Can the Olympics save us? Plus, 'Deadpool & Wolverine', 'Twisters' and the state of cinema

Hey, I'm Osman Farooqui and this is The Drop, a weekly culture show from the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age where we dive into the world of pop culture and entertainment. I'm here with Thomas Mitchell and Mel Cambry. How you doing, gang? What's up?

We're doing good. Uh, Thomas and I have spent the morning poring through a book that's just arrived at my desk, for which we sent you a few excerpts as well.

Yeah, this was weird. You refused to explain the context of this. You sent me some pages of what appeared to be people describing their sexual fantasies, and then underneath it was like their nationality, a a figure, which I think is what their annual salary and their star sign.

Yeah, yeah. So this is Gillian Anderson of television and film fame has collected for a new book called Want a Lot of Fantasies? It's a very thick book, and I actually didn't even notice until Thomas pointed out that the cover of it had been personalized for me. So, um, yeah, we've had a lot of fun with that this morning.

It has been. Yeah, I mean, it's of all the ways to write a book, collecting someone else's letters and putting them together, uh, is the easiest way to do it. So props to Gillian.

So did she like, solicit? Did she do a call out or something?

I guess she set up like a Gmail, I don't know, but like, she writes like an introduction and she puts her own fantasy in. But it's anonymous, so you don't know which one it is. But oh.

So her fantasy is in there, but you don't know which one.

It is. Correct. But like, I mean, let's be honest. Huge missed opp not calling this the sex files.

Yeah I mean what true.

Uh, but yeah. So she can do it all people. I mean, I guess since sex education, she's. And, you know, I don't know if you guys follow her on Instagram, but she's very, like, you know, sex positive. So I'm sure the book will do well.

She loves books as well, right? She's always sharing books on her Instagram.

True. I actually think erotica is making a comeback. I mean, I haven't really thought this through, but I think, like, you know, how there's been a very sex toy positive movement of late and all the influencers talking about the sex toys and launching brands, and you don't need to tell us twice. Yeah, I think I've seen a few posts in Facebook groups and the like about women searching for erotic fiction to read purely for the purpose of.

Posts in Facebook groups. What sort of Facebook.

Groups are you in?

I am addicted to life. Uncut.

Are you joking?

I can't believe you're shouting out this podcast. Okay, no. Are you.

Is this a joke?

This is all the.

Time I.

Love. I'm addicted to the Facebook group because the voyeurism I get and the way that like these kind of high falutin, feminist like feminist concepts play out in Facebook. The disputes, the discussions, the is it a red flag? Are you being watched? It's incredible. I think it's such like it's social anthropology for me.

Okay. I'm I'm, I'm I'm flummoxed. I'm flabbergasted. Right. I do you listen to life uncut regular.

No no no no, I'm just about you.

Just. You just consume it through the Facebook.

Yeah. I'm just about seeing people crowdsource information for their problems.

That's interesting. I mean, look, I think you're probably right about the yearning for erotica. We've discussed many times with this podcast the crisis that young women are in, in society right now. It's a crisis. The flip side of that. Right?

Yeah.

So maybe, uh, maybe I'll write this piece, but maybe want is kind of the outcome of that.

Well, I think that what we should really do, the natural evolution of this chat is to obviously start a drop Facebook page, and then our fans can talk about these things on the page and they can share their fantasies.

Yeah, etc., etc..

They can be anonymous or not anonymous, and I'll compile them and release it under the.

Profit off of their ideas.

Obviously the book will be called The Sex Files. Now that I've trademarked that.

Perfect.

Um, hey, did either of you guys make it to Charli Xcx's birthday party in LA over the weekend?

Yes, I did, I was actually, uh, so I was at Moorfield Bowling Club in Rockdale in Sydney's south. But after that, I flew over the 14 hours to LA, uh, and partied with Lorde and the rest of the Brat Pack. Uh, it was great. It was loose. Um, and it was everything you imagined. Sadly, Mel couldn't make it.

No, I'm kind of getting a bit intimidated by the Brat Pack. Like they're starting to be a bit of an aura of cool girls. It. Girls, you're.

We're in the Taylor Swift. Sort of like girl gang. Yeah, yeah.

Which, I mean, obviously I love girl power, but, uh, there's something I don't know. It's starting to make me a bit intimidated, and I don't know, eh, I don't think I would get the invite, but also, I don't know if, if it's my kind of scene. Also, something about them all playing Charli Xcx's songs all night is feels very odd to me.

Yeah, I wondered about this, actually. I had a friend who went to this party and I didn't really clock what was going on. They were posting Instagram videos and I was like, oh, cool. Like Charlie's hanging out with Lorde or whatever and didn't really think too much about it. I think it was maybe Friday or Saturday, our time. It wasn't paying a lot of attention, and then like the next day, it's the most viral videos ever. And I'm like, oh shit, I kind of missed a trick

And like, they were up on a little stage together, were they? And it just reminded me of that, you know, like when you're younger and you would go clubbing and there'd always be like the hot people would be on the stage, and then the more ugly people would be down the bottom and they're kind of wanting to get up there. And it's like space is tight and you're waiting to see, like if there's a natural spot for

You and I have actually been in this position together. I don't know if you remember this. One of our Melbourne nights when you visited, we went to the old bar and there was little stage there, and there was like, damn, we were jumping up there. We were the hottest. I was gonna.

Say, yeah.

We should get.

Why did you want to be on the stage?

That's just where the night led us. And.

Um, before we get into the, uh, the guts of the episode, one thing I just wanted to mention briefly, we've talked a fair bit on this podcast. We had a whole episode, in fact, about the crisis in Australian music and the lack of chart success a lot of Australian acts were having. I just wanted to mention quickly in that realm, there's been a big win for Australian music. In the past week. Lime Cordiale have actually scored the first Australian number one album on the Aria charts. This year.

Yeah, I would not have seen them going to number one, but um, good on them. And they have, as you mentioned, I've seen like their social media campaign and the like has been pretty extensive. So I'm glad it's paid off.

Yeah. With a little help from, uh, Stringer Bell. So getting. That's true.

Yeah. Idris Elba has collaborated with them.

Yeah. Yeah. It's very funny how Idris Elba just like, does that. And we all just like, oh, what a fun hobby for him.

It was a bit weird when he came. He was living in Australia for a bit and then someone in music Land was like, oh, he's collaborating with an Australian band. You'll never believe who it is. And I'm like, well, this is a guy who's like been part of like the jungle house scene in the UK. And I was like, you know, maybe. And they were like, oh, they're recording in Western Sydney. I thought, maybe he's doing like some intros for a drill group. And they're like, no, it's

I didn't see it.

Coming, did not see that coming. Um, all right. Today on the show, we are in the middle of the biggest television event, comes around every four years. It is the Olympics. All three of us are big fans of sport. The Olympics in particular. We love the athleticism, the narratives, the heartache, even the nationalism that it evokes in three otherwise quite cynical people. I'm really excited to share our favorite moments and characters of the Paris Games so far.

Yeah, that definitely didn't get me, like, excited to become a Game of Thrones fan.

Yeah, probably. Probably not. First on my must watch list. No.

We also saw some footage from the second season of The Last of Us, which cleaned up at the Emmys in the drama category this year. I don't think we talk much about this show. Are you guys into the Last of Us stuff at all?

Yeah, I really liked it. I also played the video game and so like I was bedded in for it and I thought actually in this like kind of sizzle reel that HBO put out, The Last of Us got the most love. I thought that obviously that's like where HBO is like hedging their bets. It's such a big, you know, kind of like IP for them. Um, yeah, I thought it looked very good. A single tear going down Pedro Pascal's face like, fucking sign me up.

