WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:05.080 Hello, This is Chris Haskell from They Live by Film. For those that 2 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.720 don't know us, Adam Zach and I we built a podcast over the last 3 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:13.759 two years that's a combination of film discussion from three very different perspectives, as 4 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:16.839 well as industry interviews with the leaders in Boutique, Blu Ray, and four 5 00:00:16.920 --> 00:00:21.239 Kid Community. We started with dev Crocodile, but over time we've been lucky 6 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:25.719 enough to speak with Aero Video, Severn, Mondo, Macabre, Vinegar Syndrome, 7 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:29.920 Radiant Syndicator, most of the OCN partner labels. It's been a blast. 8 00:00:30.839 --> 00:00:34.880 You can find us wherever you podcast and also actually recently as part of 9 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:53.359 someone's favorite production podcast network. We hope to see you online. Hello there, 10 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:56.840 and welcome back to the disc Connected. I'm here with Mitchell Beaupre, 11 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:02.280 who's the senior editor at Letterbox the co host of the Letterbox Show podcast. 12 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:06.680 Mitchell, thanks for hanging out tonight, absolutely thanks, thanks for having me. 13 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:11.599 Happy to be here, I am. I'm stoked because Letterbox obviously is 14 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:15.439 not to you know, sing too high praise over what is literally just an 15 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.519 app but like one of the most important tools in the world for movie fans 16 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:25.359 in our current life. What's going on in Letterbox lately, Let's just you 17 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.400 know, breach the surface there. Yeah, sure, Yeah, I mean 18 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:33.120 no, I agree. Like I was a Letterbox member from like when it 19 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:37.359 was back in beta in like twenty twelve, so like I was a user 20 00:01:37.400 --> 00:01:38.959 for a very long time before I started working there, And it does feel 21 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:44.040 like there's this weird like shift of like pre letterbox and post Letterbox. Like 22 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:48.319 it's hard to imagine a movie life where I was just like like I was 23 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:51.200 the kind of person who used to have like spreadsheets of like everything, like 24 00:01:51.239 --> 00:01:55.040 you know, rankings of every movie I've ever seen by year and like all 25 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:57.719 that kind of stuff. I'd sort of be able to have a Letterbox where 26 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.560 you can just have all that right there is very convenient as far as what's 27 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:06.879 been going on over there. I mean, I feel like Letterbox is in 28 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:10.560 this interesting place where we've really blown up a lot more. Like I feel 29 00:02:10.599 --> 00:02:14.719 like people like you and me have known a Letterbox for a long time, 30 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:19.680 but in the last like year, like I feel like it's kind of raised 31 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:24.159 to another level of kind of cultural awareness. Even just doing like interviews and 32 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:30.080 stuff with like actors and directors. I think that We've definitely noticed a marked 33 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:34.319 change in the last like two years probably of you know, two years ago, 34 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:37.599 if I was interviewing somebody, I would have to like explain what the 35 00:02:37.639 --> 00:02:40.520 concept of letterbox even is to most people, Whereas now if I try to 36 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:43.879 start doing that, they're just like, oh, I know what letterbox is. 37 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:46.000 I like, I, you know, I have a private account that 38 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:47.719 I don't like share with anybody or whatever. So it's I mean, it's 39 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:51.879 been nice to see. It's definitely exciting that it's it's catching on a lot 40 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:55.400 more and hitting you know, different avenues, and it's been at uh now 41 00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:59.199 you're starting to catch some of those, you know, lower level users like 42 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:02.319 the Scorsese and they just small, small time people, small time people. 43 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:08.400 It's been it's been an interesting time obviously, you know, the four Favorites 44 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:14.159 are blowing up on TikTok, the the the YouTube videos of the you know, 45 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:19.599 DiCaprio and Scorsese interviewing each other are doing extremely well. But now, 46 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:23.719 I mean, it's it's that thing. It's like part of the movie fan 47 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:28.199 lexicon. It is something that they rely on heavily, and to be someone 48 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:30.919 that was there before that and now to be here through the rise, I 49 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:35.199 imagine has to feel pretty damn exciting. Yeah, it's it's pretty bizarre, 50 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:38.280 honestly. Like I ended up getting the gig because I like somebody that I've 51 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:44.879 been friends with since like high school had been working there before me and kind 52 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.000 of recommended me, and like, you know, obviously I went through like 53 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.919 a whole interview process and all of that jazz. But it's like it still 54 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:57.039 has very like startup culture vibes. Like we definitely I think produce to the 55 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:01.120 extent that it looks like we're a much bigger company me but like even now 56 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:05.759 we have like twenty staff members, and I mean that was like a year 57 00:04:05.800 --> 00:04:09.639 ago, we probably had like ten. When I signed on three years ago, 58 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:13.080 I was like one of like five, And so it's it's definitely a 59 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:16.480 very like bootstrapped operation, but I think we were able to make it look 60 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:21.839 like we're operating on a much higher scale. So what does a senior editor 61 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:25.959 at Letterbox do? Because I got admit, I checked my reviews from last 62 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:30.319 week and there's still mistakes. You're obviously not editing much. Yeah about heading 63 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:32.319 all of them, about having all of them? Yeah, we I mean 64 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:38.519 it's a good question, I feel like my so my main job on like 65 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:42.279 a day to day is we have an editorial section of the site called Journal, 66 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:45.240 which if you're on the app or if you're on the website, there's 67 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:46.800 a tab at the top it says Journal and you can go there, and 68 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:50.160 that has all of our like like interviews, or I mean not all of 69 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:53.759 our interviews. Some of them we just do, like the red carpet stuff. 70 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:56.399 It's just living on socials and on YouTube or whatever, but more like 71 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.959 long form print interviews we have on there. We have kind of regular column 72 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.720 that freelancers or staff members will write for us. We just did like our 73 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:06.560 best of sun Dance, where we had some people there, some people attending 74 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:10.360 there and just kind of wrapped up like writing on our favorites or whatever. 75 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:15.519 And that's that's kind of like all my day to day. But also, 76 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:18.120 as is the case with a lot of startups like I do, even though 77 00:05:18.120 --> 00:05:21.319 that's my main job, I do a lot of different things. I work 78 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:24.959 this, I work a couple of social shifts a week where I'm like running 79 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:28.879 our social media. I do the podcast as you mentioned up top, I 80 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.160 you know, tap in helping with like captions on videos, that we post 81 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:36.199 on YouTube and everything. So it definitely is like an operation where everybody kind 82 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:42.079 of has like their job job, and then most of the days you're like 83 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:44.680 getting pulled in from somebody else who's like, hey, I need somebody to 84 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:46.000 help me with this, like real quick, do you have like two hours? 85 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:49.600 And you just kind of like yeah, it's very like free wheeling from 86 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:55.800 from day to day. Well, you are a very busy person outside of 87 00:05:55.879 --> 00:05:59.240 letterbox too. You you try to do your best to contribute everywhere that you 88 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:02.759 can promote film in general, physical media. We're gonna get into the physical 89 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:08.160 media hard, of course, but a lot of this is just time consuming 90 00:06:08.279 --> 00:06:12.480 and for somebody that loves film, I got to ask, like health check, 91 00:06:12.680 --> 00:06:14.399 how are you doing there? Are you still able to watch a lot? 92 00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:16.519 Are you still feeling good about it? No, that's a great question. 93 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:21.160 Honestly, that's actually a really good question. I feel like I it's 94 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:26.720 something that I'm very consciously aware of and try to like do that kind of 95 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:30.399 check in with myself because I get into this thing of because I've either work 96 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.439 for Letterboxed or other podcasts that I'm like doing where I have to watch stuff 97 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:38.399 for that and like do kind of like extensive research and stuff like that to 98 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.000 make sure I'm kind of boned up on that stuff, or like freelance pieces 99 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:44.839 that I write for like Pace magazine or like a film stage or whatever. 100 00:06:45.800 --> 00:06:48.920 I get into pockets where I realize that for the last like two months, 101 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:51.879 I haven't watched a single movie. That's like not for like a work thing 102 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:57.000 I'm doing, And like, I love being able to watch movies as part 103 00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:01.519 of my job or whatever, but it can be acting Like some some nights 104 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:05.160 I'm just like I don't want to have to be writing notes and like thinking 105 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:09.120 about what I'm going to, you know, write about this movie or whatever 106 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:13.879 as I'm watching it, and so I try really hard to to be better 107 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.160 about that. I think from like October through January, I didn't really do 108 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.120 any podcasts, I didn't really do any interviews, Like I just kind of 109 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:24.279 needed a break from that stuff. And I'm kind of getting a little bit 110 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:27.720 back into the swing of it now. But in that time, I definitely 111 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:30.480 like made a point to myself to like, at least like two nights a 112 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.399 week. I need to just make a point, even if it feels like 113 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:36.240 I need to watch so much stuff for like work things I'm doing at least 114 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:39.680 two times a week, I just need to make sure that I'm watching something 115 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:43.399 that's like unrelated to anything to do with work, And I think that's that's 116 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:46.439 been helpful for me. It's it's weird to try to explain to somebody that 117 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.800 doesn't love film, but it's true that like if you're if you're working on 118 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:54.680 this a lot of the time and only watching what you're actually kind of required 119 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:59.079 to talk about. It's like it's like exercising constantly with no rest days and 120 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.839 that you even that rejuvenation of watching something that you want to watch, it's 121 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.319 really important to make you appreciate it all appropriately. Yeah exactly. Yeah, 122 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:11.439 No, it's it's it's like it's like the biggest like champagne problem in the 123 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:15.319 world. Like as a teenager like thinking about like, oh, I you 124 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.040 know, would have some reservation at some point about watching movies as part of 125 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:20.959 my job, and you see it like all the like people you know, 126 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:24.399 shit on critics because they're like, you just watch movies, like that's what 127 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:26.959 you do all day, and it's like, you know, like you really 128 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:31.480 have like it definitely is like a very like mental mentally strenuous like position to 129 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:37.120 