Hello and welcome to Game for a Movie, the podcast
that talks about movies and good and bad. I am
your host, Mikey Tank. I am joined by... Hi,
this is Jill. Jill! Special guest Jill. Andre.
Backed by popular demand, T -Dog. Oh my god,
popular demand. You tell him once that our numbers
get boosted on Facebook because of his idiocy.
The people love me. I'm so glad you're back from
whatever random adventures you've been on these
past few episodes. I wish you would actually
listen to the podcast so you knew what the situations
have been. You killed the person. I said you
were sucking the minds of Moria, I think, last
week. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I don't remember
what I said last time, but whatever. It doesn't
matter. This is Game for a Movie. We appreciate
you listening. We're going to talk some movies,
good, bad, and the rest. And we will get started
with T -Dog. You're going to start us off? Wait,
wait, wait. Hold on. What are we drinking? Oh,
sorry. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I jumped the
gun there. What are we drinking? Well, okay.
So Jill and I are drinking Schilling's Hard Cider
London Dry English Pub Style Cider. And it's
crisp. It is quite good. A little shout out for
the cider company. Yeah, a little bit, right?
It's mixing up a little bit. Schilling's solid.
I highly recommend. Okay. What do you got over
there, T -Dog? I've got the Collective Arts Ransack
the Universe IPA. Nice. All right. Very nice.
I have to go to work after this. So I am drinking
a SodaStream cola. Oh, I was wondering what that
was. It looks kind of like wine. You can call
it a mocktail. It's a mocktail somehow, some
way. It's a virgin Jack and Coke. Claire got
me a SodaStream for my birthday, so I've been
drinking SodaStream stuff. Thoughts on it? Good.
Yeah, it's a lot better for me, is what I'll
say. Less caffeine, less sugar than a Coca -Cola,
which I drink too much of. But, yeah. good you
know cool yeah but all right now t -dog you're
gonna get us started you're gonna talk about
a movie that uh is actually got a lot of awards
buzz sure um well i'll start off by saying i've
seen a few movies since our last well my last
podcast um i've seen um uncut gems um knives
out Both great movies. Uncut... Did anybody review
Uncut Gems ever? Mitchell did. A lot of anxiety
in it. If you're a person who... can't handle
anxiety in a movie don't watch that. That's basically
what he said in his review too. It's very high
tension. I certainly liked Knives Out more than
Uncut Gems but Uncut Gems was so good. Yeah,
it was. I've heard they're making a sequel. They
are making a sequel. Is it going to be the same?
I hope it's not a continuation but I hope it's
like a different What I've heard is it's going
to be a different cast besides Daniel Craig.
So it's just going to be the Adventures of Benoit
Blanc? Yes. I'm so down for that. And, like,
I'm totally okay with that. And supposedly, also,
they're trying to get Adam Driver into this.
Oh, okay. That's a nice little segue. I hope
the mystery is better. I'm gonna say it. Dang.
Wow. Yeah. Yeah, Jo was so warm -minded. We watched
that movie together, and then she's like, what'd
you think? I was like, I thought it was really
good. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite. I put
it as, like, top of my list, and it was like,
I put it on the top of my list. That was okay.
It's okay. I like... A lot of things about that
movie. I found I had a few issues with just some
superfluous characters and the way the story
is told. Nothing against the mystery. It is how
the mystery is laid out. Okay. Well, this is
why there's vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
People can have different opinions, so it's great.
I don't understand. But only two opinions. Only
two. Yes. If you are the kind that likes strawberry
ice cream, go fuck yourself. Yeah. There we go.
Great. All right. So what movie were you actually
going to talk about? Hold up. Oh, sorry. So if
I was going to modify my 2019 best of the best
top, I would have injected it at the number two
spot just below. Congratulations. You finally
made it to five movies. I forgot about that.
All right. So the good news is you don't have
to kick anything off your list. Yeah. That's
a good point. It's making room. All right. So
I watched Marriage Story, which is exclusively
on Netflix right now. I think so. I think it
had a small theatrical run, but it's on Netflix.
That's fair. Yeah. Distributor. Don't think of
the word there. Got it. This stars Adam Driver.
Driver. Driver. Adam Driver. That guy. And Scarlett
Johansson. Okay. She's good. I've heard of her.
Yeah, you know, they're both pretty good. Yeah.
Both pretty decent. I've heard of them before.
Obviously you have. So overall, this movie is
essentially the story of kind of a marriage ending,
like towards the end of a marriage, and what
those people go through. They have one kid, maybe
around eight. Yeah, eight, nine. Eight's a complete
guess. Somewhere that's not quite a team. He's
a youth. Yes, a youth. So I don't think there's
a lot on the plot of the story. I could describe
the plot very succinct. Very short time. But
basically, so this couple is going through marriage
problems. And then, so the point of it is that
Adam Driver's character. I don't remember the
names of the characters. That's actually what
I was trying to think of. Adam Driver and Scar
Jo. Yeah, Scar Jo. Okay. So his character, he
was a director for a theater play, like theater.
His wife. um was in the plays but she was originally
an actress who kind of settled into this role
that you know she was um She was kind of supporting
him in terms of being involved in his plays,
but not necessarily trying to reach her full
potential after she had this actress run. So
they're based in New York at the start of the
movie. And then as it goes on, she's trying to
move out to L .A., which she eventually does.
And then that strain, her trying to move maybe
part of the family while they're still trying
to... decide on this divorce. And then she kind
of meets people who, I guess she meets, you know,
speaks with a lawyer who encourages her to go
through with it and kind of, you know, pushes
for that direction. I guess the main thing about
the story was kind of how it shows both sides
of, from the husband's and wife's perspective,
you know, for a while. you're thinking that it's
like one person's fault. Okay. So it does that
switch a lot. Gotcha. So would you say at the
end is trying to get you to pick a side really
or not? It's trying to get you to believe it's
both sides. I think at the end it's more neutral.
Okay. After seeing, you know, the worst parts
of both sides. Yeah. As it kind of digs, you
know, throughout the movie it kind of dug in.
through both perspectives okay i think the husband
had cheated on the wife at one point but i don't
remember i don't remember if that was at the
point where the like marriage was pretty rough
like towards you know they were even talking
about separation at that point maybe and i thought
it was just once but i'm i'm not sure they keep
it vague yeah um and the way that the infidelity
is brought up is that it He did do it, but they
were already kind of having marital problems.