Yeah, I like The Last of Us. I thought it lost its way a bit in in the first season, but Pedro Pascal. I'm here for him.

And speaking of IP, there are a couple of big IP spinoffs. There's the Penguin, which is the Batman related series starring Colin Farrell. I'm kind of in the back for this one. I'm excited. Thomas, you and I were talking about these Matt Reeves Batman films, and Colin Farrell was in that, and they were really good. So the first one, The Batman with Robert Pattinson, was really good. I'm excited for the Penguin. Yeah, I'm.

Super excited for that. That's a great character. And Colin Farrell I love. I thought that like he didn't get as much to do in the movie, I think. Is it John Turturro? He kind of stole that film?

Yeah, that was kind of a lot of bad guys in that movie. You didn't really get a sense of what the Penguin was going to be like in this universe.

Yeah, but this has been flagged for ages and I'm like, super, super keen for that. Um, and, you know, we love it. We love a bit of prosthetic.

Melanie vibes on Colin Farrell as the Penguin.

Yeah I'm excited for this. I'll give it a crack.

So I mean, I guess he's been convincing, but.

Excitement levels aren't super high. But you know, if done well, I'm open to it.

No, that's a lot. You're allowed. I bet your excitement levels are off the chart for June Prophecy, the prequel about the Bene Gesserit sisterhood in the June universe. Come on, let's go!

The trailer was only a minute 30, and I fast forwarded through that bit.

How much more Dune do you want, Osman?

No, I'm not really that excited about this. That they actually released a trailer, I think, a few months ago, and it didn't really work. Like the Dune films are great because Denis Villeneuve.

We'll come back in five minutes.

What happened?

Just. I could hear you. I could feel you jigging up for a June chat.

The June films are good because Danny Villeneuve knows how to make great movies, and there are some great stars in them. When you remove both of those things and it's just some sort of like, complicated sci fi storyline, I don't feel that excited about it, but happy to be proven wrong.

Hopefully it's good. Will there be.

Sandworms?

That's a great question. Yeah. Does that make you more or less excited?

They were like the highlight for me of the Dune film.

As it.

Would be like a bit of a mandalorian type thing where like, you know, just ends up being a disappointing addition to the film world.

I think that's quite likely. I think that's quite likely. Yeah. I mean, this is this era that HBO is in with the Warner Brothers Discovery merger. Everything is being like mined for every potential prequel, sequel, behind the scenes TV thing you could do. I think that the lesson from all the Star Wars and Marvel shows is that has a pretty short shelf life. People aren't into it. It's sort of weird to see HBO getting into it. Uh, ultimately, I just hope that things that are being made are good.

Now we're talking.

The hype meter is high. But like I mean glimpse really is exactly. Yeah.

It's like it's like it's like the the length of it is the gap between the two runners in the 100 meter sprint. Yeah. It's very short.

Exactly.

Exactly like that. You like how I linked all those.

Things I did? I was going to tell you up with one, but now you sort it yourself. But yeah, like, it was very it was like, you know, a long shot of, like a pool in Thailand and someone being like, what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand. And we saw, um, Natasha Rothwell's character.

That's a big reveal that we knew that. Oh. Did we? Yeah, we.

Did know that.

It's a big reveal for you. For you? Yeah. Mel was.

Shocked. Um, yeah, I think, I don't know, I like I'm starting to feel a little bit nervous about White Lotus Season three based on nothing other than just like it's really going to be a long time by the time it arrives, by the time we check into The

I mean, we talked about this when we were talking about the bear. Season three. Season threes have this problem, right? Season one great show out of nowhere. Season two. You've managed to live up to expectations. Season three can you do it again? It's tricky. I think there's there's a lot of space for The White Lotus to like let people down with the expectations on it. Uh, yeah. I'm hopeful. I think Mike white has proven his ability to, uh,

That that could be season three, maybe it's all it's going to be a courtroom drama.

But I kind of like because.

I think when the second season finished, he spoke about how that season was predominantly about sex. The first one was about money, and he thought this one was going to be about eastern religion and spirituality, which I think is a pretty ripe area for for satire and exploration. I think it looks great. There was a bit of my Thai or boxing in the clip. Did you notice that? And then also I it looked very hot and I really like shows where like the heat rises and as

Um, I'm lucky I got my Thailand trip in last year because I feel like this is going to send the, uh, interest in travelling to to Thailand off the charts. So strong recommend to get in before, uh, the show comes out, I think.

I mean, I.

Think people have always gone to Thailand, haven't they?

No, but there is a there is a white lotus effect.

There's a white lotus effect. People have always gone to Hawaii and Sicily, but there's like, you know, search interest and prices have increased astronomically after these shows are released. All right. Let's talk about the Olympics. I want to talk about our favorite moments, the funniest things you've seen, how you feel. These games are ranking amongst previous Olympiads. But I want to ask first, how locked in are you? Like, what is your viewing experience been like for the last

I it's all I'm watching at the moment. When I come home, it goes on in the background. Um, and then I'm putting on the highlights in the morning. The timing is a bit hard. I'm like, I'm really struggling with that. Can't kind of catch everything live. So you kind of miss out on the excitement. But, um, yes, I'm flipping between them all. I quite like going to the nine main broadcast as well, just to see what

Yeah, right.

Is that because you get a lot of James Bracey on nine now.

Or he's.

A great broadcaster. It really steals the show.

I would say.

I'm pretty locked in. Uh, it's also kind of coincides I think, with a pretty like it's not a lot on TV right now. It's kind of good that you can just watch the Olympics. And I'm mainly watching through the Stan app. It does make it hard. Like I, I've talked about this before with you, I derive a lot of my enjoyment of like watching sport, watching it live and having so much stuff on delay, or especially like at our night time, you don't get heaps of

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, it's been very it's been the Olympic experience I was after, I would say.

Do you have a favorite kind of niche sport that you've stumbled onto or that you're enjoying watching in the late hours?

Yeah, we were talking about the three on three basketball. I think that's really odd to watch. And I've watched a lot of the pommel horse.

Yeah, that was very the three on three.

Basketball was very confusing to me, but.

It's a wacky.

Sport. How is there real basketball. And then also this fake version of basketball.

And who.

Are they like? They're not NBA players I know, but.

And how do they get into it.

Yeah exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. Countries that like like the Netherlands is really good in it. I've never seen like the Dutch be involved in like the NBA or anything.

Yeah.

And I quite like I have got into the canoe slalom. Thank you. Um clearly.

The Fox.

Sisters. You're into the Fox Sisters. Well, are they kayakers?

I guess I'm into the one where the one that Noemi or Naomi? Just one. I like the drop. Yeah, I like the intensity where they kind of plummet out of that thing down into the rapids. And actually, Thomas and I were talking this morning about whether I could just take my canoe, which I don't have yet to the regatta here and, like, have a crack at it. Yeah.

Well, we were told by our esteemed sports reporter, Vince Rugari, that the Fox family, the mother is French. Um, and they were about to move back to France in the year 2000, and they decided to stay in Sydney because the big centre was built in Penrith, and then they obviously started training and then bang two Olympians into one family.

And the mother is French. She was an Olympic canoer or kayaker for France and the dad was a British canoe or kayak, whichever one they do. Yeah. So the second generation.

Yeah, yeah. So I mean they basically couldn't lose. But yeah, it's been very fun. Not a great like I mean in the last 24 hours, both the boomers and the Greek national team lost in basketball. So I feel doubly devastated.

