Ep. 12 - The War (1994)

[00:00:00] Alright then, keep your secrets. Get that frog out of your pants. I'm the guy. The real guy. Where do all these movies come from anyway? Just fucking ding-a-ling. I will take the ring to Moldor. Though, I do not know the way.

[00:00:24] Hello and welcome to episode 12 of The Complete Works, season 5. A deep dive into the career and films of actor Elijah Wood. My name is Mike Smith and joining me on this journey there and back again is my friend, co-host, and fellow woodworker... Mike DiCruccio. How'd you do today, Mike? I'm doing good. What a swerve. I forgot that that was gonna be a thing. Mixing it up. Yeah, we've used Goodson for the last, I think, seven episodes of the podcast.

[00:00:52] But, since we finally started releasing the first few episodes of the podcast, now people are coming to me with ideas for introductions. Right. Because we spent the first couple of episodes of this season kind of floundering a little bit in the introduction category. Yeah. So, I think the first episode we did Woodpecker. That was a hard pass from Mike Di. Hard no, yeah. Then it was Elijah Provida, which I still have some fondness for. That's a good one. I think that was pretty good. That's fun.

[00:01:21] And then the episode three was Carpenter, which is like, because we're working with wood, you know, get it? Yeah. And then episode four, we used Goodson, and that became the thing going forward. But Jake texted me, and I believe producer Colin actually also texted us with the suggestion that Woodworker would make sense. And honestly, I'm mad I didn't think about it. It was right there. You were one step away.

[00:01:46] It's weird that I didn't think about it. However, I do think we're kind of locked into Goodson now at this point. I don't know. What do you think? I think baseline Goodson, and every now and then when you're feeling spicy, you could change it up here or there. Toss in a woodworker, toss in Elijah Provida, whatever we want to do. So, yeah, and of course, if you have a suggestion for an Elijah Wood intro word, send it to us. Shoot me a text if you have my number or skeet at us at CompleteWorksPod.com. That's the way to do it.

[00:02:15] Or Instagram. Or Instagram. Yes, we're on Instagram now at CompleteWorksPod. Check it out. All right, Mike D, let's talk about America. First off. Okay, all right. Spoon your chair backwards. First off, not a fan. Yeah. But the ideals that America theoretically stands for, and as are often depicted by movies, are noble ones, right?

[00:02:41] And there are few modern actors that embody those ideals more than Kevin Costner. Sure, yeah. Kevin Costner, often stoic, often a father figure, often the center of movies that take a nostalgic look back at America's past, and often baseball. Well, Kevin Costner is, I think, the ultimate, like, dad movie actor, right? Oh, yeah. Like, this is Kevin Costner, right? It's so funny because we covered one of his first movies, Silverado, right? Yes. Or very early Kevin Costner movies.

[00:03:10] When he's a hotshot young gun, like, you know, wild man kind of guy, and then he just, like, immediately was like, no, I'm serious. And you're like, oh, okay, sure. Yeah, it's weird. He has Silverado, and he has a couple movies in that vein. Like, Bull Durham, I think, is more in that vein than, like, the typical. His hat's backwards. Yeah. Exactly, yeah. He's a younger man, but even in Bull Durham, he's playing an older man, right? He's, like, he's the over-the-hill, like, retired major league pitcher that's now playing in the minor leagues, all that stuff. But Field of Dreams is, like, four years after Silverado.

[00:03:39] Like, I think Field of Dreams is, like, the full Costner. That's what it is, right? Yeah, absolutely. I guess movie stars of the late 80s, early 90s, and a dependable presence who, even though he hadn't had a major box office hit in over a decade, still had enough star power to make Yellowstone the biggest show on TV for many years. So, you know, still deep in the cultural consciousness. The people wanted to see Kevin Costner.

[00:04:08] Yeah, the people yearned for Kevin Costner, for sure. Yes. I guess they didn't yearn hard enough because Horizon came out and bombed, but the people yearned regardless for Kevin Costner. Well, the thing is, though, sometimes it's got to be a good project, you know? You know what? I watched Horizon. I did miss it in theaters when I caught it on HBO Max. Actually, I kind of liked it. I thought it was pretty good. I had a good time with it. I want to see Horizon Chapter 2. It exists. That's crazy. It exists. It has played at festivals. I think it played at the Cannes Film Festival last year or something like that. Yeah, last year, I think. Yeah.

[00:04:38] And still has not been released. I want to see Part 2. And if he gets to make it, I want to see 3 and 4. I'm curious about where that story goes. But we've talked about Costner a few times over the years. You mentioned Silverado, Mike, of course. Yes. We also covered him in The Untouchables. You made me watch that for a Mike Makes Mike watch many years ago. And I made you watch, I think just last year, For Love of the Game for a Mike Makes Mike watch. That's right. Even us here on the pod yearn for Kevin Costay. Yes, absolutely. And The Untouchables, also an interesting one, because that's 87.

[00:05:08] That is two years after Silverado. And even in that movie, he's the straight-laced guy. He's like the no-nonsense guy. That's so funny. He immediately kind of just jumps into that kind of role to the point where, like, once you have, like, Man of Steel, it's like, who you're going to cast as Pa Kent? Kevin Costner. Yes, that makes sense. Obviously. That tracks. So today we've got to talk about Kevin Costner again.

[00:05:33] But despite the fact that today's movie was released arguably at his star power peak just in the last few years before this movie, he has Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. He has JFK. He has the bodyguard. It is Elijah Wood who actually gets top billing on this one, Mike. Whoa. We've made it, Ma. Is this the beginning of a We Made It Ma series? I don't know. I think maybe a little bit. Now, Elijah Wood is much more of a main character in this movie than Costner is.

[00:05:59] So, like, the billing does make sense, but you think back to just two years earlier to Paradise where Elijah Wood is the main character of that movie, but his billing is third after Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, you know, the established movie stars. So we're now at a point where Elijah Wood is kind of a known name. I think at this point in 94 they had hitched his star power onto North a few months earlier, and that didn't go over as well as maybe it could have. Yeah.

