¶ Introduction and Welcome
Welcome to the Silver Screen Happy Hour Year End Year Ahead New Year's Extravaganza. Where we're going to take a look back. Just making shit up. I'm just spit balling right now.
¶ Looking Back at 2023 and Ahead to 2024
We're going to take a look back at 2023 and look ahead to 2024 and all of our greatest hits.
So I wanted to, first
¶ Thanking Supporters and Reflecting on the Journey
of all, just. Thanks some people. Um, I want to thank you for sticking with me on this because it's been a learning curve and, and me working full time and trying to learn how to edit video and audio, mostly audio, because we have just experimented with video. Um, but it's been
¶ Reminiscing About the First Episodes
fun. And, and this year has been exciting for us because we started kind of what 2021 we, We recorded our first episodes, the very first episode was so, the audio was so crap we had to throw it away. Sadly. I wish I still had it because I'd like to, because I've learned some things and I might have been able to repair some of it, but that one's gone. We should probably redo that one because it was a good, good episode.
Uh, for our first one especially, but yeah, so 2021, we only put a few, we, we posted three that we recorded in 2021 that went online in May of 2022. And then we proceeded to do, we finished out 2022 with like four more I think. Uh, which included our
¶ The Star Wars Era
A bulk of 2022 was Star Wars.
Yeah. That was That was a large part of our entire podcast for that entire year was Star Wars. So we did, we did a two-parter on. Episode one alone, right? Just the 45th anniversary of A New Hope. And that took two episodes. And I guess
since we never did a year in review before, we're doing, we're doing a, uh, a, what, a series review? So it's basically a show review, because we've never done this before, so.
I was actually just going to focus on 2023 myself.
Yeah, I was just trying to get us up to 2023, because we,
¶ Reflecting on 2023 and the Growth of the Show
you know. So the exciting part about 2023, we started recording early in the year. And by May, we had several in the bank and, and I was beginning to start releasing them because I was trying to just stay ahead of the curve when it comes to editing and an editing schedule. And we managed to get from, from May on, we managed to get at least one out a month. And so I'm pretty proud of that. Um, starting with Ethan Hawk Day in May. We
actually did better than that. We have total 10 episodes. I mean, some of them are two parters. So we we recorded all at
once. Well, we only have nine out right now. There's another one coming in December So yeah, we'll have ten by the end of December and then this will go out first week of January. I'm thinking so It's we're recording this on. What is it? December 5th.
¶ Celebrating Personal Milestones
So December 5th and Yeah, and in other news, I became a grandpa again today, so this
is Again. Again, folks. Number three, so His third
grandchild. Yeah, it's a big day, so we had this thing planned. We were going to spend a couple hours behind the microphones today, do another episode, but we had to crunch that down.
¶ Looking Ahead to Future Episodes
We're, we're, we have my grandson for the night today, and I cannot leave my precious wife alone with that boy too much longer, so we're going to do a short year review episode that we'll put out in January, and in the next week or so, we're going to finally get that, that first episode for January recorded, so, but that's the look ahead. Let's, let's talk about 2023 right now. Yeah, before we get, before I'm, hold on, I am excited though.
I didn't want to just breeze over the fact that my son and daughter in law had a baby today. Yes! Congratulations! Congratulations Josh and Elyse. The
Wegan clan continues to
grow. Yeah, so happy. June, Christina entered the world today and she is such a precious baby. So yes, very, very excited. Already a full head of hair. Oh my gosh. Yeah, she's beautiful. So anyway, so looking at looking at the past year. So yeah, we did. I think starting in October, we managed to put up to a month because silence of the midsummer was such a big show, we ended up splitting it into two. Um, looking back, let me just read the name, the titles of all the shows we did this year.
And then I just want to, like, get your thoughts on some of them because there's things that just jump out to me when I look at these titles. So
don't, don't just read them off all at once. Let's stop after each one. Alright, let's do that. So let's start episode one. Yep.
¶ Deep Dive into Ethan Hawke Day
Ethan Hawke Day, so what's funny about this is that's, that might be my favorite episode that we've done. Um, I don't know, The Sound of the Lambs midsummer one's pretty good too, but I really, what I really loved about Ethan Hawke Day was, uh, for the purposes of what we talk about in this show. Right?
Like the script structure, script analysis, uh, for those that know who Blake Snyder is, we follow a lot of the, the, what's called the save the cat beat sheets, um, you know, the, the certain beats of, you know, your theme stated, your break into two, your midpoint scene, all is lost, all these things, and that's, you know, it's a good indicator of how well a script is if your character development follows along, um, on these beats.
Again, every screenwriting Teacher, uh, kind of has their own thing. You know, some are big premise guys. They're like, you know, if it's a movie about vampires, we need to see vampires. You know, it's all about the promise of the premise. Me. I'm a goals guy. I love to see a character go through their emotional shifts on their journey to, uh, to their spiritual goal, which is the big payoff at the end.
Um, up until this year started, we were, uh, Uh, my favorite episode was probably the Promising Young Thelma, where we did Promising Young Woman Thelma and Louise. Because Thelma and Louise is a perfect example of emotional shifts. What I loved about Ethan Hawke Day was Dead Poets Society and Training Day were two perfect examples of a character's growth. And the funny thing is, the character growth was the supporting role guy. Right, right. And that was the whole hook of that episode. Yeah, the
leads, the, the, the, the leads, uh, as far as the studios were concerned, didn't really have an arc where they learned
something. Yeah. They didn't learn a damn thing! They're pretty much the same person at the end. Now, people will argue, well, Denzel learned a very tragic lesson. Well, yeah, he found out. Yeah, yeah, he's, again, I think we said it on the episode, he's the human version of fuck around and find out. You know? So that's, you know, but that's not really a lesson, and if it is, he only had seconds to learn it.