be in where you're like actively having to think about how you're going to comment 130 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:39.080 on this thing or like analyze it or whatever, and then like doing doing 131 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.919 all the research and everything for stuff. You can't just like at least for 132 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:45.279 me, you know, you can't just spit out like these thoughts, Like 133 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:48.159 right after coming out of something, you really want to get all the context, 134 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.399 get all you know, read what other people have said about it. 135 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:52.639 Sometimes, like if you're doing a podcast or whatever, like catch it on 136 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:56.399 like the cultural legacy of something. But I know, I know it's like 137 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.600 similar for you because you're doing also you're trying to keep up with like all 138 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:03.639 the new physical releases that are coming out, which is very similar of like 139 00:09:03.759 --> 00:09:07.679 wanting to make sure you're digesting everything for interviews and everything else that you're doing 140 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:09.919 the awards and stuff like that that you do, like you want to you 141 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:13.080 know, hit all of the right things, and then at a certain point 142 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:15.279 you're like, well, I just want to watch something that's like just just 143 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.120 you know, to chill with. Oh yeah, And then it gets to 144 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.279 the point where you know you're working on special features for for some disc and 145 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:24.320 you've watched a movie five times. The first time, sure it's a little 146 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:28.279 enjoyable, but my number five, You're like, Okay, I've seen this 147 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:33.960 character die six times now. Yeah, yeah, you kind of lose sight 148 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:35.879 of like it becomes that fig of like like when you're like, you have 149 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.879 a favorite song that you've heard a million times and you got to listen to 150 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:41.799 it and it just like doesn't even register for you anymore because you've heard it 151 00:09:41.799 --> 00:09:46.320 so many times. Like there's definitely movies like that for me where I'm like 152 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:48.039 I put it on or somebody else is like, let's watch this movie and 153 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:50.000 I'm like, sure, I love that movie, and they put it on 154 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:54.639 it I'm just like kind of like blank like the entire time because it's I'm 155 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:56.600 like, you can just recite it, you know, word for a word 156 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.440 of course. Uh gosh. Yeah. Physical media, let's get into that 157 00:10:00.519 --> 00:10:05.200 because one of the things that I I respect the hell out of you for 158 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:11.159 this because with with Letterbox and with the appearances that you do on screen drafts 159 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:15.159 and everything with Billy Ray and the Incinerator and a Man's Plaining, everything that 160 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:18.519 you've done with everybody, it seems to always go back to This is available 161 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:22.279 on disc here or this is I'm going to shout out fun City Editions for 162 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:28.440 being great. I'm going to give my you know, the people that are 163 00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:33.960 here tuning into my opinion, a way to dive into physical media because it's 164 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.000 disappearing for that mainstream aspect. It really is only such a small subset. 165 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:41.799 So why why is it still important to you? Yeah, it's it's it's 166 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:46.759 it's a really crazy time that I feel like we're living in right now because 167 00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:50.000 so much of physical media is dying out and then at the same point, 168 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.519 like so much of the interest and like the excitement from like the you know, 169 00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:58.679 average Joe consumer is dying out of physical media because there is so much 170 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:03.279 stuff just right there on Netflix or you know, Max or whatever. But 171 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:07.600 I feel like for people like you and me, we understand that this is 172 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:11.720 kind of the best time in the history of the world to be a physical 173 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:13.720 media and collector to be a fan of it. Like the stuff that boutique 174 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.279 labels are doing right now is like out of this world. And yeah, 175 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:22.799 for me, I think that, I mean one there definitely is, just 176 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:28.159 in terms of quality, like compression rates and everything on streaming services, like 177 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.960 you're you're not seeing the same thing that you're watching if you're watching it on 178 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:37.200 a disc. Also, like the preservation aspect of it is such a huge 179 00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:41.759 thing about It's just it's a huge passion for me in general. It's a 180 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:45.080 huge passion for me in terms of like what like even my work at Letterbox, 181 00:11:45.080 --> 00:11:48.039 like I really try to focus as much as I can on bringing awareness 182 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:52.159 to movies that have been lost, movies that you know, need to be 183 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:54.679 found, movies that have been found. Something like bush Man, which Milestone 184 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.639 Films just put out, was you know, made in the seventies, was 185 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:03.240 not available perie until this new restoration just came out in theaters and we'll be 186 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:07.759 on disc at some point. And so I think trying to keep people aware 187 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:11.000 of the fact that like, and I think there's a little bit like the 188 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.000 Coyote versus Acne stuff is going on right now, Like there's like a little 189 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:16.639 bit of like people waking up, But I still think it hasn't hit like 190 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.559 the you know, the normal person, the average like the casual movie lover 191 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:26.000 that like so many of these movies can just disappear off the face of the 192 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:31.320 earth with like no warning, Like all of those Max movies that were available 193 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:33.559 only on there that suddenly have just dropped off the face of the earth that 194 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:37.879 you can't get anymore. Hulu did that as well, with several things, 195 00:12:37.960 --> 00:12:45.960 like physical media is a way to kind of keep these movies alive. And 196 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:50.360 I mean that for me is even like paying one hundred dollars to buy an 197 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:52.639 out of print DVD. That's not the greatest transfer in the world, but 198 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:54.799 it's the only way that you can see a certain movie. And then you 199 00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:58.879 watch it and it's like holy shit, Like most people are not you know. 200 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.279 I mean there's plenty of people who don't even have the ability to pay, 201 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:03.399 you know, that kind of moody for a DVD, and so like 202 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:05.639 that's a very privileged position to be in, and it's just a huge shame 203 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:09.399 that, like there's so many movies that just aren't readily available. There's so 204 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:11.639 many movies that aren't on disc period that like maybe you can find on like 205 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:16.080 a YouTube rip somewhere or something like Dion Brothers is something that like I have 206 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:20.200 only seen Inside Out with Elliot Goould is like a crazy movie that is so 207 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:24.360 much fun and is not available any It's not on streaming services anywhere, it's 208 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:28.919 not on disc anywhere, Like there is a YouTube rip that is up somewhere 209 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.440 and I want that's the only way that I've watched it. The heart Rate 210 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.720 Hit is a great example of something like that, where it's like rights just 211 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:39.600 lapsed. It's owned by like a pharmaceutical company or whatever, right, and 212 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:43.120 like like the only way that you can watch it is on like there's a 213 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:45.879 YouTube rip. There's the internet archive rip that I can't remember the name of 214 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:50.279 the guy who did like the the four K kind of like mock upgrade which 215 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:54.080 looks really dope. But yeah, I think that for me, physical media 216 00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:56.799 is a way to keep that stuff alive. There's so many other elements of 217 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:01.159 it too. I think just the physical, the rich, realistic aspect of 218 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:03.559 it is really important for me. That definitely connects to like my childhood, 219 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:09.919 and it is something that the same way as like I don't do any like 220 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.320 digital books. I don't have like a kindle or anything like that. I 221 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.720 still when I'm reading a book, like, I like the textual aspect of 222 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:18.960 it. And then I mean physical media that's the only way that you get 223 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:22.600 these special features. And I think, as you well know, as people 224 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:26.480 who you know check out this show. Well know, like the special features 225 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:31.039 opens up a different kind of world to you of appreciating these movies. There's 226 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:35.639 so many movies that I really like when I watch them, but then digging 227 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:37.759 through the special features, like that's where I'm like, oh, this is 228 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:41.720 like so high level. This is so much better than I even realized it 229 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:45.799 was while I was watching it. And I can only fully appreciate a movie 230 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:50.720 while diving into the full extent of what's being put into that work on the 231 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:56.759 physical disc. It's it's mind blowing to have that first experience because you know, 232 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.240 even just now you said that it's you. Sometimes movies you like and 233 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:03.159 then you dive in and it's so much better. I've had times where it's 234 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:05.639 been a movie I haven't even liked that much. Yeah, me too, 235 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.320 and then you watch something you go, oh wait, wait, wait, 236 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:13.240 that changes everything. And now suddenly I've done that and then found myself in 237 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.200 like a research spiral this because it teaches you something and it's like, wait 238 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:18.240 a minute, I didn't even like this movie, and now it's like the 239 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:24.480 only thing I can think about for three weeks. Why yeah. Yeah. 240 00:15:24.679 --> 00:15:28.480 The other big part of this too is you know the accessibility aspect that you're 241 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:33.679 going on about. It's I feel like the only way we get this to 242 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:37.519 be a problem for everybody is until it's a problem for the individual, which 243 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:41.559 sucks because it's kind of like what we're dealing with politics right now. A 244 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:45.720 lot of people are tuned out until it's something that affects them personally. And 245 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.960 a lot of these families they you know, they they don't care because everything's 246 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:52.600 on Disney Plus that they're watching, until suddenly somebody in locks of memory and 247 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:54.639 they go, oh, let me go watch that. Wait, it's not 248 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:58.960 on anything. How do I find this? And then they're WHOA, what 249 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.559 do we do? Now there's no other thing? And that's still kind of 250 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:03.840 that ritual aspect you brought up, because they normally know how to go find 251 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.440 it, but now they're they're clueless, And I really wish there was a 252 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:12.600 way to deliver that message universally somehow. Yeah. No, that's a good 253 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:15.440 point. Yeah, it's the kind of thing where like too, because I 254 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:21.879 because of stuff like that, the accessibility aspect, like I don't like necessarily 255 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:26.360 bigaruge anybody who isn't you know, a physical media collector, Like I think 256 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:29.799 that it's really important, Like it's it's extremely important for me. It's like 257 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:33.559 the thing that is my my greatest kind of passion and my greatest you know, 258 00:16:33.559 --> 00:16:36.279 I wouldn't even call it a hobby, like I just I am every 259 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:38.279 day, you know, thinking and checking and like seeing like what else is 260 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:42.120 coming out, and definitely putting a lot of that into my work as well. 261 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:47.759 But it definitely is a luxury that comes with having the job that I 262 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:52.559 have, you know, and with honestly not having a lot of other interests. 