Yeah. That Greek lost to Germany was tough. Yeah. And I mean, like, again, when did Germans start playing basketball? Yeah, but they're really good.

They won the last world championship, apparently. Oh did.

They okay.

Yeah. They didn't come out of nowhere. But and the boomers obviously had a devastating loss to Serbia. It's like the.

Worst named team in history.

The boomers I don't know the Jillaroos. The female Australian rugby league team is pretty bad.

Yeah, it's not good though.

We have been talking because I am considering getting an Olympic rings tattoo and.

Wow.

Okay, this.

Is actually an Olympic.

Fever. Not actually.

The sweating. You're sweating out that Olympic fever.

Yeah, but obviously then people would think I'm an athlete. And so.

Because you only.

Get them if you've been at the Olympics.

It's actually it's not.

A rule.

No. But like that's what I'm in support of this decision because people you would really put people in two minds.

But then people would have to be like, what sport did you. Yeah.

What sport do.

You reckon people would assume you entered?

Well, if you.

Had an Olympic ring, I've got an obvious answer to this.

Thomas suggested that I could probably get away with skateboarding, which I don't really know.

That's ridiculous. I mean.

Just physically, though.

Like, I was going to say equestrian.

Equestrian.

Really? Okay, okay. Midnight shadow or whatever. that or shadow.

I've got a related question for you guys on this one. I'm springing this one on you. So you've not been prepared for this. If you had 12 months to prepare to try to qualify for an Olympic sport, which one do you think you'd have the best chance of making it in?

I find it offensive that you say I'm not prepared for this, as if I don't fucking have this conversation with myself every single day. Um.

Well, look.

There's a few answers I could give you. I think I'm pretty close to being able to compete at football anyway, so we'll take that off the table. Like for the olyroos.

Okay, so that, I mean, you're too old to.

Be the only three overage players.

Okay.

Please.

So you think you could be you think you're one of the three best football players in Australia?

I think it's I'm in the mix. I should I should be in the chat. No, I, I've had this conversation a lot with people in the office. I reckon that the best chance sport that most of us as non-athletes could have, like in terms of what the skill level is and how quickly you could get to a level that you could probably at least, let's say the parameters are you can compete without making an absolute fool of yourself. Beach volleyball, I think.

Yeah, Thomas has flagged this argument and I think it's quite disrespectful to the sport of volleyball.

I agree. I mean, like firstly, you've got to have great dexterity in the sand.

You have to be very careful.

You've got to be great reactions. You've got to be tall. You've got to know.

Like if we accept that all answers are going to be kind of disrespectful, like they're all going to be really hard sports. I'm just saying I think that's the one that most that's fair. That's fair, normal people. And if you.

Had 12 months to do it, you could probably get pretty good. Yeah.

Like because I mean like I couldn't get I couldn't run fucking ten flat in 12 months in 100m.

I reckon I'm 100% table tennis.

Like, no way. I'm absolutely getting.

Into table tennis. I reckon I'd be top 100 in the country.

Have you watched?

I have a lot of it, and I think I have like. I think that's the sport for me.

I think if we're being serious, I reckon beach volleyball is actually a good answer.

I've got a better one than both of you. It's sort of in the middle, in fact, of both of these sports. What do you get when you combine beach volleyball and table tennis? Badminton.

Oh, I love badminton.

Yeah, I considered that as my other like I.

Like because I played a bit of badminton growing up and I really liked it. And also think about it, you got to have a bit of stamina, but the courts aren't that big. You're not going to get exhausted. And it's kind of just like flicks of the wrist and like leans in. It feels like if I just played badminton, if I took a year off work and just played badminton every day, I would be in the Olympics like I do think that would happen.

I like that the racquet.

Is so light for badminton.

I think we're missing.

A very obvious thing here is if the three of us took a year off, we could go in three on three basketball.

Wow, that would be good stuff.

So like anyway there's like watch out la.

Um, and so where do you guys reckon. Look I think the obvious answer is the Sydney 2000 Olympics are like the greatest Olympics of all time.

Obviously. Athens 2004.

Athens 96, 1896 was a good one. Um, how are you guys finding the general vibe about Paris? We're talking about the time zone. Like. I like you guys. It's kind of all I'm watching. I kind of come home from work and cook dinner and I'm like, oh, I'm doing a I'm doing a industry season two rewatch in advance of season three, but that's just been put on the back burner. I'm just like, what is on right now? I've been watching like the, the show jumping, the the

I think Paris is fantastic. Particularly Tokyo was very weird, um, Olympic Games without much of an audience that any of the events. Um, I like the vibe in Paris. I love that they're making great use of the city, um, in all of their things, like the marathon's going right through it, the cycling, all of that.

They're all getting E coli from swimming in the sand. You know.

You gotta you gotta you gotta take your you gotta take that, um, the like the volleyball is under the Eiffel Tower. Um, and I loved the Tour.

Eiffel, the Olympic.

Opening ceremony. I thought they did a great job. I thought that was very fun. I'm glad it wasn't in, like, a stadium.

Yeah, I like the use of, like, European electronic music. Yeah, like just throw out there, just piping it in through the stadium whenever there's athletic heats. That is a fun thing that they've done these games.

My parents in law are still talking about the opening ceremony in the family WhatsApp, still up in absolutely up in arms.

Over over that. The thing with the guy that everyone thought was a last Supper, right?

Yeah. And I was.

Like, why didn't we stop talking about like a week ago?

But how did they feel.

About the boats? Because people were very upset too, that the.

I also I didn't like the boats. Actually, I got to say.

I didn't mind that. I think generally like the Paris Games has been pretty good. Uh, like I do think it is, even though it's like, yeah, it's great to have crowds and stuff. I in my opinion, Time Zone does make a big difference. So we had like Beijing and Tokyo and they're like very friendly time zones. And like I really I actually really enjoyed the Tokyo Games because like obviously it was the weird Covid thing, but it was good to have like a collective experience that

Yeah, well, let's talk a little bit about that because there's been some, some athletes, some, some celebs who've made their presence really felt at these games. The kind of chat out of the village is always really funny to me. Apparently a whole bunch of athletes have just, like left

Are they in old. I actually haven't I'm not so across this scandal. But are they in old buildings. Is that why that they're in kind of stately?

I think they built it.

I just think they're trying to like, reduce energy use, essentially. And some of the food, apparently they're running out of like protein, which seems like a mistake because these are athletes and that's basically all they eat.

Yeah, but that someone had to like Cater Gina Rinehart's crews for the gold medal winners. So that's where all the protein has gone. I find I found that a very odd thing to do. Like, I, I don't know for everyone that is there that didn't win a medal. It's an Australian. Wouldn't you be like, fuck these guys on the winners?

I mean, yeah, Rinehart's involvement in Australian swimming is crazy. She's like basically owns it now. I think she's big time. Sportswashing donated a lot and she, uh, has very strong views about how I think she wanted Dawn Fraser on the board. She really loves Dawn Fraser. Um, and yeah, I agree, it's sort of odd to be like, I'm going to take all the people who won on this cruise, the ones who lost, like, sorry, go eat your salads in your hot Olympic village.

As your salad wilts in front of you. Uh, I think generally there has been some great storylines to come out of the games. Um, probably the most lovable figure is Yusuf Dikec, the Turkish 51 year old shooter who looks so much like a maths teacher of ours that we had at school, Melanie Kembrey. Um, he's been amazing. Just like and like the fact that two, you know, and then the South Korean Kim Ye-ji like the two.

Sort of cool.

Most popular stars are these kind of relaxed, casual shooters I think is very.

Funny. And that wasn't there. The, um, the Swedish guy who won the poll vote, like, imitated the Turkish group. That was.

