Anney Reese on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Did you continue your watching a slasher movie little bit? I watched Black Christmas after we recorded, which I loved. Yeah, it's great, It's it's intense. Yeah, um yeah. And I think I said this U on one of the other shows, the the Heavy Breather Call or whatever. Yeah, I got really pretty extreme. It really did. It was upsetting. I thought it was just gonna be like, what are you doing? What are you wearing? And it was like really ugly?

It did? It makes you feel unsettled chriss inside, I guess, yeah, and especially for the time I thought, Man, I'm surprised it kind of went that far right. Oh yeah, yeah, I had that that too, because I feel like our movies, these days are more violent often, but seeing that I had a moment of wow. And then also and you made the Christmas story because it is the same guy. Yeah, interesting tensions around Christmas, I suppose. Yeah, it's a really

weird one two punch. Um. So Annie, first of all, we might as well go and plug some stuff that you're in. Yeah, right off the bat. Uh, you are a co host of Saber, yes, with Lauren here in the office. For people that don't know what Saber is all about, why don't you give them a little tour a tour? Uh. Well, we talked about all things food and drink, science, history, culture, and sometimes we're fortunate enough to travel. Yeah, what are some of your cooler trips?

We just did Hawaii. Yeah, or in the middle of that mini series right now, talk about spam. We have talked about spam. But you know, the interesting thing about Hawaii is their cultural cuisine has such a footprint that a lot of the foods that you would think of when you think of why we had already covered before we ever went to Hawaii. Really, so we've already done spam and pineapple tie. Um. But there's plenty of things to talk about when it comes to why like coffee,

which was a huge oh yeah tone of coffee. Yes, so that was really fun. We've done Asheville and New Orleans, but so cool. New Orleans is great, like one of the cities that, maybe more so than any other American city, feels so uniquely it's self. It's not likely anywhere else. Right, it has a distinct presence. Yeah, it feels very European and sort of spooky. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, any movie or shows that New Orleans automatically has this kind of vibe with it. You feel it walking around, Yeah, Like it

feels like a city of ghosts. And I don't even believe in ghosts. Yeah, I know, I'm in the same way. I took all these ghost tours and like, I don't believe it, but I feel something exactly. The hair on the back of my neck says otherwise. Um, where can they find savor? Like what days of the week you guys published? We do, um, Wednesday, Friday and the occasional odd hair Saturday published. If we have content that we think,

we've got to get this out there. Um, and you can find us wherever you find your podcasts, right, yes, And how are things going over it? Stuff? Mom never told you. Well, there's no shortage of things to talk about over there. Yeah, really yeah, surprise, surprise. Um. And for people who listen to this show, there are certainly a lot of topics we do, Like we did the feminism of alien. Yeah, I need to listen to that one. Oh, I could have gone on and on. I gotta check

that out. I had been waiting ever since I started on that show to talk about that, And finally it was the forty anniversaries. It's perfect. It was there and luckily everyone indulged me. And who all was on that? Did you have special guests or was it just it was pretty much just me? Like and another thing, Well, my co host was like nodding patiently. Right. Interesting. That's cool that that show has has gone through a lot of changes over the years with with hosts our old

friend Kristen and Caroline. Of course, it's such a great job. But I think you'll are doing a wonderful work over there and like keeping the spirit alive. Yeah, thank you. It's an important time for show like this. Oh my gosh, it it really is. Um. There's all this talk about the Equal Rights Amendment right now, so that's what I'm researching and political scandal and how it's different for men and women. Is it it is? Are you saying there's a double standard. I know it's shocking, isn't it? It

is shocking. Uh. And I also want to talk really quickly before we get going on Spider Man into the Spider Verse. I'm so excited. I want to talk about Annie in the City. We talked to Paul and I'm trying to remember this may come out actually before the Lighthouse round table we just did. But any in the City is a movie that you start in and co wrote with Paul here, who's been on the show a bunch.

Casey was a cinematographer. Uh, there's you know, our offices are make appearance, other co workers make appearances, and I need to watch the whole thing. But when I got the email the other day that Paul said it was on Amazon Prime, I knew I had to leave soon and I was like, I gotta at least get a sense of it. So I immediately hit play on my laptop and watched like fifteen minutes for I to go, and I loved what I saw and I can't wait to see the rest of it. Yeah, they as you know,

those are coworkers do fantastic jobs. And when I saw it, I was like, I knew it was going to be great, but just the the work they put in and the attention to detail was amazing. Yeah. So what's what's the movie about? Give your summation. Um, it's about somebody and this was a really odd part of that movie was playing me but not quite me. So it's about a young woman in the city in Atlanta, specifically Atlanta is a very important part of the story. Yeah, Um, just

trying to find any sort of meaning or direction or connections. Yeah, kind of feeling isolated, and part of that is how our world works now, but also part of it is her specifically and just trying to find any sort of direction, I guess. Yeah. Um, you know she's got the mom character being like, you've gotta put yourself out there. I am out there. Um. Yeah, it's the world we live in, and I know a lot of what is that called,

um gentrification? Yes, yeah, look at that happening alongside her story. Right. Well, it's a N N E Y in the city. You can get on Amazon Prime for free. I think you can rent it for a couple of bucks and hats off to you guys. It's just, you know, it's really easy to talk about doing projects. Making a movie is certainly at the the big end of the project spectrum. It's very hard to do, very hard to see it through and everyone everyone did it. You know. It's it's

not easy now. It was, and you know, we were doing it outside of our day job, as it were, And just to see the planning that went into it and the dedication of everybody to make it happy, I know, and I can't, Like, I have to admit I kept waiting for the update of you know, man, we kind of quit doing and we kind of scrapped it, but like, everyone saw it through. Yeah, I've been on so many projects that have done that. Yeah, it's really easy to let happen. A week or two goes by, you lose

some enthusiasm. So I think credit to all of you for for keeping that fire burning and like and finishing and getting a movie distributed. Yeah. Yeah, it was really cool to see it in theaters. We played it at a local theater. I was so mad. I was out of town. I wanted to go see it at the plaza. It was cool. That was a lot of fun. Huh yeah. Yeah, and a lot of our co workers with the audience, so it was a good audience. Yeah. That's a nerve wracking too though, right. I sat in the very back