263 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:55.559 So like I'm not putting a lot of money into and other stuff. 264 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:57.399 I don't have a family, so like I don't have to worry about, 265 00:16:57.480 --> 00:17:00.240 you know, setting aside money to feed the kids and stuff like that. 266 00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:06.480 And so like people who primarily just watched up on Disney Plus because you know, 267 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:08.599 that's what's most affordable to them, that's what's most available to them. 268 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:12.279 Like I totally get that. But yeah, like you said, like especially 269 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:17.119 a company like Disney, like you know, as we were growing up, 270 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:21.200 you and me, like Disney had the thing of they would release a movie 271 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:23.440 for three months and then put it in the vault for ten years, and 272 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:27.640 you wouldn't be able to access it period and like it's a way to try 273 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:32.599 to like event tize you know, the physical release, but what it really 274 00:17:32.599 --> 00:17:34.720 does is keep that away from people for so long. I used to work 275 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:38.319 at a movie store where we would this movie store, movie Stop, that 276 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.799 was around for like ten years, went out of business in twenty fourteen, 277 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:48.759 and we would regularly like so we we bought and sold used movies. It 278 00:17:48.799 --> 00:17:52.480 wasn't like a rental story. It was like buying and selling used movies, 279 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:55.799 and we sold new movies as well. But the biggest kind of business there 280 00:17:56.039 --> 00:17:59.119 was turning around. People would sell us their old movies and then we would 281 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.039 sell them used like it was basically games. I was like the sister company 282 00:18:02.039 --> 00:18:04.920 of game Stop, which I think more people are familiar with, And we 283 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:10.079 every day would have people coming in with like lists of like the Disney movies 284 00:18:10.079 --> 00:18:11.640 that they were asking if we had to use coffees up, and like it 285 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:15.960 would be like no, we like barely ever have them. Every now and 286 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.799 then somebody would come in and sell a bunch of them, get a bunch 287 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.160 of money because they're rare and out of print, and then somebody would come 288 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:25.079 in an hour later buy all of those and then you know, you wouldn't 289 00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:26.920 see him again on the shelves for like three months until the next person did 290 00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:32.519 that. Wow, that's I mean, that's the exact sort of definition of 291 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:34.880 what we're fighting now. But with the streaming age, it's such a different 292 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:38.799 problem because there's no there's no person turning them in, there's no access to 293 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:42.720 any of these when they're taken away. And again, I know that it 294 00:18:42.839 --> 00:18:48.400 sounds like a privileged problem when somebody's talking about this and it's like, Oh, 295 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:52.319 the whoever big name star is of the day that has their movie deleted, 296 00:18:52.440 --> 00:18:56.240 it's gone, no big deal. There's like four hundred people that worked 297 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:59.279 on that movie, that put their heart and soul into that for months, 298 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:02.519 and now they are not able to make any more money from it. They're 299 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.480 not able to have their work out there for the world. That's that's a 300 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:07.960 really hard thing to overcome. Yeah, I mean, it's very similar to 301 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.799 what we were seeing with like the writer's strike and the and the sacks strike 302 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:15.960 this past year, where you know a lot of people were seeing it like 303 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.480 thinking that it's just you know, hoity toity rich people complaining about not getting 304 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:23.160 you know, four million dollars for making a movie when it's like, no, 305 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:27.759 the people that like these strikes are for are the people who rely on 306 00:19:29.720 --> 00:19:33.359 their living paycheck at paycheck doing this work like this is for most people a 307 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:37.599 job like anybody else has a job, Like it's it's not people who have 308 00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:41.480 mansions, it's people who are grinding it out every day. And yeah, 309 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:45.559 like you said, like when a movie disappears, that disappears for so many 310 00:19:45.559 --> 00:19:48.799 people who could who could point to that and be like, hey, here's 311 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:52.200 an example of my work, you know, let me get this new job. 312 00:19:52.359 --> 00:19:55.240 It's where now it's like, oh, I can't, like I don't 313 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:57.440 have anything to reference to see if you're good or not at your job. 314 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:02.119 So it's not I'm not gonna hire you for this, it's no more, 315 00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.359 no more resume. At that point, you're exactly yeah, yeah, Like 316 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:08.920 you're lucky if you like have something somewhere that's like a real that you've put 317 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:12.279 together, like if you're an editor, like maybe you have something on a 318 00:20:12.440 --> 00:20:17.880 drive somewhere that you've stored, but like you can't have a full example for 319 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.759 people to look at well, and most extras aren't going to have that for 320 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:23.119 you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The people that are putting 321 00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:27.079 into that kind of work. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Uh so there's 322 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.279 I mean, there's crises involved in a lot of different stages of home video, 323 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:36.720 of media consumption in general, in social media. And what's funny is 324 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:40.400 at the heart of all of that right now seems to kind of be letterboxed 325 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:45.839 and the community that comes around that is obviously growing. But on top of 326 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:49.079 that, it's its own subset of uh you know, it's got like its 327 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:55.039 own personality. It's growing into this thing that has real empathy, real uh 328 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:59.759 you know, advocacy power where people are speaking out on behalf of arts and 329 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:03.359 all that. Does it feel like that from inside Letterbox? Does it feel 330 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.440 like you're manifesting that? Yeah, I think I think it's definitely part of 331 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:11.960 our Like I don't. I think we all try to stay humble and so 332 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:15.480 we try not to like think that we are like actively affecting change in like 333 00:21:15.519 --> 00:21:21.839 a huge way. But I definitely think that we're very focused on mission and 334 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.400 drive, and a big part of our mission is raising awareness for the kinds 335 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.559 of movies that aren't the ones that are getting you know, talked about on 336 00:21:30.920 --> 00:21:36.279 Entertainment Tonight or whatever, and for like like we we have you know, 337 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:40.119 the the interviews with Martin Scorsese or whatever, and obviously those are going to 338 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:42.839 do really good numbers. But I think and like we we're at a point 339 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:47.359 where we could just do that. I think that we have enough like access 340 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:52.599 where we could just focus on huge names, but we definitely try to still 341 00:21:52.759 --> 00:21:57.240 do coverage on movies that are smaller ones, whether it's you know, new 342 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:02.119 releases too and like move that we know are not going to get us the 343 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:07.720 same amount of numbers on like a print piece interview or a YouTube video or 344 00:22:07.799 --> 00:22:15.559 whatever. But we feel like that's sort of our responsibility as a company that 345 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.799 has the platform that we do have, you know, to use that to 346 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:22.400 raise awareness. And I like our biggest drive from like the top of the 347 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:26.839 company down is always like we want to talk about movies and cover movies in 348 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:32.519 a way that gets people to add more movies to their watch list, to 349 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:36.839 get people more excited about discovering other movies, and so like that's where the 350 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:38.759 lists come in, you know, in a really big way where it's like 351 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:44.599 if we're talking about you know, this one movie on a podcast or whatever, 352 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.599 we can reference, oh, it's on this list and get people to 353 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:48.759 go to that list to see movies that are like that. You know, 354 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.480 if you're looking for a specific thing, and you can find all these movies 355 00:22:52.519 --> 00:22:55.559 that you haven't heard of. I know, for me, like I I've 356 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:59.759 discovered so many movies through letterbox because of people talking about movies that I like, 357 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:03.839 and then they're talking about this other movie in relation to it, and 358 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.240 I'm like, oh, I want to check that out. I know Harra 359 00:23:06.359 --> 00:23:10.680 Kiri, the Japanese samurai movie from the sixties, Like I I had never 360 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:15.359 heard of that movie until like ten twelve years ago. I noticed that it 361 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:19.240 was like number thirty on the Letterbox Top two fifty of all time, and 362 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:22.400 it was like the highest ranked movie that I had never seen, let alone 363 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:25.319 heard of, And I'm like, oh, let me check that out. 364 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:26.799 I watched it. It is now one of my like thirty favorite movies of 365 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:30.119 all time, and now it's at a point where it's the number one highest 366 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:33.880 rated movie on Letterbox, like of all time, And I think that's so 367 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.319 dope. Like you compare that to like IMDb, where it's like a shawshank 368 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:41.559 for the last yeah, thirty years or whatever. And to be working at 369 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.240 a company where like our number one highest rated of all time is horror Kiri. 370 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:49.839 Like, that's pretty rad and I think that that having that status on 371 00:23:49.920 --> 00:23:53.119 letterbox like gets people to go and watch it. You know, like two 372 00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:57.279 hundred thousand people have like marked it watched on letterbox and I don't have the 373 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.839 numbers in front of me, but I imagine that was a lot lower, 374 00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:06.559 you know, ten years ago when letterbox started. I am curious, you 375 00:24:06.599 --> 00:24:08.799 know, going back to the physical media side, but attaching it to letterbox. 376 00:24:10.039 --> 00:24:12.920 I know a lot of people use letterbox as literally a tool for physical 377 00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:17.640 media, whether it's for logging their collection. If they own a movie, 378 00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:19.359 they go put it on a list and that's how they reference it. A 379 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:22.000 lot of people mark how they watch things. If they watch it on a 380 00:24:22.039 --> 00:24:25.640 new disc, they'll put that in the review and use it a couple of 381 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.039 ways. Are there any random, off the wallways that you've heard of people 382 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:33.079 utilizing letterbox as a tool for something like related to physical media. That's a 383 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:42.759 really good question, Yeah, off the wallways. Yeah, you know, 384 00:24:42.839 --> 00:24:45.160 I can't, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. 