All right, that's super loud, and I'm only gonna get louder. Okay, we go, Okay, bulky interesting development in the world of off topic he might be interested in hearing. I was talking with a good friend of mine, he says.
Uh, who listens to the show.
Yeah, yeah, he started listening to the show. He likes what we're about. He appreciates our opinions on movies. But he had an interesting criticism that I wanted to run past year.
Uh.
He tells me that it's ridiculous that we are not spoiling these movies for people. That he said. People want confirmation that a movie either sucked or was awesome, and they want to hear other reviewers talk about whether what are the things that they liked and the things they didn't like. He was listening to our weapons episode, and there's a there's a lot of twists and turns as to how we get there, and like in a in a non linear fashion in that movie. Go ahead, do you.
Feel like I mean, as far as like review, I mean, we still tell you whether we liked it or didn't like it, or whether it was good or bad without the spoilers.
Right, Yeah, to an extent, yes.
And so that we need more feedback on like are people listening to this show prior to seeing the movie?
Yeah?
Or are are they listening to it, you know, after the fact, after the fact, or are they listening to it to like Okay, I'm gonna see what what Ben and Balky say about this movie before I decide to go see it, right, Yeah, you know, And and I don't know how people because everybody consumes media differently.
Yes, there's a I mean, we obviously don't have the time nor dexterity to do it. There's a handful of people that do a spoiler free one and then a spoiler one like saying like check this out. I want to determine. They do two of them, but like they're only six or seven minutes long. It's kind of a quick one hitter about what's happening, and then he's like, can come back after. I think it's like Jeremy John's or something like that. He's one of the more prominent
YouTube viewers right now, and not mad. It's just that's somebody who who has opinions that remain pretty consistent. And then he's like, come back after you see it. Nutes yeah, okay, yeah, and then and then see what I thought about it and what parts ticked me off and what parts did and I'm like, well, that's an interesting take on it, for sure. But the end of the day, it's all about consistency, right, Like, as long as your voice is consistent in what you like and don't mind, I think we can.
We can explore doing more spoiler stuff, you know, in future episodes. I think for this one, as as you alluded to in our conversation about this movie, Pogonia, Pogonia it is, it would be a disservice to do any spoilers for this one.
Yeah, it would be like saying, oh, by the way, Tyler Durden is is two people pretendingly, you know, like it's kind of like a similar idea. The whole thing is built on almost like a will they won't they kind of moment, and so I would hate to ruin that for the purposes of this movie. But maybe going forward we we will announce at the beginning of the episode where we'll let you into Dell so so And.
Here's the Here's the great thing about it is you have to download it to find out whether we're going to spoil it or not, and then if you choose not to listen to it, that's fine because we got your down. We we're good on that then. So so yeah, it makes perfect sense. So this movie was now number Okay, so let's just set the listeners up here. This is a film by I don't know, I guess famed director. Would you would you say famed the director? His name is.
I want to make sure I'm pronouncing it right. Yourgos lanthemos yeky solid Greek individual? Is he Greek?
You listen to that man? That's Greek as hell?
Okay, Yeah, he is Greek? Okay, sorry and uh. It is a English language remake of the South Korean film which came out twenty two years ago called Save the Green Planet Okay by Jun Huan Jang or or Jang Jun Huan is is the person who directed that. This movie follows the story of two young men. Okay, that kidnap a CEO of a very powerful pharmaceutical company, believing that she is secretly an alien who is hell bent on destroying Earth.
Okay. Yes.
It stars Emma Stone, Jesse Flemons, Aiden, Delvis Stavros, Hukias.
Yep from another solid Greek.
From the Yeah, I wonder if they if that's why he he hosts the Cometown podcast or actually he used to was one of the.
I was wondering why this sounds like I'm being ironic. I've never listened to the podcast, but he's popped up on my social media's in like thirty seconds.
Comic he's a comic.
Yeah.
And then Alicia Silverstone is in this as well.
Yeah.
Okay, so let's get into this. Number one. Does this and I know it came out in late October early November. Does this feel like it has any holds any water as far as award season goes?
Oh my god, totally yes. Really, I'm already seen Movie of the Year buzz going around.
I saw that too, but I never you know, I never really buy into this.
Oh, it could be off topic with Ben and Bulky say this is the movie the year?
You know what I mean?
Like, there's so many different groups that do this that you can pull out clip.
There was a movie that came out as based on a Steve Martin novella called shop Girl. This this came out, I don't know, dude, like twenty some years ago. Starts Steve Martin and Claire Danes okay, okay, And I remember the buzz on this was like, oh my god, that Steve Martin is gonna win. He's a shoe in for you know, Best Original screen or Best Adapted Screenplay. And Claire Danes is going to be hard to beat. At Oscar time, neither one of them were.
Nomine Yeah, I remember that movie, Like that goes to show you how you don't remember of the zeitgeist. It really impacted. There's nothing there.
So then for a film that comes out this early in October, yeah, I'm like, I have my concerns, but you believe, like, okay, this this has some staying power.
There's some stay in power there. It's based the original. The Korean version of this movie is actually much more popular amongst film people than I realized.
Fun fact, jinhu Jang, who directed the original, was slated to direct this one as well. Oh wow, And then he bowed out, like the wheel started getting in motion in this five years ago for this Pogonia flick. And then somehow there was a directorial change and he was out and Lanthimos took over, which I thought was I mean, I've never seen any of Jang's movies, so I can't compare it, but I do know what Lanthemos is capable of, right, and he didn't disappoint.
Yeah, I would agree. And it's interesting because, like I don't know if you've ever seen Battle Royale, which is it's a Korean take on Hunger Games, Like you watch it and they put a bunch of it, and it came out before Hunger Games. I think that's probably an important distinction here, and I would argue, if you're comfortable reading a movie instead of watching a movie, pound for pound,
it's way better than Hunger Games. Seeing this movie and hearing that it was a more gritty, realist take on the Originals movie makes me want to see the Korean version of it because I am a fan of the weird and the strange and the unusual, and this movie has that in spades. But when people ask me, John Jordan walked past, He's like, you saw Bagonia, what'd you think?
I said, if I had to give you a way, no, okay, And I said, if I had to give you a one sentence review, it was it was an incredibly strange movie. I liked it quite a bit, but I wish it were stranger, like there was a lot.
