Cinema Beef Podcast : Rooking For Acceptance In An 8-Bit World (The Wizard/Searching For Bobby Fischer) - podcast episode cover

Cinema Beef Podcast : Rooking For Acceptance In An 8-Bit World (The Wizard/Searching For Bobby Fischer)

Aug 15, 20241 hr 56 minEp. 246
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Summary

The Beefers dive into two films about child prodigies: the nostalgic gaming flick "The Wizard" (1989) and the dramatic chess story "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (1993). A significant age/generational gap leads to vastly different reactions and intense debate, particularly regarding nostalgia versus critical analysis and themes of parental pressure and exploitation. The episode also includes humorous tangents and personal updates on recovery and well-being.

Episode description

The beefers are back to play kid gloves with two films about child prodigies. First up, we have the button mashing, rain manning and brother snatching The Wizard from 1989 featuring Fred Savage. Then, Fred exploits his son's new found talent whilst insulting his family, the competition and pretty much everyone else in Searching For Bobby Fischer.  

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Transcript

Intro and Host Check-in

Want to play? Two minutes. What's that? Schleeman attack. Schleeman attack? What'd you learn that from? A book? No, my teacher taught me. Oh, my teacher. Well, forget it. Play like you used to, from the gut. Get your pawns rolling on the queen side. Come and get me.

Put it up. Josh is playing. He didn't teach you how to win. He taught you how not to lose. That's nothing to be proud of. You're playing not to lose, Josh. You've got to risk losing. You've got to risk everything. You've got to go to the edge of defeat. That's where you want to be, boy. On the edge of defeat. But. But what? Play.

Never play the board, always the man. You gotta play the man playing the board. Play me. I'm your opponent. You have to beat me, not the board. Beat me. You're not who I have to play. You're playing me now. Come on, beat me. Better better yes Hello, folks, and welcome to Sydney Podcast. I am your host, Gary Hill. With me tonight are the usual folks. Yay! Mr. Jeffrey X. Martin's here.

Hi, my name's X, and I feel like I've had about 40 pieces of room-temperature sushi, because I'm ready to shit all over everything. I'm waiting. See, we'll talk about this later. This is where the generational gap comes in right there. See, you know, just right into X's, anus, and colon right there. See, how are you besides your impending diarrheal problems, you know?

Oh, I'm fine. I'm fine. I can't complain a whole lot. I'm ready for summer to be over. I want fall to begin. I'm an autumn boy. So, yeah, beyond that, I'm good. Did you bring your downy bucket with you? For all the shitting and the fossil puking? I have, right next to me, I have a combustible crab boat toilet where I can burn all of my turds.

and wave the smoke out into the field. And then a bunch of little French savages start popping out of the garden. You know, it's the Savage Patch Kids. It works really well, that joke, but not really, you know. Oh my gosh.

Suzanne's Recovery and Tom Atkins Call

That's where Paul's flat. Suzanne is here. Yes, I am here. I am at the end of week five of recovery. One more week to go and I might possibly be able to set this fucking sling on fire. How does it feel? Still having good days and bad days. I was eating pain pills on Sunday like they were going to be discontinued the following day. But so far, the speaker's been good. You were, like, higher when you talked to Tom Atkins on the phone? Because, you know...

Oh, no, I had just taken one maybe 30 minutes prior because I was still I was pacing around because it's like I wanted my arm to find a comfortable spot. And by the way, if I haven't mentioned it before, I'll mention it again. Don't ever fuck up your shoulder. And especially if you fuck up your shoulder, don't get surgery. It is. And they're telling me it's still. after this i've got

I've got another six to eight weeks, if not more, of physical therapy. I'm like, yeah, we're cutting this shit off around mid-September. If the surgery failed, you know what? I'm going to make this shit work regardless. So, but I'm still, I'm in pretty good spirits today because one of my friends came over, so we did a little day drinking, and then Pat came home with some good beer, and then we did a little bit of evening drinking. So now...

I've got a few more so I can begin the night drinking portion of my day. So here we are. Happy to be here. Happy to be, happy to have you, honey, for sure. It's the first show back. I was such a crab ass last time. I was, like, such a fuck-up last time. It's all right. You're going to do it now. And, you know, it's after the rain, as those Nelson boys once sang. And I'm probably still sick. I don't even know.

They're probably still singing, but their hair's not as long. Yeah, if you guys want to know the Tom Atkins story, Suzanne's supposed to go with us on Sunday to this convention, and I have got a Tom Atkins autograph. And in turn asked Tom to call her on the telephone because she's afraid she's going to get bumped. So, so it was a nice surprise for her. And, uh, I was crying. I was, I was tears screaming down my face. I am the legend.

We're glad to provide some joy in Suzanne's life. It was definitely needed. I was so pissed I couldn't go, but I was in so much pain. And if anybody had bought me... I think I would have lefty beat the shit out of him. Yeah, but you said let your ambassador know that he wishes her well. So Ambassador Tom Atkins wishes you well. Yeah. That was so sweet. But, yeah, we're here today, tonight, whatever time it is, wherever you're at, and I'll ask...

Recent Watches: Suzanne's Picks

Suzanne first because she's so in pain and she's so talking about how much pain she is and she doesn't answer her phone. She's got to be doing something. Suzanne, what have you been watching? Oh, boy. Well, I actually found myself diving into a little show, and I'm not ashamed, but it's really good. I've been watching Bridgerton. Do any of you know what Bridgerton is? It is a little period piece surrounding this, oh, early 1800s family in England. It is absolutely...

Fucking fascinating, and it is literally brain handy. On top of that, I'm still watching W's Catch. I did have to admit that I watched a movie that... Kind of surprised me because I'm kind of over the M. Night Shyamalan shit. But I did enjoy Knock at the Cabin. And then continuing the deep dive. and I literally have nothing else to do with my time. Started doing some 70s movies. Went and revisited Nashville, which was, if you've never seen Nashville. Love it. Happy to listen to this podcast.

Drop what you're doing and go watch Nashville. I heard Ronnie Blakely laid out the song Dues in that movie. I just... For the first time ever, I just cried and said, what have they done to you? Come on now. I can't wait to meet her in person one day. She's on the con circuit again. I got to have that Barbara Jean autograph from Ronnie Blakely. Oh, God, no. I want Keith Carradine to sing me, I'm Easy. Because he had women lined up all over the place. It was absolutely fascinating.

It was a great movie. It was a great character study. I mean, you have to admit, when that movie was made, Nashville was kind of king, and all the different characters, and it was... Just amazing to watch. Like I said, watch The Parallax View. Watch Clue, which I think is one of the most underrated thrillers ever done. It's pretty good. It is so good.

It is so suspenseful. You know, I did a couple of space. Space movies, you know, right stuff, Apollo 13. Watch Tron, both movies. I still prefer the original Tron is kind of one of my go-tos. I love Tron. It reminds me of being a kid in the early 80s with all of the video game graphics. I fucking love it. So yeah, I had nothing to do but watch movies.

And TV shows. Oh, I watched the Doors movie again because I read something about an interview Ray Manzara gave that the movie absolutely was nothing even remotely close. to what Jim Morrison was actually like. So yeah, I think I'll just stop right there because I could go on for another 20 movies and shows. But yeah, that's pretty much the top of my list for what I've been watching.

Those are some good highlights there, you know. And we'll do a round later on of It Don't Worry Me after somebody gets shot and killed on this show. But I'm not hoping for that. So we may not do that song, you know. That's how Nashville ends. You get real sad, okay? Fucking politics. God damn it. X, what you been watching, man?

Recent Watches: X's Fantasia Finds

Well, I will say this. I know she's been watching Bridgerton, but my favorite period piece is still Carrie. I have been doing a lot of... I've been doing some coverage from the Fantasia Film Festival for Biff Bam Pop. And that's taken up a lot of my time. So I watched a bunch of movies from there. And I will say this, out of everything that I saw, and I do not know when we will be able to see this in the States.

But there is a movie called Chainsaws or Singing. It is Estonian. And it is a horror musical. And I don't think I have laughed that hard in weeks. It is so, so good. You have a killer whose name is actually Killer, like that's his birth name. You've got a song where the female lead sings about the male lead and it's supposed to be romantic.

about all the wonderful things about him but she's singing about like his completely unshaven pubic area and how bad he smells and it's just it's wonderful and I cannot recommend that movie enough. I hope that it gets some sort of release in North America so that everyone else can enjoy that movie as as i did it is a cult classic already and i can't wait to watch it 50 more times it just really it's so joyful and there's you know there's

one guy gets a chainsaw up his ass, but it's so happy. And I do. And I don't know how to reconcile those two feelings. Like, this is terrible. This is wonderful. So, I don't know, but yeah, Chainsaws We're Singing is one of the best things I've seen this year, and I hope you all get the chance to watch it. Yeah, we called and we said it was going to be the best movie on your list. You just from the title alone. And we weren't wrong on that one. Oh, my God. It's so stupid. Good. I. Oh.

Yeah, that sounds like a good pairing with Repo. Yeah, except it's funnier than Repo, if you can even imagine that. So I would happily buy it on 4K if it ever came available.

Recent Watches: Cat Antics

Oh, God, I can't wait for that. Anything else, Boss, besides your Fantasia that we can't really discuss? Um, no. I've just been watching my cat, who is currently in heat. creep around and yowl like David Naughton in America. And the way you describe it, if you don't have cats, you have a cat that has a case of the hornies.

This is exactly the way he described it. They're freaking crawling under their hind legs, under their bellies and humping the floor in a way. And, you know, meowing Lolly, imagine saying it burns, it burns, you know, but. She'll just crawl inside of this cardboard box and stare at me like she's doing something funny. Don't look at me. I'm working out some problems here.

Don't watch me. Watch me, you dirty bastard. Like the cat arc of the covenant. Don't look at it, Marion. This is not going to end well for any of us. Well, I had a couple of male cats and somewhere in the neighborhood we had a female cat that was obviously loose and feral. And running around, I swear to God, one of my male cats literally was trying to climb the fucking windows. Literally flashing his penis to whoever was gonna look, trying to get his dick in this cat.