and like hunched at the bottom. Yeah. I used to occasionally when I made short films back in the day, we'd have these screenings around Atlanta. Then I would just be a wreck, a nervous wreck. Yeah. Pol texted me and he said, you know, are you coming, And I said, yes, I'm just gonna be kind of absent in the back, but I'll be there. Yeah. That's a good feeling though. It's fun. Yeah, it was really fun. Um and a lot of our coworkers have cameos that were fantastic, including

producer Ramsey. There he is, he just woke up, all right. So let's talk about Spider Man into the Spider Verse. Uh boy, I'm glad you picked this because it allowed me to watch it again, Like it gave me a good reason to watch it again. And I think I realized this is it may be my favorite superhero movie of all time. Me too, me too. I gets right

up there. And and the fact that it's animated, it is not like a disqualifier like it on you have to put it in its own thing and say, well, this is an animated one compared to like live action. It's so good, it's excellent. Um. And thanks again to producer Ramsey, who I was so struggling so much with this decision and he just pick yeah, and he sort of just said to the point, you should do Spider Man at the Spider Verse because you saw it like

five times. Really, what was what else was on the list? I know Alien was Alien? Um. I had a bunch of I have when it comes to favorites, I have my favorite you know MCU movie, and my favorite Star Wars movie, my favorite dramatic be my favorite comedy movie. So it's trust me. I know it's a very unfair thing to say, what's your all time favorite movie. That's part of the fun of my side of this, Yes, exactly,

and see people squirm to struggle so hard. But I thought this was a great one because I walked into this movie. I'm a huge superhero fan. First of all, I grew up reading comics, um, but Spider Man was never my thing. Um. I did watch the cartoon, but that's because my brother did. And in the past a decade or so before the most recent MCU Spider Man came out, we've had six Spider Man movies, like rebooted, two different, three different dudes, and so I I didn't

even have plans to see this movie. Did you see all those movies? And what? What are your thoughts on the three dudes ranked them in order? Okay, Tom Holland he's so great. He's great. He's really nailed it. He's great. That the scene in the Homecoming where you just remember how young he is, he gets kind of choked up. He's trying to convince some selfie Spider Man. Yeah, yeah, he's number one. And I guess Tobey maguire, yeah. Andrew Garfield, Yeah,

poor Andrew Garfield. Yeah. Just movies weren't great, No, they really weren'd. Um. And I was just thinking the other day about how the first Spider Man with Sam Ramy and Toby Inquired, that came out right after September eleventh, and there's the Twin Towers and that one shot with the right between it and I the song at the end. People were just crying. Um, this was such a big cultural moment. Yeah, I mean I love those Toby McGuire movies the third and wasn't great. Liked one I love too.

I thought two was the best UM with Alpha Molina as do Cock. But I have to say this version of dot Cock is my favorite. Yes, yes, And that's something I kind of love. But I know some people don't like. Is that we have this cultural understanding of these characters. Generally people know dot Cock, maybe that's all

you know, but Spider Man dot Cock. So I love when UM creators can play with a trope or expectation because they know, we're thinking of this one thing of this character we love, but what if we saw it, imagine in this other way, and how could it look and still be respectful and be that character and frightening

and intimidating. She was such a badass and very like scary, and you know when she morphs and puts on the goggles and the hair goes up and the just the character itself with with all the uh, the tentacles, UM, it allows you to do so much with you know, using them as legs and arms and also weapons. It's

just like it's such a palette to work from. Yeah, and a lot of criticisms of previous Spider man movies have been there's too many villains focused on one villain, but I thought this was a great You've got Fisk who is dominating the screen, just this big black hole, and then you have her and I felt like they were both excellent villains. Yeah, there's a lot of I mean there's green Goblin is in this this weird like badass version. Uh, there's Scorpion. There's a Prowler who was

super scary in this movie. Yeah. And um, one of the things I love about this movie is the soundtrack and score. And he has a great score cues. Yeah that I love when they're later adapted into Miles this theme and then it just shows with music that this is his origin story. His uncle is a part of his origin story. Yeah. Uh, you have Kingpin, yes, of course. Yes.

I think Leo Schreiber's the voice. Yeah, and I think he said he's stuffed tissues in his mouth to make it sound like he'd had his nose broken several times. All right, Yeah, Yeah, I love the second he walked on screening and his shoulders take up the whole thing and it could look silly, but it just looks so great. Yeah, let's talk a little bit. I mean, we're gonna talk about the visuals throughout because it's just off the charts,

how amazing this movie is visually. Yeah, and the sound um directed by Bob Purschetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman from a screenplay screenplay by the Great Phil Lord and Rothman and from Lord's story. And I didn't know this because I was not a comic book kid. Well I was. It's embarrassing. And I've talked about this before. I read Archie and Richie rich mainly, and that was a great They were great. I just I don't know why I never got into no one ever exposed me to it.

I guess superhero comics, because I'm sure I would have loved it. But long way of saying, I really don't know much about this backstory. And so I read up about Miles, uh, the character of Miles, and uh, it was created in two thousand eleven. You probably know all this stuff um by Brian Michael Bindis and then an artist named Sarah Picelli, an Italian artist, and she was the first to illustrate Miles Morales in the Ultimate Spider Man.