Cool. Did the shooting stance because it's just good when like it's I mean, it's such an internet thing to be like, we love this person who's just regular like us. And now he won silver medal.

Oh, we got some categories that we're gonna talk about. Uh, which is gonna be real fun to share some of our highlights and favorite moments from these games so far. First one, the obvious one. The best sporting moment to come out of these games. Mel, what did you choose?

Look, I.

It was an early one, cross country mountain biking which also I think.

I want to get into sport Have you really?

Really impressive.

Yeah, yeah. I want to like.

Go off those jumps. And down there was like this rock fountain and amazing sport. I think I might get into it. Um, English writer Tom Pidcock. Um, he was about he was expected to win and was well in front and then at, you know, maybe just before halfway through, he got a puncture in his wheel. And then there was a very kind of haphazard wheel changeover. It was

Great shot. And that was a great sport that you just don't see other than the Olympics.

Yeah. Like I feel like they're often squirrelled away in kind of national parks. Like, I don't know any mountain bikers.

Yet.

Um, Thomas, what's your favorite sporting moment so far?

Um, my favorite sporting moment, I reckon, is probably the 100 metre sprint. Um, obviously, you know, the world was watching, but I think because I watched sprint, the Netflix series, um, about.

Yeah, a lot of people saying this, they got really hyped because of that series. Yeah, it's.

Exactly the same. It's the drive to survive effect. Like you suddenly care about F1 results because you've watched the show and watching if you watch sprint like the second episode is dedicated to Noah Lyles, you get it's like the full Noah Lyles show. He's so you know like such a showman talks the talk and all that. And so like because I had watched all the journey of him and the other guys getting to this race I

A hot take out of the athletics? But now I've also seen it in bouldering. In swimming, the false start rules I think are cruel.

They're brutal, and seeing so many athletes disqualified because they just moved a little bit too early, and then they give them the red card and they're out straight away. It's quite heartbreaking. Yeah.

Four years of your life and you're like, I flinched. And. But I guess if everyone got one false start, that would really fuck the race up because people would be.

Everyone else gets to go and repechage and like these guys, why don't they get a second chance?

Talk us through repechage.

That was a word I did not know about three weeks ago.

My God, I think about it all the time. I mean, my understanding of it is essentially if you don't qualify through your heat. And this is because certain heats are faster than others, you get a second chance and then if you win number one in that, you get to go through to the quarterfinals. Um, otherwise it's based on time. But don't you think we should have a repechage in more in more areas of life? Yeah, just a second. Yeah.

Like taking a mulligan, you know? Let's just do it again. There was one funny, um, a US hurdler. Uh, Crittenden. Freddie Crittenden, I think is his name who I was watching who just, like, slow walked the hurdles. He was doing these tiny little steps and I didn't understand what what was going on. And then he basically was like, look, I wasn't feeling fit. I'm like, I may as well just go with repechage, where I can be the fastest

Yeah, but then he had.

To race twice rather than.

But he didn't really. He wasn't really racing the first time. The first time. Yeah. I thought that was a bit rude.

Um, my favorite sporting moment. This is a bit of recency bias, but Orissa. True. The 14 year old, uh, from Cairns who won gold for Australia in the skateboarding, I was a bit skeptical of like skateboarding as a as a Olympic sport, but it's really fun to watch. I don't really understand why all the women are like 14 and all the men are 45. I don't know, something to do with men. Maybe there's more of a

I just, I don't know, like I don't want to diss a gold medal winner, but like 14 is just too young to be at the Olympics, I reckon.

Like, well, she's she's become the youngest, uh, gold medalist for Australia. But there was a 14 year old gold medalist for Australia. She was part of Dawn Fraser's uh, relay team in like whenever 18 on Fraser. Yeah, yeah.

I think I don't know, it's just like, maybe there should be a limit of 16, I reckon. Like, 14. Just feels like a bit too young to be, like, competing at the Olympics.

What?

Like what is your concern? Yeah. What are you worried about?

I don't know, like, it makes me feel bad about what I was doing at 14.

Okay. Yeah. Which was playing.

Tony Hawk, basically.

And like.

Pausing different bits of American Pie, but like, I think it just feels like it's it's just not. She's so she is so young and like, she's got like so many more Olympics ahead of her now. I don't know, it just seems like it's like.

A welfare thing.

Kind of.

It does feel weird that there is this one sport which just children are competing, and it's like a Dickensian. Now to the skateboarding, where, like Hungary, 13 year olds will compete against each other in quite a dangerous event.

Yeah. And then and then, then you do have that weird thing where the men are really old and like, I'm like, is this like a weird Drake in charge at this point thing?

Like, what's going on? All right, let's.

Move on to our next category. Favorite. Best celeb moment. Thomas, you can go first.

Um, yeah. There's been some good, good, like, star spotting, I think very much. I'm in favor of the flavor fave momentum. He's been basically at the women's water polo supporting the US women's team. But he's got like he he's just got big like supportive Aunt Energy. He's at every game. Like I'm pretty sure he's taken oranges and stuff for halftime. Like he's just he's so it's not like he's they're doing the like yeah, great photo op

Know why Flavor Flav is so I think he's like he.

Like basically I think he befriended one of them at the last Olympics. And then they were like, we don't have much money. And he's like kind of become he's like brought money into the system for them.

He's like, he's like.

The Gina Rinehart of the US.

Exactly. Yeah. And he's got a whole bunch of mining stuff and going on there. But yeah, like I thought, that's really cool. Um, and, you know, Flavor Flav is like a weird celebrity that still, he still got the big clock and stuff.

Does he still wear.

The clock out?

I think so, yeah. I mean, otherwise, how do people know who he is?

True.

It's great. What about you, Osman?

Um. Well, mine is is one where it was just a bit of a brief photo op, but it was such a funny, uh, combo as Tom Cruise and Greta Gerwig watching Simone Biles at the Athletics. I think, um, Christopher McQuarrie was there as well. The guy who's directing, it's like McQuarrie and cruise just go around together. It's like Mcquarrie's handler. They were together at the Taylor Swift concerts, like, all right, Tom, we can let you out in public, but Mcquarrie's got to come with you. It's so funny.

That's a really weird relationship, I reckon.

It's so funny. And, you know, it was great to see all these stars just, like, get behind Simone Biles, who's amazing and killed it. It was it was really cool to see. Yeah.

She had a lot of celebrity supporters, like all the American celebrities are just watching gymnastics.

She is very cool. Like like, obviously she's super famous now and everyone knows how amazing she is. But like to really come back from what was a pretty serious case of like the what do they call it, the.

Twisties.

In in Tokyo. Like, man, she came back and like fucking crushed it.

It's incredible watching. It's like, how was with so much of this stuff at the Olympics, right? It's like, how do you do that? But something about the gymnastics in particular is just it's extraordinary to make your body do that. It's crazy. Um, Mel, your favorite celeb.

Moment, surely.

Snoop Dogg, I mean, he is the absolute hype person that I think we need at every Olympics. Um, I think like, obviously he's had lots of great moments dancing with Simone Biles, kind of hanging out at the tennis with Billie Jean King. He was mock fencing, wearing an American flag mask. But definitely the highlight was the equestrian outfit. Did you see him in Martha Stewart.

And him and.

Martha Stewart? Yeah. Got got all fancy. Yeah.