Um, so, um, but Ethan Hawke's character in both Training Day and Dead Poets Society, that's your character arc. That's the one that grows in both films. Um, alright, so what was episode two? Well,
before we move on, we didn't talk about our drinks, we always do this on our shows, so I had something else planned for the other show we were gonna do, I put that aside so I can talk about that next time. Um, it's, it's the holiday season, um, I like whiskey. I don't like sweet things very much, but I got me some Fireball because it's, you know, it's the holidays. It's cinnamon. It's good. It makes you warm and, and good inside.
So aside from my, uh, beer backups, cause I always have my lightsaber backups, I'm kicking the day off with a little throwback to our Jaws episode. I made myself another Sharkarita. We'll get to the Jaws episode as we continue on this, uh, year end review. Um, but it's also, uh, kind of pertinent to. Uh, the show that we'll be doing coming up in a week or so. Yeah. But
anyway. Alright, so the next one we did is, uh, that released June 28th.
¶ Exploring the Themes of Walk the Elvis
Uh, Walk the Elvis, where we talked about Walk the Line from 2005 and Elvis of 2022. 2022, that fireball took my breath
away. Now this was, this was fun because I hadn't seen Elvis yet. It was streaming, it had just come out in theaters and then it was streaming. Uh, and Walk the Line, I only saw like one time when it first came out. So I was very, very raw on both of these, um. And,
uh, And I was the opposite with Walk the Line. We bought the DVD after it came out and I watched it a million times. I loved that movie. I think it's a great, I mean everything about it, the screenplay, the writing, the acting, the music. I mean, oh my gosh, the real, you know.
This is, um, was this our first biopics? It might have been our first time we did, at least the first time we did musical biopics. We might have done, well we did Hoffa. Oh wait, we haven't done Hoffa yet. No, that's part of the season. That was after, right. So this might have been our first biopics. And, you know, from a writing point of view, that has its own unique challenges, right? Yeah, yeah. When you're trying to adapt a true story or a real life person, how much can you make up?
How much can you dramatize? But ultimately, how do you get that hook in there with the beats that make it interesting? Uh, Walk the Line, I thought, was, had a fantastic script. Had problems with Elvis, for obvious reasons. If you don't know what we're talking about, go back and listen to that episode. We're not going to rehash
that right now, but yeah. But,
um, one of the things, I was just talking to somebody about this the other day, about Walk the Lines, All is Lost, and then they have the Dark Knight of the Soul. Where they, it's kind of a debate on how they're going to get into Act 3. And it's so perfect in Walk the Line. Because he hits rock bottom with the drugs, and nobody is, everybody pretty much abandons him, except June.
She's the only one that takes care of him, and right as he's recovering, and he's thinking to himself, This is the dark night of the soul part, where he doesn't know what to do with his life now going forward. He's even thinking about quitting. He finally looks into all the mail he's been getting, all the fan mail, and it's all from guys in prison. And that was the light that went off. You know, about Who didn't mute their
phone?
Me, sorry. Talk about rookie move. Rookie move, amateur mistake. Um, you know, that was his jump into Act 3. Was like, that was his, you know, that was his thing then. It was his calling. Was that his place was, would be to reach out to guys in prison. And give them hope. You know, um, so yeah, that was a, a great one.
¶ Discussing Union Solidarity in Norma Rae and Hoffa
So the next one we released July 17th was the Hugamins. Uh, where we talked about Hugo from 2011 and the Fablemans from 2022. Um, it's funny because that's one I remember, uh, I was shocked that you had never seen Hugo before.
Talk about a slip through the cracks. I mean, two monster filmmakers. We got Spielberg that did Fablemans, which is kind of, uh, uh, an autobiography, basically, of his, of his life. Right. And then, Hugo, directed by my favorite director of all time, Martin Scorsese. And it's not just that Scorsese released a movie that somehow I missed. This movie was up for Oscars. Yeah. It had, like, 11 Oscar nominations, something like that. Like, this is the kind of, and I'm an Oscar guy.
I watch the Oscars every year. Really? How the fuck this movie got by
me, I don't know. Were you like in a blackout in 2011? I think
I was drunk. I think, I think that whole year I was drunk. And I don't, this is before I got married, by the way, so, uh, I don't remember 2011 all that much. So, I'm thinking this was in a heavy, sedated state. Oh no. And, uh, I don't even remember much about that Oscar season except for somehow Hugo, uh, just went right over me. I don't, I don't know how I missed it, but it was fun to watch it for the first time for this, uh, for our podcast.
Yeah, because it reminded me about not just how much I love Scorsese, how much he loves movies. My god, is that a, is that a love letter to filmmaking or what? Yeah. You know, they both are. Actually, Fableman's is too. So that's the other great thing, is these two films are not just by iconic filmmakers. They're, they're love letters to cinema. Mm hmm. You know, and if you love movies, and you love those two guys, Spielberg and Scorsese, check out our podcast.
Yeah. I was gonna say watch their movies, but no, no, no. Check out our podcast. That's
even better. I remember editing, uh, the Hughlamans, and I remember texting you saying, Oh my gosh, this is like What did I say? This is like a must listen if you're a, uh, a potential, an aspiring filmmaker or screenwriter, because the things you covered in there, I mean, it was, it was a great episode, but like I was going over it, hearing it again, and I'm like, oh yeah, this is solid, solid stuff for the aspiring filmmaker.