And uh, you know, diversity and inclusivity is so important, and um, we're seeing so much of that now, which is great, but you can't overstate how important that is to a kid and a kid a person of color to see that representation on screen and to get their own heroes. Yeah, we talk big, Absolutely, We talked about that all the time on spenty. The power of seeing yourself. Yeah, and it's something that I hadn't even realized as a woman. Um, this is embarrassing, but I love being on a feminist

show because everyone asked, what's your take on this? Go see this movie? Tell me what your take is. And everyone was telling you gotta go see Wonder Woman, and uh, you know, I cried and all this stuff, and I'm like, wow, I'm not gonna cry. And I got teared up in the first time to Wonder Woman. Yeah, just because it was all these strong women that wasn't focused on their looks and that's all it took. I get teared up and stuff like this as a white man because it's

I know what a big deal it is. And I'm an EmPATH, so like I think about a little you know, African American boy report Ri because I think the character is is a mixed race inter seeing a mixed race character is new and unique, and they switch back and forth in Spanish and English. Yes, and I just I just picture these little kids watching this stuff, and like, I get choked up because it's a big deal. People that don't think it matters are wrong, absolutely wrong. Yeah,

and I love that. Sometimes it can feel really forced right now, unfortunately, but this didn't feel that at all. It was just so naturally done, beautiful. And Miles is such a great character. He's just such a It's interesting because I thought, as um compared to like Peter Parker, Miles is way cooler, but he's still like they didn't make him like a ladies man or like he's cool, but he's still sort of an outcast in a way. And he's still nervous, which is an important trade, I think. Yeah.

I think one of the writers described it as the sweetest swagger you. Yeah, that is totally it. Yeah, a little bit of swagger, but just adorable. Yeah. And his family is just great. Yes, That's one of the things I love about this movie is because comic books notoriously no parents around or whatever, but he has a really good family unit, and family is a huge part of the story and his story specifically, so it was refreshing to see something different than we all know Peter Parker's

origin story. I kind of love that that took a back seat and this was a different, totally different story. Yeah. I love how they played with the origin story thing, because you know, they're always complaints like do we need to see another Spiderman origin story? So they just did, like every character got their own with that little refrain of well, let me tell you about it. My name

is you know, Gwen Staates. Yeah, it's so fun, and just said they had such a sense of humor about it, and this one the best animated feature the Oscars And I'm sure you, like everyone else and me when that category came up, and you know, it's Pixar's The Behemoth, and everyone's just like, please just give it to Spider Verse. Clearly the best movie, and it felt like a It sounds so corny, but it felt like a win for like all of us. It did because it was against

Incredibles too, which was also pretty good. Great movie. Um, this is the first non Disney Pixar film UH to win that award win against a Pixar film since two thousand six. Ww So like, that's how much Pixar Disney dominates that category. It's crazy. Yeah. Um, and it from the opening credits, because again I went into this movie completely jaded and thinking, Okay, Uh, it's just the way it starts and it zooms in through the Sony logo

and you're it's like you're entering another dimension. And even though it's just the opening credits something, my brain was already like, oh, this is gonna be well. The Universal Pictures lady to that and it does that that skitsy uh thing. And yeah, as soon as I had the same reaction because I didn't know much about this movie and I wasn't primed to see it, but after the buzz came out, I was like, oh, well, I guess

I do need to see this, and they do. They set the tone so early, like this is something that you've never seen before. Yeah. And the art, which we've been talking about, um, it was built specifically for this movie. One of the refrains around uh the animation of this movie was if it's not broke, break it, because they wanted it to look not like a cartoon and not c g I, but in between like a comic book

has come to life. Man, they nailed it. I would dare anyone listening to this watch this movie, freeze, frame it any second, and it is a work of art. It's funny. I had a note in here that says pause at any point. Yes, And it looks it looks like something that you would frame for your wall. Yes, like literally any just randomly close your eyes and you could frame that as art. Absolutely. I did it last time.

I was watching it last night and I paused a couple of times, and every time I thought I would hang that up. Yeah, that's great, Like one of the best looking films I've ever seen. And they although I wasn't prepared when I was in the theater that you know, they have a lot of the a lot of the dot work. What is it called here? Because I don't know any of because I'm not a comic book person, I know none of these terms. So a lot of

people call it bend aid dots. Yes, But what they were actually doing was halftones with like cmy K I think. And they were doing this to create um their version of focus and depth. So a lot of people saw that and mistook it for bad three D. That's what I thought. Yeah, but I thought I was in the wrong theater house, and I was like, did I is this because it looks Yeah, it looked like three D with your not wearing the glasses. Yeah. So I even

got up because I didn't know. I didn't know, I hadn't read anything, so I thought ship I walked into the three D version and I went out and I checked and it was not And then I realized because the other stuff was really sharp. It's like, okay, this is a technique. Yeah, they're doing something dumb shit now a lot of people reacted that way. Um, and it's also meant to mimic when screen printing or printing for comic books. How the overlay wooden match, so it's another

way of being more like a comic book. And um, they it gets worse, The effect gets worse the more stressed Miles is. So things come more into focus when he's not stressed, and then the background goes more out of focus when he is. Interesting. Yeah, that has an overall effect on the viewer, Yes, for sure. Um, And I don't think you even realize it. It's like a

subconscious thing. Probably. Yeah. I didn't pick up on it until I think someone said it to me, but it's yes, it's really apparent though once you pick up on it. And another thing they did is Miles is animated at twelve frames per second as opposed to the general frames, so that that means that his motion lingers longer and there's no motion blur in this movie, right, So that's also another way they used to make it look more

like comic art. But also, um, there's the scene where h Miles and Peter B. Parker finally get on the same page where they're swinging on webs together. Miles gets up to frames per second along with Peter B. Parker. Oh really yeah? Interesting? Yeah? Is that the scene through the forest? God, it's such an exhilarating chase because that's when uh when is after them, and boy it's tense. Yeah. Um, yes, that's that's one of my favorite parts. This movie is a lot of great humor and lines, and I love

a lot of the lines in that section. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. Um. The other term that I learned was Kirby crackle, So explain everyone what that is. So Jack Kirby was a comic book artist, and Kirby crackle was something that he did very specific to him that was meant to showcase energy. Um. So sometimes it's a it's kind of like a lightning golt thing, but a lot

of times it's these dots, like these blob dots. So if you've seen into the Spider Verse, you know, at the end of the movie or even the beginning anything that's with that collider, there are all these dots and those are called Kirby dots. Yeah. And once you know what it is, and uh notice it, it's everywhere and it's movie yeah to like great effect almost like bubbles, yeah, kind of like a little blobby Yeah. And especially in the end, that final sequence is just like an explosion,

