From the Dungeons of Morningstar, my name's Stretch.
And I'm Clint, and this is the second take as
Jeremy fucked it up. Prevailing Strange! Welcome
back, guys, to our week in review, a segment
of Prevailing Strange where we get to talk about
some of the things that we've checked out this
week. Please, guys, like, comment, subscribe,
share us around. If you like. If not, it's okay.
We'll still love you anyway. Appreciate you.
We're going to change things up a little bit.
We're going to try and concentrate on one thing
to begin with. Talk about the movie that we checked
out this week. This week was my choice. It was
your choice. And we made the choice. Well, I
made the choice of punishing Jeremy. And we watched
one battle after another. Yes. It came out in
2025. Oscar nominated for Best Picture. Yeah,
it was a wild ride. I think the cast was sensational.
Benicio Del Toro was an absolute highlight and
a standout in this movie, I thought. Before we
get ahead of ourselves. It was directed by, to
begin with, Paul Thomas Anderson, known for such
movies as... Boogie Nights. Punch Drunk Love.
Punch Drunk Love. There Will Be Blood. Magnolia.
Yeah. So he does a – this was his most ambitious
film. It's the one that cost the most. Yeah.
Had a budget of, I think it was – 130 plus. 130
mil. Yeah. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio. Yeah. I think
this is one of his – was one of his best roles
because that lady at the start wasn't 25 and
he still seemed to be attracted to her. Benicio
Del Toro. Sean Penn. Dude, Sean Penn was sensational
in this movie. The cast that he put together
was sensational. I thought it was really good
and everyone done their job. Tiana Taylor, Regina
Hall and Chase Infinity. Now, Regina Hall, she's
basically Brenda from the Scary Movie franchise.
Yeah. Dude, she wasn't funny in this. No. Staple
for parodies and, yeah, it was completely opposite.
But, yeah, so. He has said that this movie took
25 years to write the script. I think it was
about 20 years he was working on it, which is
pretty crazy considering how kind of poignant
it seemed for the time. It's very current. That's
what I was going to say. The themes that go through
this movie are really current. There's a lot
of immigration, a lot of revolution talk. Secret
Society at the top, you know, with the Christmas
people, whatever they are. I don't know, Christmas
Adventurers League. Fucking weird -ass people.
Rich white men. Like you said, very poignant,
very, very current. Yeah. So, yeah. We were talking
about in Monday's episode about Markiplier's
Iron Lung made on $3 million budget, did $27
million in the first week. So this is 130 mil
plus. only did 22 .4 mil in its opening weekend.
That's domestically. It was 48 .5 globally, which
is, you know, not a massive success. Definitely
not as big as a lot of people thought it was
going to be. I thought it would have done a whole
lot better. Well, when we watched the trailer,
it didn't sell it like a revolutionary film.
It didn't seem that way. It was more like an
action, he's trying to protect his daughter the
entire way. It wasn't the case. It really flipped
the script. It was like the last one he'd done.
What was it? Don't Look Up. Mm -hmm. And again,
I don't know what's going on with Leo's script
reads that he's doing, but very, very, very.
Different kind of role. Not just that, but just
so many themes that are current in the political
climate of the world today. I get what you mean.
Yeah, look. I don't know. So this thing was shot
on VistaVision, which is a format, a 35mm format,
which is kind of the industry standard, but normally
they run it in vertically, so there's like four
perforations per frame, but they run it horizontally
for eight perforations. It has been used for
a while, specifically in like special effects
shots, so it's easier to manipulate. but they've
shot the entire film in this, which kind of gave
it that nice kind of, has that grain to it almost.
Yeah, well, like he said, the only special effects
shots in the film was when someone's smoking
a vape. Yeah. And that was all artificial. Yeah,
that's crazy. That's the only special effects
in the film was that. Explosions were real, all
that sort of stuff, just vape smoke. Yeah. Pretty
interesting fact about that VistaVision. Since
about the 60s, it hasn't really been used. It's
only kind of come back in with the whole kind
of special effects industries and only specific
scenes. The last movie that was done or the latest
movie that was done was The Brutalist, which
starred Adrian Brody in 2024. So he won Best
Actor that year. Yeah, right. For the 2024 year.
