These are fun. Off the cuff discussions on movies and streaming series, both new and old together will attempt to bridge the gap between Hollywood industry insider and the casual viewer. This is Alec nine, Ben and you're listening to the Cinema:A to B podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Cinema A to B where Ben and I get to talk about whatever we really want to talk about, whatever movie it's happening and you get to just join along and listen.
So today we are going to be talking about 2016 Taylor Sheridan's and I'm going to speak on why I'm saying that. Hell or high water. Ben, thoughts? So I just watched this prior to our recording and I think it's only the second time I've seen this film. I enjoyed it immensely the first time. And it is it's a better it was a better viewing, which kind of blew me away. I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting to feel the same way about this movie that I did the first time.
And no, I think it went up a few notches. It had been every bit of eight years since I'd seen it the first time. So I think that had to do with me being eight years older and eight years of looking at the world differently. And this may be one of the last great modern American Westerns, along with Wind River and then Yellowstone. And what do they all have in common? Sheridan? Sheridan I mean, I'd even say Sicario is kind of a neo noir western in a in its own vein.
And to speak on it like I know this was not directed by Sheridan, Sheridan did direct Wind River. That was his first. And so they everyone talks about or not everyone but like this talked about that Sheridan has like this three movie arc of the American West and it's Sicario. It's this movie and it's Wind River. And I say, this movie is Taylor Sheridan's, because this feels very similar to Wind River a lot.
And the director, while he's done other stuff, is not this is kind of like the biggest thing he's done and I can having seen thing seen episodes of Yellowstone having seen other movies by Taylor Sheridan, by other stuff that he's done, he's written, created, this feels like he had his hand in it the entire way, entire process.
Like, he didn't want to direct, but he definitely kind of pushed the envelope and kind of pushed his narrative how he wanted to be seen, how he wanted to be done kind of a thing. So and, you know, obviously, I think he was a producer on it as well, which would obviously make sense. But this was well, actually, no, he was not a producer on this on hell or high water.
I do know, like after Sicario and this, he really got some acclaim and that's where he's able to start pitching some of this other stuff that he was doing. So I saw this again today. I rewatched it. I mean, I was I've watched we're in the same boat. This is fresh. This is fresh. It is anything I think we've discussed. I will say that I've seen this movie multiple times. I adore this movie. I really like Sicario a lot. I love Danny. I love Deakins. I think that movie is absolutely amazingly shot.
Well, but out of the Taylor Sheridan trilogy or any he's really done. This is my favorite of his. Just everything about it is great. It for me, like when I sit down and watch it, it's one of those I don't say it's a guilty pleasure because I don't feel guilty watching it. And it's not a happy movie. But there's just something about it. Like this is on rotation of like or I'm like, I want to throw something on in the background or just,
you know, I have 20 minutes. I don't like I'm not on the show. I'm not doing whatever like what I want to watch. It's like this The Big Short, I mean, obviously Oceans is always kind of in the back burner, but like, there's a couple of stuff that's always kind of like I just, you know, I watch 20 minutes of it and like, I'm happy, you know, and just there's certain moments I really enjoy. And this movie is happens to be one of them that really kind of hits hits for me.
I probably prefer Wind River. Okay. That one's a brutal film. I mean, that one is more brutal than. Yes, it is. It is. This movie's much better. The pacing on this film is is it's an easier watch than Wind River. But I just at first glance, I think I probably would still give Wind River the night is is my favorite of kind of all the stuff he's done. But this feels much more like a classic American Western.
And I know we've had conversations about that genre before where it's like, everybody's sick of Westerns and it's like, Yeah, I think people are kind of tired of like the traditional Western with with horses and cowboys and yeah, I think I think that's kind of been beat to death, although enough time will pass and then it'll kind of come around again. But specific genre of a Western in which technically Star Wars a New Hope is a Western, that genre still works.
And this movie is proof positive of why that formula is still is so good. And I was watching it again. You know, like you said, you watched it today. I watched it today as well. And it was I was just awestruck watching it going, yep, He just he's replaced Ford and Chevy pickup trucks. These could easily be guys on horseback and the Texas Rangers, the Texas Ranger and. Yeah, and the homestead is the homestead.