yeah of Kirby crackle. Yeah. And and something else that I love that they did is there's seven different types of animation styles that they built seven different cameras to be able to project them all um in one Yeah. So as the other Spider people go home, this Penny jumps in, hers goes away, and that color goes away. And I'm also crying at that scene. Yes, but until it's just Miles and Kingpin and then the only colors are red and black. Yeah, So it says all the

other people go their animation styles go with them. Yeah, it was just so it was just off the charts with the creativity and the the intent Like it wasn't. It's just clear there was so much thought put into every single like drawing of this movie. Yeah, and they those systems that they broke, um, one of them. They basically had puppets, these three D puppets of characters that they could then draw on and that's why if you look at the character's faces you can see line work

that people drew onto that. Yeah, and um, because of that, they had to recreate. There are certain systems and c g I you can just use for clothing and light and shadow. They had to recreate all of that, just like prefab Yeah. Interest and they used about three times as many animators as you generally would use, so I think it was a hundred and seventy seven and just to animate one second took a week. Yeah. Man, Yeah, that's intimidating. It is, it is, but it really shows

every frame in the movie is stimulating. It's just constantly stimulating and really beautiful and at the same time, I know some criticism of it has been that it overshadows everything else, but I never felt that way at all. I don't think so at all. This is like hand and glove. Yeah, it fit with the music. And this has you know, a very modern, h modern taking you know, on the score in the popular music that they used. It just it breathed life into I mean, Tom Holland

has done great. So it's not like Spider Man is d o A or anything, but it just breathed such life into this franchise. And I can't wait to see more of this stuff, I know. Yeah, I mean the sequel I think is two. They have it slated for. Yeah, I mean hopefully now that they've invented all this stuff, it won't be quite as difficult for them. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I just I had no idea what I was in for, and this is a movie

that exists in two levels. Is one the the first time viewing, it's one of those that you wish you could go back and see it for the first time m again because it was just so revolutionary and mind blowing. But it's also a movie that you can't wait to see over and over. Like I get that you saw it five times in the theater. Yeah. If I was young and single, I would have seen it five times in the theater and I had no child, but I've seen it like three times now because I saw it

again at home. I tried to show it to my daughter, but it got a little too intense. I kind of forgot. It's a little much for a four year old. Yeah, so that's on hold for a couple of more years. But watch. I mean, I had so much fun watching again the other night. You can you can see this movie twenty times and still see new stuff. Yeah, you know. Yeah. And when I was researching for this, uh, so many

things I ran into. I've seen this movie several several several times now I had noticed I hadn't picked up on Yeah. Um, and it is the only movie I've ever bought. As I walked out of a movie theater, I went online and pre ordered it. Oh really, yeah, that's great. I knew I had to have it. I knew it. Yeah, yeah, um, the I love it in the beginning, Um, when he's there doing the voice over, seeing and it's only a couple of minutes, but seeing the moments from the other Spider Man movies and seeing

them animated and the style was so cool. Yeah. I think that's One of the things that I love the most about this is it feels really genuine, like the creators loves the source material and they were there with us fans who saw Spider Man three and wondered why this, what's happening? Um? And so to see that right in the beginning of recognition of yeah, there's been some bad moments, it's pretty cool. Yeah, to have fun with it, to recognize it, acknowledge that it happened, and it was kind

of funny now looking back, Yeah, it was. It was great. Um. And the movie, like again, is off the charts visually and with the sound, and uh, it could have survived on that merit alone. But the story is so great, Like at the heart of this thing, strip all of that away. You have really a really, really great story with did the classic heroes journey and clear steaks and like real emotional steaks, like you're so invested in this kid. Yeah, and and all of the Spider people that we eventually meet,

which I can't wait to talk about, I know. Yeah, that's one thing I too went into this movie. I've seen the trailer, but that was about it. And I have familiarity with a lot of the Spider Man, Spider people, but just passing. So I didn't know that Chris Pine the perfect Spider Man. I didn't know he died. I didn't know he was going to die. I didn't either, So that moment was shocking too. Yeah, and he's so brutal and just over and um, he is trying to pass on this. Here's how to be a Spider Man.

Here are the key things right before dies to Miles, and that is so powerful and then Myles trying to live up to that. The rest of the movie kind of perfect idealized. Yea spider Man. Yeah, I mean miles journey, his hero's journey is so satisfying, like the payoff in the end when he finally comes into his own because you know, they dole it out in a little bits. You know, he learns a little bit how to swing,

he learns how to do this. He's he's all the funny bits with he you know, he can't unstick his hands, and he can't turn invisible on purpose, and he can't do it on commands. Such a funny moment. Who's that guy, the actor Johnson? Yeah, he's I don't never watched that show that he was on. But he's really funny. He's hilarious. I wasn't that familiar with him either, but I I

loved him. And again, I didn't know Chris Pine died, so I thought they were the same actor at first, and it took a while for me to really, Oh, no, that's a different person. It's just I mean, you have to think your way through this movie. It's not like, um, it's not that complex to where you can't figure it out, but like you gotta have your your brain on. Yeah,

there's a lot going on. Yeah. One of the things I noticed later when people were like, oh, this is why this movie is so great if you pay attention, they're all these clues that Miles exists in a world that is not our world. So there's the sequel to Shaun of the Dead. You can see a poster for that. The unmade sequel or Nick Kroll and John Moulaney's play is called high Hello instead of oh Hello. Yeah, I've

got a bit that's during the time square. Yeah. Yeah, there's a bunch of funny little easter eggs that I paused. The Seth Rogan movie. Yes, Um, what's it called? Where is it? Uh? Seth Rogan hold your horses riding high in the saddle is the tag love it? There's Redman Group instead of Blue Man Group from Dusk Till Sean. I guess that's when you were talking about there's a Bridesmaid sequel. Did you catch that? Oh yeah, it's like

about baby Baby Baby shower. Yeah. The month is like Decemberary. Yeah. And then Clone College with Abe Lincoln and John Kennedy one of the movies. It's fun to pause on that part and just sort of the other good pauseworthy part is when when the dad is scrolling through his phone contact list because I don't know, I'm sure all of those people are someone they're comic book people. Yeah, Okay, I figured because I saw Jack Kirby or maybe it