But you're right, I don't think they go into
detail when on the timeline this happened. But
they were not in marital bliss when he cheated
on her. Yeah, so those aren't definitive in the
story. They're not explicitly called out, and
so that's kind of up for interpretation. If they
were already talking about separation, how much
do you, I guess... feel more on the wife's side
versus on the husband's side. And then the wife
is trying to move the family out to California,
so you feel bad for the husband because his play
is in New York City, but also the kid's starting
to like L .A. more, so there's that constant
pull where they're pulling you to each other's
side. It's tough when kids pick favorites. Yeah,
right. There's this one scene where he's renting
an apartment out in L .A. and his son's with
him. I think it's through part of the, they're
going through the divorce. And I think custody
hadn't been figured out yet. It was kind of up
in the mix. And then he cuts his arm on something.
and uh this this whole deal he just like ends
up passing out on the floor um and then you know
just the next day he like wakes up um because
he had passed out from a cut he didn't like yell
at his kid you know his kid to call an ambulance
or anything like that okay interesting let's
see I'm trying to think if there's any other
big details. I like the beer swirl you got going
on there. Yeah, no. It's a sophisticated swirl.
It's practiced. I will add that the director,
Noah Baumbach, he directed The Squid and the
Whale, which is another really good movie that
talks about divorce. And while that movie is
the divorce from the perspective of the children,
this one is squarely from the two parents' side,
which I think is a really... It's compelling.
He's found his niche. And it's supposed to be
semi -autobiographical because he was married
to Jennifer Jason Leigh and they had a divorce
and she, like Scar Jo's character, was an L .A.
actress who got famous. Oh, interesting. There's
some autobiographical notes. It's not like in
500 Days of Summer where it opens and he's like,
fuck you, Beth. Nothing like that. Yeah, that's
an important distinction to make is that it's
not from the child's point of view. It's strictly
from the parents, but how the parents kind of
proceed and perceive the events going on. Gotcha.
So where would you sit on the rating scale for
it? Let's see. I'd give it... Four. I'm trying
to think of a good metric here. I don't know.
Four divorce papers out of five. Damn. Wow. All
right. I guess that's fitting. Having seen it,
do you have a rating for it as well? Yeah, I
agree. High ranks. I would give it... I can't
remember the musical numbers, but both Scarlett
Johansson and Adam Driver, not spontaneously,
but in a way spontaneously break into song. They
make it work. Is it like diegetic within the
film? It's diegetic. Okay, cool. But it just
kind of... there had been nothing prior to the
movie that would suggest like, oh, they're just
gonna sing now. Why would I, I'm asking you like,
is it like a blinded by the light situation?
No. Where you're like, why is this actually happening?
No, it's not as, it's not like blinded by the
light. Okay. And definitely not as confusing.
Don't shit on blinded by the light. I like blinded
by the light. But there was parts where I'm like,
is this happening? I like blinded by the light
better than yesterday. Oh, dang. Yeah. Hot takes.
Watch that on the plane. I would give it, yeah,
five out of five. divorce papers. Also, Laura
Dern's performance as one of the lawyers is just,
she won an Oscar for it. I was just going to
say, she won, right? Because that's what I keep
hearing is that she was well -deserved and everything.
I didn't know her name, so I didn't want to bring
it up or anything. And then also, it's been probably,
when did that come out? I feel like it's been
at least a month since, yeah, I was going to
say, I thought it was in December. So I was stumbling
through the review a bit because I was trying
to think of what actually happened in the movie.
That's fair. Overall, there's not a lot going
on, right? It's not narratively focused. It's
about the characters. Yeah, it's a character
-driven story. Gotcha. Absolutely. You know what
else was a character -driven story? Uh -oh. birds
of prey yeah or the fantabulous emancipation
of one harley quinn i think they're changing
the title now promoting it to harley and the
birds of prey what is this is this a live die
repeat situation or edge of tomorrow or whatever
yes okay got it i kind of understand that because
when you first said that i completely forgot
about like i had no idea yeah birds of i don't
i don't birds of prey or the fantabulous emancipation
of one harley that's a fun subtitle. It's a fun
subtitle. It is a fun subtitle. Don't think it's
effective. It's not very good. No. Maybe they
should have led with Harley Quinn. Right. And
that's what I will say about the movie. That's
what I will say about the movie in general. It
is very fun. Okay. Good. Nice. It is not well
thought out sometimes. Doesn't need to be. But
it is very fun. Okay. Especially coming on the
heels of Suicide Squad, like that it's a direct
follow to Suicide Squad. Hot off the heels off
of that. Okay, real quick. If I haven't seen
Suicide Squad, should I still go watch Birds
of Prey? You would be fine. Okay. Good. Is Jared
Leto in it? No, Jared Leto is not in it at all.
They do reference the Joker, but he's never on
camera. And basically the... They kind of have
like a throwaway line about Suicide Squad. I
thought they would just like not mention it.
So the way the story takes place is it's right
after Harley breaks up with the Joker. Way to
go, girl. And it has the very unreliable narrator.
She'll be back. Because she says like, oh yeah,
I broke up with the Joker and he took it very
hard. And meanwhile on screen you see like a
door getting slammed in her face and her just
like. breaking out and crying so you know it's
one of those things where it especially works
for harley quinn because she is kind of untrustworthy
yeah you know so the untrusting narrator kind
of fits in the situation and then it's her black
canary huntress and what's the cop's name i can't
remember the cop's name uh yeah montoya yeah
officer montoya um so that's kind of them having
to Get this diamond for Black Mask, who is played
by Ewan McGregor. Oh, I had no idea Black Mask
was in this. Oh, you didn't? No. That's what
got me on it, because I love Black Mask as a
villain. I'll be honest with you, the only thing
I know Black Mask from is Arkham Origins. And
Batman Under the Red Hood. And Batman Under the
Red Hood, you're right. It's absolutely correct.