Yes. And then we moved on to my birthday present. August 7th. A podcast that was released on my birthday.
Did we even mention that it was your birthday? On that show? I don't remember. No,
no, because we recorded it well ahead of time. Oh, that's right. I
released it on your birthday. Yeah, we released it on my birthday. So, everything, everywhere, all at once.
Yes, and we wrote it like that in the podcast list with a period after each one. Because when Harrison Ford presented the award for best picture, that's pretty much how he read the card. Yeah. When he said, and the Oscar goes to Everything. Everywhere. All. At. And before he got
even halfway, not even, by the time he got to the second word. Yeah,
everyone was already freaking out and clapping and coming up to the
stage. There's one thing I wanted to mention about this episode that, um, I'm sad to say, I, we recorded an update to that episode that never got published. We never, I never put it out. I never got around to it. I was busy. It was summertime. Um. There was something we put in there, a question to the audience. Um, because we, I heard something at the, in the end credits, some whispers, some things that kinda, were kinda interesting, kinda weird.
Cause I went to the song on Spotify and couldn't hear the whispers. I went to the song on YouTube, couldn't hear those whispers and the talking that was going on during the credits. So, we wanted to know the answer. And actually I got an answer cause I emailed, um, the What was it? It was the PR company that was doing PR for the, uh, Sunlux, was the band that did the music, uh, for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
And someone got back to me, and actually, they, they talked to one of the artists, the lead artist that composed the music and stuff, and they told me that, that the whispers and everything was going on. They actually did that sort of as an, as an Easter egg to the fans who stayed in the theater at the very end. It was kind of cool.
So they, they, um, had, and, and I guess the whispers and the talking, depending on where you were sitting in the theater, you would hear parts of it more clearly than others because they'd be coming out of different speakers. So that was kind of, kind of cool. And I guess all the words and all the, things that were being whispered and spoken was stuff from a specific scene in the movie. I think it was the bagel scene.
And uh, yeah, so it was just really cool that we got that answer directly from the artist who was up for an Academy Award. So that was fun. I'm sad we didn't get it on the update episode, but I'm doing it now. I'm updating everyone now.
He's friggin amateurs. They can't even put my shit on.
Well, it would have been different if I would have gotten like a voicemail from him because then we could have just put his voice on the podcast, but so yeah, that was, that was fun. So the next, the next one, um, it was actually very timely for, for me, um, because I think we
chose it because of, yeah,
yeah, we did. We, we saw the calendar, what was coming up.
Uh, contract wise with the UAW, uh, the Writer's Strike had been going on already, the Screen Actors Guild has been on, had been on strike for some time, and so we decided we wanted to do something surrounding labor, the labor movement, union, and actually, I mean, HOFA was more of a He was a, uh, uh, union boss, and Norma Rae, we went with Norma Rae, so we just called that episode Union Solidarity, and, uh, we just called it Norma Rae and Hoffa Script Analysis.
So what, what are your thoughts from that, uh, that episode?
Um, again, we had problems with both, but mostly Norma Rae's, uh, Uh, script in the first half, uh, drags, it's very slow, it really doesn't pick up until about the midpoint scene and then for the rest of the film it really picks up. Uh, great performances though, it's still iconic the moment when, uh, Sally Fields stands on the table and holds up the sign that says Union. Um, Hoffa, same thing, but I think if I remember correctly, we kind of boiled down Hoffa's problems to editing.
Yeah. It wasn't so much the script. It seemed like things were cut out of order, like if they had just shifted a few scenes around. Yeah. Yeah,
you actually said something in there where, uh, if there's an aspiring, uh, film editor listening, you'll want to go back and listen to that one because you actually rearranged Hoffa in a way that I thought, oh my gosh. That would be frickin brilliant.
It would have been better, right? Oh, it would have been way better. I think I missed my calling as a filmmaker.
So, anyway, but that was, yeah, you had some good insights to that one. And
then, and then the ending, remember, we wanted to change the ending, too. Yeah. With the mirror thing. Yeah. That should have been Jimmy, not DeVito's character. Yeah. It should have been Jack. You know. But, uh, but yeah. He was directing it, so of course it had to be about him. Yeah, of course. Danny, it's always about him. Um, but yeah, so that was a fun one, too. And I want to say Um, that our next episode, we actually recorded before that, and we planned on releasing that one.
Yes. But when the union thing happened, with the strikes, we were like, no, let's bump that. Yep. Uh, which worked out because it became our Veterans Day special. Um, No, not
the next one.
¶ Analyzing Silence of the Midsommar
The next one, Nope, the next one was Silence of the Midsommar. Oh, that's right. So we, we always planned on doing Silence of the Midsommar in October for Halloween. For
Halloween, right. But I want to say, we recorded. The veterans day one
way early. Yeah, that one was sat on the shelf because we wanted we realized we wanted to release it for veterans day It was just timely for veterans day, right? So but let's get into the silence of the midsummer because I don't want to breeze over this one That
became a two parter. We released the first part on Friday the 13th in October Yes, and the second part on Halloween night. So that was a great two parter
So I'm gonna confess something here. I didn't, I didn't mention it at the time, so it's even more fun now to go back and listen to it, to realize that at a certain point, I almost die, and then, and for the remainder of the show, the audience now will know. That I sat through the remainder of the show with wet pants.
