Catch-up, Rants, and Giveaways with Filmmaker Damian K. Lahey!

some shopping right for Christmas. So Christmas shopping, some holiday shopping as you do, and what I wanted to yeah, yeah, and you know, I was talking to some friends of mine and you know, when when we were younger, our parents would be the ones that would like surprise us with gifts of course, but now for years now that I'm older, like I'm the one that surprises them with gifts and they just ask me to shoot them some

Amazon links. You know what I mean. And so so it's like reverse like I'm the one that like you know, bends into a pretzel trying to get all these thoughtful, clever and creative gifts, just like they used to when I was like, you know, in grade school and in

high school. And they're the ones now that are you know, just get the obvious stuff that like get be the obvious stuff, right, They're just like they're just like, don't forget to send us a couple of weeks on Brad, you know, on Black Friday for you know, for what you want. But I was doing that. So I was looking for a couple of things, and you know, I

was looking at the prices on Amazon. And one thing that I've tracked, and you and I have kind of talked about this is I've kind of been tracking how like not just Amazon, but in general, the deals that companies haven't rolling out aren't very aren't very enticing, you know what I mean. Absolutely, like like you're seeing a lot of seventeen percent off, you know, like like like like up to forty percent off, Like like a couple of years back for Amazon, it wasn't up to forty

percent off. It was up to seventy percent off, right, you know. And I was looking at the steel books, and you know, during the pandemic, I scooped up and before the pandemic, I scooped up quite a few cool steel books. And you know, I picked up that Scarface steel book, the Blues Brothers one that had the the alternate cut of the movie on there, the Bridge Over River, Kawhi steel book, you know, those more art you know,

mid artistic design ones they were doing there. And I picked up, you know, Rock and Roll High School, which was awesome. I got that steel book, but again, those were those were in the context of those being movies that I kind of already wanted to have in my collection. And I got the steel book because of the flash sales, because the the flash sales the steel Book was was in some cases cheaper than the standard verse. Very true. Yeah, it seems like they want to get rid of those. Yeah. Yeah.

And and so that was during that was kind of during the pandemic. And you know, I'm not gonna you know, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm on a budget. We all should be. Yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely, I'm always trying to find good deals on these things. So and I got them all like Amazon was constantly having flash sales on those things. Oh yeah, And I got most of those between eight dollars and ninety nine cents and seventeen ninety nine. I think seventeen ninety nine for Fargo

is the most I paid. Eight ninety nine was the cheapest, and I got I got Snatch Steel Book and then but most of them I was scooping up for like twelve ninety nine, you know, like the Psycho Steel Book and the Court Dobula and Steel Book, you know, right, and.

Ghost in the Shell available yep. There was one that was like super digitally remastered, and then there was one that retained the more like film quality, right, you know, and depending on your taste, your preference, you could get either or you know what I mean, Oh yeah, both

were available. So I got that one. But I was so I was looking at the steel books on the Black Friday on Amazon, and you know, the deals were not very good, right, And then I wound up And here's the here's kind of like the unspoken rule with my family when it comes to like gifts around the holidays. It's like, you know, air on the special edition, right, because it's the holidays. So it's like, if you're going to get somebody a book, usually get the hardback, right.

If you get somebody a movie, it's usually the two disc special edition, whatever, you know. And so I and I also try to pick out things we can all watch together, right. So I got a steel book for the Guns of Navarone I had. I shot my parents the links to that. I think that was like twenty two bucks yep. And that was on and that was on sale, and that was on the that was like the cheaper side, and that was just I believe the Blu ray. I'm not sure if I have the four

K in it. I don't. I don't do four K. So I don't care. I noticed that they eliminated a lot of the Blu Ray Only correct, you know, and as if there's like like like like uh propping up this narrative that four K just like dominated the scene, which didn't happen, you know what I mean, They just want to push it so to a point. Yeah, I mean it's caught on a little bit, but I mean not not not to the point where you're like no

longer selling Blu rays steal books. Like I know those steal books are available, you know what I mean, they're just not on the on the website. You know, they either the company either had, you know, told them to ship them back or do whatever to push the four K.

