So, Sabrina, we've talked briefly about your dance team was going to the finals, and then I never heard it. I never heard from you. How did you do?
Ugh? The girls went out there, We had such a great weekend. They killed it. I had a coaching moment for myself that I you know, it's one of those things where you kind of have to remember. One, the girls are in high school, right, so their age level, not middle school. Not middle school, okay. Two that sometimes it's like the lessons that they learn during these high intense moments of the season. Sure that that mean a lot more than just, you know, a trophy. And we
had not hit our palm routine. The palm routine is like what we watched and got to kick it up. Okay, we had not hit it the way it was supposed to be hit. And the routine this is finals, this is it where we went in in first place. They brought it up, the energy to a whole other level.
It was amazing. You're just sitting there, I'm almost holding my breath, going, oh my gosh, this is you know, And with the five seconds left of the routine, one of the girl's knees buckles in a turn, completely stops and yes, that's the moment where you're.
Just like, did she fall?
She didn't fall, she fell out of it and stopped turning right as the rest of the team was rotating. And she's a sophomore, she's an incredible teammate, she's awesome to coach. You know. It wasn't something that she does all the time. This was a fluke, right, So you have to go back there and just and just really
into perspective of you know. What I loved about it was I was able to tell her, I know that you can overcome this, and still they still had they had still had a jazz routine and some girls would crumble, they would barely be able to make of course, of course she went out there for the jazz routine and just lit on fire, you know. And so we ended up not winning Palm, which was obviously devastating. I have
eleven seniors. That was hard. But for me, it's those moments where you know, of course we want the trophy, that's what we go for all season, but for her to be able to overcome that obstacle and move on was really amazing to watch as well.
Still doesn't but what place did you come in? We came in second second. Oh no, and all because of this one girl who you've now cut from the team. I understand her.
I've never got her from that will she.
I'm kidding such a decomm ending. It's like she's got alert, she'll learn.
And yeah, and she's got in our dcom of your Belinda song in our Disney Channel original movie. She has her junior and senior year to come back and you know what I mean, have her own you know, vengeance of of you know, just a mistake that was a fluke. It wasn't like she yeah ever screws up, you know, But that's what happens in the heat of any athletic sport and high competition. Sometimes things just happen and you just you can't let it. It can't define you and
your your year. It can't define what you're going to do from there on out. You got to rise above and just you know, hope that you you you get better from it.
So that's good. Do you in the locker room do you ever look around and go it's called your Belinda, but it's really our Belinda. Do you ever do that? Because I'd like to suggest you start because it's kind of awesome.
Yes, it's our our Belinda.
Okay, you got to see I like it? Oh my, well, welcome everybody to magic. What we want on the show that makes you want to grab your friends, your pj's, and your pop and go back to a time when all the houses were smart, the wave Tsunamis and the high School's musical. I'm Wilford Dell and.
I'm Sabrina Bryan.
And just as we thought that the acid had borne off, we were ready to go. Woke up after that trip, going hey, we are ready to hit it.
We enter the cyber version of it.
We come to the cyber version, we come to a I mean, seriously, you're hard pressed to find a d com for this podcast that's more relevant now. If we're being honest, it's twenty four because it's where we are this week. I mean, literally, all the stories that we're hearing about in the news, all the things we're hearing about with the SAG strike and all the stuff people are hearing, they all have to do with AI and two thousand and four's Pixel Perfect. Once again, Disney has
predicted the future. Absolutely it's all about AI and essentially creating the next big pop star in your computer. So that what we've got here. And they created a bit of a technology gumbo with this this movie because they were thrown a lot in the pot.
There.
There was drama, music, comedy, there's some sci fi, there's a little bit of matrix kind of action. Even the tagline for the film was even they don't make rock stars like they used to, which is again, it's all so relevant. Yes, it was reportedly done on a budget of four million dollars, which I can't that's got have been a lot of money, especially in two thousand and four for a deep.
Yeah, I think, I mean yes, And you see where it was going towards too, right.
I was just about to say, this is not one of those movies where you go, where did the budget go?
Yeah, it was definitely not budget, but on their wardrobe, right, it.
Was absolutely agree Yeah. So this was I mean two thousand and four is when all kind of the tech startups were coming and social media's birth, and it was a huge undertaking for the channel at the time. But it's it's not a bad movie for the record, It's just weird at times.
It went in and out of what's going on right at Wait? What where?
Yes? Exactly here?
We got it?
Okay, what is that? But okay, but before the Zata bytes take the stage, why don't we hop into the synopsis here? So, when Samantha's band isn't gaining any success, her friend Roscoe uses his father's technology to create a sensational lead singer who's actually a hologram. And when things get complicated and the technology starts to fail, what's going to happen to the group, and more importantly, the identity
of the hologram. This is now years before keep in mind the Tupac hologram would pop up at Coachella or Siri was unveiled. Loretta Modern, that's the name of our character here, Loretta Modern was introduced to the Disney viewer. And it is a crazy and wild ride to say the least. So before we I'm gonna say it, before we log onto this one, thank you very much, Sabrina. Did you like it? What are your thoughts? Initial thoughts?
You know, I did. I I was, like you said, I went in and out. Sometimes I was kind of you know, okay, what is going on? You know? Is this needed? But I did. I loved the music in it. I loved when we got all of our paperwork that there was in fact a soundtrack to this movie, because I thought the music was really great. It was to me. I have recently watched the Pink, the Pink documentary of what it was like when she was first coming out as an artist.
This is about Pink, not a documentary all shot in the color pink. Am.
I know the artist Pink and sort of her her revelation of the artists she ends up being able to be. So the storyline kind of reminded me of that, which I thought was really cool.
Okay, and yeah, I did.
I enjoyed it. I thought there's obviously lots to pick a part here and there, but I did like it.
Okay, it was easy.