No, it's their anus. If they flash their anus, anybody will look at it because it's cat anuses. And this is Charlie. Charlie was a very, very large cat. I'm surprised he did not hook into the window with those claws. Charlie was a pimp, man. Charlie just showing Lady Cats junk. You know, it's good shit, man. That's how I got married the first time. Like, hey, I'm fat. I'm solid.

Recent Watches: Gary's TV Dive

Can I see Uranus? There you go. Oh my gosh. They said no, by the way. I've watched a lot of Bob's Burgers lately for no good reason. there's the part where they have the art crawl the one they have the art crawl and and gail just makes a whole bunch of photos of animals with their anuses hanging out and it uh it's like a magical

It's a good distraction, Bob's Burgers. But stuff I've watched lately, I have watched... I don't want to go watch anything really new. I watched some old stuff because John Cross recommended that I watch... Again, another John Cross recommendation. It's called Flokes in the States, but it's called North Sea Hijack like everywhere else. It's Roger Moore and his cats. Roger Moore and his cats. Yeah, Roger Moore.

Tony Perkins is the bad guy. And, of course, the great James Mason. This is a film in which Tony Perkins takes over oil stations in the North Sea. And Roger Moore is ironclad. red suited for some reason. That's not stealthy at all if you have to throw it out there. Frogmen decide they're going to go save the day.

What makes this film good is just how crass Roger Moore is in this movie. He hates women, but he loves cats. He doesn't trust folks who don't love cats, and he's ironically doing needlepoint throughout this entire movie for some reason. it's like yes this is something i enjoy a man can do this and a woman is is least effective at this i'm roger moore yeah

For some reason, on the name alone, I've never watched it because I hated the title. Yeah, it's decent for what it is. They get it done in about 90 minutes, which is always good. I don't remember. Tony Perkins is in Roger Moore, the best parts of that movie. And the fact that, you know, at the end of the day, you know, when they save the day, Roger Moore is gifted with a box of kittens. It's kind of adorable, you know.

because you know that they're gonna they're gonna save the day there and uh yeah um what else did I watch I've been watching a lot of and don't again you say you watch something strange For some reason, I got back into Degrassi's The Next Generation because it's on HBO Max. And I love my Canadian melodrama. I think I've discussed this before about...

how special the first Degrassi series was to me, the Degrassi high and Degrassi junior high on, cause we didn't have cable back in those days. So you had to have something to watch. And those, uh, those ran channel 11. So you watched a lot of. Canadian melodrama about these kids, you know, doing stuff in high school and junior high. And this is why I'm so obsessed with Pat, whose last name I can't pronounce as Joey Jeremiah with the hat.

they do cons occasionally, but never in the States, which makes me sad. You know, it's always in like, like a Calgary or, or fucking, uh, um, Ottawa or something. They always do shit out there and never out here. But I don't think they realize the impact on the American audience that they had. Those young punks like myself who didn't have cable television.

We're forced to go to public television, you know, fancy that. Cause it's a fucking joke now, public television, uh, and watch, you know, stories about spike and snake and, um, somebody you know getting a drug addiction or somebody having an eating disorder these were all like real life situations for for teens about my age you know so it was kind of like an after school special you know but in a series so

If you don't like Degrassi or whatever, that's fine. I still enjoy it. I don't know why. Canadian melodrama. I love it. Gotta love it, man. That's all it is now. I mean, I discussed with you, you know, like, yeah, I'll put up a lot of dumb shit. I mean, I watch, I watch pretty little liars in Riverdale for, for that reason is it's my, it's my kind of sleaze.

And when I say, hey, folks, you should watch Pretty Little Liars. You really should because, you know, there's people getting killed on that show. It's like a real life, like teen version of like a dynasty or something. with some extra cheese on top. And I really enjoy the stupid stuff like that. Well, just remember, extra cheese makes everything taste better.

Oh, yeah, it does. It does. So if you ever were, you know, tipsy on watching Riverdale, I'd say to check it out because you'll fall into all the teenagers having sex for no good reason. all the supernatural shit they throw in there for no good reason, but you're there for it. And, uh, yeah, yeah, that's, it's, uh, well, what else have I been watching? I just started watching biography has, uh, the, I want my MTV documentary.

So I've been watching that. That's pretty fucking good. It comes in parts, I believe. Everybody's there. What is that streaming on? Hulu. It's on Hulu right now. You can watch it on there. Fuck yeah.

that's there and alan hunter's there and martha quinn's there you know the ones that are still alive jj can't be there obviously but i'm about that far into it where like they're like uh talking about the budding you know mtv and how it's not crazy successful but the british have come in with the videos and this thing shows up with his hair dyed and his beard dyed and i'm like dude you're old you know and

They don't care what you look like as long as you can fucking belt up those tunes. So just keep it clean there, buddy. Oh, that sting. I had another sting. Sorry. Go ahead. No, that sting probably dyes his hair too, though. It does. Probably does, too. He doesn't go crazy like the Hulkster without dying his beard, though. So I guess there's that. Gotta be Hollywood, man, for life.

What else? There's not a whole lot more that I can remember. I meant to watch. I didn't get to. I watched Event Horizon for another show, but that's going to be on a show that's going to be on this show, and we'll talk about that later. So a show that we're all looking forward to. Yeah, that's it for this for my watching selections. But today, tonight, this is where the age gap comes in. They were real hard because.

Can I say one thing before we move on? Because I want to combine two of the things that you've been watching by saying that I'm a bad man with a master plan and the ladies call me Tex. There you go. So there you go. There's your Bob's Burgers Riverdale tie-in. I tell Lee Russell to watch. because the lady, Lee Lawrence, she's constantly bringing it up. I keep telling him all these pop culture references that are in there, like the Hawk and Chick episodes are essentially the lone wolf and chub.

it's so good i love them it's so good and they have so many little references like that i think lee would enjoy so i keep telling them to check it out i think i'll fall into that bob's burgers k-hole like no problem you know yes oh my gosh but tonight that should not have yeah we'll call this the age gap episode because

Introducing Child Prodigy Films

These are films that came out right around when I was a preteen people, eight years old and probably like 12 years old when these movies came out for me. We were doing, I guess, what would you call this? like child savants if you will they just kind of fall into their talents uh with uh the wizard from 1989 um Searching for Bobby Fisher, I think from 1993, I think, or 92, right around there. We'll confirm that momentarily. But we'll do this in alphabetical order.

I'm not sure if they're in X's hatred order because X apparently is going to just be like that. And today it's appropriate actually. This is the day, and people brought this up because people were watching, people were writing shit haikus for Q101, a local radio station, about when Dave Matthews band emptied their bus on Chicago City bus. And dropped 800 pounds of shit on people underneath. They crashed into them. Yes, they did. This is the shit-iversary.

Of the people, of the victims of the Chicago City Walk Dave Matthews Band incident, okay? 800 pounds of fecal matter on the public. Some of them probably deserved it. Under the toilet and dreaming. There you go. So if you go and read like some crazy reddits about people that have had interactions with Dave Matthews, he's definitely into butt stuff. Apparently dumping. 800 pounds of shit on the unsuspecting public probably gave him a raging boner. Oh my gosh.

But we'll get into The Wizard after we talk about the shit-iversity in about a couple more seconds, right after this trailer.

The Wizard: Trailer and Introduction

Two tickets to California, please. That's $226. Well, we only have $27.30. Where does that get us? Nowhere. Cory's taking his brother Jimmy on a ride. These two boys already traveled more than 80 miles across the state. We've hired someone to find him. What's his problem? He's just giant. But Jimmy's got a secret. You got 50,000 on Double Dragon? That could make this the ride of their lives. Look at him. He's a wizard. He's headed for the video championship. This guy? What is that? Power glove.

Yeah, well, just keep your power gloves up, all right? With a touch of romance. I am not kissing a boy. And a ton of trouble. Got you. We're too late. Sorry about that. You maniac! They'll get there any way they can. Debbie! Here we come! It's Jimmy! It's Jimmy! Come here! Stop them! What do you think you're doing to him? All his life, you've been telling him to do what you want him to do. How about once you ask him what he wants to do, huh? Now, video Armageddon.

It's gonna take a lot of guts. You can do it! A little magic. You're the best! And The Wizard. Fred Savage.

The Wizard: Cast and Crew Details

The Wizard. The Wizard from 1989. Just a PG film, y'all. Whatever. Directed by Todd Holland, who did a whole bunch of fascinating things. Directed a whole bunch of TV that you may know, like the Larry Sanders show, Malcolm in the Middle. If you go back in the rabbit hole, Twin Peaks, Max Hedgerum. So stuff that's much more fascinating than the wizard, probably according to my cohost. And according to me too, it is what it is. But, um, yeah, this stars Fred Savage.

Corey, the star is Luke Edwards, who is a filmmaker of his own. Jimmy, his brother. Jenny Lewis, who is a musician of her own and a producer of her own, too. She's doing some stuff, too. Uh, it's Haley surprised the fuck out of me too. Uh, when he is mom, uh, Christine, uh, Sam McMurray is stepdad. Uh, constant sleazebag Bateman. Um,

Regular dad, Bo Bridges, as Sam. Christian Slater, as the older brother, Nick. Will Seltzer, who I thought I saw in more things, but I was totally wrong, as Putnam, the bounty hunter that's looking for these children. Where's Lucas at? Lucas is in this movie too, people. Jackie Vincent is Lucas. Very important role in this movie. He's Lucas with the lid off.

Yes, he is. If you look real, real close, you will see a young Tobey Maguire as one of Lucas's cohorts in this movie with like Tony Hawk hair. Yeah, for like a hot second. Wow. He goes to get Lucas Lasota. Oh, how did I forget this? I thought he looked so fucking familiar, too. The Armageddon, the guy that registers them, is a guy, an actor you may know, called Lee Ehrenberg.

who's in some pretty cool things like Alex Winter's Freaked. He shows up in probably one of the best fucking Tales from the Crypts episode where he kills Katie Seagal with a guitar, Pete Townsend style. And he has... Sam Kinison talking in his ear, like a telltale heart kind of stuff, and it's pretty good. And last but certainly not least in this film, Frank McRae as Spanky.