Yes, that's true. As a self -proclaimed Batman
nerd. That kind of reads all the comics, watches
all the movies, plays all the games. Black Mask
is really underutilized, I would say. Because
he can fly off the handle and he can be this
great foil for Batman just because he is a mafia
don. That's essentially his gimmick. He just
wears a mask. It also has Zaz in it. Zaz kind
of works as an underling to Black Mask. Makes
sense. And kind of is pushing him towards the
final descent into darkness kind of thing. So
Black Mask just wants to run this club and become
a mafia god, essentially. And when things don't
go his way, he's kind of a little more lenient,
especially when it comes to people like Black
Canary, who is a singer at the club. He's a little
more lenient on her and everything. And Zaz is
like, no, she's betrayed you. She's throwing
you under the bus. You've got to send a message.
One of the things that was really creepy is they
cut off faces. Cool. Like kind of as a mask.
Yeah, yeah. And to send a message. But overall,
I would say it was a fun movie. It's a lot of
fun to be there. It's so much better than Suicide
Squad, even though I was alright with Suicide
Squad. But it's just so much better. More well
-executed as well. I'm just happy to hear that
these DC movies, however connected they are in
whatever semi -converses, they're at least trending
upwards in terms of quality, right? Not including
Wonder Woman in this, because that's a very different
type of film, but how would you stack... Birds
of Prey with Aquaman and Shazam. And Joker. No,
Joker doesn't count. The ones that have a sense
of humor. So, I mean, I agree. Wonder Woman is
different, and it would be at my top for Wonder
Woman. The rest of these, they're all kind of
on the same level. I would say Aquaman leads
the three of them for me. And then, like, Shazam
and Birds of Prey are, like, two and three kind
of, like, battling it out. Like, there's some
things that Shazam did so well, and then there's
some things that Birds of Prey did so well that
are just different. It didn't feel like... So,
one of my biggest problems with Endgame... was
the part where... Spoilers, by the way. We say
spoilers at the beginning of every episode. It's
spoilers, whatever. When... There's the part
where Peter has a gauntlet and he just like is
stuck and then like it's just all the girl heroes
And it feels like this female empowerment moment.
Yeah, and this one came across a little more
natural It was very forced yes, it's forced in
that situation like In this one, it's a little
more natural. It's a little more, okay, I see
why they're helping each other and working together.
Because, like, there's a part where Black Canary
and Harley Quinn can't stand each other, really.
Because, like, Harley Quinn's a drunken mess,
but she's about to get put in the back of a van.
So, like, Black Canary's like... i'm not letting
this girl get raped so i'm gonna step up for
her and then she like harley gets saved and then
like throws up and black canary's like yep i'm
done say it you know like that kind of stuff
so it's it's one of those things where um it
felt a little more natural where you understood
kind of why they team up I would say probably
3 .5. Okay. Like 3 .5 hyenas out of 5. Okay.
Because they do address the hyena, finally. The
hyena in the room? Yeah, and the mallets and
stuff. What's that again? The hyena? She has
hyenas. She only has one in this one. Oh, she
doesn't have two? She has one, but it's also
named Bruce because of sexy Bruce Wayne. Of course
it is. So, get ready for Batman. They're making
a second Suicide Squad, right? They are, with
James Gunn directing. And it's gonna... They're
not, like, softcore rebooting. They're just gonna...
Keep on trudging forward. They have the same
cast, pretty much. Except Will Smith's not coming
back. Will Smith's not coming back. But they
added, like, Idris Elba is in it or something
like that. As who? I will now try to actively
find it when it's free. Jared Leto, as far as
I know, is not supposed to be in it. Real quick
question. Oh, Taika Waititi's in it, too. Taika
Waititi! Real quick question. I've heard a lot
of people comparing this. John Cena, too. No
worries. I've been hearing a lot of people comparing
this to Deadpool, that it has Deadpool tendencies.
You were doing a pumped pose. What is the pumped
pose for? Nathan Fillion is going to be in it.
I will now actively try to find it even more
so when it's free. There you go. It is trying
to be Deadpool. Deadpool is still more fun. Like,
that's, I would say, Deadpool 1. It's more along
the lines of Deadpool 2. But it's trying to fit
that niche, you know? Yeah, it's more along the
lines of Deadpool 2 where it's serviceable, you
know? Like, it's good and serviceable. It's about
family. It's about family, exactly. That's Fast
and Furious. What they do a lot... Family. Familia.
Familia. One of the things they do a lot is,
just randomly, they'll be like... what's your
fucking problem? You know, it's not like it's,
oh, you could just say, what's your problem?
No, we're going for that R rating. What's your
fucking problem? Okay, got it. So, yeah, yeah.
You know, so, but yeah, 3 .5 hyenas out of 5.
Cool. Would I watch it again? Yes. Would I watch
more of this universe? Yes. And the main point
I wanted to hit was, I find Harley Quinn can
be a lot to take in. Yeah. What they did really
well is she is a main character. She is going
to be the main character. She is not... She's
going to have the most screen time, but it's
by that much. They focused a lot more on Black
Canary, and then what they kind of left their
door open for is they kind of went through Huntress'
origin story kind of quick. She's definitely
third string. of the story on this one, where
in the next one they can kind of do that again
and not have Harley Quinn again be the main...
So you're saying they could set up for something
like Black Canary being the main character for
the next one? Exactly. And it's good because
Harley Quinn can be a lot. Yeah, that's kind
of where I'm at, is that I love Harley Quinn,
I just don't need just her as the main focus,
if that makes sense. I want my Poison Ivy Harley
Quinn. Oh, yeah, there you go. They kind of joked
about it. It may have been a throwaway line.
It may be alluding to something. But they did
kind of joke about it. Is Poison Ivy in it? No,
Poison Ivy is not in this one. But she could
be part of the next one, possibly. Who knows?
Maybe the rebound. She also is probably going
back to Suicide Squad the way they left it open
as well. Got it. Okay. Cool. Neat. Are we jumping
into... Do you want to talk Descendants 3? Wait,
Descendants? I don't even know what that is.
It is a DCOM film that is part of a trilogy that
started, I think, in 2016. Wait, what? It is
about the offspring of Disney villains, and it
is not good. Do you not see these movies? Come
on, buddy. I would say that for our age bracket,
we had High School Musical. which was kind of
experienced unprecedented popularity to the point
where the third film got a cinematic release.