And it was pretty wild to watch it a second time through that lens of and then even the way that the cinematographer was framing certain shots, like on that front porch was like, yeah, I've seen I've seen that shot a million times in the great Westerns from the, the forties, fifties and, and in the sixties. The film is beautiful and yeah, it is. And the cinematography is very deliberate and they hold on shots for a while.
There's not a rush to jump into the next setup unless it's one of the, you know, action sequences which they do very well. It was, it was a better second viewing and I couldn't believe it because I, I knew now where everything was headed and it still was a was a better watch. So yeah, I think I think this film's a little bit underrated when I go on to the movie database and see that it's it's a 7.6. I think this is definitely an eight to an eight two is probably where I would put it. Yeah.
And yeah, Shout out to Taylor Sheridan from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yeah, at least he was born there is his material Doesn't feel like a guy that grew up in in Carolina but in chapel Yeah yeah Chapel Hill but yeah this guy's got a command of of what kind of makes a western. And it's, it's not merely the trappings of, of horseback and it's, it's deeper than that. It's, it is at its core this is another film about family. A family.
So one of the things that I really enjoy about this film, from a writing standpoint, from an acting standpoint, is that I really don't know who to root for. Like, that's the hardest part is, you know, like on one like obviously the antagonist is Texas Midland Bank boom done That's the but other than that like I don't like you would think like obviously with Chris Pine and Ben Foster who both do have amazing chemistry together the entire time.
And Ben, this is my favorite Ben Foster role of all time, I think. I think he's actually an very underused, undervalued actor. But in this, it just shows me because on the surface I should dislike his character. And I he's abrasive, he's egotistical, He is, you know, just that guy who I, I hate, but his love for his brother, his willingness to do whatever for family, There's just something in the interplay between them.
There's just something that draws you in that you kind of are like, he's the crazy uncle, you know? You know he's crazy, but he's family, like, you know, or whatever. And there's just that kind of bond that just draws you to it. But then on the flip side, it's not like I'm upset at the Texas Rangers. Like, it's not like they're the antagonists.
Like, I want them to win, too, because obviously they're the good guys trying to stop this, you know, stop, you know, these things and, you know, people die and things of that sort. So it's it's Sheridan really does a fantastic job of just drawing you into these characters, of making you want to root for them, even though they're diametrically opposed, they're actually against each other. And so few movies do that.
Like, I mean, you know, we talk about Usual Suspects, like I'm 100% sided on the criminals and have no no desire to root for agent the queen or I forget it ever his name, but I think that's great. But Sheridan just kind of tows that line of doesn't let you like, basically you have to decide if you're rooting for them or not because he's going to make them likable. Yeah, it's morally ambiguous to an extent, and which is very much more in line with real life.
And yeah, there's something with these bank heist films because the same is true of heat and then the same is true of the town as well, which the town the town predates this by six years. And they do share some similarities with kind of a protagonist on the wrong side of the law. Similarities kind of stop there. These this film stands well on its own, apart from the town and apart from frankly he and it goes beyond the setting.
But to your point, you know, I notice something with with Ben Foster's character Tanner, that I never noticed before, and I don't know why I didn't notice it, but after Bridges kills him up in the hills and he and he's slumped over, there's a rattlesnake and his feet and there is. I don't know why I didn't notice it the first time, but it was almost like the laws of nature were upon him and he was going to meet his end. Either the end of that bullet or the freaking snake was going to get him.
And I don't know why I missed that the first time, but I was like, well, yeah, yeah. It's almost like the universe was was tilted towards him and he and he knew it. And it was just like, No, I'm going to go out in a blaze of glory. So and everybody's got these limits that they'll go to that they're willing to go to. And he doesn't really have any. And then contrast that with Pine's character, Toby and it was very, very distinct. And you want to take a wife at all.
But he did set these things into motion. And so it's like, you're right, it's this you're going to wrestle with the moral questions that this movie raises. And I think that's the power of the film is that, well, after the credits roll, you're like, Man, yeah, I don't know. I still think about it.