Yeah. Wearing these little. And then he even was like he brought a carrot to feed the horse. Um, and he said, like he was quoted saying, I'm interested in the horses that dance. And I want to give them some carrots and apples. Great, man. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's funny, he's over there as like, a special correspondent for NBC. He kind of did it a little bit at the last one, him and Kevin Hart. But like, I was trying to think because he's been so popular and the NBC president, he's over there in Paris and was like, we're definitely, obviously going to run this back in LA. No brainer. Like, that's Snoop's hometown. But I'm like, do we have who could have been our special correspondent for nine? We didn't send anyone fun.

Scotty. Cam it's very.

Good. Um, but, like, you know what I mean? Why don't we have someone over there, like a beloved cultural, like.

A fun pop cultural sort of person? You got, Marc. We got, we got we got Tubby Taylor doing the the diving, which maybe people thought was that equivalent. Maybe for a certain kind of man of a certain age, it is. But who is the fun? You know why, Lime Cordiale? Why aren't they over there commentating?

I'm not really sure who it could be.

Do you think, Snoop Dogg? Because don't we not allow him into our country? Like, will he be able to come for Brisbane?

I think we have previously banned him, but I think he's. I think he's allowed in.

Yeah. Um.

Yeah. Who would we send if we're talking about famous actors or. I mean, like, you know, Sarah Snook's been in London doing Dorian. Like, it'd be fun to cross to her if she was in Paris. People love her.

No, you need someone that's, like, kind, like Snoop is good because everyone loves him. But he's kind of ridiculous. Him specifically being at the Olympics is a bit ridiculous, and that's that's a bit silly work. So you need someone that's kind of like, universally loved, but also their presence is kind of like jarring enough. Like, is that who remember that Chef Hughie?

Oh yeah. He's he's got a YouTube channel. Very good.

Yeah. Send Hughie to the Olympics.

Send Hughie to LA. Let's get him chatting to people doing a cook up like he's kind of got the right.

Or in fact, in fact, just on this, I can think of a number of like send po, you know.

Yeah, yeah. Po would be good. Actually. Po would be great. Goodwin could probably do it.

Yeah, or maybe like a classic.

From Home and Away, Irene. Or someone like that.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, Ray Ma, I don't know if he's gonna make.

The.

Wrong network, folks.

Wrong network.

Let's just go through Nine's properties and see who works. We should have declared. And in fact, we can declare it now that nine is the broadcast partner of the Olympics. It also owns Stan, and it also owns us. Um, this is not a sponsored segment. We just love talking about the Olympics. But, uh, we should just mention that all the things we've been talking about were on channel nine. Uh, the last category. We've got, uh, funniest moments. A lot to pick from in a very funny, uh, very funny

Are you talking about the BD, the pole vaulting. Yeah, baby. Yeah, yeah. Anthony Ammirati I mean, he's the game's biggest loser, isn't he? I guess, uh, look, this is a story that seems designed for the internet. Uh, he obviously was looking to. He was. I think he was jumping to qualify for the final Italian, uh, sorry, French pole vaulter. And he he went and did his jump. He ascended as the

Yeah, I feel I feel sorry for him not qualifying, but also, you know, he would have had a great time at the village that night. You know, it's like, hey, Anthony, did you, did you medal, did you get into the finals? And he's like, no. But do you want to do you want to know why do you want to see why? Like he's got an obvious sort of set up there.

I actually think this is set him up well for the future. Like he's probably going to do better now post Olympics than he would have, you know.

Yeah. If he just remembers to wear underwear, he should do very well.

No, but he wasn't going to win. So like, you may as well, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. You may as well emerge like as a character out of this. Exactly. You know. Yeah. And speaking of characters who've emerged, Mel.

No.

Mr. Pommel.

Horse. Yes.

Steve and Nadia Rossi.

Yes.

The 25 year old American gymnast who has a very unique talent, the pommel horse. Um, a lot of the other gymnasts compete in all kinds of different things, the bars and the floor and whatnot. But he is just the pommel horse. And there was this, like, amazing footage of him just having a little nap because he had to wait hours before his event. And then also he kind of took his glasses off at the moment before he got on the pommel horse, took his glasses off.

Yeah, I saw him doing the Rubik's Cube in between, like, waiting for his thing. That was good. He's pretty good at it. He's like, oh, no, I screwed it up. And he did it. He still did it in like 13 seconds. Yeah, yeah.

And he's like, he's like.

Naturally cross-eyed and stuff. Like he's again, he's got that relatable energy that we like look for in the Olympics. It's like, okay, cool.

I mean how good are the Olympics? Seriously? Like just thinking about so good, these weird characters, it's the best, it's the best and the whole world. Like we talk about this with television, right? We've talked about this so many times. What are we all watching together? What are we talking about? What are we sharing memes about? What are we messaging each other about? What are we talking about at work, at the water cooler, in the coffee

And that's why I find it so weird. Like, last night, I texted a friend of mine, uh, also second generation Greek, and I was like, are you watching the Greek basketball? And he was like, nah, I'm not watching the Olympics. And I was like, what the fuck is wrong with you, man? Like, I've already got some question marks about this friend of mine. He's got weird viewing habits.

Your friends are the.

Worst, I know. But like, I was like, so you. And then I had to, like, double down. So I was like, so, have you been putting the Olympics on in the background? He's like, not really. Like I was like, oh, but why? And he's like, I don't know. Just like I was like, do you have Stan? He's like, yeah, I got Stan. But he's just like no interest. And I'm like, but then that's why I was like, am I is are there people out there who really aren't

Well, the emails we get from channel nine every day are like, you know, 400 million Australians have tuned in last night. So I think a lot of people are. I don't think we're the weird ones here. I think a lot of people are watching. Okay.

Long live the Olympics.

Um, my my funny moment. This is from really early on, and I think it's faded from a lot of people's minds. I think it was like just pre the game starting Canada was busted, their women's soccer team using drones to spy on New Zealand or they were up against in the group stages and they would dock like six points. So they were basically out of the competition straight away. And I'm like, that's such a crazy thing to do. You think you're going to get away with it?

And also, shit is your team. If you need to spy on New Zealand, like New Zealand, are not good.

New Zealand weren't favourites at all for that one, and it was really funny because the New Zealand team spotted like one drone and then when the Canadians apologised, their statement was like, we're sorry for all the drones that we've used to spy on you.

Like what? How many.

Multiple drones? Um, all right. To round out our Olympics convo, I want to ask. There's a few days to go before the closing ceremony. Anything you guys have your eyes on? Anything you're particularly excited to see in the. In the time we've got left to enjoy this special moment.

I'm.

Looking forward to the marathon. I quite like sporting events that you can just put on for hours. Um, and the commentary is kind of lulls you through it and there are highs and lows, so I'm really looking forward to the marathon. Also the basketball. I've just been loving watching the US team. Like what an incredible team KD, Steph LeBron A.D um yeah I've every time I watch it it's so fun.

It's so good.

Yeah it's got big like year 12 kids versus year seven kids energy with the kids, which are fucking like, yeah, it's.

Space Jam in real life.

Basically is monsters I like.

It's been very rumored that the great Tom cruise will appear in the closing ceremony, so I feel like that's really like been in the back of my mind. I'm like, well, now I have to fucking stay up and watch it and see what he does. Like what?

He's gonna jump off the Eiffel Tower 100% Amazing.

He's gonna he's gonna like, there's going to be anthrax at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower or something. He's gonna have to jump off the top of it and, like, snort it all up and spit it into Snoop Dog's mouth, who, like, then dive under the sand and then it'll explode or whatever. But yeah, I'm keen to see what they do. Obviously the opening ceremony was like very controversial and divisive, but yeah, I'm keen to see how they and maybe Snoop will be involved given they are handing it over to LA.