There's only one part for me that was a little all right, yeah, okay, Doki and and then the end, the end I had to rewatch because there was a lot of questionable choices there too, So okay, that was it. But I did like it. I thought it was I thought it was cute.
I will be honest with you. The first so I watched these movies more than once. Right the first time I saw this movie, I did not like it at all. Really, I really didn't. I was like, I don't get this. I don't like it. I thought visually, especially for a Disney Channel movie, it was really good. I thought, again, the acting we've seen in some of the last few films has been spot on. It's not about the acting. I thought the cast is good. I thought the acting
was good. I didn't like the story. I didn't. I was like, man, I really don't like this. Then I watched it again, Okay, And the second time I watched it, I liked it a lot more than I did the first time. I really did. I mean, is it a perfect movie. No, Like you said, there's plenty of things to pick apart, there's kind of nitpicky stuff. It hit some of the same tropes that we've talked about all the times, the non supportive dad. I mean, we've we've hit kind of some of these where now I'm just
coming to expect them. But the second time I saw it, I saw it differently than I did the first time. And by the way, I agree with you one hundred percent all respect to the Cheetah Girls, girl power everything. I thought, I really liked the music and like I was humming the songs, yeah, from this movie, same after it was done. So this is some of my favorite you know me and musicals. But again, like Cheetah Girls, it's a band playing the music. It is not just breaking into song.
But they do make a choice that does not make sense to go along with that. And we're gonna come there and.
We'll get it. We'll get into all that. There is some some very strange things, but yes, overall not offten, you know.
And I think I was exactly the same first time. I what is happening?
Okay, all right?
When are all right? Bring me in high school musical. I can't do this anymore. I got a super good one, right. That was the first time. Then the second time, same thing, but I think it was again this introducing this new technology and you know, so I added a lot to the storyline that almost flooded it a little bit for the first watch. But the second watch, because I was already understanding what was going on, it was an easier watch.
I don't disagree. I agree with you one hundred percent.
Right on the same page as that.
Yep. Okay, So the movie stars revive Olman, then Build as Ricky Olman as Roscoe who after this role was cast by Disney. Of course Disney and their synergy. We talked about this all the time on Phil of the Future. He was the title character, Phil Diffy and must have impressed the channel obviously when it came to this type of subject matter, because this is kind of what it was all about. Leah Pipes played Samantha. She's the budding musician looking for a way to break through in the industry.
Loved her.
She was great. That was one of my first things I bumped against, and we'll get into that. That was This was one of her first jobs. She'd later be seen on TV shows like Malcolm in the Middle, Bones and Glee, and she's best known as Camille O'Connell on The Originals, which was a CW vampire diary spinoff which ran for five seasons. So you know, wow, good career. And then Spencer Redford. We've got to talk about Spencer Redford because she plays the hologram Loretta Modern. She plays
it very interestingly. It's almost it's it's one step up above. You won't remember this because you're far too young, but there was a great show in the early and mid eighties called Small Wonder.
Yes, I remember Small One.
You're sure, okay, I'm just checking. I can never tell Sabrina so little deal a little more step up from Small Wonder, But she'd already been on a bunch of Disney shows. She was on Even Stevens that's so raven. And after Pixel Perfect she did a couple more things and then just stopped acting entirely disappeared. I tried a deep dive. Other people have tried a deep dive two thousand and seven. She's got no social media, she's got no kind of presence in the industry, she kind of said.
At least it seems like and this is all speculation. Hey, I did some stuff. I had some fun. Thank you. Next chapter of my life really kind of cool. You don't know.
Totally, okay, Spencer, but what is it you're leaving us hanging now?
It really made me want to find Spencer Redford.
I know there are some fans d Calm, magical, rewind fans. You guys, get out there, you start, You find Spencer and let us know.
She might not want to be found, she might love not being found.
That's the problem as an actress. But if she's you know, my doctor or she's just this incredible mom red awesome. There's so many, so many different things that she could be doing that I'm sure she's proud of whatever she's doing, and that's okay.
We hope you're happy, Spencer, but we would absolutely love to know what you're doing. Yeah. This movie runs eighty five minutes, which is five minutes from that bullseye that we like, the ninety minute bullseye and it first aired on January sixteenth, two thousand and four, in the United States. It was co written by Alan Sachs, who was a creator of this one. I know you're too. Were you a welcome back Hotter fan?
Okay?
God is just learning all about this, Sabrina, I love it. Yes, okay, mister gott Miss Danes he O missed the Kata and the writer of the nineteen eighty six skateboarding Josh Brolin movie Thrash, in which you remember Sam Horrigan, who played Valen Brink said was like one of his quintessential kid
movies growing up, like he loved absolutely. Yes, He's also involved in other Disney Channel classics like Smart House, Camp Rock, and You Wish And the other writer was actually a science fiction author and This was his only teleplay ever, which is kind of cool. The movie was directed by Mark A. Z. Dippey, who was already directing huge budget studio films like Spawn, which was back in the day based on the Todd McFarlane huge enormous comic book that was a hit so big big budget movies and was
the era's most prolific visual effects artist and supervisors. Listen to the movies that this man was involved with, the Abyss, Back to the Future two, Ghost Terminator two and Jurassic Park. I mean it was like you name it. I mean, these visual effects that change industry. The first time you're in a theater and I'm a kid and I'm watching the the T two robot turn into liquid metal, and then the Jurassic part, I mean, forget insane. So here's
my first question. Did Disney actually predict holographic musicians? Can you think of a time before this, because now they're everywhere and right?
No, I mean I can't think of anyone else that had this. The closest to this storyline for me was what was that movie?
I think he was in this in the Hols?
No, No, what was it Weird Science where he makes.
A girlfriend the Weird Times where he builds the two of them build a girl, yes, and.
That this is that's it. But she wasn't a holographic girl. She was like supposed to be a real.