How much did you actually piss? I, I pissed my damn pants, man. I didn't know that you went You totally made me lose control. I didn't know you went full fire hose. I thought you just had some dribbles. I, I thought you had See? And, and folks, we already mentioned this is his third grandchild he had today, so
These are things that I have to worry about now, apparently. He's
now gotta wear, he's now gotta wear diapers. He's gotta wear Depends when he does the show. Depends will
be a must have for recording a podcast with your ass. So,
that was actually when we did the Silence of the Lambs part. So we started with Midsommar, I think, when we did the two parter. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So it's in the part two that I lost it.
Right, right. And Midsommar. You had some fun at Midsommar, too, though.
I loved Midsommar, and so I think I thoroughly enjoyed recording that part, the first part, and it was just, we went so long on Midsommar we decided, okay, we gotta, we gotta just keep going and then make, release this as two episodes, so.
And keep in mind folks, we understand that the, the The proper term is Midsommar. Midsommar. Uh, we know that's the right way to say it. We just made a vow that we would never say it like that. I don't know why.
The funny thing is, I think on the episode we cr you criticized who the
hell says that. I was like, that's not, that sounds stupid. And then I found out that is how it sounds. That's how it. Then you
found out that's what the director, the
way he's That's what the director said. Yeah. Midsommar. Midsommar. But I don't, I don't, I can't. I'm not that cool to say it. The cool way. So we're, we're, we're dumbing it down for us. So
yeah, that came out October 13th, part one. And then on October 31st, we, we released Silence of the Midsommar. And it was
almost my brother's last October. Yeah. Because
he almost died. But I gotta say, man, I, one of the things that we talked about in that, in that part where we talked mainly about Silence of the Lambs, you pointed out some, some about, um, screenwriting and, and directing and, and just the, the idea of, um, surprise. Well, we, what'd you talk about shock and surprise and suspense and after, after the initial watch, every time you watch it, it's better because you know what's coming. And so you're, it's a different type of.
Experience, uh, the more you watch it, so.
Yeah, yeah. Uh, it's, it's, to me it's similar to, um, the argument I think we talked about when we did, uh, Star Wars, was, um, when I first met my wife, she had never seen any Star Wars movies, so of course I made her watch all the movies. But I, I, I made her watch them, In chronological order, not release order. So she started with episode one and worked her way through. And everyone was like, Oh my God, how could you do that? It ruins the, um, Luke, I am your father scene, right?
It ruins that big because you already know at that point. And I said, yes, but it was replaced with, she had no idea who Darth Vader was. Like the whole first three movies, she kept asking me, so who's this Darth Vader guy? And when does he come in? And I'm like, he'll show up later. She had no clue that Anakin was Vader, so it was replaced by that surprise. Right, right. That, and to her, it was a love story all the way up until that happened. She didn't know that Padme was gonna die.
Like, all this was a surprise. So she had a whole different perspective. Yeah, yeah. Silence of the Lambs does something similar to where the first time you watch it, you have that shock when you, when he reveals, you know, he reveals, he takes the skin mask off and reveals that it's him in the ambulance. When you watch it a second time, yeah, you know it's him. But it replaces that shock with the suspense that this whole time you know that the guy they think is a cop is actually Hector.
So it's, it replaces the shock with suspense. And yeah, that's, that was a cool moment when you can go back. We always talk about, you could watch the movie Airplane 100 times and catch new things. Um, Sounds of the Lambs is one of those that gets better with every viewing.
Yeah, I think so.
¶ Listener Response and Interaction
Yep. So the next one was a short five minute. episode that we put up. Um, I called it, I, I think I called it a bonus episode or something, but it was a listener response episode that I just wanted to get, we had a, a voice, basically a voicemail, someone that listened, um, sent us a message on, uh, Instagram, Ashley, Ashley, uh, sent us this message and I loved it. And Ashley asked a question, um, about if, if we had ever, uh, seen hereditary, hereditary.
And, uh, so we just talked about that, and it was, it was fun, it was, it was, I think it was 5 minutes, was it 5 or 10 minutes, I can't remember how much. Um, but that was something that I, I, I was It was 6 minutes, it was 5 minutes, 57 seconds. I was glad we, we were able to create a little episode out of it, and, uh, because I would love to do that again.
Uh, if anyone else sends us voice memos, um, voice mails, voice messages, um, we're able to get your voice on the air and it, it kind of makes us feel a little more connected to those listening. So Ashley, thank you for, um, sending us that and thank you for your, uh, positive response. response and feedback. We really appreciate it.
Yes, absolutely. Um,
so then that leads right into November, right?
¶ Veterans Day Special: All Quiet on the Thin Red Line
So yeah, so that was our veterans day special.
Yes. All quiet on the thin red line.
We have so much fun combining these titles together to make a title for the show. Uh, so all quiet on the Western front. Which, as we said on the show, is the, uh, war version of A Star is Born. It's a movie that gets remade every 20, 30 years or so. It's been made four times. Um, this was the most recent one. And then, uh, we compared it with The Thin Red Line. Uh, uh, Terrence Malick's 1998, uh, war epic. Mm hmm.
I thought both of them had a lot of similarities with, like, they were both, like, watching abstract paintings, you know? And it was, and it was, It was fun and challenging to try to get that, that script structure, that three act script structure, that beat sheet, with such an abstract painting, right? It's tougher to do like that. Um, we could have done Saving Private Ryan, that one has a much easier arc, uh, to
Yeah, we also talked about All Quiet on the Western Front being paired up with, what was it, 1917 as a potential pair up? Yeah. Because that, that also is a World War I, um Movie that came out just a few years ago,
and they're both sort of like journey movies We're like the lead is like on a path somewhere right what I mean, right? Um same with saving private Ryan, and I think we mentioned private Ryan a lot in our yeah We veterans day show it actually could be three movies that we talked about, but we didn't actually break down Saving private Ryan. Yep, but yeah, so that was a fun one And it was you know hats off to our veterans man.