I'm going to talk about Frank later, like a character actor, you know, spotlight because he deserves to be spotlighted. I'll kick it to Suzanne first. I know my feelings about this film. I know my honest feelings about this film. I know my nostalgic feelings about this film. This is the first VHS I've ever owned that was mine. Suzanne, Generation Gapped, what did you think of The Wizard from 1989?

The Wizard: Suzanne's Negative Review

I'm going to be straight up. I appreciate your love for the movie. I know. I remember my first VHS tape, too. This was not that movie for me. I actually had a hard time watching it. I ended up and I'll get into more of the story, but it was I just I couldn't focus on it. It was. Also, okay, I will say it kind of took place in the Nintendo age. I'm sure everybody knows what I'm talking about. When everywhere and everyone had some video game tournament.

But I'm watching this going, oh, God, the kid's walking off. Where's the tragedy? So, of course, we do get our tragedy. This is probably the last movie that I found Christian Slater hot in. And I've never watched it until yesterday. In three parts. Not even cuffs? Come on now. He's still pretty sexy in cuffs. I hated cuffs. I did not like him in cuffs. No, he really wasn't. That hairline started receding a little bit too much for my taste.

I never said it was good. I just said he was good looking in it. No, he really wasn't. You know, it was for me, and you mentioned it earlier in one of our talks, was Legend of Billie Jean. That is that and... There is one other movie. Oh, pump up the volume. That was, I just liked him sitting there talking about the cock ring. But then again, that's a story for another time. Anyway, I just, I really did not like it. I didn't like.

Basically, you gotta admit, they said a fucking bounty hunter after a kid? Come on, that was just unrealistic. And the fact that these kids win across two states, once again. I don't know. I just, I did not find anything that I could even remotely relate to in this movie. And usually somewhere along the line, I can find something that I can relate to.

That whole, the whole sad story. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You knew it was coming. It was built up from the fucking first frame of the film when little Jimmy is walking and the cops come and pick him up. Come on, it just... The evil kids, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, that's a dime a dozen. And like I said, Gary, I truly, truly, truly love your movie taste, the way that you can...

see into things a lot deeper. But once again, this took place in 89. I was a senior in high school. This was like blood-sucking freak's age for me. I just didn't like it. Yeah, I have weird feelings. Like one day I'll make Suzanne watch the Garbage Pail Kids movie and they should learn why I don't trust. I have watched that. Why I don't trust women all the way. It's Tangerine from the Garbage Pail Kids movie. It's one of those weird things, you know. Oh my God.

She did that wrong, yo. Come on now. Honestly, kids in a casino, come on. That was never, ever, ever allowed. Period. And I'm trying to find some little thread in this movie that I want to like and that I want to relate to. And it literally does not exist. I mean, I like Bo Bridges as an actor. Like I said, Christian Slater, at least if I was like 17, it would have been like, oh, it's Christian Slater. I could just mute the movie now and just look at him.

But, you know, I'm kind of, I'm way the fuck past that. It may be if I was younger. But once again, this 89, I was, like I said, into more. God help me. hardcore horror at that point i couldn't i just couldn't relate i remember all the every single arcade any place that even remotely had a pinball machine had some kind of gaming tournament going on

The family story really didn't resonate with me. Nothing really resonated with me. I just didn't like the movie. It was a very difficult watch for me because I couldn't find anything. to keep me interested in it. I paused it like the 20 minute mark, the 30 minute mark, the 40 minute mark. Finally, it's a 55 minute mark last night. I just like, yeah, I just maybe tomorrow morning.

go pick up where I am and see if I can find what I'm looking for. So if I fucked up whoever was watching it, I did try to rewind back to where you left it off. That's fine. it didn't make a difference i'm so sorry x i apologize but did i get you back to remotely about the right spot i just started the whole thing over i was just like whatever maybe i've missed something that was good but i didn't i'm so sorry

I just, I couldn't, there was literally, I think Gary is right about it being the age gap. There was nothing there for me. Nothing. I'm going to leave it there because I don't want to tear it down anymore. It just wasn't for me. No, you're fine. You're fine. I've been waiting for this, and it's all going to be from the truth.

The Wizard: X's Harsh Critique

You know, nuggets of my one brother, Jeffrey X. Martin. How do you feel about The Wizard, brother? This movie makes you want to step on snails. None of it makes sense. And it's just... a huge tremendously dumb commercial for nintendo and the overland trucking industry there is sexual assault there's kidnapping and thievery and every

deus you can pull out of the ex machina the whole movie smells like rape and violence and excite bike this is lemony shit bits series of fortunate events I wish all of the characters had had a weird, awkward, barely pubescent orgy that lasted maybe three minutes and everyone embarrassed. disappointed and that's the shame of their entire lives every single character in this movie is an asshole the kids the adults even the trucks are assholes and you talked about the child finder he's no Tex Cobb

I'll tell you that much. And how, sorry, who in the blistering shit used a power glove? i mean i never even had a nintendo i had friends who had nintendos but none of them had the controller a fleshlight and i don't know how the kids got into a casino and i don't know why the adults in this movie kept using terrible language to describe Jimmy. He had PTSD. He's not a dummy. He's not a, quote, retard, end quote. He's not slow.

He just has some terrible shit happen to him. And he's dealing with it as well as he can. He's looking at Minnesota and feeling California. So no, every single attitude. in this movie is wrong. None of the dialogue rings true. Everything is just this weird... sort of, not even Mad Max, just kind of, eh, mildly irritated Max road movie. And I just, I don't, I, I, I, I don't like it.

You could have cast wacky-waving inflatable tube people into every single part of this movie, and it wouldn't have made a friggin' bit of difference. I agree with you, because I even said that earlier when I was since I...

The Wizard: Nintendo Tech Talk

can't use my right arm, because you know me, I usually make notes. But one of the things I said earlier when I was talking to a couple of my friends was it felt like an hour and 45 minutes of a Nintendo commercial. You're not wrong. Even What's-Your-Face, the kid, Haley, was just like, hey, I got Nintendo Power Magazines to help Jimmy out with his game.

I was like, no, you fucking didn't. Did you? Because you're a far worse kid than I ever was. I had one friend, and honestly, it was great. It was him and his mother were addicted to Zelda. And those phone calls cost money. Oh, when you could be an internal game counselor? Like that was a real effing job? No, there used to be a toll call number to get help.

when you were stuck in a game. And literally, my friend and his mom racked up, and this was back in the day before cell phones, when you had to call. Well, you obviously have to call on a cell phone, but off a landline. They would, without even thinking about it, have $400 calling to get help through Zelda. Who would answer that? Who the fuck paid that to happen?

Was that like Mean Link Okerlund? Who the fuck would answer that hotline? Well, apparently at one point in time it paid fucking well. Jesus Christ almighty. I want to say it was at least $1.99 a minute and like $0.99 for a judicial limit. So if you're on the phone for as long as they were...

And staying at that luxury hotel they were staying at, it had to cost a major dough. And not the $400 for whatever they got from their casino. By the way, Suze, when I was in 1989, I was already married and had a kid. 1989, I was in my senior year of high school. Like I said, this was the music and this is when I discovered blood sucking freaks. So at that point.

I became a fucking freak. Once again, Gary is completely correct. You and I are the age gap. That makes sense. It's the problem with this movie. It's more like, you know... I'm clouded with things in his brain. I always talked about this film momentarily, but the nostalgia is there for 1989 for me, which I was eight years old.

I don't think we would have had an attendee if we fucking wanted one. It was in the Montgomery Awards catalog. We wanted the goddamn thing. The action pack with the mat where you could play track and field on that motherfucker. You know? Oh, God. Yeah, the nostalgia's there for me. That's my biggest thing for this movie. I have to defend the nostalgia. I know, what are the other things?

You know, a couple of my friends had younger brothers and sisters, and one of them got the power glove for Christmas. And just so everybody's aware, that fucking thing never worked. That is the biggest lie that this film ever told. Because when Lucas... playing Rad Racer on his television, and he's moving his hand back and forth like he's steering the car. That shit never worked. That's not how it fucking works. You have to hit the buttons on the glove.

So Freddy's dead did it right because Freddy was putting the buttons on the power glove that he created in his dream. So that's how you use a power glove. That ridiculous peripheral. Which, you know, the best Nintendo peripheral ever was the NES advantage was like the big joystick with the big buttons. And that was very cool. But this thing was dumb. Yeah, it's called the Atari joystick.

We did much better with that one. No, this was like a big, I'd say eight inch by six inch joystick that you could plug in. It had like a turbo function on it and everything. You got to make the guy go faster. This was a cool peripheral, but the power glove was stupid. But films like this and Freddy's Dead, especially Freddy's Dead.

sold the fuck out of that and they used it without permission to say hey you forgot about the power glove and I forget what else he says you know but that sold a lot of power gloves so they kind of let it go Because Freddy told him to go buy it. If you've ever seen porn movies where a girl's fucking a gear shift like in a BMW, that's what that joystick that brought out was like.

Oh my god, I almost died. A large wrecked with giant buttons. But the motherfucker worked at least. It did what it said it was going to do, not the power glove. You watching this? And fucking Lucas is just showing it off like, hey, look, I got the only power glove in the entire country and I'm going to use it to move this back and forth. Now, this tech didn't happen until the Wii came out.

You can play Mario Kart with the little wheel in the air, or you can move the car with the wheel in the air, you know, but you can't do that now. Not 1989. I have to admit, when I was about 35, me and my friend, she got her daughter a Wii. So one night we were drunk off our ass. So we were playing Wii Tennis. Oh yeah, Wii Tennis. Picture two 235-ish women.

who had had five bottles of wine and copious amounts of beer, trying to play Wii Tennis. I hurt more from playing that because I kept falling the fuck down. Wii Tennis and Wii Bowling are pretty good, you know.

The Wizard: Gary's Defense & Nostalgia

Oh, my gosh. I guess it's my turn now. Yeah, like I said. Yeah, it is. The Wizard is a film that, again, the first VHS. This and Turtles 2 were the first VHSs that I owned that were mine. This is what makes The Wizard special to me. I love derelict media. This is why I collect Laserdiscs now, apparently. And you get cool stuff on Laserdiscs. You can't get on anywhere else. But I digress.