But it was interesting checking that out. I did get my dad the support your local Share of Support, your local gun Fighter. I got my dad those on on Blu Ray by Kenose. That'll be a nice surprise or he won't see see that coming. I got my mom the Dances with Wolves two disc. Oh right, I almost got heard the Steel book for that, but I noticed that the two disc Blu Ray has like a different cut of the movie on it. Yeah, and that was an odd one.

then you do have like other films. Obviously, the uncut version of Dead Alive is superior to the cut one that sub video stores got in the nineties. You know, that's another extreme example. And but then you see a lot of you know, especially with the horror, where it's like the theatrical version is the superior version. It's the

version that the director approved and prefers. Yet we also have an uncut version that's not a better movie bloated usually yeah, yeah, and it has just like either more it usually just has like more gore for the gorehounds, right.

But but it confuses it because people are are sometimes you know, they think of those examples of oh man, the director's cut is superior, you know, they think it once about Time in America or like the Dead Alive thing, it's like, oh, I've got to get the director's cut, Like I got the amidais with the director's cut, and there's a couple of scenes in there that are like that one are not necessary to the movie, but they're also like the direction in the acting is like film

school quality, right, right, you know what I mean, Like I mean, it was just a poorly produced scene, and then it happens, you know what I mean, for any number of reasons, Like there's a reason that this scene shouldn't be in Phnomadai's like tonally it stinks the acting is bad, you know what I mean. But there it is in the director's cut, yep, you know. And that's a thing where it's not really the you know what.

It sometimes gets blurred as to what's the preferred version, and sometimes the sometimes the producers are right, you know, sometimes the director isn't right quite often, you know. And and you you you see from just like all the mistakes that get made by by directors, you know, and and again a lot of it goes back to that once upon Time in America example, you know, the like or like Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, you know, the like evil studio, you know, the evil studio trying

to compromise the director's vision, you know. And it's like, look, man, I've I've read a little books on Sam Pegan Paw. He was irresponsible and completely ship faced on that set on you know, yeah, then on most sets. But you know, if he had cared about his director's vision so much, he could have tightened up, you know what I mean. Oh yeah, So that's and I know Criterion Criterion just

put out like a four disc version of that. I was an early adopter of that movie, and I'm you know, that's one of those movies where, you know, Sam Pegan pau is one of my main guys coming up. You know, that inspired me to get into film and all that. And I just want to say that, you know, and I am just like an avid, Like I am like a pretty big Bob Dylan fan. Yeah, you know what I mean, Like I'm a very big Bob Bob Dylan fan. So like Bob Dylan pat you know, Sam Peghan Pad.

To me, that was like a killer combination. And I've probably seen that movie fifteen times, Like I had the first director's cut that came out, and I think it's a I think it's a good movie at best. Like I would love to be able every time that I watch it. I would love to be able to like join the ranks of it's a masterpiece, but I I just can't. Like, I think some of it is like inept. Some of it is like a Jess Franco movie, you know what I mean. Like, I mean like the basics

of like filmmaking, like like just eyelines don't match. Like there's one scene where like the film is like oddly sped up. You can tell it's a mistake. I mean it's truly Like there's moments, especially the beginning. The beginning is super clever, amazing, Bob Dylan's score is awesome. Yeah, I just think it's it's it's me needlessly. Uh. I think it's sloppy, and so I've I've watched another cut of it. I watched another cut of it. I got the DVD which had like three cuts on it. Did

you ever get that version? Not the DVD?

don't think it's great. And I think I think it reflects the I think it reflects the behavior, you know, of the director, which you know was well documented as certainly contributing to the film's demise, like like no, there's just no there's just no way you can come down. And I'm not you know, I'm not a boot liquor for the studios, you know what I mean for studio executives.

But you know, sometimes you know, it takes two to tango, and you know that that's one of those cases where like the Homeboy was just fucked up, you know, and did to himself any favors, just like really self destructive. Now, I will say this, have you heard the uh have you heard the pay Cohast Blues? I don't think so, okay,

Pay Coast Blues. So when when Bob Dylan came in for a couple sessions to record the soundtrack for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, they just left the the tape rolling for like the entire thing, so you hear like all the behind the scenes conversations with Bob Dylan talking to the studio people, and then like you know, just candid conversations, and then James Coburn comes in and Bob Dylan and they run through a bunch of the songs and all this. It's awesome. It's called Payghost Blues.

