WEBVTT 1 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:04.960 Weird. 2 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:58.200 We welcome back Midnight viewers to Father Malone's weekly round up. 3 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:01.479 I'm Father Malone and with me assessing all of my 4 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:05.400 New Year's and resolutions, is miss Ripley gen? How is 5 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:09.079 your Christmas? Yeah? It was a weird one. Anyway, how 6 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.200 was your Christmas? Midnight Viewers? I hope it was a 7 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:15.040 good one instead of a weird one, or maybe weird 8 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.200 one in a good way. In any event, I'm glad 9 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:18.799 that's the last we have to talk about it till 10 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:21.680 next time. This was gonna be a New Year's themed episode, 11 00:01:21.719 --> 00:01:24.000 and one of our choices fits that description. But there's 12 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.680 just too much new stuff out this week, so we're 13 00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:30.040 gonna go with the big ones, the big guns. How 14 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.000 should we take it this week? Alphabetical by genre? I know, 15 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:38.359 let's do it best to worst in reverse order. Ripley, 16 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:43.120 do you hear that it's getting closer? You don't hear that? 17 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:46.439 It's the sound of stacked heel boots and chunky heels. 18 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:50.159 It's a Bauhouse level event. Does she want revenge? Is 19 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.000 the Vampire ball empty and all the goths are here? 20 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:56.560 Goddamn right? It's Robert Egger's latest attempt to class up 21 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:01.879 the horror genre. This is no sfaratu chet my secret 22 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:02.640 with any soul. 23 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:07.799 You have had a spouse since childhood, Tell me what 24 00:02:07.959 --> 00:02:09.199 you can from the beginning. 25 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:18.199 Ah, it is like a dream. It was a wedding. 26 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:32.000 Well we turned around. Everyone was dead. The stench of 27 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:39.960 their bodies was horrible. Standing before me, it was. 28 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:42.439 Death. 29 00:02:43.719 --> 00:02:45.199 But I never mean so happy. 30 00:02:52.479 --> 00:03:00.680 This creature is a force more powerful than evil. Desire 31 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:05.800 is to consume all life on earth. 32 00:03:07.960 --> 00:03:16.000 Only you can ridiculous come. 33 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:24.080 There is a devil in this world, and I have 34 00:03:24.199 --> 00:03:27.479 met him. But you can never. 35 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:28.479 Please me as he could. 36 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:46.560 Okay, So back in nineteen twenty two, FW Murnaud directs 37 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:50.960 a ripoff of Bramstoker's Dracula. They wanted to make Dracula 38 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:54.039 and then made their own version. This isn't a situation 39 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.280 where George Lucas tried to get the rights to Flash 40 00:03:56.280 --> 00:03:59.560 Gordon and failing that made Star Wars, or Sam Raimi 41 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.080 tries to get the Shadow and ends up making dark Man. 42 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.879 You can see the similarities in those movies, only after 43 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.560 they're pointed out here. They shifted the location to Germany 44 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:13.199 and renamed all the characters. Counter Dracula is now Count Orlock. 45 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:17.279 That's about it, and that's not an homage, that's a ripoff. 46 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.920 The course agreed with Bramstroker's widow when she sued they 47 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:24.480 ordered all the prince destroyed. Clearly some survive since we've 48 00:04:24.519 --> 00:04:28.079 all seen it and we've seen the remake, that's the 49 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:31.879 nineteen seventy nine Werner Herzog remake with Klaus Kinsky as 50 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.959 Count Orlock, I mean Dracula. Just to confuse things more, 51 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.120 the remaker reinstated the original character names, although they've combined 52 00:04:40.199 --> 00:04:43.639 Lucy and Mina into Lucy Harker. Even though there's another 53 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:48.199 character named Mina. It's very odd either Count Orlock or Dracula, 54 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:51.759 both of them. They had the appearance we've come to 55 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:57.279 know as Nosferatu, long and thin and bald, chalk white skin, 56 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.040 rodent eers and weirdo fangs. They used that look in 57 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:05.000 the original Salem's Lot and on SpongeBob square Pants and 58 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:07.800 what we do in Shadows. Can't wait to see what 59 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:11.639 Robert Eggers does with it. Right, see what the update is, right, 60 00:05:12.439 --> 00:05:16.800 we'll get there. Robert Eggers makes period pieces that are serious, 61 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:21.279 elevated horror, and they are beautiful to look at. Sincerely, 62 00:05:21.759 --> 00:05:24.680 every frame is a painting. You know who else has 63 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.639 made a career making every frame a pretty picture? Michael Bay. 64 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:32.199 The difference between Michael Bay and Robert Eggers is that 65 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:35.399 I'm never bored during a Michael Bay film. Oh sure, 66 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:40.160 I'm completely incredulous, insulted, definitely, but I tend not to 67 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:44.120 drift off during his cinematic offerings. Evidently, my snoring was 68 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.439 so loud during the screening of the Lighthouse that I 69 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.439 attended that I needed to be shaken awake. When I 70 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.120 went back to rewatch the Vivich, I was shocked to 71 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:54.839 find it was only ninety minutes. I remembered that fucker 72 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.759 being three hours. And here again with Nosferatu, he does 73 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:02.720 not disappoint because once all the gorgeous photography with the 74 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:06.600 handheld oil lamps blazing orange light and daytime always in 75 00:06:06.639 --> 00:06:09.600 a murky blue haze, once all that begins to settle, 76 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:14.279 you're stuck with the story and these characters. Werner Herzeu 77 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:16.600 used count Orlock as a metaphor for the death of 78 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:21.319 the bourgeois. Eggers refocuses the lens back to Stoker's original 79 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:25.199 novel and its preponderance on sexuality and While the characters 80 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:27.439 in this film seem to debate in a series of 81 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:30.839 endless conversations that dot the film as to whether or 82 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:34.639 not evil is an internal or an external phenomenon, there's 83 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:38.959 absolutely no question what side this film lands on. Ellen 84 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:43.439 or Mina or whoever is the absolute source of the infection. 85 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:48.360 Here she is drawing count orlock across time and great distance. 86 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:53.319 But is it her repressed sexuality or inherented depravity that's 87 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:56.680 bringing ruin? That is the actual question the film is 88 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:01.160 interested in and dances around and never commits. Not helping 89 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:03.759 is a central performance by Lily Rose Depp that is 90 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:07.399 at best detached and at worst over wrought. She's no 91 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:09.639 doubt a skilled and a lovely actor, but she's not 92 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.920 exactly magnetic. And this is the one character in any 93 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:16.439 iteration of Dracula that needs to sing. By all accounts, 94 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.079 With this cast, in this story, in this cinematography, this 95 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:23.720 ought to be the sexiest vampire film ever made. Instead, 96 00:07:23.879 --> 00:07:27.279 it's a bloodless affair, although there is plenty of the 97 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.240 red red creuvy flowing just so Eggers can prove he's 98 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:34.160 hardcore as well as intellectual. This is a passionless film 99 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:38.480 about unbridled passion. I wish Ken Russell had directed this film, 100 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:41.199 or Werner Herzog had been given half the budget they 101 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:44.480 gave Eggers to do this. Dracula has always had an 102 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:48.199 element of emasculation and cuckoldry with regards to the Count's 103 00:07:48.240 --> 00:07:52.040 relationship with Jonathan Harker, luring him and imprisoning him while 104 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:55.439 he's got grand designs on his girl. That becomes a 105 00:07:55.480 --> 00:07:58.600 constant refrain in this film, and the solution they pose 106 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:02.720 for the Jonathan Harker character is really queasy. I guess 107 00:08:02.839 --> 00:08:05.839 spoilers and trigger warnings for the next ten or fifteen 108 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:10.040 seconds or so. But Thomas the Jonathan Harker character, after 109 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:13.360 being taunted by his possessed bride that he'll never make 110 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:17.120 her feel the way the Count does, Jonathan Harker essentially 111 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:20.040 rapes the devil out of her, which is a real 112 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:23.120 drag because I thought this was the first decent cinematic 113 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:27.600 portrayal of Jonathan Harker. That's because Nicholas Holt is playing him, 114 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:30.519 and he, like the rest of the amazing cast, can't 115 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:34.200 really do wrong. It's the material that's failing them. On 116 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:36.799 a side note, I find it amusing that people are 117 00:08:36.840 --> 00:08:39.279 still making fun of the Phantom Menace because it's about 118 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.799 senate hearings and trade disputes. But I've never heard one 119 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:44.960 person complain about the fact that the first act of 120 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:48.039 Dracula is all about a real estate and document signing. 