You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Before the show, oftentimes we'll sit around and just talk about what we've seen over the weekend.
Stuff we like, stuff we don't like.
Will warn each other, Hey, you better not waste your time on this, so you better spend your time doing this. Much to my surprise, when we had our conversation tonight before the show, I was sitting down with Tawala and he was letting me know his review of it hurts. You know, Alien's Romulus. I thought that you love it. Mark thought, did you love it? You didn't love it.
I didn't love it. I didn't love it.
I was first two acts, I thought I was good. I liked how it carried on the Alien story, like how it was set in that universe. But there are too many silly things that happened, and by the time it got to that third act, I was just outdone with some of the stupid things that happened and the ridiculousness of the final over reveal of the creature. It was just I just I was laughing in the theater. I was like, get me out of here. The redo of the Ripley line facing the Queen Alien, don't give it a.
No what I'm saying that was stupid.
Again, there was just so many things that happened when I said to myself, Okay, you really really.
Let me down in the end.
I would see another edition of this if they're going to continue off with this franchis, because there was still a lot of things set in the Aliens universe, but no and Aliens. This was not Alien. This was not This was kind of like something for people who never saw those movies.
Interestingly enough, it is still the number two movie in America. It brought in sixteen point three million this week, and it even added thirty theaters, which you don't usually see for horror movies. They don't usually add theaters like that, so it was up to thirty nine hundred theater or screens and it brought in sixteen million, coming number two, number one, the biggest movie of the summer. Possibly when all is Sudden done, Deadpool and Wolverine is back to
number one. Brought in eighteen million. It's gross domestically is five hundred and seventy seven million. It's one point two billion worldwide. I don't know if it'll be able to catch Inside Out too. It's less likely, but it's still hanging in there, coming at number three. It ends with us, I don't know who's seeing that movie. I really have no idea. Romantics, yeah, but I just don't know of anyone in my friends circle and family who's seen it.
Blake twice.
First week out failed miserably with seven point three million given all the promotion for it, and it did fourteen million worldwide, so it was released internationally as well. Surprisingly, we spoke to the star of the movie The Forge. You heard him on the show, Aspen Kennedy, and The Forge only had a budget of five million dollars but still came in fifth this week with more than six point six million in domestic ticket sales. Word, why do you think that is?
I think that The Forge had quite possibly one of the most aggressive and successful social media campaigns I have ever seen. I mean, it was posted on every page that I visited as if it was an actual personality, posting stories about itself, from the conversations with the actors, a.
Pair of clips, everything.
I mean, this thing was everywhere social media wise, and I think that's what grabbed people. Just people wanted to see what the hype was all about.
I wonder if we're not at a point where that will be the main way in which movies are going to be promoted, because it's one thing to put a trailer in theater, but it's actually much more i'll say impactful. If you have a trailer which goes viral online. Yeah, yeah, and you have people talking about the movie online having nothing to do with whether a trailer is available in theaters.
Absolutely, I mean, because you got to think, even with Blink Twight doing as well as it did or not as well as it did, but Blink twits having as much promotion as it had, there was nothing about it online. There was no one talking about online, there was no presence. And so that's why yet people are still talking about Deadpool Wolverine, still saying you got to see it, see the third time, see it in three D, go see it because you got to see it, And that's it.
In Aliens Romulus, I mean, yeah, it's still relatively new, so like I saw it this past weekend, So that's why that came in number two. But a film like The Forge five, it's already made its money back.
And then some give some other context, the Forge was only in eighteen hundred theaters brought in six million. Blink Twice was in three thousand and sixty seven theaters Okay, not twice as much, but almost as twice as much and brought in only seven point three million. So the perse screen average for the Forge was thirty six hundred dollars and the perse screen average for Blink Twice was
twenty three hundred. The Forge was overperforming by just about any metric, and I would be curious to see if the word of mouth still matches up with the pre promotion online because if it is, or if it does, it'll probably be expanded to more theaters and they'll have even a better weekend second weekend if they can expand that word of.