Just what you said. Somebody told you that, wasn't it. Somebody at the theater.
Told you, yes, yes, the ticket taker said it. And then I went in there. Whether she poisoned my belief or otherwise, I was sitting there expecting it to get a little more loopy, and it most certainly does at times. It'll keep you on the edge of your seat. And we'll get more into that in the second in a very suspenseful kind of way. But say, hearing this described
is a gritty, realistic take. Maybe it's because again diving into the subtext here, a lot of parallels between the real world and today with conspiracy theorists and doing your own research and jumping to conclusions based on your own preconceived notions, a lot of a lot of parallels, or at least I see them given my line of work. Maybe that that that exists in the real world here, But definitely I wouldn't describe it as realistic at times, But here we are.
There was another like this is sort of like another have and have not conflict to an extent that we saw on roof. Man, I feel like this this has been a recurring theme. Good Fortune was the other one.
Yeah, realistically, almost anything long walk long Walk, Yeah, the long Walk Running Man is going.
To be there totally. When does that come up?
By the fourteenth, So we got a week that we have to figure it out.
I have some ideas for our next perfect We'll get to that at the end. Okay, So realistic take the way that this was set. Okay, So here's the other thing I wanted to bring up with you. It is clear in this movie that and we're not spoiling anything. Jesse Plemmons his character, and Aiden delviis his character. These are the two that are are the conspiracy theorists, right, and really, if you look at this, Plemmons is the
guy that's guiding Don Teddy. Teddy is guiding his cousin Don, who is clearly has an intellectual.
Best performance in the movie in my opinion.
Now, did you know this Aiden Delvis is on the autism spectrum? I did not guess thats so he and this is like his first feature film.
He was phenomenal.
He was really good. He was phenomenal, and and perhaps the reason he was so good was because he wasn't acting. Yeah, well, I mean, he was acting, but but he actually has autism.
It's it's the same idea. So I grew up, I worked at a summer camp for kids with disabilities, So it's always in the back of my mind when people are being jerks about it. I remember back in two thousand and eight when Johnny Knoxville's The Ringer came out and everybody was ready to crap on that movie because it used people with real special needs and he was
competing against him in the Olympics. Yep, every single one of those people have gone on to be seen in other movies, and everyone at that camp that was all the counselor's favorite movie of the side, Like I love that movie. And this followed, I love when they actually get the people. I'd rather you find somebody with the deficiency put them in the in the role rather than have somebody who has developed in a more normal way trying to pretend.
And this goes back to the I mean, there's a debate should straight actors play gay characters, should gay characters play straight or should gay actors play straight? You know, and and I don't know, Like for me, it's kind of like, if you're good, you're good.
Yes, do it. That's a little different to me. I feel like you can swing back. Yeah, that's a different question in my opinion at the very least. But that's a fair point. That's definitely a fair point. You're making me questions.
Yeah, I still see it on the on the same plane field. Yeah, and maybe I shouldn't, but but I still see that. Not that again. I don't want to get bogged down in that. Yeah, that's what this is.
In any event, This isn't outside the box conference a thousand.
But I want to say, in a movie where Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone were phenomenal, uh, they weren't the best performance in my opinion, And I didn't even know that he was when I came out of the movie thinking that, I'm like, no, that guy will see him again and stuff, because uh, I thought I thought he played the role very well, very clearly representative of He goes with the flow right, Like you said, they're both conspiracy theorists realistically, one of his and one guy's looking
for something to believe him.
Well, he he talks about how how much Don talks about how special Teddy is to him and how much he loves him, so he's clearly just you know, is clinging on to whatever Teddy's telling him, like you know, and then Teddy kind of I don't think there's a whole lot of mental abuse that he does to that character, to Don, but there is a certain amount of like I for selfish reasons, Yeah, I need somebody else to help me with this, and and and he is is the guy he chooses. Now, more casting stuff before we
get into the actual plot. Alicia Silverstone, you said you didn't even recognize it, didn't recognize her. Now she's basically in what three scenes I want to say, probably.
Not probably not ninety seconds cumulatively in the movie.
Oh yeah, for sure, it's more than ninety seconds. Yeah. I don't want to get into this whole argument again, but it's definitely more than ninety seconds. A right, fine, the first scene alone that she's in that that has to be more.
Than maybe I just maybe I was just like, okay, I get it.
All right. So so she plays Eddy's mom Teddy's mom in it. And then the other guy that Stavros I can't remember what his name was, the podcast host. Yes, and that's basically the cast man. Yep is it's very tight. It's it's you get great character development. I thought for for Plemmon's character. I thought the character development for Don was really good too. For Iden Delvis and uh, you know Amma Stone, she her her performance was good, Like it was fine. I didn't. I didn't really, I'm I mean,
I don't know. It's you want to know.
What's stuck out about it to me is it's one of the first times that I have ever seen like there was no damsel in distress elements to what she was Like. She did it in a very there was almost no panic, which when you hear about CEOs and like, there's a very cold, clinical attitude that they take, and she kind of maintains that even when she's chained up in a basement with a couple of people that are clearly a bit nuts.
Yes, clearly I think that that you have to understand there. I was never expecting a damsel in distress based on the opening what twenty minutes of the film. Sure, she is a massive alpha yeah, you know, like woman man, it doesn't matter. Like she is in control of every aspect of her life. And you knew that she didn't get there by being a Patsy or anything like that. So the way that she reacted was totally the way
I would expect her to react. Now, I will say, the performance goes where you know, she is believed by these two guys to be an alien, that is that is trying to destroy earth, right, put, I'm gonna ask you this question every podcast? Who are you in this movie?
Ben? See? There there weren't enough characters. Probably I'm a stone right to a certain extent. But there there's one line where she talks about winners and losers, which isn't how I'm wired. So like that that was distinct from from who I am. But what's funny is is you, if you ask my listeners, I'm probably closer to Teddy than anybody, just because, like I will acknowledge, I'm like, you know, there's probably some I mean, the hell, how many times do you joke with me that I'm the
conspiracy theory. I'll tell you that sports are ring, right, and I'll deal with all this kind of stuff. That's the kind of first who he is to the nth degree, of course.