I'll go ahead and send you the link. I actually think that's better than the freaking movie. Again, I've seen it fifteen times, so obviously it's got stuff that keeps me coming back, you know what I mean. I just wish I just kind of always go back to that one, like hoping it's going to be a better movie. So and and you mentioning that that four disc Criterion Sampeck and Pop Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid deal. I

have a question for you. I have a question for you, like, have you ever experienced, like, have you ever watched has it been so dramatic right like remastering, especially when we're talking about like Blu Ray of four K. Has it ever taken a two star movie and made it a four star movie?

them yet. But beyond that, there's also some things that I just simply did not like the look and feel of, but later on, when they were either clearer or handled properly, at least, it went, oh wait, wait, wait, there was a good movie hidden in there. And now that you can see the details, this means quite a bit more.

criticize anything that that we purchased, not us, or that collectors in general, and this this pot this this chat on his YouTube. Fella was just talking about how it's created this epidemic of revisionism, like nobody wants to admit that some that that some of these movies aren't very good. Like even though it's like some subjective, it's all subjective.

It's like it's created this like bizarre reluctance to be critical of these movies because you feel like you're being critical of the like the boutiques, like their their fancy box sets, and you know, all their packaging and all that stuff, which you know amounts to and this is his words, not mine, polishing a turd, right right, So I mean, what are your thoughts on that. I mean, there's a couple of things.

were paying me to be positive about their releases. Oh yeah, I've literally been accused of that, and I had to explain, like if I don't if I spend two and a half hours watching a movie and going through some bonus features and I don't like it, why would I want to come onto my show and talk about that for fifteen minutes.

watched if they were just straight garbage. That being said, I think there are certain times where people are wanting to hear somebody that does like I do, break from the mold a little bit. So every once in a while I'll throw something in and say I watched this and it was it wasn't good. But you know, that doesn't mean that I'm sharing that you're going to think it was bad, but just the fact that I didn't like it, so that people understand I do not like everything.

There's a couple of groups that I'm you know, and I'm very careful with how I word criticism because look, I'm a really small filmmaker, you know what I mean, and screenwriter or whatever, and so you know, it's just it would look ridiculous if I'm just like, you know, talking out my ass like shredding like master filmmakers, you know what I mean. Like I mean, that's the kind of stuff that everybody, you know, we all go through

that phase when we're in our twenties. But once you get to a certain point, you understand how the industry works and how much goes into it, and you can kind of, you know, if you learn how to contextualize yourself properly and you have some sort of self awareness, you know, you don't you know, you have to be mindful of your place, you know what I means for lack of a better lack of a better word, you know, And I think that the way that I look at

it is, you know, there's some things that are going to be released that are lesser quality because of the artists standing, and it's almost like for academic purposes, right Like, so, so Bob Dylan is going to have everything released because he's like one of the most important an artists in the history of the world, right right, So even his

eighties turkeys get their due, you know. So Sam Peckinpah is such an influential filmmaker, such a unique filmmaker, and he has such an art fan base that everything's going to be released right now. When I see when I see clunkers like the Austrman Weekend in convoy getting four disc box sets. You know, obviously I kind of roll my eyes. You know. Again, Sam Peg and Pauw, you know, he's a master, He's one of my heroes, you know what I mean, one of the guys that you know,

got me started and again. But you know when I see that, I rolled my eyes in a little bit. But then I'm like, hey, it's Sam Peg and Pauw, you know what I mean. It's just like for academic purposes. But you know when I see just like you know, standalone films that don't have that kind of narrative along

with them. And you know, when I see these films and I know enough of the people that are in this side of the industry, and I know when these films were released on Blu Ray that they didn't sell, right, And now I see him coming out in like four K like three disc sets, you know, And then I see I see more and more, not not just I'm not talking about your announcements, but just like when other because I have you know, my social media feed is

loaded with cinemaniacs, right and they're always popping up announcements and stuff. But I see more and more people kind of being a little, you know, making kind of snide comments, you know, and then you kind of you kind of run into run into like sign posts, right like you and I have talked about like you were. You remember when I when I shared with you that completely insane box set for John Lennon's Mind Games. Yes, man, I

went and watched the video for that thing. It was insane. Yeah, And to me, that's like that's the sort of peak event that happens before in decline, right, And you know, I couldn't help when I saw when I saw the like uber addition for Barbed Wire with Imla Anderson or whatever, you know, that kind of made me that, you know, And that came out like during a week of like heavy announcements of like general of films that are generally regarded as like one star, two star, like just you know, turkeys,

like uh, you know, I think what was that Cindy Crawford movie with the Baldwin guy that was also a flop? I think that was getting some sort of reissue but whatever, you know, And again, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But when I saw that, like barb but when I saw the barb Wire, the Uber mid edition or whatever.