I mean, to this day, I still I still wonder in my mind what happens in that next meet up between Chris Pine, you know, And so it's one of those of like like you know what's happening like what's is I don't want like if you haven't seen it like I want to spoil too much, but no, no, no, no, no, no. I mean it. Between the films eight years old, we're playing spoiler. Yes. We're not going to play free on a film like, Yeah. Is Jeff Bridges just going to go there and they're going to talk?
Or is one of only one of them going to walk away, which is hinted at that is like, he's like, Yeah, I'll give you your piece. And then Bridges is like, Well, maybe I'll give you your piece. Yeah. So that's yeah, So it's this is the type of dialog that I talk about with friends were like that. I'm frustrated. Certain movies, especially someone, you know, some of the recent Star Wars ones so I'm feeling like the dialog is just in there and I don't need dialog to be super serious.
I don't need dialog to be like it has to be ushering in something momentous, like a big, big speech. It just needs to be very poignant, very purposeful, kind of not just let's throw in words the use of, but like everything that's said in this film, either has weight or has purpose of why it's been said. It's not just filler. And and Sheridan is great in all the all of his films that he's done this in.
And I really do like when we ever Wind River a lot it is I've seen it a couple of times and it's I mean it's brutal every single time I see it. This one is just for me a little bit more rewatchable.
And there's something about, like I said, the interplay between Chris Pine and Ben Foster is really good of how Chris Pine is like the antithesis of Ben, of the of Toby is the antithesis of Tanner, of like he's so reserved, so quiet, so, you know, kind of just take the not to take the world as it is, but kind of like he's going to take his beatings until there's a point where Ben Foster, you know, as Tanner is just the moment, like someone, you know, throws hands,
he's going to be in the mix with everybody and going to be like, No, I'm going to I'm going to punch somebody out myself. I want to do I'm going to get get mine. I'm going to take care of this. And it's just so interesting to see the two of them play off each other because they do so well, because they do play like brothers, like it feels so real, like they could actually be brothers in real life of the way they're acting to each other.
I mean, it's like one of my one of my little scenes is when they get back in and Ben Foster grabs a beer, Tanner gets a beer from the refrigerator and Toby walks in. He's just like, I don't I need you sober. And he and Tanner comes back. He goes, Who gets drunk on beer? You know? And it's like. Like this is a conversation they've had before. Like, this is stuff that the dialog in the film is super, super quick and. And witty. Yeah. And Bridges interaction with with Gill is just hysterical.
Yeah. Unfortunate like they have that that funny exchange in the hotel room where he's just really getting on him making you can Indian jokes and then switching to Mexican jokes and which is just hysterical super politically incorrect which I love and it's funny, it's done in a really like fun manner, but he tells them he's like, You know, when I'm dead and gone, this is what you're going to like chuckle about. These are the stories you're going to tell about me.
And yeah, unfortunately that just isn't true because Tanner kills Joe and that and really that's the moment where you're like, Yeah, Tanner has got to go. Like even is a part of, even as an unbiased viewer, you're just like, No, his time is up. Like this guy. This guy just loves carnage and no, I, there's another thing that I just, I just noticed and because and I should have recognized it because it's in my stomping grounds or at least close to home.
My parents are with the old man in the bank who's got the gun. That's Buck Taylor from Gunsmoke. So super funny cameos. And that's Mark Taylor. And the only reason I know that is because a couple of hours from me, Dodge City Casino used to run an ad campaign with Buck Taylor in it, like probably five or six years ago. And so, yeah, that's that's the old man. And so, you know, you have like a king of Westerns in a modern American Western.
And then they ask you, like, you got a gun on you like you get a rob that tells you, it's so fun. The interplay kind of some of these, you know, these people from West Texas or whatever. And like when when Jeff Bridges is talking to the truck driver. Right, like right near the beginning or whatever he's like because they don't want to find me, though. We have to the, you know, the short end of a long rope or or there'll be the wrong end of a short rope or something like that.
And he's just like, well, you know, make it easier for everybody but you. He goes, yeah, if you can find the tree. And he's just like, I love, I love West Texas. He's like, Yeah, it's just this like, this fun interplay. It's so the dialogs really, the acting is fantastic pretty much from everybody. Fun little fact.
