have Sting just sort of this smirking, sculpted, you know, kind of
guy who looks like, if you breathe wrong, he'll just break your neck.
And you know, Austin Butler feels a little bit like a killer for
sure, but like a little less like a live wire, just more like
a focused, don't get in my way kind of guy. And I felt
like he was an interesting, well realized character. And I loved everything.
By the way on their planet, like that whole the way they did that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was reading apparently, I guess,
I don't know if this is in the book, but like their sun,
the light does allow for color, that's right, And so they filmed it
in this special way with an infrared setting, and that's how he got that
unique look. And I was like, and the fire rapes like that just
you know, within the reality of that world, their fireworks look like ink
blots in the sky. So neat amazing. The the guy who he fights
in the arena, the one guy who isn't drugged. He he he was
like a bit player in the first film, but he was actually the fight
trainer. So he was the one who who trained all the actors. Oh
really, And I was like, oh, it's cool that they gave him
like a like a you know, a moment, you know, I love
that. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna say one more thing, one more
thought, and then the rest is basically just praise. I see what you
and see if you agree with me, maybe maybe you don't agree with me.
But it felt like almost everyone in this movie acts very very stoic and
Soccasionally I kind of wish I could have gotten just a little bit more inside
some of their heads with how they were feeling about things. And I don't
think this is like a you know, a terrible offender with that. I've
seen other movies where everyone is just so stoic and it just feels almost it's
too self serious, and I don't feel like it's steeped into that. But
occasionally I was kind of like, well, what's Paul feeling, you know,
like I and and I'm not saying that he has to be like,
you know, making wise cracks or something like well that was weird, you
know, or anything like that or everybody saw that, right, so it
just happened, Yeah, exactly, not like a Marvel movie, you know,
like those kind of cracks, Like I definitely not asking for that,
but like I do every now and then, like when he was in the
tent with Jawny. I was sort of like, I kind of wanted a
little bit of a so what are you thinking about? You know, like
I was a little unclear about how he felt about the whole messiah thing,
because it felt like he knew that he could use the fact that people thought
he was a messiah to his advantage in some ways, but he's also capable
of amazing things, you know, And I'm just I wouldn't mind it getting
in his head about how he feels about all this stuff. And I know
there was an interview that was kind of going around where Villeneuev was saying,
oh, he doesn't like dialogue. He doesn't like dialogue, And I think
I appreciate the principle of that because a lot of times in movies people do
speak speaking of Madame Webb, you know, where she has to tell us
every single thing she's thinking when it's so obvious, and you know, it's
well Or or Brian the the David Lynch Dune, Yeah, what we're Yeah,
I mean, it's not enough for them to say what they're thinking.
We also have to hear what they're thinking. In that movie, yeah,
exactly. Yeah, And so I appreciate that principle, and I do think
less is more, But at the same time, I do think I was
occasionally wishing I could understand a little bit more get inside some of some of
the characters heads so well. I think that the through line for Paul is
he he does not want the mantle that's being put on him because he doesn't
feel that it's his mantle. What what prompts him to take it on is
the dream he has where he sees Johnny dying. And so this is very
Anakin Skywalker, rightly. I mean, that's that's definitely like man this and
and it's realized in such a in just such an effective way. This idea
of like somebody with good intentions can end up in you know, causing a
lot of harm, and and how do we get to that place? I
don't disagree with you entirely. I will say that that, at least on
a certainly after second a second viewing, I felt like I pretty well tracked
her that you might find that to be the case at the next time you
see it. I was just gonna say, I have a feeling and obviously
this movie is a wavelength, you know, and I don't feel like every
movie should be the same wavelength, and so I think I do want to
see this again, and I have I wonder if I rewatch it, if
I will pick up on things that I missed, you know, getting more
in tune with its wavelength and yeah, like, oh no, this was
expressed in its way. So I'm looking forward to seeing that. But on
that note, i'd also like to I want to compliment Zendia because I feel
like I totally tracked with her in this movie, and I love I thought
she did a great job of being sort of skeptical about the way that the
Fremen felt about Paul, but also loving him, and then that the whole
thing at the end where he's like, Okay, I'm going to marry this
princess, you know, and he's just so matter of fact about like what
he has to do to accomplish whatever he's got to do. And I love
the way she played that, you know, like she didn't make a stink,
but she definitely had a effing kidding me on her face and I thought
that was really well done. Yeah, And and that's actually one of the
big changes that villain Neuve made with this one, is that Channi. In
both of the previous versions, she's she's on board with whatever Paul does.