But you would never go to the nth degree like he is.
Yeah, right, unless, of course I knew Chauncey Phillips rigged it in favor of Green.
They wouldn't go to them. Okay, so I will say one of the at least for me, you go back and forth in this. I think there is a good long period of this film where I believe that this is a commentary on conspiracy theorists in general. Yes, right, and this guy is clearly unhinged. You see kind of why he's unhinged and how that character became to be the person that he is in this movie. And then it switched at some point, and I don't know exactly when.
It wasn't just it wasn't like a flip of the switch where all of a sudden I'm like, God, is she an alien? Yeah, it was more of like a transition, and there was maybe there was just some clues laid in some of the scenes, and I'm kind of wondering. I'm like, well, this is not what a human would do, is it? And but I still never really question And then towards the end you really question it. You're like, Okay, I can't believe I'm saying this are the conspiracy theorists
right in this? And I'll give you the spoiler you find out one way or the other in this which was satisfying to memm that that we found out you know, who was correct, who was not correct. And I do think now that I you know, you talk about Emma Stone's performance. For her to go back and forth of threatening these guys than placating them, then admitting that she was an alien, you don't know if that's the truth.
You don't know if she's messing with them. I think clearly she's on a higher intellectual level sure than both of these two guys are. And so you don't know, so from that standpoint, and you know, and keeping you wondering whether she is, you know, some sort of being from outer space that's you know, in a human body.
I think from that standpoint, her performance was really good and I, you know, thinking about it now, it's just like, think about all the different ways she has to play this character in order for the audience to be on the edge of their seats, guessing themselves, trying to figure it out themselves this whole time too. So while I thought that Plemmons, I was more interested in him as the movie went on, obviously you get much more interested
in Emma Stone's character. And its Michelle Fuller, which was her name.
Yeah, and it's a much more impressive feat to keep people on the edge of their seat when it's a slow burn like this movie is. There were So I went on a Monday as opposed to a Tuesday. I normally catch the five dollars movies, which pulls more people out. Yep. I was in a theater with four people today, which is Monday, so that's not my normal experience. In preparation for this show, I found myself in the first thirty minutes, I was like, what were people saying about this movie
because it was so slow? And some people were like I got forty five minutes in and walked out, uh oh really yes, wow because it was just too slow. I'm like, okay, well, like I wasn't ever considering that part of it, but just to get a feel for it. And so apparently a lot of people. I don't know if it's the short attention span we always hear about
right now or what it is. Yeah, but to me, and I'm not saying it was on that level, but to me, the master of slow scenes where nothing happens, punctuated with intense violence or a jaw dropping moment is Quentin Tarantino?
Yes, but and he does it too. I mean, I'll say this, you finish your thought here, and then I have some stuff to say about Tarantino as opposed to Lathemos here. Yeah, and by the way, weapons, didn't we also get the title card for weapons like twenty five minutes?
Yeah, for sure, keep going on. But I say all that to say, like, you take inglorious bastards. For example, in the first scene with the jew Hunter, and at one point the guy's lighting his pipe. Now they're emphasizing him lighting the pipe because the pipe is an important part of that scene if you've ever seen the movie. But when you're watching it and you don't know where the scene is building, you're like, why am I watching this guy light a pipe for forty five goddamn seconds?
Like this movie's two and a half hours long. We really didn't have to make this that long. I felt myself feeling that way, And I don't feel like this film here kind of mastered that art as much as Tarantino did. But at the same time, once it got going, I was in for the rod. Yeah, but it does take a second several seconds for you to get there.
So regarding the Tarantino thing, like, listen, I think I have made up my mind that everything he makes as gold. Yeah, you know, I just I can't unbiasedly talk about him. Sure, his personal assistant I play in a fantasy football league with. Yeah, and she was going to be a guest on my show one night.
Uh huh.
And this was many years ago. And I get a phone call about fifteen minute it's before we go we're going live, and on the caller I d is landline. It was my cell phone. On the caller ID Quentin Tarantino. I'm like what and she was She's like, hey, listen, I might be a few minutes late. I'm showing some woman around Quinton's place, so so don't don't worry if I don't pop on right away. I'm like, oh, that's pretty nice that you're just, you know, some sexual conquest
for Tarantino. You're giving a tour of his pad in Malibu or whatever. Okay, So regards to Tarantino, I think that he a lot of the stuff he does, at least his later works. To me, maybe I'm just too stupid, Ben, Yeah, but to me, a lot like hateful late there are some long stretches in that movie Jackie Brown, I think to a certain extent as well, which I know is not one of his later works. Stuff I didn't need to see. Sure, I'm just and like, I didn't understand
the point of it. It wasn't setting up anything. What was the one the DiCaprio one Once upon time in Hollywood had those moment like that, the whole Brad Pitt scene with Bruce Dern is that I'm like, Jesus, what in the hell is just?
And I felt like, but see, the thing is, I think it's what's built into our subconsciousness. It's Tarantinos, so I know it's going somewhere I didn't have.
But my point is that it doesn't always go somewhere with him like that that went nowhere, but.
The overarching you know the movie. At some point you're going to come out of that movie and be like, I enjoyed that.
He always pays pays off the audience.
Yes, you don't have that guarantee with you.
You don't because you don't know exactly. And and now I'm thinking the way that you know, because I've been watching a lot more movies since we started doing this podcast. Now I'm thinking, like it is just a normal not
plot device. What am I trying to say here? A normal aspect of modern cinema to have just these slow paces movie scenes where all of a sudden all hell breaks loose because it enhances the the the drama and and the sharp I agree, you know, And I feel like I've been bringing that up a lot of the last four or five episodes, and I just think that's what people do now. Now, whether that's a commentary as you were saying earlier on people's expans or whatever, this
is the way you have to shock people. But these directors, these screenwriters, these actors, editors, cinematographers, whatever you want to say. They know they have you in the dark for two hours, right, and how they utilize those two hours is up to them. And I think that that a lot of people have gone to this aspect of listen, we're gonna bore you to death, to the point where like, God, I can't believe I'm watching this till all of a sudden something happens.
You're like, that's why they did it? Yeah, And I think there was at least two or three that's why they did it. Moments in this film.