[00:06:28] But still, he's sort of positioned as like, oh, is he the next Macaulay Culkin kind of kid, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's crazy to think Paradise was only two years earlier, and he's got, like, six movies in between. Yeah. How many episodes have we done since Paradise? Yeah. He was cranking them out. Three years earlier, actually. Paradise was 91. This is 94. But still, he's cranking them out in these movies. Paradise was episode five of this podcast, and this is episode 12. So, yeah, he's made quite a few movies in a short amount of time.

[00:06:56] But since Elijah Wood is in it, we've got to talk about The War. Oh, Lord! Can't you wait till we get on an intersection? You said turn around. I said let me drive! No way! No. My name's Lydia Simmons, and this is my brother Stu. Is she doing anything else I should know about? She's doing a lot of things, but I don't think you should know about her. Ever since my dad had returned from the war, things haven't quite been the same.

[00:07:25] You've got to put your arms around the woman every once in a while. She's going to think you don't like her no more. Now, I'm giving you this advice, because I can see that you just don't know what you're doing. Do you want to do this on a same grace? But at least we're together again. Dear Lord, bless this food, please. Now it's summer in Mississippi.

[00:07:54] And us kids are building a house of our very own. Excuse me, fat girl. Is it absolutely mischievous to serenade us? I'm going to die, I hope you know. Because I have a granular condition. You've got to host this Twinkies condition to what you got. There's only one thing standing between us and a perfect... My mama says folks will treat people better and do it because they're ignorant. Excuse me. She's going to sit up front where she can see from now on. She ain't going to go by Color Girl no more, neither.

[00:08:23] I don't know about you, but all my friends have names. Universal Pictures proudly presents... Elijah Wood. Kevin Costner. From the director of Fried Green Tomatoes, The War. I hope you know them, the kids that just beat me up. I know who they are, sir. Well, then why don't you just give a mama lady his cotton candy?

[00:08:51] Because they look like they hadn't been given nothing in a long time. My daddy once said a fighting. We are meant for better things, you and I. All right. So Elijah Wood stars in The War as Stu Simmons, a kid in 1970s Mississippi whose family has been displaced from their home and his father has just come back from the Vietnam War. That father, Stephen Simmons, is played by Kevin Costner, while his mother, Lois Simmons,

[00:09:17] is played by Mare Winningham from movies like San Elmo's Fire and Miracle Mile, which we watched last year on the Let's Rank... or retrospective Tangerine Dream episode. Yes, yes. Shout out to Jake. Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of, Mare Winningham, also in several Kevin Costner movies, including Wyatt Earp, which came out the same year as this one. I've never seen that. Neither have I. I've heard it's not... Because it's sort of like an Armageddon Deep Impact situation with that and Tombstone, right? Right.

[00:09:43] And I believe Tombstone is widely considered to be the much better movie than the 94 Wyatt Earp. I think that's why I just never bothered. It's like, well, I love Tombstone, so I'm good. Yeah, but I'd be curious to watch it. Absolutely. Meanwhile, Elijah Wood has a twin sister in this movie who is the other main character of the film, Lydia Simmons, played by Lexi Randall, who has not been in a ton of stuff, made a few TV and film appearances in the 90s, including a recurring role on Designing Women.

[00:10:09] From there, the schoolteacher Miss Stratford is played by Christine Baranski from The Good Wife and Mamma Mia. Dodge is played by Gary Basaraba from the TV show Boomtown. Old Man Lipnicki, the father of the Lipnicki Boys, is played by Rainer Sheen from My Cousin Vinny. The realtor at the end of the film, John Ray Wilkins, is played by Nick Searcy from Justified, so I was excited to see him. He was also in the Nicolas Cage movie The Old Way, if you remember that one, Mike.

[00:10:36] To go from 94 to 2025 or whatever the hell The Old Way came out, right? I think that was like January 24 or something like that. Yeah, no, it's been a minute. But most importantly, Mike, there is an acting debut in this film that I feel like I'm not sure if you caught. It sounds like based on your face, maybe you did. Yes. But Eb Lipnicki, the youngest Lipnicki boy, may seem familiar to fans of the Fast and Furious franchise.

[00:11:02] It is the film debut of Lucas Black, the star of the Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift, is in this movie. Crazy. Very excited to see him pop up. If I hadn't been on Wikipedia, I wouldn't have realized it. I don't know if you caught it right away, Mike. Oh, immediately. You don't recognize the star of Tokyo Drift? The supporting character in Fast 9? What is when they come back in? Yeah, the Tokyo Drift crew comes back in Fast 9. He's also, he pops up for a cameo in Furious 7 as well. Right, yeah.

[00:11:30] Because Furious 7 takes place after Tokyo Drift. So the timelines converge. That's where the timelines converge. And so Han has already died. And so Vin Diesel has to go back to Tokyo and you see the aftermath of the very last scene of Tokyo Drift when Vin Diesel shows up. Right. Tokyo Drift, I got to rewatch it. It's been a minute. I don't think I've actually watched Tokyo Drift since 2015 when I did my whole Fast and Furious watch before Furious 7 came out. So, and I remember being like a little bit confused when the Tokyo Drift guys showed up

[00:11:59] in F9 being like, all right, who are these guys again? What are they doing? Wait a second. Why are they rocket scientists now? I don't think they were rocket scientists in Tokyo Drift. Why do they keep calling that guy Twink? Yes, exactly. But very fun to see Lucas Black pop up in this movie as the youngest Lipnicki boy, Ed Lipnicki, who is the one who befriends them at the end, I think, right? Yeah. He's the one who becomes their pal. Yeah, he's the one that sort of realized, or is it the other one that they bribe with the money and the dimes and he gets all the chocolate? Oh, it might be that one, actually. Yeah, I think you're right. It's like the second youngest Lipnicki boy is the one that becomes their friend.

[00:12:29] Ed Lipnicki is just like the short one, like the tiny kid. The one that looks like Lucas Black. Yeah, exactly. In any case, we're not talking about Tokyo Drift today. Unfortunately, we're talking about the war. Unless. I'm going to pause this right now and go watch Tokyo Drift and come back. The movie was written by Kathy McWhorther and directed by John Avnett. John Avnett got his start as a producer. The very first movie he produced was Risky Business in 1983. Whoa. So, yeah, pretty good start.

