Hello and welcome to the 15th, no, 15th, what?
25th. Oh my god. Our very 25th special. That's
right. Yeah, it's been a quarter of a hundred
episodes. Wow. About a century, as someone would
say from a movie slash musical. Okay. You said
it, a movie slash musical. I'm not making it
up. This is the Game for a Movie podcast. I am
your host, Mike Butank. I am joined by... Andre.
Jillian, or Jill. And Mitchell. Mitchell's calling
in. That's the first time since quarantine started
that I think we actually could point at people
and everybody could say their name. It's great.
It's good to see you guys. It's good to see you
too. We have some great movies on tap, but also
on tap, we have some beers that we are drinking.
Oh, dude, I love the segue. You're just killing
it today. Nailed it, man. What are you drinking,
Andre? I am drinking the local bud from Firefly
Hollow Brewing. Firefly Hollow. Right up the
road, actually. Exactly. Very nice. Yes. And
then I'm drinking the Super Duper Double Citra
from Thomas Hooker, which is not right up the
road. It is not right up the road. But it's close
enough from where we live. It's CT grown. It's
still delicious. Hartford based. Yes. Mitchell,
what do you got over there? So I'm starting off
the night with a little Blue Moon Belgian White,
and then I'm going to transition over to a nice
pour of Gentleman Jack. Oh, okay. A nice little
whiskey to cap things off. All right. Is Blue
Moon the one that you put an orange in, or is
that only... Yes, that's the one, yeah. Mitchell,
do you have an orange in there? I do not. I don't
have any orange on me, unfortunately. I'm just
drinking this right out the bottle. I'm an animal.
What an animal. I am drinking Those Aren't Pillows,
a pecan pie barley wine that is also a quote
from one of my favorite Thanksgiving movies,
which is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. I have
not seen that one. You haven't seen it either?
I want to. Have you seen it? Nope. It's one of
the few actual classic... Oh my god! I know.
Mitchell, you haven't seen it either, right?
No. Next watch party! yeah that's the thing it
should be like a good movie watch party for us
yeah right claire hasn't seen it either thanksgiving
2021 it's john candy and steve martin and i love
it because i love steve martin and we're going
to earn our explicit rating this week because
it also has the best use of fuck ever there's
literally a scene where there is 17 of the word
fuck. Matt Stone and Trey Parker would be proud.
They would be very proud. It is also, it makes
sense to the story and it's great. It's literally,
I can't talk enough about this movie. I'm so
disappointed that all of you have not seen this
movie. We will fix it. We'll fix it. Okay. All
right, one of these days we're going to watch
it. But we have some other movies that we are
going to talk about. Mitchell, we'll start with
you, then I'll go, then Andre, and then our loser
this week was Jill, who has a glorious movie
to talk about. Oh, yeah. It is a thing. I hope
you don't love furniture, because by the end
of my little spiel, you will be afraid of it.
Oh, my gosh. I am looking forward to this. So,
Mitchell, get us started with what you watched
this past time. Yeah, you know, on Friday, a
Netflix episode upon its subscribers, a beautiful
addition to what is, I think, one of the best
directorial canons in modern movie history. David
Fincher adding his next movie is Mank. Mank,
I would say, right off the top. This is definitely
a movie aimed right at the heart of film nerds.
People who love Hollywood history have... A thing
for old black and white movies at home, probably
have HBO Max because of the Turner Classic Movies
collection. And Make, for those who don't know,
it's about the writing of the movie Citizen Kane.
Never heard of it. Mainly from the academic circles
in film, consider it the best movie of all time.
I'm definitely not one of those guys. You should
definitely watch it just because It's definitely
a part and a huge part of American film history
for sure. It was a story that Star directed and
was co -written by Orson. The story about the
co -writer with Orson and that was Herman Mankiewicz.
Herman Mankiewicz is the screenwriter and is
played by Gary Oldman in this movie. Before you
continue. Can we get that last line again? Because
you accidentally paused yourself. Yeah, it's
like your friend didn't want to say the name.
He's a problematic guy. Gary Oldman plays Herman
Mankiewicz. That still wasn't the line we were
trying for, but it's good enough. Orson Welles
was the director. And that was the question I
got wrong during our game. Yeah, that's right.
That's the reason why we had to watch that movie.
It's Orson Welles. Fuck you, Orson Welles! The
big old fuck you to Orson Welles. Alright, so...
Gary Oldman. Yeah, Gary Oldman is... I mean,
this is a movie that stars long and is shot completely
in black and white. And let me start with the
good stuff to the criticism. The best part about
this movie, in my mind, was all the technical
things. So everything from how it was shot, all
the scene transitions, how it was edited, the
music by Trent Reznor, yet again, teaming up
with David Fincher. Citizen Kane looked like.
But really, it was these craftsmen, you know,
in film, paying homage to that movie. And it's
done very, very well. The only thing that was
a little cheeky to me added the cue marks on
the right -hand corner of the screen. You know,
those circles that would come up in the film?
Yeah, okay. Yeah. They added that, and, you know,
to their credit, they added those about once
every 15 minutes, which is when those would show
up in real life. So even then, the attention
to detail is there, and it's a David Fincher
movie, so of course it is. Yeah, right. And then
my all -time favorite performance this year,
I would say, is Amanda Seyfried as Marion Davies.
Wow. She is a dead ringer for Davies. Most people,
you know, I was looking at all my favorite critics
and their main takeaways. It's a very mixed review
movie so far. But the thing that stands out the
most in all these reviews is how much people
love Amanda in this role. Would you say, just
off the bat, Oscar performance winning? The thing
is, there are so many movies that will end up
being nominated. at this year's Oscars that simply
have not been made available yet. But as of right
now, yes. She kind of fits the bill. In my mind,
any time you get a supporting character in there,
kind of one of your roles in terms of if you
want to go and win an Oscar, you have to be a
steam sealer. And that's exactly what she has
done in so many different scenes. Most notably,
there is a walk in the park that she and Mank
have essentially just spewing about. how they
got to Hollywood and what their philosophies
are and all that kind of stuff. Nice. Very, very
great performance. Now to the bad stuff. Okay.
This is a, this is a film that was written by
Jack Fincher, who is David's late father. I believe
he passed away in 2003. And this was a screenplay
that had been, you know, written a long, long
time ago. And so much. In fact, when, Venture
was coming out to success, I believe it was either
Seven or Fight Club, and Jack showed him the
screenplays, like, what do you think? Not to
say make it, but just genuinely to ask, hey,
what do you think of this? And David says, I
just don't see how this is going to speak to
people. I don't see how this is a movie that
could be for 2000 or 2001. Now, fast forward
to 2020, a lot of the parts of the movie that
end up answering that question, like, why now?
The big reason of why now is this plot about
Upton Sinclair running for the governorship of
California. And the whole idea there is the politics
game that kind of reflects what you see today
about yellow and big media completely warping
people's ideas of what is the truth. in an election
and that i'm like okay so clearly there is some
ideas at play here that simply was not in the
forefront of anyone's mind back in 2000 right
um all's to say that completely derails the movie
this in my mind the best part of this movie is
all the character -driven moments uh whether
that's me confronting william randolph hearst
um or you know it's them with Amanda Seyfried
doing whatever the hell she wanted to do in this
movie, and it was fantastic. I think the relationship
between Mank and Lily Collins' character, Rita
Alexander, is also very great. Lily was essentially
the scribe for Mank as they were writing the
script. So all these different moments and scenes
ended up making for what I felt was a very warm
reflection. And in kind of a weird way, a work
of what Citizen Kane was, which is a reflection
of a man's life. Right. And that's what we got
there. But then you just have all this political
stuff. And don't get me wrong. It was definitely
hitting all the right notes for me in terms of,
yes, that's true. Yes, that's bad in terms of
the politics. But in terms of serving the story
in the movie, it feels like they're aiming at
too many different targets at the same time,
which for David Fincher. sounds really off -brand.