Um, yeah, this probably though, like you said, the family dynamic is, is very, it's very confusing because you, you have Christian Slater and Bo Bridges who are the father to Fred Savage and Luke Edwards. But Luke Edwards is only his half-brother or something. Some shit. Anyway, it's kind of confusing. But, yeah, he has this one. We have halves and steps.

And we were talking to the best girl and expert of his rain, man. I was like, come on, man. Just say, just say, you know, PTSD minor. Come on, man. Because, but the problem is you hear the girl's name mentioned. you know, throughout the film, you hear about Jennifer, like throughout the film, but you're not sure who the fuck Jennifer is. You know, it's a sister, you know, there's something bad happened to the sister. This is why he's quiet. And he, he's, he's in, apparently.

undeservedly inside a mental hospital because the stepfather doesn't want to deal with him. Fucking Sam McMurray's one of the biggest villains in this movie. Fucking piece of shit. You get this story, like this road movie, in a way, with these three kids who basically have no consequences, except when they try to go over the top with some teens, you know, and they steal their...

Yeah, to get their asses kicked. And, you know, this is the thing in this movie. How the fuck they found them? I don't know. But, you know, it is what it is. These fucking traveling kids.

The Wizard: Actor Frank McRae Spotlight

I have to talk about the most, the only redeemable character in the entire film, even though he does go with the whole idea of the bounty hunter touching her breast. And I'm going to do this more often because I love character acts. I keep saying this. Frank McRae is in this movie as Haley's trucker friend. I guess they're friends with her father or something. Spanky.

He helps them get the money from the casino. He helps them later get Jimmy back. If you don't know who Frank McRae is, I will give you a laydown. of this great actor who's been in many, many things that you've probably seen. You don't know him by name. He's often the very loud person in movies, like the captain in Loaded Weapon 1 and the captain in Last Action Hero. He shows up as a great character in Lockup with a good Sylvester Stallone. That's a film we'll do one day. I love Lockup.

He plays a very quiet role. If you guys have seen batteries, not included in that movie, but I watched that very fucking sad eighties movie. He makes you depressed after you watch it. I do that with films sometimes to where I'll watch like Turner and Hooch.

And then you forget the ending of Turner and Hooch and you just like question life. Like, why'd you watch this movie? If you're an animal lover, you should have done that. You know? Yeah. My big question with Turner and Hooch, where did the puppies come from? I imagine he, it's like the, it's like the end of man. You don't ask these questions. It just kind of happens, you know, but he, his career goes back all the way back to the seventies.

To where he was in stuff like Dillinger. Who was in Dillinger? X, you would know this. Oh, shit. No, that was Capone.

Warren Oates plays John Dillon. Warren Oates, you're right. I'm sorry. You're right, Suzanne. I'm wrong. Look at this film. That's okay. We're talking about other films on the side that The Wizard Dillinger from 72 has Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips for some reason, Cloris Leachman, Harry Dean Stanton, Jeffrey Lewis, John P. Ryan, Richard Dreyfuss, and Frank McRae as Reed Youngblood.

So the whole point of this is that I love character actors and that if you guys don't know who Frank McRae is, you probably have seen him in something because he's been in many, many things. You should at least watch Used Cars. Yeah, Used Cars. Oh, but that is one of my favorite movies. Oh, my God. Frank Ray's really funny in it. He's got the best facial expressions. Oh, my God. In a lot of slime movies, he's in hard times. I forgot about that.

With Bronson? With Bronson. He's in Fist with Stallone. He's in Paradise Alley with Stallone. He's in Rocky 2 with Stallone. He must have been friends with Stallone to be in all these movies because he shows up in some Stallone stuff early on. Yeah, I love Frank McRae. You guys should look him up. Go watch Batteries Not Included again because it is a good movie. It'll make you sad. But back to what it makes X sad in the past is this movie.

The Wizard: Plot Holes and Flaws

Yeah, it is a big commercial for Nintendo and Universal Studios Hollywood. I will admit that because the whole third act of the film... takes place at Universal Studios Hollywood and they're showing off the rides. You see the earthquake ride, I think. It's worse than Beverly Hills Cop 3. Yep. You see the King Kong ride. It's like showcasing all these things.

But one of the big takeaways of this film, and for a kid like me, who is aching for, I guess, another Mario game, is this is the debut of the best Mario game of the time, which is Super Mario Bros. 3. Again, go back to the logic. This is a game he's never played, but yet he's an ace at it. He knows where the fucking warp whistle is, and he knows how to use it. I think that's shenanigans on the wizard all the way. It's just...

That's the power of love. The biggest hell-worthy trespass is of this film for me. As an old-school gamer, them just not knowing this. I will say this. There's two characters in these films. Mr. Waitskin and fucking Bobby Fischer and this movie, Fred Savage, supposedly guiding these young people in the right direction, which just dropped the ball horribly. You know, I would take my brother on this cross-country trip.

And then fucking me and my new redheaded friend are just going to exploit my brother. So technically, Fred Savage is the worst character in this film. And I know his motivations is to say, hey, we'll get this money. We'll get my brother out of this home. You gonna go fucking rent a two-bedroom apartment there, asshole? I don't think they'll take your credit there, Fred Savage. I'm just gonna throw it out there. It's just, uh, I don't know the endgame. Like, and then the...

The episode you'll hear before this one, we did Nightbreed. And one of the big questions is, you know, when the doctor is killing all these people and he's blaming Boone for this, when they find... like nothing either that connects him to the murder. What is his end game here? Is he going to like kill the world? You know, I think Fred Savage is just trying to exploit his, his PTSD brother, which you find out in the end of the movie.

Why he wants to go to California is because that was the last happy place that his little sister was, was inside. I forget where those dinosaurs are, but they're featured in like Pee Wee's Big Adventure and stuff like that. And, uh, let's leave your picture there. So. La Brea. La Brea, yeah. But this is information that you should have found out before that something tragic happens to the sister. And this is why he is the way he is.

But they don't do that because this is filmed towards eight year old fucking controller holding knuckleheads like myself, who at the time did not give a shit about, you know, the motivations or their intentions towards his brother. Or what the fuck is wrong with Sam McMurray? Why the fuck would you say, hey, I'm going to grow the slightest amount of balls, mother of fucking Jimmy, and say, you know what?

You're going to put my fucking son at a home. He's had some real tragic shit happen to him. Let's try to work it out at home. No, let's go put him in a fucking mental institute. Oh, she's a bitch. No, no. You can tell. She's that trophy wife, though. To say... I'm going to go along with whatever because he brags about saying, oh, we spent all this money on hospitals and blah, blah, blah, blah. Every time the kid gets loose and blah, blah, blah, bullshit.

You can tell by the whole neighborhood. I'm sorry. It's just not. It's one of those movies that actually it's so poor in its execution that it makes me upset. But in the world today, you know, where drugs are just given to children, they can't sit still. If you're a mother who's against us, you know, grow little balls. Don't be like the mother in this movie and say, you know what? Maybe there's something else going on here.

This kid had a known tragedy. So him being in a home is ridiculous. But I love... The mother is completely fucking ridiculously stupid. Yeah, she's a trophy wife. She's going along with it. I don't see any of their children in the house, and yet she's literally ignoring her son. She doesn't give a shit about anything. Oh, yeah, no, she gives a shit in the end when there's $50,000 at stake. They're cheering him on to video Armageddon, you know. Yeah, that was complete and total bullshit.

The Wizard: Final Thoughts and Ratings

Yeah, the end of the movie is, it is what it is. And happy ending, I guess. You never get a sequel, obviously. I did learn that if you put a sequel to all... In a sanitarium, all you do is watch television. Yeah. That's it. It works on Halloween. Halloween, the extended cut. I'm sorry. How is that not a bad thing? My gosh.

But, yeah, I love the banter when Christian Slater and Bo Bridges are on the road. That's a positive to where they're stopping Putnam at every go there. And I've played Double Dragon. I've never been good at, but I never seen somebody score 50,000 points in about five seconds, so that's a bunch of fucking horse shit right there. Okay, let me jump in here. Let me jump in here because I have a thing.

At no point has getting the high score on a video game been important since asteroids. It's always what level are you on and how far did you get? No, but you got like... I'm sorry, I will interrupt you there. No, there is one that's more important. Galaga. Do you know how hard, do you have any blisters? Do you know how many blisters I got fighting for that number one spot on Galaga?

That is my fucking game. My favorite video games, okay? So yes, I do know. But did that come out before Super Mario Bros. 3? And before the advent of home consoles? Yes, it did. Once games hit home, it was, what level are you on? How far have you gotten in this level? Did you see the secret warp pipe hanging above your head? So the 50,000 points thing made no sense to me. Well, first of all, double dragon. Great. I think you might've got like 20 points for killing one bad guy.

So if he's playing the game for about a whole three minutes because he only walked outside for a couple minutes and come back, you're like, wow, you scored 50,000 points at Double Dragon? It's fucking impossible in three minutes. I don't think it's possible, period. yeah i'll have like wheels wheeler like burning my neck but um yeah did you guys ever watch my favorite episode of south park is the world of warcraft

Oh, yeah, it's good. I actually had the t-shirt that had, what was it, the sword of 10,000 troops? I actually had a t-shirt that had the little USB stick that said the sword of 1,000 troops. But I'm an old school, I mean, I love my, I love role playing games. You know, I literally, I was so into EverQuest that I had two groups set up. My before work group and my after work group.

and my weekend group so we could all get together we had the right combination of everything it was a weird time i'm not i'm not it was not a good time but No, Evercross ruled my life for about a year and a half. Oh my gosh. I actually gave up. Trying to socialize with humans because, oh, wait, got to get home. My 530 group is about to get together, and I don't want to have to sit there and freaking portal all over the universe to try to get to them and miss out on my XP.

Which was stupid on my part. Yeah, this film, though, I have to close out my thoughts on it because, again, it's mostly nostalgia. And I watched it today, and I watched it. watch it tomorrow if i want to it's just um it's one of those things uh that stuck around you know more than more than likely i forgot to mention that i watched uh last starfighter you know in in the opening there but it's just one of those

films that, you know, I enjoy. I turn it on from the 80s, and I'm sorry if I had to go there. This is a big tangent, but Alex from Starfighter is less of a whiner than fucking Luke Skywalker.