[00:12:57] And then he made his debut as a director in 1991 with another big hit, Fried Green Tomatoes. That was his first film as a filmmaker. And this was his follow up to that movie, actually. This was the second film as a director. He did continue to produce throughout the 90s, including the Mighty Ducks movies, George the Jungle, Inspector Gadget. In the 2010s, he produced Black Swan and Justified on TV. Wow. Which makes sense, actually, because I mentioned Nick Searcy's in this movie. Also, there's a couple of Justified actors that kind of pop up in background roles and stuff like that.

[00:13:27] So cool to see. His most recent film as a director was just last year, which was 2025's The Last Rodeo, starring Neil McDonough and Mike Helte Williamson, both of whom were on Justified in the 2000s. I'm a big Justified guy. So I was excited to see all these Justified names kind of popping up in connection to this movie. That makes sense. And I'm also thinking about was Forever Young, Walton Goggins' film debut? Remember, he's like the military police guy in that? Yeah, absolutely. What we're saying is Elijah Wood should have been Unjustified, actually.

[00:13:55] I feel like we were, yeah, real close. That would have been pretty good. And there was even a Justified Revival season like two years ago. They could have brought him on for that. And that ended on a cliffhanger. So there's still time. There's still hope out there. Still time for him to play some Southern freak. Exactly, yes. So the war opened on November 4th, 1994. Well, actually, he's playing a Southern freak in this movie, Mike. Okay, true. The war opened on November 4th, 1994, where it opened to number three at the box office.

[00:14:24] Opening ahead of it at number two was a horror movie and literary adaptation. Mike D, do you want to guess at what it is? Hmm, when does Bram Stoker's Dracula come out? So Bram Stoker's Dracula is 92, but this is very much a movie that exists because Bram Stoker's Dracula exists. Is it the Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? You got it. Yes. Nailed it. Kenneth Branagh's take on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein opens number two at the box office this weekend. And then opening at number 12 was a video game adaptation based on a fighting game.

[00:14:54] Mortal Kombat? It's not Mortal Kombat. This is opening number 12. So obviously, it's like not as big as Mortal Kombat. Yeah, true, true, true. Was the Street Fighter movie big? I have no idea. I think the Street Fighter movie might have been a relative hit, but that did come out in 94, but it's not a Street Fighter movie. Okay. Then those are the only two. I don't know. Double Dragon opened this weekend. Never heard of that. I have no idea what that is. Double Dragon was an arcade game in the 80s. They made a movie out of it in the 90s.

[00:15:20] But number one in its second week at the box office was a movie that you made me watch for a Mike Makes Mike Watch Mike. Oh, God. It's going to be embarrassing when I have no idea. 94 November or end of 94. Yeah. November of 94. It's the second week at the box office. It's a movie from a filmmaker who I think at this point we have covered almost all of his films in various capacities in both Mike and Mike and the complete works. What Walter Hill movie would have been number one?

[00:15:50] It's not a Walter Hill joint. I can tell you that. Oh, no. I have no idea. I can't think of it. It is a Roland Emmerich picture, Mike, if that helps you. I can't think of the order that they came out in. What did I make you watch? In November of 94, Roland Emmerich's Stargate was number one at the box office. Oh, man. I forgot about that. Yeah, so this is the pre-independence day Roland Emmerich. Yes, yes. This is in timeline order.

[00:16:20] I think this is the first one of the ones that we have covered on this podcast. Yes. Because we have covered Stargate. We've covered both independence days. We've covered Godzilla. Yeah. We did Moonfall or you and Colin did Moonfall without me, which was very rude. You're still bringing it up. Yeah. 2012 we did at some point. I think. Yeah. And we've already seen Day After Tomorrow, so we don't have to do that one. And I've seen 10,000 BCs, one of the worst things ever made. I am making you watch The Patriot later this year. That was what I was thinking.

[00:16:50] Like, I think our last major one is The Patriots. Yes. Unless I wanted to make you watch like Universal Soldier or something, which I have seen. I don't think you have. Correct. Yeah. Which is actually, it's pretty fun. It's a good time. That's before, that's 92. That's before Stargate. Yeah. No, Patriot is coming up and that might be the end of our run of Roland Emmerich. That's all the ones that matter, I think. Yeah. You know what? We did White House Down also. Colin made us watch that for a guest mix mic watch. So we have truly covered like basically the entire filmography of Roland Emmerich on this podcast. Yeah.

[00:17:19] For the English language. Yeah. We have spoken more words about Roland Emmerich than arguably most people in the world. Yeah. Including Roland Emmerich. Also in the top 10, Pulp Fiction, The Specialist, Love Affair, The River Wild. Also, I might make my watch pick. Little Giants, Forrest Gump, and The Road to Wellville. That's for sure a movie. Yeah. I'm not familiar with that one, but still, you got Stargate, you got Pulp Fiction, you got River Wild, Forrest Gump.

[00:17:48] There's a lot of big stuff happening here at the box office. The INDB plot synopsis for The War reads, A Vietnam veteran helps his kids battle over a treehouse while recovering from his traumatic war experience. So Mike D, I feel like you're taking issue with that plot synopsis. I guess he doesn't really help with the treehouse stuff. Yeah, he's not involved in that at all. Maybe emotionally, I guess, but. Sure, yes. I mean, you know, the treehouse, Mike, you see, the treehouse is a metaphor for what was going on in Vietnam. Whoa. I don't know if you picked up on that. You know, visually, yeah, I did.

[00:18:19] Once the kids are throwing actual Molotov cocktails at the treehouse, it's hard to miss that metaphor a little bit. And they're all wearing their dog tags and the camo hat, like bandanas and stuff. You're like, yeah, I can understand what we're doing. Yes. But Mike D, going into the war, what were you expecting from this film and what are your overall thoughts on the movie? Yeah, going into the war, I had a similar vibe to Forever Young, I think, which is like, oh man, it's a Kevin Costner movie. It's an early Elijah Wood movie.