Yeah, well that's the rumour with the Tom cruise thing, right? They always do this thing at the closing ceremony where they sort of pass the baton on. And Tom cruise could be that bridge between Paris and LA. He could jump out of something in France like the Eiffel Tower and land in LA. That could be really cool. And I think if he does, I mean, the whole world is watching this. It's going to make the next Mission

That should be we should start doing more tie ins like that. So then the next Mission Impossible movie is set, like during the Olympics in LA, because obviously this whole Olympics was just like a marketing ploy for Emily in Paris, which starts next week.

It does start like three days.

After there was not.

Enough Lily Collins. Like, I don't think they took enough advantage of her in this. Like she should have been courtside at everything wearing the ridiculous Emily outfits.

I think it's because people know that she's like, it's not very cool That's my impression.

I think also, so like Ariana Grande has been doing a lot of stuff. I think that's because Universal's got wicked coming out and universal has NBC, which is the broadcast partner. Netflix is a bit on the outs, I guess, as not a streaming partner. Um, my thing I'm excited about. So Arshad Nadeem, Pakistani javelin thrower, he qualified this week

That's very. That's exciting. Have they got any medals at all yet?

No, no.

So they're below both the Fox Sisters on the medal.

Yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah. Um, and look, the last thing I thought we could do is just go through all 32 Olympic sports and rank them.

Yeah. Perfect.

You ready to go?

Okay, good. Um.

So breaking one? Obviously.

No, I we can leave out Olympic convo there. Yeah.

Very good. Long live the Olympics.

All right, so after a slow start to the year that had some parts of Hollywood kind of losing their minds that movies were over, no one wanted to see them. Movies are actually back team. In the past few weeks there have been some big big releases. Turns out the biggest film of the year is surprisingly Inside Out two. It's made 1.5 billion USD so far. That actually makes it the 10th highest grossing movie in history like of all time. That's wild. Um, but we're not going to

Look. I'm sorry. Oh, no. Oh, no, we get it. You really like.

Glenn? Paul, bro.

It was just a bit too much weather for me, really. There has been too much leaves and dust and wind and chat about the weather, which famously I don't love doing. Um, I think like to me this felt like was this made in 1994? Like there was something very nostalgic about this which made me agree with that.

I think that's what made.

It good for you.

And but for me, I know it was kind of. Yeah, I thought it was quite boring, really was how I would describe it. Quite boring. And I thought the casting was a bit odd. And mainly I was devastated that Lee Isaac Chung, who did Minari, which was this beautiful family farm drama, has done this. It seemed like a weird, like, you know, it didn't quite seem like he was. I mean.

This is also a family farm drama. There's a family farm that is.

Key.

To the story.

That's true.

Um, look, was it is it a good time? Sure. I'd watch it when it hits the streamer and you're at home with nothing else to watch, and the Olympics is over. But I don't know. I just found it quite boring and predictable and just it hit all the kind of tropes of a disaster show, and I don't think it did anything that particularly new and interesting. Um, so I'm.

Sorry, I respect.

I respect your opinion on all things, Malin. I respect your opinion on this as well. But I think sometimes you've just got to evaluate something for what it is and what it's trying to do. Right? Like you saying a bit too much, whether about a movie called twisters, I feel like is an unfair.

Criticism to make.

Yeah, that's probably fair. And, you know, I know, but.

I think what that suggests is the heavy handedness of the show. That's what that.

Movie called twisters about, about twister. Yeah.

It was heavy handed that a storm was brewing. Look, I.

Like Jurassic Park. There's a lot of fucking dinosaurs in that movie.

Yeah, we know they're there.

You don't have to tell us repeatedly that. Oh, a storm is brewing.

I mean, look, I, as you know, love talking about the weather. You do whenever there's, like, even a I can. I've got a bit of a Daisy Edgar-Jones about me and that I can sniff rain a mile away.

Wow.

Oh, wow. Um, I really like I enjoyed this. I think maybe if I'm translating males insane take on the film. It's getting very good reviews, and I think maybe the reviews are like overselling really what it is, I enjoyed it, I didn't think it was like groundbreaking to me. It had a lot of like. And I even think this is the case with Chung and especially Daisy Edgar-Jones. I'm like, have these guys signed like some three picture deals with

Well, yeah, I completely agree.

Yeah, he was great. I mean, Daisy Edgar-Jones, I don't, I don't dislike her, but she has like she's a one note performer a lot of the time in these kind of big budget things. And she was not that great.

In this film.

She was not right for this film. Like, her acting style is so bad.

She should have been Sydney Sweeney.

Yeah.

But I mean, that's just worth chatting. We can revisit that. But you say she's one note. I'm sorry, Glen Powell. Firstly, he's basically just morphing into Matthew McConaughey. Like in front of our eyes.

Look, look, let's do the Glen Powell thing. Because I've been.

I've been you know, I've been edging.

I.

I, I like whooped in the cinema when he came out was wearing the cowboy hat I, I, I like Glen Powell. You guys know that I like Glen Powell I think he's quite charming. Quite fun is good for these kinds of movies that are not taking themselves that seriously. And he can have chemistry with a whole bunch of different people. But I will say he is the same character in like the last five things we've seen him in,

Yeah, I thought he was probably the best part about the film in terms of the others. Yeah, particularly compared to Daisy. Um, I thought he had. He was very charismatic and funny. He had that kind of movie star thing that he was leaning into. I thought I liked him in this.

I think he's I agree.

With you that. Yeah, he's I think he's.

Got he's just.

Like there's been a it's been a lot of Glen Powell. All these things have come out in like 12 months kind of it's been like hitman, anyone but you and now this. And they're all like being kind of big.

Talking less than 12 months. Yeah. Anyone but you was December last year.

So like that's a lot of Glen Powell uh, in a short amount of time.

Well people this is the thing. People love it. Like this movie is doing quite well. Interestingly, it's doing very well in America and not that well elsewhere. I interested to get your thoughts on that. Like it is a very American movie, I guess, like country music and Oklahoma and a lot of chat about Oklahoma! Uh, I, I find it weird that it hasn't had a big marketing push elsewhere because, Thomas, you and I enjoyed the movie.

Yeah. It's weird. I mean, it is very American. A colleague of ours said before the podcast that it was part of the rise in conservative filmmaking, which is why I.

Kind of.

Loved it so much.

Yeah, I do kind of agree with that. Do you.

Think so? Okay, I've got a totally different read, but tell me, tell me why you think that, Mel.

Well, I think.

It's very it is a regionally specific, which I don't think necessarily makes it conservative filmmaking, but just the whole shtick of it felt to me. And I guess that's what I'm saying when I think it felt like a throwback. There's something there's a bit of a Northmen.

What was it?

Richmond.

North of Richmond.

North of Richmond, about it.

Vibe to it.

And I know other critics are saying that the failure to mention climate change was odd. I mean, I don't think it needed to be spelled out, but it was that kind of there was just that, that kind of nostalgic vibe of it that really kind of made me see it as a conservative film.

That's interesting, I think. I think there is an element of truth to that. I think it was probably a deliberate decision to not use the words climate change, to not make this a culture war object and just make this film make heaps of money in the Midwest. Right.

I think that's fair, but that's true.

And I'm also, I guess, speaking conservative stylistically as well.

I do think.

Though, at the same time, you've got the like attached to the villain is the kind of like classic think tank scientist, like with Anthony Ramos and their project, whereas the hero of the movie is like swashbuckling tornado wrangler Glenn.

Cowboy hat.

Wearing cowboy.

Hat like kicks the door down of the tornado and steps right into that motherfucker. But like, you know that he kind of appeals to a certain like, again, I don't think you can. Like, it's a good.