They also used it for Begonia. which is another
nominee for Best Picture this year. It's one
I have to catch up. Yes. It'll be interesting
to check that out as well. So obviously I think
these people know that they're doing something
special if they're willing to kind of use this
format, which the reason why they kind of did
it the way they did it was for a bigger frame,
but they also didn't want cinemas to have to
sacrifice and buy new gear. specialise in showing
these movies. All they do is turn the camera
90 degrees and run it that way. The fact that
he worked on this film for 20 years and it's
still, this movie, you think of movies like,
let's think of Endgame. That had a six -month
shoot, right? Just picture Endgame. This took
seven months to film. The opening stanza of the
film was done in such a way where I felt uncomfortable,
like I was an outsider. Everything was filmed
over the shoulder, from behind. People were delivering
lines to the back of their head sort of thing.
So it was real. I felt physically uncomfortable.
And then the sounds as well did the same thing.
So I tried looking into the sound engineering
of it, but there's not much of it on this film.
I fucking hated it. So that's a PTA thing, a
Paul Thomas Anderson thing, where if he wants
to kind of create that kind of tension between
characters, he doesn't kind of shoot them in
the way that they're looking at each other? Yeah.
He shoots them kind of from a different angle
and looking at what you would assume is a different
way? Yeah. Yeah, to create that tension. Some
of the camera work in this was fucking spectacular.
I do. I do, yeah. We'll talk about that more
along. But, like, you see, there's so much iconography
in this that I didn't even understand until I
did some research on the film later. For example,
the Bedford Forest Award that Lockjaw receives
at the end of the film, that was actually named
after a bloke who was the first. The First Grand
Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Oh, for real. Dude,
for real. I didn't know that. Again, the Christmas
Adventurer Party. Snow, white, it's all have
to be white. Everyone in this why you can't have
a relationship with a black person. So it was
like really just hammering home. Even the last
scene was very like Auschwitz -esque with the,
yeah. The Christmas Adventurers Club. That's
it. Where they're kind of like. The antagonist
pulling the strings behind the scene. They weren't
necessarily up front in this movie. Kind of the
Illuminati. Yeah. If they were white supremacists.
Yeah. Which, you know, they might be. Possibly.
You wouldn't know. I don't know any of the Illuminati.
But, yeah, so some of the cast, man. So I don't
think this was Leonardo's best role. He did a
good job, but I agree. He did a good job. It
was funny that he kind of played a part that
was very kind of polarising. I thought he was
kind of raw in a lot of his scenes, but warm
as well. Like he kind of, he wanted to be this
father figure. He was like a fish out of water
who just wanted to move on and be a dad, but
he didn't know how. He was also funny, but in
a sad way. Yeah, he did. Yeah. He looked homeless
98 % of the movie. Yeah, it was a good role.
Not his best. I think it was kind of above The
Departed, above The Revenant, but definitely
not as good as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
or Django Unchained. Did you say that this was
above? The Departed. You said that? Yeah. Really?
I thought he was good in The Departed, but he
was younger. It was kind of, well, it was a good
role. Yeah, I suppose he was just quite a young,
angry man sort of thing. Yeah, The Departed was,
I think that's more of a kind of, what's it called,
nostalgic role for me. Like I really liked that
movie as a whole. I loved, fuck, we're getting
off track here, but I loved Mark Wahlberg in
that role better than Matt Damon and Leonardo.
I thought, yeah, he was a fucking kick -ass asshole.
Benicio Del Toro in this. Never read the script.
Just was told it was a Paul Thomas Anderson film
and he's like, I'm in. Yeah, right. Yep. Holy
shit. Like I'm not really a Paul Thomas Anderson
like fanboy or, you know. Yeah, I was always,
I'm like always wondering like why they were
called the French 75 and all that sort of shit.
Isn't it to do with a movie? I think it's a callback
to a movie. Based on a cocktail. Is it? Okay.