[00:18:48] I've never heard of it. Oh, no. You know, like, oh boy. Yeah. Just an initial trepidation. And I think Forever Young kind of overcame that a little bit. But the war does not really overcome that for me. And I think maybe it's a little unfair, my reaction to the movie, because it's sort of a symptom of doing this season, right? This is episode 12, and this is what?

[00:19:14] The 10th coming of age set in the South movie we've watched about a treehouse. We've done a lot of weirdly, specifically Elijah Wood in a treehouse movie. Yeah. I think we talked about that at North when they fake out the treehouse. It's his secret spot. And he ends up in the mall. I was like, wow, what a relief. And then we go right back to a treehouse movie. And in this one, the treehouse is like central to all of the action of the film, too. Right. Right. Exactly. So I was like, OK, another one of these.

[00:19:43] And then I feel like the sort of emotional core stuff with Kevin Costner. And I mean, some of it is important or whatever about PTSD and the way society kind of shuns him. Sort of, you know, we sent we sent these people off to war and damaged them only to ignore them when they come back. And he keeps losing jobs because, you know, eventually he gets like finally a job at the school. And he can't keep it because you can't be around children because of the law.

[00:20:12] If you've spent time in a mental hospital because they like equate it with criminality and like all this stuff. And I was like, wow, OK, this part is actually very interesting. And the way that that cycle of oppression and economic adversity is perpetuated by the system, all that stuff. Right. It's like, OK, cool. And then all everything else about that is just like the most Hallmark card bullshit. It's just like, oh, OK, I guess. Sure. Or so that was I don't know. It just it didn't it didn't hook me right away.

[00:20:42] And then it's it's a two hour movie. And it's a thing we've seen eight other times this season already. So it's kind of just like a little zoned out. So I didn't I didn't have a ton of time, like a ton of, you know, a great time or anything like that. It's it's not like the worst movie. It's not north, obviously. So that's a huge improvement. But I was pretty checked out for most of it, unfortunately. So, yeah, I mean, at least north is like bad enough where I think it's kind of an easier watch in a weird way. Yeah.

[00:21:10] You're kind of like this can't keep getting worse, can it? And it does. Right. You're like compelled by it and like a train wreck sort of fashion. And that makes it like a little bit more fun to watch. Whereas the war is kind of like you said, it just kind of feels like a kind of a pretty rote drama of this kind of type. And we've seen a lot of better versions of this movie just in this season alone. You know, we've seen, you know, several other coming of age movies with Elijah Wood with kind of a bigger star and a parental figure role kind of thing. Right.

[00:21:38] With Mel Gibson, Forever Young and Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith in Paradise. And you have Radio Flyer and all these different movies, all of which are, you know, similar. And obviously we're talking about, you know, how does this fit into the Elijah Wood roles we've seen in a minute? But that's kind of what this is. It feels like, yeah, no, this is like the fifth one of these that we've gotten. Yeah. If not more like we've gotten a lot of these kinds of movies. Yeah. And I think the other ones just had more to it.

[00:22:04] This feels like a little more of a caricature, I think, than anything else. Like, I feel like, you know, and it's not necessarily it's not because the performances. I think actually Kevin Costner is pretty good with what he's given. Mayor Winningham is very good as the mom and Elijah. And I think especially actually the girl plays his sister. I think it's really good. Yeah. You know, I like the two kids kind of at the center of it.

[00:22:25] And I like, you know, their kind of relationship and like kind of I kind of like it's interesting that you bring up the stuff with Kevin Costner, which is arguably the more interesting stuff just in terms of like what the movie is trying to say. But I was much more locked down in on the kids getting into Goonies esque antics. Just, you know, being kids hanging out in the 1970s South and all that stuff. And that is actually like more of the movie. That's the majority of it. Oh, yeah, for sure. But at the same time, it feels like it's kind of diving into stereotype in a lot of ways.

[00:22:55] It's playing with the idea of racism in the South and 70s and segregation and all that stuff. And it's it's obviously like the message of the movie is racism is bad, but it's it's doing it in a very like after school special kind of way or whatever you however you want to talk about it. But also, I do think that like, you know, everyone is doing a Southern accent in this movie and it makes and it makes sense. It makes sense or whatever. It's Mississippi. It's the 70s. OK, sure.

[00:23:20] However, I do think everybody's Southern accent in this movie sounds like Boomhauer and King of the Hill. Like it's just like like every single person in this movie, especially the Lipnicki kids are just talking like, oh, yeah, talk about that dang old thing. Oh, yeah, get that water tower, man. Talk about it. Yeah. And that's their all their dialogue. And I eventually got used to it after like an hour of watching the movie.

[00:23:42] But it is like it takes me out of it for a bit and kind of feels like it's just kind of diving into like, yeah, this is what, you know, Los Angeles film producers think people in the South are like. Right. Kind of thing, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. And it's so interesting the way like the movie, like it's it's post Vietnam, right? Like it's the 70s or whatever. But it looks like 1930. Like I don't really understand.

[00:24:05] And I don't know if that's like another commentary layer on like the economic whatever of the Deep South and how these people are just sort of like abandoned by like modern society in this in this area. But it is very weird because I kept being like, what fucking year is this supposed to like? I don't understand what's happening. Like he's talking about Vietnam, but like they live on a shack on stilts. Like I don't get it. Yeah. I mean, that is like, you know, the movie opens and they've been like displaced from their house. Right. And they are.

[00:24:31] And they're in like a, you know, a very like poor neighborhood now. Like they live in basically a shack and all that stuff. And so, yeah, it's meant to be a very small town, very poor town in the South. And that makes sense. And I'm sure that is how it existed for a lot of people in that place and time in the 70s. But it is interesting to think about how like, you know, I just finished a rewatch of Mad Men, which ends in 1970. And like by the end of Mad Men, they're like dealing with a computer, you know? Right.

[00:24:58] And it's just like, you know, people like at this point in time, like man has walked on the moon already. You know, it's just like technological advancements have happened. But that doesn't really affect the people who are living in this small, poor area of Southern America. It's just interesting that this, you know, that's like wrapped up in the whole thing in the way that they just are like feral children for the summer, basically. Like there's just no oversight and the parents are always working because they always need more money. And so they're just not around.