That kind of gave me, you know, that kind of gave me flashbacks to the image comics bubble of the nineties, you know what I mean, where it was like everything that they could publish was like getting a super mid edition, like here's Jim Lee's sketches for the Wildcats cartoon show in a glossy cover, right, you know what I mean, And you were getting that kind of like gimmicky stuff and there wasn't a lot of there there and they were doing like victory laps or things that like people

didn't even that had no like legacy that like people weren't asking for. I was getting a similar vibe from that, And I know that you know, you've probably as a you know, as the publisher of the Physical Media Advocate, right, you probably have your own kind of pet peeves or whatever your own thoughts on that. What are what are some.

you know what, that's their prerogative. Sure, what really pissed me off is just a couple months ago they announced that they are giving an official VHS release to Alien Romulus. Now, normally, sure, whatever nostalgia bait, go right ahead, that's fine. But the fact that you're holding back all these classics while releasing this brand new movie on VHS at the same time is just I don't like extra balls in a way, and it is so unnecessary. Why are we doing VHS

in twenty twenty four, especially letter mocks? Is it wisecreen?

that said the last twenty minutes like it completely. Like if it wasn't for the last twenty minutes of that movie, I'd probably go back and watch it again, right, but those last like fifteen minutes or so, was was hard on my soul. So I you know, and I went into it expecting that because a lot of people had mentioned that when they were discussing the film, and I was watching, and I was just like, oh man, I'm

totally into it. This is cool. I thought it skewed a little too young adult, but the way they used the original Android was very clever, I thought. So I was like into it, and then I was like, oh man, I was like, I was like, I've only got fifteen minutes left and this is still holding strong and then

I was like, oh lordie. And then it was like it was like all the main What was weird about the last fifteen twenty minutes is that it was like all the stuff from the previous three movies that everybody was unanimously like, this is like, this is terrible, this is like ruining this series. Like they crammed all of that into the last fifteen minutes of that movie. And I was like wow. I was like, I was like wow, So you know, but however, it was still, you know,

that's a movie. If it came on TV, I would probably, you know, I was still I got a backpedal on what I said, like, I would probably watch it again because I thought it was I thought it had a really good texture. I thought it was well made. Now I now going back to your point about all the movies that they're holding that Disney is like holding back.

I think that they would be. Look, the House of Mouse is going through a has gone through a little bit of a downturn, but they've been historically, They've always had downturns. Right Like people seem to act like every time Disney has a downturn that like the entire company is going to go belly up, right, you know, like they were saying that in the years leading up to a Little Mermaid is true, and then they were saying that after Pocahontas bombed, Pokahontas finished off their like big

winning streak. And then actually, I think that still did okay, but Hunchback of Notre Dame definitely killed it. But I don't want to get into all that, you know. But then they came back with Toy Story anyway, you know what I'm saying, right, like, like there's no situation, like they just had. Disney just came off of like the most successful run in like the history of Hollywood, right, you know what I mean, in the history of Hollywood.

And you have these jerk offs on their YouTube channels, right, which is they're all my age, which I think is hilarious. They're all my age and like purport to be like film historians and like know their stuff, but they don't. They're like completely ignorant. They don't know the history of the business. They don't know the history of Disney, they don't know the history of like just about anything that

they're talking about, right, you know what I mean? And you know, as soon as as soon as there's like, you know, a weakness there, and look, I'm no mark for the House of Mouse, right, I'm no mark for the House of Mouse. And watching them make the kind of mistakes that they used to never make was pretty pretty interesting. And now, look all the issues with Marvel and all the issues with Star Wars, those are all obvious things that everybody talked to death, right, So we

don't need to retrace any of that. But what I do want to do is tie it into what you said. And I think that there is a hesitancy based on their last couple of years of like huge flops right like Indiana Jones, right yep, and other animated movies that they had in Marvel movies that didn't do so hot. So I think there's a hesitant seed to maybe like roll out in the midst of like a title wave

of releases to maybe you know, push for that. Right now, at the same time, I have heard, and I wanted to ask you about this, I've heard that they are they have been doing a lot of like super limited edition, like very pricey steel books. Going back to the steel book thing that I was originally talking about, What are your thoughts on that what have you heard about that?

And Disney steel books historically since you know the I don't want to say the heyday, but over the last you know, four or five years, with best buy holding strong on release day, those have historically been thirty four ninety nine. And when Inside Out to released it was I believe forty five dollars or forty four ninety nine whatever somewhere around there. Even worse the Deadpool and Wolverine.