That's you know yeah, we try to do timely episodes as far as like Union because of the strike was going on, uh, Veterans Day show, Halloween show, we, we, we like to try to be seasonal if we can. And that was definitely right at perfect time to, uh, to release two war movies.
You know, and I should, I should mention this right now, I don't remember if I told you this, so this might be news to you if I didn't, um. On Instagram, I try to put up reels or some kind of post on Instagram or Facebook when we, when we release episodes.
¶ Creating AI Art for Veterans Day
And, uh, for our Veterans Day episode, I posted a little video I made. I made, um, a series of AI art of war. You know, uh, young men in war situations. My brother is dabbling with Skynet. It's fu I mean, you know, it's just screwing around. But I was I made some pretty cool images. The AI made these images. I told it what to make. But, um, I I put it to Sound starts.
I put, like, a little slideshow to Metallica's, um, I think it was, uh, Back to the Front, which is a war song that they that they did. Um, anyways.
¶ Instagram's Content Moderation Dilemma
It, it went for about a day or so and then I, I got a notification, uh, Instagram like banned it or took it down. They didn't take it down, but they just stopped, they stopped promoting it. I'm like, what the heck? So I challenged it and eventually they put it, they, they, you know, put it back up, but I realized it got very little views and I was like, well, that's.
Did you need Metallica's permission, is that what it was? No,
because Instagram lets you use that song as one of the songs you can use. I think it had more to do with the AI art depicting war. And it wasn't that gross. I mean, I've seen way worse on Instagram. So I don't know what the, uh, The, uh, algorithms caught that it didn't like, there was like guns in the, in the, in the pictures or whatever, but yeah, it was kind of, kind of weird. And when I challenged it, I was like, I just challenged it.
And I think when, if, if a human being actually looked at it, we, we actually said in the post where we raise a glass to salute our, you know, to, to, to, to our, uh, veterans, uh, you know, on veterans day. So it was obviously a tribute. It wasn't like some kind of weird, I don't know, but war glorification. Yeah, so that was kind of frustrating, but I just thought I'd call that out. That was like way to go Instagram with your algorithms.
¶ The Impact of AI on Content Creation and Distribution
It's funny. AI made it and AI took it down. Right,
right. They're turning on each other. See, that's how it starts. So
that kind of, it gets us to where we're at right now.
¶ Guest Appearance on 'Lights, Camera, Rant' Podcast
Well,
we had one more, which was a special show that we were able to jump on, uh, on somebody else's show. Somebody else's podcast. Tell us about it,
Chris. So, yeah, uh, Lee from Lights, Camera, Rant invited us on his show. And, uh, Lee Lee's killing it man. If you look at his, he's got a
YouTube. He's got content all the time.
He's yeah, he's constantly cranking out the content He's doing like series on Loki and the Marvel Universe and and just a whole bunch of Great shows, great content.
Yeah. He doesn't do just Marvel. He does a
Yeah. But it was cool, and we met through, uh, Clubhouse. Actually, that was another thing I was gonna get to in the, in the thanks, because I want to thank some people from Clubhouse before we're done here too. But, um, I met Lee on Clubhouse in a podcast morning chat that we do, um, it's, it's not morning for him. I think it's, uh, Damn near midnight or something when he when he jumps on because he's in Australia But that was so much fun.
He had us on and he wanted us to do He basically asked us what what we thought we should do and I told him what we did on our show And he actually he knew because he's listening to some Um, but he had us talk about what makes a great screenplay and what makes a shit screenplay. And, uh, we chose two, two movies that would be great to compare a great one versus a shitty one. And so we talked about Jaws versus Jaws 4, The Revenge and what a blast that was. I mean, we both had blue.
Tongues and lips from drinking the, yeah. There it is. You got it right now?
Yeah, because I'm drinking my chaka
I, the blue, the blue cocktail. I had a, what was mine? Uh, I forgot what I called mine or what? My blue lagoon, I think my drink was called. Yeah, I think it was a blue lagoon. So
it was so much fun. But you guys can check it out. If you really, and if you're curious to know what we look like, you'll be able to see us in the flesh. Yeah. Yeah. Um, it's, it's two and a half hours on YouTube. You just, uh, search lights, camera ran, check out some
Actually just go to, just go to our, uh. Our podcast, uh, I have it in the show notes. I linked to the, to his YouTube video. He gave us access to the YouTube video, too. Um, we're such, I mean, I'm learning as I go. Eventually, I'll probably put that on our, uh, YouTube, uh, channel. Um, but we, we're not there yet, so. Yeah. I thought, let's give Lee the love. We'll go to his YouTube and watch the video. It was really good. It was,
it was fun. It was kind of funny because Vivi, my daughter, who's seven years old. Yeah. She came home, uh, recently, and she told me a conversation she had with somebody in her class. She's in, you know, she's in second grade. And, uh, she goes, yeah, I told my friend that my dad's on TV. And I was like, Cap, I'm not, I'm not on TV. That's not true. And she's like, well, YouTube. And I said, she goes, that's TV. I mean, tube. YouTube is the TV, like a TV.
I'm like, okay, we watched it on TV, but it doesn't mean I'm on TV, you know. The kids today don't know the difference. Yeah, yeah. She's apparently telling everyone in her class that her dad's on TV, which is a lie. Well, it's, it's very, very It's thinly veiled truth there, but um, but no, it was fun. It was two and a half hours and, you know, uh, it's a commitment. So if you got stuff to do around the house, put us on in the background, put us on the TV. Hey,
I work on assembly line and it's, you know, you need a few hours to burn. That's a great show to, to put on or if you're on a road trip or something. Yeah.