He's a very precise director. I'll say this.
A lot of folks who I've read who love this movie
have seen it at least three times. One of those
ones is better on the re -watch? Yeah. It's a
two -hour flick. The best part about Netflix,
I have not re -watched the entire movie, but
what I have done is gone back to certain scenes.
One of my all -time favorites Favorite scenes,
I think, is there's this great line, and it's
in the trailer as well, where Louis B. Mayer
is basically spewing out his philosophy on what
the Hollywood industry is. And it's a great character
introduction. It's him walking from his office
over to a studio where he's about to let all
the actors and crew members know that everyone's
about to take a pay cut because this is during
the Depression. On his way over there, he's kind
of flexing in front of Mank, just showing how
powerful he is. And he basically says the magic
of movies isn't like any of the special effects
or whatever. It's the fact that the product that
people have is just the memory of what they watched.
I still own the product. All they bought was
the memory. And I think that is going to speak
to a lot of the news that we're going to be talking
about later with Warner Brothers and what they're
doing. But to end this review, I would say there's
a lot going on there. It's a heavy movie in terms
of dissecting. Frankly, there's a lot that's
hard to follow, but the character stuff is fantastic.
The technical stuff is beautiful to look at.
The music, I think, is fantastic. And Trent Reznor,
from what I heard, he also did the score for
Soul, which is the new Pixar movie coming out
on Christmas. This is incredible to me that Trent
Reznor, of all people, is doing all this. I actually
was looking at his filmography. His first movie
to do with social networks, which I thought it
was. Good for him. Yeah. This is great. He's
been nominated 65 times. He's only won one Oscar.
I literally, I like Trent Reznor. It's just interesting
to me to guess that he did all of this movie
work. Sorry. Mitchell, I do have a question for
you. Do you think that there is, I don't want
to say director's cut because everyone is immediately
going to think like the Snyder cut, but do you
think that there is deleted scenes or an extended
version of this film out there that might, when
it gets a print release, either on Blu -ray or
DVD, do you think that is, or do you think what
you're seeing is the full film? No, so I think
what we're seeing is the full film. I think with
David, so, and I'm not even sure. life cycle
for a movie is going to exist with netflix right
because this is good this is living on the platform
um so i think what we just saw is exactly um
so as much as i say it feels unfocused for all
the things that i read things become more clear
and apparent the more you watch it which is to
say uh watching movies should not be homework
and you know i would rather have that great experience
once and then be rewarded for all these different
things but to understand the momentum of the
characters and all that, that shouldn't be something
that would be apparent on the second or third
watch, in my opinion. And to read some notes
too, Eric Roth, who's an Academy Award winning
screenplay, or screenwriter, he worked on The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button with David Fincher
before, and he won his Oscar with Forrest Gump.
He is listed as a producer on this film, but
he was also a guy who Apparently it was someone
who went over the script with David Fincher.
Tried to give it some kind of modern touch, I
guess you could say. Whatever in the past 20
years would have been different. Yeah, so maybe,
I don't know. It's tough to say, Joe. It's really
tough to say. But I think this is the movie that
Fincher wanted. Okay. So what would you give
it as a review out of five? I'm giving it a solid
three out of five. Okay. You know, for me, that
is on the lower end of Fincher movies. I've yet
to see Alien 3, though I think that would probably
be the lowest. I think you're safe there. I somewhat
forgot he did Alien 3. Holy moly. Did Fincher
do Existence? Is that Fincher? I don't know.
Which one? Existence? No, I don't believe so.
I think it's the other David. That's the problem
when you guys call in. I can't use my phone and
look it up. No, so for me, David Fincher, you
know, his version of Citizen Kane, ironically,
I think it's called The Social Network and it
came out 10 years ago. I would say that is his
best movie. This is probably middle of the pack
for me. But this is definitely also to say David
Fincher's warmest movie. It feels like there
is an actual human being and not this cold, calculated
director doing a hundred different takes of the
same scene just to get the body movements right.
All right. So in all of that to say, three out
of five, I'll say three out of five cue marks
for me. Yeah, there you go. Where does seven
fall on your list of David Fincher movies? Just
because I think that's my number one. yeah that's
at least top three okay yeah two or three i i
love seven i can watch it anytime it's that movie
when it's on television like yeah it's like oh
hey seven is a good example of like not necessarily
being homework but the viewer is rewarded rewarded
yes that is a that is a really good movie to
rewatch all the time for sure uh absolutely i
guess i will jump in with the movie that i saw
which is definitely not homework uh the movie
i saw is called fat man okay We're going to talk
about this movie just because it had such an
impact on me. I rented this movie from iTunes
and then realized I couldn't stream it to my
TV, so I watched the entire thing on my phone
on the couch. Wow, okay. It is about Santa Claus,
played by Mel Gibson. Great. Mel Gibson, Mel
Gibson? Yes, Mel Gibson, Mel Gibson. I don't
know why my brain went to Mel Brooks and I was
like... It is Mel Gibson. Yes, that Mel Gibson.
And so, basically, the directors say they wanted
to create a realistic Santa. So, for example,
there's so many bad kids nowadays, they don't
make as many presents, so they don't earn the
money that they get from the government for creating
Christmas. They created Christmas so that people
would buy stuff for each other. Consumerism.
Okay. But now there's so many bad kids, they
have been giving more coal, so the consumerism
has gone down. So the military gave them less
money. Okay. Makes sense. In order to subsidize
the money they're missing, for the first two
months of the year, they signed Santa and Mrs.
Claus, who's played by Marianne Jean -Baptiste,
who's awesome in this movie. Okay, yeah. Give
them to do a military contract where they build
the panel for drones for the first two months.
So the elves are building... Yep. Oh. Okay. And
I'm telling you right now, this movie on paper
is batshit crazy. Yep, yep. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed
the hell out of it. And I hate how much I enjoyed
this movie. Okay. Well, okay, so... But wait,
there's more. Right. Oh, I got you right. You're
starting to bite in. And then, oh, I'm going
to pull you in because there's more. There's
a 12 -year -old sadistic kid who gets coal. And
he, of course, does the line. If you watch the
trailer, he gets in the snow and, I'll get you
for this, fat man! And name drop. Roll credits.
Roll credits, right. Well, he is in touch. with
an assassin. As you are, I'm 12 years old. Okay.
Yes, he's been stealing money from his grandmother
to get this assassin to basically, like, he got
him to kidnap the girl who won the science fair
and kill people that are just in his way. Okay.
Psycho in the making. So he's already murdered
people for this kid. Not murdered, but, like,
accepts all this money to blackmail them. So,
like, this science fair girl He basically said,
you're going to say you cheated, and if you say
anything, I'm going to come by, I'm going to
kill your father, I'm going to kill your mother,
I'm going to kill your dog. Okay. So he's already
extorted people with this guy. Okay, got it.
We haven't talked about the assassin. Right.
It's Walton Goggins. Who? Walton Goggins. Okay.
The guy who was in Justified by his principals.