No, it's a good point. It is a very like the elites are the bad guys, these fancy people with their start up funding and they went to their universities versus the like, you know, YouTube guys, we're here to take down mainstream media and.

Like that whole exactly like there's even a conversation where it's like, what degrees do you guys have? And like they're like, we don't have none, but we just fucking love having fun. And like, it's all. So there was like that divide was like an undercurrent in the film.

But also the Glen Powell crew was like the most diverse crew of of them all, as well as layers to this movie, you know. Um, and I do feel like we're joking about the Minari thing. I do feel like, look, this is the big budget movie that Lee Isaac Chung came in to, I think quite late on after another director, uh, kind of that, that they had to bow out there.

But do you like, will you ever think about this film again or watch it again? Like, to me.

It just felt like I might watch.

It again. I don't think I'll think about it, but I don't think the film wants you to think about it again. I think the film is there, like have a really fun time. If you can't watch it in a cinema, watch it on a big screen with good sound and you'll kind of be a bit thrilled. And I think the film does know it is kind of silly, like the ending of the movie in particular is so like just like absurd and almost it almost feels like a blooper reel, really, of the movie. And I like that too.

Yeah, you're right, that part does kind of save it a bit, because otherwise I would say it should be more silly. Like it needed to be funnier and sillier and more self-aware.

There is such a.

Thing as being too self-aware and too silly.

Oh, that.

Means.

It's time for the big one. In just a few weeks, this film has become the highest grossing R-rated movie in history, surpassing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Believe it or not, it is, of course, Deadpool and Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. It's the third Deadpool film, but it's the first one since Disney bought 20th Century Fox in 2019, a corporate merger that occupies a weird amount of time in this actual film. I'm kind of

It feels I know it felt like I wasn't sure whether I should make that confession, but it also felt essential to my viewing experience. Um, look, I'm really. I think I really ride for Batman. I mean, I have seen Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst, Tobey Maguire.

Okay, so none of those. Also, Spider-Man is a marvel movie.

Batman is not a DC.

But yeah, I think Spider-Man is probably the biggest engagement I've had with Marvel. But X-Men.

And that was the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man, which is not a marvel production, in.

Fact. Well, there you go. So a Sony.

Production. I was coming.

Into this very cold.

Okay, great. No, I think it's I'm not making fun of you. I think that makes you a normal person. Unlike, uh, you do those like Thomas and I, um. And it's just good to lay out, you know, our respective levels of engagement and connectedness to this world. Mel, could you explain the plot of this movie for us?

I can now, I have written when I watched it, I went into it cold. Right? Like I didn't Google who is Deadpool or like anything. I didn't read any reviews because I wanted to have the full experience. And this is kind.

Of I'm so.

Excited.

What I took away was a wise cracking man in a suit that hides a skin condition, and I think can time travel and wants to join the Avengers. Um, but Tom Wambsgans from succession, that was great, tells him that he has to destroy the universe because Wolverine has died, and for some reason the world can't continue without him. I don't know why. Then he steals some kind of device and he goes to resurrect Wolverine. And then there was just a time pad, a void, an alien lith,

Incredible, incredible, incredible summation of the plot. If you.

Had wrote.

My own, I wrote my own notes to help explain. But they're basically word for word. What you what you just said. That's basically the plot of Deadpool. Uh, before we talk about it more. Yeah. Your take on the movie, Mel, as someone who came in cold yay or nay?

Um, probably. Yeah. There were too many. Yay! Oh, nay. Sorry. Nay. Yeah. Um, two. Like top note takeaway. Too many one liners. Just take a break. And just like too many dick jokes. Why were there so many dick jokes all the time? Constantly.

Well, Deadpool is like in the comics, meant to be almost like he always flirts with like, what his sexuality is and stuff. Um, and they kind of explore that in the other films. He's, he's basically meant to be like juvenile and stuff, but I, I mean, I loved the first Deadpool movie, was happy with the second one. This I just had such a bad time. Like I thought it was Ryan Reynolds. Talk about one note actors Ryan Reynolds just doing Ryan Reynolds, but it was too much.

Yeah. James Mangold tackling this character at the end of his kind of natural life, a meditation on dying and death and legacy. Really, really beautiful film.

And they kind of pick up threads of that in Deadpool versus Wolverine, and in a way that is to its own detriment, because it feels like Hugh Jackman is acting in his own movie.

Yeah, he's he's in a different movie, man.

It's it.

Is crazy. I and then like, just all of the I mean, yeah. Tom Wambsgans, Matthew Macfadyen basically playing Tom Wambsgans. Uh, I don't know, it was all a waste.

What a waste of him.

I know, I know, it was all very confusing. There were a few like, you really have to have your, like, Marvel lore down pat for this in order to fully appreciate all the gags. I don't know, Osman. I mean, obviously as someone who lives and breathes Marvel, but like, seriously, you would you would have had context for every joke. Pretty much. Yeah. Did it annoy you?

Let's talk about that. Just just to quickly do the plot in a way I think that helps people understand it, but also explains how ludicrous this plot is. So Deadpool is living a boring life after interviewing and failing to make it as an Avenger. As you put Mel, he gets kidnapped by the Time Variance Authority, which is led by Matthew Macfadyen from succession, and he's told he can become an Avenger, but he has to watch his universe

But I think that, uh, the success I reckon has come down, this movie almost seems like it was made for the ensuing press trip, which has seen Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman go all over the world except Australia, weirdly. But they did like Asia, South America, obviously the states,

Or do you.

Think also that maybe people who love Deadpool one and Deadpool two are just going along because they were attached to the franchise when it was a lot more original, i.e. the first one, so that they're committed to it and will still go along.

I think. I think those are both really good points. Like the first two Deadpool movies were very popular, right? So people will see the third one, plus people who just like, like the Marvel movies and remember Wolverine, who was in the X-Men movies that were really good will want to see them. So there is a lot of just like mining nostalgia. And I think, Thomas, that's also a really good point. I mean, Deadpool as a character in the comic books and in the movies is very

Also related.

To.

Dicks. Yeah, yeah. It was also.

Related to dicks. Yeah. He's married to Blake Lively. Who? Did you guys recognize her popping up in the film? Well, only.

Because I knew from the press tour that she was in the movie. Yeah, but then there was a very funny joke about Hugh Jackman being divorced. Did you guys catch that one?

I enjoyed that.

And also, all the funny ones are the ones we love about, like celeb goss. Um, Jennifer Garner making a joke. You probably didn't get this one, Mel. Uh, so Elektra, who Jennifer Garner plays, is in like, the same sort of universe as Daredevil, who was a, uh, character, and Ben Affleck played Daredevil, right? Obviously, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck were an item for a while. And so there's a gag where they're like, oh no, where's Daredevil? And

Which was pretty good. That was the.

Part of it that I most like was like the meta commentary on Warner and Marvel, even if I didn't get the kind of lore of some of the Marvel details. But the commentary on the Hollywood industry and super superhero franchises, that was definitely the best part. But yes, there was not enough of that to sustain it for me.

Yeah, and I wondered, like, there's people who love this movie. There's people I know and who I like, and I trust their opinions who really like this movie. One of the things that left me feeling like quite bitter about it was the joke is kind of on fans of these movies, in a way. It's like they're making jokes about how Marvel is at a low point that that mining so much nostalgia and they're making so much fun of. Thomas, you said Logan was one of the best superhero movies ever.

Do you think there's.

Going to be more? Surely not. I thought maybe this was the farewell to Deadpool.

No, I.

