Flophouse Special! Stuart Wellington on Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

The flop House on the Maximum Fund Network. I know Dan and Stewart and have hung out with him a couple of times, and they're both great guys. Do not know Elliott and person or I have. I think we've been on a call or two together for business, but looking forward to having him on as well. But Stuart's a great guy. He is a bar owner in Brooklyn and a comedian in that he does the Flophouse podcast

and he's very funny and a super nice guy. And he turned me onto a movie in a genre which I have never really gotten into, which is to say, well, if you can even describe Ricky Oh as a kung fu movie, which we kind of get into, exactly what kind of movie this is, but it's bonkers, ape ship, over the top, gory, gross prison movie, uh, kung fu movie, martial arts movie. I don't even know how to categorize it, but it is crazy and it was a lot of fun watching it. If you are into this kind of stuff,

you probably know the movie. If you were not into this kind of stuff but you are intrigued, I would suggest watching it and giving this a listen because it's, um, it's pretty fun, especially right now, just to sort of turn your brain off and watch something is uh as intense and weird and gory as Ricky Oh, the Story of Ricky. So here we go with the wonderful Stewart Wellington on Ricky Oh, the Story of Ricky. Uh yeah, ground rules? Man? What can I can I not swear? Uh? Funck? No,

you can't square? Square? Yeah? I can I square? Oh? This is one of like four episodes I'm recording today. Oh wow, okay, well I'll try to make this one the worst. What movies are you recording today? Uh? Just two movies and also doing these we do these mini crushes on Monday where it's a lot of it's a fun thing I do with my co host Noel, who does the mini Crushes with me where we do a lot of engagement with the Facebook movie Crushed community. Oh fun, Yeah,

those are those are a lot of fun. But I'm recording you, and then, uh do you remember do you know Adam Pranica from From a Friendly Fire? Of course I know Adam Pranica. Those duds are those suits are buds. In fact, I think we've all been in the same room together now that I think about it. Yep. So if if you had to testify you uh yeah, so those guys, uh yeah, whenever those guys, I mean, when we do shows in their town, we hang out. When

they do shows in our town, we hang out. I have the advantage of owning a business that people can have after parties at that that business is a bar. I don't know why I was ambiguous all of the sum You mean you're a late night brothel. Yeah, it's a it's a cool speak easy. Yeah. I was gonna ask you, like, you've got hinter Lands, what's the other one?

Uh so I am. I am a part owner of hinter Lands obviously, um and my wife and I partnered up with some guys and opened up a new spot that is just over a year old in Sunset Park, Brooklyn called Mini's Bar, which is a little bit closer to the Bell House if you're looking for a post pop live podcast after party, um and um. And my wife also is a part owner of the bar Charlene's, which shares her name. Yeah. I don't know Charlene personally. I don't think I've ever met, but she looks like

a wonderful, lovely, fun funny person. She is, she's great and luckily she is. Uh, somebody has to be the brains, you know. She just keeps me around for from a punam. So how is uh? And shout out to hentral Lands. Where is that located? Exactly? It's in Kensington, Brooklyn, right on the other side of Prospect Park Church Avenue. What how are you guys hanging in there? Man? Uh? Yeah, you know, it's I mean, in general, uh, you know, surviving. I just I just got my antibodies test. I'm full

of them, so that yeah, hopefully that matters. Uh. Yeah. Charlene and I both the day after the bars closed on March sixte and that day we both got sick and uh, she it was it was more mild for her, but it was still you know, a fair amount of discomfort. But for me, it was two and a half weeks. I was I was down. I was scary, but uh, you know, I didn't I was lucky enough not to have to go to to the hospital. And uh and

shar shars had asthmaal our life. So she kind of like coached me through the breathing issues, Like the shallow breathing was the scariest part because you're like, I know, I know I can take a deep breath, but in general, I just generally feel like I'm not getting enough oxygen and I'm tired all the time and I can't focus. Uh, but you know, luckily I made it through. That's my wife, Emily. That's her worst nightmare, is the the shallow breathing, like

that would send her into a full on bannock. Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, it's so scary. Like there we we joked now that there were nights when she had uh she had hit nine one and was waiting to hit it again. But uh, luckily it was never got that

bad and I'm I'm through it. And uh for our business, you know, after we're both healthy again, we uh we decided to reopen the bars for takeout business to go business and doing that a little over a month, um, and you know, we're just trying to find ways to hustle. Like we're open for a few days in the after a few hours in the afternoon on weekends and on like sunny days, and the community has been really supportive

and then everybody's being really generous. Uh. And we you know, we've been spending a lot of our energy trying to raise money for our staff because you know, it's like they're out of work, and so we we had started Venmo's so you know, to support those guys. Uh. And I obviously you can check my check my Twitter at flophouse cat. If you are a giving sort and had the excess of money to donate, feel free to donate to our out of work staff, although I think there's

plenty plenty of other casts no people should be donating to. Well, that's amazing, man, and that's cool that you guys are helping to take care of your staff. I mean, bars and people who do live performances are getting hit the worst, and you're both of those. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean I said it and I keep saying it. Uh. You always have to go people over property. If you support the people around you, they will like as a business owner, you're crazy not to to do what you

can to help them. That's great. You look good, man. I like that short hair. Oh thanks man, that was did it? Did it myself in the backyard. Nice. It looks good. I shaved my head about a she's probably about a month ago. And then it's it's back to like a sort of a normal short level. Now are you thinking about changing it up at all? Mixing it up, going for like a tonsure or something something wacky. No,

I did shave you know. I had that big gas beard and I shave that completely off about a month ago, and now I'm I'm to sort of short dead beard level. Yeah, you look like a like a guy who'd come into my bar and order an I p A. But not a double I p A, just a regular one. Oh thank god, I thought it was a real prick there for a second. I do love damn you. Uh so where did you grow up? I don't know a lot about your backstory, even though we've hung out a few times.

Oh I yeah, I grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the second largest town in Indiana. Uh, and I don't know. Like I grew up in I grew up in the suburbs. My mom was a high school English teacher. My father was a financial planner and up broker. My parents were both teachers, so I kind of thought I was going to do that. For most of my young adult life. I was an English major, and I was like, well, I'll just be an English teacher because I like to read and I like to write, and I don't like

to physically work too hard, so that seems perfect. I think we're in the exact same boat I kind of had. I mean, I turned out I wasn't a particularly good student, so that didn't help things. But uh, and when I applied for I think I applied for Teach for America and I did okay, but I in the interview process, I think he was teaching for America. I can't remember which one I was or no, maybe it was the New York Teaching Fellows that was probably It's been a while.