Oh, yeah, that guy. He's in Ant -Man and the
Wasp. Yes, he's in... Oh, God. wasp he is an
ant -man and the wasp he's the bad guy or one
of the bad guys not ghost but he's like slick
businessman that like not lawrence fishburne
not lawrence fishburne exactly yes yeah no no
he's he's like a secondary bad guy okay he works
for somebody and like has this whatever um he's
the assassin and basically he gets hired by the
kid to find the fat man and bring his head Wow,
Jesus Christ. This kid's getting work for the
jugular. Yeah. It is an hour and 40 minutes.
The first hour is fun and, like, wall craziness.
The last 20 minutes is a shootout at the North
Peak in Alaska. Okay. And they do the whole joke
where, like, there's a sign that says North P.
and then they zoom out, and it's North Peak,
Alaska, and he follows his car moving in. Okay.
So they do that joke, you know, and that kind
of stuff. Yeah. And then the last 20 minutes
is like a shootout between Santa, Walton Goggins,
and Mrs. Claus. Good for Mrs. Claus getting in
on the action. Yeah, right. Walton Goggins somehow
kills, like, 40... soldiers that are there right
so like is he like what's wong goggins's deal
like is he just like a super trained assassin
military guy an assassin that's always been like
wanting he's wanted this job for forever okay
because at the end as you learn uh he asked santa
for one thing and never got it And that was new
parents because his parents abused the shit out
of him. And, like, he has, like, cigarette burns
down his arm. Oh, okay. Wow. All right. Okay.
That took a twist. That's a little bit of a heel
turn, I guess. So you said it was an hour and
40 minutes, and the first hour was great. The
last 20 minutes were a shootout. What about those
20 minutes? It goes 20 minutes too long. Oh,
no. It's just a slow burn. I'm glad you did the
math. It's just a slow burn 20 minutes. just
like oh come on just get there there's a part
where uh walton goggins has like a hamster that
he cares about more than anything in the world
and so like he goes to this store and the woman's
like you don't hit me as a hamster person you
do you want a snake do you want do you want to
like a cold -blooded reptile and like it's just
sitting there like oh we're just showing how
cold he is and then he buys like all this hamster
gear and puts it in his car so like the hamster
is running around the car and like to stuff and
wheel and and like it's it's a cute scene but
it's so unnecessary but overall I really, I think
it's going to be like a cult classic Christmas
film. So would you, I guess, okay, that's the
ultimate test. Would you watch this around Christmas
time five years from now? Yes, I think I would.
Okay. And I tweeted my friends about it because
it just so happened to be a tweet about it. And
I said, you know, Fat Man was like surprisingly
good. Like I'd recommend it. The director commented
and liked it. Oh, hey. Hey. But I didn't put
hashtag fat man. I didn't do anything except
for just write the words fat man was surprisingly
good or like that kind of thing. But his social
media aid was on that. And so he is all over
this. Like everybody that puts fat man and social
media on Twitter. Are we sponsored by Fat Man
now? Are we sponsored by them? I don't know.
But I might tag him in our Instagram post or
Facebook post or something like that. Because
he seems like a nice guy. Him and his brother
wrote it and directed it. The trailer is ridiculous
and looks like it's going to be the dumbest movie.
Don't go in expecting Citizen Kane. Okay. Roger
that. I don't think a lot of people do that.
But like the six bucks I spent on it. Sure. I
would watch it again. Was it a directorial debut
or did the director have other things under his
belt? Maybe. I don't know. I didn't look up that
far. To the internet. Ian Nelms. N -E -L -M -S.
And then it's his brother. I can't remember his
name, but I just remember Ian Nelms. Um, but
yeah, it's, it's ridiculous. It's goofy. Um,
I will say that Santa gets shot in the eye, but
somehow survives. Oh, okay. Well, you know, that's
happened, I guess. Right. And then he comes back
to the 12 year old kid and he's like, I know
what you did. You better be good. Otherwise I'm
coming for you next Christmas. Like that kind
of line. But it's actually, it's Mel Gibson.
Yeah. So it's kind of, kind of like, oh shit.
Yeah. But we'll, we'll call this movie what it
is. Military propaganda. Right. Christianity.
Okay. And just a movie to be ridiculous with
Santa Claus. That's what it is. Okay. He's done
other things, the director. It's not his first
film. Okay, I didn't think it was, but I just
didn't... I can't say. It wouldn't have served
me if it was his first film, too. But yeah, it's...
Marion Jean -Baptiste is great. Walton Goggins,
I love him. He's great in everything. I was kind
of mad when I saw the trailer, going, oh, how
far did he slide to have to do this movie? But
really, it was worth it. It was pretty good.
And then there's Mel Gibson, and it's a combination
of his character from The Patriot and Santa Claus.
I was about to say, is he channeling The Patriot?
A little bit, yeah. All right. He always has
to be a badass with a gun, I guess. Have you
seen The Patriot? Yeah. Have you seen The Patriot?
We're talking about the American history film.
Oh, yes. I don't know. I think my memory of it
is a little... A lot of musket reloading in that
movie. A lot of musket reloading. I mean, like,
we could also talk about, like, Braveheart, too.
Yes, Braveheart. I love Braveheart. Yeah. It's
very, like, he's trying to be an action, like,
like, away from the action badass, is what I'd
say. He's retired, but he still shoots his gun
every now and then. If he needs to. Yeah. You
know, so it's like it's trying to get away from
this, but he always knew this day would come
where someone would find him. So he needed to
stay one step ahead. Retired but armed. Yes.
Retired but armed. That's good. And I will also
say that they do not understand the range of
guns. Oh. Walton Goggins has like a machine gun
and just has two pistols and they fire at the
same range. So if you're a gun aficionado or
an enthusiast, don't go into this movie expecting
that they consulted gun experts for putting together
the stuff. The only thing I will say is that
there is a good job of when Walton Goggins reloads.
You know how movies have the endless clip where
it's just the hero has all these bullets, blah,
blah, blah. Guns run out. They do a good job
of they need to reload or whatever and like it's
not like he's firing like over and over. He's
like conserving it. He's that kind of stuff.
But I will say I give it three and a half elves
out of five. I didn't think to ask about the
elves. Yeah, right. Oh, so are the elves... They
have numbers. Okay. Not names. Are they humans?
They're elves. They're short. They're human -esque
looking. We're talking Will Ferrell's elf. Yeah,
they're short elves. They're short humans, I
mean. They're short humans. The only thing that's
different is they have pointed ears. Okay. And
then they wear bells on their shoes, which they
did a scene when the military came in. They have
a metal detector to make sure they're not. They
had to cut the bells off their shoes. That's
actually part of it. Wow. Yeah. I mean, it's
cheesy. Attention to detail there. Like I said,
it's a fun movie. It's stupid how fun it is,
but it's fun. That's what you sometimes want
in a film, stupid but fun. And that's exactly
it. Watching it on my phone at one in the morning,
it was exactly what I wanted. Hmm. Yeah. All
right. Andre? Oh, okay. It's me. Yeah, it's you,
buddy. So, Jill and I, just yesterday, we watched
a supposedly Amazon original film, Uncle Frank.
It actually premiered. It premiered at this year's
Sundance back in January. But, yeah, Amazon picked
it up, and I guess they put it up for Thanksgiving.
So, yeah, I guess that lines up. Yeah. So, this
is a, I guess I call it a drama. Film starring
Paul Bettany. It is... I guess I should just
give you the high -level synopsis of it. Yeah.
Wait, what was that face you just made, Mitchell?