Yeah. I find it for those people who don't know, like movies very rarely get shot in sequential order and they're usually all over the place because if they're on a location, they're going to shoot all the scenes at that location, those kind of things. But so the scene with Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges, that was Chris Pine's last day and Jeff Bridges his first day. So like that, that scene between the two of them. So there was like and that's the only scene they they share together.
There's no other scene they share together. So it's pretty much like Jeff Bridges is only in scenes with with with some of the townspeople and with with Gill. You know, very rarely does he actually even like he's never technically in the same frame, even with with Ben Foster's character, Tanner.
And one of the things I think it also does is because there's not long breaks in between where you're shooting with as a person, you can build that bond, you can kind of maintain that working relationship, that friendship. It's easier to get back into that feeling and build upon it as opposed to like, Hey, we're shooting together for, you know, a week at this location and then they're shooting at other locations that one of us is not in.
We don't see each other for, you know, a couple of weeks to a month and they get back in and it's like, hey, you got to build that back up. But if you're shooting day after day or like week after week kind of consecutively, then it's nice balance of kind of continuing to build upon your working relationship and building on that friendship, which then obviously affects your acting style and how you can build.
And I think that's one of the main reasons why, you know, Jeff Bridges and Gil do such a great job together and then obviously why Ben Foster and Chris Pine do such a great job together. I mean, this is it's just outstanding and I'll stop with the acting, but it's it's just really good. No, you know, I kind of want to continue with the acting because you won't see Chris Pine deliver this kind of performance. More of a was reserved, controlled restraint performance.
You know, what he's asked to do a lot is is be the fast talker and which he's very good at obviously famously or probably best known as is Kirk.
But the other film that he's he did where it's closer to this is but it's a little more animated is unstoppable was with Denzel and he plays he plays more of a down on his luck character and not as well but there's more there are more outbursts from him than this because even when he's frustrated with tenor, it's more of just like he's it's more just like kind of reserved.
It's like he's he's like, talked me into doing this again or he's like, gone and robbed this other bank while I'm like, talking with the waitress, which is just a hysterical turn of events. Yeah. And it was really interesting that they got Katie mixing to play the waitress because she's I mean, she's a really well known actress. She had a long standing sitcom, I think on ABC and has you know, it's been in, what, four Christmases? And and then my favorite is Eastbound and Down. Yeah, yeah.
She's great. And so they get her for just a quick roll but she she steals the scene obviously it's like yeah you go take your tip. I love it. He tells Bill like, yeah, we should go back there and get a description and then and then collect your $2 and these old guys at the, the table. Yeah, good luck with that. But it was really interesting though, because none of those guys or her sold out Pine's character, Toby, like none of them.
I mean, they gave no like, no description of him at all, which is really interesting. The only pothole I was trying to find again was like their friends were all over that, like Ford Bronco, like that truck, the one that he torched it. So I was like, Nope, it's not a way that works fine. So yeah, because that was the only one that didn't get buried, basically. BURY Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's one of those things where and going back to the diner people of why especially like that group were like older and like three or four old gentlemen or whatever is when the, when, you know, the Texas Rangers come in like that and Jeff Bridges is talking to them, he's just like, Yeah, that's the bank that's been robbed me for the past like 20, 30 years.
Or I forget exact line, but it's one of those like there's enough hate for the bank and now frustration that they kind of want to see it get hurt and so they're not going to like throw someone else on the bus. And so this is it's it's interesting balance of like, how far are you willing to let something get hurt because it has hurt you kind of thing. And so it's this this interesting balance.
So I didn't notice the first viewing as much as the all the billboards were like with like debt relief or fast cash or and then all the for sale signs. It just I was I was oblivious to it in the first viewing. I just and I don't know why I just was less sensitive to it and Compared to some other films where they might be set in, you know, more of a depressed area.
But yeah, that's the major theme is that these banks have been and would opens on the first frame for crying out loud on the side of the Midlands bank is that spray paint of like you know multiple tours in Iraq but no bailout for us. But the film isn't really that preachy like it's there, but the story is really good, the script is really good. The bones of this are solid.
It isn't just a vehicle for a let's fight the man, Let's get one, pass the man Like there's more going on there because this film could easily fell into that of like just coming across as more of a shallow kind of preachy anti Wall Street. I mean, he's going to film and I mean, Sheridan does this really well because obviously even his in Wind River he's kind of has that a very distinct kind of message he's trying to get across. But it never comes across preachy at all either.