I I was doing pretty well until I hit one interviewer who was just not having it, who was like saw through all my bullshit, Like he saw to the core of me and was like, you're not right. For this. Uh, and he was I think he was right. Well, what, um, what were your formative movie years? Like we always like to talk to guests about their sort of like eleven to seventeen year old years and what you were into

back then. Oh, I mean, I guess that's kind of tough, like, uh, growing up my mother, as I said, my mother, and my mother was an English teacher, and she was always h She always really encouraged the you know, like fantasy and sci fi. She was a huge of that stuff. I thought you were gonna say. She always made me watch a Dead Poet Society on the Loop. No, my mom was the one who, like when I was a kid, she was like she saw RoboCop and was like Stewart

would love this. Man. I watched it, and I'm like, I do love this. I am scarred for a little while, but I'll be up that and the other Another big one was Creep Show too. She was this movie is hilarious, and at that time, as a child, I did not find it hilarious at all. Now it's funny, but like that whole sequence with the raft and the like the

sentient oil slick blob monster. For years I couldn't go swimming in a lake without being nervous, Like I'd always like have to pop up out of the water real quick to make sure a oil slick monster wasn't coming to strip the flesh off my bones. So your mom was basically awesome, is what you're saying. Yeah, my mom. My mom does and remains awesome. She didn't turn into a big jerk. No, she she's she's still cool. Yeah, any siblings. I have a little brother, uh, and you know,

we he's we're a year apart. So growing up, we you know, hate each other saying stuff. Well, yeah, it's some nixs. We did everything together and then as soon as we had the option, we never spent any time together. Yeah. I got a brother who's three years older, and that turned out to be a pretty good distance. Uh. And he was a pretty great and is a pretty great brother. So there was never like bullying or making fun of me. It was just kind of all pretty pretty great, did

you guys? It was that a kind of relationship where he was able to pass down cool stuff to you so you could seem cool amongst all your friends. Yeah, and that's you know, that's why I always asked the sibling question, because that's how so much of our culture comes to us. Is he either some influential person in your class or neighborhood. It's always someone a little older. But I have distinct memories, and I think I've talked

about this before in the show of Uh. My parents are pretty strict as far as what I could watch and not watch when I was growing up, and you know, you you get to that point sooner when you're three years older. So my brother would sit up late at night, I remember, on two different occasions, and spent probably about an hour each talking me through Alien and Apocalypse Now in as much detail as possible. Yeah, it was very quiet.

On a less cool version of that. I I used to run a hobby store, and I used to have this a regular at my hobby store who was a glacier. He was a Union glacier, so he would have that uh you know, installing glass Okay I didn't. I don't know if I heard that. I don't know. I feel like you're you know, uh, you know, a handy guy. I figured he'd be, though they were called glassier's. Yeah, yeah,

only when they're at a French restaurant. So he's a glacier and he uh, he would he would hang out the shop on days when he wasn't working, which was a lot, and he would just kind of sit at the hobby station, like painting his warhammer. Soldiers and whatever. Teenage boys were around would come and like sit around him, and he would regale them with tales of like movies and stuff. Like. I remember there was a day where, like, over the course of four hours, he just recounted like

three or four seasons of Dexter to these kids. I'm like, okay, man, each episode ended in the same way. Yeah, exactly. Uh so yeah, And I mean I I think another big influence was for me my my mother's older brother. So my uncle. He he was a big He was a big gamer and a fantasy guy. He was also a teacher. Uh he was. He was like the kind of cool uncle that had the basement full of like board games and like sci fi paperbacks that had the best covers

and all that stuff. Yeah. I mean, like like it's not all Boris Vallesia or whatever Valeo, but you know it's that kind of thing. Um. You know, it's mainly like cool alien standing on top of uh like a brightly colored mountain with starships battling above him. Totally, but so he like going to visit him was always a big was you know, a big influence on me And

obviously it's just defined my esthetics and whatnot. Now was that a situation where you were just sort of hovering nearby and and getting it by osmosis or was he the kind of guy that would sit you down and be like, Stewart, this is, uh, you know whatever fantasy novel and you need to read this. It was definitely not that hands on. It was a lot of osmosis and occasional like hey, Stewart should watch Stewart should watch this,

and I'm like, yeah, I'll watch Nausaka. Like as a kid, I was like, I have no idea what this is, but I love it. I loved it to the point that I got in a I remember forcing my friend is at a birthday party to watch this like early English dub of Nausica and uh, I think it was just called Valley of the Wind at the time. I can't remember, um, but I remember forcing the kids at my slumber party to watch this movie and getting in a huge fight with one friend because he hated it

so much. Really, yeah, he really wanted to watch The Three Stooges instead. Oh those are two different people. Yeah yeah. I love talking to you about the stuff and then hearing about it on the Flaphouse, which, by the way, flophouse has been I went on a long side track with the Ackerman Adam Scott you two r M podcast, but have since come back and I've got a ton of flaphouses and they have been my sav lately and anytime I'm in a really dark place, Flaphouse is has

been my light for the past couple of years. It's just so fun and so awesome, and um, I love always hearing about I love that you bust the myth that, uh you don't have to be some sort of snot nosed, uh short weirdo to be into figurines in fantasy and all this stuff because you were packaged in this giant,

handsome man body, but you're still such a nerd at heart. Thanks. Yeah, I you know, it's it's similar to finding out that Henry uh yeah, it's a lot like finding out that Henry cavill is spending his quarantine time painting warhammer figures. Really yeah, yeah, yeah, that was That was a big That was a big deal for me was finding out that Henry cavill And, like, Who's who's the the D and D guy. I can't remember the Magic Mike when he was married or dating Sophia Rigara. Oh, magic Mike,

the main guy. No, Joe Manchinello. Oh yeah, yeah, sure, he's a huge D and D guy really Uh yeah, oh yeah, enormous he uh and and a Norman because he's very muscular, but he uh like they you can

you can check it out. But they on in the when they bought a house together, he converted their wine cellar because neither he nor Sofia regard a drink apparently, uh, and they, uh, they converted their wine cellar to like a D and D. So there's like a beholder hanging from the ceiling and all his miniatures and what that's pretty cool. Do you still paint miniatures? Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I used to work for a company that did it, and I took some time off, but but

now yeah, I still do it. Uh. It's I don't know, It's something I don't think i'll ever be able to shake. You know, one of those like hobbies that like any time I go away from it, on on drawn back to it. Yeah, it's something I've never like. I didn't grow up into fantasy that much. I pretended to read The Lord of the Rings, but I really didn't. I pretended to read Chronicles of Narnia, but I really didn't. And that's about as deep as I went. It just wasn't. I played D and D a couple of times, but

I never dove in too hard. Um And I'm not sure why, but I could see the pleasure and the sort of zen pleasure of painting tiny things because I love small things, uh huh. And I could see that being cool. Yeah, I love like. I think I got into it initially because I like, uh, you know, I grew up with an uncle who was a big gamer and war gamer and uh and my and my father was also a big My father was really big and Napoleonic war games, which is like, those those dudes are serious,

I bet at the time. I don't know what what the community is like now, but at the when he was doing in the seventies, it was like, if you don't paint their buttons right, you can't play with that model. Uh, and like and a bunch of the big sculptors from that time died early deaths because of lead poisoning, which

I mean, you know, the things we love. But he uh so I got into it through like liking to play strategy games and war games, um and then but over time, like it's no fun to just play with little plastic guys you want or metal guys at the time. You want you want to look like the box, or at least I did. So you know, they're they're meant to be painted, right, yeah, yeah, I mean obviously depends

on the figurines. But uh my, my first love and the one that I keep going back to is always is Warhammer, which is you know, like it's a British company, Games Workshop makes it, and they I don't know they make they're like little twenty to thirty mile models that currently they're all plastic figurines that you assemble, hand paint and then you play battle games with them. And I and I used to like I and I worked for games Start Shop for seven years as a store manager

and as a regional manager and a trainer. Uh yeah uh and it was a lot of fun and probably stunted my emotional growth for a while because I exclusively hung out with teenage boys or grown men with the maturity level of teenage boys. And uh, it was fun and I'm glad I'm not doing anymore, but uh, I still still love soldiers. That's awesome, man, I think that's really cool. I would love to swing by your place in Brooklyn next time I'm there and check everything out.