So it's based on a cocktail made from Jim champagne,
lemon juice and sugar. And it was named due to
repeatedly having a kick that felt like it was
shelled from a French 75 field gun. There you
go. So that's why I call it the French 75. But
they had names all the way through for the organization.
So I was like, that was sort of confusing me
a little bit. But I thought it was. It's not
something I'm going to watch again. As good a
movie as it is, I enjoyed it. It felt a little
long. It didn't feel a little long. It was fucking
long. At two hours and 46 minutes, mate. But
you know how long movies sometimes, if they don't
feel long. Like Avatar. It only feels like an
hour. You could feel the length of this movie.
But at the same time, it kind of built a tension
that the movie kind of deserved, I think. Yeah.
Yeah. Look, everybody done their job and always
done a great job, but I'm not going to sit there
and I probably wouldn't recommend this to anybody
else either. It felt to me like it was a film
that struggled to find its niche. Was it? Was
it an action? Was it a comedy? Was it a drama?
Was it, you know? A documentary, a revolutionary
tale. What was this movie meant to be? Or was
it just meant to be a fucking earworm because
that piano drove me nuts for nearly three hours?
Well, I think that's what makes it a good movie
is you can't kind of pin it down as some particular
fucking genre. Standouts in this movie were obviously
Sean Penn and Chase Infinity. Who's Chase Infinity?
The daughter. Oh, she done so good, man. This
is her second ever gig. She killed it. Yeah.
Yeah, I thought she'd done a really, really,
really great job. It felt to me that there were
some parts of the movie where it was like, oh,
what are we going to do here? We need to put
a bit of filler in because I need to get it to
2 hours and 46 minutes. Like that car chase at
the end. Now, saying this to you, Paul Thomas
Anderson has said that he didn't want that car
chase bit at the end, but he was in a car looking
for. Like locations. And he's like driving along
that, what do you call it, the River of Hills
or something like this. And it's just at the
end, everything does this. And he goes, man,
I fucking hate this shit. And he's like, oh,
I'll just put this bit in the movie. And he zoomed
in. He goes, that's fucking horrific. I'm putting
it in the movie. It was horrific and brilliant
at the same time. Dude, it was making me seasick.
No, it made me feel something, but I wasn't seasick.
I thought it was sensational. Some of the chase
scenes in this movie. Great. Great. When Olme
gets picked up in Mexico and the car pulls away,
the fucking engine sounds and shit, that was
cool. A particular scene is when she escapes
from those fucking white supremacists or whatever
they are down by the river. The camera on the
door. So she takes off the door, slams onto her,
like frames on her. Yeah. That's a pretty. Paul
Thomas Anderson thing. Yeah, right. I think he
did that in Inherent Vice and Licorice Pizza.
I haven't seen either of those. Licorice Pizza
is pretty good, a coming -of -age story. I haven't
seen Inherent Vice yet. Really? I want to see
it. Joaquin Phoenix. Who else is in that? I forget
who else is in that. Inherent Vice. Yeah, it
came out a while ago. I've got it on my hard
drive. It's been there for fucking years. I've
just never got around to watching it. But, yeah,
the engine sounds, the way he shoots his car
scenes, like when they're in the car together,
Leonardo DiCaprio's Bob and Sensei, Benicio Del
Toro, all right, you're going to have to jump
out of the car, Bob. Yeah. And the way that was
all kind of. What? What do you mean you're going
to jump out of the car, Bob? It was all shot
in the car. Yeah. Close on them. You never saw
the road where he was going to jump. Yeah. You
never saw the cops chasing. It was just all in
the car and it's this tension building between.