The most sites held that to like fifty five to even in some places sixty dollars for a brand new steel book of just the most bland superhero you know, not even like an Lash Flipps.

think the pricing is egregious. Now, the pricing on all of this stuff, you know, especially the vinyl stuff, and has gone up tremendously, right, And so you know, I am looking at it's very very easy. Look, if you're if you're if you're a household, right and it's part of your family die dynamic to collect your teenage kids are into it, you know, Look, man, and you have to spend either you're going to spend either thirty five dollars on Barbarian Queen two, or you're gonna get your kids,

you know, Deadpool and Wolverine for forty five dollars. You know what I mean, Like, I think that it falls it's going to go the more popular route, you know, and and look that that that just is what it is. But the problem with that is that I don't even know if it's a problem, but I think it's a it's like a systemic and sorry if I'm talking over

my words. It's a systemic issue that the you know, and I don't want to get into I don't want to get into a shareholder value conversation, right, but it's it's squeezing every last drop, right, And I think you have Disney also in a situation where they hadn't had a couple of big hits in a while, so they're trying to juice Inside Out too and Deadpool and Wolverine for as much as they can because those are their

two biggies, you know what I mean. I mean, look, they're definitely not selling tons of steel books for a for ant Man Quantka.

all manufacturing. And they have also started raising price on certain things.

different song selection. Right that was released, right, But then you could also you could also purchase that alternative album and the new remaster or whatever it was of the original album that was you know, released separately, right. So basically you're you know, for like parents that have a daughter that's big into or a son that's big into David Bowie, right, and you want to get him something special.

You can buy them both of those albums. Right. You can buy the new version of the you know whatever, the new reissue of Hunky Dory, you can get the alternate version of the album, right, and if you're on a budget, it saves you seventy dollars from having to buy the box set. Right. So like you have like

alternate you have alternate versions, you know. Like so for example, that that opera right, yep, the you know they they they released that what was it four or five discs, yeah, the Giant one, Yeah, but then they went ahead and months later they just released for Black Friday, they have the like standard version. Right. But that's following the model that these that's following the you know, both the Blu ray both the physical media movie market the vinyl market

kind of follow a similar thing. So like the whole idea of releasing a box set and then you break up the box set and sell it in smaller, cheaper pieces later, you know what I mean. Oh yeah, that's very very common. Yes, you know, because you're going to have whether it's you know, vinyl or whether it's physical media, right, whether it's movies, which is now kind of a thing and it's kind of as you know, is uh, I mean, it's been a thing for a while, but not at

this peak frenzy level, right, would you agree? So you're gonna have You're gonna have the early adopters, right, so that are going to buy all that. They're gonna buy all this stuff when it's new, and they're never going to believe that anything's going to be around for a while or it's going to go on sale. So like, for example, when the when the Rolling Stones mono box set came out a couple of years ago, right like

there's only ten thousand, everybody's going crazy. All these people like are gonna buy it, right of course, you know, because it's going to sell out, Like that box set is still available on Amazon for like way cheaper. But that's like everything, but you're always going to have those early adopters. So so like whenever you're like watching YouTube, whenever I'm watching YouTube, channels or I'm looking at the social media posts for these boutique film releasing companies, and

I'm also watching YouTube stuff for like Vinyl. You know, I have my YouTube channels that I listened to for Vinyl and stuff like that. Ye both have one thing in common, and that is in the comments. There's all there's always the early adopters, and it's the same comments by my my wall it's gonna be killing me, by my wife might leave me. But I have to have this. We were gonna go to Disney World, but I've gotta I've got to jump on this or it's gonna sell out,

you know what I mean. Like these are people that are like borderline like addicts. Oh it's not borderline. They absolutely are, you know what well I mean, I didn't want to you know, I'm trying. I'm a guest on the podcast Trying So so so. Yes, yes, they they are certainly an extreme an extreme version of that, you

know what I mean. But you have to you have to realize though, like just as with like the comic book you know, situation in the nineties or you know, the Vinyl situation now and the boutique stuff, is that like if you just start if you just if you're if you're only if you're only generating releases for that level of buyer, that level of collector, you know what I mean, You're you're you're leaving the casual hundreds of millions behind, right and especially some of these companies don't

seem interested in marketing what they're selling to anything outside of the bubble, you know what I mean, And eventually the bubble burst right right.