385 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:51.480 Unfortunately. That's that's a really good question, Like, I definitely, yeah, 386 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.799 those kind of ways are definitely the ones that I'm most familiar with that 387 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:59.920 I use myself. I definitely always like tag everything with like how I watched 388 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:04.559 it. I definitely if you're I think it's just like a it's maybe maybe 389 00:25:04.599 --> 00:25:07.799 pro and patron feature or maybe just patron feature. But if you have a 390 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.839 list that you mark as you like tag it as owned, you can then 391 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.440 like filter any list or anything by the movies that you own. I use 392 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:18.759 that literally all the time, Like you you know, I'm sure is the 393 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:22.480 case for you as well. I own so many movies that a lot of 394 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:26.519 times I will like see somebody mention a movie and I'm like do I own 395 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:29.599 that? And like or like I'll think, like, oh I want to 396 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.200 watch that tonight. I can't remember if I own it or not, so 397 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.799 like it's very useful rather than going to my shelves and trying to find like 398 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:38.920 where it is somewhere just looking at letterbox and seeing if I if I own 399 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.079 it. But yeah, I can't. I can't think of people in like 400 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:48.799 very like like more idiosyncratic ways. Yes, I imagine there's somebody out there 401 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:53.440 that is doing something that is inspiring that other people could hear and go Damn, 402 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:56.400 that's a really smart way. So if you have some unique way wrote 403 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:00.160 in the comments, we'd love to hear it. I'd love to see you 404 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:00.920 like you and me, please do. I would love to see that as 405 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:06.240 well. Yeah, with with the list and stuff like that, is there 406 00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:11.680 is there some some list that has been the most meaningful for you that you 407 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:15.079 have discovered through your time here that go you know, damn, I've not 408 00:26:15.160 --> 00:26:18.680 seen most of these and the one that I have, I am I'm dialed 409 00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:22.079 in. I'm gonna watch all of these because it's that good. Mmmm. 410 00:26:22.240 --> 00:26:26.440 Yeah, there's there was so After Hours the scorse has you picture. It's 411 00:26:26.440 --> 00:26:30.119 my favorite movie of all time. And there are several lists. I know 412 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.519 there was one that's called like I can't remember the exactly off the top of 413 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:37.720 my head, but it's like help, I'm toe help, I got to 414 00:26:37.839 --> 00:26:41.839 horny and now everything's bad, and like After Hours was the first movie on 415 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.680 that list, and like I saw that list like many years ago, and 416 00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:51.119 I'm like, oh, that is like that, Like there are many reasons 417 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:52.880 why I love After Hours. That is a very specific reason why I love 418 00:26:55.079 --> 00:27:00.920 yeah, a very specific like vibe. I've after and so there were there 419 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:03.839 were probably a couple of others that I had seen on it, but like 420 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:07.759 I at that point, I hadn't seen Body Double, I hadn't seen Miracle 421 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:11.119 Mile, I know is on that list. I know like iceyshad was on 422 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:14.119 that list, which I've seen before. But there's definitely plenty like that like 423 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:17.559 that that I think really got me into Di Palma in a way that I 424 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:21.759 wasn't into before. I had probably at that point seen like Carrie and you 425 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:23.799 know, the Untouchables and whatever, like some of the big ones, but 426 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.200 it definitely got me into stuff like Body Double and like Phantom of the Paradise 427 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:30.920 and everything like that. God, I love Phantom of the Paradise, such 428 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:34.640 a movie. I was so excited too to bring up and you had to 429 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:38.240 bring it up first, of course, after hours Criterion for k last year. 430 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:41.640 Yeah, it was the first time I got to see it. I 431 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:45.960 finally got to see it movie, and it is incredible. I was so 432 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:49.440 excited just to celebrate the the the power of that movie. I mean everything 433 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:52.559 about it. All the times I've heard you speak on it in such a 434 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:56.839 passionate way, like, yeah, I totally get it. Mitchell's totally right, 435 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:00.839 that's what everybody's always say. Yeah, And I mean that's that's a 436 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.839 really great example too of like a movie that I saw for the first time 437 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:11.559 like fifteen years ago on DVD and it it did. It's one of these 438 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:14.680 rare ones that did a jump from DVD straight to four K like it didn't. 439 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:15.880 It did not have a Blu Ray release for a long as time. 440 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:22.000 It like periodically would be on like HBO Max or like maybe the Criterion channel 441 00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:25.400 like every now and then, but it would have like kind of contract restrictions 442 00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:26.799 where I would be on for like three months and then would drop off, 443 00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:29.880 and so a lot of times like the only way that you would maybe be 444 00:28:29.920 --> 00:28:32.759 able to see it would be on DVD and then yeah, kind of, 445 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:34.960 I mean, I know Griffin Dunn had been talking a little bit like teasing 446 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:38.640 a little bit for a while that it was like maybe gonna hit Criterion when 447 00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:45.000 they Gryffin done and Amy Robinson did the Chile scenes a Winter Criterion like a 448 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:48.359 year ago. Gryffin done, kind of tease like we're in the Criterion closet, 449 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:52.079 but not for after hours, like that's coming later or whatever. And 450 00:28:52.119 --> 00:28:56.880 I know I remember him specifically saying that's coming later had me like over the 451 00:28:56.920 --> 00:29:00.200 moon and then yeah, they dropped it. My one, my one in 452 00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.839 bittersweetness is that I didn't get to have any kind of involvement with it. 453 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.920 You know, I'm right here, reach out to me, dude, essay, 454 00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:11.400 whatever, It's fine. I did get to interview them for Letterbox, 455 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:15.640 Griffin and Amy for the after Ours release, which was really awesome. And 456 00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:18.839 yeah, I mean that's like hearing somebody got to see it for the first 457 00:29:18.839 --> 00:29:22.000 time because of the four K is the coolest thing in the world to me. 458 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:25.599 And that's I mean, that's the kind of movie where, like I 459 00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:30.960 think physical media people talking about something and then becoming more available on this media 460 00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:36.039 really hits this ground swell for a movie that came out in the eighties did 461 00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:40.119 not you know, do well at the box office or anything, especially for 462 00:29:40.279 --> 00:29:45.359 somebody like Scorsese really got buried amongst his movies and sort of hit a little 463 00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:47.599 bit of a ground swell like Over the People, you know, became like 464 00:29:47.599 --> 00:29:49.480 a cult thing. When I first saw it, it was like very much 465 00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:53.039 like the cool kids favorite Scorsese movie of like, yeah, good Fellows is 466 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:56.920 great, but you know, what's like, really fucking awesome, It's After 467 00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:00.279 Hours, And now I think it's a little bit more in the zeitgeist of 468 00:30:00.359 --> 00:30:04.160 like, this is actually a masterpiece of a movie, and like you need 469 00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:07.480 to seek it out. It's After Hours is like the one of those movies 470 00:30:07.519 --> 00:30:12.160 that if I made a new friend or I started dating somebody for the first 471 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:15.559 time within a week, I'm like, hey, let's watch After Hours. 472 00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:18.960 And then if they didn't like it, maybe this is a you know, 473 00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:22.519 maybe we're maybe we're not cut out for each other. Well, and it's 474 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.079 it's a true example of a cult film. It's one of those things that 475 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:29.799 had to kind of spread by word of mouth because most people were not seeing 476 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:32.680 at the theaters. Most people, you know, it wasn't playing on you 477 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:36.200 know, ABC on Sunday nights in nineteen ninety ye, right, so it's 478 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.359 something that you had to spread. And even that DVD was out of print 479 00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:42.880 for a long time. So accessibility, again is so important behind so many 480 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:47.759 of these films. One of the things that we kind of started to go 481 00:30:47.799 --> 00:30:52.319 into there a little bit is there are pockets of all of you know, 482 00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:59.039 whether it be film Twitter or the Dark Letterbox Corner Reviews or physical media YouTubers. 483 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.519 There there are so many groups that have sometimes this attitude of oh you 484 00:31:03.559 --> 00:31:06.880 haven't seen that. Yeah, man, that's kind of embarrassing, what are 485 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:11.759 you doing? And something about the way that you have approached things always is 486 00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:17.960 so celebratory when somebody just discovers something new, it's so wholesome and just welcoming, 487 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:21.039 and I I just first off, I just want to say thank you, 488 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.839 because there's so many people that will, you know, lambast somebody for 489 00:31:25.359 --> 00:31:26.519 this is the first time you've seen taxi driver, What the hell are you 490 00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:32.880 doing three or whatever. I don't understand why that exists. The gate gatekeeping 491 00:31:32.920 --> 00:31:36.480 does not need to happen, but you you've done so well to advocate for 492 00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:38.640 it. Well, I really appreciate that. That that actually, like genuinely 493 00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:41.960 means a lot to me because I, yeah, I grew up as like 494 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:48.119 a teenager in my twenties on like the IMDb message boards and like that that 495 00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:52.240 was always such a toxic place for that kind of elitism, that kind of 496 00:31:52.279 --> 00:31:56.680 snobbiness of people just thinking like one, like, whatever their opinion and their 497 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.279 taste is is like so much above anybody else. But then also yet exactly 498 00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:04.839 that kind of stuff, and like that that's the stuff that like riles me 499 00:32:04.920 --> 00:32:08.119 the most. I have friends, like my roommate like gets embarrassed about certain 500 00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:13.279 movies that they haven't seen, and like for me, it's like anybody who 501 00:32:13.279 --> 00:32:15.519 hasn't seen one of my favorite movies, that's like the most exciting thing in 502 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:21.680 the world to me because I get to experience through them that seeing my favorite 503 00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:22.880 movie for you know, one of my favorite movies for the first time. 504 00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:29.440 And for me, like I definitely get that like weariness of admitting when I 505 00:32:29.480 --> 00:32:34.079 haven't seen something. That's that's a really huge one. Like I make a 506 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:37.359 list every year of like fifty two movies that I haven't like fifty two blind 507 00:32:37.359 --> 00:32:40.240 spots that I want to make sure that I watch, you know, over 508 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:44.759 the course of the year. And last year, one of the movies on 509 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:46.319 that list was The Passion of Joan of Arc, the dryer movie from the 510 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:51.079 twenties, which is like one of you know, the peak like this is 511 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.079 one of the greatest movies ever made kind of thing. And I'm like a 512 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:55.920 little bit like I had people when I had that on my list, like 513 00:32:57.000 --> 00:33:00.000 friends, like you haven't seen that before, Like that's absolutely ridiculous and I'm 514 00:33:00.039 --> 00:33:02.559 like, yeah, it's dope. I'm gonna watch it for the first time 515 00:33:02.759 --> 00:33:05.960 like this year, like I know that, like I should have, you 516 00:33:05.960 --> 00:33:08.400 know, seen it before. But at the same time, like I mean, 517 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:12.039 I watched it. It blew my mind. Maybe I wouldn't have appreciated 518 00:33:12.039 --> 00:33:15.839 it as much if I have watched it when I was twenty and so yeah, 519 