Mouth hopefully, because it has a really, really endearing and needed story right now.
But the real story of the week coming in at number eight, Twisters was number six, Core Line with number seven, but coming in at number eight was the Trash Bend Fire better known as the Crow.
You heard from Mark Rodner.
Who said do not watch this movie or something to that effect.
Yeah, it was a code brown for sure.
It only brought in four point six million I don't know what the budget it was, but four point six million was not what they were hoping for.
It's gonna lose money.
I think we're guaranteed of that, and it's too bad because it's got a lot of like unearned goodwill. People love the Crow, but not a great job with that story. And I, you know, listening to Tuala's criticisms of Alien Romulus, I actually don't disagree with anything he said. I just to me, the pluses outweighed the minuses more. I like the action, I like the atmosphere, and I thought it was better than most of the sequels. But I really can't disagree with him on anything.
I didn't disagree with him either, It's just that his concerns didn't bother me as much. Like, for example, you can say this plot point sucked or this was unbelievable.
So yeah, but they were minor to me because I was comparing it as far as feeling experience storyline with Prometheus and Alien Covenant, and I thought Prometheus had such potential and then the movie did not meet his potential, and Alien Covenant just sucked beginning to and it didn't tie together any of the threads really from Prometheus, and it told a completely different story with David that I expected to see and so I got nothing out of it.
Yeah, Prometheus and Covenant really kind of swung big, and Romulus it felt to me more like a B movie almost it was.
It was sci fi level to me. It was like something that could have been on the Sci Fire or should have been on streaming. If it was on streaming, I probably have been like this is racks. Yeah, but like going to go see that in the theater, I was like, this is streaming quality.
Acting.
It needed one star that much, I will say it needed one star. Did not have any stars.
Yeah, there's nobody in the cast that I cared about if they lived or died, and nobody we really even got to know. And the audio was so garbled that it was even hard to hear what they were to understand what they were saying to each other.
But I still enjoyed the movie.
Maybe it's just managing level of expectations when you go to see a movie, because my last two experiences with the Alien franchise actually like the last four or five if you want to throw an alien versus Predator, they weren't enjoyable. So I didn't have high expectations, and for me, I thought it was a fitting addition to that universe. I don't think he'll ever be able to recapture the magic of Alien because it was a straight horror movie.
We talked about this and it was so very different from everything we had seen as far as space movies go. We've seen horror movies, we've seen i'll say space disasters, but we have seen hadn't seen a space horror disaster the likes of Alien in nineteen seventy nine.
It was a real brilliant mashup and well done too. I mean there had been sci fi movies that had done similar things before, like Pardon me It, the Terror from Beyond Space, which a lot of people have cited as the inspiration for the movie. I don't know how much they took from that, but they really, you know, they did, like what Spielberg did with Raiders of the Lost Arc. They took a bunch of crappy old things that they loved and just put them together and gave them the Cadillac treatment.
That's a good way to put it.
I mean, I guess that's what George Lucas did with Star Wars, the whole spaghetti western.
Well with old specifically like Buck Rogers type of movie series, right right, Well, you know, although Twalla hated it, I'll just say he hated it.
No, let's not say hated it. But I can't recommend it in good faith.
Even worse, you didn't bring us the alien head popcorn bucket.
I really wanted.
I wouldn't put any more money into that, and I literally walked out or thinking to myself, Man, if that would have been online, I would have been happy. But now I'm going home disgruntled. And that's it. Well hopefully proud. Yeah, I mean the The Killer was an okay, kind of like British take on John Woo's classic Killer.
Is that Netflix?
It's a peacock. Peacock. I just watched that last night. We're talking about that now, yeah the Killer? No, no, no, the Killer was.
I was wondering what in God's name was the intent with that? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was like is this like it looked like more like a television series not a film, Like I should have been broken up into a bunch of episodes and could have been a British kind of something.
Yeah, like did John woo need to make what was going on? Oh? They just mailed it in. I don't know it's good.