in the world. I think it's incredibly important. It's incredibly important to you if you're a writer, you're an artist

of any kind. I also think that when you're in entertainment spaces, I think that people have a tendency to get in a bubble and my you know, my my heroes are you know, folks like Paul Duman, you know, Audrey Hepburn, right, and because of Audrey Hepburn's work with UNISEF, you know, that's like as that's something that I'm doing, developing here in uh you know Karachi Pakistan, And you know Denzel Washington, you know Reach One, Teach One, you know,

he's he's one of my heroes. Anyway, the folks that I kind of admired the most, you know, even you know, on the rock and roll side of things, you know, with Bruce Springsteen. You know, these are these are people that you know, the the more acclaim right that they achieved, the more they the more they gave back and acknowledged, you know, horrors of the world, you know what I mean,

not in a not in an obnoxious way. You know, no one's ever gonna accuse Audrey Hepburn of being obnoxious, you know, in her and in her humanitarian and efforts. But that's you know, that's an entire generation that wouldn't have known about organizations like UNICEF if it wasn't for the fact that they were fans of her, you know

what I mean. And and Audrey Hepburn obviously benefited from having a having a legacy, an enduring legacy and popularity that lasted decades after she you know, retired from the business, and you know, has has since passed away. You know, she's she's her. Her filmography is pretty amazing in that she was she chose a lot of good pets that

were ahead of their time. So some of her projects that were popular at the time that have since become a little dated, they're balanced out by the stuff that she did that was like really ahead of its time, right, like the Children's Hour two for the Road, you know, and things like that, or like Robin and Marion, you know. So so that's where so I think that I think that.

To answer your question, I kind of wanted to. I wanted to discuss that, and I wanted I thought there was an opportunity to write a piece like that because I try to also pay attention to kind of what's out there, you know, And so whenever you're crafting an article for you know, for whatever reason it might be, you don't want it to be a piece that you know has been done before, like for example, perfect example of this, I actually had an idea that I was

going to write a piece about John Carpenter's The Ward, and it was going to be called, you know, Production Design and John Carpenter's The Ward, and it was going to discuss how even though The Ward was kind of like this film that a lot of people put down from a production design standpoint, it's one of his most consistent films. From a production standpoint, it's one of his

most consistent films. So many of John Carpenter's movies, the production value fluctuates like wildly, where like sometimes you'll see like, oh my gosh, this incredibly like well crafted set piece, and then like you'll watch like the following scene that looks like it costs like seventeen dollars to make, you know what I mean, and that that inconsistency in John Carpenter's work always always kind of fascinated me, you know what I mean, and it just, you know, again, it

goes to show how difficult it is in this business, even when you have all those resources available, how to allocate everything, how to balance everything out right, you know what I mean, and you're not always going to get you know, Starman or the Thing, you know what I mean, or you know Halloween right.

I'm gonna have to show this one for another two decades, you know what I'm saying.

these movies are too political. And then the other end of the spectrum is you know, looking to make a difference with art and you know, coming against politics in a way. There's got to be a balancing point for both. But in all reality, politics have always been a part of art and it always will be.

didn't have all this politics, and it doesn't. And they always reference these directors that made political like movies with a lot of heavy socio political messaging in them. Look at the vertic. Yeah, I mean the verdict twelve twelve angry men? What's that? What's that running on empty? Right? Is that the one with River Phoenix with like the Yeah, I mean that's like heavy political stuff, you know, even if you're talking about police corruption, right with Serperco and

Prince of the City of course, you know. I mean, so I think that that there's when you talk about

a when you're talking about a balance. Is that. One thing that I want people to be aware of too, is that these these filmmakers and these screenwriters, they're not not as many of them are activists as people would like to believe, right, And that's both that's both a positive and and negative, all right, And the bottom line is the bottom line, right, So, when you see a large number of female led movies coming out, or female lead action movies, right, Like how many variations of the

Mendikida have we seen in the last ten years? Right? Right? Like, very few of the producers behind those movies are doing so because they care about female empowerment or feminism or you know, have a statement about gender roles. Yeah, they're make money no matter what. Yeah, Yeah, They're they're producing those movies because they think they will make money and as as soon as that trend wears itself into the ground,

because that's the that's the history of the business. The history of the business going back to the very beginning the nineteen tens, is you know, in the twenties is running every trend then into the ground, right, finding a new trend, right, and then running that one and into the ground, And then a decade or so later it becomes kish, or it becomes hip to revisit the other trend, or there's a parody cycle, right where you have to like make fun of it, right, kind of like the