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:17.680 for me, it's always an exciting thing when somebody hasn't seen a movie, 520 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:21.079 Like I mean, I love talking to people about movies, but then 521 00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:22.920 if you had to talk to them about it right after they watched it, 522 00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:29.400 like that's that's even better. It's it's this magical again. I love the 523 00:33:29.400 --> 00:33:32.599 word advocacy for this, because you are literally delivering a message to somebody that 524 00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:37.000 may not have ever received that message if you aren't delivering it. So it's 525 00:33:37.319 --> 00:33:39.039 it's so cool just to be like, here's After Hours, one of the 526 00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:42.440 greatest movies of all time, and I get to stare at your face and 527 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:46.359 watch you yeah storyline, it's happening. Yeah, that's a little bit a 528 00:33:46.359 --> 00:33:52.680 little bit of anxiety watching definitely, the I know people like meme about it 529 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:54.880 all the time, the like fear, like as you're watching, like you 530 00:33:54.920 --> 00:33:58.400 know, you're waiting for like a great moment, and after hours like you're 531 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:00.559 waiting for like the reveal of Terry gar is like a mouse traps all around 532 00:34:00.559 --> 00:34:04.559 her bed, and you're like looking at the person like are they gonna are 533 00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:07.640 their eyes gonna, you know, expand a little bit when that comes up, 534 00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:10.480 like are they gonna laugh at the scene where the ticket ticker in the 535 00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:14.519 subway says that he can't like or if be done in because he's scared that 536 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:16.880 maybe one night he'll get drawing at a party and tell him that he led 537 00:34:16.880 --> 00:34:22.960 this guy in for paying less than what the ticket actually costs, Like definitely, 538 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:27.239 Yeah, it's it's like a it's a high wire act of watching one 539 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.320 of your favorite movies with somebody who hasn't seen it before, but it's it's 540 00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:37.599 exhilarating. With the interviews, you just mentioned how Letterbox could probably just stay 541 00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:40.800 with the big, big names, and I'm really glad that it's it sounds 542 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:45.000 like that's not gonna be the case, because I really want to draw some 543 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:46.800 eyes to one of the ones that I've enjoyed the most from you over the 544 00:34:46.840 --> 00:34:52.280 years, which now, gosh, it's probably been almost two years. The 545 00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:57.079 Aubrey Plaza piece, which was Yeah, for Emily's a criminal when that came 546 00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:01.480 out, just hear, first off, two people talk about Delaware for the 547 00:35:01.480 --> 00:35:06.599 first five paragraphs. It is so fun. But just to make somebody like 548 00:35:06.679 --> 00:35:10.440 her, who is this mythical character wherever she goes, but just be brought 549 00:35:10.480 --> 00:35:15.360 down to that base human level. And these these sort of stories are the 550 00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:20.559 best way to get that sort of thing for somebody that's now reached her stratosphere 551 00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:23.480 of incredible stardom where she is, you know, suddenly sought after and everything, 552 00:35:23.639 --> 00:35:28.239 even though she was essentially just an extra, like it seems like just 553 00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:31.320 yesterday. So I mean some of those earlier pieces, is there any of 554 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:36.559 those that you are really fond of that you look back on with just pure 555 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:39.000 pride of what you got to do? Oh? Yeah, that's that's a 556 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.199 good question. I want, like, I thank you very much for saying 557 00:35:43.239 --> 00:35:46.599 that. Was that was a really exciting one for me because as somebody who 558 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:51.000 like I wasn't born in Delaware, but I'm you know, I've lived here 559 00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:55.679 for twenty years and it is like, especially as somebody in like the like 560 00:35:55.800 --> 00:36:00.719 film industry, where like most of my colleagues are in like York or LA. 561 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:04.800 Most of my contemporaries are in like big city Chicago, like whatever. 562 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:07.679 Like it being like I'm literally the only person that I know in Delaware who 563 00:36:07.760 --> 00:36:14.039 like does this kind of job and everything, and so having like Aubrey Plaza 564 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:15.960 is the queen of Delaware, Like she's from Wilmington. She's literally from a 565 00:36:16.039 --> 00:36:20.679 town that is like five minutes from where I'm living right now, and so 566 00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:23.280 the well, not only like the idea of getting to talk to her was 567 00:36:23.320 --> 00:36:28.880 really exciting for me, but also like like for me, I I love 568 00:36:28.920 --> 00:36:30.480 like the red carpet stuff we do. I love like the four fave stuff 569 00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:34.599 that we do. It's not really like my bag in terms of like the 570 00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:37.679 kind of stuff, like the kind of comments that I'm interested in having with 571 00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:40.280 like actors and stuff like that. These like little like snippets where you get 572 00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:45.320 to like ask herselff like I really do like having the the longer form conversations 573 00:36:45.440 --> 00:36:50.559 for for print pieces or a podcast or whatever. And so being able to 574 00:36:50.599 --> 00:36:54.360 talk to her for thirty minutes for something like that was really exciting being able 575 00:36:54.360 --> 00:37:00.639 to Like I I was very nervous going into that conversation because I knew that 576 00:37:00.719 --> 00:37:06.320 I was going to want to start with like let's like I'm literally in Delaware, 577 00:37:06.360 --> 00:37:08.760 like let's talk about Delaware. And I was like, I get such 578 00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:15.039 anxiety when i'm when I know I'm going to ask somebody something that's like not 579 00:37:15.199 --> 00:37:17.559 the thing that they're getting asked like constantly throughout the day. It's not like 580 00:37:17.559 --> 00:37:21.880 the boilerplate stuff. And I'm like, she could be like what fuck no, 581 00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:22.840 like I don't give a shit about Delaware, Like I don't want to 582 00:37:22.880 --> 00:37:27.079 talk about that. But what I what I said when I told her, 583 00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:30.159 like I was like, so first things for like I'm you know, I'm 584 00:37:30.320 --> 00:37:32.119 talking to you right now from Newark, Delaware. And she like she like 585 00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:36.000 her jaw drop, like she was like she couldn't believe it, and she 586 00:37:36.119 --> 00:37:38.639 was so down to talk about Delaware for like half the interview and the other 587 00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:43.559 half we talked about Emily Criminal, which I think is a phenomenal movie. 588 00:37:43.800 --> 00:37:46.360 It's my favorite performance of hers. It very much harkens back to like seventies 589 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:50.400 crime movies and all that kind of stuff, Like I really love it. 590 00:37:50.960 --> 00:37:55.159 But to answer your question as well about like the earlier kind of stuff that 591 00:37:55.239 --> 00:38:00.400 I did ones that really stood out to me. My my first interview for 592 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:07.480 Letterbox Journal was with Michael Sarnowski, the director of Pig and that I mean 593 00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:10.360 that I think is a really really special movie. That's a movie that like 594 00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:14.159 hit me in the heart in a really deep way. I know, like 595 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:16.400 Nicholas Cage talks about that being like his favorite movie of his, which is 596 00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:21.039 awesome. But I also think that even like when it came out, it 597 00:38:21.079 --> 00:38:23.559 got it got good notice from people, especially people like us that are kind 598 00:38:23.559 --> 00:38:28.079 of in like the paying attention to the indie movies and stuff like that, 599 00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:30.679 but it really I think even in the three years since then, it's kind 600 00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:34.039 of like fizzled out a little bit. People don't really talk about it too 601 00:38:34.119 --> 00:38:36.519 much, and like it would have been great, Like I'm sure I would 602 00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:37.719 have been amazing to talk to Nicolas Cage about it, but being able to 603 00:38:37.719 --> 00:38:42.480 talk to the director about it and like talk about what he what was really 604 00:38:42.519 --> 00:38:45.440 important for him to put into that and like the amount of like empathy and 605 00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:52.760 like understanding of how special like a day is and how special like the connections 606 00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:58.519 that we have and what it means to like really have a passion for something 607 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:01.079 in that film, Nicholas cage Is character is passionate about cooking. Obviously the 608 00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:05.840 director making is passionate about you know, making movies, and like what all 609 00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:09.440 that entails. Like that, that's the kind of combo that I really appreciated 610 00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:14.039 being able to have, especially kind of early into me dealing this stuff, 611 00:39:14.079 --> 00:39:17.039 where I got to have an understanding that these are the kind of conversations you 612 00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:21.559 can have with people if that's the kind of stuff you're interested in talking about, 613 00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:25.559 well, and it sets the foundation for what is to come from somebody 614 00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:30.519 stepping into a new role like you did. And with that not only not 615 00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:34.280 only the letterbox, but if anybody's going, oh uh, you know this 616 00:39:34.280 --> 00:39:36.760 this person named Mitchell's about to interview me. I'll look him up and see 617 00:39:36.760 --> 00:39:37.960 what he's done. And right, that's what they read and they go, 618 00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:42.559 oh shit, Like he likes to really get into this. I Okay, 619 00:39:42.599 --> 00:39:45.320 this is gonna be awesome. Like that means a lot to a lot of 620 00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:47.400 these people. Yeah, yeah, I think I think so too. I 621 00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:52.679 think that I definitely really do try to go into like any interview I do, 622 00:39:53.599 --> 00:40:00.559 with just wanting to come at it from like a more just like a 623 00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:06.679 deeper place of not wanting to have them to have the same exact conversation that 624 00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:08.519 because a lot of times when you and this is the thing that I didn't 625 00:40:08.639 --> 00:40:15.440 you know, I couldn't possibly have comprehended before doing this job, like reading 626 00:40:15.440 --> 00:40:19.239 interviews constantly and whatever. But like when you're doing these kind of interviews for 627 00:40:19.280 --> 00:40:22.760 the most part, like you're doing it on a day where the person that 628 00:40:22.800 --> 00:40:27.599 you're talking to is talking to twenty other people that are interviewing them and asking 629 00:40:27.639 --> 00:40:30.840 a lot of the exact same questions over and over again. So a lot 630 00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:34.679 of times, like I go into that kind of stuff like reading an interview 631 00:40:34.800 --> 00:40:37.639 that reading interviews they done before seeing what the questions they've been getting asked are, 632 00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:42.360 and then like going in with like, Okay, they've been asked this, 633 00:40:43.119 --> 00:40:45.559 how do I take that response that they had and like go deeper and 634 00:40:45.679 --> 00:40:49.920 like my so my question is like you said, you know, I read 635 00:40:50.039 --> 00:40:52.360 you say in this interview like this, this and this, could you like 636 00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:55.840 elaborate on this this kind of way or like that made me think of this 637 00:40:57.239 --> 00:41:00.559 and like go in like a different deeper direction with it, And so I 638 00:41:00.559 --> 00:41:02.079 think for me, like that's that's part of my approach and then I mean, 639 00:41:02.119 --> 00:41:07.400 sometimes you're lucky and you do get to have like conversations with people completely 640 00:41:07.440 --> 00:41:09.280 off of like that junkitty kind of circuit, and you do get to talk 641 00:41:09.320 --> 00:41:13.679 to them for an hour and like it's the you know, the one conversation 642 00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:15.559 that they're having that day or whatever, and you can see that they're more 643 00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:20.000 like energized and engaged I know too, like doing that junket stuff. Like 644 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:23.840 I've had interviews where it's like the like I'm into the interview at the beginning, 645 00:41:23.960 --> 00:41:25.960 and like I tell them that, you know, I like I really 646 00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:29.480 admired their work. I'm you know, thanks for taking the time to talk 647 00:41:29.519 --> 00:41:31.760 to me. And they're like this is you know, I'm really tired. 