When did you get into comedy? Uh? I mean, I guess I would say like I got into comedy through podcasting, and I got into I didn't really, you know, I didn't. I didn't do much performing growing up. Uh. Probably just

do exclusively to like fear of failure. And yeah, I mean, like I remember for like school projects, if there's ever an opportunity to make like a short film, I would do those sorts of things, and those were often what I would think, they were pretty fun, but really really like actual comedy was through the podcast when Dan and I started doing it back in two thousand seven. Uh, And that was just because Dan was a UH was trying to get get involved in as many avenues, like

trying to explore as many avenues for comedy. And one of the things that we did together for fun was watching bad movies and talking about it. Uh, And so we thought, hey, uh, in two thousand seven, there is not very many movie podcasts. In fact, there were very many podcasts. So I don't think I realized you guys have been around that long. Yeah, as of in August, Yeah, and August it will be what thirteen years? It's crazy. Yeah, we're sort of right around there. I think we were

right behind you. So if you started August of two thousand seven, I want to say we started in like spring of two thousand eight. I might be wrong on that, but that feels about right. Yeah, look at us us long beards of podcasting. Well, and it's just crazy, man. I always say that I feel like we bought a with stuff. You should know. We bought a nice little house and what turned out to be a great neighborhood just at the right time. And it would be a lot harder to make a dent now. So we wake

up every morning and count my good fortunes. Yeah, absolutely, I mean that's the thing. Like, I've talked to multiple people who are much more talented and have a larger fan base in general than me, who were like, oh, do you have any tips on how to how to you know, grow your your podcast listenership. And I'm like, I don't know, like do it for a long time. Yeah,

I know that. I know that advice sucks now it kind of does because people ask us that stuff too, and like we got in at the right time and it kind of just caught hold and people's started sharing it with their friends. You can't make that happen. It's like saying, to create a viral video. Yeah yeah, actually, yeah, yeah, that's what all the entertainment executives do. Give me a

Marvel cinematic universe, please, uh the Yeah. For me, it's you know, it's a it's a thing where it's like, I guess, outside of doing it for a long time, I guess try to try to be positive and like learn from your mistakes and admit when you're wrong or right. I don't know, like try to grow. That's pretty funny, man, because you guys are one of my favorite parts about Flophouse is uh and it makes sense now that you guys have been doing it this long, is how how

annoyed you sometimes get with one another. Yeah, I mean I think we're uh, we we don't we don't reach the heights of the greatest podcasts in the world, The dough Boys, where where Mike and Nickwiger are constantly on a verge of of killing each other. But uh, you know, no, no, no,

you guys aren't like that at all. But it's uh, it's it's always a fun aspect of it is occasionally when and I feel like it usually comes around when you are the recapper and Elliott starts in on one of his Elliott uh Elliott Kalin uh soliloquies, and you seem to get pretty annoyed at that, which is fun,

all in good fun, of course. Yeah, of course. I mean I feel like part of the I feel like part of the appeal of our show is that we are all good friends and we've put each other for a long time, and a thousand percent no one ever gets their feelings hurt. You can tell and uh, poor Dan, he's just it's so good. Like I do know you guys, so it helps. But um, I'm sure you get the same stuff that we get all the time, and stuff you should know, which is people feel like they're your

friends and that that's why that's how it show becomes popular. Yeah, yeah, it also means that like if sometimes there's the occasional issue where because Elliot and I, uh, you know, part of the part of our show is that we give Dan a hard time sometimes as it really I guess

I should admit to it now. Wow's but the but sometimes folks who are listeners will be like, oh, I can also give Dan a hard time and it's not the same like oh no, no, no, no no. And that's when you guys, it's like, you know, when you have a brother, you're in a fight, and then someone else comes in and then all of a sudden, the brothers are united again against the common enemy. Yeah, I think I can't remember which one I was recently listening

to her Dan finally lost it. I'm just like, God, dammit, you guys can fucking say one thing? Yeah, uh no, I think that I happened kind of recently. It's I don't know how you are with doing shows, but uh, it is one of those things where we'll do it and then almost everything I said, except for the few things that stick in my head and make me keep

me up at night regretting help in my mouth. But aside from that, everything else falls out of my brain immediately, and sort of for me a little bit for stuff you should now remember a little bit more because we have to study all that stuff. Yeah, but I mean the best part is, like Dan clearly got genuinely annoyed, but you guys, like you did not give a ship and you just kept plowing ahead and kind of laughing about it. And that's sort of the only way to

handle it. I think. Yeah, yeah, we're not gonna pump the brakes too much. No, no, no. Uh. So what's your deal with bad movies? Like, I know you said you and Dan would watch them in college? Do you get tired of watching bad movies now? Or is it still kind of a pure joy? Oh? Uh? I mean yeah, I get tired of it. Uh. It's it's nice because I like, I love watching movies, and I started so I started watching bad movies in so in like high school, I had a group of friends who were the same

group of friends. I would play like Dungeons and Dragons and the like World of Darkness role playing games and Shadow Run. But when we weren't doing that, we would go to like Blockbuster or Family Video and rent all the bad horror movies they had. Uh. And so you know, each weekend there'd be about like three or four tapes or DVDs, UM and we just put them on and watch them, and a lot of a lot of it

was sitting around complaining about how bad they were. And so when, uh, when I moved to New York, and I didn't have that group of friends anymore. Uh, Dan and I, even though Dan and I went to the same college, we weren't we weren't friends at the time. He was a few years older than me. Uh. He

was a theater guy. I was, I don't know, like a dumb guy and uh, and we would but when we were both in New York together, we would find ourselves at the same parties for uh attendees of Arlham College, and we would talk about things in general, and you know, we had a similar love of watching movies, and that led to us having our own little movie nights, and that's what led us starting the podcast. I think it was.

The story I like to tell is that we there was a night when we rented when there was still a video store on Flatbish Avenue. We rented Jenny McCarthy's Dirty Love and uh, it's a fantastically bad movie. And UH, I remember sitting on the couch Dan falling asleep on the floor and snoring, and uh, yeah, I feel like that was like it was that was the last movie night we did together before we started starting the podcast.