original with the Universal Monsters, Right, they had to they they ran that, they ran that into the ground in the forties and they had to kind of poke fun at themselves with at it in Costello, right. Right. So, so what a lot of folks need to understand is that a lot of this current trend right is fueled by I don't I don't want to say the word cynicism, but a lot of the people producing this content, they don't see these trends as anything more than another version

of three D. Right. They see it as a gimmick that's hot, that makes money. Now and therefore we're going to do this. And so when you hear people complain about it or they or they push back against it, they they they seem to always want this kind of like agenda. Like there's like all of these people like producing this content are like activists, right, and it's like no, like, but the majority of them are not now now are But are there some that have been an agenda? Of course,

you know some some of them that agenda. That agenda is genuine and comes from a good space. Some of them might come up front from a good space, but they don't have the talent to get it out there properly. Right.

That happens too. However, when I was coming up and it was nothing but Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Salone, Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, Steven Sagall, Jean Claude Van Dam like like there wasn't like there's not a there's not libraries of journalism about how it's male activists that are that are

destroying Hollywood with a male agenda in et cetera, et cetera. Right, But as soon as you have a couple of years of the trend going the other way, like you You've got folks having nervous breakdowns, right, they can't even like they don't know how to handle it, you know. And so look, I always say this, and it's not, you know, just the horror space obviously it's all you know, it's

it's the other fan spaces, right, But it's not. And people always look for a reason, right, We're we're definitely at a at a very difficult time in the in our society and in the world. But you know how Carl Sagan made the comment about how the bamboozled never want to admit that they've been bamboozled, right course, Like it's easier to blame Kathleen Kennedy and Ray for your alcoholism and for not being able to keep a job and all of the you know, bad marriage. It's easy.

It's it's easier to blame them for the socio and economic conditions of the time than it is to say, hey, I voted for politicians that screwed me over, or I listened to the wrong people, or I made the wrong and decisions. Now I'm just saying that that's you know, that applies to a more extreme segment, right that I've

that I've listened to. You know, it's it's time at a certain age, right when you're in your when when you're in your forties and you have kids, you know, and you know you're your passion, right is is going on a you know, social media space, a virtual space and public wishing these screeds, these hysterical screeds about Madam Web, about how Madam Web destroyeds you know, Spider Man right right, and you know you're you're somebody that also you know, you know it's somebody and I see this often is

is folks that are also hosting in the same spaces about you know, they you know, struggling with the job, struggling with bills and kids, and you know, it's I think that it's it's time to look at the priorities and be like, you know, my passion, my energy, where where should that go? Should it go to Madam Web? You know? Possibly not Madam Web is where your passion,

frustration and anger to go. But they but but but but for many it's easier than and then facing hard truths and looking themselves in the mirror, right, looking at the world and looking you know, it's a very it's a very tumultuous time, and people have a lot of bottled up resentment, and it's going to manifest itself in other ways, right, It's going to seep through the cracks, as it were, right, and sometimes sometimes productive ways, right,

sometimes healthy ways, because there's there, because there's a lot of positive that can come from you know, the community around a fan base, right, So let's not discredit that a lot of positive, of course, but when it turns, when it turns toxic and the obsessing over scapegoating, right, like waking up every morning and examining every property as to how it's you know, bad for these reasons.

like right here. No, but like but but for example, there are there are a large amount there's a a balance, it seems that's a negative balance where it's almost like for just as many you know, objective well intentioned and I don't want to say well intentioned. They're all well intentioned in their own minds. But but but you have a lot more for lack of a better way to explain it, vitriol has become become accepted. Right, it's not a fringe thing. And so you have for every you know,

for every more objective. I don't know how to explain it, but like for every more objective kind of you know, even Keel, I guess is a good way to say it. Even Keel podcast about this hobby or that than hobby, right, you have you have, you know, the houses on fire, extreme vitriol. You have that whereas years ago, years ago, that more extreme stuff would wouldn't be so common.

a long time. And this is, you know, not to say that some of these labels that are small and independent should be.

to twelve thousand, those are huge releases. But for many of these smaller companies, it's one and done on a quick print run and then those those essays are gone forever.

because of the price. But then you see like they're like, but don't be counting on that booklet, right.

it lost the slipcover, lost the booklet. However, once that initial print run was gone, they took the booklet and uploaded it as a PDF to their website so that everybody could still go find the work that was done for it. They could still find the pre written essays. Hell, if you really wanted, you could print it out and make your own booklet. You could literally download the PDF and craft to your own booklet for your release and have it be the same. If you want to put

the money into it, that's totally fine. But then that work is still preserved, at least online somewhere for people to be able to enjoy. For whoever, I mean, Aero paid somebody to write those essays, they should be available for people to do it. I mean, you paid for the work. Let's let's make that.