2015. 2015 for Descendants 1. Sorry. Wait, okay,
there were... There were three of them. Were
the other ones in theater? No. So, Lightning
did not technically strike twice. for the Descendants
films. They wanted it to be the next high school
musical. Ah, so that's what they were going for.
It did not... So this is a Disney Channel original
series? Yes. Oh, DCOM. Okay, that's what you're
saying. Okay, got it. All right, all right, all
right. And my friends and I have watched them
all, and Rage tweeted, as we do. So I decided,
you know what? I have Disney+. I'm going to do
it. I watched the third one. It is... Passable.
Passable. Unlike High School Musical 3, this
did not get a cinematic release. So what I'm
missing, I'm sorry, I don't know what the byline
is for Descendants. They're rotten to the core.
They're rotten to the core. So they're just the
children of Disney villains? They are the crotch
dumplings. The crotch dumplings. The crotch goblins.
All right. Of Disney villains. You have the daughter
of Maleficent, the daughter of the Evil Queen,
the son of Jafar, and the son of Cruella de Vil.
Who does Boo Boo Stewart play? He plays Jay,
the son of Jafar. I will acknowledge the elephant
in the room, Boyce Cameron, who played Carlos,
the son of Cruella de Vil, tragically passed
away. He was a very fun addition to the crew.
It was sad that he was no longer with us. But
yeah, the first film is set up and is not good.
The second film is like that sugary cupcake you
did not need to eat after having three other
sugary cupcakes. But you know what? You wanted
it and you ate it. Okay. And the third one is
we don't know really what we're doing with this
and this did not give us as much money as we
thought. Let's wrap it up. Okay. Kenny Loggins
directs and choreographs. What? Really? Does
he, uh... No, Kenny Loggins. Kenny Ortega. Sorry,
Kenny Ortega. I was going to say, Kenny Loggins?
Does he orchestrate? You and I read a very different...
Yeah, no. I was like, do we fly to the danger
zone in these movies? Let's go! No, there regrettably
is no danger zone. There are really bad wigs.
Let me just show you. Wait, is this live action?
It's live action. Let me show you the wigs that
we're dealing with. How have you missed these?
I have missed it. And you know what the worst
part is? Just discovering this. Whoa, those are
some rough wigs. That is just bad. The worst
part of all of this is that this confirms canonically
that all the Disney villains fuck. Oh, yeah.
And the good people fuck, too. Don't worry. I
see that, and I think the Hunger Games host could
just step down. The low -budget Hunger Games
host. This is Hades. Hades is sort of the big
bad in this one. Wait, it's Hades? That's supposed
to be Hades? That is Hades. Do you know whose
blue hair do you think that is? Kristen Chenoweth
played Maleficent in the first one, and she is
the best thing in the first one. Well, I didn't
realize they were actual Disney villains were
the bad guys, too. Well, it's a nature versus
nature story. So who's Hades' kid? The daughter.
He fucked Maleficent. Oh! Snap! Yeah! plot twist
um yeah so she is uh mal played by doug cameron
who does a good job with the role um she is the
only villain who has two parents Two villain
parents, you mean? Yeah. Okay, gotcha. All the
other ones are just, you know, I guess they did
it asexually. They reproduced by butting? It
sounds like the writers just got like, all right,
we can ship these two. Yeah, right. There's nobody
else we really want to let go of. Queen of evil,
king of evil, sure. Yeah, why not? You know what?
It's not James Wood who might, although Hades
is a great villain. james wood's a garbage human
yeah james was a garbage person there's a reason
why he did so well yeah um but yes the third
one is if you've stuck out for all the other
films this one is sufficient the music is not
nearly as good and they got really lazy with
the auto tuning and the dubbing for singing But
you know what? I was bored and not feeling well,
so I decided to watch it. And I am glad this
series is done. And I am still bitter that they
just didn't do it animation style because why
would you let that opportunity go? You should
have an opportunity to either make your own new
art style or have the art styles from the different
movies blend together. Well, they had an animated
series as a style. They could do it. They did
do it. They just didn't do it on the scale. Bummer.
I think we have probably put off the talking
part. Okay, well, we need rating first. Sentence
three and then... Sentence three specifically,
I would give it two out of five. I don't even
know. Oh, my God. Two out of five. Failed franchises?
Two out of five failed franchises or two out
of five poison apples. Okay. Okay, nice. Here
we go. We have put it off long enough. God damn
it. That was our segue. It is time. It is time.
Yes. Let's talk Doolittle. God damn it. Yeah,
so first of all... Andre's new favorite movie.
I just want to give a quick shout out to Jill
for going on this journey with me to watch this
awful movie. I can't even get Claire to watch
some of these. Dude, it was... I would have been
just... I couldn't believe when he lost and we
said he had to see Doolittle. He texted you,
you were in right away, and then he had tickets.
It was literally the same night. Do big on this
review, Andre. What's that? Do big on this review.
Do you need a reminder? Do you want to start
with a synopsis? Doolittle is about a doctor
who can talk to animals, Eliza Thornberry style.
Robert Downey Jr. played by one Robert Downey
Jr. who's paid a nice lump of cash for this movie.
We found out he got paid the same amount he did
for Endgame. What? Yeah. Oh, boy. Don't worry.
There's a bunch of RDJ stuff we'll talk about.
We'll get into that. We'll get into this. We'll
get into it. Yeah. He got paid a lot of money
for this. Let's see. What's the budget for this
movie? $175 million. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, so
basically... I already hurt. Yeah. Like, already
hurt. It's a retelling of the classic Doolittle
story, I guess. Doolittle has... There's been,
like, three of them, haven't there? Yeah, so...
Like, three iterations of it. There have been,
and then the main... Like, so I grew up with
the Eddie Murphy movies, right? Which is the
more modern... Like, that's Doolittle in the
modern world, as it were. This is Doolittle in,
whatever, Victorian England. When the books were
set. When the books were set, right, exactly.