I'm still formulating my thoughts and I think I fell asleep before the very end of it, so I don't know how it ends.
Did you get all the way through it? Twala? Yeah, I saw the end. I saw that. Is it worth finishing? That's the main question.
It ends in a traditional, over the top, unnecessary you can't do that action fashion. But the whole film was like that. The whole thing was like, wait what you can't do that? But you know, but they did it, Like there was some moves that they did that. I was like, John Wu is high when he's doing this. Will was absolutely on was yeah, he was copying himself.
And even with the to an extent with the shootout in the hospital hallway where they shoot out all the all the panes of glass, I really was wondering. I have to find out more about what the intent was behind all that, because if you remember the original Killer with Chow Yun Fat, that's an untouchable classic.
Before we get out of here, what's the last best thing that John Wu has done?
Well, I don't know what he's what he did after that Mission Impossible movie that was any good? Did he kind of disappear in the US after that for a while. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to think of. I can't think of.
Something because the replacement Killer was that was like streaming rated s for streaming, But I wasn't like, oh, man, that's in my collection.
Yeah, but if you only have done The Killers and Hard Boiled, that's enough for one.
Lifetime, Nash. I don't know. We'll debate that some other time. It's Later with Mo Kelly CAFI AM six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app and we have a Batman connection to the show and an update connection to a different show a play. What are you talking about, Moe, Well, Batman has a direct connection to this show.
We'll tell you why and just a moment.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Maybe you're familiar with one iteration of Batman. Maybe you're a fan of the TV show from the nineties sixties. Maybe you're a fan of the Christian Bale Dark Knight version. Maybe you're a fan of George Clooney or Michael Keaton, any number, Val Kilmer. You know, if you're familiar with any of those Batman's, if you're familiar with Lego Batman, if you're familiar with any Batman televised or cinematic property,
they are all owned by one person, just one. His name is Michael Eusland, and he's been on this show. I want to say what four or five times by now?
Yes, well, yeah, at least he's a very close friend of the show.
If you see Batman in a movie like Justice League, he has to sign off on it. If you see Batman in any capacity, I'm not talking about a Bruce Wayne character that maybe some legals there, but if you see Batman on screen, it has to go by Michael Eusland. Animated films too, that's right, yep. Animn Joker and that's right. He was one of the preciage jokers.
Anything related to Batman that has to do with on screen, smaller, big screen, Michael Eusland has to sign off on it.
The first time he came on.
The show, it was back on the Mo Kelly Show. He was talking about his memoir and it's called The Boy Who Loved Batman, told his origin, told about his growing up as a geek who went from teaching a comic book class as a junior at Indiana University to working at DC during the summers. He went to law school and then had got a job at United Artists. Next he had a front seat to the rise of early comic book movies, specifically.
Batman, and he, through a lot of.
Troubles difficulties, managed to secure the rights to Batman back when it was not popular, back when no one was really checking for Battman, and he was the one who came up with the idea of bringing a serious Batman to the big screen because people were familiar with the Adam West Batman. They were you know, the the pow and the sound effects and the comic book feel to it, not real menacing, not the dark Knight. Well, Michael Houston brought that version of Batman to the big screen and
I would say it forever changed movies since then. If you want to talk about superhero movies and the superhero movies fatigue, it always goes back to that first Batman movie of nineteen eighty nine.
And his genius of going to Warner Brothers, going to DC and securing the film rights for this when again, when no one was checking for it was an absolute stroke of genius and essentially got it for next to nothing when you consider what he got out of it or what he paid for it, and what he's getting out of it now. Man, and he is still the one of the geekiest, nerdiest individuals you will ever talk to.
He is, he is, He is such a great guy. His memoir what I told you, was called The Boy Who Loved Batman. Well, it is going to be produced as a stage play, and do you know who they're going to get to play Michael Uselin Mark Ronner.
I do not know.
And I've always been curious about how he got that satanic deal that he controls this, Like what did he pay for this?