Oh sure, Yeah, I can think of at least three right off the top of my head. So I did. That feels like a fair assessment that it's It's an interesting way to approach it. I understand that it's not going to be for everybody. Yeah, that's kind of what I leaned into when I said I expected it to be weirder, Like there's probably a solid hour where it just feels like a normal hostage movie.
Yeah, and uh, to be real.
Uh. Jesse Plemans plays Todd in the final in the final season of Breaking Bad with Jesse in the.
Here's the difference. Here's the difference. There was much more emotion in this film with Teddy.
Yeah, with Todd, okay.
Todd was was very emotionless and very la fair with with a lot of stuff. But Teddy was not.
But okay, eventually, when what you think about when they first meet, though, he's like, put the lotion on you. It's very clinical. He puts a suit on. He's like, we're gonna be a normal We're gonna we're gonna be
professional about this. There is an element of institutionalized. I compare it to uh, what what's what's the terminus in walking, walking dead, where like they're knocking people in the back of the head, slitting their throats in the traw and then three people just show up, like how many bodies you have? They're like fourteen, They're like okay, and the
Mark it's not evil, it's just food. And that was kind of how Todd carried himself with Jesse, and that's how Jesse Plemons Teddy carries himself with Emma Stone in this movie as well. Not to say he's typecaster doesn't have any range, but I think he would find a lot of parallels between the Civil War.
Right, Yes, wasn't he sort of an unfeeling cold hearted.
Yeah, for the I know you're gonna knock me. For the ninety seconds he was in that movie.
Well he was hard. Yeah, Okay, realize, Yeah he's.
The best part of the movie. Yes, yeah, she's the main actress, but he's in it. He plays the best kind of racist, like just like he makes you feel it even as a white guy watch him, like, oh, this is gonna be bad for these people, Like the second he shows up on the scene and he is You could even go to a game night with Rachel McAdams and Jason Bateman a comedy movie. He plays the
next door neighbor. He recently left him, and he was the creepy monotone guy who holds the little dog like, yeah, why do you have the three bags of chips over there if you're not having a party.
You know his nicknames. I've heard Fat Damon because he looks sure, I mean when he put out all that weight for the Irishman.
Yeah.
And then I've also heard, and this was from Breaking Bad, they call him meth Damon, you know, because there are there are some elements and he does have that creepy kind of like cold shark eyes, you know, Yes, they're just empty.
And also I use the U have Do you are you a Black Mirror person? Do you know what that calister?
No, I listen this is Is this the doppelganger move? Or No, that's orphan black right? Yeah, okay, I don't know anything about Black.
Black Mirror is an anthology series where every episode is different. It takes place in the future, and the long and short of it is I don't want to take too long on it. He is an it guy that creates an entire virtual reality where he's like essentially Captain Kirk in Star Trek, like he is the leader of a
ship and everyone else is his subordinates. But what he did was take everybody's personality, Like essentially he'd take one of your hairs, Bulky, if you were an enemy of his the real world, he'd get one of your hairs and essentially put a version of you in this and treat you like shit while you're in there, and he messes with people. It's a very dark episode.
So what is the glue that holds Black Mirror together. There's not it's just a Twilight Zone.
Yeah, okay, yeah, it's very good. But in any event, he's on there and he's playing the same character. Again. I'm sure there's examples of him not being that, but I sure as hell heaven.
He was a sweetheart in the Friday Night Lights TV.
Okay, see I never saw that.
Okay, Yeah, he was like this nerd who had a crush on the cheerleader, the head cheerleader, or without the head cheerleader, but one of the main cheerleaders who was dating the big stud football but you know, full back on the team. And then he eventually makes the team, he gets the girl, and it was it was a real cool arc for him. Yeah, which is weird because that was the first time I ever saw him in anything.
Sure, and then you watch.
Breaking Bad and it's just all this weird good good for him his career, like it's it's taking off. He's he's doing a lot of awesome stuff.
It's the mark of a good actor. You'll find yourself feeling that way in this movie as well, like you won't like him at times, other times you'll be incredibly sympathetic towards and you'll find yourself bouncing back and forth over the course of two hours. And it's it really is a testament to what he's able to do with this role.
The sheriff when he stops by, what do you think?
Because well, I was going to ask you, I was gonna because they don't did I zoe out? Do we know what happened? I'll just ask they imply something happened in their past.
It used to be a babysitter, used to be to Todd, He used to be Teddy's babysitter. It's implied that at least I don't know molestation.
That's what I took it as. And I was like, did I miss something or am I making a jump, and what does that say about me? If I'm making this jump?
It's never clearly pointed out, and it's not really explored, no too much in it or maybe if when you know, when the listeners, when they see it, they'll have a different take on it. But I wanted to ask you because I didn't. It was very clear, and that's just that's what I surmised.
So I'll take it on a quick sixty second outside the box tour here. The fact that you told me that it was five years ago this movie was put in production only further is what I thought. I thought this was an indictment on if you know what QAnon is, Yeah, QAnon culture and what lends itself to buying into that
kind of philosophy. And you have the isolated guy doesn't have his parents in his life anymore, clearly taken advantage of in some way that isn't explored in a meaningful way by the people that were in his life before, without a whole lot of outlets to be able to improve upon himself. And the only person that he can get to buy into his shtick is somebody who is
in it even worse. And I'd argue, more vulnerable, Yeah, more vulnerable position than he is currently in kind of a testament to what lends itself to believing that there's a ring of pedophiles in a pizza shop in the basement, and kind of things of that nature. And the fact that you told me that this movie was slated to come out five years ago.
Come out five years ago. This is what like when when it got the green light and then okay, let's production is going to begin. Let's get it, let's get at whatever. I didn't look I mean I could look at it.
No, no, it doesn't matter, but I.
May I have it up on my screen. I always like to have the sure the page open on these films.
Yeah, talk about the idea that it was talked about then, when it was more so on everybody's mind. Like I haven't heard anybody mention QAnon in four years, you know what I mean? Whereas the conspiracy theorist element was much more relevant, uh to society five or six years ago. Not to say that it's gone, but it was much more mainstream then.