Yes, built from they so they build Kelly le Brock in the computer. Yeah part of that movie. Doesn't that hold up? Well, we'll do that later.
But that's the closest of a storyline.
I can't really think of a disneyfied version. Kind of of weird, That's That's what I'm guessing. The pitch was, it's weird science meets musicians, right, So, yes, very similar to that. But I mean there's now a hologram Whitney Houston playing in Vegas, and one of the biggest pop stars in Japan is Hotsuni Miko, which is a crowdsourced three D anime image that plays with the band in front of thousands of fans. So and then there's the gorillas. I mean, you've got stuff like that. So they again
Disney on top of the game. Here.
It's unreal because this was so it was so long ago, not not like decades and decades ago. You're long enough to think that that would be a ridiculous idea, right that a lot of people would think.
That is insane. No one's going to go to a hologram concert.
I would not. I do not think I would go. I would go to Whitney Houston. I think it would be it have to be a Whitney Houston, a Selene Deeon. It have to be someone that I already knew and loved their music, right, and knew that they weren't going to be somebody. I wasn't expecting a big production dan scene of that artist, right. I don't want to see a hologram dance around, but I will go and listen to Whitney Houston's more.
You just don't want to be replaced as a dancer by holograms. I get it. I totally get it.
I think I would have to will I don't know if I could move the way that I used to.
You know, if you should be tested, sure you could, just as long as you don't buckle your knee, and then you wouldn't win pousse.
As long as it's like a you know, a younger, cuter body, I'm.
Alright with the please. Now see what's funny is I think I would rather they create something brand new as opposed to bring back somebody who's passed away, because it's like, how do you how do people know that Whitney Houston's okay with being a hologram on stage or tupacsha Kors where it's like, if you create something completely new, it's like, all right, that's a nonsentient being as opposed to like, we're gonna make more money off of this person that's
already dead and now we're gonna hologrammle right, I don't know. That's a way. That's a whole different podcast.
That's a whole that is a different podcast, because that does bring up that's very true.
Yeah, it brings up the whole moral dilemma. But there's moral dilemmas in this film as well. Booms, he brought it right back around.
Well, there we go. We're right back into Pixel Perfect.
The movie starts with Roscoe, who is a sixteen year old computer do we messing with his father's new program in a massive, really expensive house where they have like a maid who is also their chef and feeds them. But that's a little confusing because his dad doesn't seem to be very high up in the company and also seems to always be on the edge of maybe losing his job.
Right.
He also has a son again, talked a little bit about the first trope that bumped me. He has a son who knows at fifteen or sixteen he drives, so at sixteen enough about what his father does for a living to where he's creating holographic cats and stuff. I mean, this kid is obviously techno talented, right, and the dad's like, what are you doing, Get off my computer, get read dude. He's creating people and animals, and the dad is still not cool with this.
Well, yeah, I mean, I yeah. I think his character seemed to just sort of be in his own world, which is what Roscoe is. Roscoe. I mean, we will get into talk about the perfect example as us women feel boys that age are so dumb and so out not in the world that we are living in during that time in high school. They just don't get it. And it feels like that's kind of what his dad's character is supposed to always also be.
Okay, he lives in the net.
Essentially, he has an issue with cutting off work and reality.
Okay, so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, is what we think we're going with. So yeah, he creates this holographic cat that can change for color and patterns just by pressing buttons. And then when his friend best friend they set up her all girl band, needs something to help them stand out, he decides to create a lead singer from the physical attributes of many of the talented women that are out there. I mean, we
could see him taking bits of magazines. Is like the weird science thing, bits of you know, Michelle Branch and Victoria Beckham and all these kind of people. But the thing that I found amazing was that it started where the band, the all girl band, goes to their first audition and they kick some serious ass with this incredibly cute rock star girlfriend who can sing and play guitar, who is fronting this three piece band. They are incredible, and the guys don't stop it. Everybody, Oh stop, you
can't do it. Unless I didn't get that they should have made her less good because she was so good.
You know, I did not understand the problem, right, But then it pulled me into this era of this was when you know, Britney Spears was everything at this point, right, So it's trying to make it into why would this rock band need to dance? Why? Why they all play instruments.
They're a rock band.
Yes, even his example that comes out after they only have mics and are dancing. Yes, let's see those girls move, let's let's have them dance. Why that would be like telling the Jonas brothers you suck because you guys aren't dancing like in sync? What they're all they're a band yet they're a band. Yeah, this is like so dump. So that's where I went, uh oh, oh.
No, I got that's my That was my first I was.
Like, hey day, may day, I'm gonna hate this.
Also, she's awesome.
She was great.
Band is great, I know, I know. Yeah, so very very strange, but you know, it leads us into our story where Roscoe then essentially says the line I'm here to make perfection. I'm here to make you, and he makes Loretta matter. So they hold a another audition see another Disney trope, which I'm a fan of. I love the audition montages. I could do those all day.
Oh the screaming poem and he just hears it from outside. It's like, and that girl was so good, she was hilarious. She seemed like a stand up comic act. It was so fun I loved that one. I thought, we're okay, you know that funny enough Irish digging? Did you not go, oh, I already know about the Irish Jane.
Yes, right, And I was like, oh my god, it's lucky Irish again. They have found their their jigging trope. Yes, oh man. And so then Loretta Modern comes in, she sings, they of her. She also does this thing where now unfortunately, which is another thing that and it's just a technical thing, but it always annoys me in every movie where now, all of a sudden, who's ever singing and leading the band no longer needs a microphone.
That was what I was gonna say, is it doesn't make sense. Why does she not need a microphone?
I could get if Loretta didn't need one, like maybe she's hooked into like the the computer speakers. That's where I got through it in my head. But then later in the movie where his friend takes over the band again, she now doesn't need a microphone anymore, and it's like, why do not need microphones anymore? So Loretta of course gets the job joins the band named the Zeta Bytes. The opening the next band coming on was Moist Toilette.