Well, we have to listen to the Mokel Show. I think i'll post that so he can tell the story himself. Yeah, I gotta find this out. I'll find it for you. But he's going to have If you're a fan of Fantastic Beasts, you know Dan Folkler, he's going to play Michael Euseland in his stage play.
I like that, and I know the stage play is starting in Florida. But with how connected did we are to theater and with that Michael, do it to Michael as well. It is my hope that we can even you know, reach out to Michael and say, hey, bring this to LA.
We actually know some people.
Who you know, run a theater to out here that we can maybe, look, we need to be a part of bringing this to LA.
They're connected to Nitalanders, so I don't know if they'll need our help.
But the play.
The play will run from October first through November tenth in Tampa, and they want to get it to Broadway. But I'm quite sure you know, they'll they'll get it there. And this is something where I would love, love, love to see to your point twelve, to see it grow to become a national thing. You know that it actually gets to Broadway, that we have a role in that. I don't think they'll need us, but it'd be nice to, uh to have a role in that.
And have you had have you.
Ever had a chance to meet Michael Eustland yet, Mark and all of your travels, we.
Have come across each other's paths book work. We both did stuff for Dynamite and I think it was when I was writing The Avenger The Old Pulpiro and he was doing like The Shadow or something like that. They would always have creators interview each other and sometimes it works out really well, like I think Eustland was a good, sharp guy who had read the stuff and was asking intelligent questions. Other times it's just phoned in garbage from
people who obviously haven't read what they're talking about. Right, Euceland struck me as a smart guy.
He's smart guy, genuine guy. He's no false pretenses. You would never know if he just walked by you that he was mister Batman and is responsible for just about everything you've ever seen in your life on screen.
Regarding Batman, I gotta tell.
You though, before we go to a break, I won't tolerate any disrespect for the Adam West Batman. That was magnificent, And you have to put it into the context that the Batman comics were about to get canceled at the time, and that show saved everything. Also, even at this late date, it's hellilariously brilliant, brilliantly funny, and Adam West and Bert Ward are just two of the most gifted comedic actors of all human history.
It's hilarious. It is funny. It is funny to me, Stefan, what say you? That was getting? What are you talking about? Sorry? We're talking about Yeah?
What?
What signs about? Which? Something like that? Who's entering? Who? A lot of entering? Look at the time.
It's Later with mo Keller ca if I AM six forty Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio App. I'm sorry, Stephan, I didn't mean to catch off guard like that. You know I should have asked you about something else.
This is how it's gonna go Friday too, is it?
And if you're just tuning in, filling in for me on Friday will be none other than the Mark Ronner.
I feel like I'm coming down with something right now. Well, when we come back, we're going to get into the reasons.
You know that Mark Ronner loves to talk about misinformation disinformation. We now have evidence as to why that is an impenetrable wall. You cannot get through it. And Mark, I think you'll greatly learn from this.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty when moo.
Kelly one K.
Six Live Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Mister Moro Kelly here, This is just for you, Mark Ronner. Is something we've discussed many times, but now there is some data to support what I think you and I already believed, and it had to do with misinformation. Some researchers used a method called a randomized controlled trial. They took one hundred and fifty two college students and randomly split them into four groups. Each group read different combinations of texts about
water fluoridation. Some texts had correct information, some had incorrect information or misinformation, and some directly addressed and corrected common misconceptions, and these are called refutation texts. Before and after reading, the students answered questions about their knowledge, feelings, and attitudes about the subject. By comparing the answers before and after and between different groups, the researchers saw how information and
misinformation was interpreted. Here are some of the key results, and it will not surprise you, Mark, but now we have data to back it up. The groups that read the refutation texts which directly addressed misconceptions learned the most regardless of whether they read the correct information before or after the misinformation, meaning that when you clear it up,
it has the most impact. When you directly address misinformation, the group that learned the least was the one that read the misinformation first, followed by just the correct facts without addressing the misinformation.
Makes sense so far, Yeah, I'm following you, okay.
And the study also found that reading correct information first helped reduce negative feelings about the topic.