I would even say in Sicario he has a political message or, you know, really political, but like a message that he's trying to get across. And it doesn't feel preachy. It's subtle and it's there. It's present. Like it's it's not like it's hidden. It's definitely out there. But he's not trying to beat you over the head with it. He's just like, This is what I'm telling the story about.
He could be confused for being preachy in this stuff because Yellowstone's been accused of the same thing, but I don't think it's there. You know, I've watched a little bit of that show, and I think the subtext is certainly there. But it's it's good storytelling, too. There's definitely something he wants to get across, but he still makes his story engaging. He still puts in good dialog where it's not beating you over the head of it.
And I'm going to talk about the the flip side of the coin of where there you know, you're talking about beating you over the head of it. It's not great writing, but they're trying to like just push the message. The other half of that is we're just doing spectacle that we're just doing how many bullets, explosions, spaceships, can we fit in to screen and not care about the dialog? Because, hey, all of this, they're going to be so wowed by this, they're not going to care about the dialog.
And that's been some of my biggest problems with especially with with with science fiction and some fantasy that's come out, specifically Star Wars stuff where they're they just care about the spectacle. How great is the CGI or how cool can we make this shot and less about the characters and dialog? And so there's like, it's not that it's difficult, but it is.
It takes effort to make good dialog, to make good story choices, to make good choices, and not kind of go this route of being like, let's just save ourselves for the spectacle or let's save ourselves for the message. And but still hit but hit these beats like you could still have some spectacle, you can still have your message, but if you tie it up and vote, you have much better movie, better TV show than kind of what's coming out most times now.
Yeah, well, and they're the streamers, Disney, they're all going to they're all going to course correct here with the money they've been spending. And so the odds are good that you're going to start seeing more stuff like this just because it's it's more affordable to make. I mean, they've run out of money, basically, like the Marvel the Marvel train is slowing down. And it's it's for a whole host of reasons.
But my guess is we're going to start to get more smaller films that have been put through the ringer. And they still you know, they still might have they'll still have underpinnings of of a political or some other messaging, which stuff's always had that. But it's always been. Yeah, it's not, you know, but it's always been second or third or fourth or on down on the list behind a good story or good or, or, or at least entertaining. Right. Like entertainment should be priority one.
And I don't I feel like we're coming out of a window of time where entertainment has not been necessarily always priority one. And I'm not. But I'm again, I'm not talking about the top one or 2% of directors or writers. Those folks get greenlit pretty much whatever they want. And but I'm talking about beneath that, which encompasses a lot of network television and then some streaming projects as well. It's the quality is just not there.
But I think they're wrong. I think they're running out of money. They might not be given another choice then to do stuff like like hell or high water. Well, I just I just read an article that was talking about the fact that Netflix itself is saying that it's changing to focus on quality, not quantity, which it's obviously it's been producing so much. It's like, yeah, I mean I think some of that is probably is, you know, the majority of that is exactly what you said.
It's the bottom line is they're realizing that that if you don't have those tentpole TV series or movies, no one's going to care and they're going to drop you even though you have hundreds of shows, hundreds of movies, because they're all trash. I mean, some people don't care. Like some people obviously don't care as much as we do about this. But but anyway, so hell or high water, they made it for 12 million, by the way. Wow. yeah. Do we know how much of what the box office was?
Yeah, I did 27 million in the U.S. and Canada and another 10.9 in some other. So the worldwide total was 37.9 million against a production budget as well. Okay. And it wasn't it didn't have a heavy marketing campaign. No. So and the thing obviously has got legs like we're I mean work. Yeah, this thing is eight years old, but I mean, obviously we're talking about it today, but this thing's a nice fixture on streaming platforms.
It's grant or like I say today, I just watched it on Peacock and I was frustratingly had it had to subscribe to Peacock because my wife's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and we had to watch the playoff game yesterday. Sorry, those of you that are Dolphins fans. But I checked it and was like, hell or high water is on Peacock. Why don't I own this? I don't know. And I know we've discussed that before, but like I need to, I need to course correct myself for owning physical media.