121 00:08:48.840 --> 00:08:53.279 It just strikes me funny. It's an incredibly disjointed film. 122 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.639 When we get into the second act, after the wheels 123 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:00.000 are already in motion and the horrors have already been revealed, 124 00:09:00.679 --> 00:09:04.879 the action moves to England, I mean Germany. There we 125 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:07.879 find Mina possessed each night, and at the sanitarium, the 126 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:11.320 Renfield character is ranting about his master that he's coming. 127 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:13.759 And then we end up spending an inordinate amount of 128 00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:17.000 time with the scientists and rational thinkers as they employ 129 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:20.799 all manner of draconian medical techniques on both Renfield and 130 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:24.279 Mina in an effort to disprove the supernatural. Not only 131 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:26.799 is this a total waste of story time, we already 132 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:29.039 know the supernatural is real and it's on the way, 133 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:31.480 but it all feels like an excuse for Eggers to 134 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:35.240 shoot people drooling and foaming and loving detail, as if 135 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:36.960 any of that is going to distract us from the 136 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:40.799 fact that the pacing is wildly off. Maybe build up 137 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.399 to the horror instead, what we have is a pretty 138 00:09:43.399 --> 00:09:46.960 great and fairly creepy first act followed by a grinding 139 00:09:47.080 --> 00:09:50.799 slog to the end. Unless close ups of sweaty faces 140 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:53.039 and bulging eyes are your thing, because this flick is 141 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:57.759 lousy with those. And now equibble Orlock sets off for 142 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:01.279 Germany by boat, leaving Thomas tre in his castle. Thus 143 00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:04.120 begins this chase as Thomas tries to beat the count 144 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:08.320 back to Weisberg. That's right, Count Orlock is traveling from 145 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:13.759 the landlocked Carpathian Mountains to mainly landlocked in Germany, whose 146 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:16.960 only coast borders Denmark on the North Sea. In order 147 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.679 to reach a body of water, Count Orlock has to 148 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:23.639 travel south the approximate distance that it would take him 149 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:27.080 to travel to Germany by land, and he has a 150 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.240 magic coach and he wouldn't have to deal with pesky sailors. 151 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:34.600 That's a minor quibble, But this is no quibble at all. 152 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.720 Remember the look of Count Orlock I mentioned chalk white 153 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:43.039 and all freaky. That's not what you're getting here, count Orloch. 154 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:46.639 The embodiment of lust or depravity or old es sensual 155 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.159 Evils of the World looks like a routed out Joseph 156 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:55.000 Stalin with leprosy. Pennywise, Scarsgard is under the makeup. No 157 00:10:55.120 --> 00:10:59.000 idea why he speaks in a broken halting English that's 158 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:02.200 barely deciphered, and the makeup just turns them into some 159 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:04.919 other dude. Any scares in this film are of the 160 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:07.519 jump variety. You want some dread, oh, you'll get it. 161 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:11.320 As these characters debate time and time again whether or 162 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.759 not evil is around them, it is interminable. You got 163 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:19.639 a choice, rip, make it a good one. HP, play 164 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:21.679 us away from the count. 165 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:26.000 Because it's. 166 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:31.200 Thank you HP. Stick around. We're gonna have our top signs. 