Frances Ha (2013) / Ravenous (1999)

[00:00:00] Let's get together, talk about the movies that we saw this week.

[00:00:04] We'll have discussions, talk film news, we'll laugh a lot, and act like eats.

[00:00:07] Sometimes we'll have a guest or two, sometimes it's just the two of us.

[00:00:09] I'll expect some jokes and tell some folks to come along and hang with us.

[00:00:12] I can't buy go to the movies.

[00:00:17] I can't buy go to the movies.

[00:00:22] Yeah!

[00:00:25] You have chosen wisely. I gotta do it, I gotta find it. It's, but yeah, it is the season for the stuff. So we'll be, you know, it's all happening. It is all happening. The garland, it's coming. Yes, no, we got our decorations up, we're doing it. I gotta get some presents for people I guess. I gotta get that. Yes. But yeah, and I'm also trying to catch up on a lot of movies that I haven't seen this year.

[00:01:40] And I've seen a good amount,

[00:01:42] but there's still a lot of movies from 2023

[00:01:44] that I'm like, oh man, I gotta catch up on this.

[00:01:45] What if, what if extraction too

[00:01:47] ends up in my of the extractions? I don't know. It should be, which was very funny, but I forget what I was

[00:03:02] gonna say about the other movies.

[00:03:04] Oh, yeah, I was starting to it's, it's, I think the season one episode 10 of the comedy bang TV show insane that you know the episode. I watched that season obsessively, like over and over before season two came out. Got it. But so that was the weird owl episode. He

[00:04:21] was the guest and it was like a cold open and like the first lines of it are Reggie And the two movies that we made each other watch, I made my D watch Noah Baumbach's Francis Ha, which kind of continues the Greta Gerwig kick because I also made him watch Lady Bird recently and he watched Barbie have his own accord. Yes. A couple of weeks ago. And Mike D you made me watch Ravenous, the snowy western directed by Antonia Bird starring Guy Pierce.

[00:05:41] And yeah, two very different movies.

[00:05:43] Very different movies, but I think like weirdly,

[00:05:46] I was thinking about it today,

[00:05:47] like weirdly thematically connected. Mike watch, which one do you want to do first? I don't know. Neither of them are particularly, I mean, I guess ravenous first. If you want to do like a uplifting ending thing to your double feature, sure, yeah. Dude, the darker one first and then the more comedic one afterwards. A little ravenous, also a pretty funny movie. Pretty funny movie. Actually, let's do it the other way around because ravenous has like a midnight movie vibe to it.

[00:07:00] Okay, yeah, let's do it.

[00:07:01] All right, let's time for a Mike, Mike, Mike watch

[00:07:02] for Francis Ha.

[00:07:04] I only choose right.

[00:07:06] Mike's watching Mike's movie. I asked you to move in with me, you said no. But I can. You can. You don't want to. my watch? Part of it is that I really love this movie. I think this movie's fantastic. I saw this when it came out. I actually saw this at Upstate Films in Rhyndech, New York, which is very close to Vassar College where a lot of this movie takes place. I remember that specifically being a pretty cool thing

[00:09:42] where like everybody in theater being like,

[00:09:44] whoa.

[00:10:41] I think in 35 as well. And so I got to go see Francis Ha again.

[00:10:43] I took my girlfriend to it at that time.

[00:10:46] You know, we had kind of just started dating at that time

[00:10:48] or we're only a few months in and she had never seen it.

[00:10:50] So I was like, oh well, yeah, time to go see Francis Ha.

[00:10:52] Haven't seen this in like seven or eight years

[00:10:54] and was kind of blown away by like

[00:10:56] how much of a masterpiece it is.

[00:10:57] I was like truly taken by it.

[00:10:59] But curious what you think, Mike.

[00:11:01] What was your take on Francis Ha?

[00:11:03] So I think my thoughts Francis Hop first. Yeah. True. I don't know. I'm not sure, like a year ago I picked him out and I was like, oh, Mike's never seen Francis Hop. Throw that in there. And maybe I just kind of felt like, yeah, November. It's like, it's sort of a fall-ish movie a little bit. It's got Christmas in it, but I don't think it, yeah.

[00:12:21] So that was also part of it too.