I choose Last Starfighter over Star Wars pretty much any day of the week. You know, it's strange. But, yeah, The Wizard is fine. Todd Holland obviously made better things before and after The Wizard as far as, like... relevance if i had to pick a film like this and say hey this is relevant for today uh well i guess the world of online competitive gaming i guess is relevant in that sense but that's that's about where it stays and it made like

a bunch of these movies of kids on the road for no reason. And then six pack is a much better movie than this because you had Kenny Rogers at the helm, you know, with these little rambunctious brats on the road. Yeah, this film doesn't work like that. It's all as I think one pocket power and fucking horse shit. And I it's horse shit that I can still get behind and enjoy, though. But I get I get why you guys don't like it. I put it that way. Yeah.

It's like when I reviewed Scott Pilgrim with John Cross, and he kept complaining about it and telling me things that are wrong with it. And I kept saying, all these things you're saying are true, but I still happen to love it very, very much. Totally fair. Absolutely. Final thoughts, sir, on The Wizard and the rating. Oh, wow. Deep breath. We're in trouble now. No, no, no, no. It's fine. It's just I'm trying to figure out how to rate the wizard because I was pretty much offended.

By all of it, on an intellectual level, I found it to be a movie that pretended that it wasn't dumb. when it was actually incredibly stupid which makes it the cinematic equivalent of vanderpump rules so i'm on a scale of one to five Maybe a 16th. Okay. Yeah, I've watched worse films than this. Suzanne, go ahead. I have too, but I liked them a lot more. I'll talk about this in a bit of worst kid power films that I've seen besides this one.

Suzanne, what is your final thoughts and rating? I just, I hate saying it because I know how near and dear it is to you. I really... I really just did not like this movie. I really didn't like it. They had a chance at X. Please work with me here. they had a chance to really show some light on a traumatic experience and yet they exploited it for the sake of nintendo for the sake of nintendo and for the terrible child bounty hunter character.

who reminded me of somebody else that I can't think of right now, and I'll come up with it later at a very inopportune time, I'm sure. That's why I thought he was in a thing. He looked very familiar to me. Yeah, he did. He reminded me of like 15 different character actors. If you would take in like, you know, those little slide shot mugs, slide shot kind of composites. Right down to the damn glasses. But they had... He's the worst role that Joey Pants ever had.

Amen, brother. But I just, like I said, they had a chance with some very delicate matter to maybe do something a little special with. And they... Blew it all on being an hour and 40 minutes of a Nintendo commercial. I'm literally giving this one finger of a power glove.

Which, that'll tell you how well the Power Glove works. You better push the buttons before anything actually happens. That's right. It actually comes down to this weird-ass contest where, who is this fucking MC for Video Armageddon? He looked like a burnout Morton Downey Jr. to me. He did, but he sounded like he was about ready to introduce a new match in Thunderdome. You know? He did once again.

that was really oh my god wow that because i was like trying that guy was like once again i think we're looking at one of those sliding composites He looked like every frickin' comic of the time with kind of the shoulder-length frickin' mullet and a receding hairline. He was totally Johnny Dark on Make Me Laugh. Yeah. Oh God, holy shit. Perfect. It just, once again, my main issue with this movie, straight up, which is why I'm giving it one finger of the power glove.

is the fact that it's delicate. It could have been handled in a way that possibly could have been meaningful. But no, they turned it into a fucking commercial. And for that, there is no forgiveness. They squandered whatever goodwill they could have possibly generated. This really was a bad fucking idea of a movie. I'm sorry, Gary. Susan and I just went off. They could have just made... everybody's dialogue real simple. And it wouldn't have been as it is already. Let's pray. I lost my connection.

there but here we are again that's all right now i said it's still recording so let's leave this all the show because uh yes while you guys are ranting i was away I will keep my mouth shut right here and say, hey, these are my final thoughts on the wizard. And I will say, just like Scott Pilgrim, everything you guys say is right. But I have to enjoy it.

It's just, it's fucking dribble of a lost time in the 80s to where all you wanted was that fucking Nintendo. So you watch a film about Nintendo. There was cartoon shows about Nintendo. There was a show I remember called Video Power to where the kids would play video games for a competition. And in the middle of this, they would show, like, Nintendo cartoons, like The Legend of Zelda cartoon and Captain Nintendo cartoon. And then at the end...

The kid got to run through the maze with a Velcro suit on and strap cartridges, like cartridge boxes to his outfit. And whatever he wanted to go through this course at a certain amount of time. He won. So you got, like, five copies of Paperboy for no reason at all. I never understood why, you know. Oh, yeah, and that's a fucking prize. Why the kid wanted, like, scrapped two, three copies of, um.

arch rivals to his chest. I have no idea. He has eyes. He can see. But that was a show in the 80s. I'm sure Willis is like losing my right now. I remember that shit right there. Yeah.

Discussing Kid Power Films

But yeah, The Wizard is fine in my book. But there's a lot wrong, like I said. I've watched worse kid power films in my time. There's one that I watched on cable constantly. They played it. But little Scotty Schwartz, where they were him and his farm poor family fucking start a manure business for some reason. And, uh,

Kidco. Yes, that's the name of the movie. And it is not a good movie. But I probably watched it at least a dozen times because it was on cable constantly. Yeah, you know what they always used to play after that? Legend of Billie Jean. That was Kidco. Legend of Billie Jean. Kidco, Legend of Billie Jean. And like I said, at one point earlier, I said, at one point, Legend of Billie Jean was one of my favorite movies. And believe me, I was doing that Pat Benatar Invincible dance.

I was convinced for like 25 years that the tempted raper in Billie Jean, the guy that owned the beach shop, was Stacey Keach. But I was totally wrong. It was not Stacey Keach. No, it was that other day that... Yeah, it was like, pay as you go, earn as you learn. You know what Brian wanted me to do? He wanted me to bring a Prince of Darkness poster.

to tom atkins try to have him sign it because they got discount store tom atkins jameson parker to play that role in prince of darkness and not tom atkins oh no don't you don't do that don't do that to sexy tom You don't do that to sexy Tom. Ryan wanted me to do that shit. I was like, no, I'm not doing that. But yeah, The Wizard. I will say that I've seen worse kid power films than this one. There's a lot of movies out there.

that are very kid-power friendly. One that I'm fond of, but it's not a great movie in adult eyes, is the Three Ninjas franchise. I knew you were going to say it! I knew you were going to say it! were gonna say it because i was i like the first i like the first one none of the kids can fight for shit but this is where i learned how to do pressure points and as a fat kid

If I knew how to light up the eyes, I learned that from the three ninjas. And I've used that many, many times. Where to punch on that dummy and make the eyes light up. And I learned that from three ninjas. But I learned nothing from the wizard. If I had known how to throw Hulk Hogan from the top of Mega Mountain, I would have done it. Let's talk about... The cast of Three Ninjas at whatever fucking mountain...

The villains are Lonnie Anderson and Jim Varney, okay? You have to like that. Or this gets cuckold. Lottie was looking good. Well, they sell implements for that now. Oh, let me rephrase that. Lottie Anderson and the leather clothes in that movie. She's looking so good, too. Hey, Chris. The wizard is the wizard. You like it or you don't. Nostalgia monsters like myself love this fucking movie.

Yeah, I have to I have to still love it, too. Although you guys hate it. And I was waiting for the hatred to come in. And I got it. And this is why this is the city podcast, because, you know, occasionally I'll throw stuff their way to say, hey. What do you think of this? It's shit. This is what you get for being younger. Damn you.

One day we'll talk about Surf Ninjas, and we'll talk about how racist it is, and you're just going to love that movie, okay? One day, okay? Oh, fuck. Surf Ninjas, starring Ernie Reyes Jr. and Sr. together. It's very important. But this has been our review of the wizard. I'm so flabbergasted because there are so many tangents to not talk about the wizard. Because we were trying to do our best not to talk about the wizard.

Searching for Bobby Fischer Trailer

So we found different avenues. We'll be right back where I think the intentions are more true with our review of Searching for Bobby Fischer right after the trailer. It's unsettling, isn't it? When you realize there are only so many things you can teach a child. And finally, they are who they are. I took charge to the power today. Sure. He played chess. He doesn't know how to play chess. He doesn't even tie his shoes. I'm playing chess. It's my dad. It's a game like Monopoly.

thrives on competition. Why do you want your son to play chess? Oh, I don't. He does. He taught himself. In a game where winning means the world. Tell me, is the next Bobby Fischer somewhere in this room? A challenge has begun. Your son creates like Fisher. He sees like him. Inside.

You're playing not to lose, Josh. You've got to risk losing. You've got to risk everything. I was wondering if you could keep him from playing that so much. No. We would kill him not to play in the park. He loves it. It just makes my job harder. Then your job's higher. Ooh, good! Yeah, that's it. My son has a gift. He's better at this than I have ever been at anything in my life. You have to have contempt for your opponents. Because if you don't think it's a part of winning, you're wrong.

Trick or treat. You have to hate them. But I don't. They hate you. They hate you, Josh. Get out of my house. To put a child in a position to care about winning and not to prepare him is wrong. The better I play, the better I have to play. That's just the way it works.

Maybe it's better not to be the best. Josh, you're in trouble. Don't move until you see it. He's not afraid of losing. He's afraid of losing your love. I'm sorry, Danny. I can't see it. He knows you think he's weak, but he's not weak. He's decent. And if you or anyone else tries to beat that out of him, I swear to God, I'll take him away. Max Pomerantz and Ben Kingsley. Searching for Bobby Fischer. You're a much stronger player than I was at your age.

Searching for Bobby Fischer: Intro & Cast

Searching for Bobby Fischer from 1993. Again, I was 12 years old, people, when this came out. Directed by Steve Zalian. who also was a writer on this, but wrote many interesting things that I would tell you about right now. I'd say better than this. No, he started with Falcon and the Snowman in 85. I wrote Awakenings. Yeah, good old Robin Williams and Robert De Niro. I wrote Jack the Bear. We'll talk about Jack the Bear one day with Danny DeVito. Directed by Danny.