Who knew right? Who knew right? Now?
The study acknowledges it had some limitations. It only looked at college students studying to be teachers, so the results may not apply to everyone, and it only focused on one topic, so it's not known if the same results would happen regardless of topics or non scientific topics. And also the study only looked at immediate effects. They don't know if the learning and attitude changes would last over time, or the cuulative effect of misinformation or the cumulative impact
of refutation of misinformation. But if anything, I think it underscores the seriousness the impact of misinformation in a variety of ways, from our news media to perceptions and attitudes about our government, race relations, any number of things.
Oh yeah, COVID climate elections. I mean, misinformation can tear society apart and get people killed.
Well, it's done that.
I think a reasonable person can look at America right now and honestly say we are being torn apart. I think a reasonable person can say that we are at each other's throats in any number of ways over any number of subjects, from social media to real life or feelings about our politics and who's going to be president.
It's pretty it's pretty stark. Actually, there was this article I haven't had a chance to really dive into it, but was just published by the New York Post, and it says half of Americans under the age of thirty five would rather quit their job than work with political opponents. Okay, but I'm saying, let's say that is true if anything, and I haven't had a chance to really dig into it. It speaks to, once again, how we don't view each
other as fellow Americans. We look at each other as enemies, and it bears itself out in any number of ways.
Yeah, I get that.
And you know, the unstated context of what you just said is people may not want to work with somebody who doesn't think they have the right to exist.
Okay, no, no, no.
I think people don't want to work with someone who doesn't think like them.
There's the whole spectrum and where you land on that, I guess depends on the individual, and they're infinite, you know, permutations of it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's a wide spectrum there. But ultimately I think it's more negative than positive. I think we're trending in a very very very negative direction. And me and I don't think you would disagree with this. I think it all leads back to misinformation.
It does, and rather than get into any specific topic, I spent a lot of time this weekend reading about COVID misinformation, and I started the week angry about it. I will say that when you hear anybody ever howling about cracking down on misinformation, just be aware they don't care about free speech. They're the bad guys. If you are covering for the liars and the spreaders of disinformation, take a long look in the mirror.
I think people generally, and I've said this before, they want affirmation. They're not looking for information, So anything which reinforms their worldview or is preferential to their politic outlook will be accepted, whether it's accurate or not. Because we're not looking for the facts. And when I'm making a broad brush generalization, we're not looking for facts. We're not interested in facts as Americans, and so the byproduct of that is whatever feeds our worldview.
That's what we're going with.
If we believe that COVID was a hoax, then anything we read or digest will be consistent with that. If we believe that we fake the moon landing, then anything that we want to hold up as fact will be consistent with that. If someone wants to say that the NBA is rigged or our elections are rigged, then anything which is consistent with that will be accepted into their mind.
You're not about to tell me that Stanley Kubrick didn't fake the moon landing, are you. No?
No, I would say, okay, thank you. I would never smirch his name. But I mean, on this subject, there are two kinds of people, right. They're the kinds that you're talking about that exist for confirmation bias, and they're the kind who when they're they're faced with actual evidence, information, legit information that conflicts with their beliefs, they alter their beliefs to suit reality.
But here's the problem many people today, and I can't quantify this, but I know it's many people are so invested in their opinions that anything which is counter or contrary to them somehow breaks down their sense of self.
Yeah, there is a lot of research showing that people just dig in their heels. Not everybody, but a lot of people do dig in their heels when they're presented with legit information that defies their beliefs and we're still trying to figure out what to do about that.
And if it defies their beliefs, it's almost like they feel as if you're attacking them and their value as an individual because they're so invested in this. What happens if what you're so invested in is not true?
Yeah, Well, for one thing, we've got to find a way to depoliticize things like science because because that doesn't help anybody at all. I mean, science, above all other things, should be independent of your political affiliation, your your cultural identity. It exists whether you believe in it or not, and ignoring it puts a lot of people in peril.