[00:25:26] And so they're just riding like wheelbarrows off cliffs and like swimming in the water tower and jumping in the quarry and doing all that stuff, you know? Yeah, absolutely. And waging war against the rival kids, the Litnikers, which we'll get to in a minute. But what do you think of Elijah Wood in the war, Mike? I think he's really good in this. I think out of all the kids, he's the most like, I think natural maybe, which is funny because his accent is kind of wonky, but so is everybody else's.

[00:25:56] But I think, yeah, I think like you were saying, the Litniky kids are all just like stereotypical or caricature hillbilly sticks boys, you know? And he's like Elijah Wood's sort of portraying like a normal kid or whatever. And I think this is also interesting. This is the first movie where I've been like, oh, that's almost an adult, you know? Like I think it's his haircut in this movie. The other ones, he's had kind of like floppy, long, middle part hair. And in this, he sort of has like crew cut hair.

[00:26:26] Yeah. He's got shorter hair. I think he's a little bit taller in this movie too now. You can tell like he's about to become a teenager if he's not already at this point. Exactly. Yeah. Which was interesting. But yeah, I think his performance is really good. Even though, and like I said, his accent is, but everybody's accents in this is just all over the place. Yeah. I can't like really fault him for it because it's like everyone is bad at it. Yeah. But yeah, I liked doing this. He was the one kind of like, oh, you know, interesting. Like I was checked out, like I said, for a lot of it.

[00:26:54] But, you know, you could perk up and be like, oh shit, just lean forward a little bit whenever he's doing something. You're like, okay, this is cool. I can latch on to his character a bit. Yeah, absolutely. No, I think he's very good in this movie too. Although I was actually surprised by how much I liked his sister in the movie. Yeah. Played by Lexi Randall, who again, not somebody who has appeared in a ton of stuff. She was in a few like TV and movie things around this time. But I think she stopped acting like shortly after the war came out. Like it was just like mid 90s. She stopped being an actor and probably moved on to something else.

[00:27:23] If you look up like half the cast of the war on IMDb, like it'll show you like it, like the war as like maybe their sole credit or that kind of thing. You know, the there's the two black girls that Elijah Wood's sister is friends with. Right. And I don't think either of them actually made anything besides the war, which I was the main one. Elvira, I think is the character's name or something like that. Something like that. Yeah. She was actually I thought she was pretty good too. And she seemed and she seemed very familiar. I was like looking her up.

[00:27:52] Like, I must have seen her in something. I recognize her voice or whatever. Couldn't get it. But if you go to IMDb, like, you know, if and you go to their pages, like it's I think the group from the war, like the kids may still keep in touch or something like that, because it seemed like as adults, like I think there was a picture of like the three girls as adults or something like that. Oh, that's cool. Hanging out and all that kind of stuff. So even though they don't act anymore and even though the war kind of came and went and was sort of a flop, they still maintain those ties, which is kind of cool. Yeah.

[00:28:20] I mean, that's that's sort of the thing with like child actors. And like we sort of talked about with North a little bit where it's like, oh, man, there's there was serious potential that that like would have ended a child actor's career. Like if you're in one major movie, it's because it's a Kevin Costner movie. It's a Rob Reiner movie. Like, oh, my God. And it's just like completely bombs and tanks and like or gets ignored or whatever. I mean, not that this was like a major failure the way North was. But like you could see that that would be like, well, we tried. Never mind. OK, don't move on when you're 10 or whatever.

[00:28:49] And it's thank God that Elijah would overcame North basically. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's sort of the one to punch of North and the war. I think at this point we're seeing a pivot in Elijah Wood's career. He is he is not in any movies in 1995. I think he pops up in like a voice as a voice on Frasier or something like that. Like, you know, one or two TV cameos here and there. But he's not in any movies in 95. His next movie after this is Flipper, which we'll talk about.

[00:29:17] And that seems like a more calculated like mid 90s. There's in the mid 90s, there was a lot of like 60s TV adaptations that were becoming movies. Right. And you had the Beverly Hillbillies movie and you had the Brady Bunch movies and all that stuff. And Flipper, especially in a post free willy world, was probably like, we got to do this. Like this. You mean post C-Lab or whatever the hell the Roy Shady. Sequest? What was it called? Yeah. Post Sequest world. Yeah. People were all about that talking dolphin on Sequest. Exactly. Bring it back to Flipper. I don't think Flipper talks. I've never seen it. I can tell you.

[00:29:46] I have actually not seen Flipper. I'm excited to watch it only because my dad was a huge fan of the TV show in the 60s. Wow. And I remember when there's a channel on cable called, I think, MeTV that is sort of like the new TV land. Yeah. TV land exists, but now TV land plays like King of Queens and everyone who loves Raymond and stuff. You want to watch Gunsmoke? You go to MeTV. Yeah, exactly. Back when I was a kid, I was watching TV land and I was watching Green Acres and Mr. Ed and Get Smart and all that stuff.

[00:30:14] Uh, and so MeTV plays a lot of the shows that TV land used to play. Uh, and there was a period of time when I would come home, like I was living at home, like it was after college and I was living back at home and my dad was there and he was working from home and whenever he was on a break, he would DVR episodes of Flipper off MeTV. Wow. And just watch those on his break. He loved it. Uh, and so. So much about you makes more sense. Uh, and so I'm a huge, uh, I'm not, I'm not going to say I'm a huge fan of Flipper.

[00:30:44] I didn't really watch the show that much with him, but the theme song is always playing in my head. Uh, it's, uh, and to the degree where my go-to bar here in Missoula is called Flippers. And when I see the, the sign for Flippers and I'm walking down the street, I think of the theme song from Flipper. Wow. So yeah, there's that, but we'll get to all of that when we get to Flipper. But I do think this means like a, you know, the North and the war kind of double pay, like double bomb sort of situation.