[00:12:22] I was like, hmm, I don't know.

[00:12:24] It's interesting.

[00:12:25] And then she goes to California for Christmas.

[00:12:26] So like, it doesn't even's like a ballet dancer, like an understudy in a ballet company and stuff, and her best friend decides to move out and get a different part. And her just life goes to shambles. She can't handle, she is not mature, right? This whole, that's like kind of the whole character arc for her is that she's having this like a rest of development as a 22-year-old or whatever, but 27. And everyone's

[00:13:43] constantly telling her like, you look so much older, she gets a boyfriend. She moves to Tokyo. They're engaged. All this stuff is going on. And she comes back to New York and they're running to each other by accident. And it's a whole thing. They kind of have this like heart to heart movement. And it kind of like revitalizes Frances and her life. She gets into choreographing again, even though she used to be so good at it, but she moved on because she didn't want all this stuff.

[00:15:02] And then, you know, it kind of ends on this hopeful note.

[00:15:04] Like Sophie's back and Frances's life

[00:15:06] is coming together and stuff.

[00:15:08] And I was like, man, you know, like make it all sad and stuff about it. But maybe it's really good. And I'm not sure. Okay. Yeah, fair enough. I think maybe a rewatch might be might be necessary. Maybe I'll switch up December's Mike makes Mike watch and just make it Francis hot. Okay. Oh, man, Debbie, but get out of here. I don't even remember. We talked about it already.

[00:16:25] What it is for next month. I don't remember. But then I just kept thinking like, you know, when you made me watch the Midnight, well, Midnight, what the hell, what's the link later, movies? I can't remember what that's true. Oh, I was before Sunrise, before Sunset, before Midnight,

[00:17:41] yeah.

[00:17:42] Yes, there we go.

[00:17:43] The before trilogy and stuff, or at least before Sunrise,

[00:17:45] the first one.

[00:17:46] And just like how much more naturalistic expertly pitched screwball comedy. Nice. And it's really, really terrific. So yeah, one day I'll make you watch Mr. Samarica if you don't watch it, like if you own a chord. But yeah, I also think this movie is super funny and super really, I think it really captures what being in your 20s is like and kind of being lost and all that stuff.

[00:19:00] And I think it kind of comes to the conclusion.

[00:19:02] Like I think even though Frances is like,

[00:19:04] oh man, she's like not a great person.

[00:19:06] Like that's like the end of the that she has a connection to a free apartment in Paris. And she's like, I'm gonna go for the weekend because she has a job interview on Monday. So she can only go for two days. Right. Can't sleep the first night. So she takes a sleeping pill and sleeps through the first day. Like, something midnight or whatever. And then calls her friend that is supposed to be in Paris

[00:20:20] at the same time.

[00:20:20] Friend doesn't answer.

[00:20:21] Sophie calls her and tells her I'm moving to Tokyo.

[00:20:24] And we're having a going away party tonight.

[00:20:26] You should come.

[00:20:27] And Frances is like, oh my god, I can't take more of France being wrong and immature and stupid. And that was all leading up to that. Just always getting in her own way. Which, you know, and the movie is about her trying to dig herself out of that. Yeah, and then she goes to Vassar and upstate New York solves everything basically. That's where she reunites with Sophie.

[00:21:40] And one of the scene where she reunites with Sophie

[00:21:42] is like where I was like, oh, this is actually

[00:21:45] like great physical comedy.

[00:21:46] Because Greta Gerig is very tall this movie with him and it's very much their movie lit together and then she also co-wrote Mr. Smirica which she also stars in and then starts making her own movies and then Lady Bird happens. I also made you watch. And did you like Lady Bird more than this, Mike? Cause I would kind of hear him. I don't know. I don't think I was super warm on Lady Bird either when we talked about it. And that's something I was like afraid of

[00:23:00] while I was watching this and I was like,

[00:23:01] oh no, do I just not like her to go wig?

[00:23:03] Like what does that mean?

[00:23:04] What do I as a person, what does that say about me?

[00:24:02] where she's dancing in the street with the David Bowie song. It's very good. I enjoy that a lot.

[00:24:03] Good stuff. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of,

[00:24:05] a lot of like really beautiful cinematography and stuff throughout.