Just drinking beer. Drinking beer and, okay,
this is what's going to happen. And then he launches
him. That's the thing, too. When he jumps out
the car, the cops are in fucking view. They're
a while away. They are right down the back of
the fucking corner. It's a straight road. Come
on, guy. But, yeah, the highlight of this movie
is Penn's character. Colonel Lockjaw. He fucking
killed it. Yeah. I'm not a fan of his. I know
of him personally. A mate of mine that used to
play for the Knights, his dad was a really good
friend of Sean Patton's and I've heard some stories
and I don't like the guy. Yeah, I've heard fucking
weird things. But he was fucking good in this
role, dude. He was so good. This was a return
to form for Sean Penn because he is a kick -ass
actor. Mystic River is still one of the best
fucking movies I've seen and it's because of
him. Still my favourite genre is Boston movies.
Oh, yeah. Fuck, I'm getting choked up here. When
he's getting pulled away from that park and he's
like, he's my fucking daughter in there, he passed
out because it was meant to only be one man holding
him back. And the director went, time out, time
out. We're going to have to get more cops holding.
I'm getting goosebumps talking about this. It's
one of my favorite scenes in that movie. It's
fucking heartbreaking, harrowing, and wow. But
they had to get more cops in because he was physically
not being able to hold back. He was fucking pushing
forward. He was that ferocious when he's doing
that scene. Oh, mate. And I wanted to like him
after that, but no, cockhead. Kick -ass actor,
though. Brilliant. Down to the way that he walked
in character, that kind of weird stick up the
arse kind of. Yeah. Oh, man. Brilliant in this
role. Love to hate that role. Love to hate that
man in that role. The music is what I get hung
up on. I hated it. Yeah, right. I ended up putting
the subtitles on about 75 % way through when
that piano, when they're running across the rooftop,
didn't fucking stop. And it would not stop. And
it just kept on going. It's meant to build tension.
I wanted to put scissors in my ear. That's the
tension. No. I know what it was trying to do.
And after we get through this bit, I'm going
to read my notes, which are quite entertaining.
Right. But other people that were looked at for
Lockjaw. Well, Joaquin Phoenix and Viggo Mortensen.
Right, okay. I think they did a great job because
I don't think I would have hated Viggo Mortensen
as much as Sean Penn in this role, especially
when he walks in, like he knocks when she's in
witness protection. He knocks and then all of
a sudden he just goes and gets the fucking rammer
and just kicks the door in. And that's when I
started to hate that dude more than anything.
But I think that's what he's going for. Like
they wanted you to hate him. Yeah. I mean, have
you seen A History of Violence with Viggo Mortensen?
No. He played a bartender in that and he played
a pretty jarring character from memory. I think
he could have pulled the role off. Yeah. I know
there's a movie where he plays Satan as well,
a really, really good Satan, like top five Satan.
Right, okay. You can't knock off. No, definitely
not. What's his name from Constantine? Constantine.
Obviously. Every time. Every time, man. Best
Satan we've ever had. But you say this was filmed
in Vista, Vista View, right? Vista View, yep.
Wasn't this the first one to be filmed on IMAX
as well? No. No? No. So this is 35mm. Well, IMDB
lied then. This is 35mm where IMAX is 75. Or
is it 70? Yeah, it's like almost twice the size.
Yeah, I think it is. But yeah. But yeah, I liked
it. No, I did too. I'm not going to watch it
again though. I can see why it's been chosen
for Best Picture. Can you really? Yeah. It was
well put together, crafted great. The performance
is sensational. Even though you didn't like the
music, I thought the music fucking set the scene.
A little long, in my opinion. They probably could
have tightened it up. Yeah, I agree. It could
have been tightened up a lot. Now, and saying
that, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite because
every time they were like, oh, we know where
he is, there was no fucking about, blah, blah,
blah, what are we going to do? They just rocked
up to where he was. When they went to the nunnery,
they were like, oh, no, he's up the road. The
fucking other thing, the amount of snitches in
this fucking movie. Yeah. God damn. Yeah, they
fell apart. Fucking snitches. Five glass. A little
bit of pressure and they fucking crack. Snitches
get bitches. The funny part, I thought, was the
fact that Bob does absolutely nothing in this
movie. At all. There's no consequence to his,
you know. He doesn't save anyone. He just happens
to be there in the right time to pick her up
at the end. Which is fucked. Yeah. This movie
goes fucking country wide. Yeah. Oh, dude, yeah.