167 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.200 You're stunk in a mediocre vampire film coming up. But 168 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:36.759 first let's get rid of Christmas and move on to 169 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:41.519 New Year's Eve nineteen ninety nine. Watch out, it's y 170 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:54.960 two k. 171 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:54.159 Any lucky lady gonna get the midnight kissing, But Laura 172 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:55.519 works are. 173 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:56.759 Going to This New Year's thing is going to be 174 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:03.519 a total shit show. You see, it's nineteen ninety nine 175 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:05.120 and we get in dram. 176 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:09.000 In a few hours. 177 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:12.080 You have an excuse to kiss the girl of your dreams. 178 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:19.399 Open up take us away so smooth. 179 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:29.720 Why two K is real? 180 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:38.440 Save us on the. 181 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:44.360 Net, dumbass, I used Joe. 182 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:54.080 You've got. 183 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:00.440 Oh shit, a toamagotchi just drilled toward chicks. Come on, 184 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:00.960 we gotta go. 185 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:07.679 We're experiencing major problem as a result of the watching 186 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:08.320 pap bright. 187 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.559 Down, Bye bye human race. 188 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.320 We're talking global computer apocalypse. 189 00:13:14.440 --> 00:13:17.720 Sorry, guys, I guess you're four. 190 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:21.840 They made a video and everything that's crazy. 191 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:24.279 You don't know how this shit works. 192 00:13:25.399 --> 00:13:28.440 Grab it by grab a bull, grab whatever you can. 193 00:13:31.559 --> 00:13:35.240 This has been the shittiest night of my life. God damn, 194 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:39.440 but it's cool that we got to hang out for once. 195 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:43.879 Oh, let help. 196 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:51.519 Put on your bucket hats and other late nineties references. Hey, 197 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:53.639 remember when the world was going to end twenty five 198 00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:56.240 years ago? A lot of Bible nuts thought that that, 199 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:59.480 oh oh was a signal of the end of days. 200 00:14:00.039 --> 00:14:02.799 But then they're always hoping for that. A lot more nuts, 201 00:14:02.840 --> 00:14:04.480 and by that I mean pretty much all of us 202 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:06.799 were at least a little bit nervous about the other 203 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:11.519 possible apocalypse, the Y two K bug. You remember, computers 204 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.759 wouldn't understand the change to double zero, and records and 205 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:18.320 programs would be reset and all information would be wiped out, 206 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:21.639 and electrical grids would fail and planes would fall from 207 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:25.759 the sky. Basically, everyone secretly believed it was going to 208 00:14:25.799 --> 00:14:27.600 be like the end of Escape from La just a 209 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:32.120 worldwide emp. Kyle Mooney certainly remembers, and he co wrote 210 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:34.600 and co stars in a film about that fateful New 211 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.759 Year's Eve when we capped off the twentieth century. This 212 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:40.759 film in fact marks his directorial debut, and it's pretty 213 00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:44.039 fucking solid as far as freshman flicks go. There's no 214 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:46.360 out of the gate discernible style like you got with 215 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:49.200 someone like Edgar Wright, whose influence you can feel all 216 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:53.720 over this film. But nevertheless, it's surefooted and definitely cinematic. 217 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.240 I'm curious to see what he does next. And yes, 218 00:14:56.279 --> 00:15:00.240 we're talking about Kyle Mooney, the SNL regular for nine seasons. 219 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:03.159 Actually he was featured for two in main cast for seven, 220 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:06.039 but nine years is still nine years. That's five more 221 00:15:06.039 --> 00:15:09.559 than Belushi. But unlike Belushi, Mooney was never a breakout 222 00:15:09.559 --> 00:15:11.919 on the show because he was just so goddamned odd. 223 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:15.360 I mean, he fit in. His impression of Martin Scorsese, 224 00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:19.639 just him laughing was perfect. But Mooney's style of comedy 225 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:23.159 seems somewhere between the wildly uncomfortable works of Tim and 226 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:26.120 Eric and Tim Robinson in the sweetness at the center 227 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:29.559 of the best of early Judd Apatow. It's not cringe. 228 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:34.000 It's just awkward and awfully real. Now, if I were 229 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:36.639 going to logline this film, and I will because I 230 00:15:36.679 --> 00:15:41.240 love brevity, it's super bad meets maximum Overdrive. There's about 231 00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:43.639 a dozen other influences I could draw in, but it's 232 00:15:43.720 --> 00:15:47.840 essentially those two films. Best friends and socially awkward outcasts. 