It just might be arguably what I think, We're gonna have to start making a record of greatest we have, greatest character names, greatest band names. Colette has to be there. So they now are starting to not tour but do gigs with Loretta Modern. She's in the band, she's being controlled by Roscoe, who stands off stage, and she's obviously a wonderful singer. I have a question for you, Sabrina, because I don't know anything about this and you are
absolutely the resident expert. Her dancing to me seemed weird. It didn't seem like it was going with the music that was actually happening. And I didn't know if they were doing it because it was She's supposed to be kind of robotic, like she's you know, can only do so much because she is programmed. But it seemed very herky, jerky, and I didn't know if you're like, no, that's called Norvin and that's the biggest everyone dance like that. No.
When I saw her start dancing and go, oh gosh, now I got to talk about this, she's gonna have to happen because technically, Spencer, you can tell is a very well trained dancer.
Yes, I even I could see that she has great technique, but like in her spins and all that stuff, even I could see that, yes.
She's got I mean, you know, everyone still needs to continue to train. But she was great. The problem was, again, this style of music does not call for dancing. Therefore, the style of dancing they were doing did not go with the music. So what you saw and that odd she was, it was odd material for this type of music. So I think they just did what happens a lot of times, someone said, oh, we need a dancer, and then you start looking at choreographers that have agents, and
someone just randomly gets booked. You know, I've worked on a movie that wanted Latin style dancing and they had a choreographer who that wasn't what they did, so they don't really know partner work. So I end up calling in one of my friends who's from Dancing with the Stars. You know, it's like, not everyone can just throw you know, Dancing with the Stars. Not every single one of those pros can put together a contemporary routine that's not now
that's really what they're trained in. So that's what it seemed like to me, they had just a choreographer that wasn't seeing what kind of movement. But again, the style of music.
Didn't need it, didn't I agree.
I agree that was a tough job for the choreographer to begin with.
Yes, and exactly what you were saying. There's so few of us that can dance all steps exactly you are. I'm one of the few. I'm one of rare Gem. Mister rare Gem. So okay, she's dancing around the stage. She can't be touched or touch anybody else, but can jump off of the drum set to do double flips. I didn't get that either, didn't understand that he could probably maybe just program it.
Yeah, I guess, yeah.
So uh. They of course start to take off, and they instantly catch the eye of a former rapper turned label talent scout who's got the subtle name of Darryl Fibbs, who played was played by actor Chris Williams, who you might remember as Crazy Eyes Killer in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Look up his resume. He's done a bunch of stuff. He's super funny. Oh I know, he played it straight in this one, but he's also just really funny.
I was waiting for him to dive into some type of comedy, something character, some type of real big character. But it didn't happen. Spoiler alert, it doesn't happen.
But he doesn't happen. But he was great. He was great playing a total, total straight man. But man, he is funny. And then you know, obviously the Zeta Bites music starts to become more and more popular, and we've talked about this already. I wanted to get in a little bit of the songs, but we talked about it. We liked the songs they were They were really catchy.
I know I did.
Did they sing them? Do you know that?
That's what I was gonna ask when I was really interested into knowing. But when we got the information from the producers, it says the character's names on the the mentions of the music, it says the character's names.
They're only apparently, according to one of our producers, they're only listed as the Zeta Bytes. So maybe if we get a chance to interview one of them, maybe wink wink, that might be happening. We might be able to to ask this person. So the band blows up. They've now got some representation The problem is a Loretta has aspirations maybe on being a hologram. She wants to go outside and touch birds and rain, and she can't. She has to stay inside. That's one of the parameters of her
being a hologram is she can't go outside. She can only stay within the confines of whatever house or building they're in, or this little soda can that they can download her in and take her around with them in different stuff. So yeah, that's gonna make Coachella a little difficult to play. But anyway, Rosco, now here's where the emotional part of the film really kicks in because Roscoe obviously and this makes total sense, And this is what I really liked about the second time I watched Okay,
he much like Weird Science. He's built his ideal woman, Like, how does he not start to fall for her? And she even his best friend, starts to address it later in the film, where she's like, of course you're following for her. You built your perfect your quote unquote perfect woman, at least what you think is a perfect woman. And
so Samantha starts to get jealousy. Because one of the things that I really liked about this this movie that we haven't really seen much of is Samantha put herself out there and full on took a shot where he's like, there's a scene where she says she's not real and he says, well, what's real? And she stands up and she says me, I'm real. I've been here the whole time, and then she kisses him and it's so sweet, like she fully puts herself out there. I'm taking a shot.
I'm going and so, but did you know you didn't see the kiss? You do? I know, but you know you gotta imagine.
I know that that's so funny. Disney does stuff like that.
Yeah, and it's just a sweet little people bag.
They weren't crazy.
And then he instantly kind of the only thing he didn't do is go like, yeah, oh man, dude, come on again.
And how could you not know that she was interested in you to begin with? When you first bring up the date, she's absolutely yes, I would love to go. Oh what this is just a setup? I mean she there's multiple times and we only get to see ninety minutes of it, and we're catching on, Roscoe, get it together, homie.
Okay, so this is a perfect chance. There's this game that we wanted to play for a while that we haven't had a chance to do yet, and I think this is the perfect opportunity. The game is called would she ever really want it? So I have to ask. You've got Roscoe, he's kind of like his dad. You're right, you pointed that out takes it in a whole different direction.
Computer nerd falling in love with a fake girl when the real girl, who is a literal rock star and kicks some serious ass all the way around, is totally in love with them. They both strangely seem out of his league, one because she's a hologram, but he and and a pop star. But the other one is would either of these characters actually fall for this character? Yes? I agree with you one hundred percent. Yes.