But the thing is, is that... So, okay, so I can
respect that movie's decision to be like, all
right, we're just gonna be more... Victorian
England and so all the human characters they
talk in a Victorian English style or whatever
you know like that manner of speaking all of
the animals do not and it's weird Kumail Nanjiani
Kumail Nanjiani who is like probably one of the
better parts of this movie is that it's an ostrich
you know but it's just like it's dumb I don't
know it just doesn't fit it's like that's strange
Ralph Fiennes who played the Dark Lord Voldemort
oh boy here we go is a CGI I, what, tiger, giant
tiger. Yes. Bengali tiger. Wow. And his name,
Barry, right. And there is a point in the movie
where they're fighting and he gets hit in the
balls. And he says, my Barry berries. Oh, God.
That is a line. You've got a new catchphrase.
Also, Andre's like skipping over it. The plot
of this movie is, imagine you have a, like a
flip book. Okay. And you're just, you know, you're
flipping through. That's the movie. You get like
a few pages where it's just like, oh, you need
to set things up. Flip the book, flip the book,
flip the book. Now we're going to stop and like
do some more setup. Flip some pages. Now they're
over here. We're not explaining how they got
in there. Now there's Antonio Banderas as a flashy
pirate with eyeliner. Oh, he's a human demon.
Yeah, he's a, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's not an animal.
He needed to be puss in boots again. That would
have been so much better. flips some pages, now
we're on an island. I mean, this movie starts
things off horribly by fridging the wife. Yeah,
the wife gets fridged right away. Yeah, so the
whole thing is that Doolittle has secluded himself
from the world because he was trapped across
the world with his wife. I don't want to live
in this world anymore. Basically. He dies, she
dies, and he's sad and only his friends are the
animals now, but then some random girl that's
like... No, no. Well, the boy, yeah, there's
a boy. Yeah, I guess the main character they're
supposed to project themselves onto. What's Stubbins?
Stubbins. Yeah, that's his helpful ward. He's
like part of it. He's like, he's out hunting
with his... family who hunts things, and he's
like, he accidentally shoots a squirrel, and
he feels bad for the squirrel, who happens to
be voiced by Craig Robinson. But, you know, but,
yeah. And you chose Craig Robinson for the squirrel.
Yeah, and so he grabs the squirrel, and he tries
to run to Doolittle's castle, and then he goes
through all these wacky antics to try to get
to Doolittle's door, or whatever. And meanwhile,
this precocious noble child lady from the court
is also trying to get to Doolittle's house, because
because the queen is sick and terminally ill,
and Doolittle can save her because he is ostensibly
a doctor, right? So, yeah. Okay. So she's trying
to request his presence in the castle, as it
were. Okay. So, yeah, they resuscitate Craig
Robinson the squirrel, which starts off this
dumb bit. Craig Robinson the squirrel. The dumb
bit of Craig Robinson doing a captain's log or
whatever throughout the film of, like, I think
the humans are trying to kill me. The best looking
squirrel here Yeah right Let's see We have John
Cena who's a polar bear I love the cast The cast
is awesome Emma Thompson is a talking parrot
Tom Holland is a dog Who was the villain? Oh,
oh. Sheen. It's a Sheen. Yeah, Michael Sheen.
Michael Sheen is the best part of this movie.
Michael Sheen is the rival doctor who also gets
brought into the court to try to revive the queen,
who Doolittle deduces that she has been poisoned.
By talking to an octopus. While talking to an
octopus in a tank. Yeah. Your face of dumbfoundingness.
We've ordered a Remy Malek's in this shit. Octavia
Spencer. I tried to look up. with their salary
cuts. Oh, Ray Malek was the gorilla. The chi
-chi -chi -chi, the gorilla. I like how one of
the producers that's credited is Robert Downey
Jr.'s wife. Yeah, again. So, we'll talk about
that. We'll get into it, I guess. But basically...
Sorry, keep going. Yeah, no, it's all good. Oh,
yeah, Jason Mantzoukas, he's the dragonfly person
or whatever. Oh, God, don't remind me of the
dragonfly. Yeah, I like Jason Mantzoukas, but
yeah. This looks awesome. Yeah, right, so that's
the thing. Here's where your budget went. My
problem is with this movie is that I like a lot
of these people, a lot of these cast members,
and this movie makes me like them all a little
bit less afterwards. It just seems so moving.
Because they cash that paycheck. It just seems
so moving for 3E. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, I think
so. And, oh, man, well, bro, What broke my heart
was when I heard Will Arnett. Oh, yeah. Lend
his voice to this movie. Will Arnett, known.
I'm a really soft spot for BoJack Horseman. He's
not even listed on this. He's not, but he has
like five lines. He's with Barry. He's with Barry.
Is he not a horse? He's not a horse. God damn
it! He's a jackrabbit. He's a jackrabbit. But,
like, literally, they're like, hey, like, just
come into your BoJack voice, and he, like, bets.
He's like a jackrabbit that bets on fights and
stuff. So, like, Doolittle's locked in a cage
match with Ralph Fiennes and Barry, yes. And
Barry's berries. And Barry's berries. Two of
Barry's berries, yes. And, yeah, he's like, yeah,
I don't know. It's just, it's so dumb. Like,
none of the jokes really land. And, um... I don't
know. God. No one in this movie is likable is
the problem. No one in this movie is likable.
At least of all, Robert Downey Jr. He sucks in
this. Like, he's just... He's a dick. The whole
reason this movie... He is a dick normally. Well,
yeah. No, but like, okay. He's a likable dick.
The reason he's doing... Doolittle is even doing
things in this movie... So the queen is sick.
He doesn't really care. Precocious child girl,
who I guess is a princess because her mom is
the queen. She's like, well, if my mom dies,
you lose your house. So the girl's like, just
screw you. You're done. She's the harbinger of
the plot, I guess is the best way to describe
it. So Doolittle only goes into action. Because
he doesn't want to lose his home because now
that his true love is dead, you know, everything
that matters is either an animal or a material
object. Interesting. And after they diagnose
the queen with poison, because you couldn't figure
out who the evil people are. Yeah, right. Yeah.
So there's like a court butler guy. Jim Broadbent.
Yes. Jim Broadbent. And he's like mustache twirling
the evil. He's like, oh, the queen couldn't possibly
be poisoned. And then he's the one. who hires
Michael Sheen, who is the rival doctor to Dr.