And I think that's an interesting thing, right, because because we as the
audience need a we need a compass to let us know, wait a minute,
this is wrong, you know, and and the the the book and
the previous adaptations kind of lose sight of that a little bit. And and
I think I think that's why Herbert was moved to write the later books,
because I think he was like, wait, people aren't getting what I intended,
you know, right, because you know, uh, Gurney, he
knew Paul before before Iracus. But he goes along with the messianic crusade,
right, everybody goes along with it, right, right, We'll get to
still Gar. He really goes along with it. It's been so great to
see that. But but Channi, by by having her be like, wait
a minute, this is screwed up, Like there she is among the group
that is being you know, manipulated, and by allowing her to give voice
to that, I think I think that that changes the direction of the story.
And I think that's what's interesting to me because because and even in the
Lynch film they filmed it, they didn't. They didn't include it. But
it's like, yes, I'm gonna marry the princess, but Channie will be
my concubine. And there we go. Right, So that's like Archie being
like I'm gonna marry Betty, but I'm gonna sleep with Veronica. There I've
solved the problem, you know. And and I think rightly, Channie would
probably not be okay with that, So I think I think it's smart that
he adjusted the story. But again, the key thing is by having her
remain morally consistent, it puts the audience on her side. Mm hm.
And we're like, I don't think when the movie ends, we're like,
right on, holy war. I don't think that's your reaction. I hope
not, you know, right, right right, And at least partly because
because we see how how Channi's reacting to it. You know, Another big
change that was made is the character of Alia, who is you know,
she's the little girl played by Alicia witt In in the earlier film, so
she she only exists as a as a fetus. Basically if when we watched
the Lynch one, and yeah, basically we see like this fetus. You
know. I was just like, whoa, that's so lynch Man. And
then in this one here we get a fetus. Yeah, that's right.
Actually, in my seat was kind of like, well, I'll be darned.
But it's interesting because I think villa Eneuve was like, you know what
if we have like a little toddler talking like an old lady, I think
people aren't gonna like you are going to Yeah, and I exactly. I
think it was a smart choice where essentially he has Alia talking through Jessica h
and that's so much sectomach and it's just like she wonders why you're thinking this,
you know, like, and it's like, oh, I can wrap
my head around that. I think most people. Yeah. Well, and
I would say even like those moments where Jessica gets like super dark, I
feel like that's probably Alia talking through her. Mmmm. You know that's my
sense. You know, I could be wrong. We do get a glimpse
of her played by Annia Taylor Joy, so if they do end up doing
the next one, we know that presumably she'll be back playing the adult version
of Alia. But I think that was a smart choice for for the reason
that I just said, but also you know, in the book and the
previous versions it's Alia who kills the baron, and I think giving that beat
to Paul was probably a good idea just in terms of the narrative. Mm
hmm, sure, you know, I think I think that made sense.
We're all revenge for his father. Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know.
Now that being said, we get Christopher Walking as the Emperor. And
it's funny because as soon as I heard he was cast, I was like,
the spies must flow, you know, and he's kinda is that basically
in the movie? Right? That's there's Actually I saw a headline at vulture
dot Com that said, does Christopher Walkin know he's in a Dune movie?
I mean it really it feels like they feel. It feels like Bowfinger where
they kind of filmed Eddie Murphy without his knowledge. You know, it did
feel like that right a little bit. You know. I I'm sort of
of two minds of it. I mean, it's impossible, like I didn't
mind it, but no, you know, I was gonna say, it's
impossible to separate Christopher Walking from anything he's playing. I think these days,
because he's become like the go to person who gets impersonated and at the same
time. Whatever sort of uniqueness and cookiness we immediately identify with Walkin is instantly
applied to a character we otherwise don't know a lot about who is the Emperor
of the universe. So without a lot of information from the movie, we
can immediately go, oh, okay, so this guy stands apart, He's
immediately an interesting figure. I think you're probably right. You know, by
the way, this is a fun fact. I had meant to mention this
in our Dune eighty four commentary. Did you know that Charlotte Rampling, who
plays the Reverend Mother who for the Emperor, she was offered the part of
Jessica in that eighty four version. Oh, I didn't know that. So
full circle here we are. There's a bit at the very end, or
near the end, where the Reverend Mother and Jessica are talking to each other
using their telepath powers. I don't know if this was intentional or not,
but it felt to me like a little nod to the David Lynch movie with
all the oh that's all you know, I love it, uh, because
I mean, we don't. We don't see that power among the Benijeesa in
any other part of the movie. You know, Yeah, that's good.