[00:31:11] Like, you know, neither one really works kind of leads to Elijah Wood at sort of a nexus point in his career where he's growing up, he's, you know, evolving into a different kind of actor. And so Flipper's coming out, but then immediately after Flipper, it's the ice storm and the faculty, you know, he's going for more adult oriented films, uh, going for more auteur driven projects in some cases, uh, all that stuff. Although he's typically worked with like pretty well-known directors too. He's had Richard Donner and, uh, you know, the others, uh, Richard Donner, Rob Reiner,

[00:31:40] you know, all that stuff, Barry Levinson. Uh, so I think we are about to see like a shift in like the style of performer that Elijah Wood is, uh, and then eventually he gets a Lord of the Rings, of course. But I don't, I don't think you get to Lord of the Rings without that shift. Like I think the, uh, the ice storm faculty kind of combo, like a few years down the line sort of feels like the signifier of like Elijah Woods changing sort of, you know? Yeah. I'm trying to remember, I feel like in that, uh,

[00:32:04] final meals YouTube channel thing interview with him, uh, he may even talk about, cause I was gonna say maybe he like went to school, finished school or something, but I feel like he may talk about it. He's one of the actors that didn't graduate high school. Okay. If I remember right. So it's not even like he went off to like, took that gap to like, let me go to school kind of thing that which happens a lot, but I can't remember if that's true or not. But, uh, yeah, no, I think there'll be interesting looking forward over the next couple of movies that, that pivot, that, that little bit of a gap in the resume there from,

[00:32:34] um, he's making seven movies in three years to, uh, to pump the brakes a tiny bit, uh, and, and re reevaluate, recalibrate. Yeah, absolutely. So Elijah Wood, we've already kind of answered this question, but how do you think this fits into the Elijah Wood roles we've seen so far, Mike? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like we talked about, uh, for sure. Paradise, I think is a very direct comp right to it. Uh, it's Southern family drama stuff with him as a runaway and not runaway, uh, federal kid, no oversight building the tree house in the woods or whatever.

[00:33:05] Um, as a runaway and Huck Finn, I guess. Uh, but that's good. A similar vibes, you know? Absolutely. Um, and then all the other forever young. I mean, it's kind of the most of the movies we've talked about this season. So that's the thing. Yeah, no, he, he definitely had a brand of movie, but I think what's interesting and what we've talked about in a lot of these episodes is that yes, he was making like coming of age movies for kids sort of thing, like forever young and radio flyer and Huck Finn and all that stuff. But all of these movies have like darker undertones to them in some, in some capacity. Right.

[00:33:35] Uh, and so paradise is, uh, you know, as about, uh, the two parents, uh, Don Johnson, Melanie Griffith dealing with the trauma of their dead child. Right. Uh, and radio flyer is about the child abuse that is kind of being laid upon Elijah Wood's brother. Uh, and Huck Finn obviously has racism elements, uh, in there as well that they're dealing with. And, uh, forever young, uh, maybe, maybe forever young is not as time travel. Time travel is tough on everyone. You know, it's, it's just a lot going on. Yeah.

[00:34:02] Uh, but you know, uh, in both internal affairs and Avalon and in shadow of the night, he has to like stop, uh, somebody from attacking his father or something or they are attacking a parent or that kind of thing. Uh, you know, there's, there's elements to that in a lot of these movies. Uh, and obviously this movie, it's a similar coming of age story and it's also a movie about dealing with PTSD, uh, from the Vietnam war. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so there, there's another like kind of darker element, uh, at play with this movie as well. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:34:28] I mean, cause a lot of it is sort of the machismo is not the right word, but like, you know, masculinity or whatever that like, uh, Elijah Wood's character is dealing with that where he's getting bullied or his sister's getting bullied. And like, well, I got to stand up, I got to fight this kid and prove it, like prove that I'm a bigger man or whatever. Um, that kind of vibe. And it's all about Kevin Costner trying to impart the like, well, sometimes peace is the better option. You know, after, after having been through war, uh, and killing more people than he ever

[00:34:57] saved, you know, that's why he enlisted to go save, save the free world. Cause movie has a weirdly like communism and unions are bad thing. Um, which is strange, but, uh, again, so that's sort of like the, the kind of, uh, conflict between the father and son, right? It's like the son is a hothead, especially around the Lipnicki psychos. Um, yep. And it's all about Kevin Costner trying to teach him that there are sometimes there's a better way. Yes, absolutely. The Lipnicki boys, by the way, reminded me of the Doyle kids in the Billy Madison. Oh my, a hundred percent. Yeah.

[00:35:26] That's the vibe they give off. Just like, oh, Doyle rules. And then they fall off a cliff or whatever. That's, that's the Lipnicki boys. Absolutely. Absolutely. They're the Dukes of Hazzard. They're like, they're them damn hazard boys again. Yes. There's a movie I never saw. I never saw the, uh, the movie version of Dukes of Hazzard. Did you ever see that one? Another seventies TV show revival thing or whatever, right? Exactly. Yeah. Uh, I believe, uh, is it a Todd Phillips joint? It's not a Todd Phillips joint. Is it? It might as well be. I have no idea who it is. No, Todd Phillips did a, Todd Phillips was Starsky and Hutch. Starsky and Hutch, right.

[00:35:54] The other seventies, uh, revival movie, but yeah, Dukes of Hazzard. Was it, was Luke Wilson in Dukes of Hazzard? Was he one of the boys? I feel like that's Johnny Knoxville, I think. And, uh, I think, I think you're right. I remember Jessica Alba's in it, right? She's like the, she's Daisy Duke. Uh, Jessica Simpson. Jessica Simpson is Daisy Duke. Okay. Yeah. Uh, and I think it's like Sean William Scott or whatever. What's that? Is that the guy from American pie? Yeah. That tracks a Johnny Knoxville, Sean William Scott, Dukes of Hazzard movie. Like that makes sense in my mind. We don't have to look it up. That's definitely what it is. It is Sean William Scott. Yeah.

[00:36:24] Uh, and Johnny Knoxville. Okay. Gotcha. What? It's directed by, uh, Jay Chandrasakar from, oh, from super troopers. Like from broken lizard. Okay. Yeah. I thought you were about to, I, you were so, your reaction to finding out who the director was, was so like, I thought it was going to be like, it's directed by Paul Verhoeven or like just something insane. It's actually the first Eddie Villeneuve movie. Um, yeah. How Ashby came back from the dead and make a, made a Dukes of Hazzard movie.