Doolittle. Apparently they were rivals in school.
What's that? Moonfly. So they have to go find
a rare plant. Rare plant that only grows on this
mysterious island. So there's your MacGuffin.
They're sailing towards it. I was just going
to say, they're flying? They're not flying. He
can't convince one of his... Like, bird friends
to take him? No. The only bird friend they got
is ostrich. There's no deus ex machina eagles.
Oh, damn. Right, yes. I like deus ego machina.
Yeah. It's just, Robert... Robert Downey Jr.
is probably one of the worst things in this movie.
Yeah, which is surprising, right? Because I figured
I was going to go in this movie and I was like,
it's going to be bad, but maybe Robert Downey
Jr. will be fine. No. Look at the stuff he's
been in since, like, Iron Man came out. Yeah,
so about stuff like that. I guess now's the time.
Yeah, I guess. Let's talk about it. I discovered
on YouTube a YouTube channel that I really like
called WhatCulture. They did a really good shortish
video about why did this movie not do well. And
this is not a secret. This is public knowledge.
This movie was played with production problems.
The original director was either fired or stormed
off set because he was not invited to come back
for the excessive amount of reshoots that the
studio demanded that they do. Apparently there
was a lot of problems with the script, such as
they had not figured out how the animals would
fit into the scenes. And when they screened the
film... When you say that, it does make sense
because you can also very much tell that the
human actors are not acting well with the CGI
animals. They do not sell that well. They don't
know what animal... It's more like... They didn't
know they were there. Whenever Robert Downey
Jr. is having a conversation with an animal,
it does not feel like he's actually talking with
the animal. He looks like he's staring at the
distance, talking, and the animal talks back.
It does not feel like a real conversation. And
that is somewhat of the director's fault. He
had never worked on a film with this much CGI.
And when they did test screenings in 2018, the
studio allegedly was really disappointed by the
lack of CGI animals. And we're like, no, we want
more. And you can look up all this production
stuff. So there's all that as a problem. The
script is a mess. And then what I learned through
watching this video, and they're pretty good
about fact checking, is that Robert Downey Jr.
and his wife were offered almost unprecedented
levels of creative control. It's their production
company. I didn't realize that. I didn't even
know they had a production company. So Robert
Downey Jr. is coming off of 10 years of Marvel,
which has the money to basically give him whatever
he wants. And he had unmitigated, unprecedented
creative control with designing Tony Stark. Tony
Stark is him. Yeah. That is really amazing. But
that's not realistic. for every movie you're
going to be in no matter how big your name is
so I think there was kind of the perfect storm
with Doolittle in the sense that the studio didn't
know what to do with it the director was a mess
and the main star kind of yeah and uh the uh
The ending of this movie, which we haven't even
talked about, involves a late addition, which
is a dragon, that comes out of nowhere. Right,
right, right. I feel like we need to build this
a little bit, right? Yeah, so they get to the
island that his wife died trying to get to. Yes,
and so this mysterious herb only grows in this
dragon's lair, as it were, right? Okay. Wait,
we're still talking about Doolittle? Yeah, there's
a dragon in it now. In case you can suspend your
disbelief, now there's a dragon. And basically,
that's where the big climax happens, where, you
know, the both parties, like, you know, the mudflies,
goons show up, and there's a battle, and then
the dragon is, like, angry. Wait, how do they
battle? Do, like, the animals battle the humans?
you know. It's just general chaos, yeah. You
know, like the battle scene in Beauty and the
Beast where things are just flying at each other.
Yes, exactly. That's actually pretty good. Good
old general chaos. Yeah. We get the terror of
the dragon and things kind of... Come to, like,
a stalemate. Yeah, a little bit. And Doolittle,
using his abilities, realizes the dragon's not
feeling so good. The dragon is in pain. He realizes
he could have done more. No, yeah. So rather
than looking inward, he looks inside the dragon.
Yeah, right. So he performs an enema, basically.
Yeah, he performs a colonoscopy. He gives the
dragon a colonoscopy. I am not joking. That's
not an exaggeration. It is a colonoscopy. Who
needs enemas with friends like these? And what
I learned from WhatCulture was that after they
brought back in for reshoots and they were trying
to figure out what they were going to do with
the story, the new either script writer or whoever
was charting out the story came up with an ending.
Robert Downey Jr. read it, said nope, and suggested
the dragon enema scene. Oh, yeah. With apparently
a twinkle in his eye. Yeah, he was really stoked
about it. And this is where my problem comes
in with Robert Downey Jr. I don't know the man
personally. I don't think he's a diva. I think
he's a really good actor. But I think having
gone through the Marvel experience and being
so used to having creative control and apparently
having a co -production on this, what he says
goes and clearly the studio either did not care.
Or there was just no one around who could rein
him in. Well, it's RDJ. He's going to sell this
no matter what because it's RDJ. And then they
realized, no. Only certain things can be saved.
He cannot direct himself. That is kind of where
I ended up. They put this movie out in January.
They moved it to January. But still, they kind
of moved it to... They heard the trumpets going.
Yeah, right. They heard the bad Welsh accent.
Yeah, also his accent is kind of... Not good,
and it's a little hard to understand at times.
You can't direct him. That's what I'm trying
to do. He cannot direct himself. That was his
creative choice, and because he was given so
much money. And because the director, like you
said, hadn't done this big a project before,
he probably just said, no, okay. It was apparently
batshit crazy, like really mean. Okay. So this
was doomed. What culture kind of, at the end
of their thing, was like, is this better or worse
than Cats? I haven't seen Cats, but you know
what? I like the musical Cats. So I would say
I would rather watch CGI Rebel Wilson eating
cockroaches while singing a good show tune than...
I would say I would glean more interesting things
out of cats. I would get more... I'll happily
let you guys see it. I don't want to see it.
You can review it next. I'll do a short take.
Let Andre give his hot take on cats. That brings
up a good point. The CGI in this isn't Uncanny
Valley scary nightmare fuel, but it's also not
good either for the amount of CGI animals in
it. It looks rough. Cats is the uncanny valley.
Yeah, right, right. Like, at least there's just
bad -looking animals, not bad -looking human
animals. So Cats was $90 million. This was, Doolittle
was $155. So, I mean, they're both a lot of money.