Why did you move to New York? Aside from the fact that moving to New York is always a great idea, yeah, I mean not this week, but yeah, exactly the now I moved to New York. Um, I was dating. I was dating a girl who wanted to work in She had a background in theater and uh, nonprofit, and so she wanted to move to New York because that was a great place to do it. And I at the time, I was working on my own comics, so I'm like,

I could do this anywhere. Uh. And then we like a week before I was living in Pennsylvania before that, and right before we moved, I I saw that Game's Workshop, the hobby company was looking for managers, and I saw that they were having a recruitment day in New York, and so I went to this recruitment day and they hired me on the spot, and so I had a job before I had actually physically moved to New York, which was crazy amazing. Um. And then of course the girl.

I came to New York with left, but I stayed because you know, New York's great and I'm still here. I moved to New York in two thousand three and uh yeah, it's yeah, and uh I think, And then four years later we started the podcast, and then two years after that I started dating my lovely wife and hooray. And she's a born and raised Brooklyn her. Yeah, so uh yeah, I don't think we're going anywhere. That's super cool, man. Well, uh, everyone should support your bars, Charlene's and hinter Lands and

what was the other one, the new Minis Bar. Minis Bar. It's very cute, is it small? Uh yeah, I mean all of our bars are small. Brooklyn dude like rich, Well, that's awesome, man, I can't wait to get back there. I miss h hanging out with people in person. And Dan was able to come by when we did our last bell House shows one night, which was nice. I think you were working and I was supposed to go to your bar and wasn't not able to, so we're

gonna have to hook that up. I remember the last time I got to one of your shows in Brooklyn. It was like three days after the bar had opened, and I like, my every part of my body hurt, and but it was it was a fun it was a great check. Well, thanks dude. So I think let's move into Ricky Oh, The Story of Ricky or is it Ricky Ho, because it sounds like you're saying Ricky Ho. I mean, I think his character's name, depending on which dub or sub you're watching, his the character's name is

Ricky Ho. But the title, the name of the movie is Ricky Oh. Right, Ricky Oh, the Story of Ricky, which is uh. So, I guess let's talk kung fu movies and martial arts movies because I was always a guy who wanted to like those movies and wanted to be one of those guys that knew all that stuff about those movies, but I just never tried them out that much. Um, sort of like with D and D. Like, some of these cultures like really appealed to me, but

I always stopped short of investing time in it. And so this is legit one of the uh first times I've ever seen a movie like this, like all the way through. Oh wow, okay, okay, Well, I feel like it's it's a little tough because there are no movies like this. There is only this movie. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I don't have anything to compare it to it. I think some pieces of like some Bruce Lee movies and stuff like that, but this is really Uh is

this a sub genre or what? How do you classify this? This is uh, well, this is a crazy movie. Uh. Obviously it's based on it's based on a Japanese manga, um and it's a Chinese production, and it obviously has a lot of martial arts elements in it. Um. But there's also like a lot of like crazy practical monster effects in it. It is such a gory movie. I think at the time it was it got like the like the the equivalent of like an X rating in China.

It was the first, it was one of the first movies do so that wasn't actual pornography, uh, because it's uh, it's a very gory, gross movie. Um. But obviously that's for me, that's part of the charm is because of how how nuts it is. Yeah, I mean, I had a great fucking time watching this movie. I will say that, And I think you can turn me onto a genre that I will explore more for sure. Um, I mean,

I don't. I don't mean to distance this from martial arts movies in a way, because you should watch more martial arts movies. There's some there's a there's so many out there, there's so many good ones, uh, both current but also like, oh man, like there's so many great Jackie Chan movies. Yeah. I've seen a couple of those actually, now that I think about it. But this is different. Yes, this is this is not a Jackie Chan movie. No,

it's not. I was gonna I just got the I just got Police Story and Police Story two on the Criterion collection blue rays, and so long since I've seen them. I got those. I got those the same day that I went and saw Avengers Endgame, a movie I like a lot, But watching rewatching Police Story the same day, I'm like, the Avenger stuff is cool, but Jackie Chan beating up thugs just using a car as a jungle gym so cool. Yeah, And there's something to be said

for like what brings you joy? Um, it's kind of silly, but it's a rudimentary question that one might ask oneself, Like Avengers movies are awesome, but you probably had more fun watching Police Story again. Yeah, uh, maybe without the romantic plotline stuff, but everything else is so good. Oh man, that that mall stuff. Oh wow, I think I've seen police story and um, what was I just gonna say? Well, I mean, I'm sure this is doesn't even qualify. But I did watch a lot of the early John Wu stuff,

which I thought was amazing. I mean it's a little different, but I mean there's uh I feel like they obviously have some connections. I think the like the way that the some of the action is shot. Obviously, scholars will probably say I'm a fool, but but I think like the bullet ballets of John Wu have some grounding and martial arts traditions. Well, this movie was batshit crazy. I had a ton of fun watching it. Um. The story

is about well, it's the story of Ricky. And it has another element which I'm a huge fan of, uh, is that it's a prison movie. I love love prison movies, and this movie is set in in two thousand one when all prisons have become privatized, which is weird to watch and seeing that reality sort of playing out. Yeah yeah, uh yeah, it's so it is kind of fun to watch. Uh. I mean, obviously this is a prison movie, and it's I'm sure we'll talk about all those things. But I

love that it is in twenty two one. Yeah, and what year to come out? And I d h, Yeah it came out in ninety one, but it looks like it came out in eighty three. Yea, yea, and in all the best ways. So I have a question. I think you are You're the man to answer this. I'm watching this movie. I'm having I'm having a great time. I'm laughing, uh at the poor dubbing is always great and funny. The weird voice actors that they use are always amazing and funny, and all the super goryous ship

is so funny to me. Yeah, what is the intention of the filmmaker in these movies? Oh? Well, I mean I think that's tough. Like I there's I feel like there's a way that you can look at a movie like like look at something like Black Dynamite, for instance, which is a movie that is big and crazy and has over the top action and is at the same time clearly intended to be funny, like it's clearly meant to also be like a comedy. Um, whereas I can't

tell with this movie I think. I think there's stuff where they're like, yes, this is over the top and silly, but that's that's what this movie is. Like, they're deadly serious about how silly it is. Um, but it's it's tough. I can't. I can't tell you. It's maybe it's lost in translation. For me, I don't know. Um, but the I watch it, I don't. I don't know if I've ever watched this movie dubbed. I must have, but i've

the copy I rewatched. Was I watched subtitled? Uh, And so there's obviously and I think the I'm sure there's differences even there between those subtitles and the dubs. So like I'm guessing that some characters might even be named differently. Uh. But yeah, I can't tell. I don't think. I don't necessarily think it's I feel like if sometimes if a filmmaker shows their hand too much and they try and play it too safe. It can be safe in the sense that you're like, oh, we're doing this silly thing,

but we know it's silly, so it's okay. Uh, it can be at least for me, it can be a little distancing, whereas a movie like this is so it's not winking at me like it is doing this. This is the movie it is. I am able to enjoy it more. I guess, Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, there's an earnestness to it, I think, and it is a genre where U ramping up and and trying to best and outdo other films in the creativity of the kills and the gore factor and maybe some of the

camp as well. Um, it feels genuine and I think, I mean, I'm not gonna speak for the filmmakers, but it seems like they genuinely love this stuff and they're trying to outdo other movies. But I'm sure they know like this is also a lot of fun and it's People shouldn't go into it just thinking it's like a like a scary Kung fu prison monster movie. No, no, no, exactly.