So so the original director, as I said, was the guy who directed Save the Green Planet. His name was Jang Jun Huan, and he was connected to direct back in twenty twenty, okay, and then basically Will Tracy, I don't know who Will Tracy is. He adapted the screenplay. Ari Astor was one of the producers. And then basically nothing happened on this film for four years, okay, and then that's when the director got changed. I don't know if if if Jang had something else going.
On, yeah that creative differences or.
Creative differences or just couldn't do it. So then Lanthemos replaces him. And then shortly after, as you can guess, Emma Stone is attached to it because she does a lot with with Yorgo's Lanthemos. And then they add Jesse Plemons on in the summer, and then she's very picky and choosy by the way she should be. I mean, she's a two time Academy winner or nominee. I know she's aw I know she's she's been nominated at least twice. I know she's won at least once. Do you know
Jesse Plemons was nominated for Academy. I believe that, I want to say for the Irishman. I could be wrong.
Yeah, I believe it.
Twenty seventeen, Emma Stone was the world's highest paid actress. About that. Yeah, and Time magazine listener is one of the most one hundred influential people in the world. I just think of Jonah Hill falling on top.
Of her super button.
What. Yeah, I just it's wild, right.
Yeah.
And she's married to a guy from sn OL, which is like a producer. I don't know what he was a writer or something. She I'm trying to find the awards here that.
I will say, well, you're looking it up. I found it strange because I thought we were past this point in Hollywood, but she's playing a forty five year old in this movie. And I'm like, wait, is she that much losing me? And she's thirty six, thirty six and they ever playing a forty five year old. I'm like, ah, so.
We're back to the range of Emma Stone.
Yeah, they even you remember what I'm talking about to even make a reference, So, like, am I supposed to believe you look like that and you're forty five? Because they're questioning her about being an alien, She's like, well, I have a hell of a skincare routine, right, And it's sure. But she's also younger than me, so like that definitely is something to do.
All right, So I clearly underestimated what she's been able to do here. She won Best Actress at the Oscars for La La Land remember that felt with Trian Goslin. Then she gets nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Favorite, which she did not win.
I don't even remember that one.
The Favorite was another Yorgos Lanthemos, okay, and then she wins Best Actress with Yorgos Lanthemos Poor Things, which came out a couple of years ago.
Yeah.
So she's won Best Actress twice already. Yeah, at the age of thirty six.
Yeah.
Now does she get a nomination here? Do you think? I mean, we'll have to see what ward season.
I think so.
I think I think she falls short. I don't think.
I don't know that she'll win, but I bet you she can. I don't think she gets nominated. She's got that name recognition. It's a unit and this.
Is her like, this is her film, like she's not gonna have another one come out. Oh sure.
And there's also an artistic element to it for sure, because you know they have her in the white paint she's bald for the for the bulk of the movie.
Yeah, she took some chances.
Yeah, there's certain elements that I think awards ceremonies just love. I have some theories for why she wouldn't win them, but I'll save them from when we're chatting off the air. Not appropriate for this conversation, but I have a theory about that.
But what is that? Is it because of what she did in this film?
No, No, she's in the news for some other stuff the last couple of days.
I did not realize.
Yeah, but nothing bad. But it's just it might screw with your capacity to win an award. I will say that, totally understand. But in any event, she's phenomenon. I've noticed the discourse coming online, and I don't know why we always have to pit people against one another, but if we must, people are saying of the two, because they're roughly the same demo, It's like, who do you think has had the more illustrious career? And it's her or
Jennifer Lawrence. Like this isn't even a close call in my opinion.
But this is gonna be our first Jennifer Lawrence reference of the podcast. I have another one coming up before we're done.
Oh jonderful. Okay, yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
I think it's on a Stone.
Yeah. I don't even think it's close. I think it's close. Yeah.
I mean Jennifer Lawrence is one best actress.
Oh. I just think she's more if you're talking about it in terms of like an actual artiste, like the movies they're making. She does the Blockbuster, She's Hunger Games, she's Miss Emma Stone is like, paint me white and throw me in a basement and.
I'll put me in comedy with Jonah Hill.
Yeah exactly.
She did easy A too. It's not like she's doing all these like.
No, but you got to get your start and then you kind of do your thing.
Jennifer Lawrence, I mean like she got her start and.
She's what's her artist movie?
What was the one with Christian Bale? I thought she was really good in that American Hustle.
Yeah, I know, she wasn't terrible and that I kind of blacked that one out a little bit. That's what what are they art thieves or whatever?
And she is not her husband essentially, it's not really an art they're just convent. Yeah, it's Christian Bale and Amy Adams are convent basically. So she was in that. She was in that biopic about the Oh God, the QBC woman Joy. Do you ever see Joy? I can't but that, but that was I mean, she got nominated for Best Actions.
Those are the ones that get nominated, are the ones I've never heard of. So maybe I'm talking out of my ass here, so I'll just back off.
But she does.
I'll give the edge to Emma phil I would.
Too, because of the two Best Actress awards. Yeah, you know, as far as who's got the bigger net worth, it's got to be Jennifer Lawrence.
I would agree, So I would agree she's just picking and choosey. I mean the Zombielan movies. I think they could make one of those every three years, And she says I will come back once every ten years to do another Zombielan movie.
Unless yeah, right, but yeah, always said like one of his goals was to not be poor enough where he needs to do an Ocean's fourteen. Yeah, and there's talk of doing an Ocean Sports. Oh of course, dude, it is. It's I don't think it's ever been to this advanced stage right now, Clooney as a whole script and everything, and it's gonna be like, oh, what was the what was the film with Morgan Freeman? And they all go to Vegas? Is it last Vegas?
You call it? Yeah?
And and that's sort of like what the theme of this is? And where the hell's it in? Like I love heist movies. Where the hell's the update on the Margot Robi or Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling Ocean's prequel where.
They played Oh, I didn't even realize that was Oh, this.
Was gonna be huge. It was gonna be said they were both set to to star in it. It was gonna be set in Europe, and they played Danny and I can't remember, God, who is She's in Gravity Speed Sandra Bullock. She was Debbie Ocean Ocean and she was Danny Ocean's the brother and sister. Gosling and Robbie we're gonna play the Ocean parents in this prequel set and you're I'm like, oh my god, time me like, let's
make why why can we not make this happen? And then you know we're reading teased with Ocean's fourteen and it has like it's God thank god we have Now you see me. Now you don't coming out. That's that's it's gonna scratch that itch. Anyway, getting back.