Would you like to hear my notes? Quick fighter
in fast succession. Sure. Okay. This is just
why as I'm watching the movie. Stream of consciousness
while you're watching? Yeah. Okay. Here we go.
Are you ready? One battle after another. Leo's
best acting so far. That girl's not 25. Old Love
is very sexually charged. This movie seems to
be shot very oddly. The frames and angles make
me uncomfortable, and I don't know why. The soundtrack,
I'm not a fan of. Sean Penn is fucking weird
as fuck, but his character seems to be interesting.
That bitch is a fucking snitch. I don't know
how you could turn on your loved ones. Oh, snap.
The pussy doesn't pop. Seems to be very contemporary
subject matter, immigration, riots, the government
overstepping. I had no idea when we chose to
watch it that these were the themes. Tell you
what, these revolutionaries are weak source,
rolling over on all their friends. Ha, ha, ha.
Hi, Leo is funny as fuck. Just when he's in the
car, he's like, man, I can't get out of, I'm
high as fuck right now. The frames and angles
of the camera work. seem more relaxed in the
second stanza of the film. In the second and
third act, it sort of loosens up a little bit
and it's not looking at people's backs of their
heads or the angles. The frames are a bit better
done and I think that was done on purpose. I
think the stressful filming in the beginning
was because of the themes in the opening stanza.
Yeah, I think so. This fucking piano. Pissed
myself laughing when he fell off the building.
Benicio Del Toro is rocking the fuck out of this
role, but fuck that piano. I really believe they
don't know what this movie is trying to be or
what they're making at this point. Is it a comedy,
a thriller, a drama, or what? Fucking headshot
with a 12 gauge. Survives. Yeah. And the rolling
hills scene, for fuck's sake. This movie is made
to make your skin feel itchy. Fuck off. This
cunt will not die. And then, ha, ha, ha, semen
demon. Holy shit. Yeah, I love that. Oh, no,
he's dead now. Yep. Oh, look, it's finished.
The end. That was my notes. Yeah, I can't show
you my. as the movie went on because I've rearranged
them and stuff. Wow. Rude. I've got pretty comprehensive
fucking notes here. Thank you very much. I want
to know what you're thinking whilst you're watching
the film, not an edited version. I could have
cut that and put it into fucking – into grok
and he would have told me it was more of an elaborate
way of spelling that out. Listen, I thought it
was a good movie. I don't think it's going to
win Best Picture. Agreed. I think – They have
a pretty strong contender in Sinners. I don't
think Frankenstein's going to win. Have you seen
that yet? Really? No, I haven't. No. It's good.
I don't think it's strong enough to win. I'm
thinking this week we're either, because for
the next episode, either going to watch Train
Dreams or Begonia. Ooh, okay. I've never heard
of Train Dreams before. They're both nominated
for Best Picture, and I wouldn't mind just checking
out the Best Pictures before March when the Oscars
actually come out. Right. I was just looking
over Paul Thomas Anderson's awards and nominations.
He's had 14 Academy Award nominations and no
wins. There you go. 14. That's Academy Awards.
What about Oscars? That is Oscars, dickface.
Isn't the Academy Awards a different one? No.
Oscars or Academy Awards. BAFTA Awards, he's
got one with 11 nominations. Critics' Choice,
three with 12 nominations. Golden Globe, three
with four nominations. And the Grammys, one with
no wins. I'm pretty sure they're two different
awards. Fuckin' not. Academy Awards or the Oscars,
my friend. Are they? Okay. Mm -hmm. Come on,
mate. Are you really questioning me on this thing?
Okay. No, you're right. Sorry. You're right.
I apologise. So what's the other one then? So
the Oscars is the tall, skinny man. What's the
one with the globe on it? The golden globe. Oh,
you just said that, didn't you? What's the one
with the golden globe in it? See, my brain does
this thing where I can listen and go back. I
can't. But I don't pay attention at the time.