was Ditko or maybe both in there. Yeah, and I just had I was like, I'm sure the rest of those people are comic book artists or whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just that attention to detail is it's fun, fantastic um in comic book learns. I'm sure that's just like yeah, the chart. Yeah. I I saw this movie for the first time with my parents. And another criticism I've seen is if you don't know anything about Spider man, this

movie isn't for you, but they loved it. They were actually more confused by wreck It Ralph two, which is all about internet culture. Okay, so after see that one. I mean it's fun, but they didn't get like the viral video or me. Yeah, just internet website. But yeah, BackRub is what Google is called. In Miles is universe. What's it called BackRub? Really? Yeah? Yeah? Um that Peter B. Parker I believe is from or six one six, which is our universe. I think so. So Peter B. Was

the chubby second guy, yes that burnt out. Yeah, and again that that really lends itself to a great character arc and storyline because everyone in this movie has steaks. Yeah, you know, it's not just Miles a story. It is his story, but it's also Peter B. Parker's story. Yeah. And I love that they both have so much to learn from each other because Miles is a great reminder to Peter B. Parker of what Spider Man can and should be, of what the beauty of being in the

power of being Spider Man. And then Peter B. Parker beyond. He just has these very straight to the point you need Baby Potter in the suit very straight. Yeah, but he does have advice and he is in Miles corner. He's always standing up for him. Um, and they their relationship grows through the film too. Yeah. It's one of my favorite concepts in the movie is the It's very satisfying as the the mentor students student becomes the master. They both learned from each other. I've always been into

movies like that. I have to and I love um. In that final battle, Miles uses stuff he learned from everybody. So that part where he kind of does this long sequence of jumping through things and crawling on wall and his hands are going but doing the whole thing. Um, he learned that from the first Peter Parker something he picked up there. And then of course the leg sweep.

Yeah at the end Peter B. Parker right, Yeah, what was the line leap of faith that Well, that line is great, but the don't look at the mouth white what is watch the hand so great? Yeah. I mean there's so many great payoffs there are staggering the number of like great little setups and payoffs there are character wise throughout this movie. Yeah, and there's so much foreshadowing of a lot of them, especially when it comes to

the Prowler having that payoff, and it's so brutal and painful. God, that moment when he has him on the roof of the house. Yeah, and he takes his mask off. It's just like and this is a freaking cartoon and it's just so emotionally strong. So great. Yeah, I think gets shot right afterwards, and then the dad walks in and thinks Spider Man did it. It's just perfect. Yeah. And I've read a lot of um conversation around how Miles is bothered, and you can kind of insert other for

a lot of things. But you know, when he's asking his sound, he really hate Spider Man and then he finds out Prowler is one of Spider Man's arch nemeses and then he doesn't fit in the Spider Man group because he's not ready. Um So, just having that and and that first scene where he sees the Spider Student, it just looms over him and he's here in his like merchandise he purchased. M Stanley. Final voice acting, Oh that's right. Did he voice that? Yeah? Okay, I didn't

know if that was him or if they got someone. No, it's him. It's final voice acting uh, not appearance, but I guess yeah, I wonder if they're going to fake any of that for future animated or like c G I create him for no. I think that would be a bad idea, So I gotta hope they don't. But I could see someone yeah, I mean maybe visually having representation wouldn't be bad. I would feel weird there was a voice, though, I think it would be totally weird. Yeah.

But then when he finally becomes Spider Man and he the suit, his reflection takes it up. And that scene where he jumps off the building, he takes a leap of faith. That scene is called Rise Up from Hamilton's because it's purposely shot, so he's rising, he's falling. Wow. Yeah. And then the glass breaks because he's still scared and he's still sticking. That's right, breaks away so great. Uh. And the payoff with the dad at the end too, it's uh, I mean, there's so many funny moments or

Miles blaming it all in puberty. Early on it was one of my favorite bits. And then the end when um, when he hugs he hugs his dad and he's like okay, and then he catches himself and you know, well, I look forward to working with you in the future. I still don't approve your method, Spider Man. Yeah, and he's trying to like disguise his voice smiles is just so adorable. Look forward to working with you, and I love you.

It's so perfect, it is it's great. Um. I also like how they handled the Gwinn Stacy thing because, uh, they didn't go into like the full on romance of it all, which was nice, like they sort of laid some groundwork and that that he was clearly, you know, smitten by her. But I think they handled it well. It didn't need to go that much into it. I agree. I think that would have Miles the story and him becoming Spider Man was big enough. I don't think we needed, yeah,

and Gwinn didn't need, you know. That sort of reduces her to this sort of standard trope of the love interest, like she had her own powerful storyline, and uh, I think the writers just did a great job with her story as well. I do too. She was the most she felt like the most competent Spider person in the room, but in a way where she still had vulnerability. UM. So that that was refreshing to see I feel like a lot of times when I see strong female character,

they're really one dimensional. Um. But she didn't feel that way at all. She felt fully realized. Um, and I I could connect with pretty much every character, which is great. Spider hand Spider had well you know, I love bad puns, so yeah, okay, I thought you, well, well at the Spider him in a minute, because god, that's just wonderful. Um. They have a bunch of great set pieces and action sequences, and I feel like they did them all in their

own way, like they're all distinct from one another. Um. But that that first big one that you get with that green Goblin fight is just like and you would already like it's already clear this movie is a visual like masterpiece. But then that is so like off the rails bonkers, that first action set piece that it's just

like what the funk am I even watching now? I remember that scene very clearly because that's you know, he's been bitten and he's investigating and you're kind of on edge because it's quiet, and then his back is to that like I don't think it's windows, but it's just open space and you see lookouts. Yeah, the words display the way they use text in this movie is so cool,

so good. And it doesn't start happening in soil after he's bitten by the Spider um, so that that was a really visually arresting way to do the Spider sense that he could sense something was wrong. And I remember that moment so clearly because it was another thing of oh, whoa,