I mean, there's just the way it's edited at times where there's there's a shot where he's fighting I can't remember there the he's fighting one of the gang leaders and he slaps him in the back of the head and his eyeball pops out of his head. It hits the ground and immediately a group of crows fly down the hulls my favorite part. Dude. It was so batshit crazy. I loved it every time something like that happened. And my wife heard me laughing in the other room. She's like,

what are you watching. I was like, I don't even know what I'm watching, but it's it's kind of amazing. And I think the key to of a movie like this is to, you know, sort of get in and get out in ninety minutes. Um, keep it moving. So much stuff in this ninety minutes. I was just I was trying to think of if I was like, if I was trying to do a hard summary of all

the action of story of Ricky. It feels like a two hour movie, easy two and a half hours, just because of how much actual, how many characters there are, and how much stuff is happening. And I feel like part of the joy of the movie is that it

never lingers too long. It just keeps moving. Yeah, it's great, No, it's always I mean it goes from I mean a movie like this, there is a plot, then a story per se um, and in fact there's not even per se there's now that I'm thinking about sort of the flashbacks and Ricky and his girlfriend and what got him there. It is the story of Ricky. Um, but you're really there to to see the next amazing funked up thing happen. Yeah, and there's there's a lot of those. I mean, so

I like that. So it's a you know, we said that it's a in a privatized prison. It's two thousand one in this harsh future. We've addressed that. Our hero is Ricky, who is a young master of a breathing technique called key Gong, and that gives him super strength. Although I think he was always strong, It's tough to tell, uh, And he has he is inducted into prison and he has bullets still lodged in his chest from being shot by a gangster. He keeps, Yeah, he keeps his souvenirs. Yeah,

that's great. When they're first checking him into the prison and the X ray machine goes off and they're like, get him over there, he's got like a bomb in his chest. But I also like that. Every So Ricky spends the rest of the movie dismantling people, like physically completely, Like he's punching people's hands off, punching their guts out, etcetera, etcetera. But all of these fights are started by by someone else.

They're always attacking him. Uh that he even when he has defeated an enemy who he had has just punched their face off, he is still trying to save their life, whether it's Tarzan who he's trying to save from being smushed by the industrial compactor that's in the prison self or something, or when when that gang leader is trying to strangle Ricky with his own intestines, Ricky is still

trying to save their lives. He is, And that's one of the key points of the movie and of the character is that um in his mind, he's he's just a prisoner along with all of them and the real enemy. And don't you say you haven't seen the dub version. I don't know what the narration says in the subtitle, but at the beginning with the narration is very kind of flatly laying out what the deal was in the prison. He says, the warden is the most powerful man in

this prison. After him, it's the assistant warden. Yes, that's a warden who you get the most face time with and is actually played by the father of the actor who played Ricky. Oh no way, Yeah, father son team. I guess he had been an accomplished actor on in his own right and then after at some point retired to just he his son's like coach, agent, etcetera. Oh wow, that's amazing. His um. Yeah, he's he's one of the

great carriacters in this movie. And his um his office is set up when you first meet him, he's got a a desk like this huge executive desk with this just enormous buffet spread and in two chefs serving him, and then a wall of porn vhs days right behind them. Yeah, he's got a complete like stuffed like end of end of shelf to end of shelf library like you know that he had had to make some hard choices, put a couple of tapes in a cardboard box somewhere because

they didn't fit. Yeah, and he is he is missing an eye, which you know, there's so much eyeball play in this movie. It's I don't know what the count is for eyeballs, gouging out, popping out, um, being placed back in heads only to come out again. And his eyeball is You learn this because it's in a glass of water that he's drinking, and that's the reveal that that's his eyeball, which he apparently can keep. What is it he squirts out of it at one point? What

was that? Mints? Oh? So that was for real no jokes in this movie. It's so crazy. I mean, what what is that all about? Would you like a mint and stim out of his eyeball? People? I have no idea, And I'm also like trying to wrap my head around the idea of like so that the eyeball was some completely submersion water. The fake I was completely submersion water. Are the mints not or maybe that was the point, Like the mints are supposed to like freshen up the

water for him. I don't know. It was so good you should also address that in addition to having a fake I, he also has like a like a Bond villain style fake claw hand. He's got a claw hand that he uses. Yeah, he's had sort of a double hook that he uses to um which brings up another point. But he has a hook that he uses to drag

people by the mouth of various places throughout the movie. Um, but the at one point he is he is clicking the two hooks together as if their fingers and the whole time, I was like, is it is that like connected to his tendons and stuff? Like, how is that happening? Yeah, I mean I don't. I I am not going to guess at the at the prosthetic technology two thousand one. No, I didn't explore. I didn't interrogate that too closely. Of course.

Another thing I loved about this movie is uh. And by the way, when people like listening haven't seen this and they hear Stuart say punch their guts out and punch their face off, like, you mean that literally, that's literally what happens. Yeah. Yeah, I mean all these things literally happen. I mean the I would say, if those words uh completely turn you off, I would recommend not watching this movie. Otherwise, totally watched this movie right, um,

but he is. The thing I love about this movie is how much everyone survives oh yeah, like literal disembowments, yet they will rise back up and fight again. It's amazing. Yeah.

I feel like it's I mean, I guess it. It reminds me of it points out I guess that this movie has it comes from a like a violent manga, and I feel like it reminds me of some like violent manga books, like whether it's Fist of the North Star, the Diver or things like that like that that those comics that I would read as a kid and love because of how horrifically gory they all were. Did you did you read this one? I have not read this one, nor have I. I've never read the I've never read

the book, nor have I. I I don't. I don't actually know if it's readily available without going to a you know, like going to a piracy site, right, uh, And nor have I tried to track down There's apparently a a somewhat connected sequel to this movie, uh that was made, but I'm not a hunt. Like there's conflicting reports as to whether or not it exists or if it if

it is actually a sequel. Well, the guy who plays Ricky is fantastic, Like he's got the body, he's got the looks like he's a total badass in this movie.

And uh, you know, his moves are cool. He's got that rage that builds up when he closes his fist fist every time, Like it's it's interesting that he can like sometimes he's just punching people and sometimes he's punching through people when he can summon that extra power, I guess, oh yeah, the key gong and he uh and it's you know, it's rage built on the hatred of the

injustice of an unjust society. Uh. That that actor I was I was looking him up on IMPB in preparation for this, and uh he has gone on to Uh he's in the ip Man movies, a couple of the ip Man movies, which is uh, if you're looking for a martial arts series, I would recommend checking those out. Jo Yeah, all right, Uh, they're great. I don't know what kind of martial arts this is. I'm not well schooled in the various disciplines, but whatever this one is,

I'm a big fan of. When they're actually doing the real stuff. The a lot of I feel like the matrix sort of gank some of this, a lot of like the straight arm punching and very sort of dance like sort of ballet like really really pleasant to watch to the eye, very fluid, very pretty. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure the Waikowskis were uh, you know, they clearly were wearing that influence on their sleeve and bringing bringing that style of martial arts to uh you know Western

audiences is awesome and obviously turned out turned out pretty well. Yeah, it worked out pretty well for the Wikowski's. Um. There's also some beautiful shots. I mean, I don't want to it is a fun kind of crazy movie, but uh and very campy. But like that shot in the rain when he's just so upset and he's doing all this sort of solo kung fu in the rain, Yeah, it's amazing. That's after he uh he put the the rebuilt toy. Uh what train? Uh toy at the dead guy? Yeah?