But then sometimes it trips me up because then
I rely on it and then I forget about it. So,
yeah, no, fair enough. You did say that. I did,
Wayne. So, yeah, nominated for 14 awards and
hasn't won one yet. Like, he does good movies.
Dude, he – They're obviously not great. No, but
all of his – well, not all of them, but There
Will Be Blood, dude. It has the greatest actor
that has ever lived in it. He's got two movies
with Daniel Day -Lewis in it. Really? Yeah, There
Will Be Blood and – Oh, was that The Master?
No, that's – Another great actor. Magnolia. What's
his name? So he's done Boogie Nights in 97. His
first film was Hard Eight in 96. There Will Be
Blood. Phantom Thread. Phantom Thread. I haven't
heard of that before. Yeah, I haven't either.
Punch Drunk Glove. That's what Tarn was toting,
wasn't it? With Adam Sandler. He was. Yeah. You
probably haven't watched the episode yet. It
came out today. From our little chat. Yeah. Apparently
it's a really good movie. I have watched the
episode. Might have to give it a go. I might
have to give that a go, yeah. It's Adam Sandler
and it's not a comedy role. It's a drama. Yeah.
And Philip Seymour Hoffman is in The Master.
Yeah. Another great actor. Dude, yeah. Gone too
fucking soon, man. He was great. What would you
give this out of five? Three. Three? Yeah. It's
not, look, great film. And great films aren't
always something you watch over and over and
over and over again. If it makes you think, it
makes you feel, and it gives you itchy skin,
makes you uncomfortable, then it's done its job.
This movie isn't to entertain. It's to say. Some
of the best movies I've ever seen are not rewatchable.
Yeah. Schindler's fucking list, mate. I'm not
watching it. Is that the one where the guard
makes her choose between which kid she gets to
keep and which goes? The Son of a Daughter? I
don't know. I can't remember that bit. I know
that the whole thing's black and white and there's
only one bit of colour in it and it's a little
girl's red coat and later on you see that red
coat on a mountain of bodies. That movie is hands
down a movie that needs to be seen. I'm not a
Holocaust denier. No, no, no. I know that. I
don't want to see it. I know that. It's not the
fact that it's a Holocaust movie. It's a human
movie. It's a human story. It's a man that wants
to do more and wants to, even at the end when
he saves hundreds of people, hundreds of people,
he still hates himself that he didn't save more.
There's a film clip of a news reporter outside
the cinema in Germany after people have watched
Schindler's List and the reactions from them
is pretty fucking. Harrowing to say the least,
my friend. It is. If it was fiction, if it was
fiction, it would be the best movie ever made.
The fact that it's real and humans actually did
shit, that's why I cannot rewind. Yeah, 100%.
Okay, so we've talked about one battle after
another. I think we will watch. Hang on a minute.
So you're not going to tell me your in -time
notes? No, I can't. I've rearranged it. What
do you mean you've rearranged it? I wrote the
notes, went back through and fucking put things
together, added extra details to it. I don't
want you to do that ever again. I want to see
your unfiltered notes. I've even got, like, fucking
in my notes, right? Okay, well, next time I will
keep. I'm not finished fucking talking, mate.
Oh, I fucking will be when I smack you in the
mouth. So I've even got, look at this shit, LOL.
Yeah, I mean, I understand. I will keep a transcript
of my thoughts separate. Exclamation points.
Separate. Yeah. I want to see what you say during
the movies. Rapid Fire, give me what else you've
watched this week. Okay, Rapid Fire, I've watched
Borderlands. Trash, Space Cowboys, amazing. Tucker
and Dale vs. Evil, one of the best movies ever
made. Zootopia 2, fucking fantastic. I've heard
good things about it. Makes you feel stuff and
makes you laugh. And Evil, the TV show Evil,
which I've been re -watching and seen an insult
blow his head off and it made me laugh. Good
job. Thank you. On that note, we'll see you on
Friday. Well, you haven't said anything that
you watched this week. Motherfucker. Thanks,
guys. Like, comment, subscribe, follow along.
Love, peace, chicken grease. Bye.