First of all, he's adorable. He's so cute, right, and I love that. Well, I'll get That's why in one of my sabriencies, because you haven't mentioned it yet, I'm holding my breath that you're not going to take them all again. But he's smart, he's kind, he's a great friend to her. It's not he's not a jerk to her, but also.
Is he is he a great friend? He's the first one to come up and say, oh my god, you should write the songs and let somebody else sing.
You should let somebody else. I know, it was really harsh. I was really hard.
Yeah, I mean he's he's I don't know how great a friend he is. He's like you, you know, they're right.
He's there for her. I mean, he comes to she's the one that asks him to come to the audition in the first place. He doesn't have to go. He's working on making cats and stuff. He didn't have to go. He's got stuff to do. He's got his own homework he's making. He just hated to go. Yeah, he did go. So he again, he's in his own world. He doesn't really make sense. I think when he says that comment, he already had in the back of his mind an idea of what he was going to do.
That he wanted to build a girl, and he wanted an excuse that wasn't creepy to build a girl. So he's like, you need a lead singer.
Here, you go here, you need a lead singer. I can have a girlfriend. You can get a lead singer at all works. So that's that.
Yeah, he seemed he was. He was always there for her. But sometimes while he was there, you're saying things like you're not good enough to do this yourself. Yeah, so, but I don't disagree with you. I can see how.
In a high school world.
Yeah, the soft spoken computer nerd and I'm a nerd myself. How the girl who's kind of the rock star they spend all this time together, I can totally see how she developed feelings for him totally.
And then now you put in some competition, and that's where girls they start to lose their marbles. Okay, you cannot put some compet Now there's competition on the line. It doesn't seem like he has the same kind of you know, relationship with the other two bandmates. It's just her and him. Now there's some competition, and oh, she's going balls to the wall. She's pissed.
Here we go. But he even says to her at one point they you know, she says something like, well, geez, why don't you if only you could reprogram me so I didn't argue with you all the time. He's like, yeah, I wish I could or something. It's like, whoa that even the character apologized, He's like, sorry that was super harsh, dude, like, I wish I could reprogram you, so you just agreed with me all the time.
Wow, Well.
There's now officially a love triangle where the Hologram and Samantha are fighting over this guy and Loretta then to get away from everything going on, goes into the Internet. Now this is the first time when I saw this where I was like, this is Banana's ba n A n as, Like, what is going on? She's now in the Internet machine where she meets a truck driver who is kind of in control of the Internet and.
Being the idiot robot she is, she just joins this stranger of a truck driver.
And then and then jumps into the thing. But do you know what Disney did first here too? I realized this is wrecket Ralph? Straight up? Did they did wreck it Ralph before even wrecket Ralph? I mean, this is like the precursor that she's going to try to find the email and she's like They're like, oh my god, there's a virus. This is all like straight up wreck itt Ralph. And for the budget and the time, the effects aren't bad. Right.
I did not understand why this train contraption that pixture up looked that way, I thought, Yeah, it reminded me a little of like the was it their training back to the future that kind of looked funk.
Back Yeah, the future three.
Yeah, reminded me of that a little bit.
I felt it was almost like a Mad Max kind of vehicle.
Yes, it could have been more modern, because that's what they were going for, was this modern oh.
Like a space shippy kind of thing.
Space shipping type situation, rather than this old school looking train thing. That's that didn't I did love that part.
But the first thing, but the thing would pop ups and all that, and.
The dice why does he have dice in his training things? A little furry dice? Like everyone still has, yeah, spurry dice anymore except for my friend Carrie, who I got some for her for her sixteen that's for.
And what Han Solo has them in the Millennium Falca But that's a whole different thing. So yeah, she's trying to I guess fine, she's trying to be more real. She doesn't like the idea of being perfect. She wants to There's actually a great scene between her and Samantha where it's great but harsh and I'm amazed. They went this route where she literally calls her fat I know that, and it's like, well you at least I'm alive. You don't have any feelings. It was like a harsh between these two girls.
I'm the way the quote she said of her being a little bit it was too much water or.
Something, yeah, like you're you have too much you carry just water weight, maybe too much such.
It was like whoa Loretta wait lo heyes, lo redda, I need you to take it down a bit. Calm down girl.
And then she's like, yeah, you don't ever learn And then the Samantha comes back with, well, you'll never learn anything and you're not. It's basically like you you're not gonna you have a no soul. You're gonna end up there.
It's like, oh my god, you know what a baby is, but you've never been one.
Yeah, it's it's a harsh fight. It's a very real harsh fight.
It was the weight thing really shocked me though.
He too, because it's it's very not Disney exactly to go after somebody's looks or wait, we've.
Seen that twice. Now, where was the other one? Got to kick it up?
Remember Reese's pieces in the beginning with America.
For our friend, Yes, bully coming after her. It's not big. They don't go into it for very long. It's just like a small little snippet.
A little jab And both times it's interesting. It's girl against girl. Absolutely, they're never making fun of a boy's weight or any of that stuff. It's girl against girl. Very interesting. I didn't think about that. That's a good connection. So, yes, she's speeding on the Information super Highway and the truck driver is showing her around, and we talked about how I think the effects are pretty darn good for the budget what they had. But again, this guy was Jurassic
Park terminator. You give him twenty dollars, he's going to make it seem like you gave him a hundred thousands. Absolutely, it looked amazing.
I just didn't really one hundred percent understand what her mission was going in there.
I know I didn't either, And.
Then when she came out what it was that she gained that was just a very big barret. It just it was cool that they were again, especially since we now know they were at the front of this type of you know, AI stuff. But at the same time, what was the purpose.
I agree there was no real motivation.
She watched it two times.
Will didn't understand. Yeah, me too. I didn't need it. I don't.
I still don't have the answer.