What a Yeah, Well that's you know, that's that's this movie. People are treated poorly and then uh some justices found in through violence. Yeah, that guy man he gets uh. I mean I feel like the first fifteen minutes of the movie or that guy just being a fucking punching bag.

But that's that's part of like I feel like that also has its roots in uh that kind of like like a prison movie or a lot of exploitation movie is the you know, you you have to you have to build up the villains to be so villainous yea, so like unreasonably villainous. So that are you don't feel

bad when the hero punches their hands and faces off. Yeah, and I mean, like he said, we he's usually ends up siding with the person he just fought because they're all a part of this system that's keeping them down, and the two real villains in the movie, or the assistant warden. And then finally you get to meet the warden kind of in the last act, who comes in sort of dressed like a pimp and he has this

weird idiot man child. So it's just so disturbing somehow. Yeah, they well like that combination of like, well this obviously like pampered, spoiled child. Uh, that is seems to be there in part for comic relief, but it's it's next to this like terrible, vicious Warden character. Yeah, it's it's

it's a little tough. But also I don't know, they're they're they're horrible bad guys that I think the end when he when the sun finally shows up with the literal sort of beanie schoolboy outfit, and we should point out he's not like eleven, he's you know what, in

his twenties or something looks like it. Yeah, I mean I didn't even know they sold like short shorts and like like little school uniforms for twenties some things, but you know whatever, Yeah, I feel like he was modeled after after the guy in Pee Wee Herman who at Francis Yep, yeah, I can see, yeah there they come from the same family. The Yeah, so this warden character who they address is the has to be the very best at kung fu. He's the toughest guy in the

prison in addition to being in charge. Uh and he also he he has a big bald spot. But when you look at it, it's very clearly shaved. Yeah, Like it's it's a very clear choice that this guy is supposed to look like this. Uh And I don't know. Maybe it's to match the warden from the comics. Maybe it's to match a stereotypical like asshole character, but it's it's such a choice. Yeah, it's like what Johnny Depp

did when he played Hunter S. Thompson. If you're looking for a visual as a listener, he has shaved his head into the form of male pattern baldness, which that would be a wacky thing to do during uh, the quarantine. I think that'd be fun. Yeah, we give it a spin. Why not? I was kind of hoping that when we started this scut call, you would come on and I

have already done that. That would be so great. Another favorite part of this is when every time something huge happens, like he punches, like there's another fight and he disembowels somebody or literally he punches up through under someone's chin and back out the mouth and rips out the jaw. The guards will come in and just be like, hey, you you're coming with me? Yeah, I mean they do. All the prison guards are the like laziest, shittiest jerks who are also like they are barely surprised by any

of the horrible things they see. Uh. They all take bribes, they're all monsters. Uh and so yeah, when they like put on and then later on they're trying to break up a riot and they put on the like silliest spiked shoulder pads and everything, and it's and like like cheap plastic equipment that Ricky just punches right through. Uh yeah, it's I mean, this is this is the worst prison. And it's like the hatred and vitriol for this system is like dripping off the screen and I feel like it,

I don't know, like watching rewatching this movie tonight. I'm like, I really need to see somebody go and punch through a shitty unjust justice system. Yeah, no kidding, man, we could we could use that right now. Uh, let's talk a minute about the fight with Oscar in the prison yard. Um, this is one of the best ones where Ricky is cut through the forearm very deeply, and you think he's done for because he can't punch, but he and he gets he gets ground up glass thrown in his eyeballs, right,

so he's which came out of which? Can't did it? Did that come out of the eyeball of the assistant warden or now I believe the ground up glass was in the sheath of the assistant warden gave to Oscar. Okay, all right, that makes more sense. That's why I was getting confused with the ments in the eyeball. And at this point Oscar is fighting with his shirt off so you can see his his tattoos, which one of the one of the other inmates says, once you see those tattoos,

you're dead. He doesn't show off his tattoos unless he's going to kill you, that's right. And he's super buff. Um all the guys in here superbuff generally, and I guess Ricky it looks like he ties his own tendon together and heals him using his teeth. Yeah, he heals himself after and he washes the glass out of his eyeballs using a busted water pipe. That was a pretty sweet move, actually, I forgot about that. Breaks out with his elbow and that, and then as soon as he's

tied his tends back together, he is fine. And then he proceeds to dismantle his opponent completely. Yeah, that's when he also tries to save his life. That's right, that's when he disembowels the guy and he runs over and the guy literally pulls Oscar pulls out his own gut and tries to choke Ricky out with them. Yep, uh doesn't work, big mistake. I admire his spirit, I think, Uh,

I don't. I don't know which which translation used, But did the assistant warden praise Oscar for having guts this moment? He did, Oscar, You've got a lot of guts. Yeah, that was a pretty great joke. And then we get Oscar's godson, who's we learned his tongue has been cut out, and the way he goes is his face is ripped off. Huh, and he gets punished for what siding with Ricky by like learning how to because Ricky. I don't know if

we haven't mentioned this. Ricky in addition to his battling abilities. Uh. He his martial arts technique involves breathing. So of course he went to music school to study the flute. That's right. So he and an Oscars what gods son? Yea? They bond over a mutual love of the flute. They do, and um Oscar's godson is is a pretty interesting character. He, like I said, he ends up getting his face ripped off, which is I had a hard time kind of choosing

between the best kill? Do you have one? Oh? Wow? Uh? I mean the I think one of the one of the best ones is when Tarzan clasps his hands together on the guy's head and it explodes. I think that was a clip that was using the Daily Show. Um, I don't know. The assistant Warden getting shot with a gun meant to kill elephants and blowing up and then exploding was pretty good, Like yeah, fat Coto in uh live and let die or oh man, I don't know, there's so many good ones. Uh when he when he

punches uh, what's his name? The giant guy silly Lung, I think was the translation I had the Gang of Four. No, I'm talking about the giant naked guy that attacks him in the showers, which is the when he punches his guts out. That was pretty gross, right, So it's tough. I don't make me choose. It's it's like choosing between my children, chuck when the which is also great, just

the props that they use in this movie. The warden has a heart attack and they bring out three jars of what are clearly like children's candies, look like hot Tamali's and things that are stubbing for these giant bills. So he's able to cure his heart attack with those candies, which is very great. Yeah. I mean he's he's trying to keep the beast within him still within him, you know, he's trying to keep it under control, which later on

in the movie he allows that beast out to terrifying results. Yeah. I think, you know, there's a lot to love about the kills, but I think my favorite sequence was the cell fight with the giant when he goes under the chin and through the mouth and rips his face off. And then when their fists meat and he punches that guy's hand off. Pretty pretty great. It's really gross. It's