[00:24:07] It's all black and white, of course.

[00:24:09] It looks awesome. And really, it kind of made me want to watch,

[00:24:12] I've watched it a little too late to follow it up with another movie,

[00:24:15] but I really wanted to watch the week game together.

[00:24:18] Or they came together.

[00:24:19] Yeah.

[00:24:21] It's kind of like New York's a different character.

[00:24:23] It's a whole other character. Yeah.

[00:24:27] But I watched the French style a little with the person that you love. And you have this moment between the two of you that nobody else in the world notices, but for you, that's all that matters. Okay. I'm going to go home now and this gets up and walks out. And then that's the moment her and Sophie share at the end of the movie. They're both at a big crowded room talking to separate people and they look at each other and they have the moment.

[00:25:41] And I was like, ah, cinema baby.

[00:25:42] Yes.

[00:25:43] There it is.

[00:25:45] Also, I do want to mention one other So that's a good sign. There you go. All right, and let's move on into the movie

[00:27:00] that you made me watch, Mike, which is Ravenous.

[00:27:04] I'm sending you knocks. Guy Pierce. I'm gonna cut. Robert Carlisle. It is tough, but then good soldier ought to be. Jeffrey Jones. I'm gonna bring him to the fold. What's wrong? David Arquette. There's no guilt.

[00:28:21] I gotta eat.

[00:28:23] But it's tough making friends. was moving for the first time and you were like, this is the one. I'm very into that. This is my personality now. Yes. So why was it that Ravenous was the movie that you wanted to make me watch? Yeah, I don't know. I think I don't remember hearing about it maybe on Twitter or just sort of, I don't know, where A round is just sort of this cult movie that kind of in the towering year of cinema

[00:29:41] that was 1999 sort of gets forgotten about

[00:29:44] amongst all those releases. Oh yes. Yeah. That's why November and October for the Halloween of an all-night unit. Yes, and I think I assumed that ravenous was the Halloween one and then it turned out to be the perfect storm and I was all thrown off through everything off. The fact that that happened in October messed my whole plan up. Yes. But yeah, so I finally watched Ravenous this past weekend. It is currently streaming on the Criterion channel right now.

[00:31:01] If anybody wants to watch it there,

[00:31:02] I know Mike, do you have the Blu-ray?

[00:31:04] I mean, you like own it and...

[00:31:05] Yeah, I don't remember if it's a shout factor

[00:31:07] or a shout horror or whatever. You know, that's sort of what I was expecting. I was expecting like moral on the lines of like hereditary or whatever. Like that's what I was thinking what what Ravenous was. In retrospect, because like Charlie wanted to play it

[00:32:21] for Trash Vault, I should have realized

[00:32:22] that maybe it wasn't.

[00:32:23] Right.

[00:32:24] Yeah.

[00:32:26] Makes sense. made $2 million at the box office. Like it did not do well. Imagine just the $12 million adult black comedy horror movie being made like and how we would all be singing the praises of this movie. Yeah, we'd be losing our minds for ravenous. It was really active. If it got like a solid wide release in the US today, it would be a game changer.

[00:33:41] It would be huge.

[00:33:42] Absolutely.

[00:33:43] The movies are back, you know?

[00:33:44] Yeah, the movies are back.

[00:33:45] Ravenous is the movie.

[00:33:47] Yeah, and I mean, and then right away, it's like very intense PTSD flashback with Guy Pierce

[00:35:00] and this like bloody steak and these,

[00:35:03] flashing to the battle that he survived

[00:35:05] and covered in blood and all this stuff.

[00:35:06] And I was just like, who know, I thought that whole sequence was so fun and so wild. And you know, there's people that are shooting each other, people that are eating each other. And it's just a lot of stuff happening there. And it's really fun.

[00:36:20] It's a good time.

[00:36:21] Yeah, I mean, that sequence when they, right.

[00:36:23] So they're like at a fort in the California wilderness,

[00:36:27] basically in Robert Kyle. sounding scary. Right. Basically. And there's the moment where they go in there and it's a guy Pearson, you look down and go into the cave and they like find the skeletons and it's cutting back and forth between like Robocarla going more and more insane and them like stumbling through the cave. Yeah. And they find them and you look down to count how many skeletons there are and he's like, wait, how many guys did he say

[00:37:40] we're in the party?