And its box office is sitting at $163 million,
so it hasn't even made its money back yet. But
still, that seems better than I would have expected.
Yeah, I mean, does Robert Downey Jr. have any
other films lined up? Like, I haven't looked
at his IMDb page. I thought they were supposed
to do the sequel to... Sherlock Holmes. Yeah,
there's another Sherlock Holmes in the works,
which was happening during the Marvel movies.
That's fine. Guy Ritchie knows how to, I think
that's who the director is. Guy Ritchie can direct
people. He has five upcoming projects. He's in
Black Widow in some capacity. Okay, that makes
sense. Sherlock Holmes 3. Untitled John Brinkley
biopic, where he plays Dr. John Brinkley. Who's
John Brinkley? Is he the one who tried to shoot
a president? No, that's Hank Lee. All -Star Weekend,
which has no plot. Two buddies form a rivalry
over their favorite American basketball player,
which has a pretty good cast so far. Wow. It's
RDJ, Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Benicio Del Toro,
Eva Longoria. Please have a sing -off between
Gerard Butler and RDJ. You said the name wrong.
You've got to say DJ Khaled. And then... In development
is Pinocchio where he plays Geppetto. No. Oh,
gosh. Fuck that. Yeah. Fuck any iteration of
that movie. He's the only one. But, whoa. I don't
like Pinocchio as a story. Oh, okay. That's fair.
Ron Howard's directing. It'll be wholesome, but
it doesn't mean I'll like it. You don't have
to like it. So yeah, doodle. So rankings, yes.
Give it a rating. Out of five, I will give it
a .5 because of the celebrity actors. I would
say... You're shaking your head. I would say
the .5 is because of the guest voice actors who
I... I really want to know how much they made
for their contributions. Yeah, I wonder. It was
just an afternoon. You can give the old Mitchell
Standard line of, they made a movie. They made
a movie. And the other part of that .5 is Michael
Sheen because this movie needed more scenery
chewing. Okay. Michael Sheen was having fun in
this movie. He was having fun. I would say he
was, he was what I would hope. He was in on the
joke. He was in on the joke and that's what I
was hoping that Robert Downey Jr. was in on the
joke and he was unfortunate. He was like Eddie
Romaine in. um jupiter sending where eddie romaine
was the only one who knew That this movie is
not good, but you know what? I'm in it, and I'm
going to have a laugh. He walked in one line
where everybody was shitting on him about that,
and he was just like, whatever. I made money.
I made money. So where are you sitting? The point
of my disagreeing with Jill was that the fact
that this has all these celebrity voice cameos,
like I said, it makes me like them less. You
were very upset about Will Arnett. Will Arnett
in particular, I'm very hurt by. yeah I'm gonna
give this one uh 0 .123 berry berries out of
5 I will say that after we saw this movie you
did stop occasionally repeating I'm Rey Skywalker
That's true. That is actually very true. You're
right. This movie helped me forget how much I
hated the ending of Rise of Skywalker. That's
a very good point. That was like for weeks. I'm
Rey Skywalker. You just spontaneously say it.
Now I kind of prod you into saying Barry Barry.
Yeah, that's true. Because I kind of enjoy it.
There you have it. Don't watch this movie. It's
bad. And it's not bad in a fun way either. It's
not like you're going to enjoy it. Kids will
be bored by this movie. What was it? Rise of
Phoenix? I would say Dark Phoenix. Whatever.
Dark Phoenix. I would rather watch that without
even having seen it because you know what? I
don't know. I walked out of the movie theater.
I'm not showing up for Jennifer Lawrence. I could
care less about her. I'm there for Michael Fassbender
and McAvoy to do one more performance. Alright.
Yeah. Well there you go. Well, the last couple
of podcasts, I blame it entirely on me. I've
forgotten our segment that we do. Tell me something
you are excited or dreading about coming out.
T -Dog, we will start with you. I really don't
know what's coming out. Glad you did research.
We gave you time. Let me think. I don't think
it has good reviews, but it might end up going
to it. It's a movie with Will Ferrell. It's coming
out. Downhill? Yes. Okay. Skiing. Skiing and
he leaves his family when there's an avalanche
and it becomes awkward. Okay. Yep. You're going
to put another Will Ferrell movie on the list.
Maybe it'll be a good one. Yeah. After Holmes
and Watson, you're going to test the waters.
I really want you guys to watch them. I really
don't want to. You watch Doolittle first, then
I'll watch Holmes and Watson. I'll watch it.
I'll trade you a bad British movie. I'll do that.
I'll give you all yoga hosers. No, no, no. Mine
is a little... A little out there, I'm finally
looking forward to, in two weeks, Guns Akimbo.
Damn it, you stole mine. Oh, all right, I'll
give it then. Oh, yeah. Is that the one with
Daniel Radcliffe? Daniel Radcliffe. And the,
like, robe and the bear slippers and the guns.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's already been a meme for
so long. It's kind of funny. It's finally coming
out. It's been forever. And I'm finally, like,
I'm here for it. Let's go. Yeah, no. I love the
fact that Daniel Radcliffe just kind of disappears
for a few years. It's just him with crazy eyes
holding two guns. right so what's the what's
the what's the premise for this movie no clue
he just runs around with guns so there's there's
a bit of a promise yes it's um i think like a
weird near future current present day where people
watch like pro fighting but instead of like typical
pro fighting it is this um where he basically
raced to death. If you've ever seen Black Mirror,
it's kind of like White Bear where people watch
other people be tortured, essentially. And there's
one girl, Hunter, who's amazing that no one's
taken out, and he pisses off the wrong people
online and they come for him and they attack
him and now he is an active player with guns
stapled to his hands and he needs to die or survive.
Yeah. I'm literally going off of the meme and
I'm just, let's do it. Yeah? Yeah. I love that
Daniel Radcliffe can just disappear for a few
years. Swiss Army Man is so good. Yeah, right.
Swiss Army Man. He's like, that's a perfect example
of it where he just shows up in a really weird
ass movie. Have you guys seen Miracle Workers?
No. That's pretty good too. I saw the intense
movie where he's like the FBI agent who goes
undercover for like a white supremacy one. Oh.