Uh -oh. He muted himself. He's looking at something
else. We caught him. We caught him. Yeah! I'm
knocking out some Christmas shopping. Well, let's
talk of Christmas. Really put him in the mood
for consumerism. Oh, shit. I knew we caught you
doing something. Oh, shit. I gotta flip my...
I should have just had like a picture of his
face. Yeah! Okay, so Uncle Frank. Okay, cool.
I'll just give you the high -level synopsis.
This is a film about an uncle, a family that
is from South Carolina. This is in the late 70s,
right? Early 70s. 1973. Cool. The narrator character
is an 18 -year -old girl named Beth. It's basically...
her kind of recounting the story of how she got
to know her uncle frank so it starts out with
her just like showing around like they're what
Nothing? This seems like it's taking a dark turn.
No, it's not dark at all. This is a feel -good
film. I guess you should say from the top this
is going to sound pretty scathing, but this is
like a hallmark movie for gay people, basically.
With a nice Hollywood budget. Yes, that's true.
A well -produced, well -acted... Gay Hallmark
film. Okay. So yeah, anyway. So Beth is our main
character. She's narrating. She's introducing
us to her quaint, small town, South Carolina
life. And she talks about how every once in a
blue moon, like whenever there's a big family
get together, her Uncle Frank, who moved to New
York City a few years ago, will come and visit.
And he was always his favorite because he's always
so different. He's more refined. He's the only
one who actually takes interest in what she has
to say. They immediately kind of, like they show
that, they have this kind of deeper connection,
where, you know, so Uncle Frank is played by
Paul Bettany, and he kind of is the first person
to say, like, hey, like, be who you are, be who
you want to be, don't let anybody else tell you
what to be, kind of lets her, really kind of,
like, nudges her to have her own awakening of
her self -worth, and so far as, like, she's,
I think, what was her, like, she was Betsy, I
think, was her original name? Yeah, Elizabeth's
her full name, but everyone called her Betsy.
Everyone called her Betsy, and he's like, well,
like, What do you want? Betty. Betty. It was
Betty. Right. And he's like, well, who do you
want to be? Who do you want to be? Right. What
kind of name do you want for yourself? Liz? Whatever.
I had a moment like that when I was a kid because
I was Mikey. Right. Forever. Yeah. You know,
and, like, when I was sick and done with it,
I had a cousin, or a great cousin, that I basically
said, like, don't call me Mikey. And she goes,
what do you want me to call you? And I was like,
I don't care, just not Mikey. She still calls
me Stan to this day. You know, it's like that
kind of thing. But, yes, I get that. Yeah. And
it's kind of a good, it's a good scene to really
win because I like the kind of the, chemistry's
not the right word, but, like, immediately you
kind of buy into the connection that Paul Bettany
has with this girl and that, you know, she, She's,
you know, staying up for herself. works hard
enough at school to get, go to NYU where he's
a professor at. So he, she's like, you know,
leaving the small town life to go to the big
city along with her, her uncle, right? Yeah.
Uh, so you immediately can tell that, I mean,
obviously like the, the byline here is that,
you know, uncle Frank, he's gay, he's, he's gay
and he belongs, he's, he's from a South Carolina,
like a family from South Carolina in the early
seventies. You kind of guess how that would go
over and you see immediately, they immediately
show you the tension. I think they were there
for, um, the main beth's grandpa's birthday okay
and like he's opening presents he opens one from
from from uncle frank and obviously it's like
why the fuck did you give me this like this is
dumb blah whatever you know so okay like like
i so yes uh i would say like i'll just go through
the first like 20 ish minutes just high level
and you and you'll probably be able to get the
rest of the movie, what happens from there, right?
So Beth goes to New York, goes to college, you
know, through a few blunders, ends up at, uninvited
to a party that Frank is throwing for his colleagues,
like, you know, whatever, his various colleagues,
right? And that's where, basically, she has her
first drink, she gets super drunk, passes out,
well, starts getting sick, Frank has to take
care of her, and that's how Frank kind of has
to come out to her, because it's at Frank's...
apartment where he lives with his partner. Hiding
from the family and everything. Obviously, Beth,
being the young 18 -year -old open -minded girl
that she is, is cool with it, is immediately
happy that she has this shared secret -ish with
Frank. And then the shoe drops that it's the
next morning, she's nursing her hangover, we're
getting to meet Wally, Frank's partner, who we
love. We love Wally. I should say that everything
about this movie, it's very well acted. That's
probably the best part about it, is that it has
a great cast, and it's well acted. and i'm endeared
to the characters um so yeah we're hanging out
and it's oh it's great woo like how we're gonna
break to the family you know wally's musing about
how oh i just wish i could meet your family and
frank is like oh of course you can never meet
my family you know why it's gonna be terrible
they can never find out yada yada yada the shoe
drops frank's dad uh grandpa mac grandpa grandpa
what mac Mac, yes, Big Mac, who's played by Steven
Root, who I love. I love seeing him in everything.
He suddenly dies of a heart attack, and they
have to go back to the funeral. Wally insists
that he wants to go to be there to support Frank.
And then obviously Frank is like, no, that's
a bad idea. Don't go. It'll just be me and Beth.
Yada, yada, yada. They go on a little road trip.
Of course, Wally tails them behind. And it's
like, oh, he tagged along anyways. Wally, you
rascal. Because he forgot his tie. Because he
forgot Frank's tie. And it's like, oh, you rascal,
Wally. I guess you'll just come along. And, you
know, you get these little conversations with
Beth, like trying to figure out more about Frank.
Like, okay, like, when did you realize you, like,
the obvious questions a kid would ask, you know,
still learning about, like, gay culture, essentially,
like, okay, when did you find out you were gay?
And learning about herself, too. Yes, obviously,
yes, exactly, because she's also still very much
that she hasn't, I would say, not sexually blossomed
yet, I suppose, right? Yes, and it's depicted
as a choice slash when, at the beginning of the
film, Uncle Frank tells her, you know, don't
waste your time on boys, you're smart, you could
go to college if you wanted. He even tells her,
and I think it's a four -year, It's a four -year
gap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like 1969. And
in the first 10 minutes in 1969, he tells her,
you know, if you ever need an abortion, don't
call your family, you call me. Well, it's more
like if you have, he phrases it like, if you
ever find, he was making fun of his, he was making
fun of her cousin who was knocked up and was
like, well, if you ever find yourself knocked
up, talk to me. If you ever need birth control,
I'm your first call. If you ever need to tell
a guy, I'm your first call. Which is like, wow,
it's 1969 and you're just telling this 14 -year
-old girl that don't throw your life away, essentially,
for a stupid boy. And that conversation kind
of plants the seeds for this relationship between
Beth and I wish the movie kind of focused a bit
more on. So I guess, whatever. So basically,
it's alluded to that Frank has this tragic past
about how his first love and all that stuff.
And I feel like I can just, like... You could
probably just fill in the blanks with the rest
of the movie about how that's all going to go
down. And that's kind of my biggest thing with
this movie is that none of the plot is very surprising.
It's not very challenging. I will say what happens
at the funeral with the will reading was we were
joking saying it's not like they're not going
to do that. Yes, that's true. Grandpa Mac is...
a petty bastard until to the end essentially
yes basically he outs uncle frank at the yes
at the will reading at the will reading i outs
uncle frank that's the big like well um yeah
and it's you know in the moment it was it was
it's well acted like i said before uh it hits
all those emotional beats you know it i it hits
you right in the feels and it's a feel good movie
there's like there's emotional highs emotional
lows but after i finished it it's like okay Yeah,
I don't know. Don't need to go back. Like, everything's
kind of wrapped up in a neat, nice little bow.