If you have Wi Fi access on an airplane, you can watch this while you're on your flight. Yeah.
So, as you noted, that was number nine for the, for the year, and, uh, we have the tenth one coming out, uh, in a couple of weeks. It's gonna be our Christmas episode. Do you wanna give a tease about what that's about? Oh, yeah.
We're gonna tease it up, baby. So, we have a fantastic show that we actually already recorded. This one's already in the can. And we're gonna release it. Is it, are you gonna do it at Christmas Eve? I think you gotta do it at Christmas Eve.
Maybe. I mean, I gotta look at the dates. Christmas is on a Monday or whatever. I might, I might even release it the weekend, that weekend or something, maybe Friday or
something. Yeah, so so if you guys are like traveling to like, you know Out of state or even just to another town you have a little bit of a drive coming up Take the family somewhere for Christmas. You could check this out. Maybe yeah, maybe that's a better idea release it on Friday Well, then
again if you're if you got kids in the car parental advisory
You put your headphones in yeah, that's safety. That's that's safe for highway driving put your headphones in so you can't hear any sirens We are Comparing and contrasting two Christmas films. One of them is an epic, one of them is a turd. But, uh, we had a lot of fun playing with it. Um, sorry Mel, I know this is the second time we put one of your turds on our pro on our podcast. But, uh, we do Mel Gibson's Fat Man. Yeah. Versus 2020, I think. One of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.
Die Hard. Yes. Starring Bruce Willis. 1988. Now, for those of you going, what? What? How? That's not a Christmas. Yes, it is. And we actually even debate on the show why, I have bullet points on why it is, in fact. Why it's a Christmas. It's a Christmas movie. I had, to be fair, I do even have three points on why it isn't, but I debunked those two. So it's pretty much a Christmas movie. Um,
¶ Reflections on Personal Challenges and the Future of the Podcast
yep.
And so I just wanted to take this time at the end of the recap and kind of talk about The year ahead, um, we would love to, uh, carry this momentum into the new year, um, but I want to acknowledge some things first, uh, and, and I mentioned, I, I forgot to do a thank you, um, I would like to personally thank, um, a group of people on Clubhouse, and I don't, I didn't write down everybody's name, so I'm not gonna run down a list, um, but all the moderators on this, uh, morning chat, and it's the
Empowered Podcasting team. Um, House or the Empowered Podcasting Club on Clubhouse. Um, every Monday through Friday, we, we meet from, uh, 7 till 8 a. m. Eastern Time. They also have a, a Friday night, uh, chat as well. Um, Mark Ronick is the, uh, individual that, uh, heads it up. And, um, Mark is a podcaster and he has a, his business, uh, helping podcasters. Um, Basically create and get their work out there and great, great content.
Um, but I just want to thank Mark and, uh, all the moderators on the morning chat because, um, they've been an inspiration to me. Uh, it's been a tough year for me personally with, uh, some health. health, uh, situation. Not just me, but my wife, uh, um, had to have surgery. She, um, yeah. And it's been a, especially this fall has been difficult. She's about three weeks uh, post surgery now as we record this. And, uh, she's doing well.
And, um, but, and, and somehow a lot of this, uh, leading up to the fall, a lot of what was coming out this fall was already done. So it wasn't like it was taking a lot of time. The fact that she was not Doing well and I was picking up some things, you know, trying to be there for her. It made this fall season a little more difficult for me to try to get this content out. So we're going to do our best to keep up the momentum. But I just want to say, you know, family comes first.
And we're going to, we're going to see how 2024 goes. We're very hopeful though. I feel like we're going into it coming out of a difficult season and. 2024 is looking up. So I'm excited about, you know, the new year coming. Um, but, uh, yeah, I just wanted to say that, you know, that's the little asterisk, uh, we're, we're, I'm fully intending on hopefully, I mean, if we can do two a month, great. If we can only do one a month. That's okay too.
Um, I want to continue doing this, and um, it's, we both enjoy it, I'm, I'm loving that we're doing this, and I'm loving that we're, we're recording this stuff, and it's gonna be there for our kids and, and family members, uh, in the future, and aspiring, um, filmmakers, screenwriters, cause I think there's a lot of great content here for, uh,
Yes, absolutely. Um, number one, we got into this just because we like to talk movies. And it gave us a chance, again, for those that don't know, we live 2300 Sorry, I wasn't peeing. That's not him peeing his pants this time, as far as we know. We live 2, 300 miles apart. He still lives in Michigan, which is where I'm from. Uh, by the way, at the time of this recording, Michigan is in the college football playoffs. But anyway. And the Lions aren't doing too bad either.
And the Lions are 9 3, folks. Dude. This is not recorded in podcast history forever. We'll be able to call back to the time that Lions were 9 3. Yeah. Um, on that note, uh, in, uh, because of the Lions and Michigan Okay, there we go. Anyway, so, um I have a couple of thanks as well.
I'd like to give a shout out, and I know we've done this already several times, Lee, of course, from Lights, but also, uh, the guys over at Writer's Blockbusters, Bob Rose, Jimmy George, uh, Jamie Nash, these three dudes. They have a similar, uh, setup as ours. They don't really compare and contrast two movies. They really just take on one, and they really dig deep on it. And it's given me, uh, sort of, uh, an eye opening experience on, you know, things that I hadn't thought of.