And this is easily one that should be in my collection. There's so much about this, like you talk. Okay, I'm going to talk a little about the cinematography. And obviously it's West Texas, so it's pretty flat. It's pretty, very monochromatic in a lot of different ways. And there's something and correct me if I'm wrong, because obviously this is not my but it feels like they've under saturated the colors a lot. Like not a ton, but definitely doesn't feel it's not oversaturated.
Everything's feels a little muted. It feels a little, dare I say it, depressed in the color gamut, but it works. It's still is visually interesting. It's still like, yeah, go ahead, turn. No, If you got another thought on that, I Go ahead. I know. I'm just curious. Now, here's what you're excited to see. I'm going to say yes and no, because, yes, the the environment is is got less saturation and is more browns echoing very much a dust bowl kind of feel for very, very good reason.
And then but the skin tones, I think do have good saturation. Honestly, when I watch this, the the look of it is the color palette is not unlike that of no country for old men. Yes. And so a lot of it is the environment. It's not just the color. Great. It's it's the fact that they are shooting in the middle of the country in in Texas. And yeah, there's not a lot of green it's it's a lot of cow pasture and wheat fields and and ranches and they're with a lot of browns.
And he does feel appropriately depressed with that kind of brown color palette. So I but I think the if I'm not mistaken, this was shot digitally. I don't think this was shot on film. And it's only a2k for all you 4K snobs. The the eerie role was like 2.8 K, and then it was digitally mastered at two. Okay, so resolution is okay, is not the end all be all it is dynamic range and color information and their resolution falls so far down the list of what makes a great image. It's not even funny.
Like this whole 4K obsession is just Ben, I want my AK. Come on, man. See the difference? It's like real life. You want to. Except you haven't and haven't done your is a frontier AK television. Just no, because you don't have enough like what receptors in your your eyes for AK like when you have like No, not really no. Well because they're split in the thirds because it's like you have what, red, green, blue and you have and you're you have less.
I think less less cones and pixels for AK and like even in 4K, like each one of those pixels can be all those colors where your eye can only like has thirds of everyone. So like again, it's when people were like, my goodness, I can see like, no, you probably can't anyway. In fact, yeah, like I was researching projectors again. Nothing's wrong with my projector. It's fine. It's fine. It's like a it's a business projector marketed as a home entertainment projector.
So, like, the contrast is and is good on it, but you've seen it. The image is still so good. It's HD. That's great. And I'm looking at these 4K projectors, but then there's there's another Ben cue that's HD, but it's got an LED light source that lasts like way longer than light the life of the projector. And then the contrast on it is like 50, 60000 to 1 and the black levels are true black.
And so I go and research it and they basically said, yeah, there's no this projectors $1,000 and there is no 4K projector that has black levels that does what this does until like four grand. Yeah. So it's like, yeah, if I upgrade it, I'll probably just stay with HD. So now there was a super crazy tangent, a high resolution engine on it. So I mean resolution definitely actually, you know, does help in some regard. You know, obviously standard DEF two to normal HD is huge.
I would say that there is visually some stuff to 4K, but it just starts to peter out of, like you said, of what matters of what makes you see what is a good image. But going back, this is a beautiful film and it's in that two, three, five widescreen and in the framing is just exquisite from from the first frame to the last. It's perfect. It is textbook on how to frame for for ultra well it's not even ultra wide. The wider screen format. Yeah. The way he fills the frame is perfect every time.
It doesn't really do anything crazy. Like there's not, there's not really any camera movements that are like, I haven't really seen that before, but don't mistake that for like a paint by numbers. It's high level cinematography, the the lighting, the framing, and then the edit just goes the editing in invisible edit, which is which for me means that the edit is like completely on point because I don't really notice it. And, and I do. I think it's underrated. highly, highly underrated.
It's I really, really enjoy this film a lot.
And again, not because it's a happy movie because there's, it's one of those things that I when I see something really good, I just want to continue to consume it and find new things or see new things or just revisit some of those those moments like the whole when Tanners of the casino the first time and he's playing poker and he has that kind of run in with the Comanche and that whole kind of discussion, that dialog there is so great like it, it feels it has so much weight.