It's weird because the tools that we use to devalue science are always scientific in the sense of we're going to use social media, we're going to use our phones, we're going to use these these things of technology to somehow devalue science.
I've never quite understood. There's a little irony there isn't there.
We're going to use these these things that are out of the Star Trek future tight to reassert your Taliban level beliefs that are basically you can trace back to the iron A or the Bronze A boj okay, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
And before we get out here, I have to correct one thing.
When I was talking about going to Jason and I misspoke saying that they're going to Tom Sawyer Island. That was brought to my attention that was only going to be a Disney World, not disney Land. So yes, I got your messages, Yes, got your messages, got all forty five of them, at least that many.
But I had a great time.
I had a great, great time at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. It's just different now as I get a little bit older as an adult, you know, you don't need to do everything. You get to do some things that you've been wanting to do didn't have a chance to do, And Disney gave him the opportunity to do that with a little bit more time. Now, I don't know how Twala does it with the whole family on a day in which everyone is at the park and you may not have exclusive access. I don't know how
he does it. It's a very, very very taxing day. It can be very taxing, and maybe we put too much on the day. Maybe we have too high of an expectation of the day. As I get older, I get more selective with my time, so it has to be my way. For example, if I were to go to a music concert, working in the music industry for so long, I'm accustomed to a certain level of access. I'm not going to go to Staples Center or Crypto dot Com and sit in the rafters. I'm not even
going to sit down front. I need backstage passes. I need to be able to go to the meet and greet. I need to be able to hang out afterward. I need access.
There's parts of getting older that are kind of equal parts you're wiser and equal parts you're wearier. So like, I'm not going to go to a concert and stand on my feet for three hours anymore.
Right, that will never.
Happen again in my life, not for any reason. Hey, the tickets are free. No, they're down front. Now, we'll send a limo for you. No, no, you.
Know, you'll remind me when Howard Stern first started his serious show. And this is a while ago now, they invited me to come on. I can't remember why they wanted me, but I said what time. They're like, well, you know, it's like four or five in the morning.
Whatever.
I'm like, absolutely not, no way is that going to happen. And they say, well, we'll send a limo for you. Well, whatever you need, and I'm like, you're not hearing me. It will not happen in this lifetime, in this universe. And I feel that way about a lot of the things that we talk about here. They sound fun on the surface, but you just talked about having to get up at like five o'clock in the morning to go do a tourist someplace.
No way would I do that. Look, it was difficult, but it was the least that I could do. Well. I mean, given this the deal that you were given, I understand that.
Yeah, but you know it was great, But it was also adult great where I didn't have to try to keep up with the young folks. I could sit at the bar for a little bit of time, have some jacks, and you know, just had I had an adult experience at Disneyland.
What time was it that you were sitting at the bar five six am?
No, no, no, I was sitting there at it was I want to say, maybe eleven eleven thirty at night thereabouts.
Oh, and they opened.
Up California Adventure for just us from eleven to twelve, so we had full run of that park as well.
Now does this include the Marvel stuff, Yes, Aventures Campus everything I want to see, all that I just haven't been able to.
Yeah, for example, I got some early in the day video from the Ventures campus. You'll see Deadpool and Wolverine on my Instagram. But at night they shut down the whole park, just with the exception of the media. Because we're so important, very important. I tell everybody as often
as I can how important. It was very cool because you got to see and we had gone to California Adventure in previous years because iHeart They sometimes have their Christmas party there, but the park was never completely open.
Certain attractions were not open.
I missed doing things mo and let's do more things well, you got to come outside more. You're the one who's always hiding.
Yeah, I gotta, I gotta get out and get out of my sepulcher more often.
And they change.
If you know, California Venture very popular ride Sourin used to be soaring over California and now it's soaring, just soaring because it goes all the way around the world.
That's very cool. They've changed that. But you've never been on it souring like Soren kunker guard.
Is it a philosophical lure, a r I n apostrophe like you're soaring?
Oh? That changes everything? No way? Yeah, okay, what's not gonna happen. We'll see you tomorrow.
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