Mean, like there are going to be there's like another five Avengers movies, like in the pipeline. There's a joke in this about, you know, how Hugh Jackman will keep doing this till he's 90. The fact that this has been so financially successful, if you're Disney, if you're a publicly listed company, your shareholders, your board is going to be like, you made $1.2 billion off that movie. What do you mean you're packing it up, right? And like Chris Evans as Captain America, he he left like, okay,

It's like, come on.

Crazy stuff. Yeah, I yeah, I just feel a little bit sad that I'm great. It's great that movies are back. It's great that people are watching stuff. There's bits of this movie that are kind of funny and kind of interesting. The points you made, Mel, about the meta commentary in Hollywood, but the future of cinema can't just be the same. Ten characters that were big in the early 20 tens being, like, dragged out of their literal graves in the case of Wolverine and made to dance for us on stage. I

Feeling about the Joker later in the.

Year?

Don't talk to me about that. I was I was so famously out on Joker one. I have no hopes for Joker two. Um, but I think at least that's something different. Like, it's a, it's an attempt to tell a slightly different story using the vehicle of like that IP property. I don't feel as anxious about that. I feel anxious about that for different like political reasons. Um, and, you know, the rise of the incel and where we're all going. Um, but I don't feel as grim as I do about Deadpool and Wolverine.

Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, I think that's why Batman, I've always enjoyed Batman because he's not actually, he doesn't actually have any superpowers, right? He's just he's got a lot of tech knowledge. He's rich. Um, yeah. He's rich. I guess that is a superpower. But, um, yes, the less these shows have to do with superheroes and superpowers, the more I tend to like them.

Do you have any desire, Mel, after this one, to watch any future, either Deadpool or Wolverine or Marvel projects?

No.

Absolutely not. I'm well off Ryan Reynolds, even though he saved that football team. Hugh Jackman I've always been kind of out on. So no, not a huge fan. This has actually been quite reaffirming for me. Like, I was worried when I watched it that maybe my cultural history was limited and that I kind of I was out of touch with the out of touch with, you know, people who love these movies. But now I feel with the common man. But now I just feel like.

You.

Mentioned you mentioned juggernaut before. Like, did you have any history with him? Would you watch a standalone juggernaut film?

Yeah, I mean, I'd give that a go in the right circumstances.

Oh, that's I mean, that's that's big of you. Good. Good on you for being up for it.

I'm open to these things.

How about you, Thomas? I feel like you're like, a little bit more plugged in to Marvel stuff. Are you at all excited about the future of what is literally the biggest cinema project in the history of humanity?

If we get a Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum because.

Oh, we didn't talk about Channing. That was.

Funny. That was very funny. And I don't know if you have the context, but that was basically a character that he worked on for a long time, and they nearly got a film going, and then it fell over.

I figured, yeah, um.

And I thought he kind of stole the movie a bit there. That was a very funny scene.

But okay, so don't you think so? I thought, I think he's very funny. I thought he was very funny in this, but even that. So Gambit is this guy from south Louisiana, and he's got that kind of, like, New Orleans accent really hammed up. And Channing Tatum is like, taking the piss out of it. Basically. It's like, again, man, if you care about these characters, if you're trying to make this for people who care about stuff, you're kind of making a joke of it like nothing's left. That

Is it I mean, what's the what's the give us the temp check on the Marvel heads on Reddit. Like, are people pretty upset?

No, no, people love this. People love this. People think that after the last few Marvel movies, um, like the marvels that were just not good and kind of confused that this was relatively tight. Like, I think the story is obviously ludicrous. Like, it kind of doesn't really make any sense. But in terms of just like we're getting some funny characters together to have a fun time and we're going to make a bunch of in-jokes for you

But before we wrap up, can you tell me why his face looks like that?

He got he got into an accident.

Okay. Yeah.

Looks like acid burns or something.

Yeah.

Okay. All right. Yeah.

All right. Let's leave that there. Hopefully for a long time. Um, before we finish up, we've got our regular Impress Your Friends segment where we share something that we watched, read, listened to, or consumed in the world of pop culture. I'm going to go first. Quick little film shout out from me. It's a movie called How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies. It is a Thai family drama directed by debut filmmaker Pat Bonaparte, and it's doing gangbusters in Thailand,

It. I might go and.

Watch this to cleanse my soul of Deadpool and Twisted.

Yeah, yeah, it's good.

To watch something like this after Deadpool because you're like, oh, cinema can be.

Good.

Well, also, and I'll tell you my rec. But one thing I did, because you've been talking about it so much and I obviously trust your taste very much. I went and started industry, and I'm sure we'll probably talk about it when we get to season three, but I like I thought it was it is so good the first season. And I kind of went into this thing thinking about Lena Dunham and whether her connection to that project really harmed it at the time. But anyway, so I just want to say that I'm on board. I'm

Thomas? I've watched the first.

Season, but I want to get back into it. I feel like people are kind of really clinging on to industry right now as the new show.

Yeah, it starts in, uh, a week, I think. And there's a lot of hype kit Harington's in this season. Two is great. I'm really glad. Mel, thanks for jumping on board.

Yeah, yeah it's great. One of the best shows I've kind of seen in a while. Um, my rec is and this is kind of I think there's a trend in literature of brat women at the moment. Um, you kind of got all fours. Miranda. July night bit. Vladimir. These are kind of women who don't just accept motherhood, middle age, wifedom they kind of are breaking out of boxes. And I think this one fits into that category. It's woo woo by Ella Baxter. She is a Melbourne writer.

Great. And before Thomas says it, yeah, I'm seeing a lot of people on Instagram share it around.

So I've been trying to get it off your desk, but.

You're refusing to.

Give it to me. So yeah, I read New Animal and really liked it. Um, that's a crazy story based on a real story of a guy running like an illegal zoo on his property. Um, so, yeah, I will be definitely keen for that. Uh, my wreck this week is a good one, because I have impeccable taste and my finger on the pulse. It is a show that comes out today. Uh. it's on binge. And I don't know if you guys are across this because it's like fucking both in your wheelhouse, Mr. Throwback.

Yeah, I am across this. I've not seen it, but I'm across it. I'm excited for it.

It's really good, man. So are you across this?

I'm I'm across it. But yeah.

Not so. Mr. throwback is basically a mockumentary starring, um, Steph Curry, not Stephen Curry. The Australian from you should know.

That I did ask for an interview and they replied.

And they.

Said, he's at the Olympics right now. And I'm like, I know, but after.

But yeah.

Basically, um, Steph Curry plays himself. Uh, and Adam Pally, who I don't know if you guys ever know. Do you ever watch Happy Endings? It was actually quite a good, um, show. It was like basically like the mid 20 tens answer to friends. Anyway, Adam Pally plays this guy Danny Grossman. Uh, and in the sixth grade, he and Steph Curry were best friends. And they were both really good at basketball.

He's wonderful.

Ah, but you're one of.

The best footballers in Australia, and you're also very.

Funny. So that is.

Actually. Yeah, I mean, I mean, there's so few of us and it's just it's good to see another guy out there grinding. But yeah, it's I think you guys will really enjoy it. And, um. Yeah, that's on binge. Uh, I think episode week by week. And it's out today. Great.

Rex look at that. A great film, a great book, a great TV show. What what more do you want? Really? Yeah.

What more? Australia's best three by three basketball.

Uh, awesome conversation team. Good luck. Enjoy the rest of the Olympics. I will see you next week.

Bye. Ciao.

This episode of The Drop was produced by Ji Huang. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of The Drop, make sure to follow us in your favorite podcast app. Leave us a review or better yet, share the episode with a friend. I'm Usman Farooqui. See you next week!