this is not like anything else I've seen. And um, I convinced a lot of friends to go who also weren't into Spider Man and went very begrudgingly, and by that point they were all in, Yeah, this is a movie that you definitely proselytize about, like, and I think that's why it did so well. Um, because this is a movie you leave and you start texting your friends go see this like as quickly as possible in the

theater right, yes, before it goes. Um. But that yeah, that action sequence in the way the camera follows Miles as he kind of falls and sticks on one thing and falls, and then seeing Peter Parker just so confidently do that that little move where he got up to the ceiling. Yeah, and Green Goblin is almost stop motion at times. Yeah, kind of perky, jerky, it's the way they blended all these animation styles was just it like on paper. I would have thought like, no, you probably

shouldn't do that. Yeah, yeah, because they have. Once you get introduced to Penny Parker, there's anime on the same thing. Yeah. Yeah, the black and white with the Spider Man noir. Um. But they do have hand draw and things as well, so some freeze frames you'll freeze it. And especially with early Peter Parker, those are hand drawn. Oh really, like the power or whatever? Yeah, yeah, I like when the thwack was it twip or thwack? Yeah, when he was teaching them how to do the web swinging yep. And

bagel of course, when he throws the bagel. Oh that's right, that's right. Um. So plot wise, you know, he gets the slumb drive the goober and um, it's a very simple story, you know, as far as that stuff goes, Like the story is really about the hero's journey, but as far as the plotty plotty stuff, you know, it's like a thumb drive that will save the world. Yeah, pretty much, and then trying to get all these alternate

spider people home. Yeah. Once they introduced the idea of the different um the different timelines or our guests, the different verses versus universes. Um, it's I didn't see that coming. Yeah, and I thought they did it really well because I can see how that could have been really confusing, both visually and storyline wise, but it really wasn't and I felt they moved through it quickly. Here's this makes sense,

let's go. Yeah, that's kind of all you need to know. Yeah. Um, and they you know, they go to uh, al come x And this is still early on in Miles is transformation because he can control his invisibility. And that whole scene stealing the computer and that's when you get introduced to Doc Doc. It's uh, that whole sequence is great. Yeah, I love it. He's carrying the monitor and good news, we don't need to. I love that line so much.

And uh and that leads to the big forest chase, which is one of my other favorite set pieces in this movie. Yeah, it's really stunning. Um, the whip release release and that's on the frame rate. Uh So the two characters are out of frame sync for most of that, but then at the end they become in sync with the frame rate. This means I have to watch it again. I'm definitely recommending that you watch it again now that you know all of this stuff, because you'll pick up

on so much more. There's a movie I'm gonna watch over and over throughout my life. Um. Also, in that forest scene, what makes the payoffs so great is that's when we meet Gwen as Spider Woman, and that entring is just so it's just like spectacular. Yeah, the punk rock music cue she comes in and she's just so confident and does it takes care of the problem very quickly. Yeah, And this is a movie I think it's best, Um, if you don't know much about it almost because there's

so many surprises. Um. I'm sure if you're a big comic book nerd and you kind of knew all of this stuff and all these characters, it's satisfying as well. But to not know any of this and to have it unfold, you're like, oh, wait a minute, there's a Spider Woman. Now, this is kind of cool. And then when they go to Aunt May's and take the tour of the you know, the the Underground Layer, and she passes out those name tags you might need these, and

you're like, what what was she talking about? And then everybody comes in and it's just overload. Like both of us can't stop smiling right now in the room talking about it because it cuts two First, Nicolas Cage, yes as Spider and Noir like perched on apparently nothing with a wind blow? Where's the wind coming from? Wherever I go, the wind follows. And then when you hear it and realize the realization that that's Nick Cage, I mean, it's perfect.

It was great casting. Oh my god, It's like, what are they trying to do to an audience, Like, oh, you thought you were having fun, Well, how about nineties Spider Man with fucking Nick Cage. We're talking about something real? Oh boys, Yeah, which is lying about the cube at the end, the roof excube taking. I don't understand it, but I will taking this with me. And then Penny Parker, which is so great. Yeah, I love she just feels they feel so genuine. I am almost shocked that they

pulled it off. But that kind of character could have come off very either annoying or just like look at this anime character, but they used the anime style. She felt really badasses like everyone else. Um, a great member to have on the team. Yeah, it was really, Oh wow,

this is awesome. Yeah, and I was amazed at how much you care about each of these, like with so little, Like they were so efficient in making you care because you know the scene where at the end where her robot uh gets smashed or dies or whatever, it's like brutal. I know, you know, the originally thought about killing her, and then they were like, no, that's gonna be true. It's gonna be too tough. I my heart hurt reading that. Yeah. I would have been so mad. Yeah, yeah, you can't

do that. And then we get Spider Ham. Spider Ham, the great John mulaney. Yes, it was just cherished anyway, perfect for this. Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure. I saw an interview with him where he said he didn't know that's what he was auditioning for, and they were just like, be funny, and he was cursing all the time until he finally asked, what's the rating of this movie? So they couldn't use any of it. Now, this is a dumb question. Is Spider Ham? Like was that a comic character?

Was this invented for this? Oh? Yeah? Really yes, no, Spider Ham. I believe he has origins all the way back to the sixties, but he's first in the eighties. I think it was wind Spider. Yeah, Peter Porker and his uncle Frankfurter so had his own run. Oh sure, were they jokey? I guess it was sort of a

fun take on it. Yeah. Yeah. And there's one of my favorite things about it that they pay homage too in the movie is there was sort of a running joke that maybe behind the mask he is Porky pick right, And so the end when he says, are we allowed to say that? But yeah, that that's actually the biggest question I've gotten from friends and family have seen it and who know, and he probably would know about comics. Is Spider ham thing? Yep, they're all things. Um. The

three other ones are more recent, I believe. But Spider Hands goes back interesting. Uh. One of my favorite parts of that scene when they well, you know, my Miles finds out we finally get like his purpose is revealed that he has to get them back to their own you know universe. Um, again, classic heroes a journey. But when they're all introducing themselves and like can you do this? Can you do this? Can you do this? Millaney goes can you float through the air when you smell a