a classy call on the part of Errow. Yeah, I think I think that there's a I think there's a balance right where the sooner or later all of these boat tiques cry uncle and they have to have these sales, right and and and I think that it's a they're from their point of view, it's like, all right, if we've got to have these sales, if we're going to be offering this, you know, and I I want to

say that I do. I do questions the the intention of some of these companies actually turning a profit based on some of their just the way that they operate. But they if you're going to give sales, right, like, you have to remove something, right okay. And I understand that because they're they're their client tele Like, like we talked about at the beginning of this podcast, those first time adopters that want to get everything as soon as

it comes out. You want them to always have have something special that the people that buy it on sale don't don't get right right, So then when they're talking and their little communities, they can be like, oh, well, I got it when it first came out, so I got the booklet or I got the slip cover, or I got this or I got that. You know, I'm not sure about the what do you think about the selling the like slip covers separately thing? What's your opinion on it?

love to see that. But yeah, I mean if I don't know, if I'm a secondhand buyer and somebody had a standard edition of something and you have the slipcovers and booklets of available for sale on their own, I might want to upgrade those.

logistics as well. But I think that people if you if you release, you know, like Pink Floyd got in a little trouble with that, with that massive with that massively expensive and massive Later Years box set in which

they kind of made it. They kind of the narrative was that, Hey, all of the extra great stuff on here, all these brand new remixes and all that, like this is one hundred percent exclusive to this, right right, And then you know, a year and a half down the road, they're they're they're you know, pulling all the components out

and selling them separately. So I think that, you know, when when you do it that way, I think you can get some some pushback, and I think it's justified, right because it looks like you're but when you when you're upfront and you say, hey, here's this, here's this

deluxe box set of this. Right sometime down the road there will be a standard edition available, but if you want this, this is this, right, And I think I think that's the way you have to do it instead of you know, trying to front like this is the only way you're going to be able to get it to me. And then you know, Black Friday rolls around and you're and you're like, oh, what do we have here?

kept opening up doors for me. So you know the main purpose of that release was that kind of what inspired me to make the film, or rather in earnest track down Christina and go on that adventure with her, was when Scorpion did that thirtieth anniversary release of Opera and Christina Marcelic wasn't involved in it, right, and I was like, this is absurd, Like this is you know,

this is who you want? Like all of this other stuff that they had, you know, on the box that you know, all of it's nice, but I mean, Christina's

the juice, you know what I mean. And so me working with Severn on that one of the main the main goal, right was to release a version of the film, was to have a version of the film come out with Christina marcelic on audio commentary and exclusive interviews with Christina who is finally meant open to talking about the film, right right right, And I was like, you know, just four K isn't special enough, you know what I mean.

I mean, I'm sorry. I love all these other all these other folks that are involved in the filmmaking process. They're great, you know what I mean, but you really need you want the main people involved, right interviewing the publicist or the property master or the like, you know, key electric. I mean, that's cool, right, They're all hard working folks, they're all part of the of the magic.

But having like the star of the film, who you know, has kind of you know, been a wreck loose and hasn't spoken about the film in decades and wouldn't do interviews and all that, you know, doing getting her that was that was really important. To me, okay. Of course they wound up pressing double the amount of movies we had originally agreed upon, okay, which which means that I got more complementary copies of the film. So I come bearing gifts for for the for the listeners today, I

am giving away five copies of Simple Like Silver. And I also want to go ahead and say that anybody else that has any questions about the opera four K set that was was released, you can email Severin directly about that if you want to ensure that you know the the disc and those issues they had were ironed out. And if you want to order Simple Like Silver, you can email Severn as well at the orders at Severinfilms

dot com whatever it's on their website. All of your listeners know what that is, but you can email them directly if you want to order it. I am not sure as to when that is going to be rolled out then officially, again, I can't speak to that, but I do want to say that overall, bringing Christina Marcelic to the table for that four K opera you know, release was the goal. Having my film released as as well was also magnificent. Glad it's out there and certainly

folks like you for keeping the magic. For keeping the magic alive. We need guys like you, Ryan happy to and the same to you.

a listen nerd. The Force five podcast available wherever you are listening now. Thank you for listening. To hear more shows from the Someone's Favorite Productions podcast network.