So yeah, it was Hey, let's let's go into the information too. Let's go into the web and see what the web would look like, which again would look like two thousand and four. Probably we're going back to. If you go back to like tron and stuff like that, then you got to see like the inside of the quote unquote computer. But this is one of the first times of going into the web and all that kind of stuff. So cool, But I agree the motivation was
muddled at best. Yeah. Yeah. Through a random series of events, she's at a concert somebody, you know, she starts to lose pixelation. People in the audience realize she's she's fake, but love the idea that there's a hologram pop star. The record company gets wint to the fact that this is going to happen. They love the idea, and now Rosco's dad because this is going to kind of end
up saving his dad's job. Again. The super wealthy guy for some reason was about to lose his job becomes partners with Roscoe, or tries to become partners with Roscoe as they then pivot the entire movie to more of a morality tale of not only fathers and sons and being your dad and being there for your kid, but also is Loretta modern becoming her own person? Should she be allowed to have her own voice, her own ideas. The answer is, of course no, she's a computer thing.
But whatever, I get where they're going for the morality play, because it is Disney, it's like she's supposed to she should be able to make her own decisions, and it's interesting how they they do that. So the record executive essentially says, I'm taking you. If you want to get out of here, we should get out of here, and he downloads her to his phone. They take off. She is once again in the web. Meanwhile, this is the Japanese web. Now, yes, now she's somehow in Japan.
Japan in a perfectly ensemble outfit.
Right, and she mentions that she went club hopping in Japan. Somehow we don't get into that. And it's weird enough, but we don't get into that. You imagine, maybe it's from one club goers phone to another seeing the music, who knows all right, the band tries to go on without her, so Samantha puts on a wig, fakes the dance, moves, tries one cartwheel, and almost dies. That is not an exaggeration. That's literally what happened.
But could we pause and talk about Mom is now up there playing Samantha's old role. Correct, So Mom is giving the okay for the daughter to put on a wig and portray somebody.
Else, right, who now doesn't need a microphone? Because apparently now when you front this band, you no longer need a mic now.
I didn't watch Hannah Montana a lot.
I never saw it.
This seems like the the build up. This is what the Hannah Montana. She wears wigs when she's performing, and then she's like her real persona. She has her Mala Cyris's gorgeous brown hair, but on when she's on stage, she asked the way a blonde wig? So for me, I went, oh my gosh, is this where they figured out is pixel perfect? Where they thought of the idea for Sannah Montana.
Which one came first?
I don't know, A two thousand and four I don't remember when Ana Montana came out.
Oh my god, what what came first, the egg or hatching pete?
Right, So I also don't know if if Hannah Montana like the parent part of this, but that really struck me very weird that the mom's like, oh, yeah, I'll take your part. You go and put a wig on and be somebody else and be yes, because you're not good enough to take spotlight by yourself.
Yes, you can't just play the guitar. That was so weird to me and be awesome like you were.
Can't just be cool and guitar? Yes, So that was weird.
But she was again dear listeners, not an exaggeration. She tries one cartwheel.
But by the looks of the cartwheel, you could tell she really wasn't sure about the cartwheel. Well, first of all, the actress Leah Pipes, great actress. Yes, cartwheels like a six month old if we're being totally honest, and I bet you. She was like, I don't. I bet you when when if you get a chance to ask her and go with the cartwheel? How nervous were you? Do you have an experience? She's like, no, I thought I was actually going to die.
I hope that's because if not, then she acted it beautifully.
Either that or she was a great acting into that cartwheel.
Because she cartwheels into falling off the stage and ends up in a coma. Yeah again, all this is really happening. This is when I was going, wait, what so, so were you shocked that all of a sudden it turned into a coma story.
Yes, I figured she would get hurt and that would when it woke up into the hospital. That's when I was like, oh my gosh, what.
Yeah, she said a coma.
She did hit the back of her head falling from a stage. Okay, but I just wouldn't expect that to it would go that serious.
But you know, no, she's also at the only really popular concert where the girl falls back perfectly wanting to be caught for a stage dive, and everyone just parts the way.
I would have hoped that one really actually happened. I hope you try to help someone.
Yes, catch somebody, trustfall catch somebody. So Loretta ends up jumping into the hospital brain machine, the EKG machine going into Samantha's waking her back up, taking over her body briefly just so she can experience rain, and then disappears and lets Samantha then run the band again, and then it ends with it being totally fine that Samantha is the lead singer of the band, which leads me to believe, why couldn't she have always just been the lead singer
of the band. She didn't learn it, you know.
She didn't, But that's what it always should have been. And it's just I feel I'm hoping that the story, like the moral of the story, was believe in yourself, work on you guys, being best at what you do, instead of trying to alter and go towards This was one person of you know, again, I hate this character. I hated him that he was my Oh. I couldn't stand that club owner.
I could not stand oh, yeah, you're not supposed the British guy who's just not you're a girl, you can't be gone. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's very weird.
I could not stand him. One guy. That was one guy that should not take your dreams away or make you alter what your vision, especially when it comes to art. It should be about your vision, not anyone else's, right. So I agree, I think that's what it was supposed to be. But I do need to again go back and talk about these parents for just two seconds. Why were they okay with her get being in a coma,
getting up and then going into the rain. Why if she's been in acoma, she should not have the strength to be able to do that. Didn't you think that was very strange too.
Yes, you thought maybe they'd say, hey, you've been asleep for a week, maybe stay in bed.
My parents would have been like, I don't care what your issue is right now, you're not getting out of bed. Not getting out of bed.
Yeah, I think my parents probably would have also mentioned the girl breaking into pixels and going into the AKG that would come up.
No one brought anything up about that. Nothing.
Yes, that was a strange ending.
And they it seemed there was a couple of lines where they were on to the fact that it was isn't actually Samantha, it.