It's not, yeah. Which, I mean, like, it follows
with your description of it as a hallmark movie
for gay couples. Yes. And I would say that the
framing character, Beth, who I didn't look up
her name, she played Beverly in It, the child
actress. Oh, okay, yeah. Which is very, very
good. It's almost not fair that the script does
not give Dew more of a character. Basically kind
of forgets about her. She's not a plot device,
because the plot device is the funeral, or the
grandpa dying in the funeral. She's more like,
I'm pushing the plot along, and then once they
get on the road back to South Carolina for the
funeral, she effectively disappears into the
background, and we never really get anything
about her. It basically focuses entirely on Frank's
estranged relationship with his father. I get
that. And it sucks because, like, child roles
sometimes are written that way where it's just
like, okay, you're just here until we don't really
need you anymore. A little bit. Yeah. And she's
not even a, you know, a little plot moppet. She's
an 18 -year -old woman. A plot moppet. And we
don't really know much about her. We don't know
why. Why did she choose NYU? What does she want
to, like, who? We know that she can be whoever
she wants to be, but we don't know who that is.
Right. It would have been nice if we had gotten
a bit more of that because. with such a character
-driven piece, she's very weak. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
So, I mean, I don't know. It's not like I'm being
harsh on it. I did really like it, but I would
say all of the interesting parts kind of happen.
All the plot threads that open up in the beginning
aren't really followed through on once you realize
halfway through, like, okay, this movie's going
to be about this now. Let's face it. We've done
enough movies. We can say at this point, a movie
can be enjoyable, but also... mundane yes a little
bit yeah i would say the the wally wally and
frank's relationship keeps it from being mundane
because yeah right it's never boring to watch
like it's too well acted the characters are too
endearing to to be like i was never i guess mundane
was the wrong choice but like it could be it's
right no that's a really good way to describe
it this is a very paint by numbers yeah historic
coming out and it never it's there's no gray
like there's really no gray morality where it's
like it's like there are people the characters
are either totally okay or written to be framed
totally okay with being with homosexuality totally
okay or they're totally against it and like oh
gosh no time too because it comes in the last
20 minutes right yeah and there's no there's
no really exploration of people who are who are
meaning well but are actually problematic and
so far as all that goes like it's just a do you
accept sexuality or do you not right well that's
it That's tough. That's tough to watch in a movie,
too. I feel like with gay movies, and I mean
that in quotes, like gay movies, you have to
either love them, hate them, there's no in -between,
versus you can get more deep with it. I don't
think I've ever seen a movie that deals with
gay people that are just like... they're just
gay. Like it's not, it's not drummed up for character.
Right. Yeah. It's like that. Yeah. It was, there
was no like eyeopening moment of like, Oh, I
didn't even know that that's what that was like
or whatever. You know, it's just like, okay,
no, this is going to go. All right. That's how
it went. From like a historian, not that I'm
a historian, but from a history person's perspective,
it's set in 1973. The, the, the, the costumes
and the music are fantastic. You really feel
like you're there, but, It's almost kind of interesting
that they skirt over being gay. They go into
the Bible side, because South Carolina religious
family, being gay is a sin. But they don't have
larger ramifications. There's a five -minute
plot beat where they're more concerned about
getting caught with having marijuana, because
that's illegal, than discussing the ramifications
of their sexuality being known to the public.
I know this movie's not trying to have a socialist
agenda. But they made a point to set it in this
time period. And I read that it's based on the
director's own family experiences. But, you know,
it's a very sanitized movie. Yes, sanitized is
a good way to put it. Which is fair. Yeah. After
all that, I don't know. It sounded pretty negative,
but still, I think it's worth watching. It's
a good movie you didn't have to pay to see. I
give it three Jack Daniels nibs out of five.
okay oh yeah there's a lot of checking on the
movie yeah we're we're we're on a roll of threes
like yeah i gave it 3 .5 threes yeah and so that's
that's exactly the transition jill i appreciate
that you caught that uh you Lost our trivia challenge,
which we played Sporkle Party, which was great
because we could play it from wherever. Hashtag
Sporkle Party. Yeah, I'm going to give them a
shout out because they also liked our Instagram
and commented. That's great. But yeah, so we
played a Sporkle Party and we all were close
at the end, except for Mitchell who got that
question. Was that the Terminator question? That
was another one. No, it was the final question.
I think it was the Orson Welles question. Yeah.
It was, um, no, it was... Who played, uh, two
characters, or two people played the same character
in the same year? Ah, yes, that was the... You
said it. Yep. What was it? Yes, it was, um, yeah,
it was, um, uh, Hopkins and... Huh? Yeah, it
was the other one, but I'd say Anthony Hopkins.
It was like, it was Alfred Shkronk was playing
a pick. Yeah. I think it was Toby Jones was the
other one. Yeah, Toby Jones, that's it. Yeah.
So, yeah. We're close. So, Jill, you lost. I
did. Lost, I did. So, in honor of having to watch
a very bad movie, I went to my first gut reaction,
which was a film a friend recommended called
Killer Soap. So, I've known about it for a long
time. Off to a great start. For those who are
curious, it currently has a 3 .5 out of 10 on
IMDb. This is a New Zealand picture. It wasn't
even on Rotten Tomatoes when we were talking
about it. It's not on Rotten Tomatoes. I tried
and looked everywhere. I could not find any budget
information. All I really knew about this film
going into it is that Jed Broffy, who is a frequent
collaborator with Peter Jackson, he appears in
Lord of the Rings, and he is Nori, the starfish
dwarf in The Hobbit. I was excited to show up
for Jed. You're here for Jed. You're here for
Jed. All I knew is that it is about... You know
what? How about I just read you the one sentence
from IMDb? A killer reclining chair becomes enchanted
by a girl and starts hitting crimes of passion.
So I'm going to just admit something right off
the bat. Yeah, you got the last word right. Passion.
I'm going to just admit something right off the
bat here. It is not a sofa. No. It is a reclining
chair. It's a reclining chair. It's singular.
A lazy boy. One person can fit on that. It's
like Tsunami, where you need to have wasps. Yeah.
Yeah, okay. So false advertising. So we're already
starting off on a lie. Yeah. Next, let me just
share with you. an image of said killer sofa.
You're going to put it over the phone for Mitchell
to see. I personally am comparing it to a grumpy
photo of Bert the Muppet. There you go. You're
not angled at it right. Oh, God. It's bad. You
could just Google it yourself. Oh, no. They put
a face on it. You can tell that there is a face.
I'll run you through really quick. overview of
the play. It starts off with a dude committing
a murder in a space we don't exactly where, and
there is a reclining chair looming in the background.
The next day, said chair is being delivered to
our main character, whose name I already forgot.
Oh my gosh, yeah. Francesca, who has her whole
life has had this weird effect on men, where
they effectively become obsessed with her, although
she says dedicated. So she gets this chair, she...
you know, is very excited about the murder happened.
Duffy as Detective Bob Gravy and his kick, Detective
Grape. Grape and Grape. They're trying to figure
out what happened to the guy who got murdered
who was Francesca's ex -boyfriend named Frederico.
They couldn't even wait. They went with G -R
-A and then whatever vegetable Gravy. So they're
trying to figure out what happened to Frederico
who was the guy being murdered at the beginning.
Shenanigans is about... Third plot is there is
a rather chubby former rabbi and his friend who
are demon hunters. This is never set up. You're
watching a dude on YouTube talking about a demon.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the rabbi's watching YouTube
videos. Former rabbi. Former rabbi. Former rabbi.