That's a good point. I love that stuff. I love I don't know.
I love all the way that they communicated here. I love the telepathy
or whatever. I love like sign wage. It's so cool. Yeah,
it's just it just feels like such a lived in world, you know.
It's just that's the that's the key thing, right, And that's why I
make the comparison to Lord of the Rings and even Star Wars, you know,
I mean, you really like it. It took the time to build
it out, to really give us a sense of what's what what things are
like in the in the in the DO universe, and I think that's what
allows the culmination of the story to really pay off. You know. I
think that that action sequence earlier on where it's it's Shawnny and Paul are attacking
like this harvester and you know, they got like rocket launchers here, and
he got like the ornithopters here and everything. I mean, it's it's it's
this masterpiece of scale and emerging of did and practical and yet it all like
you're able to follow it right totally. And I think part of that is
because the world's rules have been established well enough where you're able to sort of
keep track of things, you know, mm hmm. Now we were talking
about Stillgar earlier. Again, I loved Javeo Bradam and this is great and
I think the car it's such an interesting character, right because it's it's a
commentary. The film is a commentary on on on what faith does to you,
right, and and it's it's funny because because to me, like there
is this you know, we're seeing the memes where people it's it's almost like
people like laughing at Stilgar, you know what I mean a little bit.
And I'm like, but but he's so sincere in his beliefs. M h
and he almost feel I don't know, this is me. I feel bad,
like knowing how those beliefs are being moved this that does that make sense?
Absolutely? Yeah, I mean yeah, there's something so sincere about him
exactly, and you like admire that because that's such a rare quality in people.
And I mean now this whole thing that he the prophecy or whatever it
is that he is saying as it is written, I mean this was put
into place by the Bena jesureit right, by the Benagest. It's all manipulation,
right, you know, I mean that's the thing, right, It's
that That's what Johnnie says, right, is this prophecy is being used to
manipulate you or to enslave you, I think she says. And and yet
you know, like Stilgar is a good person, so it gets into this
whole, this whole notion of well he's a good person, but he believes
in this thing that has been concocted. So is that does that make him
stupid? Does it? You know, like it's complicated, you know,
yeah, well, and then you judge extra harshly the people then like Paul,
who are then manipulating people who know that this has been manufactured. And
it's like why I can use this to my ends, you know, yeah,
it's I love it. I love that this isn't just a Star Wars
re tread, you know what I mean? Well, obviously, I know
that's a really weird statement because this came before Star Wars. I want to
acknowledge that, but I just going to the movies in twenty twenty four.
I love I want Star Wars to be Star Wars, and I want another
space movie to be something completely different. And I love that this is just
has a whole different sort of soul to it, you know. Yeah.
Well, and speaking of Star Wars, by the way, I mean,
it's impossible not to see the Baron as Jaba the Hut. Yeah, sure,
yeah. And I was actually thinking, I was like, I wonder
if Jaba was inspired by the Baron. I wonder. Yeah, not having
read the books, I don't know, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't be
surprised by that, you know. Yeah, other things that jumped out at
me. I this is a random thought, but it feels like those thumpers.
It's like uberpool. That's what it feels like to me. It's like
pulling out your app Dude, that's hilarious, you know. And I was
wondering too, like what happens to those things? They just I thought,
you know, do you pick it back up? Or it seems like they
just leave them behind? Its like, is the desert just littered with these
things? Well if if if you are using a thumper to summon a worm,
then that thumper will likely be swallowed up by the worm too. Chee
right to sha. So the thumper companies, I mean, that's a you
want to buy their stock because they're not going in the universe. Yeah,
Big Thumper is right up there with the Guild Navigators. Yeah, it was
a smart choice not to show the big Guild Navigators. By the way,
I think that was a smart choice. I wondered actually going in. I
wondered if we were going to get a glimpse of them, having just seen
the Lynch one. Yeah, I agree. I don't know how you show
them and not have it be well, who knows. But I was gonna
say, like a bridge too far, But I don't know. Yeah,
I think we'll probably get there eventually, because I think even in the books
they didn't show up until the the second one. I believe so so.
But I think by the time you get to movie three, I think people
audiences will be a little bit more acclimated into the world totally. And also
I think I'm thinking, how are they going to do the version of Lynch's
you know, creatures, And it's like, well, they probably won't.