delicious foe so funny, it's really good. Um Like, no one else could have played that. You know. Millaney's voice is just so spot on, Yes, very distinctive. That was one of the things I was most excited about, even before I decided I'm probably not going to see this movie, but John Laney is in it, maybe I should. And then I don't know if you've seen this short at the end um post credits, Yeah, that John mulaney. Well there's there's the like post credit scene, and then there's

like a short with John. Um. Well it's really silly and just a bunch of puns and him in a battle with crawl Daddy or whatever. Man, I gotta see that. But one of my favorite things about it is he gets pulled out of his timeline, which is the timeline of animation on a computer screen. Um. So it's like a play on you know, timeline timeline because then he starts to you don't really see him get pulled out of his world. It's very short to the point by the time he tells his story or he doesn't really

um so he gets pulled. He's getting pulled into the other dimension, he says, I hope I haven't missed the first sixty seven minutes, which is when he comes into really Yeah, that's funny. I love it. It's so good. I gotta check that out. So that's after everything. Yeah, but it's not on if you're watching on Netflix. I don't know that it's on Netflix Netflix. Okay, I might

need to buy this on Blue ray or something. So we have the great fight with at aunt May's even aunt May gets a little you know her moment, which is kind of cool out great Lily Tomlin National Treasure um, and that that's fight is like awesome because it's tough to you know, they're in a pretty confined space and there how many people are in there? I think so there's five maybe like love it. Yeah, that's really tough to pull it off and make it not be confusing,

which they managed to do. I think. Yeah, And that's a really great emotional roller coaster too, because that's when you found out about the Prowler and Miles is still in this very shaken emotional state and uh having Peter B. Parker just trying to get him out of there, and it ends up of course, the confrontation between his uncle

and himself. Yeah, you really like Prowlers, such a scary character in this but um, the their relationship is so special, Like you you root for Aaron, you know, like it's sad when he gets killed. Yeah, and then he's a total bad guy, like a really bad bad guy. But that that's great story writing as well. The fact that you feel not only for Miles but for Aaron in that scene. That they were able to pull that off,

it's really spectacular. Yeah. Absolutely. Um, sort of in the third act here when everything starts sort of converging towards the end, you get some some really fun roommate stuff. Miles is what is that as a dorm er? Yeah, definitely dorm Like it's uh, they're all there and he gets he finally gets they get busted and and Spider him go because do animals talk in this dimension? Because I don't want to freak him out that if everything wasn't already so freaky. He's reading Spider Man because he

looks up. Yeah, and they're all you know, they're all like basically connected to one another on the ceiling. It's such a fun team. Yes, you know, it's such a weird mix. Yeah, and they all contribute something so specific art style, character, story wise, and it it just works and it's so fun to watch. Can they top this in a sequel? I don't know. I just hope for like as good. Yeah, you know, there's I mean, there's no way. It's a disappointment. Yeah, it would be hard

because the set the bar so high. It really did, and just the fact that it was so unique and daring and fresh. It will be hard to have that same level because I mean the art is beautiful, and I'm sure if I see it in a sequel, I'm still going to be Yeah, but like we're saying, part of part of it was just the first time, Yeah, just getting your mind blown. I remember walking out of the theater and just being like Wow, it's like just

mental stimulus overload in all the right ways. And I I too, immediately texted all my friends and said, look, I gotta go see this movie again. Will you please go? You want to share it with people, yeah, yeah, and

just talk about it at length. That's right. Afterwards, Miles wants revenge another sort of classic Heroes journey type thing, and he thinks he's ready, Um, but you know, you gotta you gotta have that final obstacle, which is Peter basically saying like you're not ready and tying him up with the thing and like you he's so protective of Miles. It is such a sweet relationship, but um, you know

he it's so sad. That's what makes it so satisfying when he busts out of there, right, Yeah, because Peter B. Parker genuinely cares about Miles and he had been his biggest supporter, like he can do not a comet he can do. But he finally realizes he's gonna get himself killed if I don't stop this. So it's a really caring moment for him, and for him to know this means I probably will die. Yeah, Um, I won't go back to my universe and that probably is the end

for me. Um makes it also really powerful powerful moment. Yeah, and everyone. I love how everyone is, uh, everyone wants to do it. You know. There's that one scene where they're like, well, no, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, but Miles is gonna learn who can do it? Um, And it kind of reminded me of the Hawkeye. Uh you've seen the basically the latest end game, right, Oh of course. Yeah, the moment with Hawkeye and Um Black Widow when they're battling to like sacrifice themselves. Yeah, it's

just such a hero trait. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna throw myself on the grenade. They all raise their hands so excitedly. In Miles is Miles spends most of this movie trying to not be Spider Man. Yeah, which is another thing that makes it so satisfying. Yeah, He's like, oh yeah, yeah, I mean that the character arcs for all these characters are so great, you know, even the they introduce what do you say at the sixty seven minute mark, the rest of the crew, and they all have satisfying arcs.

Oh yeah, it's really pretty remarkable storytelling. It is um And one of the things, going back to that criticism I heard of, if you don't know much about Spider Man, how this movie is not gonna make any sense to you. I feel like you can relate to these characters even if you don't haven't read their facts where they're all of the comic books behind them. Yeah, there are certain things that we can just connect to. And I don't need to know that you were bitten by a radioactive

pig right. I can just you are a good a well written character. I can relate to that, and the fact that they were able to do it with so many characters in such a time. It's very impressive. It is. I mean, these are classic themes, um, Peter B. You know, let's talk about the charity dinner scene when he when

he confronts MJ. It's just brutal, it is. It's so I love that scene because it's awkward and weird, but you want him to get some closure, but you know he can't because this isn't the right m J. And just to see it play out in this awkward, weird way where you feel sadness for him, but also it's silly. Yeah, he's going to bring her more bread, get you all

the bread that you need. Um. But that's a great way without going back to his universe, because we don't get to see many of these characters for too long and their home universes after they've gone through this journey. That's a great way to show he has overcome some of the things that have been holding him back and he does want to get back with him Ja, or maybe he does want to have children, right Um, so I thought that was a good way of giving him