Was Loretta, Yes, And Loretta says it's gonna be I'm borrow essentially, I'm borrowing her body briefly and I'll give it back. And the parents are like, great, you gotta cool. Yeah, Disney parents need some work.
Should we meet you out there?
Are you gonna come back in here or see you after you run around in the lightning and rain?
Would you like five dollars to get maybe a twist out at the vending machine and a dream like what? That just didn't make sense at all. I did not that part. That's the part that of the movie where I was liking it. I was able to get past the the web train and then this is when I went okay, so and then he kind of flip flopped. Was Roscoe more worried about Loretta or worried about Samantha? I couldn't really tell the difference yet.
No, that that also got muddled. It was the ending needed I think a bit of a rewrite.
Yeah, a little bit, because the rest of it was great. And again, the actors were great. The music was its great.
Yes, the visuals were great. It just we needed a little tweak on the story. That's what we think of the movie. Why don't we get into real reviews and see what other people think of the movie. I don't ever do this, but I want to call one. I'd really like to do the one star review this time, So if you could start us off with the five star review, that would.
Be great, all right, Noel starmg my childhood. This movie is such a good watch. Can't recommend it enough. Do people say that to you you were my childhood?
Yeah, I get it all the time. That's I hear that almost more than anything else.
Yes, you were my childhood. I don't ever know how to respond to that.
I love. I just I'm so honored. It's amazing to hear that.
I love It's so cute. Right, But when girls say it and they're still eighteen yearly.
Still a child, yeah, imagine when they're saying it to you and they're thirty five. That's the price. You're my childhood and this is my child Like, oh, oh my god, oh yeah. The one star review, I don't want to say it's my favorite review I've ever heard of any movie ever, but it's up there. Mohammed k writes, I love all women. That's it. Let that silence roll over you. That's that's the one star review. I love all women. Okay.
So this brings us to a brand new future here on Magical Rewind, and it's one that I'm pretty excited about and involves a producer husband of the podcast, Jensen Karp, and we're calling it Jensen's Hot Take, and Jenson's going to join us here.
Hello, Jensen, Hi, guys. Every once in a while, something will come to my brain. I will know that it's an extremely hot take. This happens a lot in my life. I keep it to myself so that no one yells at me. But here in this case, I'm willing to share.
Okay, we'd love to hear what is What's Jensen's hot take this week?
Pixel Perfect is the best decon we've watched so far.
Wow.
Wow.
And by the way, there the record, that's no offense to either of you. I know that we've watched both of your films. I just want to let you know I think both of those were great. I just think this is greater.
Can I ask why is it? Story?
The whole segment, Just for the record, the whole segment is you asking me questions about why I have this hot take, and I'm think.
Okay, well good, why? Why? Now? What has led you to this opinion?
This movie excels on a level that Disney didn't even know the film was on, which is the idea that this is a critique and a satire of Silicon Valley and the bros that worked there, and they wouldn't even necessarily know. Well, that's not true unless they're very by the way, to show you that they may have known exactly what they were doing. The director of the movie is on the cutting edge of computer technology. That's true, he's already dealt with these people before, so let's throw
that in. The characters are perfect for the Reddit male garbage.
That is.
Their take on women, right. This guy has a perfectly good woman in front of him that likes him amazing, she's beautiful, she's sys. He thinks he's doing the world a favor with the inventions he's making, and in real life, he's actually just making it perfect for himself. This is Mark Zuckerberg, this is Elon Musk, this is every single technology billionaire we've seen is exactly this kid. And by the way, even when at the end of the movie, just to show you how much I absolutely connect with
how genius it was written. At the end of the movie, the poor girl is still like I sang good, but I was a little pitchy. She still knows she's not perfect, and she knows this d bag needs perfection.
I know he is.
These social media company owning these guys, at the end of the day are just bros. They're not geniuses. They're just technically, you know, jerks and it's the it's a great way to play into that. And at each turn I was like, they're not really gonna do that, are they?
Are?
They not really? And every time it was and by the way, techno anxiety like it's it's all in this movie, Like, uh, it kept my intent attention all the way through. I will admit jumping into the brain wave machine may have may have been one step too far, but again at the end of the movie, right.
Maybe maybe one step too far.
But I ask you, I ask you, why is Siri? Why is Alexa? Why are these all women's voices? Because men make them?
Yes?
Yes, And that's the whole that's the whole plot of the film. Yeah, you know, she tried. And by the way, talk about you're talking about how current it is. There's a part in the movie where the AI robot tries her hardest to write her own music and she's terrible at it. She's all she does is take other people's music. She's not any good at it. This is the perfect commentary that we need right now, for for the for
the idea that these musicians think they can be replaced. Well, there's no heart in it, and that's what and that's what the industry is saying back to them, which is you could try your hardest, but at the end of the day, it doesn't have that. So if you have any other questions, please grow the man.
Do you think that this film did for Ai what Luck of the Irish did for Leprechauns.
Well, well, I like to think the Leprechauns needed the work more than Ai and in twenty twenty four, so I am true I hold back any sort of critique about them because they need the work. But Pixel Perfect, again, in comparison to Luck of the Irish, both are obviously trips, both are not At times they're messy, But if you really look at the meaning of what's going on in Pixel Perfect about how men see technology and the music industry, there's just so many elements of characters and their true
motivations that it was working on a different level. And by the way, four million dollars is a lot for Disney movie. But yeah, when we compare it to like other movies and and budgets of other films, if this guy was given that he made Spawn, which is a decent action movie, he would have done a lot more with it. But at its core, this was a sci fi nightmare. This was this was a dystopian garbage can that we're living in and the movie knew it the
whole time. And I thought that was really impressive.
Now do you think it did? Do you think the writer actually knew that he was doing this commentary on this level? Absolutely?