You know, they probably will not have giant vagina faced monsters, will not
be exactly on the agenda. One presumes, yeah, one presumes other things.
Other things that jumped out at you. Florence Pugh Princess Rulin Rulian irulan
is how I pronounced it. She I mean for such. You know,
it's funny in the in the past two years between Oppenheimer and this movie,
as big an actress says she is, she's playing these sort of smaller roles,
but because it's her, they really pop, you know, like if
you yeah, I don't know that the princess would have popped as strongly in
this if it hadn't been someone we had recognized. But she has an interesting
role, and I think in whatever sequels they make, she will, I
guess have a much bigger role, right, Yeah, it's certainly in the
next book, Like you know, Villeneuve has said that he wants to at
least come back and do you know the second book, which would be the
third film to kind of wrap up Paul's story. And yeah, if that's
the case, the princess has has a pretty big, big role to play
in that one. But it's interesting because because you know, they've kind of
changed the trajectory a little bit by virtue of where they leave Channi at the
end of this one. So I'm actually very curious, like how how things
move from here, you know, well, if in sequels she eventually is
okay of everything that comes to understand and support Paul, I could see getting
there. But I think it makes sense if you're going to end the movie
where it ends, I don't think many audiences would support that. I think
that would turn a lot of people off. And so I think it makes
sense to show a natural human reaction to learning of the news, and then
you know, you have a whole movie to show how she could come around
to whatever Paul's plan is, right, right, Yeah, it's I think
that's really the thing, right because because the story itself is really it's showing
how, you know, cruelty creates cruelty creates zelotry, and then you know,
it becomes sort of a rolling stone that gathered, you know, eventually
turns into a boulder, you know, And I think that's really you know,
I mean, this is me right as I'm watching and I'm seeing the
hearken and is just laying waste to Seech to Barrow. I can't help but
think about Gaza and what's happening over there. And obviously this is not the
intention of the filmmakers, but this is sort of what what films can do
you know, uh, they can speak to these historic moments, and there
is some there is, uh, you know, a truism about humanity,
which is that when we fit and when we inflict cruelty on others, what
do we think is going to happen in response? And it just it doesn't
It will never stop. When are we going to learn? You know?
Right? Right? And I think stories like this have the capacity to shine
a light on that hopefully maybe I don't know, mm hmmm hm. I
mean obviously not trying to get too political, but but you know, how
can we we not show empathy towards other people? You know? Yeah?
And don't you love stories that that force you to make those comparisons and think
about those things? And you know, I love that. I love it.
And it's you know, coming from a book that's many decades old,
you know, and it's just they're still it's it's the best science fiction,
right. I absolutely agree. And and I think by the way, that
that's that's why I feel like VILLAINU have kind of just got away with something
here, honestly while while no one was paying attention, you know, right,
And and if they do end up doing a third one, I hope
to God that Warner Brothers just leaves him alone and lets him do his thing.
Yep. Yeah, there's even this this television series right that that's supposed
to be coming out or it's like a streaming series, which one it's called
Dune Prophecy. You haven't heard of this, No, yeah, it's it
was originally called The Sisterhood, but now it's called Prophecy, and it's going
to be late this year. It's going to be late this year, and
it says here it's set ten thousand years before the events of Dune. The
series follows sisters Vallia and Tula Harken and as they combat forces that threaten the
future of humankind and establish the fabled sect known as the Bennajezrat Mark Strong,
Okay, yeah, you Williams. Wow. So Warner Brothers is Warner Brothers,
no doubt, hoping for for Star Wars, you know, level of
universe building, you know, yeah, yeah, Well, and that's it.
There's just so much going on. I mean, even the the Leah
se Do character, you know, and they're like, yeah, like you
know, we're creating a backup, you know, like we're backing up Austin
Butler's DNA or whatever in case we need. Like, it's just so much
going on, and I just it feels like a book in that way,
you know, it just feels like absolutely a lot of a text. And
honestly, I had not felt compelled to read these books before, but after
this movie, I was like, no, I'm I'm in and I want
to keep going with this story. And it made me go to Amazon and
order the first three books. So well, and to that point, you
know, last time I saw you, I showed you some clips from the
sci fi Children of Doing miniseries which kind of shows a little bit about what
happens to Paul Efforts. I don't know about you, but I'm like,
knowing that that's sort of the trajectory of the character, I'm like, well,
I want to see that. I want to get there. No,
that was a big part also, I think again, I mean, rewatching
the part one, I was like, yeah, I enjoy this, bring
on part two. But then watching the Lynch one and getting a few more
details and then having you show me those clips of like what happens in the
story way down the line, I'm I'm invested in this now, like I
really do enjoy this universe and where it's all going, and I want to
take that ride. So well, there we go. I think, I
think, what greater praise is there than that. I would think Denny Villeneuve
would be ecstatic to hear that. Yeah. Well, I I'm excited about
him as a filmmaker. I've loved him for a long time. I mean
Going Prisoners and the one with Cicario of course, Arrival, Arrival. Yeah.