Very personal to me, that movie, and more than this film. Schindler's List, Clear Present Danger. Brian De Palma's Mission Impossible, the first one. Civil Action, Gangs of New York. He wrote Moneyball. I would tell folks, if you're not interested in sports at all, that you should watch Moneyball because it is a film that if you don't give a fuck about sports, it doesn't matter because it's that interesting to watch Moneyball, you know?

He had the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. He wrote that. Morris Scorsese, The Irishman recently. Wrote a lot of cool things. Yeah, he wrote a lot of cool things to get the director and writer of this movie. Yeah, also... the book written by Fred Waitzkin, the real book, which I should read one day. I haven't done that and really should get to that. This stars Joe Mantegna as Fred Waitzkin. Max...

uh, as, um, Josh Waitzkin, who didn't do a whole lot after this. He did like a couple of things and then he didn't want to act anymore. So he's kind of like the real kid of this movie to say, Hey, you know what? I'm going to do this chess thing, you know, on my own terms. And I respect that kid for that. Sir Ben Kingsley as Bruce, the coach. Joan Allen as Bonnie, the mom. Always good and stuff. I love Joan Allen.

David Pamer as dickhead dad. Kaylee. I hate that guy so much. We'll talk about that. His son Morgan. Hal Scardino. Josh's little buddy. Lots of folks show up in this movie. William H. Macy. Dan Hedaya shows up in this movie. Anthony Held, who I know from Boston, Boston Public, which is a great TV show. Josh Mostel shows up. Laura Linney shows up. Fucking Tony Shalhoub in a great small role.

shows up in this movie. He just wants, uh, he's just one of the going bears, man. Um, the great Larry Fishburne. How'd I leave him out as Vinny, uh, Josh's other coach for, from Washington park. Uh, great role. was going to be played by Ice-T of all people. Both would be very interesting to me if he played it or Fishburne played it. But I love this film for all the right reasons, not for nostalgia reasons.

i'll talk about my feelings uh after suzanne and x tell theirs uh suzanne a first time watch i'd imagine for you but uh the plot plot synopsis i even said the last one A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer. And anti-Semite, I'll mention, because, yeah, that's a thing. We'll talk about that later. I've had it hurting myself, too, but not in chess.

I'll say it right now because he hated this film because he thought it was part of the Jewish conspiracy, this film. For some reason, he was that anti-Semitic. Oh, Jesus. This film was anti-Semitic. I think that, you know, it showed up in the best light possible without calling him a giant fucking douchebag, fucking Bobby Fischer. But I digress. Suzanne, your thoughts on this?

Searching for Bobby Fischer: Suzanne's Positive Review

This film that I love, please be kind. Um, yes. I actually, I have to admit when this came out once again, I, and you've heard me say it many times and I just no interest whatsoever. And it was a first time watch. I actually really, really enjoyed the movie. I see a lot of things in this movie.

I love the fact that he got captivated by watching the speed chess. And then when they set him up with somebody who is a real master player and the master player tried to take the things that made him special away. I'm glad, you know, mom, what the fuck was her? It doesn't really matter what her name was. But mom, you know, pretty much told, you know, your uptight teacher, no, he will do what he wants. He will do what he likes.

Get out of my house. The fact that his dad was the one, you know, his dad's sports runner, of course you want your child to excel at whatever it is. But he excelled at everything he played. He just was one of those. Great minds that even playing baseball, you have to be smart. Made him chess makes I've learned chess. Am I good at it? Not even goddamn remotely. But I've beat Pat twice out of about 755 games. But it's a thinking person's movie. I love it.

There's so many things about this movie that I really wanted to hate, but I really found myself enjoying. I... When that first gambit that he set up on the table... And he's like, no, I have to see it. Then he knocked all the chess pieces off and made him think. It looked like an asshole move, but it really wasn't. And yeah. Chess parents are, I think, worse than soccer moms because those people, they didn't attack each other. They beat the shit out of their kids and no one said shit about it.

And when the poor child was finally, his dad was pushing him so hard that he just, he threw the game immediately. You don't know immediately that he threw the game, but you know automatically he threw the game. It is those two standing out in the rain, his dad's fucking berating him. And he asked his dad, do you still love me? That was fucking harsh. I did. I love, I think Lawrence Fishburne just embodied that role.

And the little 10-year-old asshole. I felt bad for that kid. I mean, can you imagine being forced so hard to be so perfect? I just, it's... It's untenable. You don't know the damage you're doing. That kid is going to go get heroin. Okay, this is a joke. Sorry, guys. But I found myself... really falling into the story. It was a great story about someone who just is one of those weird things. You either can see it or you can't.

I play chess. I don't see it. I'm more of a, yeah, I'm going to do this now and see if it pays off. I just, I really enjoyed it. It's kind of a nice little low-key movie. I actually recommended it to a couple of my friends after I watched it. Don't go into it with any expectations. Just watch it. Lawrence Fishburne, though, oh my god, he stole the show for me. He really did because he did, he taught something that, you know, your master is never going to teach. Thinking fast and thinking ahead.

that having someone yelling and you know making jokes and i don't know advance coming in and they don't yeah oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah he taught that boy something that Any master player would never, ever going to be able to teach him. I'm glad that the family unit came together in this movie. As opposed to the wizard, when I'm like, all you people fucking suck.

I have to admit, it was a really good watch for me. I didn't expect to like it because it was just one of those things. And I know both of you heard me say, yeah, no, no, no interest. No interest in not wasting my time. I'm glad that I watched this movie. I truly enjoyed it. I enjoyed the fact that Dad started pushing too hard.

And I'll have to admit, my favorite scene was with the little asshole 10-year-old. Actually, no, I can't say it because it was kind of rude, but apparently the chess parents are worse than soccer moms. Because that man just painted that boy's face. And you don't, it's weird. It was one of those weird scenes. You don't realize what's going on, but you know what's going on, but you don't realize it.

When they're standing outside that glass wall that's so completely obscured, you can see him just hating that kid's face. I mean, is that really necessary? Is it that important to excel? And I think the point of this movie is just be yourself, be good at what you're good at. But the pressure from above, the pressure from your parents is. Terrible. It's like the helicopter parents now. You don't realize the damage you've done. When dad finally realized what he had done, thank you, mom.

and just backed off and let him just do what he wanted to do. Let him play the way he wants to play. And you know what? You've got a more well-rounded human being. That, like I said, that scene that you don't see, but you see behind the glass wall. When he got beat, he offered him the draw. He knew the moves. He knew how many it was going to take. He absolutely refused because he didn't see it. That was horrible. And how many times do we see on the news some fucking overzealous...

Soccer mom, soccer dad decides to go just pounding the shit out of somebody? Come on. There's a big lesson to be learned from this movie and I think more people need to pay attention to it. I truly enjoyed this, and thank you, Gary, because I never would have watched this without this show. Yeah, I'm glad you—my heart is full. I'm glad you dug it, and I would—

Yeah, I'll talk about my feelings. What is my turn? X, what did you think about the film, sir? Uh-oh. Let's get the toilet paper out. There are times.

Searching for Bobby Fischer: X's Critical Review

When a movie comes out that everybody seems to love. It's a crowd pleaser. It gets critical praise. It wins an Oscar, which this movie did for cinematography. And I have come to realize that those movies, more often than not, are not designed for me. And searching for Bobby Fischer is definitely... Not for me. Now look, I know that it's based on four or five true stories that are far more interesting than this movie about how Bobby Fischer dropped out of sight after he won the championship.

how the Russian chess player in the park is based on a real chess champion who became homeless and challenged people to chess games for money. That's all well and good, and these are stories that I may research. later but for me the problem with searching for bobby fisher is that it is a it's a construct It's not a movie. It's an exercise in manipulation. You've got the kid, Josh, he's really good at chess.

And his dad gets all power hungry and pushes the kid further up the ranks. You've got the chess teacher who plays by the book. And then you've got the chess player who's a loose cannon and just plays speed chess in Washington Square. And then there's Mom. who just loves her kid because he's got a good heart. And mom is Joan Allen, and Joan Allen's entire career is, I'm skinny, but I have great tits. And then... And then there's the evil kid who barely speaks a word and he becomes...

our hero's archenemy. He's the Unichessel soldier, and he really is to blame, right down to the scowl and the questionable hair. There's no nuance here. So for a movie based on... Real events. The script relies on a lot of stereotypes. They dressed Ben Kingsley up like a prim, metrosexual Roy Batty.

They turned Larry Fishburne into a chain-smoking do-rag guy. And look, I'm not down to make fun of child actors, okay? I know what happened to Jake Lloyd, and I don't want to contribute, but let me say this. The character of Josh seems weirdly uninterested in the events of the film. He treats self-doubt and loss.

Basically the same way that he treats victory. He spends the entire movie on the verge of tears. He's there, but he's not there. And by the time we get to the climactic chess game between Josh and... Drago Jr., we don't care. We don't care because Josh doesn't care. And even when he realizes he can win... And Ben Kingsley's in the other room dictating the action like some kind of skinny, white, anorexic Morpheus.

The kid's resting pout face undercuts what should be a victorious moment. So for me, searching for Bobby Fischer was pretty much... Nothing but a delivery system for a heart-tugging James Horner score, God rest him. There are three volume levels in this movie. There's whispering, there's screaming, and then there's the soundtrack. This is what I call a ride the fader sort of movie. But in the end, I felt nothing about the people.

or their conflicts, or their wins or losses. And when a movie competently designed by Hollywood to make me feel something... Makes me feel nothing except glad when it ends that I can't count that film as a success. I do have to add a point there because, you know, you mentioned something about Joan Allen. And I've gone over in my head every movie I've seen her in. And yeah, you're right, because she's the same stick figure with big tits in every movie. I mean, go to look at Pleasantville.

Go back and listen to that episode with Zootopia and fucking Pleasantville. Come on now. Oh God, I've got to go back and listen to that. But no, I mean, honestly, I, maybe I'll be honest. It could be the drugs I was on because that was like, you know, bad pain day. And I was a little bit more. I don't want to say nostalgic, but in a happier mood. But I just I don't know. I you brought up proper points and your points are all correct. I just I guess I found.