648 00:41:31.800 --> 00:41:35.760 Like I'm sorry if I don't like, you know, give you what you're 649 00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.119 what you're hoping for from this. And it's like, okay, let me 650 00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:43.239 recalibrate myself and like, you know, try to Like it's a tricky thing 651 00:41:43.239 --> 00:41:47.199 of like meeting people's energies. I definitely have had times I mean that the 652 00:41:47.239 --> 00:41:52.079 after hours interview, I definitely like recognized after it was over or even maybybe 653 00:41:52.159 --> 00:41:58.039 like halfway through the interview, like I came into that with like in my 654 00:41:58.119 --> 00:42:00.119 head, like this is my favorite movie of all the time. I'm so 655 00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:01.800 excited to talk to them. And I definitely came in with like way too 656 00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:06.920 high of energy, right, and like, like ten minutes in, I 657 00:42:07.000 --> 00:42:09.199 like recognize that kind of like I was, I was coming in too hot, 658 00:42:09.280 --> 00:42:12.920 and like I needed to kind of recalibrate and like towe myself down to 659 00:42:13.079 --> 00:42:15.920 meet them where they're at. And so I definitely think that that's something that 660 00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:21.039 I try to pay attention to a lot, is not letting myself lose sight 661 00:42:21.079 --> 00:42:23.320 of the fact that like whoever I'm talking to, that's a person that I'm 662 00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:28.199 talking to, Like they're having a whole experience that day, and so like 663 00:42:28.320 --> 00:42:32.119 I really try to have a conversation rather than like just trying to milk whatever 664 00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:36.840 I can out of them. Well, and on the job side too, 665 00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:38.800 it's you're trying to do a good job for people that are going to read 666 00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:44.320 for you and for what you're literally being paid for, yeah, for for 667 00:42:44.400 --> 00:42:47.119 those interviews. Doing something unique is really what's going to set that apart, 668 00:42:47.159 --> 00:42:52.519 because on the junket circle, I mean, nobody wants to hear what's the 669 00:42:52.519 --> 00:42:55.199 main story behind your character twenty five times one day. And so if you 670 00:42:55.239 --> 00:43:00.400 can bring that one question that they go, oh shit, like I respect 671 00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.480 the hell out of you for even noticing this that that means a lot to 672 00:43:02.519 --> 00:43:07.519 them. Yeah, definitely. I mean even like the the Aubrey Plaza thing 673 00:43:07.559 --> 00:43:09.719 is a really good example, the Delaware thing. Like I had a like 674 00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:14.840 a meeting a while back with this woman who's like the acting coach of Nicole 675 00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:21.000 Kidman, and she like that interview happened like two year two and a half 676 00:43:21.039 --> 00:43:22.400 years ago or whatever, the Aubrey Plaza one, and she was like, 677 00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:25.239 hey, I saw that Aubrey Plaza interview. I like that was like that 678 00:43:25.280 --> 00:43:29.000 was one of my favorite interviews I've ever read. And it's like, oh, 679 00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:30.840 like that that actually means a lot. The other day, I interviewed 680 00:43:30.840 --> 00:43:35.519 on Eric Banna, who's an actor I really love, and I got the 681 00:43:35.599 --> 00:43:39.000 chance, like I pitched it specifically as like to his publicist, as like 682 00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:44.079 I want to talk like through his career kind of like go through different films 683 00:43:44.159 --> 00:43:45.280 or whatever. And I was worried they weren't going to be down for that 684 00:43:45.280 --> 00:43:47.880 because I didn't want them to think like, oh, like I just want 685 00:43:47.920 --> 00:43:52.000 to talk about Hulk for you know, thirty minutes and not like his new 686 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:54.360 movie or whatever. But what I really wanted to do was dive into some 687 00:43:54.400 --> 00:43:58.480 of the deeper cuts. Like I talked about Lucky You, the Curtis Hanson 688 00:43:58.559 --> 00:44:00.599 movie, which did not get well we received, but like I've always really 689 00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:05.679 liked and one thing that we talked about, I love the movie Troy, 690 00:44:06.760 --> 00:44:09.480 like that Troy is my favorite Eric Bannon movie. And but like I so 691 00:44:09.679 --> 00:44:14.840 like I knew that I had one chance to maybe ask him a question about 692 00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:19.920 Troy, and so I really honed in on asking him about the Hector and 693 00:44:19.960 --> 00:44:22.159 Achilles fight, seeing that happens in Troy, which is I think one of 694 00:44:22.199 --> 00:44:27.960 the best scenes of action cinema of the last like thirty years. And I 695 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:30.199 like went in with that, and like he responded, and like he like 696 00:44:30.239 --> 00:44:32.960 he definitely like lit up, Like he literally is giving me like prayer hands 697 00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.639 as I'm like talking about like why I love that scene, and then he 698 00:44:37.760 --> 00:44:40.239 like he starts to say and like when I ask him the question about it, 699 00:44:40.280 --> 00:44:44.039 he kind of answers by starting by saying, like thanks so much. 700 00:44:44.039 --> 00:44:45.440 Nobody's ever like broken it down like that, And like that to me, 701 00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:49.159 like, that's like the biggest endorphin rush that I could ever get, Like 702 00:44:49.199 --> 00:44:52.880 somebody like thanking me for a question or like a specific angle that I have 703 00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:55.079 on a question, and like it does not happen every time, which is 704 00:44:55.119 --> 00:44:59.159 fine. I don't expect it to happen ever, but when it does happen 705 00:44:59.239 --> 00:45:01.719 like that, to me is the most gratifying experience. We're not going to 706 00:45:01.719 --> 00:45:07.320 think of something to ask you that'll get that respond No, I genuinely it's 707 00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:12.159 it's something that I've appreciated and can It's one of those things that you can 708 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:15.760 sense, even though usually those those sorts of compliments or feedback is not in 709 00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:21.039 the print interviews, but you can feel, you can feel the sense of 710 00:45:21.079 --> 00:45:25.039 like this this seems novel to the celebrity being interviewed. This seems important to 711 00:45:25.159 --> 00:45:30.800 both of them, and the opposite is also true in these junken interviews. 712 00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:35.320 You can sense this isn't really important to one of the two partners. It's 713 00:45:35.360 --> 00:45:40.039 somebody that starstruck and somebody that could not possibly give less of two shits than 714 00:45:40.159 --> 00:45:45.559 what they're spending their time doing with you. So it it feels invigorating, 715 00:45:45.639 --> 00:45:49.360 it feels amazing and as somebody that's trying to interview much of my life, 716 00:45:49.480 --> 00:45:53.039 it is it is genuinely inspiring to read stuff like the Aubrey prop Aubrey Plaza 717 00:45:53.079 --> 00:45:58.280 interview. That is just I mean, it's human at its heart, which 718 00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:00.920 is not something that you can say about many of these interviews. Think I 719 00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:04.239 really do, like I genuinely, like, from the bottom of my heart, 720 00:46:04.239 --> 00:46:07.039 appreciate that that that really means a lot to me because I I especially 721 00:46:07.039 --> 00:46:10.639 as somebody who kind of like I haven't been doing this at like very long, 722 00:46:10.719 --> 00:46:14.079 Like there are people who have been doing this a lot longer than I 723 00:46:14.119 --> 00:46:17.079 have, you know, and people who I respect the hell of Like I 724 00:46:17.079 --> 00:46:22.039 I'm a very like I have imposter syndrome like out the wazoo, you know. 725 00:46:22.199 --> 00:46:28.159 I regularly think that like I'm garbage, you know, like I'm that 726 00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:30.280 good at any of this stuff, Like nobody likes anything that I'm doing, 727 00:46:30.480 --> 00:46:34.719 and so like, you know, not not to like fish for Copplea beds 728 00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:38.000 any way whatsoever, but like that that obviously, like that that really means 729 00:46:38.039 --> 00:46:43.480 a lot because especially like doing it. I think it is a very like 730 00:46:44.280 --> 00:46:47.639 isolated kind of job to have where I don't get a ton of feedback other 731 00:46:47.719 --> 00:46:52.159 than like, Okay, my the place I work for printed the thing that 732 00:46:52.199 --> 00:46:55.360 I did, so like obviously they thought it was you know. Yeah, 733 00:46:55.400 --> 00:46:59.599 but like you don't, especially like in this day and age, like social 734 00:46:59.639 --> 00:47:01.639 media being what it is or whatever, you don't get like a ton of 735 00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:05.480 feedback. So a lot of days, like I definitely have like the sense 736 00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:09.039 of like I don't know if anybody's reading the things that I'm even doing, 737 00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:13.039 let alone, like if they like it, you know, other than my 738 00:47:13.079 --> 00:47:15.079 mom, who reads and listens to everything that I do. And I deeply 739 00:47:15.239 --> 00:47:19.880 appreciate that same to my mom. Thank you mom, by the way, 740 00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.360 all you're doing a great job. Let's uh, let's get back to the 741 00:47:24.400 --> 00:47:29.440 physical media for a minute, because as somebody that advocates so much about it, 742 00:47:29.679 --> 00:47:31.360 I gotta know what you look for? What are you collecting? What 743 00:47:31.360 --> 00:47:37.880 what are the companies currently exciting you? Yeah, a great question, I 744 00:47:37.880 --> 00:47:42.960 I it's definitely like a lot of things like I certainly look for, you 745 00:47:43.000 --> 00:47:45.360 know, I mean the titles that pop for me, the ones that are 746 00:47:45.480 --> 00:47:47.000 you know, the ones that are like my favorites, getting the four K 747 00:47:47.119 --> 00:47:52.039 release or whatever, getting you know, the the big booklets that I love, 748 00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:55.840 Like I love a booklet essay, Like I am feverish about booklet essays. 749 00:47:55.840 --> 00:48:00.480 I read them all and so like anytime, you know, places like 750 00:48:00.559 --> 00:48:05.079 Vinegar Syndrome and like obviously Criterion and Fun City Editions and stuff like that, 751 00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.079 like they're they're doing the radiance is like doing them on every release, and 752 00:48:07.079 --> 00:48:09.880 I really appreciate that a lot of like the big ones like Quino Lurber, 753 00:48:10.079 --> 00:48:13.079 they put out so much stuff. They don't have, you know, that 754 00:48:13.159 --> 00:48:15.960 kind of stuff, and it's something that I like a lot of what Keno 755 00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:19.760 Lurber does. They're you know, I mean they're producing you know, like 756 00:48:19.840 --> 00:48:23.719 upgrades and like four k's and everything like nobody else's business. But like last 757 00:48:23.760 --> 00:48:29.320 year was two hundred and fifty releases from Yeah, Yeah, they're yeah, 758 00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:32.360 like as far as like kind of like boutique labels go, like they're producing 759 00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:37.159 like nobody else is. But I think some of their releases do they don't 760 00:48:37.199 --> 00:48:39.559 have a ton of special features, Like some of the releases do feel a 761 00:48:39.559 --> 00:48:43.239 little bit lacking to me, even though like I always appreciate having like the 762 00:48:43.239 --> 00:48:47.239 transfers and stuff like that, but for me, you you you know, 763 00:48:47.280 --> 00:48:50.480 I just mentioned them. You mentioned that I talk about them a lot of 764 00:48:50.519 --> 00:48:54.679 Fun City Editions is my favorite label bar nine, like they are. That's 765 00:48:54.719 --> 00:48:58.960 a label that I pick up every single thing that they release, like no 766 00:48:59.039 --> 00:49:02.599 matter what. And it was like that before I even started having the job 767 00:49:02.639 --> 00:49:08.599 that I have, Like I love everything that they do, the specific kinds 768 00:49:08.639 --> 00:49:13.519 of films that Jonathan, who's been on your show, who runs the label, 769 00:49:13.599 --> 00:49:16.400 like his specific taste I think is very much in the ballpark of my 770 00:49:16.559 --> 00:49:22.679 taste as well. But he's found this really great niche of like every couple 771 00:49:22.760 --> 00:49:27.239 releases will be a Breathless or like a Party Girl, where it is a 772 00:49:27.280 --> 00:49:30.679 movie that has a little bit more cultural cachet that people are familiar with, 773 00:49:30.960 --> 00:49:34.199 people like us are really familiar with and like get really excited about. But 774 00:49:35.159 --> 00:49:37.199 a lot of Fun City Editions releases are movies that I've never heard of, 775 00:49:37.480 --> 00:49:42.760 and that is extremely exciting for me. When I have a label that I 776 00:49:42.840 --> 00:49:45.960 know and trust like what they're doing and what they're putting out, and they 777 00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:47.519 put out something that I've never heard of, I'm like, Oh, I'm 778 00:49:47.519 --> 00:49:53.000 about to discover something. I'll say Bobby Ross's Heartbreakers was a Fun City edition's 779 00:49:53.039 --> 00:49:58.199 release that I had never heard of. I watched it immediately in my top 780 00:49:58.199 --> 00:50:00.960 twenty of all time, and the rest, like the restoration work on it 781 00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:05.199 is gorgeous. There's you know, great special features on, great interviews and 782 00:50:05.199 --> 00:50:07.440 stuff like that, and but yet just watching it, I'm like, how 783 00:50:07.559 --> 00:50:12.320 is nobody like it's still I think has less than like two thousand watches on 784 00:50:12.440 --> 00:50:15.760 letterbox even though you know, I talk about it every god damn chance I 785 00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:20.800 can get and like, I so stuff like that. It's really exciting for 786 00:50:20.840 --> 00:50:23.079 me. Fun City also did, like Natural Enemies is one of their releases 787 00:50:23.119 --> 00:50:27.280 that I had never heard of before, and one of my coworkers even was 788 00:50:27.320 --> 00:50:29.719 like, oh, this is an amazing movie. I've had it all in 789 00:50:29.760 --> 00:50:31.039 like a VHS or like something like that. You know, I've had like 790 00:50:31.079 --> 00:50:34.880 this old rip of it from somewhere, Like it's a really great movie. 