He's not actively a rabbi. Come on, Andre. We
all got this. So we've got murder, a new running
chair, demons. The rest of the film is French.
I'm getting really frustrated. Yeah, right. She
basically has sex with it. Somehow? Foreplay.
Yes. She's chair foreplay. She pulls his lever
a lot. Oh, alright. I was just like, how does
this work? It's a reclining chair. The worst
part is my mind went to a guy doing a sofa. And
I was just like, okay, at least I can do it.
This is a recliner. Well, she's just taking a
nap. She's not taking a nap. She's feeling it.
Does it have a vibrate feature? They established
that very, very quickly that the sentient is
watching her and And she's living with her boyfriend
and it starts committing murders. It kills her
boyfriend. It kills her stalker. Because remember,
it has this weird effect on men. Oh my god. You
can't blow over the stalker part, guy. Like,
what? So this chair is committing murders. Detective
Grape and Gravy are trying to figure out what
happened to the first victim. Her rabbi is trying
to find a demon. There's a demon afoot. There's
a demon. As conveniently, his granddaughter Maxie
is best friends with Francesca, who received
the chair. Shockingly, it takes most of the film
for these two to put things together there. Well,
I mean, their names are Grape and Gravy. Yeah.
And I'll get to that. So the victim of the killer
chair is Francesca's boyfriend. um who nobody
believes after he gets like his legs get it right
that's the worst part is no one believes him
yeah like he's he so he he gets his legs impaled
while making a dijorno pizza right so he's making
a dijorno pizza not paying attention listening
to music and he gets stabbed in his legs by the
two spiral like two spirals that come out from
the oven And they're like, wow, that's so weird.
Both your legs got impaled. Like, they find him
in the bathtub. Stupid guy. Well, I guess you
gotta go to your mom's house and just recover
there. So not only does the sofa not make the
kill right away, but no one believes it. When
the sofa comes to finish him off, the sofa can
move around. Recliner. Recliner, sorry. So the
recliner kills him off. Much more agile that
way. Let's push this to move around. We just
have to address. Recliner, recliner. Francesca's
having this boyfriend is missing and was a stalker.
Frederique, her current boyfriend. She's being
questioned by the police. Her stalker, who is
in her band, is a dancer of sorts. Oh, that's
why she has the effect on people. Okay. Not an
erotic dancer, just a dancer. No, no, no, I get
it. If you dance in a band, you are going to
have an effect. So she has a stalker, his cousin,
who lets himself into her apartment, puts a camera
in his place, then gets into her bed and dry
humps and pillows under the covers, and then
kind of scoots on in, murders him. Because, you
know, people are creeping on Francesca and that's
only the sofa's job. recliner. Yeah, recliner
job. So all these murders are happening. Gravy
are starting to put it together, but it's not
going well, and Gravy, his wife left him, so
Gravy's like, do you want to come back to my
place? And Gravy shuts that shit down. So poor
Gravy. It's also, Gravy is also upset with Francesca
at this point. Yeah, because of her effect on
him. Because of her effect, right, yeah. So what,
so I'm sure you're all wondering, what is the
climax of this? So the rabbi, the rabbi figures
out that there's likely a demon inside the little
kid away from Francesca. In reality, In the past.
So, flashback time. Two murders. One got killed.
The other ran into the woods and committed suicide
in front of somebody. Francesca's ancestor. And
the woman who committed suicide, her spirit is
now haunting for his bloodline. Even though her
great -grandmother went on a nut. Wow, the progeny,
like, yeah. So, the rabbi leaves. They need to
exorcise the demon inside the sofa. Exorcise
the demon. And that'll solve all the problems.
Turns out, there's something lying, but it ain't
a demon. It's Frederico. He is inside the recliner.
Right. So the opening scene, we thought... He
was getting... It's just his legs getting chopped
inside. It was a favor from a friend that chopped
off his legs so he could fit inside the recliner.
I got a call up. He just told me to do it. I
don't know. I did it. Right. No. Yes. So it's
just a dude inside the sofa, right? Recliner.
Recliner. Recliner, right. There's a sofa. So
they have the gravy come in. The recliner is
Francesca. It's a great bust -thin recliner.
The kitchen falls down, and there's half of Frederico.
And they're like, all right, well, we've solved
the mystery. We know Frederico. We know who's
been killing the people. No, actually, there
really was a demon inside the recliner. It was
looking for a spirit to pass on into. A body.
Which is Frederico. Well, no, he's dead. Oh.
So it was a fake out. So the evil spirit in the
refiner. Yeah, that's right. They redacted the
plot twist. This is like two minutes after I
revealed the plot twist. So the evil spirit of
the man who was one of the two murderers goes
into gravy. Franchised by a ghost that only appeared
twice. The spirit of the ghost goes to Franchise.
Poor Grave. goes to visit Francesca and sees
through a window Gravy and Francesca have gone.
She probably knows too much. So the film ends
on a cliffhanger of Gravy and Francesca leaving
the house to often commit more murders. So they're
still out there. Oh my god. This movie was a
tight 81 minutes and there's a minute that I
did not talk about. It was thankfully short.
Very, very short. You know, I'll give props to
you because it was really intimidating. The minute
it started talking and showing that it had teeth
was kind of strange. And you saw that derpy face.
I really wish I knew what the budget of this
film was. We're going to post on our Instagram
a picture of the derpy face. It's kind of cute.
And on the drive here, I realized there was a
couple of plot holes. Oh, no. There was plot
holes? Cheska get a recliner that was of a murder.
Right? So, yeah, like, well, okay, so they pick
up, like, so a bunch of random characters come
to deliver it. They come to deliver it. And it
crushes someone's hand. Well, well, well, right.
And it almost crushes one of their hands. Like,
oh, what's wrong with this recliner? Did it,
like, fall? No, it's under the, like, the kick,
the... Oh, and that's how it walks. Right. Because
it walks. So imagine the sofa. So, like, the
recliner, so, like, the foot comes out. And then
you just kind of... Oh, God. Kind of waltzes.
Yeah. I'm glad you said that because the people
at home are going to get that. Definitely. That
is the sound of the recliner. Yeah. That's...
Yeah. It is... If you enjoy Shockey, be... C...
C... C -rated horror film. Watch it, pop popcorn,
have beers, take a drink every time they say
Grape and Gravy, Recliner, or Francesca. If you
are going to be a Blumhouse film... You're in
for a world of disappointment. By the way, shout
out to our friends, Badminton Drinking and when
I said we would watch a bad movie, they made
one for us for Avatar, which we still have not
watched. I would love to do that. With the laughter?
Yeah, I would try to make, I had like an a**.
That's right, yeah. It's on Prime for free, so
no money was spent to watch this film. Thank
God. But... Yeah, go into it knowing it's bad.
Go in prepared for some laughter as well as why
oh why is this happening. Why oh why. Also, no
offense to the actors who played the bad rabbi.
Do your work on your show fucking because you
suck at it. That was that little horn thing.
Oh, yeah. No, no. You were pissed off about it.
I remember. It took you out of the mood. You
were so immersed. I really was. I believe this
is a lot of good stuff. How many shofars are
five out of this? How many recliners, not sofas,
out of five? I'll make the streak of threes and
give it a two and a half. Wow! That is the highest.
Do you want to know why I'm giving it a decent?
Is it? What would have been higher? So, one of
the ones I watched was highly fashionable or
whatever it was. That's right, yes. And I thought
it was really as bad as I thought it would be.