[00:36:55] Oh man. But I was thinking of Todd Phillips and never would have in my a million years gotten to Jay Chandrasakar. Yeah. There you go. Uh, all right. What are the scenes or moments that stand out to you in, uh, the war Mike? What are some of the scenes or moments that stood out to me in this movie? Um, they kind of all blur together is the thing. Uh, sure. I mean, you know, similar to a lot of, like the movie is relatively plotless for a lot of it's cause a lot of it's like a hangout, hanging out with the kids for the summer, trying to see how Kevin Costner's doing his jobs, all that kind of stuff.

[00:37:24] There is a plot, but like it's, it's loose, I guess. It is definitely a loose plot for sure. Um, but I guess all the stuff around the kind of construction of the tree house is pretty fun where it's, uh, the boys and the girls. And then they're like, well, one of us has got to be in charge. God damn it. Uh, kind of thing. And so they, they come up with a dare for each other that if the girls can get the list of supplies that the boys have, uh, requested for the tree house, then the girls will be in charge and the boys will have to do everything they say for the whole summer.

[00:37:54] And they come up with all these crazy, like a couch and a refrigerator, all this shenanigans stuff. And they're like, Oh, this is, we got a piece of cake boys. They'll never figure this out. Uh, and the girls decide to go to the Lipnicki's junkyard, uh, and find all the stuff there. Uh, but they never thought that would happen because they're the sworn mortal enemies of the Lipnicki's. And that's where they find the, that's the, like the one youngest or the second youngest boy or whatever. Uh, and they bribe him like everything we, every time we come here, we'll give you a dime. If you keep your mouth shut and let us take this stuff.

[00:38:23] Um, and that builds all summer until he buys like an entire ice cream trucks worth of, uh, fudgesicles or whatever at the end of the movie. Um, and then he becomes their friend. Yeah. Just that whole, that whole idea. Like, uh, that's like so perfectly 10, 11, 12, like think logic brain of like, yeah, they're like, they'll, they'll never be able to find this stuff. Uh, and then what do you know? Hoisted on their own petard. And then the boys have to build the house, the tree house all summer. Yeah. And the two other boys, uh, bail out like immediately. Oh, immediately. Yeah. You're right. Yeah.

[00:38:53] Nope. We're not doing that. Uh, but Elijah Wood has honor. He, uh, he does it. His word is worth something. Yes, exactly. Uh, I do think so. The movie has like these, uh, you know, a bunch of scenes of like escalating things that happen between them and the Lipnicki kids where, you know, Lipnicki's will show up and they'll beat him up or whatever. And then the next scene, like, you know, they're tricking the Lipnicki's into going in a wagon and jumping into a watering hole that they didn't know was there or like that kind of thing. A mud pit. So yeah, cesspool or something gross. Yeah, exactly.

[00:39:20] And it all kind of builds up to this moment towards the end of the movie, uh, which is where they climb the water tower. Uh, and they climb on the water tower and they're going in the water tower and there's like a whirlpool in the middle of the water tower. And the dare is that Elijah Wood and one of the other Lipnicki kids has to swim across it and back. Uh, and so there's a whirlpool, but there's also like a loose piece of wood that's just like floating around in the water tower, uh, like a loose floorboard or something. Uh, and so, you know, it's very dangerous.

[00:39:49] It's a very dangerous thing to do because, you know, you can easily get caught by the current, uh, and also get easily like smacked in the face of this like giant piece of wood and, you know, probably drown and all that stuff. Um, and so they're, you know, both scared to do it. And the Lipnicki kids trying to be like, oh, well, if you want to back out, you can like the, we'll give you one last chance punk. Yeah. Yes. Uh, and then Elijah Wood does it. He does it. Then he does it. Uh, swims across the water thing and comes back, you know, it's a struggle and he's like barely able to make it, but he makes it.

[00:40:17] Uh, and then the Lipnicki kids like, well, you thought we were actually going to do that. Come on, man. Get out. Yeah. You know, but everyone's like freaking out while he's doing it. Uh, and that scene, I thought was pretty good. I liked that quite a bit. That is pretty good. It's a lot like the final standoff in a marathon man when they're in that like water treatment plant. Yeah, you're right. It's weird. Um, but, uh, yeah, that was intense. That was very intense. And that's sort of what the, um, the, the conflict there was the, uh, like the Lipnickys

[00:40:45] find this tree house and they recognize all the stuff from their junkyard and they're like, well, by rights, this is our stuff. We're, we should get this fort. Um, right. And so because Elijah Wood swims across there, they like sort of agree to allow them to use the fort instead of whatever, you know, like you can keep your stupid tree house is sort of the thing there. But then of course we, you know, there's the assault on the fort basically at the end of the movie anyway, because them crazy Lipnicki boys are up to it again. And they're at it again. Those crazy Lipnicki boys.

[00:41:13] Uh, so yeah, they have the water tower scene, uh, which is pretty good. Uh, and yeah, after that, uh, one of the other scenes I wanted to mention was, uh, the scene with Christine Baranski as the teacher at the school. Yes. Uh, who, uh, is, she only gets like one scene really in the movie. I think she pops up in like one frame at the end or something like that too. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of, as they're talking about like what a crazy summer that was, they like, look, look back on the summer and all that stuff. But yeah, there's a scene with, uh, Christine Baranski who's like the new teacher,

[00:41:40] Miss Stratford at the school, uh, who is like blatantly racist to, uh, their friends, uh, to the degree where like, she's like not learning their names and calling the, and calling her colored girl. Right. Uh, right. And there's a whole thing more to the back of the room and stuff. Yeah. It moves into the back, but like the girl doesn't have great eyesight. She can't see back there. And so all that stuff, uh, and Elijah Wood sister like stands up for her friend. Uh, and it's very, uh, you know, like we said before, it's a very like afterschool special kind of version of like racism is bad.