a satisfying story as well. Yeah, and he does at the end that he shows him going back right right, Yep, he rings the doorbell. He's too lazy to go ring it. Just love that moment kind of boots out. There's so many great little moments like that. Yeah. Um. Then we have our final battle, which is just epic. Um. Each each one of these characters has their own they have their own distinct like place and purpose and personality. Uh, and you care about them all so much. Like the

final battle is just so like perfectly timed out. It's like a Swiss clock. How they how they play this thing out, and um, it's truly devastating when they're getting sit back. Yeah, I'll know up. I know you want to see, like you want the gang to be together, but it's of those movie things like you know you can't. It has to end. And I love the fun team

ups they do, the different matchups. So when Penny Parker is kind of getting beat up by Scorpion and Spider Ham comes in, you've got a problem with funny cartoons and just blam way wammo um. And then Spider Man Noir comes in just all these different animation styles together that shouldn't work, but somehow do. Yeah, it was ballsy to think that they could pull this off. Yeah. Um, the frame rate thing for sure, because people are pretty sensitive to frame rates that you might remember around the

Hobbit like that being a big discussion point. Um. So to go to a studio and say, we're gonna try this frame rate thing and seven different animation styles, it's going to take forever. We're gonna break everything you have. Does that sound good? Also, we're gonna go with this unknown Spider Man character which in the in the common world people know about them, but like general populus not so much. So I didn't know you know. Yeah, that's quite a stunning that it got made in some ways

and that it worked as well as it did. Yeah, and was just a smash hit. Very satisfying to see a movie like this when oscars and you know, break open the box office. Yeah, get the recognition. Um, I I am interested to see because you know, we we vote with our dollars in some ways. If if this will lead to more movies like this, if it's successful, Yeah,

Like what do you mean? Just crazy animated styles? Or yeah, not trying so much to be hyper realistic, or but more of this is a art or not a cartoon. But the name between CGI and cartoon. Yeah, are creating because they really created their own Yeah, and just original Yeah, more original ideas like that. Yeah, I would love to see that. I would too. Um, you know this, this has such a great satisfying ending. We talked a little bit about the scene with his father, but just so great,

but that that very end. Um, anyone can wear the mask, such a great line. You could wear the mask. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now, Like rarely can you at the end of the movie say like, here's what it was all about. And we're just gonna say it and not have it be like corny or whatever. Right, Yeah, it was so great. It's like just I get choked up even thinking about it. Yeah.

And um, he's just that character is on the beginning of his journey and it feels so fresh and new and to hear this enthusiasm for it as I feel like I could connect with both the old, burnt out, washed up kind of cynicism and then this young, fresh, perhaps naive viewpoint. And it it was really beautifully moving. Yeah. Um, and that Stanley, that was his biggest message was anyone

can wear the masks. This could be So to be able to do that, get to that core message of what he really tried to communicate with a lot of his work. To have that be the ending line and have it work and not be corny, right, it's fantastic. Yeah. And and it's hard to not just sit there and think like he's talking to the little mixed race kid in the audience. Yeah, anyone who feels outcasts, who hasn't seen themselves in this superhero, who never thought they could

be a superhero. This is my message to you. Yeah, and and not you know, obviously the mixed race kid is is directly on the nose. But like you said, I think this movie represents a lot of people sort of the underrepresented in general through the lens of this kid. Uh, you know, with a Puerto Rican mom and a and a black dad. Um. Just so like again, that matters so much and to be able to state it that plainly and uh, with with such impact is like the

perfect way to end this film. Yeah. That like that is the point. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now. Yeah, it's like that's what we were just trying to do here for two hours. Everybody. Yeah, yeah, and it's so good. I'm really sensitive to um writers. If I if I can get any inkling that you're trying to manipulate me emotionally, which you are, But if I can sense that you're doing it without earning it, I'm out. I'm with you. But if it feels genuine

and like you've done the work, you've earned it. They earned every bit of it. They did such a wonderful film it is. I can't wait to see it again already. You should because it's a holiday movie. They made it. Yes, there's a holiday c D you can buy all and we're listened to that. They used the actual actors recorded, so uh, let's see. There's songs like spidy it's cold outside, swinging around the mistletoe, silent night, You're welcome, joy to

the world that I just saved. Uh, Yeah, you're welcome. That reminds me of another one of the great jokes in the movie Smaller Moments, when Miles uh lands on the New York streets and he's getting walked over and he was like, could you just walk around me. Maybe he was Okay, thanks New York. And that's a Stanley cameo. Stanley steps over. Yeah I didn't notice that. Yeah, he's in the movie several times. Actually, if you like any train,

if you pause Stanley, yeah, look at you. You know you got all his Easter eggs on, well not apparently not all of them, but a lot of them. I like how he gets hit by a drone at the end. That feels pretty yeah appropriate. What's this book you have here? So I am a huge nerd, and clearly I love this movie. So I bought this book, the Art of the movie Spider Verse, and you can literally you flipped the pretty much any page and it's just a freeze frame of like how they did it. That is very cool.

It's like coffee table size. Yeah, oh my god, it is so good man, I'm gonna have to buy that. Yeah, that's killer. Yeah, I definitely want to get some art from this movie from my apartment. Yeah, they'd be cool, some like nice high quality, yeah, pining or something. Yeah.

And they did combine so much art like the art styles um pop art, street art, and cubism, which is really interesting because Cuba Cubism is like looking at a bunch of things from different viewpoints and combining them together. So it makes sense that when the interdimensional dimensional glitching or shifts happen, it's cubist because they're seeing it. All that stuff was so cool. Yeah, oh gosh, so good,

and we can talk about this movie. You're eight hours? Um, can you will you come on again and do another movie? I would love to be part of the the gang here. I've always I've been waiting for you to ask Chuck we can have our spider gang. Yes, awesome. We'll think ab out what you want to do next, and we'll just put you in the rotation. The rotation. It awesome. Thanks Annie, Thank you so much. Movie Crushes produced, edited, and engineered by Ramsay Hunt here in our home studio

at pont City Market, Atlanta, Georgia. For I Heart Radio For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.