To sorry we got off topic first.
By the way, I did look up pagonia, Yes, And the meaning of this is sort of like the belief, the ancient belief that life can come from death. So essentially, bees were believed. I think this is an ancient Egyptian thing. Bees were believed to be hatched from the carcass of bulls or the carcass of oxen, you know, or whatever, which is sort of where Bigonia comes from. And I think there's a little bit of a tie in too, a little bit well, I mean, depending upon how you
look at it. I don't want to reveal anything here, but I think that there's a tie in there in this film as well. We've talked about Okay, we talked about a lot of the actors in this movie. We have not talked about Alicia Silverstone. You did not recognize.
Her, no, But again, maybe I just was a little spacey in that moment and really wasn't looking to recognize anybody. But honest to god, man, I don't know if I've seen her since Batman and Robin, Like, I don't know that I can think of another movie that I've seen her in since nineteen ninety eight. It's true, so I
don't know that it was on my radar. I don't know that I would have recognized her even if I knew she I did not go into the movie knowing she was in it, so it's not like I had my eyes open to begin with.
So you didn't realize that she was in until you saw her name in the credits. Yes, okay, yes, well that makes.
Sense then, yeah, And I honestly, I even I was the only one that stood up. I don't know if there's an after credits scene that someone else knew about that I didn't. But like I got up, there wasn't even any music playing, Like there's just crickets chirping. In the last scene when the credits are rolling, it's very Ombian and I'm just like walking out and I saw Alicia Silverstone and I'm like, wait, was she in like the last scene or was she working in the office?
Like what the hell? When did I miss her? And you told me she was the mother? But I had no idea prior to that. It was very very in and out with her.
I suppose I'm looking up her filmography right now. I'm trying to rack my brain. Have I ever heard of any of these movies?
That's what I'm saying.
Twenty seventeen Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The.
Long Haul, Okay, I know the original. I never saw it, but I know of it.
YaST And then you have to go back to two thousand and eight where and I don't remember this at all, but she had a cameo in the film Tropic Thunder.
I don't remember that either.
No, I don't remember her cameo.
No, although if she's as disguised as Tom Cruise, we could have been looking right at it.
Probably two thousand and four Scooby Doo, two Monsters Unleashed.
People love it, And then I never saw either of them.
I do remember this. This came out two years after Batman and Robin two actors that basically disappeared from the face of Hollywood nineteen ninety nine's Blast from the Past. Oh, bren Fraser and Alicia Silverstone. Yeah, and they were never heard from again. Yeah, except for Brendan Fraser, who did win? Didn't he win? For the Whale? For the Best Actor for the Whale.
Yeah, and if we're going to talk about rebooting series that have long since died, apparently there's a new Mummy coming out, which signed me up for that one. Really yeah, excitement. I loved those movies.
But another time, I will say that she was in American Horror Stories. As far as television goes.
Sure, I've seen a handful of those seasons, but I don't watch it religiously, so I might have missed it.
Oh dude, that to me, it totally strike me as like must watch television for you.
Oh yeah, no, there's good. There's good seasons of it, But like I could do a whole podcast episode on this. Every single one of those seasons drags on three or four episodes too. They never have enough.
I don't it's too creepy for me. I don't the guys at work watch it. I'm like, you know, the whole sawing somebody in a half and then actually you know as a magician, but then you actually did so I don't. That's yeah, I'm out.
Yeah.
I mean, it's great for you, and I hope you enjoy it. I know you do, but I didn't need that. I don't need that. Okay, what else have we not talked about with this movie that we wanted to bring up so far? There's there's a certain aspect of the Earth that I don't know if we should bring up on.
Yeah, I think, like I said, that's why we didn't want to make this a spoiler one because we're dabbling. We've covered a lot of the stuff here and without jumping into what what what's represented By the end, it's kind of difficult to get.
What did you make in the chapters that were because because you know, it's it's sort of like basically the whole the whole premise of this is these two guys want to come aboard this spaceship to to barter or to I don't know, Like I don't think they go to war with but like they want to save planet Earth, and they think the only way they do this is for this alien to lead them onto the spaceship where they can talk to the High Commander there or whatever
and and sort of and sort of save the planet. Right, And the only way that this can be done is during the lunar eclipse, which is happening for the movie starts off with it's four days before the lunar eclipse, and then we sort of get like chapter updates, like four days before lunar eclips three days before. Yes, okay, so you brought it up so we can say it. Yeah, what did you make of Earth being displayed as flat numerous times in this movie?
I loved that, and I mean, it's just to play on everything else that's going on. And I honestly, I think it's why people like my radio show because I will oftentimes stay I understand the principle of flat earthers. I am not a flat earth, but I understand. I said, there's people that actually believe the Earth is flat, and there's people that know it isn't but insist on flat earthing because you've never seen the Earth. I've never seen
the Earth. All we've ever been fed is stuff the people told us, So question everything and go from there. And I respect that attitude with stuff that deserves to be questioned that can't be proven with science and other things. And we've seen the Earth. There's dozens of accounting or accounts of evidence that would back up the theory that Earth is a sphere. I loved the idea of putting it there as a flat earther though, because then again
it only emphasizes to me. I think that was to lead the viewer to believe, like, ah, these crackpots, and then as the as the drapes fall, you begin questioning your own reality. You're even questioning your own reality.
It isn't that wild. I mean, granted, it's a movie, and like you have to suspend belief, but or suspend disbelief.
I guess sure.
You know how we can be so sure of something and then within two hours we're like, okay, but wait, am I sure of this? And I know you know it's not reality. But still at the same time, I know what I was going to ask you. You have seen I we don't know the exact numbers on this. Even though I'm a little bit older than you. How old are you again? Thirty eight? I'm forty five. I'm slightly older. I can say with pretty significant conviction you have seen more films than I have.
Okay, I don't feel like it's close, but now.
I don't think, well, maybe it's close, but I feel pretty comfortable and saying you've seen more. I'm more of a television guy. By size twenty minutes fifty minutes.
Give that.
Okay. Anyway, I am not as adjusted to the way movies are shot, the way that they are presented to the audience as you are in all the different ways they can be.