so gross, and he's and he's revives this. He is uh he almost survives his encounter with Ricky, only to uh to be smushed by that compactor that was started by the warden or the warden. But again, Ricky tries to save him. Ricky always tries to save him. He tries. He gives everyone a chance. Well, and you know, like I said, there is some story here. We do learn that Ricky has lost his girlfriend, his like true love. Um that what was it at the hands of a

drug dealer. Yeah, I think she gets She wakes up in a in like a drug den and she witnesses them, uh like doing a drug deal or something, and she freaks out and runs through an apartment building and they chase her to the roof and she runs off of the top of the roof. Likes super Dave Osborne is yet another great special effect moment is throwing dummy off the roof throw me off the roof. Well, but that revenge scene is great, and that's where we learned about

the five bullets. That's you know, the story kind of comes around full full icle at that point. Yeah, you know, it teases it early that. I mean, that's storytelling, Chuck. You tease it early on because people people are gonna spend the rest of the movie wondering how do you get those five bullets. By the time that you get to it, you already love the character and you want to see whatever you want to and you're like, how

did he get so strong? Of course, his uncle throws gravestones out him in a cemetery and he punches and kicks them or snatches them with his chest and head. Yeah, that was great. I mean, I think every I know enough about martial arts and kung fu films that you have to have a great flashback to a training scene. Oh yeah, and this is one of the great ones in the Graveyard. It's it's pretty spectacular. Yeah uh yeah. So the movie dolls out information. It's not it's not

a straightforward story like you'd expect. Um every time. It's so funny because there's never there's not like a continuity of consequences. Um, there's a big fight and the guards come and get Ricky, but then he's just sort of in gin pop again somehow. Uh, there's never like a solitary or anything like that, and they keep having various like they try to bury him in concrete, they put him in this spider web like rebar cage, and uh,

it's so funny. When I was watching, they stuff his mouth full of razor blades and literally while they're doing that, I was like, dude, he is going to spit those back into your face. And that's exactly what happens. And taking all these injuries, Uh, he heals very quickly. You do not see evidence of his his various stabbings the next scene. No, no, not at all. Yeah, it is.

It is kind of interesting at first, so I think it brings up one of the one of the interesting things about this movie is because, uh, there they try. Everyone tries to stop or kill Ricky, and then they try and get him to join them, and then they try and stop or kill Ricky again, and none of these are very successful, obviously, But it also makes me

wonder how he got arrested in the first place. I mean, maybe maybe he had faith in the system, or maybe deep down he was like, the roots of this corruption have to go all the way to a corrupt prison system. So I am going to allow myself to be captured so I can go to this prison, clean it up, burn the poppy fields that are hidden inside the prison, and defeat the warden. But who knows. I don't Maybe he doesn't have that much forethought. Yeah, that's true. You

never do see how he got there. You see the backstory of his girlfriend and why he is a damaged man. But um, yeah, that's interesting. Maybe maybe his faith in the system had not been eroded yet, and luckily he has become by the end of the movie, has become radicalized like many of us. At this point, I think we figured it out. Although now that I'm looking at my list about favorite kills, when he knocks the top

half of that guy's head off, that's pretty great. That is very great that I got that one saved on my phone. I feel like I have between this movie and Critters too, I have a lot of I don't know which one I have more gifts saved on my phone for well, I mentioned the Gang of Four. Those are the sort of the head of each of the gangs, which they spell out very plainly at the beginning with the narration. But the three um, the gang of three

it becomes, are very interesting to say the least. Yeah, you have uh Tarzan, who is a giant with a giant pompadour and wears a lot of fur uh and he's like the strong man uh in in my translation. You have a character called God who throws needles with wires attached them at people. Yeah, and has that great hairstyle. He has a very great hairstyle. And then you have h huang Chuan, which I'm I'm sure I'm mispronouncing who uh I is at least at least gender neutral, if

not somewhat somewhat feminine. Yeah, I thought it was a lady for a little while, you can't quite tell. And then they don't address it, um which in in what is otherwise very much a men's prison, um and she uh he uh. They seem to be the most accomplished martial artist of the group. Right. And the other interesting thing about this prison is though there are guards everywhere, there's never like I said, there's no consequences, and there's never any rhyme or reason to win. Who is where

at any given point. No, I mean, maybe it's because I'm i haven't spent much time in touristic futuristic Chinese prison. Maybe they all It all kind of looks like like a school, or like times, or like an office building, like the assistant warden's office very much looks like a last minute, thrown together office. Yeah, and then you know they clearly didn't have a bunch of sets because they shoot several scenes in that sort of nondescript staircase area.

Oh yeah, and they get them. They get the most out of that area, Like they use those stairs for fights. They throw people down the stairs. Ricky gets covered in and cement and then uh falls down the stairs. That's a great part is when they Ricky is covered in cement and he's slowly advancing on the warden and then uh, he all of a sudden just stops and falls down the stairs. And they're like talking about how the you know, he can't move because of all the cement, but I

mean it looks really wet. It does, and he also breaks out of it with his abs of steel. He just he adds up in the cement just breaks, you know, just cracks apart, which is wonderful, which I think might be I mean, it's just more evidence that Ricky is simply trying to let the let his opponents reveal their hand so he can so they can make their play and expose himself so he can defeat them. That's right.

And the movie culminates in in a great like kind of final ten minute sequence where the warden, who's, like you said earlier, is supposedly the best fighter. Um, he sort of does an incredible hulk thing where he turns into this giant, well, this giant hulk like creature, uh somehow, and then they have a great fight and he gets punched through all the way through the midsection and again he's still going at it. But why don't you tell

everyone how he finally dies. It's pretty wonderful. Yeah. So this the warden goes through a transformation that's not unlike like not unlike a mighty morphin power ranger monster moment where he goes from like a normal little guy who a bigger guy and he you know, he's very tough, uh, And Ricky of course uh fights him, picks him up and sticks him in an industrial meat chopper that we have been introduced to earlier. So you have to believe it. It's really so he slowly pushes the warden into this

chopper while being covered in blood. The story is that they used so much fake blood that the actor's skin had been stained red for days. Uh. And so he slowly pushes the warden into this meat chopper. Uh and obviously saving the day because immediately afterwards, he goes out into the prison grounds, punches a hole, punches a hole in the prison walls, all everybody escapes. That's right, he punches a hole in the prison, Like that's the only way this movie could end. I think is punching a hole.