791 00:50:35.039 --> 00:50:38.400 So like I I dropped in on that. Like Criterion obviously is a huge 792 00:50:38.400 --> 00:50:40.480 one. Like I don't need to, you know, talk about how great 793 00:50:40.519 --> 00:50:45.719 Criterion is. But like they especially now that they finally have gotten into four 794 00:50:45.800 --> 00:50:50.239 k's, like they definitely were a little bit late to getting into four k's, 795 00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:53.400 but they've kind of been making up for it in a really big way, 796 00:50:53.559 --> 00:50:57.880 like half of their releases every month, or four k's The Devil in 797 00:50:57.880 --> 00:51:00.679 a Blue Dress four K, The After Hours four K, the Lone Star 798 00:51:00.719 --> 00:51:04.320 four K that just came out, Like they're doing really tremendous work on the 799 00:51:04.360 --> 00:51:08.719 four k's Radiance, which I know you've had fram on as well. Who 800 00:51:08.840 --> 00:51:13.440 runs Radiance. Radiance similar to Fun City Editions, I think, is one 801 00:51:13.440 --> 00:51:15.920 where like most of the movies they put out are ones that I haven't heard 802 00:51:15.960 --> 00:51:20.039 of, like I'm not familiar with, and I just like check out what 803 00:51:20.119 --> 00:51:22.199 the synopsis is, or like I check out the trailer when Fran drops the 804 00:51:22.239 --> 00:51:25.719 trailer and I'm like, this looks fantastic, and I pick up. I 805 00:51:27.119 --> 00:51:30.519 think I've picked up every single thing that Radiance has released too, because I 806 00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:36.079 just trust France days and I have not regretted any of them. Like and 807 00:51:36.280 --> 00:51:40.320 they go more in a direction of like the genre stuff, the like European 808 00:51:40.360 --> 00:51:45.239 and like Japanese the genre stuff a lot that is the kind of stuff that 809 00:51:45.320 --> 00:51:49.800 I normally wouldn't like immediately flock to. Like I very much am like a 810 00:51:50.480 --> 00:51:53.400 like New Hollywood, like eighties grime kind of like I like, I love 811 00:51:53.400 --> 00:51:57.920 a neo noir, you know, Emily the Criminal as a neod war Like 812 00:51:57.960 --> 00:52:00.920 I love neo noir. I love like the ritty kind of crime stuff, 813 00:52:01.400 --> 00:52:05.239 which Fun City Editions does plenty of that, and so like that's the reason 814 00:52:05.280 --> 00:52:08.320 why you know, I gravitated towards them initially, Radiance and what like Frans 815 00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:12.559 are doing over there. Some stuff filters into it, like Miami Blues in 816 00:52:12.599 --> 00:52:15.639 the Hotspot they did, which are both like neo noirs, which are two 817 00:52:15.679 --> 00:52:19.760 of my favorite movies. But then yeah, stuff like Big Time Gambling Boss. 818 00:52:19.800 --> 00:52:22.480 Even though Paul Schrader's my favorite director and has talked, you know, 819 00:52:22.880 --> 00:52:28.280 very enthusiastically about Big Time Gambling Boss before I had never seen and that was 820 00:52:28.400 --> 00:52:30.360 I think Radiance's first release. I can't remember if Working Class Goes to Heaven 821 00:52:30.559 --> 00:52:34.480 or Big Time Gambling Boss was their first release. First Yeah, okay, 822 00:52:34.599 --> 00:52:37.119 so like that and that, I mean I watched that, I'm like, 823 00:52:37.199 --> 00:52:39.280 oh, like, yeah, this is where it's at. So like I'm 824 00:52:39.280 --> 00:52:43.079 going to keep picking up everything they're doing. And then they dropped something like 825 00:52:43.119 --> 00:52:47.599 the the World Noir box set that just came out is Out of This World 826 00:52:47.599 --> 00:52:52.800 Witness in the City is like I had never heard of that, even though 827 00:52:52.800 --> 00:52:54.199 it has Leno Ventura in it, who I really like a lot from like 828 00:52:54.239 --> 00:52:59.599 the Melville movies that he did and stuff like that and that. Yeah, 829 00:52:59.639 --> 00:53:01.840 the just like a tremendous, tremendous picture. So yeah, Radiance definitely like 830 00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:06.760 one that is only like a year old now, but I think has very 831 00:53:06.840 --> 00:53:10.000 quickly risen to you know, the top of my list of like ones that 832 00:53:10.920 --> 00:53:15.280 every you know, I'm very much paying attention to when they announced They're going 833 00:53:15.320 --> 00:53:20.159 to drop some new announcements and I'm like setting an alarm on my phone to 834 00:53:20.280 --> 00:53:22.599 like, you know, be there right away when when they announced the new 835 00:53:22.679 --> 00:53:30.039 job. Radiance is wild. Fran is something else. I literally was emailing 836 00:53:30.039 --> 00:53:34.159 with him this morning and just thinking about what he's done in such a short 837 00:53:34.159 --> 00:53:37.480 period. It's crazy. Yeah, it is stupid, like the fact that 838 00:53:37.800 --> 00:53:42.800 twenty twenty three was the first Radiance title and we're sitting here going like, 839 00:53:42.960 --> 00:53:45.719 yeah, they're up there with Criterion like some of the greats. It is 840 00:53:45.400 --> 00:53:50.639 stupendous what he's been able to pull off and go ahead. I was I 841 00:53:50.679 --> 00:53:54.039 was gonna say, I love to fran Fran uses letterbox for Radiance in a 842 00:53:54.079 --> 00:53:59.840 way that I find really compelling, Like Fran Jonathan too a fun City, 843 00:53:59.880 --> 00:54:04.440 like they are like really following the letterbox reviews of the movies they put out. 844 00:54:04.519 --> 00:54:09.840 But also Fran on the Radiance letterbox account recently made a list of films 845 00:54:09.840 --> 00:54:15.320 that he tried to release that for whatever reason, couldn't make happen, And 846 00:54:15.559 --> 00:54:20.920 in the notes on that list he explains in detail, like what the things 847 00:54:20.960 --> 00:54:24.880 were that kind of prevented that release from happening. And I feel like for 848 00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:30.079 for people who collect physical media, but also people who like are just like 849 00:54:30.119 --> 00:54:35.000 the normal person who isn't super interesting physical like that, I think that was 850 00:54:35.119 --> 00:54:40.639 really eye opening for like what the extent that people like Fran and Jonathan everybody 851 00:54:40.679 --> 00:54:45.119 who's like running these labels and working on these labels, Justina Liberty, you 852 00:54:45.119 --> 00:54:49.000 know, Vinegar syn Drum and now Cinematograph, which is a very exciting new 853 00:54:49.039 --> 00:54:51.719 label. They put out Little Darlings in Red Rock Quest, which I think 854 00:54:51.760 --> 00:54:55.920 though both of those releases are tremendous, like just the amount of work that 855 00:54:55.920 --> 00:54:59.960 these people put in every single day just trying to get like rights to get 856 00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:04.440 or you know, a lot of the ones on Franz Radiance list are like 857 00:55:04.559 --> 00:55:07.639 ones that you know, he he got the rights for him, but then 858 00:55:07.800 --> 00:55:13.920 like the the original materials that they had to try and do the new transfer 859 00:55:14.159 --> 00:55:17.000 just like weren't good enough to be able to patch it up enough for the 860 00:55:17.079 --> 00:55:22.000 release that he would have been proud and comfortable with putting out into the world. 861 00:55:22.079 --> 00:55:25.000 And like I respect the hell out of that. Like there's so many 862 00:55:25.400 --> 00:55:29.519 releases out there where people would just drop, like they would know that it's 863 00:55:29.599 --> 00:55:31.119 like this isn't the best quality, but like people will buy it if we 864 00:55:31.159 --> 00:55:34.039 put it out, so like let's just put it out. But like the 865 00:55:34.119 --> 00:55:37.639 amount of like self respect that you have as somebody who cares about this art 866 00:55:37.719 --> 00:55:42.960 forum to not put something out if you're not able to have it be the 867 00:55:42.960 --> 00:55:45.440 best quality version. Like I really appreciate that there's a lot of fun City 868 00:55:45.480 --> 00:55:50.920 additions releases to some Criterion ones too, where like they have you know, 869 00:55:50.960 --> 00:55:55.480 I always appreciate any like restoration that has the details of the restoration, you 870 00:55:55.519 --> 00:56:00.159 know, intact at the beginning of the film when you're watching it on a 871 00:56:00.199 --> 00:56:05.159 Blu Ray. And then especially the ones like like FCEE and Criterion where like 872 00:56:05.199 --> 00:56:07.119 they they even explain, they kind of give you a heads up of like 873 00:56:07.440 --> 00:56:12.119 there's some you know, some grainsome lines and some scenes of this that you're 874 00:56:12.119 --> 00:56:15.360 gonna notice, like we did the best that we could and like you see 875 00:56:15.360 --> 00:56:17.079 you see them come up and it's like it gives you, It gives you 876 00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:21.519 like that taxile feeling. It gives you an understanding of like, oh damn 877 00:56:21.599 --> 00:56:23.840 if most of the movie probably looked like this when they got it, and 878 00:56:23.880 --> 00:56:29.199 you're always seeing it in like two scenes, like they put in work to 879 00:56:29.360 --> 00:56:32.119 make like this whole thing look as good as it looks. That's why, 880 00:56:32.639 --> 00:56:36.119 by far, one of my favorite things that they put on some of these 881 00:56:36.159 --> 00:56:39.360 discs, and criterions done it sometimes but not too too often, is the 882 00:56:39.519 --> 00:56:44.079 restoration trailers where they'll show you what it used to look like and now what 883 00:56:44.119 --> 00:56:47.239 it looks like, and it's it's mind blowing, like it's it makes me 884 00:56:47.400 --> 00:56:52.679 more confident in giving them money because I can see that the work is paying 885 00:56:52.719 --> 00:56:57.320 off one hundred percent. Yeah. The other big thing that I really want 886 00:56:57.360 --> 00:57:01.519 to point out, especially about Fran, that that transparency alone just about that 887 00:57:01.559 --> 00:57:06.800 one list, but he's transparent about everything, but that one list alone is 888 00:57:07.039 --> 00:57:10.280 an immediate confidence booster and everything I feel about him, because uh, it's 889 00:57:10.480 --> 00:57:14.719 it's most people would look at those and go, these are these are not 890 00:57:14.880 --> 00:57:17.159 small titles Like visitor Q is on there, and that's one that Yeah, 891 00:57:17.239 --> 00:57:21.960 so many people are like wishing for every single day and for him to be 892 00:57:22.039 --> 00:57:24.280 like, no, we can't or you know, we tried hard and we 893 00:57:24.280 --> 00:57:29.159 weren't able to secure it. There's so many reasons on there that is educational 894 00:57:29.199 --> 00:57:31.760 in a really cool, unique way. Yeah, no, I can agree 895 00:57:31.800 --> 00:57:37.519 more I on on that list. Like, the most bittersweet thing that's probably 896 00:57:37.599 --> 00:57:39.719 happened to me in the last year is that a few months back, Fran 897 00:57:39.920 --> 00:57:45.719 emailed me and asked me if I would be interested in writing a booklet essay 898 00:57:45.760 --> 00:57:46.840 for a release that they had in mind that they thought I would be good 899 00:57:46.840 --> 00:57:50.000 for. And I was like, hell, yeah, of course, like 900 00:57:50.039 --> 00:57:53.960 just letting me know. And like a month or so went by and he 901 00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:57.320 hadn't said anything, and I'm like that's fine. You know a lot of 902 00:57:57.320 --> 00:58:00.320 times like that kind of happens, where like you get you get asked that 903 00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:01.519 kind of thing and you don't hear back for a while, especially with physical 904 00:58:01.599 --> 00:58:05.239 media stuff, because it takes such a long time, and like, right, 905 00:58:05.679 --> 00:58:07.760 the people making these discs like to try and you know, get the 906 00:58:07.760 --> 00:58:13.119 pieces together well ahead of time, and there's a lot of development process with 907 00:58:13.159 --> 00:58:16.039 that kind of stuff. But then like a month passes in Frenant of emails 908 00:58:16.039 --> 00:58:20.199 me and he's like, hey, like you know, I'm really sorry about 909 00:58:20.199 --> 00:58:23.079 this. I kind of jumped the gun and got excited. I like wasn't 910 00:58:23.119 --> 00:58:25.719 able, Like the release is just not going to happen that I had in 911 00:58:25.760 --> 00:58:29.519 mind for like you doing it, but I'll let you know, like it 912 00:58:29.599 --> 00:58:31.039 was the movie that I had because I don't want to leave you hanging of 913 00:58:31.079 --> 00:58:34.440 like not even knowing what it was. It was Choose Me, the Alan 914 00:58:34.519 --> 00:58:37.760 Rudolph movie, which is I gave five stars to like one of my favorite 915 00:58:37.760 --> 00:58:42.320 movies of all time. And so it's like this really bittersweet moment of like 916 00:58:43.360 --> 00:58:49.639 that's amazing, Like that's that's so like flattering that he would have had me 917 00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:52.559 write it. It's also like this huge moment of like because that's only available 918 00:58:52.599 --> 00:58:55.920 on DVD, it's only been available on DVD, and like I'm like, 919 00:58:57.199 --> 00:59:00.280 oh, the bigger disappointment for me than I say, is like we came 920 00:59:00.320 --> 00:59:05.719 so close to having a Radiance release of Choose Beyond Blue ray and then it's 921 00:59:05.760 --> 00:59:09.079 not happening, And that's on Fran's list as well, where he explains why 922 00:59:09.119 --> 00:59:14.079 it didn't happen and everything, and yeah, I just yeah, that transparency 923 00:59:14.159 --> 00:59:16.559 and like exactly what you said, like movies that like you know, because 924 00:59:16.559 --> 00:59:21.760 like you know, there definitely are some labels that put out like really big 925 00:59:22.679 --> 00:59:28.239 name titles and you watch them and you're like, maybe, like this, 926 00:59:28.559 --> 00:59:30.159 you you maybe shouldn't have put it out the way that you put it out, 927 00:59:30.199 --> 00:59:32.159 but you were kind of trying to rush it out because you knew that 928 00:59:32.199 --> 00:59:35.840 you could get people to buy it because of the name of the movie. 929 00:59:36.400 --> 00:59:39.159 And so yeah, Visitor Q is a perfect example of like Frank could have 930 00:59:39.199 --> 00:59:44.360 made, especially for like a small label, like a micro boutique label like 931 00:59:44.360 --> 00:59:47.000 like Radiance that's still, you know, it just fresh in their second year, 932 00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:52.360 Like that could have funded a lot of stuff for him for a while, 933 00:59:52.760 --> 00:59:59.159 and to have that respect for what he's doing and respect for the money 934 00:59:59.159 --> 01:00:02.039 that people are paying for any of you know, Radiance releases or whatever, 935 01:00:02.239 --> 01:00:07.440 and say like I'm not like I'm not going to sell people out like that, 936 01:00:07.639 --> 01:00:09.280 Like that ideah, and like you said, it makes me do all 937 01:00:09.280 --> 01:00:15.039 the more confident in buying the things that he puts out because I know that, 938 01:00:15.239 --> 01:00:19.599 like, that's the person I'm giving my money to. Yeah, that's 939 01:00:19.719 --> 01:00:22.599 It's it's so important to find, especially if you're going to be buying physical 940 01:00:22.599 --> 01:00:27.920 media and you're cognizant about that. It's important for you to align with people 941 01:00:27.960 --> 01:00:31.000 that are similar to your taste, similar to your values. And when you 942 01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:37.559 find somebody like fram it's kind of hard to separate because it's so it's just 943 01:00:37.599 --> 01:00:40.119 it messes so well with everything. I just want to be supportive of everything 944 01:00:40.159 --> 01:00:45.760 he touches. Yeah, God, there's so much that I really want to 945 01:00:45.800 --> 01:00:52.079 dive into. One super personal question that I would love to have answered letterbox 946 01:00:52.119 --> 01:00:57.000 stars. Everybody rates things differently. How do you rate your movies? So 947 01:00:57.440 --> 01:01:00.800 like, for me, I try to go into it knowing a movie is 948 01:01:00.840 --> 01:01:05.480 really hard to make and most movies probably deserve at least a couple of stars 949 01:01:05.519 --> 01:01:08.480 just for being a movie for existing, and then if they try really hard 950 01:01:08.480 --> 01:01:10.559 to make it a shitty movie, I'll take stuff away. But that's why, 951 01:01:10.719 --> 01:01:14.239 like most of my stuff ends up at like three and a half. 952 01:01:14.239 --> 01:01:16.239 Hey, they made a movie. It's pretty good. I couldn't do that, 953 01:01:16.280 --> 01:01:20.559 and that's great. But how do you choose how to rate your films? 