[00:37:41] And they immediately realize what's going on

[00:37:43] and then it cuts back to outside

[00:37:44] as he like digs up a gun or a knife or something

[00:37:46] and just starts like slaughtering out ready in a crazy movie. And then he shows up as a different character, basically. He's like, what is happening? And it's a different character, but I think it's meant to be sort of the same character. It's the same guy, yeah. Who's like lied his way into being this general now or whatever. And it turns out that like, because of this cannibalism or whatever, it like sort of gives them a special powers, like special strength and healing abilities and all that

[00:39:03] kind of stuff.

[00:39:04] Yeah, it's the, it's the when to go myth from like,

[00:39:07] you know, native legend, I was like, okay, but it's still kind of a straight adaptation. Then the supernatural stuff starts happening. And I was like, okay, maybe it's not. Maybe it's just like, it's using that as a jumping off point. Yeah. It's inspired by, you know? But yeah, inspired by a tonner party and also Alfred Packer, another famous cannibal

[00:40:21] who was also the basis of Cannibal the Musical.

[00:40:24] Have you ever seen that movie, Mike?

[00:40:24] I have not, that's virality or whatever, right? Guy Pierce like reluctantly has to give in because he's so wounded and eat this stew. And then it ends with them in, you know, loving cuddle, basically, on this giant bear trap. Yeah,

[00:41:40] they get like caught in a bear trap together. And they like, like Robert Carlisle is like

[00:41:44] taunting him the entire lucky if you have to eat's talking to himself back and forth. And it was pretty great. The heights of cinema. Yeah, made me wanna rewatch one of the rings actually. It's been a very long time, so far, sort of the rings. Nice. Yeah, I just, I think during lockdown, like a couple of years ago, my mom and I just, like for three weeks in a row, watched the fellowship extended, and then the next weekend, watched two towers extended.

[00:43:01] They're real, sometimes.

[00:43:02] Yeah, and I don't think I've watched any of them

[00:43:06] since college, actually.

[00:43:08] Wow. a really hard thing going on. And we just talked about it, I believe on the complete works, but I episode for next week. But I did just watch Oppenheimer this past weekend. And man, talk about it with that guy movie. Just like every 10 to 15 minutes, you're like, holy shit, is that that guy? Yeah. What's he doing in this? That guy is everywhere in Oppenheimer.

[00:44:22] That guy is prevalent.

[00:44:23] Also by the way, Oppenheimer, edited by Jennifer Lame

[00:44:26] who also edited Francis Ah.

[00:44:27] Whoa, essentially, yes. Yeah, it is on Criterion Channel right now, the 90s horror collection, where you can find it. And yeah, I am very encouraged by like, how many people are like discovering this movie over the last couple of years? I mean, what was your, why did you watch it again? Do you, I just sort of remember hearing about it

[00:45:41] and seeing a podcast or something.

[00:45:43] Yeah, a podcast or just like Twitter

[00:45:45] or just like one of those kind of like,

[00:45:46] Hey, this is a sort of, or techno thriller collection or something. Yeah, unfriended was there, I heard in their erotic thrillers collection, they had William Friedkin's Jade from 1995, which I've never seen, but from what I've heard, it's a terrible movie. Like I've heard.

[00:47:00] It's, I think,

[00:47:02] a lawn mower man might've been in the techno thriller.

[00:47:05] I think it might've been, actually.

[00:47:06] Yeah, you're right.

[00:47:07] I'm thinking about it. or any other podcast app. And if you wanna contact us, you can tweet at us at Mike and MikePod. You can find the rest of our podcast and wrap your press alongside many other podcasts, book, kinds of comp books and movie news and all that good stuff. Next week, we're gonna be doing some discussions on the podcast. We just did some last week, next week. It's time for some more. I don't gotta watch some things, I guess. Yeah. Unless you have a better idea, Mike.

[00:48:20] I think discussions is the plan.

[00:48:22] That's the plan.

[00:48:23] Okay, yeah.

[00:48:24] Let's get into that time where we got,

[00:48:24] we got other stuff to do.