But my one of my favorite things is they bring it back at the end right before he dies, where he just goes, Lord of the Plains, you know, And it's like it's, it's these characters have arcs and it's huge of like these characters do move forward. They get changed by what happens in the film, you know, or realize their potential realize, I mean, in for, you know, Tanner that was look at me run from the law, you know, not getting caught, you know, kind of kind of situation.
He yeah, he just seemed to innately know that his thirst for not following the law would ultimately catch up with him. And he and then when he knew that that could save his brother, he jumped at the chance. It's as much redemption as that character was going to have. Was leading everybody on a wild goose chase away from pine. But yeah, I agree with you. I think Foster is definitely there's a theme here of being underrated.
And I always have felt that Ben Foster's is one of the more underrated actors in in Hollywood. I don't know that he can carry a film on. Nobody's really seems to have given him that pure opportunity to do so, but he steals the scene basically in everything he's in. I mean, it's a good movie, but Lone Survivor, he just runs circles around Mark Wahlberg as an actor. Like it just runs circles around him. And I don't I don't hate Mark Wahlberg.
And Wahlberg is not a bad actor, but fosters it constantly operating on another level. Now, Pine matched his performance. Like Pine really brought it, and so I give him a lot of credit. And then bridges like Bridges gives you that like different kind of speech pattern in this that's so much different from everything he's and that he does feel a different a different individual. You know Gil is in Yellowstone, so. Sheridan Yes. Brought him brought him back. And he actually is Comanche.
Yeah. Yeah. For real. So after this, the director did Outlaw King, which I haven't seen yet. And Chris Pine's. I've seen that. So. Yeah. okay. Yeah. It's good to know. It's okay. It's. It's. It's all right This is the quick, the quick in in review review. You know, this is like a mexico city. It's it's all right. This happens a lot when we talk. Yeah, it's okay. It's okay. I, I think it's worth getting. I think it's worth a watch. There's potential there. All right, Well, well, well, well, well.
Bypass, too. because wasn't that was the Netflix I felt like. Yeah. I think it was asking was that Fox. Yeah. Yeah. I always got that one confused with the king for a while. which is okay. Which is fantastic. You know, Albert King is not the king now. The king. It's not. No. And for those of you listening, they don't know what we're talking about. The king is Timothy Shalom on Netflix as well. And we the also Joel Edgerton, Joel Anderton. Like basically it was his pet project.
Yeah. And that is worth a watch. And it has. my goodness. His name escapes me. Played Batman in the most recent Batman in Twilight and in. Yeah, yeah. Well, there's a nice there's a nice like a scene stealing scene. Yeah, Yeah. No, we just we could just. We could discuss the king at some point. But we will. We won't. We won't do our thing anyways, so I guess we can talk. You know, Anything else for hell or high water that you want an alien or something?
That. No. And I think for listeners that haven't seen this, you know, we spoiled everything, but I can't apologize for that because again, this this thing's been around almost a decade, if you like other Taylor Sheridan stuff, if you like Yellowstone or 1883 or 1923 or 1757 or, you know, 965, I don't know. He's got so many now, these offshoots. I mean, they print money for you.
Taylor I'm I mean, it's amazing when you can generate your own work like this and you don't have to wait for the phone call except for except for a phone call from the studio that wants to, like, greenlight your project. That's a good position to be in. And this guy paid his dues. This guy's been around for a long time. He's had those mentors and obviously it shows. The only thing is, is the kind of fun fact.
He was an actor for a while before he was a writer and he he is the cowhand on the on the horse. Yes. They and this these like you say. What do you say is it's 21st century and I'm I'm like running away from a fire like across I run into a running water for, you know, away from a fire. It's like no wonder my kids don't want to do what I do. Yeah, it was this perfect microcosm of, like, a dying way of life. Well, that was 2016 again. Taylor Sheridan's hell or High water.
Well, we we appreciate everybody listening to. Another episode. We will we will join you all next week with something else out of the bag that I don't really know at this point what it'll be because we just we record and then and then we just get to pick the release order and it's not always the order that we've recorded them in. So I can't really tell you always will be next week. But we appreciate everybody listening for sure. Yes, you. Thanks, everybody.