And you're right. He was, the kid was fucking morose through the whole thing. But I mean, when he started throwing games, but I mean, once again, I, you're right. No emotion whatsoever. I really wanted to like fucking throw a punch at. his dad saying I threw it because I'm sick of this shit I learned it from watching you but no wonderful points and

Now I've got a little bit more to think about, so thank you. So what you're saying is you don't like the drugs, but the drugs like Josh. Yeah. Apparently, my pedicillers, yeah.

Searching for Bobby Fischer: Parental Approval Theme

Oh my gosh. Yeah, my feelings on this film, there's a lot of feelings in this film, and I bring it up a lot when I thought about this film about the, Suzanne brought it up, the activities and the actions of sports dads. Whereas, you know, Josh's dad, who Fred, Joe Mantegna, again, plays the role very well, but he falls in.

to his son's talent he exploits his son's talent in a way to the point where he's calling other children potzers and this is something that you don't do as an adult is call fellow 10 year olds potzers and What I love about, you know, the turnaround, there's a scene in this film that I have a little tear in my eye when it happens, where Josh has cleaned his room of everything that he loves, baseball and everything. He has, like, one post on his wall, and he's sitting at his desk.

writing chess scenarios on a piece of paper and that's the moment that fred realizes that you know what i'm doing fucking too much and my son does not enjoy what he's doing anymore now if there's more parents like that in this world because my

And Alyssa, Suzanne's met Alyssa, you know, she didn't want to play softball anymore because she just wasn't great at it. Now, some other parent would say, well, you're going to play anyway because I put all this money into blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, because sports costs a lot of money.

But, you know, my cousin Hillary, her mother, you know, said, you know what, I'm okay with this. Now, this referred to the beginning to becoming like the monster he became, like the rest of these fucking chess fathers. But that's an important scene to me. I love the two coaches. You got one side, you got Larry Fishburne as Benny, and you got the other side, you got Ben Kingsley as Bruce. You know, one is teaching him off.

Like a proper coach. Pick a sport. Larry Fishburne is teaching him aggressive offense. Whereas Bruce is teaching him defense. in situations and scenarios. So when the two come together, you know, the two teachings come together and they come together, it's very satisfying to me, you know.

I can become a complete, complete player in a way to where he can, he can go do that and go there. It's a great moment of the film. You guys mentioned in the end, the other day, Josh sees, sees that they need this scenario. And he's going to get checkmate in 17 moves. And he gives the kid a way out. Now, in real life, this match was a draw. And this kid's family up here was fucked up because today they...

they were like nomads who would go from place to place. I guess for him to play more chess. I don't know how this works, but, um, they literally moved around like, like fucking gypsies. And it was, uh, I imagine that kid, the real kid had a real strange life. I love the small roles in this film. There's a scene where they first come to Bruce's place where a bunch of old dudes who are playing chess. And there's...

Tony Shalhoub just sitting there with a beard and you know, he just got his ass handed to him, but the kid wants to play. And he, he asked for a gummy bear, a real simple shit. And Josh gives him a gummy bear. And then he asked for a second one. And then when he loses, he leaves the bag with the guy. I think that's a nice, it's filled with nice moments like that. And it just, it shows, and I was brought up this way, you know, not, not to be for yourself. Like a lot of these kids.

A lot of kids in the film are humble, and I think Josh is very humble to the point of where mom discovers that he can play chess, and dad wants to see how he can play. But he doesn't have the heart to hand his dad his ass in the chest, so he throws the game. Until the second part, it's like the only arrogant part of the film, to where he's like, no, go ahead, lay it on me.

Josh keeps going back and forth on the phone and watching television while his dad thinks about his next move. And of course he hands his dad in his ass. That's like the only arrogant moment of the film for me. And I just love... I love the dynamic of it all. It's very, very strange to where you see people like David Pamer, who's one of the biggest assholes of the entire film because he's picking on Josh's poor buddy.

And Morgan, who, if you've seen The Indian in the cover of that movie, he shows up as the lead in that movie, this kid. And he parades the kid constantly, like, why did you bring the queen out so soon? And this, that, or the other. where he wants to be just like Josh to where before this, they had two weeks of fishing and wasn't allowed to talk about chess or anything. They just wanted to fish. He wanted this too. And I think a lot of kids want this.

But just like Josh, you know, I'm going to start crying here for a second. I shouldn't do this. The approval of your parents is very important when you're 10 years old. There's a lot of emotions there. I feel a lot of the emotions here, you know, when I think about, you know, the shit I was doing at 10, 12 years old, you know, that would disappoint my parents that I'd be worried about, you know, like, is this good enough? That's the big question. And I watch.

this video, um, Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers neighborhood. Um, again, I'm getting emotional again. I'm sorry about this. There's a song that's, that's that Daniel, the striped tiger, which is Fred's like alter ego. sings with Lady Averillyn called Mistake. And the whole song is Daniel Tiger, Daniel Striped Tiger talking about how he feels like he's so small and so tame that he's worthless as a tiger.

He literally lays it on her like, am I a mistake? And she sings back to trying to encourage him that he is not in the whole song, the tiger who is Fred, letting these emotions out. It's saying back to her, you know, no, no, I think I'm still not right. And in the end of the song, they come together, of course. But this is a video I watch at least 20 times in a year, depending on how I'm feeling that day.

So all of the emotions that Josh is feeling in this film, I feel sometimes as an adult, you know, the approval of my peers. This is why you see huge gaps in my podcast, because if I'm not into it, I can't. perform for you people you know josh wasn't into the chess thing and he cannot perform for for his father who essentially he was trying to get approval of both for most of this film and approval of his coaches but mostly dead

because they have a whole shouting match, him and his mom, Brett Fred and Bonnie, Joan Allen and Joe Mantegna, about, you know, how many of those ballplayers that you write about want the approval of your father. And he streams all of them because, you know...

I've never been an athlete, but I've heard athletes talk and I've seen parents at games, whether they're toxic or if they're there for the love, that's what they're looking for, the approval of their father. And that scene hit home a little too hard. I'm kidding. I'm going off on tangents here, but it's all important. And this is why this film is so important to me. Because I watch it as a 43-year-old man and still get these same feelings.

I can't help myself, but I'm going to leave it there. I'm sorry I rambled so bad. X, anything else you want to say about the film? First of all, how was that a ramble? You've heard my shows, bruv. I know. I mean, dude, I completely understand. And you know what? I cared about pleasing my dad until I realized that he didn't really give a shit about what I thought or what I did.

But I do have to say this because I have to be honest and fair to myself. Neither of these movies made me nostalgic for anything. That's why. That's because I never had those things. No one gave a shit what I did when I was a kid. And I did the things I liked because I liked them and not because I had a parental figure.

with their finger up my ass trying to work my willpower like a puppet, like Josh in Searching for Bobby Fitcher. And I wasn't nearly as fucked up then as I am now, but I wasn't raised to be humble. i had to learn that on my own as i grew older and that was probably more difficult than if i had grown up with those ethics so

Based on what you've just said, dude, I completely understand why this movie is important to you, and I kind of feel shitty about all the horrible things I just said about it. No, don't do that. It's okay. Yeah, I just, strictly on a filmic sense, it just, it didn't work for me. I wanted something more. I wanted something deeper and more grounded. And I didn't get that. So that's where I'm at with Bobby Fischer. Or searching for Bobby Fischer. Not Bobby Fischer as a human. I've never met him.

Oh, my gosh. Suzanne? No, I mean, I think the main point of this movie is all about parental approval. You know, my dad was non-existent. Did I try to... do anything to make him approve of me. You hit a point where you just give up. I mean, the only person in my life while I was growing up whose approval meant anything to me was my grandmother's. And you know what? Every day that I woke up, my grandmother approved of me. I didn't have to. I was.

Good at a couple of things. Was I great? Fuck no. But she came and watched all of my games. She was there when I got my honor roll certificates. Which I pretty much did solely to piss everybody else off, including my dad, just literally. My dad was pretty sure about the time I was 16 I was going to drop out of high school and get knocked up. Still glad I proved him wrong there. Fuck yeah. Oh, there's like a lot there, but we're just really not going to unpack that tonight. Bye.

We live in a world that when we were kids, and this is where our generations match, we had, you know, if our father or whatever was kind of lackluster, whether you loved him or not, you had about, you know, 14 surrogate aunties. and uncles that said these were your parents' friends or something that, you know, you don't want to spend more time with than your parents. So. Yeah. These are folks. My mom and my grandma and grandpa were always present.

They were the ones, if I really wish my one grandfather had not passed away when he did. Because there's a good chance I would be a completely different person. Good thing, bad thing, I don't know. It's left up to the imagination. But I mean, I guess the one thing this movie brought out in me is that, you know, the searching for the approval. I'm so glad that at one point in my life.

I just gave up on that. I'm like, you know what? The only person that I really need to make happy is myself. Yeah, I'm not going to fuck up along the way a lot. Hell yeah. And did I? Yes. Am I in a good place as an adult now? Fuck, I am 52 fucking years old. Yes. I'm very happy. Were there things I'd love to change? Some. approval is not everything. You have really got to fucking soul search. Figure out who the hell you are as a person and how you want to use or abuse that.

You know, a couple of my friends have gone in two different directions. I'm going to go off on a tear now. So put on your seatbelts, kids. Some of my friends just... Some of my friends excelled. One of them is a fucking mathematics professor in Ivy League college. Some of them, I've gone to their funerals. I feel like I'm ragging that mid... thing right in between going off the rails and constantly trying to do the right thing it's not easy and i think that's what

Believe me, I agree with that. It's not a well put together movie, but it did make me think a lot. I am nowhere near. The ideal human. I am such a freaking disaster. Oh, believe me. Disaster. You could name a hurricane after me. And they really do need to have a Hurricane Suzanne coming up. Because they had Hurricane Debbie.

Are you fucking kidding me? Hurricane Debbie? Hell no. But I think there's... I had a joke there. The Tetris of Waikiki, you gotta get that. Yes, he absolutely values to get that joke, you know. Yeah, Debbie did Florida. But it does bring up a lot of, for me, at least it made me start questioning. Myself, I swear to God, there are times I think I dropped out of my mother's womb at about 30 years old. You know, it's typical kid shit, but I was always more adults.