233 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:50.440 Danny and Eli attend a New Year's Eve party so 234 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:53.000 Eli can profess his love to the prom queen in 235 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:56.000 spite of her college boyfriend. Danny, he just wants to 236 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:59.039 get laid. I did say super bad, right, And it 237 00:15:59.039 --> 00:16:01.639 should surprise no one that Jonah Hill is a producer 238 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:05.200 on this. It's a typical high school bottle party film. 239 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.840 Until the clock strikes twelve, and all those shivery warnings 240 00:16:07.879 --> 00:16:10.720 about the Y two K bug beautifully illustrated through an 241 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.679 AOL drenched credit sequence. They all come true, and not 242 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.360 only do our electronics fail, but they become sentient and 243 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:21.000 they don't like humans all that much. Every bit of 244 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:24.679 technology becomes a potential piece of invading robot intelligence. They 245 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:29.519 cobble themselves together using Imax and tamagochi and VCRs and monitors. 246 00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:33.159 The killer robots are like Katamari Damici on legs and 247 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.440 from what I can tell, almost entirely practical. Did I 248 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.440 mention this as an a twenty four movie because it is. 249 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:41.600 I think they're hoping Mooney turns out to be the 250 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:45.000 next Jordan Peel, a comedian who makes horror sign him 251 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:48.039 up immediately. As such, the production looks great in The 252 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:52.000 cast is top notch. Eli is played by Jaden Martel, 253 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:54.879 who was young Bill Denburrow in IT chapter one, and 254 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.639 Danny is played by Julian Denison from Hunt for the 255 00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:01.840 Wilder People in Deadpool two and super it girl Rachel 256 00:17:01.879 --> 00:17:04.599 lil Ziegler from West Side Story, and I think she's 257 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.759 snow white now. She's great as always. I get why 258 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:12.400 she's being cast so much. She's like an unpretentious Jenna Ortega. 259 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:15.000 That's right, No mercy for Goths on tonight's episode. Oh 260 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.640 and if the lead from It wasn't teen horror cred 261 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:20.480 enough for this film, One of the delinquent characters that 262 00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:22.720 joins them on their quest to survive is played by 263 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:26.400 the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina actor Lachlan Watson, who also 264 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:30.000 plays Glenn and Glinda on the Chucky TV series. John 265 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.680 Landis wrote American Werewolf in London in like nineteen sixty nine, 266 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.920 and he spent the next decade giving it to everyone 267 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:37.680 who would read it, and he got a lot of 268 00:17:37.720 --> 00:17:39.839 writing gigs from it, but no one wanted to make 269 00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:42.079 it because they all kept saying it's either too funny 270 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:44.440 to be scary or it's too scary to be funny. 271 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:48.559 That's a really precise tightrope to walk, and there are 272 00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:51.960 only a handful of films that actually achieve it. American 273 00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:55.480 Werewolf is the platonic ideal. The comedy gets downright silly 274 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:59.480 at times, but the scares are fucking riotously good evil. 275 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:02.640 Did two gets there? Show of the Dead? Maybe, But 276 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:05.640 most times comedy horror does in fact tend to lean 277 00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:08.480 into the comedy more than the horror. And once you've 278 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:11.079 gone there, it doesn't really matter how high you raise 279 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:14.599 the stakes. It's just a comedy we're watching. So when 280 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:18.640 a usually stationary blender latches itself onto a kid's genitals 281 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:21.440 and begins to blend how am I supposed to take 282 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.759 any potential character death seriously in this film? Which isn't 283 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.359 to say that this film doesn't work. It does as 284 00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:30.799 a comedy with fucked up plot points. Mooney shows up 285 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.319 as a dreadlocked video snort clerk stoner who has a 286 00:18:33.359 --> 00:18:35.880 showdown with one of the robots. That was as funny 287 00:18:35.920 --> 00:18:38.799 as anything I've seen in forever. And like I said, 288 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:41.200 he's a solid filmmaker. I think if you can get 289 00:18:41.240 --> 00:18:43.839 the balance right, he'll be a righteous force for good 290 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:46.880 in the horror community. I mean, this film was never boring. 