I mean, at least maybe not the Welcome Back Cotter guy, but the other the other writer was a sci fi was like a pretty sci fi writer. Yeah, And he wrote dystopian ya novels. That was what he did, and so this was right in line with that, which is like, if the world turns into this, it's absolutely going to be terrible, and we're so close to it, we're actually
like living in it now. And this movie showed, you know, the possibilities and also truly an incredible message about women and the way that they're looked at in the industry.
Wow, Hot take, Hey, hey, hot take all the way around? I don't. Yeah, that's amazing. I love how you not only can see it on different level, but you're convinced they were writing it on a different level. Right.
That part is my favorite.
There is also one other person who has an amazing I wasn't even going to try to condense it because it's just too much, but you might be able to find it that she believes that it's not a hologram. This is so awesome. And by the way, it's great his dad was actually creating a way to bring back souls into the bodies of people. That's why there's no
projector right. And there's also a scene later in the movie I think where he goes to they're in the hospital and he's like, come with me, I need to talk to you, and he's like, no, I'm staying here, and he's like, well, there is something I need to tell you that. The theory in Reddit is that he was going to tell him, like, this is a much bigger technology than you think it is. We should we should stop it now. And that's why the dad turns and is like, we we can't do this anymore anyway, dude.
I'm really looking forward to Pixel Perfect too.
I think it's.
Sequel, but this is my favorite d com so far. That's my hot take.
Wow, thank you so much for joining us, Jensen, I love it. Back to the husband of the podcast, Wow, well, I mean he's taken it to a whole other level. That's the thing about Jensen. It's like talking to Rider. It's all of a sudden, you think you just read something, and yes, it changes the whole thing. He's right, zuckerbroke all that kind of stuff right at the end of the day. She's still in a coma for trying to do a cartwheel.
Yes, that is unfortunate.
That will throw me forever.
I wish it would have been maybe tripped up in the wires of something or something. Yeah, little bit more than that.
But wow, Jensen, I don't even want to ask him to help us reade it. We know his rating. But before we get to our rating system, we need to do a Sabrina scenes.
All right, Well, I have just a couple of them. We haven't covered quite a bit of them. I wanted to start with the house that they did live in. Now, you mentioned that it was much bigger, but if you looked at any of the other houses, it was supposed to be a modern what you would think like a science person would be in, and it was just so out of even the background. It looked like they made that house. They didn't find the house to film. It look like they just made it. It was. It was
very jarring to me. It was strained. Yeah, the movie had a little bit of a slow pickup of things. The very first the cat. Could you not tell that they were just projecting lights onto the cat? Yeah, it did not look like that cat was made. It was. It looked like a real cat that they were putting like a filter.
Of bad filter.
Yeah, it did it. It did not work.
It was technology not the best.
Yeah, yeah, not great. And then my last thing that I just wanted to mention good is I thought you would absolutely I know it's not that you didn't notice it. But he had a pair of you know, remember and bring how he had those glasses that you know, transformed him into not being able to be seen. Ross had a pair of glasses that made him smart in this movie.
Oh what did you say at the smart glaves?
Every time he was working he had glasses on. It was like every time, Yes, he didn't look like he couldn't see. He wasn't wearing them at school.
Ever, It just to be.
Seeing them to be a little bit smarter.
That was. I saw a great meme the other day it said it said, I wonder if anybody ever put glasses on Lois Lane's dog and she was like, hey, whose dog is this? I've never seen this dog before in my life. I thought that was all right. So now let's rate the movie. We're gonna do one out of ten.
Oh that reminds me, but I saw the ratings. One more. One band we never brought up was we had Moist Tallet, but we did not bring up the Infectious Measles.
Yes, another great name.
It was a great name. And then when the Infectious Measles had to cancel, it was because the lead singer got chicken bug.
That was funny. They do good. They do names. Nobody did names like Dcom's all right, So what do we do then? One out of ten? Zeta Bytes, Moist Toulettes, Hologram Cats, COMBA, brain Wave machines, Information highway truck drivers, Infectious Measles. I want to add half assed cartwheels, but whatever, all right? So I one out of ten? What one being the worst movie you've ever seen? Ten being the best we've seen? How many half assed cartwheels? You give this one?
I actually I liked it and I'm going with a seven point five.
You know again, you and I are starting to be kind of in the ballpark. And I watched this movie once, yes it would have been a four or a five, and watching it the second time and now I'm gonna be honest hearing Jensen's hot take, Yeah, that's gonna that's gonna bump it up a point five for me. I was gonna go with the seven. I'm gonna meet you at a seven point five. It is a seven point five half assed cartwheels for for this movie. It really
is it? Yeah, so bad, So thank you so much for joining us as we unpixelated pixel Perfect, the movie that I thought was just a dicon that turned out to have this dystopian yes life and my god, it's all about silicon what's.
Going on in two thousand and four?
No, it's like the Professor of films came on and was like, here's what you missed. It's actually about this and it's.
Like, oh my god, Wow, I was still worried about that cat.
That is that's what we're doing the window Where does he go?
Now?
Why is the cat blue? And Jensen's like in the dystopian society, like, oh okay, we're watching these movies different.
Where did the cat go? When? He went out the window. Is he okay? Oh? Man?
Well, thank you so much for joining us. The next movie we're going to be watching is a two thousand and four movie with a good friend of mine and going to be friend of the show because he's done a bunch of these movies. We're going to be doing a blind wrestler movie with our friend and Andy Lawrence. Yes, going to the Mat is going to be our next movie.
And I should be able to tell you that there's a chance we're going to be talking to Andy too, because the Lawrences are friends of mine and the Lawrences are dcom legends, so I'm sure we're going to have them all on the show at some point, because man, they've done it all. So thank you so much again for joining us. And remember to subscribe to our feed and you can follow us that magical rewind pod on the Instagram Machine. We'll see you next time. Bye, everybody, Bye,