So, but now he's becoming sort of a Nolan esque person for me,
where I'm like, this guy knows how to wield big movies. I
was gonna make that comparison yet, I mean, that's what Nolan had a
quote a couple of weeks ago, right where he's like, I'm going to
continue making big movies because that is a privilege that I now have. I
can do that, and so it's up to me then to do that well
right. And I feel like Villanuev is one of those people now too,
and I just look forward to he can work on this scale, he can
work with these budgets, and in the day and age where we've seen everything,
he can still make me feel like I'm seeing something new. I'm excited
about that. Well, and and you know you're talking about Christopher Nolan.
Obviously he was. He was blown away by this movie. Oh I haven't
seen. Yeah, he has a quote he says for me. I don't
think it says too much to say that if June Part one was Star Wars,
this to me is very much the Empire strikes Back, which is my
favorite of the Star Wars films. I just think it's an incredibly exciting expansion
of all of the things you introduced in the first one. Wow. High
praise, high praise. And you know, I will say, though,
that reminds me. When it ended. My brother turned to me and he's
like, oh, so they're not done, you know, And having not
read the book, I thought, I don't actually, I don't know if
this is where the book ends, because it does feel sure Empire strikes back,
ye, you know, where like there's still conflict and they're still like,
well, well now what And I went to Wipedia. Turns out it
is where the book ends. And but I love it, Like you said,
it's there, that's the book. Yeah, And hopefully though, we'll
we'll get to see a sequel that that does the next book, because as
you told me. I mean, these go on for several more books that
span thousands of years, so there's a lot more there's a lot more story
and and the you know, the interesting thing is that the next book picks
up, uh, you know, about a decade or so later, so
like the war has happened in between. Mmm. Oh okay, and and
that's something I wonder about, like like by the time, sorry, I
don't think this constitution is spoiler. When we come in Paul is the emperor
of the universe. Oh wow, okay, that's book two, right,
And so my question is is that a choice that Villeneuve was gonna make or
will he want it? You know what I mean? Will he maybe maybe
tackle the very end of the war so that we see him ascend to the
throne? I don't know, you know, but but it if if you
think of if we think of Dune as a Godfather part one, into think
of Dune Massa as the Godfather part three, where Michael Corleone comes to term
with everything that has happened in his name, you know, right right?
And to me, that's again that's what's interesting, and it seems like that's
where his muse is as well, Villeneus. So I'm I'm excited to see
what happens next. Yeah, yeah, bring it. I mean, I'm
ready to go watch this one again because I know I'm probably gonna glean so
much more on second viewing. And then yeah, I as soon as he's
ready, I'm ready for number three. Well, there we go. I
think that's a good place to leave this conversation. Yeah. If if y'all
listening have affirmations or disinclinations based on what we say, please let us know.
You can email us at Moviefilm Podcast at gmail dot com. You can
also hit like on our Facebook page Facebook dot com slash Movie Film Podcast and
message us there. If as always, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave
review, leave a star rating. Every little bit helps. We really would
love getting those reviews, So if you're able to do that, that would
be fantastic. If you're looking for me online, you can find me on
social media at Zachie's Corner pretty much at most major social media places there,
you can reach me there. What about you, Brian, what do you
have going on? I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago new episodes
of Young Jedi Adventures dropped on Disney Plus and it also airs on Disney Junior.
And I've had people reaching out to me telling me how much their kids
are enjoying them, and so that's been really exciting for me, and I'm
just thrilled to plug those. Also look for my interview with Aquafina at the
San Francisco Chronicle. I talked to her about being the Grand Marshal of the
Chinese New Year's Day Parade in San Francisco and about her role in Kung Fu
Panda, So you can check that out over there. But with that on
behalf of my partner Brian Hall. My name is Zachie Hasna. This has
been Movie Film two eighty six. We will catch you next time. Thanks
everybody, welcome friends podcasts still joyed to show back again. Right here they're
talking bout for briefing next morning now, Mark, that's on the pad.