291 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:50.279 Robert Eggers. Oh, and I've been finding of length that 292 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:52.680 anytime I watch a new movie, I'm always looking for 293 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:55.759 a moment of poetry, just a few seconds of a 294 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:59.200 shot that transcends everything. They don't show up a lot, 295 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.799 but Moon in his first film manages not only to 296 00:19:02.880 --> 00:19:06.240 grab one of those moments, he then diffuses the sentiment 297 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:10.240 in the most disgusting way possible. Bravo, sir. I don't 298 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:12.240 want to say anything else. I want you to see it. 299 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.519 Y two K. It's in theaters right now, Okay, final 300 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:18.359 pick of the week, and it's another current flick. But 301 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:22.200 before we get there, it's time for an annoying autobiographical pause. 302 00:19:23.079 --> 00:19:25.960 I was sixteen years old when my pal Pat Sullivan 303 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.440 gave me a Bob Dylan mixtape. Pat had introduced me 304 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:31.480 to the Joys of the water Boys earlier in the 305 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:35.400 year with a similarly lovingly crafted mixtape, and knowing virtually 306 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:37.839 nothing about Dylan other than that Boomers wouldn't shut the 307 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:41.160 fuck up about him. But trusting Pat, I dove right in. 308 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:46.480 It was a tdksa ninety cassette. That's a Type two cassette, 309 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:49.160 which means you'd get less hiss, but the trouble would 310 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:52.079 be low. It doesn't matter. It was labeled Dylan sixty 311 00:19:52.119 --> 00:19:56.079 two to seventy, but the tracks weren't arranged chronologically. Pat 312 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:58.079 had gone through the trouble to tell a story. With 313 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:01.519 all those stories, the end of s featured Girl from 314 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:05.319 the North Country sliding effortlessly into Tangled Up in Blue, 315 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:09.119 which is my favorite Dylan song and my go to 316 00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:11.480 at karaoke. Wait a minute, That tape had a couple 317 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:14.000 of tracks from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, which 318 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:17.319 came out in seventy three. You lied to me, Pat Sullivan, 319 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:20.240 that was no decade, being that this was a ninety 320 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:24.000 minute ascent. All of Dylan was on there, the chameleonics, 321 00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:28.799 switching of styles, the mad genius lyrics, the anger, the longing, 322 00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:32.519 the petulance. Once you started listening, the whole voice of 323 00:20:32.519 --> 00:20:35.480 a generation Moniker started to make a whole lot of sense. 324 00:20:35.720 --> 00:20:38.720 So how can you possibly cram that bredth of work 325 00:20:39.119 --> 00:20:42.519 into a feature film? Never mind the guy's life, never 326 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:44.720 mind the myths that have sprung up around him, in 327 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:49.240 most cases generated by the man himself. It's an impossible task, 328 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:51.920 and there have been attempts. I'm not there back in 329 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:55.400 two thousand and seven featured six different actors playing Dylan. 330 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.759 That's one way to show multidimension, and it does work, 331 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:02.799 but only to a degree. There have been documentaries. Scorsese 332 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.960 has made two, one of them good. Not even the 333 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.440 Don't Look Back documentary in nineteen sixty seven really gave 334 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:11.359 us the whole version of the man, and that featured 335 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.799 the man himself. But man, Hollywood loves a challenge. This 336 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:20.240 is a complete unknown, long. 337 00:21:20.440 --> 00:21:24.000 Two hundred people in that room, and each one wants 338 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:28.319 me to be somebody else. Now you sing that I 339 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:35.319 put myself in another place, but I'm a stranger there. 