And there are times, and one thing I love about my husband, he realizes this and tries to make me be a kid again, which is really difficult for me. But you never, ever... looking at the kids in this movie, at least the portrayals of what they were doing. You know, you're never going to get that youth back. And I think that's the hard thing. that causes you gotta admit just a little bit of reflection how far did some people try to go to please their parents it's not an easy thing

I'm glad I really just didn't give a shit either way and decided I was going to do what was best for me. And I think it worked out well. It's, like I said, it's a reflective movie. I get it. Everything that you said, X, I really do, because your points are 100% accurate. I guess, and I'm going to blame this on drugs, prescription drugs, in case anybody's listening. Thank you, CIA.

That it's about, the heart of the movie is about trying to please other people and the futility of pleasing other people. No matter what you do, believe me, when I was working Thursday nights, it was my favorite night to work because I would get all of the softball dads in. Oh my God, these were a fucking horrible lot of fucking people.

I mean, I had two dudes about to fucking fist fight over whose kid was going to be the pitcher. Like, oh my God, seriously, you got to be kidding me. I've been there for it, for the softball, but softball moms is being fucking monsters, you know? I'm sure the moms were a lot worse than dads. All I had to do was look at them and go, will you two just shut the fuck up? Are you two good at a fistfight? Go outside. Actually go across the street.

The biggest argument here is fucking mothers fighting over what's the ball and what's the strike. I was like, in baseball, in any sports ball where you hit the ball like that. There's one rule. You cannot argue balls and strikes with the umpire. No, you can't. It's a rule. But for me, like I said, that is the one point. I'm blaming drugs.

that I took away from this movie was the whole parental approval thing. And seeing... It's a huge theme in the movie. It really is. Well, I think that's why it may have connected with me. I'm sure if I'd watched this a year ago before, I might have had a different take on it. But right now, it's a little bit reflective of approval. Right now, I'm having a hard time because...

Unfortunately, I'm dependent on other people and I seek their approval so they don't think I'm trying to be elite. But it's not... I really just don't know quite how to rate the movie. For me, a feeling thing, is it a great movie? No. Did it bring up some stuff in me? Yeah, a little bit. But I really, I'm going to leave this a non-rating right now because I can't quantify it. Cool. I understand. I'm going to stick a few bars for you guys. This is my feelings coming out.

This and The Beast and Me by Johnny Cash are like go-to songs for me because they describe me perfectly. Here we go. Daniel the Striped Tiger. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a mistake. I'm not like anyone else. I know when I'm asleep or even awake. Sometimes I get to dreaming that I'm just a fake. I'm not like...

Anyone else? Now, do you see why I go to this constantly, people? It's like therapy for me. This fucking tiger, Lady Evelyn, just pouring their hearts out, you know, for my therapy. So, you know. There's more to that song because she comes in and does like a round with him and just go to YouTube and watch it. This was wonderful.

But my feelings on this movie is everything I said and Suzanne said about, you know, the idea of approval is a big deal on this film and it portrays it so well, in my opinion. approval of your parents, approval of your peers, your coaches, all these people that may be in your life. At the same time, you make mistakes as a kid. You make plenty of mistakes as a kid. You make plenty of mistakes as an adult. Whether you're 10, 15, 35, 46, you're looking for that approval.

of somebody and whether you, whether you realize it or not. And, um, it's portrayed so well in this movie. This is, this is what keeps you coming back to it. This, this is, this is a four out of five for me. Cause I, I get emotional when I watch it still. That's one of the big takeaways for films for me is does it have some kind of impact on me? And this film, every time I watch it, I get these feelings. So it impacted me in that way.

Show Wrap-up and Upcoming Episodes

Oh, my gosh. A lot of emotions happened in this review, guys. I'm sorry. I love you. We will come right back and close out the show. Power Glove for your Nintendo Entertainment System. Now you and the games are one. Powerblown. Everything else is child's play. Thank you so much for listening to the banter, but this is the end of another Sin Brief podcast.

Went a lot better than I thought, because Suzanne didn't really say how she felt about the second film. I was waiting for her to bash it a little bit, and it really didn't even happen. And X, I respect everything you say, sir. You know this. I'm glad because goddamn. Everything you say I respect. Again, it's a Scott Pilgrim argument. Everything you say is true, but I still love it.

Yeah, X, any updates on the Kiss the Goat action, brother? Still working it. It's happening eventually. I don't know when, y'all. I'm sorry. I've been so busy with other stuff. This summer has been jam-packed. So, shit. I'll get to it when I can. It's fine. I'm not telling you to feel bad. I mean, I do feel badly about it. I feel that pressure about it. I don't know if I need parental approval because they don't listen to my shit. But yeah, it's something that...

I need to get done, but I'm trying to do other things. You need some therapy from the tiger and Lady Avalon, okay? That's what you need right now. Fuck. You're not wrong. Oh my gosh. I got tagged to do my Halloween 31 reviews and I'm like, I don't even know if I'm going to be able to write by then. Yeah, we'll see how it goes for you, girl.

I just, I feel so fucking broken. Get a dick to burn like you have at the Flintstones, okay? You know? I know, but you don't understand. When I write, my main thoughts have to be handwritten. It's just this weird little cue with me. I have to write out. Do you hear sparrows? The sparrows are flying. It acts, you're a writer, you understand you've got certain things that you need to do to get that thing, you have to get the, yeah, and that's how I am.

I even got like a thing because I started following rugby and following the Chicago Hounds. So, you know, I kind of wrote a few things. And I'm like, oh, do you want to do something in our newsletter? I'm like, no. Maybe next season. But no, I can't do anything right now. And I feel like I'm lesser of a human right now because I'm broken. I've not been this broken ever.

Suzanne's Emotional Struggles

And I'm having a very, very difficult time. And I don't like where I am right now. I know I'm at the end of the tunnel. I'm on the other side of the hump, but this has been... fucking nightmarish. Suzanne, let me take a second here just to help you, okay? Often, I wonder if I'm a mistake. I'm not supposed to be scared, am I? Sometimes I cry and sometimes I shake. Wonders and true that the strong never break. I'm not like anyone else.

She comes in. I think you are just fine as you are. She tried to make her feel better, see? I'm making you feel better. You're wonderful, Gary. And I think I've... told you this before i don't know how i would ever be without your friendship mutual babe mutual to the both i know it's this you have no idea my self-confidence is so gone. My ego, I don't even want to say it's bruised and battered. It's literally a fucking 90-second Mike Tyson knockout.

I don't feel comfortable in my own skin right now. And I'm so desperately trying to get back to any little thing that makes me me. And I'm really fucking suffering. Did you hear that? Somebody needs to rebuild her if they have the money. The technology? The technology, yes. Jump in the air and then you'll make a noise. It really helps.

All I did was break my shoulder and somehow every other portion of my personality has been shattered in the process. Trying to bring you up from that, you know. It'll get better. I'm on the other side, but... This fucking sucks. You have no idea how much this fucking sucks. Oh, my gosh. All right, kids. I'm sorry. I'm through complaining. I appreciate you guys listening to me.

I do appreciate it. I had so much fun tonight. So much fun here, too. I literally told my husband and my mother to please go the fuck away. Yeah, the next show you should hear. i i believe if it's it could be it could be a couple things i'm gonna get together with uh i think cameron's is back from from uh obscurity uh in canada hunting the wolverines perhaps i don't know what cameron's doing but uh

If we can get together... Cameron and I still need to do Monster Dog. That's fine. We did Monster Dog a while ago. I know, but Cameron and I were talking about... We sat here when they came... last year for Flashback, and discussed how much we both love Monster Dog. He's like, oh my god, we're going to do this. But I feel...

And I remember sitting and talking to Alice Keeper and saying, I don't know why they dubbed your voice. You have such a beautiful voice. And I was sitting there, oh my god, you're such an idiot. In my head. Thank you, guys. I am enjoying this so much. What are we doing next? I don't know for sure what we're doing next. I have a couple planned shows, but it might be if the Torches guys can make it next week or the week after, whatever we record. I don't know when.

But those guys, we're going to do Event Horizon and Galaxy of Terror together. It's been talked about. Should be a great episode. all that good stuff. Oh my god. We'll have to start like two hours early because I will wax poetic on both of those. I think while it's still summer, if that happens next week, we're going to do The Harder They Come.

and the mighty Quinn because it was a show we're supposed to do a long time ago and I think I think it's yeah we're supposed to do it but I got back from Jamaica so yeah that's that's Suzanne's Jamaica show that never happened so I think we're gonna do it because it's still summertime And it would be a lot of fun to do those two films together. I remember enjoying The Mighty Quinn quite a bit. I love Robert Townsend. And you get a young Denzel in that movie. I've never seen either of them.

The Mighty Quinn is really, really good and so is The Harder They Come. Just think of The Harder They Come as a ghetto Jamaican Scarface because that's basically what that whole film is. Oh my goodness. You are going to fucking love it. It's gritty. Jimmy Cliff comes to Kingston.

And he wants to make a record like everybody else. And he gets fucked over. So he's like, you know what? Fuck this shit. I'm going to just start shooting people and stuff. And it's pretty good. It sounds like Predator 2. Oh, it doesn't have Gary Busey in it, though. Oh, well. I think you will truly I think you'll truly enjoy both of the movies. I know you. I think you'll enjoy them.

It'll be one or two of those things. Now, come on, let's do the Jamaica show a year and a half after I went to Jamaica. There you go, then. That'd be fun. So it will give me that for the next episode. The Mighty Quinn and The Harder They Come, more of the original midnight movies, as they call them, coming at you.

in the, in the heat of, of August, um, on the Sunday podcast, the next episode, uh, this is where I'll leave you guys. Um, me, Suzanne, X. Daniel the Striped Tiger and Lady Evelyn will leave you to say this is Cindy's podcast where if you got beef... We've got the emotions, I guess. No, we got the grinder. Yeah. We have the emotional grinder. We have the emotional grinder. The organ grinder, if you will. We'll see y'all next time. I'm still choking my emotions down!

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