I can't remember what it's called. It's really,
really good. Yeah. No, I know exactly what you're
talking about. But the thing about Dan Rodd is
like Frodo, Elijah Wood also disappears for some
time and then pops up in the weirdest things
such as Wilfred. Yeah, Wilfred's so good. Give
me my Dan Rodd and Elijah Wood crossover that
I've been waiting for. Imperium? Imperium. Yeah.
Or maybe where they just like... interchange
each other without ever oh yeah acknowledging
it yeah yeah I like that I'm surprised actually
so I've looked up Daniel Radcliffe's known for
and there's four movies for each of them you
know and the fourth movie is not a Harry Potter
movie oh really what is it it is Swiss Army Man
oh nice have you seen the series with him and
what's the guy from Mad Men John Hamm Is that,
like, the weird, like... It's the metaphor one.
Yeah, the metaphor one. Oh, the... Yeah, I know
what you're talking about. No, I didn't ever
see it. It got canceled quick, too. Aw. Getting
back on topic, movie that I'm most excited for,
and this is, like, this is a popcorn movie. I
am not going into this thinking it's going to
be highbrow. Godzilla vs. King Kong. I love giant
things punching other giant things. Always good.
And I am really curious to see how they're going
to do this because Godzilla would just win. like
but king kong is monkey yeah but uh godzilla
has like nuclear atomic breath no there's like
a reddit thread where it's just like this movie
makes no it's like this one guy just ranting
it's like this movie makes no sense godzilla
would kill him in a second he's 50 feet taller
than him he has nuclear breath and blah blah
and the one guy goes but king kong is monkey
oh okay i'm gonna just throw it Now, this is
what I think the plot is going to be. So you
all hear it first on February 13th, 2020, before
the movie comes out. Plot is Godzilla and Kong
through some weird confusion snafus. They start
duking it out, but then they're bonded together
to save humanity because the world unleashes
Mechagodzilla. And King Ghidorah comes back.
I thought you were going to say that they both
have mothers named Martha. Oh, right. Why did
you say that name? One of King Ghidorah's heads
might be named Martha. The first Godzilla King
of Monsters ends with one of Ghidorah's heads
being discovered because Godzilla ripped it off
by Charles Dance's Big Bad Man. And I heard through
leaked stuff that Mechagodzilla will be in this
upcoming film so Mechagodzilla teamed up with
King Ghidorah versus King Kong normal Godzilla
and Mothra cause Mothra's gonna come back I think
Mitch will be in for this Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
He is a big guy. I love Mike High's movies. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, Pacific Rim
was the perfect film. I'm so happy they didn't
make a sequel. Yeah, right. Never happened. It
would have been so sad if they made one and it
wasn't as good, right? I know. Yeah, and if,
like, Guillermo del Toro wasn't helming the project.
Yeah. What's the point in that, huh? Since I
stole your movie. That's all right. No, no, no.
I mean, I'm just going to pivot. I think I already
mentioned it before in previous podcasts as,
like, my most scared movie, but honestly, Sonic
is coming out tomorrow, and I'm kind of excited
to watch it. unironically like what is it it
came out and it has like a 60 like it's like
high 60s Rotten Tomatoes so 60s low 70s is what
I saw right yeah so this sounds like another
Detective Pikachu style like kind of level of
hey this is fun you know like Detective Pikachu
that newer Power Rangers movie oh yes maybe it
has a mid -range in there I just hope that Sonic
is his dad At the end of the video. James Marsden
is Sonic's dad the whole time. I was kind of
looking forward to it, and then I realized that
the guy voicing Sonic was not the person I thought
he was in Parks and Rec. Who do you think he
was? I thought it was the guy who played Ben
Wyatt. It's John Ralphio. No, it's John Ralphio.
I don't like John Ralphio. You don't like John
Ralphio? But he's Flash with cash. I do wish
they would have gotten Jamal White, but whatever.
Jamal. Jaleel. Jaleel. Jaleel White. No, you're
all good. It's not a unique name. It's been a
long time. No good. It's a common name. Yeah,
I mean, I'm probably going to be seeing Sonic
with Andre. I am so pumped. I am braced for adequacy
and I already know from initial reviews it is
not Super Mario Brothers movie levels. Right,
which is what it kind of initially looked like.
If they kept him the way he looked. If they kept
him the way he looked, exactly. It's better.
I am unironically excited because I do like Ben
Schwartz's stuff a lot. What else is he been
in? He's been in stuff. He's been in stuff. He's
done comedy. He's done comedy hours before that
I've liked. Let's see. Parks and Rec. House of
Lies. This is Where I Leave You. Rise of the
Ninja Turtles, he played Leo. Dude, he was great
in that movie. Come on. Bojack Horseman, DuckTales,
he's Dewey Duck. Oh, okay. I can get on board
with that. Yeah, he's Dewey Duck. Lego Movie,
he's Benarnar. What was he in Bojack? Yeah, what
was he in Bojack? Benarnar. In Bojack, he was
Rutabaga? Rutabaga. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh, yep, that makes sense. Cool. All right, yeah.
Rutabaga Wabowitz, he plays a rabbit. We're getting
off topic. Let's finish it up. So he's good at
voicing anthropomorphic animals, confirmed. Confirmed.
What about aliens? Well, no, he's a new ninja
turtle, which is apparently now an alien, according
to Michael Bay. Anyways, this movie looks like
it's going to be dumb as hell, but in a fun way.
And I'm kind of, I don't know. I'm excited for
it. I feel you for dumb movies. I just talked
about one. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah. All right,
well, that seems like we're going to wrap it
up here. That'll do it for episode 19 of Game
for a Movie. Almost at episode 20. Yeah, this
is exciting. We're also getting close because
we did 15, episode 15, we did The Room. I feel
like episode 30 maybe we could do another. I
have the perfect movie recommendation. Uh -oh.
We will. Take that into consideration. Discuss
off air. We'll discuss off air just because,
you know, we'll keep it a secret. Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, you can play along on our Instagram. We'll
probably put some more, here's what we're going
to watch. Good luck trying to guess what it is.
So for me, Mike Katink. Jill, hi. Andre. T -Dog.
Thank you guys for listening to Game for a Movie.
We'll catch you next time. Bye.