Um, and, uh, they've been nice enough to, you know, to, uh, communicate with us via email back and forth, uh, particularly Bob Rose. Um, so, you know, I want to give a shout out to those guys, because I only stumbled upon them because we did our Sons of Lambs episode, and then you sent me a link when I was driving back from L. A., uh, L. A. to Northern California, the Sacramento area. That's like a six hour drive, and you sent me a link, and you're like, Hey, check out this podcast.
They also did Sons of Lambs, and I'm like, What? Somebody else did Sons of Lambs, too? So I had to listen to that. And, uh And I was glad that we had already done our show so that we wouldn't be influenced. That's, that's my biggest fear with writer's blockbusters, is I don't want to be influenced to change our show at all. Um, because they're, I mean, they're so suc I feel they're very successful in what they do, and those guys are awesome.
Um, but, but ultimately I want to, uh, say thanks to anyone that's been listening, anyone that has listened. Um, particularly, again, if you are a writer or an aspiring writer, I am not a genius, I am not a professor, I am not Blake Snyder, but if you ever took anything from any of our shows and thought, I never thought of that, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use that, or I'm gonna try that in my script, then that's, then that's, that would be the biggest compliment, I think, either of us.
Uh, is knowing that we actually reached somebody, you know what I mean? I mean, we love all, any listener that is, it takes in our show for enjoyment, for entertainment, we do it for entertainment. But if there's anybody that takes anything from it, um, for their, for their own writing, that, that's even better. That's like the cherry on top, so. Yeah,
and if I could just add too, I remember telling Lee in the Jaws episode, the idea that I'm not a screenwriter. And I'm not a filmmaker, but just doing this with you has helped me just to enjoy the, the, the viewing experience even more. So like, you know, I mean, we've been talking movies, my, my whole life, you know, your whole life just about.
And, um, Yeah, just, but do it just doing this podcast on a regular basis and you know the idea that I start to look at films differently I'm paying attention to the opening scene and the closing scene now when I didn't used to even I'd usually get up and leave the show, you know and
Lee said that to Lee's like I'm gonna really take a look now whenever I go to watch a movie Yeah, I'm gonna keep an eye on that opening and closing image and see See if they are bookends, you know? Right. Yeah. Um, because they are bookends and, and in a really good one, the bookends are very, very similar, but they're different somehow because of the journey that happened in between. Um, so
unless, like you noted on the all quiet on the Western front, they weren't different. At the end of, at the end of that movie, it was exactly the same. It was, and that was, it was the exact same shot that gave me chills, man. I was like, so many people died and nothing changed.
Right. And that's Which was the point. That's the point of that, right? Yeah. Like that's, that's, and that's kind of the sad part of it is yeah. Uh, war happens and people die. Um, but we are no further at the, be at the end of this story that we were at the beginning. Yes. It's, uh, life is cyclical and war unfortunately happens again. So,
on that note, I want to thank you. So, thank you for opening my eyes to, um, and to a greater, um, movie viewing experience for me. Because really, I, I'm pointing stuff out to Jesse or any, you know, if my kids are watching a movie.
You're like, hey look, all is lost, all is lost! Yeah, did you see that?
Pause that, rewind that, check that out! I do, now, I'm probably annoying, but
That, kids, is what we call the dark night of the soul! I just found that out last week, but
it does make for a better experience when you see that stuff, you
know, so, well, and again, I don't want this to turn into a 30 minute gush fest, but, uh, thank you, my brother, I appreciate you for, uh, I mean, shit. We would just be doing this over the phone if it wasn't for, you know, all, all the effort you've taken into it. I still don't know shit about editing podcasts, editing audio. I don't know anything. That's why my brother produces this show, uh, out of pocket. Mind you, uh, we don't have ads yet.
We have nobody paying for this, but US goals for 2024. Yeah. Goals for 2024. Anheuser-Busch, you know, but anyway, um, you know, but, but yeah, you put a lot of work into this. When the podcast, when the recording is done, and I'm a little tipsy because all the stuff I've been drinking, I take my headphones off and I, you know, and I go rejoin my household. Like, you know, you, you then. Put in all the work after the show is recorded to do all the editing, and I appreciate that.
And, uh, you know, we wouldn't have this podcast if it wasn't for you. Well, thank
you. I appreciate that. Moving ahead, um, 2024, there's some, there's some episodes that we're, we, we got something planned for Valentine's Day. We've already, we're, we're getting ready to record our January episode. So we actually have, um, I don't know if it's half the year planned out already, but I'm excited. It's gonna be, it's gonna be, good, good quarter of it anyways. We definitely
got the first quarter. Yeah. Like, like he said, we're about to record, uh, which we would have today. Um, we have unexpected, uh, stork arrival. Uh, so that, that's pushing our recording back a little bit, but it's all welcome for that. You know, anytime you can bring another baby into the world. We can, uh, we can definitely put stuff like this on hold, but we are ready to record our January episode. Do we want to talk about it or we don't want to talk about it? Let's keep
that, let's just keep that. Uh, we'll, we'll promote that when
it's time. Alright, so we have, we have our January episode ready to go. We are then going to record pretty soon. Our February Valentine's special. Yeah.
Yep. Looking forward to that
one. I think we actually mentioned this stuff on previous podcasts. Probably. For us, acting like it's a big secret. It's
okay. We just don't need to take the time right
now, that's all. Right. And then in March, usually we reserve March for Oscar season because it's usually when the Oscars come out. We're anticipating, now this one I can talk about. Yeah. Because we don't know yet. We don't know the movies yet. But we are anticipating possibly Oppenheimer? Maybe? If it's up for Best Picture? Uh, there's a couple others, uh, Scorsese's, uh, Killers of the Flower Moon. Still haven't seen it yet. Heard it's fantastic.