And it's not. You know, he doesn't punch a human size hole in the prison. He punches a a you know, a very large like he could drive a semitruck through this hole. It's almost like he needed to go through all these stages so that he could power himself up enough to punch a hole through that wall, because otherwise one might argue if I'm sure, Like when Neil Degrass Tyson reviews this movie, he's like, it doesn't make sense. He should have punched a hole through the wall right

at the start. Uh. Man, it's so great, Uh, I mean, thanks for turning me onto this movie. In this genre. Had so much fun watching it, and I'm definitely gonna explore more stuff like this, but it's I don't know, It's it might be hard to start at like the zenith and then go backwards. Yeah, have you had Have you had experiences with that sort of thing before, Like when you've you've entered or experienced like the highest moment of a genre or a style, only to be disappointed

by all the other stuff. Yeah, I don't know if I can think of um, Like, for instance, for me, when I first started watching Japanese animation, I think the first two movies I watched were A Kira and then Uh and then like Ninja Scroll, and then I was very disappointed by a lot of things for a while before you know, finding like basically being reintroduced to the

studio oh ghibli stuff. But I think the only thing I can think of is when I was twelve years old, my now brother in law then my sister's boyfriend sat me down seven years older than me and made me listen to Leonard Skinnerd's debut album and introduced me to southern rock. And I'm still a leonyrd Skynerd fan, but after that, I was like you know most of the

southern rock is not so great. Yeah, it's it's really tough, like the Yeah, I feel like sometimes the like crossover elements of different like I'm I'm I listened to a lot of heavy metal music, and sometimes the stuff that has enough crossover appeal, like the more extreme stuff that has a crossover appeal with me, I'm like, oh, let me check out things like this. Oh no, I shouldn't have done So, dude, we're gonna finish with five questions. Is something I haven't done in a long time, but

I'm gonna bring it back for you. Uh. And I did not prep you for this, so if you need a second to think of your answers, don't feel bad. Um. First question, what's the first movie you remember seeing in the theater? Uh? Ghostbusters? Okay? How old are you? I am forty okay? Uh? And I saw Ghostbusters and my mom covered my eyes during the first ghost scare because it was She said it was too scary for me. But when I asked, she said, he uh, the ghost

looked like skeletor. For those of you listening at home, by the way, when Stewart said that he was forty, you kind of shrugged a little bit as if to say, like, is that a good age? I was like, because I was like, oh man, I better do some maths. So carry the one. What is the first R rated movie you saw theater or home or wherever? Uh? Was it noteworthy? I mean, that's that's tough to say. I feel like the one that I remember the most was like, it

was either RoboCop or Predator. Okay, yeah, RoboCop. That that's a great first R rated film. Mine was Escape from New York. By the way. Oh wow, that's a good one. Yeah, that was a good one. Number three, well, this is interesting. Number three for you is I'm not sure how you're gonna answer this because you do a bad movie podcast. But the question is do you walk out of a bad movie? I have never walked out of a bad movie. I think, yeah, I I'm trying to think the I

think the closest I came was Man of Steel. I took a lot of extra long bathroom breaks during that one. But we were there for my my father in law's birthday. He likes he likes dinner in a movie for his birthday, so that an he like an He likes superheroes, in the absence of a movie featuring Wolverine, he will just watch any superhero movie and you like sitting in the lobby while the Man of Steel is on and scrolling through your Twitter. Yeah, arguably more effective use of my time. Uh.

Number four usually tailored to the guests. So I'm gonna say, you know, you've seen a lot of bad movies because of the flaphouse, which one is the worst one that you can think of? And because you guys have a rating system where it's a bad bad movie a good bad movie, or movie kind of like which one is just really sort of reprehensible and just pure trash. I

mean there's a lot of them. Uh. I mean the it's it's really tough because you know, we watch a lot of them, and there's you have the like passion projects that are missed from like misguided maniacs uh And I for the most part, I don't want to single boost any of these guys. Um and those are bad, but they're like dumb and they they're so incompetent that

there's you can kind of laugh at them. But then you get like the big studio ones where you're like they're just so boring because anything that would have been interesting about them has been like ironed out. Yeah, the ones, the ones that have been bumming me out the most lately are things like the most recent Rambo, which is Rambo Last Blood, which is just like super racist and shitty and falls back on like the laziest shitty like tropes. Yeah,

listen to that episode. Actually I haven't seen the movie, but not listen to it, do not? Or like the Death Wish remake is pretty bad? Or uh oh, and then or we did the we watched that movie The Haunting of Sharon Tate, which which kind of which which like posits a reality where they approach the Sharon Tate murder as like a ghost worry and it's just it's horrible.

Don't watch that? All right? Fair enough? And then finally question five, movie going one on one back when theaters were open and once they reopen, what is your ritual? Where do you sit? Where do you go? What do you get at the concession stand? Uh? Yeah, I mean, uh, I'm not. I'm not super proud to admit, but my my movie my movie going place of choice is the Brooklyn Alamo Drafthouse. I love I love the programmer there.

I don't agree with a lot of the policies and uh are they controversial, Yeah, there's, um they haven't been. I mean, I'm obviously I'm open to be corrected. But from my understanding, they have been particularly good to their staff during this situation. And also uh tim league has had some issues with not supporting uh claims of abuse against his Louise. So basically a bunch of bunch of things that aren't cool. But the there's I love the

way that they do their business. I try to frequent other places that are similar, but I like I am a huge fan of places where I can pick my seat. I like having a lot of room. I sit, Uh, I guess toward the middle, although no, actually that's a lie. I try and sit near the edge because I do have to pee. Because I also like to drink beers when I go to movies, and preferably it'll be a

place that serves them. Um so, and I do. I do go to a fair amount of movies by myself, especially in the afternoon, Like an afternoon movie by myself in the world. It's such a treat, uh, if you're in I don't know what the New world is going to be like, but if you're in New York, the Battery Park Movie Theater uh in during the day, during the week is the best best matinee spot in the world. Nobody's there big theater. Uh yeah, it's always empty. So that's the kind of place where I'll have to go

and remind people to start the movie. For me, it's like, it's like getting to rent out a multiplex all by yourself so you can watch Crawl or Happy Deaf Day to you, dude. I love it all right, man, Thanks Stewart. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, man, thanks for having me. This was a blast. Yeah. What are your what's your social media is? What do you want to plug? Just go ahead and lay it all out there. Yeah. Sure, you can check me out. I'm on Twitter at flop

House Cat. Um. If you get a chance, uh and you're in Brooklyn, please check out Hinterlands Bar, Mini's Bar, or Charlene's Bar. Uh. You can follow us at Hinterlands Bar, Hinterlands Underscore Bar on Instagram or at Mini's Underscore Bar on Instagram. Um, and uh yeah, check out the if if you like talking to If you like here in a couple of knuckleheads talk about movies. Check out the flop House podcast on the Maximum Fun Podcast Network. Awesome,

thanks brother, Yeah, thank you, all right, everybody. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. It was good to hang out with Stewart virtually through the old skype on the computer. Again. He's just a wonderful, winsome guy and it was fun to hang out and talk to him about his background and his cool NERD gaming painting figurines thing and D and D thing. I love it. It's something I've never been into, but uh, it's something that intrigues me here at this age, I might get

into that, and you guys, you never know. I might be painting some tiny figurines at some point. So big thanks to Stewart, big thanks to the Flophouse for being a part of this project at this set of three, and the Maximum Fun Network which has always been so good to me. Uh, Jesse Thorne's network over there. Uh, they're they're great people. They have great shows. And I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And Cheez, get out there and watch Ricky. Oh, the story of Ricky.

It is fantastic. So thanks for listening, and we will see you next week. Moody Crush is produced, edited, and engineered by Ramsay Hunt. You're 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.