340 00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:48.079 It to be on your but no directioned home. 341 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:52.160 If you could just get up there one more time, 342 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:54.559 use that music in the right way. 343 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:59.200 In the right way. Did you ever listen to the 344 00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:05.720 music you're telling me not to play? Songs were supposed 345 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:08.000 to stand the test of time. You're making quite a 346 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:10.880 noise down there? Who wrote this? We're getting a glimpse 347 00:22:10.920 --> 00:22:14.440 of the future at over side All do you want 348 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:16.720 to do? You're kind of an asshole, though they got 349 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.200 these special binoculars may allow me to see into your soul? Really? 350 00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:30.440 Oh yeah? 351 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:33.920 Black. James mangle To directed Walk the Line, the Johnny 352 00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:37.400 Cash biopic with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, which is 353 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:40.400 a film I like mainly because Waylon Green as Jerry 354 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:43.079 Lee Lewis is so fucking magnetic that it papers over 355 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:45.599 some of the lame and cliche bits of that movie. 356 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:46.960 Which bits would those be? 357 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:47.519 Go? 358 00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.319 Check out Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox story, which used 359 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:55.000 Walk the Line as a framework to satirize all music biopics. 360 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.240 That movie is great better than Walk the Line, if 361 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:01.279 I'm being honest, A film that's up Johnny Cash's greatest 362 00:23:01.319 --> 00:23:04.599 triumph as overcoming his drug addiction, which he would lapse 363 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:07.440 back into moments after that film ended. So what the 364 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:10.279 fuck what walk Hard does? And I've probably mentioned it 365 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:13.480 on the show before, is layout a blueprint of exactly 366 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:16.839 how not to make a musical biopic. I sincerely urge 367 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.240 anyone who's going to sit down and start writing a 368 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:22.799 screenplay about their favorite artist, watch walk Hard, and if 369 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:26.039 you were going to do anything they do in that movie, don't. 370 00:23:26.519 --> 00:23:30.359 I'm guessing James Mangold saw Walkhard because I was so 371 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.039 fucking pleased that this film about one of my favorite 372 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:39.039 artists definitely avoids all of that troublesome bullshit. He keeps 373 00:23:39.079 --> 00:23:42.359 the action focused between sixty one and sixty five instead 374 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:45.000 of boring stretches of his young life, and they do 375 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:46.920 a time jump in there, so it's not even a 376 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:49.359 full four years. He keeps true to the events as 377 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:51.960 they went down, with some obvious license here and there. 378 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:54.640 He has a specific event in Dylan's life in mind 379 00:23:54.680 --> 00:23:57.160 as a finale. Was it the most important moment in 380 00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.240 Dylan's life? It's one of them, and it may the 381 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:03.880 case for it, while never skimping on either performance or character. 382 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.160 That's another tendency in music biopics. Have you heard people saying, biopic, 383 00:24:08.759 --> 00:24:11.920 what the fuck is wrong with you? You don't sound sophisticated. 384 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.839 It's the equivalent of holding your telephone upside down while 385 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:15.799 you're trying to look busy. 386 00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:16.480 Sorry. 387 00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:20.240 Another tendency biopicks is to give us too much music 388 00:24:20.559 --> 00:24:23.359 or too much drama. It's not as necessarily as fine 389 00:24:23.400 --> 00:24:26.319 an edge as with comedy horror, but it still requires 390 00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:28.960 a nimble touch. You want to know why the character 391 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:31.240 is causing such a stir, and you want to know 392 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:34.160 the people behind the amazing thing that's causing the stir, 393 00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:38.519 and a complete unknown fucking nails it. Chalomey has reached 394 00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:41.319 critical levels of annoying with how fucking talented he is. 395 00:24:41.880 --> 00:24:45.279 His performance is easily better than all six actors in 396 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.559 I'm Not There. He's not doing a caricature, but all 397 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:52.039 the signifiers are there. The nasally voice, the twitchy not 398 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:54.759 comfortable in his own skin demeanor. Hell, the way he 399 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:58.720 holds his cigarette is eerily evocative, as is the singing, 400 00:24:59.160 --> 00:25:01.880 which isn't a stran which Bob Dylan wasn't Freddie Mercury, 401 00:25:02.200 --> 00:25:04.119