But that's the only one that I have on the radar
of. Two, two and a half for the killer sofa and
some of that is Jeff Beeson and I just love him.
However, the real reason this movie is not because
on Thursday I had the unfortunate mispleasure
of watching 1995's The Net with Sandra Bullock.
and yeah it's good for her for having a career
after it seems like one is just like maybe it
was trying to be good and it ended up bad are
we talking about that because it's killer sofa
we just knew it was going to be any movie called
killer so the one in tongue in cheek the net
is i think that they had This plan of the internet
is evil. Yeah. Let's make a movie about that.
It was written by men, for men, and how hackers
are. Maybe the tagline should be Gaslight the
movie. Yeah. Fair enough. That's a good title.
Okay, so, well, that brings us to our next thing.
So, normally at the start of the portion of the
show, we talk about the thought or dreading.
We're talking about something that's news related.
News! um so just this week brothers announced
that all of their 2021 films are going to be
released in theaters as well as on hbo max simultaneously
um we're gonna get our thoughts on this we're
gonna get our feelings on this we're gonna get
we're talking about on this um because it's an
interesting thing that this pandemic created
this new line of thinking that this is now I
don't know who wants to go first. Who's feeling
the strongest opinion? I can go first. Yeah,
do that. I also just talked for a good 10 minutes.
What's interesting about it is how they are trying
to also stay in love with theaters. Because the
idea is dreams for like 30 days and then it goes
back to theaters only. Yeah. Okay. Huh. I didn't
realize that was like a time thing. So it's going
to be a time thing where it's, and I don't know
if it's 30 days, maybe I'm wrong on that. Um,
but it's going to be a time thing where it's
available on stream and then it's going to be
off streaming, but in theaters and then it's
back to streaming. Got it. And like the streaming
is going to be following more like the model
we used. It's like, okay, it's been in theaters
for a while. Give it time, give it time, give
it time. Now it's streaming. Right. Okay. Um,
I find it interesting because I know some people
disagree with me, but I think we're seeing the
end. I think we're seeing the end of multiplexes.
Yes. I would agree. I think Alamo survived. I
think Arclight, they've got to make it special.
Bring on the indie art theaters. Yeah. If you're
AMC, you have the ability to pivot, but how fast
you can do it, that's another question for you.
So my thing is, though, Are you willing to spend
$20 a night at the movies versus $13 a month
for HBO Max? Well, yeah. No, Mike, so the difference
here is that you have to eventize this stuff.
It has to be a special outing. Like, those are
the years they're going to survive. Casually
going to AMC because you're an A -list member,
like, that's done. That is done. The Sunday matinee.
Yeah, okay. Yeah, unless, you know, it's a night
out. They really go out of their way to make
something where it's an experience and really
sizing the customer service and just having a
blast for two hours. The normal movie theater
multiplexes, they can't hang. They were built
to do that. So this is, I think you're onto something
when it says it could be the demo theaters. Yeah.
I don't know. I guess I'll just add some thoughts
on that. Yeah, I agree. I would still, I still
have my theater whenever it's safe, rather, you
know, in 2021 or 2022 or whatever. But yeah,
it'll be probably less frequent because, you
know, we'll have that streaming option. I'm going
to say to Chris Duckman, who does movie reviews,
I get a really good point saying that the future
of film going, kind of going one of two ways.
It's good for the people who, when they go to
a movie, they treat it as if they're watching
a movie at home. The people who are always on
their phone or not really paying attention. They
don't have to go to theaters anymore. They can
be home. Okay. For people who love going to movies,
yes, the megaplexes, I agree with you on that.
I think that happened. But for those that hold
on and love movies, it's still going to be there,
and now you don't have to worry about Karen sitting
next to you on Candy Crush. Oh, I don't have
to worry about the guy at Murder in the Orient
that sat right in the theater. That guy was that,
but I, for films that it's going to hands where,
you know, come out for a show, but they're always
going to be movies. No matter how free it is.
Imagine never being on a big screen. Well, so
that's, that's the next thing I'll bring up is,
um, it's, uh, is it Denny Villeneuve? Denny Villeneuve.
Yeah. Dune. Um, And they've now complained about
the fact that they did not sign up for this.
This is not what they wanted. And they got backed
by Christopher Nolan. Right. Of course, we knew
Christopher Nolan was a bigot. He tried to be
a tenant. Who is involved in this deal? Because,
like, I mean, it's a production house. You can't
consult with anybody to make this. Just own these
films. Well, so that's the story that I'm saying
is Dune expected to be released on a big screen.
It is a movie made for the big screen. Yeah.
And they are now complaining about it. The article
I read says it's not going to be a big issue
because basically Warner Brothers is just going
to pay this production company who owns it. And
then it's not going to be an issue because then
Dune gets their money, Warner gets their money.
It's not a big deal. But what happens to these
movies that are big screen? I know you take theaters
and everything like that, and I'm 100 % on board
with Connecticut. no boutiques except for art
cinema and sinopolis who let's face it sinopolis
is probably going to die too i was really hoping
when sinopolis closed for we're just gonna become
an indie theater. Exactly. Like, we have Waze,
and then we have something in New Haven, probably.
Yeah, something in New Haven. Yep. Yeah. It's
the college town thing. What are we going to
do since we do not have T theaters? I mean, it's
impossible to predict 100%, but I could do, like,
you know, it could be that AMC somehow pivots
and becomes a premier experience, you know? It's
unlikely, I guess, but... What they also could
do is show, start putting money back into indie
films. doing uh screenings on 70 millimeter you
know i've seen um i mean this was here in um
uh in uh cambridge and outside of boston but
you know i got to see guys on the film that was
originally made on and it was amazing so people
are always going to show up to see films like
that or they're going to go see elf from uh miracle
on 34th street so i think it has to be a compromise
that's being screened it's you know maybe we're
not going to have everything but meaning the
big blockbusters we're filling in with the criterion
collection or having these you know we're going
to be reaching colleges and having film students
screen their stuff it's really the only way i'm
done Because it's part of it, but I ask theaters
to go the way of Broadway, where it's just prohibitive.
And please, I love the theater experience. I
do say I want the theaters dead. I'm not just
playing devil's advocate. Yeah, yeah, totally.
You wouldn't have a podcast if you didn't like
theaters. And that's exactly it. I love the theater
experience. That's why we had such a big discussion.
I hated it. The rest of the theaters have done
such a good job to make us feel a part of it.
Sure. And one experience is, even though I didn't
like the movie, was after The Bachelor Party.
Jason Brandt and I went to Alamo Drafthouse in
Kansas City to see Hobbs and Shaw. Hobbs and
Shaw sucked, but it was a blast. It was like
car chase scenes. It was like, hey, here's who
Hobbs and Shaw is in the movies. It was built
for that. It's such a visualized for the movie
that it was kind of a blast of an experience.
Before then, I saw the movie. Sure. One thing
I don't want to discuss. So just to go back to
your point about Dune. Yeah. The reason production
companies complain, you know, there's definitely
a part of the exhibit. They're also in this deal
with Warners that they point if a movie goes
200 million, 300 million. Right. When they say
we. Going to not what they support. They, you
know, they have this huge put in this kind of
budget in the hope that it's going to billion
dollars. Producers, so many back end points and
actors and end up for this. And it's a big deal,
at least for the initial movies that we have
been made and are ready to be released in a way.
The giant studios need to figure out, OK, how
do we work this economically? Because, you know,
going forward, we could say, in writing, this
is going to go straight to HBO Max, and they're
going to pen deals appropriately. We have something
like Patty Jenkins making The Wonder Woman, you
know, where she was probably slated to make a
lot more money than she did the first time around.