Right.
You walk into a movie, you sit down, you're watching it, and you're like, oh, okay, so this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen. I okay, this is what they're setting it. And I probably should be able to do that. I can't, and it's probably just my intelligence level. I just I can't pick up on it the way that
you do. You said you were hoping this movie was stranger. Yeah, And while I admit I thought it was going to be weirder than it was, I'm really glad it wasn't, because I think it holds me as more as the more casual viewer between the two of us. It held me into it more were I could just enjoy what was happening in front of me and not have my head completely spinning with well, what did that represent? Why did he say that or did why was this shot?
Why did we not see that? You know, sometimes I think something gets so weird it ruins the enjoyment of the movie. For me, this one did not, and I think it enhanced the enjoyment because I wasn't my head wasn't spinning, you know what I mean, Like it was spinning at certain parts where I'm like, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait wait, oh oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Yeah, you know, And and that was enjoyable. But I'm glad it wasn't stranger.
Yeah.
And the fact that a ticker, a ticket taker at the movie theater who sees a ton of.
Movies, Yeah, you who see a ton of movies, you wanted it to be weirder because I think your movie acumen, your movie language that could be, is more advanced than mine.
Yeah.
That I think like you wanted more peppers in the Gumbo where it was just spicy enough for me.
Yeah. See, I think that's a fair assessment because, like to put it in some perspective, if you didn't see the trailer in the lead up, there was a fifteen second stinger that was all over socials. You'd see it on TV every now and then, and it was one her head is in one of the guy's laps, I think Jesse Plemons, but don't quote me on that, and he looks up and she goes, where's my hair. He goes, well, I had to shave it off. She says why, and he says, so you can't contact the mother ship. She goes,
oh that makes sense. Boom bgonya, come see it this Friday. And I was like, oh, so this is gonna be one of those kind of movies. Okay, great, and it just seems so surrealist to me, like like in that kind in that kind of way. And so for the first hour, like I'll be real, I did get hooked and I did like this movie, but I did feel myself at times like beginning to question. And my ultimate example of this is the sequel to The three Hundred.
They filmed a trailer for that movie, making it look like it was gonna follow the direct aftermath of where The three Hundred ended with the ten thousand soldiers, and then you go get there and you realize it's actually a movie of what was happening when the three Hundred were fighting with the Athenians out on the water. Very
different movie than what I was expecting. And I was sitting there and I'm like, if you didn't want to make this movie, why did you advertise it that way in the advertise because you knew this is the movie we wanted, and so you made us think we were getting that and you gave us something else. And I felt the same way. For like the first forty minutes of this movie. I'm like, you promised me strange as shit, and this is just a hostage movie. This is not
what I signed up for. And then it kept getting weirder and weirder and weirder, and I'm like, Okay, now, all right, this is fine.
I guess with with this specific director and knowing you know, poor things in the Favorite and and the Lobster, which we didn't. I can't believe bring up the lobster at all. Yeah, I knew it was gonna get weird at some point. You know, there's there's an element of strange. Uh. The Wikipedia page for this film describes Begonia as an obserdist black comedy. Of all the movies that we have reviewed
so far, Obserdist black comedy keeps coming up. And I wonder if, like Obserdist black comedy, the definition is becoming more and more all encompassing and broad, because like it's just like, man, people are gonna make what they're gonna make. And I guess if you want to be unique, that that's just the broad definition of you know.
Oh, And I said, do you think that that was appropriate? Oh, that's absolutely an appropriate description. And I think we're gonna mean to.
Be I don't get a whole lot of comedy in this one.
No, there were a couple like, it wasn't butt gusting, gut busting is butgusting gut busting.
There's got there's gotta be like butt gusting's like it's a real gut buster. Now this was a butt gust but there, Yeah, there were.
Two or three times that, as per usual, I was laughing in a room of four people where no one else was laughing. Moment. Yeah. But uh, but most certainly, And I think I've said this on the podcast before, but if you really look at movies in terms of three to four year windows, you notice that there is a trend in every three to four year gap. And maybe we're just in that absurdest comedy where people are focusing on the haves and have nots. Like I say, you find a movie in the nineties, what are the
biggest movies of the late nineties? The Matrix and Fight Club and American Beauty and American Psycho, all.
The Bruckheimer movies too. Yeah, and the comedies, you know, like comedy changed. Yeah, once we got to the late two thousands.
I want to say, you know, sure, but I mean, I guess the overarching message of the late nineties was always like late twenties, early thirties, dude with a boring job trying to find a way to spice up his life.
I don't I think that's more pervasive, you know, throughout I think that that's a common that's a common theme.
But a lot of the bangers. When you go to the early nineties, right when AOL was starting to take off and the Internet was entering our lives, and all the movies are like The lawnmower Man and Terminator to Return and all these movies like TeX's Gonna Get Us Right, and like you just kind of go through the rains. The twenty tens was the Occupy Wall Street era, and now we're in the era of you know, as you said,
the haves and have nots. Whether it's The Long Walk or Roof Man or all these every single movie comes out a good fortune. It doesn't matter which one we pick. It inevitably fits into that group, and we're gonna see a handful more before this this season's over.
But I think the last that kid set us up for a lot of this. Yeah, oh sure, it's a time as a flat circle Russ Cole. Yes, as I always bring up and and we're gonna go through this again. There's gonna be more. AI is gonna be a big time topic. And how you know I Robot came out how many years ago? Was setting the scene for that? Yeah, west World? I mean, if you want to bring up West World, when that came out like the seventies or whatever,
like it was setting us up for AI. And and that's obviously gonna be a big theme going forward here.
It just sticks out to me as well, though, I say, oftentimes I can tell what generation a writer is based on the movie. And it's becoming abundantly clear to me that millennials are starting. I think that's why absurdist in dark comedy is becoming more prevalent. Is that's how people my age are wired like like you, It's why I wanted it to be weirder. The absurdest angle of it, like that is where my bread is buttered. It's it's why millennials will take combinations of oh, we grabbed these
three things, we made it into a smoothie. They don't. We My generation doesn't invent new shit. We take stuff that already exists and put a strange spin on it. And I feel like that's that's what movie are reflecting now today. You're you're not going to invent a new genre. You're not. Vampires have been done to death a billion times? So how do you do a vampire movie? Do sinners?