954 01:01:20.960 --> 01:01:24.480 Yeah, yeah, no, that's yeah. I've talked kind of a 955 01:01:24.480 --> 01:01:28.920 lot recently with like, you know, over the last year my friend's uh 956 01:01:29.000 --> 01:01:30.880 Dan mc and Connor O'Donnell who's the B Side podcast, who have been on 957 01:01:30.920 --> 01:01:37.159 Incinerator, you know them, like we were all of a similar age. 958 01:01:37.199 --> 01:01:40.400 We're all in like our mid thirties. And definitely they both work in production, 959 01:01:40.519 --> 01:01:44.679 so they like work actively and like making stuff so they see how the 960 01:01:44.719 --> 01:01:49.599 sausage is made for for a lot of things I don't, but in the 961 01:01:49.679 --> 01:01:52.800 job that I have, I definitely get a you know, better appreciation for 962 01:01:52.039 --> 01:01:55.719 how much work goes into all this kind of stuff. But I also add, 963 01:01:57.039 --> 01:02:00.960 you know, ostensibly a critic to some degree and job, and so 964 01:02:00.079 --> 01:02:05.079 like I also don't you know, want to soft shoo anything, but I 965 01:02:05.440 --> 01:02:09.440 do. I'm at a point in my life where like most movies I'm watching 966 01:02:09.480 --> 01:02:13.119 and I'm like, I'm watching a movie, like things could be a lot 967 01:02:13.199 --> 01:02:17.440 worse. Like I just you know, I love movies and so I definitely 968 01:02:17.480 --> 01:02:23.119 am like a little bit more I don't go below three like too often these 969 01:02:23.199 --> 01:02:28.599 days. And certainly sometimes I see like like I'll think of a movie, 970 01:02:28.639 --> 01:02:30.639 Like I'll be talking to somebody about a movie and I'm like, oh, 971 01:02:30.639 --> 01:02:31.360 that movie's kind of out of rated. It is not that bad, and 972 01:02:31.400 --> 01:02:34.280 they'll like look at my letter box and they're like, you gave it a 973 01:02:34.320 --> 01:02:36.480 two, and I'm like, oh, let me change that, like because 974 01:02:36.480 --> 01:02:38.480 I rated it, like, you know, seven years ago, when I 975 01:02:38.559 --> 01:02:42.480 was a different person. And that's one of the frustrating things for me about 976 01:02:42.480 --> 01:02:45.199 something like a letter box. It is it's flexible, but it is, 977 01:02:45.400 --> 01:02:47.840 as all things on the internet, it is a little bit permanent, and 978 01:02:47.920 --> 01:02:52.199 so like you know, there there are definitely times where I see a rating 979 01:02:52.239 --> 01:02:54.719 that I gave before and I'm like, oh, I was way too harsh 980 01:02:54.760 --> 01:02:57.559 on that. I mean, I was a dick when I was younger, 981 01:02:57.599 --> 01:03:00.440 like for sure, and I definitely had periods where I was a little bit 982 01:03:00.480 --> 01:03:04.360 snoppy where I'm like, oh that kind of stuff, like, you know, 983 01:03:04.400 --> 01:03:07.599 I didn't really like that half star. Fuck it, like and like 984 01:03:07.679 --> 01:03:10.519 now I couldn't even tell you the last time I gave something half a star. 985 01:03:10.880 --> 01:03:14.760 You know. I think that for the most part, if I don't 986 01:03:14.840 --> 01:03:17.480 like a movie, it's probably like a two for me, Like it's harder 987 01:03:17.480 --> 01:03:22.480 for me to go lower than a two because like there's usually at least enough 988 01:03:22.599 --> 01:03:25.440 in there where I'm like I can see what they were trying to do, 989 01:03:25.719 --> 01:03:30.239 and as long as it's not like morally reprehensible to me. On like a 990 01:03:30.280 --> 01:03:35.519 base level, I like, I you know, I'm I'm yeah, I'm 991 01:03:35.679 --> 01:03:40.239 very hesitant to go lower than that. But yeah, for the most part, 992 01:03:40.280 --> 01:03:43.519 I think I would probably I think if you look at my letterbox like 993 01:03:43.639 --> 01:03:47.239 histogram, the highest I probably do is like I probably have given the most 994 01:03:47.280 --> 01:03:51.199 like three and a halfs out of everything, which is a very like a 995 01:03:51.239 --> 01:03:54.079 solid like yeah, that was pretty good, but not like, you know, 996 01:03:54.679 --> 01:04:00.559 not great or anything. But for me, I think there are definitely 997 01:04:00.599 --> 01:04:03.559 like people on letterbox who in there like bio kind of like break down, 998 01:04:03.840 --> 01:04:09.719 Like five is a masterpiece. Four and a half it is like a masterpiece, 999 01:04:09.760 --> 01:04:13.320 but I saw three things wrong with it or whatever, like two and 1000 01:04:13.320 --> 01:04:17.000 a half is the like the average or whatever. I don't have. Like 1001 01:04:17.079 --> 01:04:20.519 for me, rating is like very much vibes based, like if I come 1002 01:04:20.559 --> 01:04:25.800 out of a movie, I remember watching Snake Eyes back to Topama for the 1003 01:04:25.840 --> 01:04:29.800 first time, like two two and a half years ago. I was watching 1004 01:04:29.800 --> 01:04:31.239 it with my roommate. We finished watching it and they're like, what do 1005 01:04:31.280 --> 01:04:34.119 you rate it? And I'm like five, Like five, absolutely a five, 1006 01:04:34.440 --> 01:04:36.559 And They're like why it was like so messy, and I'm like, 1007 01:04:36.960 --> 01:04:43.159 yeah, but it's a five. So I definitely like a very very vibes 1008 01:04:43.199 --> 01:04:45.639 based. There are times where I'll come out of a movie thinking like like, 1009 01:04:45.679 --> 01:04:49.440 when I'm out of it, I will think like, like, I'm 1010 01:04:49.440 --> 01:04:53.760 not somebody who tends to think about like what I'm ratings, what I'm going 1011 01:04:53.800 --> 01:04:57.000 to raise something as I'm watching it. I know some people kind of like 1012 01:04:57.079 --> 01:05:00.800 that's something programmed into their brain, and I don't think there's anything wrong with 1013 01:05:00.840 --> 01:05:02.840 that, because I can change, you know, throughout the course of the 1014 01:05:02.880 --> 01:05:06.199 movie or whatever. But I just don't really think about that while I'm watching 1015 01:05:06.199 --> 01:05:10.599 a movie. But I'll come out of it and usually like have an idea 1016 01:05:10.679 --> 01:05:14.559 in my head of like, oh what that was for me? But I 1017 01:05:14.679 --> 01:05:19.000 tend to not log or write a review or whatever for usually like a couple 1018 01:05:19.000 --> 01:05:23.159 of days until after I've watched something. So there are definitely times that I'll 1019 01:05:23.280 --> 01:05:26.800 come out of something thinking like that was probably like a four and a half, 1020 01:05:26.840 --> 01:05:29.039 and then I'll go to like write a review and I'm like, no, 1021 01:05:29.079 --> 01:05:30.760 it's a like as I'm writing, I'm like, oh, this this 1022 01:05:30.840 --> 01:05:35.840 is actually this is definitely a five. Yeah. I just recently did a 1023 01:05:35.880 --> 01:05:39.599 show on my channel where we were talking about the best of the decade so 1024 01:05:39.679 --> 01:05:43.280 far, and I had the exact same thing with Underwater. And what's weird 1025 01:05:43.440 --> 01:05:46.039 is it kind of feels like there's been a lifetime since Underwater because that was 1026 01:05:46.559 --> 01:05:50.519 right before the pandemic. Yeah, and something about my age and the way 1027 01:05:50.559 --> 01:05:54.199 that hit. At the time, I was like, well, this feels 1028 01:05:54.239 --> 01:05:57.639 like an underwater alien ripoff and that's it. So three and a half. 1029 01:05:57.719 --> 01:06:00.639 And now I looked back and I was like, wait, think about this 1030 01:06:00.679 --> 01:06:02.400 movie like once a week. Why is this only a three and a half. 1031 01:06:02.480 --> 01:06:05.559 That's a good goddamn movie. I love that movie. Yeah, I 1032 01:06:05.599 --> 01:06:10.719 love that movie too. Oh man, this is uh, this has been 1033 01:06:10.719 --> 01:06:14.440 incredible and really kind of like the final thing I want to go on here 1034 01:06:14.519 --> 01:06:17.639 is because you're you're attached to Letterbox, which is like I mentioned at the 1035 01:06:17.719 --> 01:06:21.079 very beginning, so to bookend it, it's like the heartbeat of the modern 1036 01:06:21.159 --> 01:06:24.960 film scene for a lot of us that are around the same age and the 1037 01:06:25.559 --> 01:06:29.920 same sensibilities. You see any trends. Do you see anything with filmmaking that 1038 01:06:30.119 --> 01:06:32.920 is, you know, optimistic for the next couple of years or you know, 1039 01:06:32.960 --> 01:06:38.559 obviously everybody's always gonna lament about comic book films when you're talking about stuff 1040 01:06:38.599 --> 01:06:42.079 like this, but not even out outside of that. Are there any things 1041 01:06:42.119 --> 01:06:45.360 that are exciting to you about about letterboxed, about the trends behind the movies 1042 01:06:45.400 --> 01:06:49.719 that we're getting. Yeah, I mean the comic book thing is funny because 1043 01:06:49.760 --> 01:06:53.920 I mean it as as last year evidence. I think we're starting to see 1044 01:06:53.920 --> 01:06:56.960 a little bit of a pushback on of it, and I'm very happy about 1045 01:06:56.960 --> 01:07:03.760 that. I definitely think that there is like a in looking at Letterbox and 1046 01:07:03.800 --> 01:07:09.679 looking at kind of where things are at, There is like a curiosity that 1047 01:07:10.079 --> 01:07:13.679 is getting more activated. There definitely is more of like a I mean, 1048 01:07:13.719 --> 01:07:15.800 even you look at the Oscars, you see something like Drive My Car getting 1049 01:07:15.840 --> 01:07:19.960 nominated for Best Picture, Best Director. This year's tone of interest, you 1050 01:07:19.960 --> 01:07:25.480 know, Getting a Love of Dad and Admivifall is my favorite movie of twenty 1051 01:07:25.519 --> 01:07:28.719 twenty three, Like by far like that movie, you know, blew my 1052 01:07:28.800 --> 01:07:31.639 mind. I'm completely obsessed with that movie, and I think ten years ago 1053 01:07:32.360 --> 01:07:34.480 it would have been the kind of movie where it's like, you know, 1054 01:07:34.639 --> 01:07:38.840 maybe it still wins the Palm Door, but it's not getting the Oscar nominations, 1055 01:07:39.199 --> 01:07:43.679 and this year it's Picture Director actress probably gonna win Screenplay. Like I 1056 01:07:43.719 --> 01:07:47.320 think that I and you know, not to say that Letterbox has anything to 1057 01:07:47.360 --> 01:07:51.119 do with anything like that, you know, with hitting that sort of level, 1058 01:07:51.159 --> 01:07:56.400 but I do think that there is something in Letterbox of people having a 1059 01:07:56.480 --> 01:08:00.760 greater curiosity for the kinds of stuff that is coming out, the kinds of 1060 01:08:00.800 --> 01:08:05.920 stuff that they can find that they can seek out that's not being marketed like 1061 01:08:05.960 --> 01:08:12.039 crazy. Like I genuinely believe that Letterboxed is at least partly responsible for skinn 1062 01:08:12.039 --> 01:08:16.359 am Rink getting the distribution deal that it got, because that's that movie was 1063 01:08:16.399 --> 01:08:19.720 not going to get distributed. It got leaked on the internet. People on 1064 01:08:19.880 --> 01:08:26.520 letterbox were watching it off of torrents, and it was doing Banana's ratings on 1065 01:08:26.560 --> 01:08:29.680 Letterbox, Like. It was getting such great ratings on Letterbox that I'm like, 1066 01:08:29.880 --> 01:08:31.279 yeah, somebody's gonna see that and pick it up, you know, 1067 01:08:31.479 --> 01:08:35.680 And I think that I know for sure that boutique labels, like from people 1068 01:08:35.680 --> 01:08:39.920 that I've talked to who run boutique labels, look at letterbox reviews when they're 1069 01:08:39.960 --> 01:08:42.960 considering whether they're going to pick something up or not, and then look at 1070 01:08:43.000 --> 01:08:46.439 them when you know, the releases come out and see like what's getting received 1071 01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:49.880 well, and like how that kind of you know, drives what they're going 1072 01:08:49.960 --> 01:08:54.520 to go after in the future. And so I definitely think that, I 1073 01:08:54.520 --> 01:08:57.239 mean, we hear it all the time from filmmakers too, that like they're 1074 01:08:57.359 --> 01:09:03.319 especially like indie filmmakers, younger filmmakers who and like distributors to who are releasing 1075 01:09:03.359 --> 01:09:08.680 stuff that's not you know, the Blockbusters or whatever, and they definitely are 1076 01:09:08.800 --> 01:09:13.039 very actively paying attention to like how people are responding to movies on Letterbox. 1077 01:09:13.960 --> 01:09:15.840 And I think that that's a good sign because I think, you know, 1078 01:09:15.840 --> 01:09:21.239 there's always rotten apples. There's definitely, you know, some shit bags on 1079 01:09:21.359 --> 01:09:27.000 letterbox, But I think for the most part, it's a really solid community. 1080 01:09:27.039 --> 01:09:30.239 I think it's a really positive community. I think it's genuinely a community 1081 01:09:30.239 --> 01:09:32.560 of people who love film. I think that most people who have a letterbox 1082 01:09:32.600 --> 01:09:39.079 account and are reviewing and logging movies regularly, are doing it because they really 1083 01:09:39.119 --> 01:09:43.159 love movies. And so I think that the stuff that's trending on there, 1084 01:09:43.199 --> 01:09:45.840 and like the way that you kind of see that stuff get built up is 1085 01:09:45.039 --> 01:09:50.359 from people who love movies and like really want this business and this art form 1086 01:09:50.479 --> 01:09:56.199 to thrive. And I hope that in some kind of small or large way 1087 01:09:56.720 --> 01:10:00.800 that helps influence the kind of movies that are coming out are getting attention. 1088 01:10:01.159 --> 01:10:04.640 I mean that that was an excellent way to answer that. There's so much 1089 01:10:04.760 --> 01:10:11.600 about just the way that a lot of these people that are, you know, 1090 01:10:11.680 --> 01:10:15.079 watching like eight hundred movies a year, that you know, they put 1091 01:10:15.119 --> 01:10:18.640 so much work into their reviews, and it's they're just genuinely trying to share 1092 01:10:18.640 --> 01:10:21.920 a passion for a movie that most people haven't seen. And when you're watching 1093 01:10:21.960 --> 01:10:26.520 eight hundred movies a year, most of them are going to be unseen films 1094 01:10:26.560 --> 01:10:30.000 by most of the zeit guys. So I'm just so I'm so impressed for 1095 01:10:30.039 --> 01:10:32.520 the people that put the work into this. I'm so impressed for the people 1096 01:10:32.560 --> 01:10:35.960 behind the tool. I mean, we didn't even get to talk about the 1097 01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:41.159 podcast. There's so much that we could have got into here. All all 1098 01:10:41.159 --> 01:10:44.000 of Mitchell's links are going to be in the description below. Go follow their 1099 01:10:44.039 --> 01:10:48.720 stuff, Go go read the editorials, Go listen to the podcast. Please 1100 01:10:49.199 --> 01:10:54.239 support them and everything and everything that they do, because Mitchell, you are 1101 01:10:54.600 --> 01:10:58.359 You're doing incredible work, and I'm just insanely proud of where you've come in 1102 01:10:58.399 --> 01:11:01.000 a very short period of time and just happy to see what you've you've done 1103 01:11:01.000 --> 01:11:05.319 to genuinely influence film culture. Thank you that, Yeah, that means so 1104 01:11:05.399 --> 01:11:08.600 much. And I mean, likewise, you know, I told you before 1105 01:11:08.640 --> 01:11:10.800 when we were setting this up, like I'm a really big fan of the 1106 01:11:10.800 --> 01:11:13.840 podcast. I love you know, I love physical media. Like physical media, 1107 01:11:13.880 --> 01:11:15.800 as I said, is you know, my greatest passion. And so 1108 01:11:15.199 --> 01:11:19.680 the stuff that people like you, that you know, are doing to push 1109 01:11:19.720 --> 01:11:24.479 physical media to really like raise the awareness and keep like the physical media community 1110 01:11:24.760 --> 01:11:28.199 alive, I think is really important. And definitely, you know, I'm 1111 01:11:28.239 --> 01:11:30.920 always watching and paying attention to what you guys are talking about. Needs the 1112 01:11:30.920 --> 01:11:34.319 world keep doing what you're doing. Thank you for doing this and hopefully we 1113 01:11:34.359 --> 01:11:39.239 can have another one someday for sure. Thank you for listening to the Disconnected 1114 01:11:39.279 --> 01:11:42.199 podcast. There's one big thing that you could do to help the show, 1115 01:11:42.319 --> 01:11:45.399 and that is to leave a rating and review on the podcast service of your 1116 01:11:45.479 --> 01:12:17.359 choice. Thank you tell me. If you're looking for more horror outside of 1117 01:12:17.399 --> 01:12:23.800 the mainstream, look no further than Unsung Horrors, a podcast about underseen horror 1118 01:12:23.840 --> 01:12:28.840 movies. I'm Lance and I'm Erica. Every other week we'll cover a horror 1119 01:12:28.920 --> 01:12:31.960 movie with fewer than one thousand views on Letterboxed. We'll even give you double 1120 01:12:32.000 --> 01:12:36.760 feature recommendations to pair with the movies we discuss. From gothic to shot on 1121 01:12:36.880 --> 01:12:42.359 video, from slashers to comedies, from Giallo to j horror, We'll cover 1122 01:12:42.439 --> 01:12:45.479 all the subgenres. So join us as we unearth these hidden gems of horror. 1123 01:12:46.000 --> 01:12:50.279 Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. All at Unsung Horrors, 1124 01:12:50.520 --> 01:12:56.680 available wherever you listen to podcasts, and part of the Someone's Favorite Productions 1125 01:12:56.760 --> 01:12:57.840 podcast network.