Same. I actually heard mixed reviews on that one, but I definitely want to see it. Haven't seen it yet. Yeah.
Yeah. So we, you know, so there's a couple, uh, uh, movies that have come out this year that we anticipate will be up for Best Picture. And that's usually what we use March for, is like an Oscar special. Uh, and then, uh, it might even trickle over into April if there's like a bunch of movies that are up for Oscars that we love, and we can't fit it all into one, you know, maybe April will be Oscar movies as well. Yeah. Um, but yeah. Stretch it out.
Yeah, we're trying to keep it, like I said, we, we like topical stuff. So if it's Valentine's Day, we got a romance one coming for all you, uh, uh, hopeless romantics out there. Yeah. Yeah. And we picked a couple of good ones. Now, one of them I haven't seen, so I'm, I'm hoping it's good, but he's
taking it from me. I love it. So I, yeah, he's taking it from me. It's a good one. So,
um, but yeah, so 2024, we already have sort of a slate lined up and, uh, again, our plan is to do about one a month and if we can keep it topical, uh, we will.
¶ Appreciation for Listener Engagement and Future Plans
But if not, it's just fun to pick two movies.
And I think this is a good place to say if you have a specific movie, but even more importantly, if there's a specific topic related to filmmaking, screenwriting, um, please write us, send us a voice memo on Instagram. Um, you know, we would love to engage with you that way and bring it to the show. I think it'd be, it'd be good. And
even if you want to email us Maybe it's questions about a script you're working on, maybe it's not even a movie. Maybe you just have a question, like, hey, you know. Where, you know, where can I, uh, read more about this stuff that you guys are talking about? Yeah. You know, where, where, or, um, I'm writing a script right now, and I've got this problem in act two. How do I get around it? I'd love to hear your, your, uh, question, and if I can be of help, that would be great. Yeah, and you
can email us at cheers at silverscreenhappyhour. com. Yes, we have a website now! Yes, we have a new, and that's our new email, so. Um, if you email our old one, we'll still get it, but, uh, cheers at silver screen, happy hour. com. You can email us and, uh, yeah, love to hear from you. And, uh, yeah, I think we need to land this plane. This is good. A good recap for 2020.
Three, a good look ahead for 2024, and now we're going to finish out this show with some of those teaser clips that we began so many of our shows with this past year. Enjoy.
¶ Fun Behind-the-Scenes Stories from Past Episodes
In fact, another interesting note, Ethan Hawke's not even the second build. Robert Sean Leonard is, he's the third. The third build. The third, Ethan Hawke gets no love. He's the third build and it's his film. Ethan Hawke, if you ever hear this, you are the lead my friend. You are the lead in Dead Poets Society and you are the lead in Training Day. You should have got above the title on both of those. You should have got above Robin and above Denzel on both of those posters.
But of course, alas, that would never happen to producers. They would never allow that. And you sir I remember I'm like, who's this kid? You sir, have been screwed because you are the best actor. You are the lead in those. And they're your films and they were robbed of you. And hopefully, thankfully, people like me can see your greatness as the lead in both of these films. And I know that they will. The screenwriters somewhere are saying, yes, of course, finally somebody gets it.
But that, that's my, that's why I wanted to do an Ethan Hawke day to show my love and appreciation for the guy that keeps getting noted as a supporting role in films that are obviously his. And then as he's recovering now, right. He sees all those letters. And what's interesting is that earlier in the film, the wife said, You see all those damn letters? They're all from chicks. Why don't I throw their panties at you? You know what I mean?
Which, by the way, in Elvis, the chicks were throwing their literal panties at Elvis. And the one guy's like, Is that a woman's undergarment I just saw? Sorry. Her agent and her lied and said she was British. She came up with this whole back story about being born in England or something. And her parents had horses and shit. Like she made up this whole fucking story. That's awesome. And she goes in there. She nailed the audition, gets the part.
And she said halfway through production, she was talking to somebody on the set. And her normal voice, and Scorsese heard her, and goes, That's an amazing American accent! And she goes, she goes, Yeah, uh, about that, I'm American! I was actually born in Georgia! And he goes, What? And she goes, Yeah, I faked the whole audition! And apparently he loved it. He just started rolling. And you can imagine Scorsese just laughing his ass off at that. Don't give me another scene.
Don't try to explain anything with another scene. Just go to black, and I want to see All I want to see right now is directed by Ari Aster. That's all I want to see! Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me, give it And they did, and I was like, YES! And I looked at mom and I said, I fucking loved it! Mom's like, WHAT? Mom's horrified, right? Poor mom has no fucking clue what I just went through as a film lover and a screenwriter. Mom's terrified! She's mortified!
All right, we're gonna have to cut all this out. Because we're losing my brother in a heart attack. Oh my god. Holy
shit. Yeah, you have to take
this because I can't. Oh my god. So Is this going to be the thing we use at the commercial for this show? Just us freaking dying during a horror movie. What the hell are we talking about? We were so pumped for today. I was, I was telling people at work, I'm like Dude, I'm going on a I'm going to be in a fucking Australia tonight. I'm I'm talking to Australia tonight. And they're like, what are you talking about? I'm like, shut up and listen! Just listen to it. Do it.
I'm going to be in Australia. That's me. I'm worldwide now. Oh my god. Christmas isn't even mentioned in the It's a Wonderful Life logline. But it's mentioned in the Die Hard log. So suck on that, people. Suck on that. Die Hard, I have just proven to you, is a Christmas movie. I think the argument is dead now. We can move on.