Yeah? And they're still gonna I mean, listen, the classic vampire movies are still there's a new Dracula that just came out.
Absolutely, they're not going anywhere, That's my point. But you gotta, you gotta what's the word I'm looking for here?
You modern modernized? Yes, it's just fine different take just tweak it a little bit, you know, or or the blending of genres.
I mean, I saw the advertisement for the Christian Bale Maggie Gillenhaal Franken's Bride of Frankenstein Baby that's coming out, that was playing at the theater on Monday, and I'm sitting there and I'm like, honestly, Bride a Chucky was the story of Bride of Frankenstein, but done in a completely different way, and like you don't realize it, and like you just keep inverting on it and it'll be fine. And this is another one of those. And I I absolutely like I was when I walked out of the theater,
I was content. It took me a minute to get to content.
Okay, let's bring this up as much as we could talk about What questions did you have that we're on answered?
I can't ask you on the show, okay, yeah, because I had none, really I had. There's nothing that that once and you answered the question on the show. Why did Emma Stone make the decision she made in the last scene of the movie, Like what drove her to that ultimate conclusion?
I think based on the information that was provided to her, she felt like she had no choice. Okay, I mean that's the way I viewed it. Maybe this is a better off.
Yeah, yeah, we'll jump into it off the air. Yeah, that's all right. I got a programming meeting coming up. So should we get to ratings here?
Yeah? Ratings, and then I want to talk about next week. You go ahead first, I have not by the way normally I think about ratings before I do this. I've not thought about it at all.
Yeah, Oh for sure, I if I This is a harder one for me because there were elements I like, the elements I didn't like. And I always say a six means that held my attention about scrolling my phone, And I was scrolling my phone, but not because I was bored, just because I was more so like, what did I sign up for? Because I went in so cold?
But isn't that isn't that Isn't that a positive aspect of the movie.
Where So that's why I'm setting the stage because I'm going to go above a six despite the fact that I said me, scrolling means it's below a six, and I would say six point five maybe a seven on a good day.
Yeah, I'm gonna give it an eight.
Yeah.
I thought that this was an original idea. Yeah, I thought the execution was fun, and I think that they're they're probably I'm speculating there is a temptation to make this more complicated than it had to be and it wasn't.
And I applaud that decision because for movie novices like me, Yeah, we got to enjoy a really artsy film by a director who usually makes complicated stuff, right yeah, And we got to enjoy all aspects of it because it was and maybe it was cookie cutter, maybe it was cartoonish, maybe it was a little sugary, right, yeah, it was pleasant for me, It tasted great. Yeah, oh sure, So
that's why it gets an eight for me. I just this is like an art house movie for people who don't normally like art house movies.
That's such a great explanation of it, because even though like I am by no strange, I always joke I said, I am the slumlord of movie fans, Like I normally do not get into the high end element of anything, whether it be horror movies or otherwise, like once you make it too slow of a draw, like I'm going there to be entertained, and this never hit that point. It was just I was nervous it was going to be a more mediocre take on a story that we've seen a hundred times over, and this was It was
much more fun. And like I always say, my favorite thing is when I don't know who to trust anymore. Like we've mentioned that even in the Megan movie, which received our lowest review, I was like, that was what I hated most about it is you could tell that Megan was on the side of the humans very early on and there was not going to be a lot of back and forth. Yeah, this I think I changed my mind six times over, which that to me is the sign of something good because I'm sitting there like
I don't know what it's gonna happen. Yeah, I think I know what's happening. But again, just because I watched a thousand movies, it reminded me of another one. I'm not gonna say which because I think that would tip my hand as to what happens in this movie. But there's a horror movie out there that had a very similar kind of vibe that I enjoyed very much, which I'll tell you off the air that I think you'd enjoy. But we can get to that another time here. But yeah,
so that's what I'm saying. Go see this movie, whether it be is it a theater. See it's not like flashy, Like there's not a lot of flashy moments. Like I probably could have waited and caught this on a streaming service. It'd probably be my suggestion. But if you're looking for something to go check out while it's still in theaters. This feels like it's going to be a short stay, so go check it out. Yeah I haven't.
I definitely see it. Now. Here's here's the next thing I want to bring up for next week.
Yeah, do you have you looked at anything? No, I'm open for anoun.
So there's two. There's two of them that are popping up. One I thought I was gonna give my ringing endorsement, to which I still might. And then the other one that kind of popped up. There's a Robert Pattinson Jennifer Lawrence movie about these two, this couple that lives in New York and then they moved to Montana, and I don't know if stuff happens, but Jennifer Lawrence, oh mother, what about mother? As far as oh so, then her
mental health starts deteriorating. In this movie, it's like just die my darling or I can't remember, or die my love. I think it's what it's called. I don't know if it's a love story or not. So that one came up late. But the one that I had ear mark for this weekend was Nuremberg with Russell Crowe that's the one, all right, so that I would prefer that one. Yeah, Romie Mallick is in that one. I think I think John Terry is in it too, so so yeah, I'm
i'm I'm totally a bored for it now. It is probably an epic film, yeah, probably two and a half hours or whatever. But I'm i'm, I definitely am excited for that because I think this one is is a big time Awards one too.
Yeah, I think you're probably be right about that. I'm on board for that. I think I'll find it very interesting and I like the ones where I actually know a little bit about the history. I went into Oppenheimer relatively cold. I know a lot about the dude before I watched the movie this one. I at least have some semblance of what was going on in that time, so that'll be But I'm by no means an expert, So I love that kind of stuff. So let's do that then.
Yeah, I know of the Nuremberg Trials, Yeah, that's where it ends. What exactly happened, I don't know, Yeah, you know, I have no idea, So so yeah, I think we'll go into that one cold, and so this will be another fun episode, but going he was a fun one to talk.
Oh.
Absolutely a big fan. Loved what I saw, Looking forward to more stuff like that in the future. Here we signing off. Then that's Eric Balkman there. You can catch him on w SCO eleven to noon, do It in the show, talking sports wonderfully, and of course Outside the Box on WHPY Radio and available anywhere you can get podcasts. Just search Outside the Box with benk Commonos. We'll talk to you guys next week.