This is really changing the game. Because there's
no such thing as points. It's almost impossible
to predict. oh subscribers this month yeah and
that's exactly it too like it's it's tough because
not only can you not for the subscriber based
on that but also is like you say we had this
many but that doesn't include the people jumped
on their buddy's account or whatever what mitchell
just made me that's why disney plus disney chose
to do what they did with move on which was kind
of after tenant failed to revive the theaters
you know i think disney plus was one of the first
of this reading like okay we need to show this
film we can release it internationally but we
can't do it in the studio i wonder if that's
why they put this tag on it was to basically
saying get uh the people in the back rooms to
the points to actually recoup some of the cost
and maybe make crack a billion And I mean, I
don't think it had been a different film because
I know Mulan not like I know it had maybe some
success, but Disney books, they don't release
their numbers. Right. And. It didn't work. If
it was a success, we would have known about it.
And we would be paying for Soul. We would not
be getting Soul for free. Exactly. By the way,
I just also want to say that the people that
were trending Mulan on Twitter when Warner Brothers
announced this deal. So Warner Brothers announced
that Mulan started trending because they were
like, you didn't have to pay for this, blah,
blah, blah, whatever. the funny thing is that
when mulan was released for the price tag they
said in the beginning eventually for free yeah
and all the complaining 30 bucks for it i'm sorry
you got duped you're a dumbass you're not gonna
read the fine print because I not thought I was
ever going to show up to see Mulan because I
have a very strict aversion to all the live action
Disney remakes. But, you know, it was, I'm not
going to give that thing away. We're paying Disney
Plus. And besides, you know, when a Disney Plus
wants to charge money, additional money for their
theatrical released films, don't make it $30
and not give anything else with it. If it's going
to be $30, I want Peter Jackson behind the scenes.
Three hour long featurettes. I want to know how
this movie was made. I want the deleted scenes.
I want the blooper. I want the commentary. I
want all of that for $30. There's your movie.
I hate to cut this conversation short because
I actually enjoy this conversation and everything
like that, but we are past an hour. Which is
not the end of the world. If we want to keep
talking, I'm okay with it. Well, you know. We
can always have the B -side. The B -side. I haven't
thought about this, but if you guys want to buy
a special edition to our podcast, you can come
to the Patreon. It's happening. Please, this
is right now just thinking of it. I think we
could go on for this conversation. I love brainstorming
our podcast live on air. This is literally live
on air. We're brainstorming. This is what you
get when you subscribe to our podcast. For a
dollar. you can throw out your hot takes and
we'll react. Yeah, exactly. Seriously, though,
we're brainstorming because we're a local podcast
that's meant for the local people. Not local
people, but for the friends. We're not made for
a big crowd right now. Right now. We may get
to a point. But right now, it's just our friends,
family listening. If you like what you're hearing
and you would pay money for it, let us know.
But really, Reach out to us. That's really what
I'm getting to. Reach out to us on Instagram,
on Facebook. We have an email, gameformoviepodcast
.gmail .com. Send us your comments. What? I think
it's time for Twitter. Twitter? Oh, boy. Okay,
we'll add a Twitter. Oh, man. We gotta tweet
now. We gotta get a tweet guy. Hey, I'll give
you a password if we want to tweet. Whatever.
Thank you. Just try hotcakes. In our conversation,
I don't think we've done enough of this. If you
guys have something that wants to go on the Instagram,
Facebook, whatever, let me know. The only reason
is because up to this point, I've made it my
personal password. Right. So I want to include
anything you guys think of, that kind of stuff.
We're just spitballing here on the old podcast.
Feel free to ask us questions. If we ever get
mail, we'll read mail. Wow. Yeah. Like Blue's
Clues. He went to the fog and damp. We just got
a letter. We just got a letter. We just got a
letter. We want to know who it's from. Were you
guys with Steve or Joe? Steve. What the hell?
He was cuter. Joe had the hair. There was a Christmas
special that Steve made an appearance. Did Steve
go off to be a DJ? Was that like the... He went
to college. He went to college. Steve was going
bald. Yes. Why'd you have to take a dig at his
hair, man? That's not cool. Why'd you say Joe
had better hair? Well, yeah, that's because he
was balding. He was balding, yeah, exactly. And
in the Christmas special, he has a hat on because
he's a detective because he was sensitive about
his hair. You know what? For all the kids out
there who are young enough to watch Blue's Clues
or their parents, the new Blue's Clues has a
really good -looking guy now. I don't know his
name. Yeah, but it also has a CGI blue. What?
That ain't right. I'm too busy looking at the
thirst traps, not Steve. Oh my gosh. Have you
seen his photo? Wait, who are we talking about?
Joshua De La Cruz. De La Cruz, okay. Yeah, and
he is very good looking. He's yummy. Again, you
got on my phone so I can't look it up. And my
boy is Filipino. Oh, yeah. Look at him. Oh, look
at that guy. Yeah. He's cute. Oh, wow. All right.
We all agree. Can I just say it in the best way
possible? Wow, what the fuck? He's, like, weirdly
buff. What the hell? This is devolved amazingly.
Like, this is devolved amazingly. Oh, my God.
Which one of us had a 10 % beer here? You. Yeah,
and I'm on my 8%. Fair enough. For all of those
who are curious what we're doing after this,
we're going to play a spicy game of Yahtzee to
determine the next loser. Oh, it's going to be
great. I'm really excited because I've drank
way too much, so Yahtzee is right what I asked
for. All right, excellent. My second time playing
Yahtzee, everybody. I'm very excited. I'm going
to lose. I'm going to put it out right now on
the podcast. I'm going to lose and I'm going
to have to watch a bad movie and it's going to
be great. It's going to be awesome. I should
pick the movie because it will be a Barbie animated
film. Oh. Oh, no. Oh, yes. Wow. It's unorthodox,
but okay. I love bad movies. I know, but okay.
A Barbie movie? Yeah. Okay. It won't be like
one of the really bad ones. It'll be like one
of the middle tier. Mitchell, I hope you lose.
Well, you know, Maravi is or someone famous.
It's someone like legitimate talent is supposed
to be in a Barbie movie, like a live action Barbie
movie. Oh, God. Yeah. Well, like a live action
is fine. We're talking about the animated. Yeah.
I know. But 2014 abominations. Oh, God. All right.
I hope you lose. I'm not even there. Yeah. We're
going to roll for you and we're going to show
you the dice. We'll get like a bucket. We'll
put a hat on. We'll draw a face. We'll give it
a name tag that says Mitchell. You're going to
see it the whole time. You're going to know we
didn't cheat you. It's going to be fine. That's
fine. Yeah. All right. Well, we're going to close
out this podcast because the last like five minutes
we've been off the rails. Yeah, we went off the
rails. I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment,
like, share, subscribe, whatever you got to do
on Instagram, Facebook. We're going to be on
Twitter apparently and YouTube. YouTube? You
know what? The algorithm will not get us. That's
a lot of platforms. That's a lot of platforms.
We're on Spotify. We're on CastBox. We're on
Luminary. We're all over the place. I don't even
know where CastBox is. CastBox is where we've
gotten the most comments. That's when you can
actually comment on a show. And I actually like
that the best because I like hearing from you
guys. So please send us thoughts, comments, concerns.
Yeah. So for myself, Mike Vitanek. Andre. Jill.
Mitchell. Thank you guys very much for listening
to Game for a Movie where we ask, are you game
for a movie?