[00:42:08] Uh, at the same time, it's, I think one of the more effective scenes in the movie. So there's that at least. Yeah. At least it's got that going for it. Um, yeah, I do think it's a funny cut when, uh, she, she like sends the girl to the principal's office. Uh, and that's when Elijah Wood sister like stands up and is like, no, you can't do that. Uh, you, you know, all that stuff. And she's like, and this is my friend and we're not going to live in ignorance and all that stuff. And then it cuts to both of them and the principal's office. Right. Right. Right. Pretty good. I thought that was pretty funny.

[00:42:36] And it's, and it's showing like the, the chat, the silhouette of her mom yelling at the principal, uh, being like, you're going to yell at the black girl, like that kind of thing. Uh, which yeah, it's, it's fun. I think, I think it's, um, you know, shows their actual bond and friendship because they're kind of just like town friends or whatever for the beginning of the movie. Like, you don't know that they're just like other people or other kids that are around. Um, but then for the rest of the whole summer, they're, they're together. Yeah. There's a moment, there's a moment early in the movie when, uh, I think she calls her the N word, right? Like it's a, or something. Yeah.

[00:43:04] Not realizing that it's like a, you know, a negative slur, right? She, she doesn't realize that. Yeah. And the girl and Elmira or Elvira or whatever her name is. She like reads her for filth at that moment. She, you know, like tears her apart, but then immediately he's like, all right, we're cool. Uh, and they, you know, become friends again after that. Exactly. Um, but, uh, yeah, no, you, you kind of see like the wheels turning and like these kids being like, okay, yeah, no, I realized now that this is, this is bad. And then, yeah, I think at the end, cause the whole, like it's summer school, right?

[00:43:32] And they'll like final assignment that they get in that whole scene is like, well, you have to write a memoir and about why your life is cherries or something. Um, and then like there's been voiceovers throughout the whole movie from the sister, which I guess kind of makes her the main character. Um, or at least she's, she's, she's the narrator of the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Is, is her reading it? Like that's what she's been reading the narration from the whole movie and that that's back in the classroom. So that's the only other time that the teacher comes back. What else happens in the movie? Kevin Costner dies.

[00:44:02] Yeah. So I was going to say that's kind of the next major thing is all the Kevin Costner stuff. So yeah, obviously Kevin Costner's character dies in the movie. Throughout the movie, he is struggling to keep a job, right? Right. He's dealing with a PTSD. He has nightmares. He has stress, like all of that stuff that's happening. Uh, and that's very tough on him and it's tough on his family and his relationship with his family. Uh, I really liked the scenes, uh, with him and the daughter actually, where like they're kind of bonding, uh, because she has a pretty good, like, I don't know.

[00:44:31] She, she's very perceptive on like the state of her parents' marriage, uh, and all that stuff. And she's like, can see that like, you know, their marriage is like, having difficulties and they haven't been with each other in a long time. Right. And she's like giving him advice on like how to be with her mom and all that, which is fun. Uh, you know, and you get scenes with him and Elijah Wood as well, where he's kind of trying to teach him not to pick fights that he doesn't, you know, that doesn't have to be a part of and all of that. Right. There's a moment like halfway through the movie where he meets a guy who can get him a coal mining job.

[00:45:00] Uh, and he has to buy a union card to do it and it costs 50 bucks. And the mom like takes all of her savings and gives it to him so that she can, that so that he can do it. And the daughter is like very frustrated about this. Like you just spend all your money on this man and he's going to piss away this, you know, all that, but he goes and buys a union card and he's doing coal mining for a while and then he dies. Because, uh, he, he gets hurt in a coal mining accident, uh, while he's working, uh, and is in the hospital for a while until one day Elijah Wood comes home. I think it's right after the water tower scene. I think so. Yeah.

[00:45:27] You know, and he, he comes home and that's when, uh, the mom is like on the couch and she's crying and she breaks the news that their, uh, dad died in the hospital. Yeah. Yeah. It's intense. I mean, the, the accident scene is also very, cause he saves that other guy's life, uh, yeah. And gets seriously injured in the process and then yeah, gets, uh, ends up dying. Um, I don't know. I don't really, I can't think of anything else to say about that other than it's intense, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's a parallel to, uh, his experience in Vietnam as well, where he kind of repeatedly

[00:45:56] feels guilt over not saving his best friend in Vietnam. Right. Like he has a soldier friend who he feels guilty for like making it out while his friend died and he could have saved him and he didn't. Uh, and so this coal mining thing is sort of a parallel to that where now he does save the guy, but he, it results in his own death. Right. Hashtag themes. Yeah. Exactly. And then, uh, yeah. So Kevin Costner dies, uh, and then you, it's, it's kind of shortly after that, like it's like life goes on. Right.

[00:46:23] And so like the mom's still working and the kids are still, you know, fighting with lip Nicky's, but it's like shortly after that when the war really starts to escalate over the tree house. Right. Uh, and they're defending it. And, uh, that's when like, it becomes like a true full on war movie for a minute, but with kids and this tree house. And, uh, like they set like the lip Nicky set on fire, they're throwing Molotov cocktails. They, they have like fireworks and stuff. I think too. Yeah. There's like a whole, yeah. Uh, so it gets, it gets pretty intense. Uh, and ultimately it ends with a tree house being burned down. Right.

[00:46:53] Uh, and obviously another parallel to like the experience of being in war and the Vietnam war. And the other kid, the lip Nicky kid falls through the roof of the tower. Cause I forget he goes to get the lock or the key or something. There's some, something they drop in that earlier scene and Elijah Wood has to save him. He falls into the water, into the whirlpool. Uh, and so even though he, they're the sworn mortal enemies of the lip Nicky's, he has to put that aside and pull him out of the water. He jumps in and saves him. Yeah. And they have to like do CPR on him and get him out of there and all that stuff, but

[00:47:22] they do ultimately save the kid. Uh, and then, uh, the movie kind of ends with this, uh, sort of epilogue where they look back on the summer and they are like talking about rebuilding the tree house, but they kind of give up on it. Uh, and like the boys just hang out at the movie theater and go to pick up chicks and all that, right. All that stuff, the movie theater playing gone with the wind. Cause it's the South, you know? Yeah. Uh, and so they're doing that for a while. Then eventually the realtor shows up, uh, and played by Nick Cersei who reveals that,

[00:47:48] uh, you know, before, uh, Kevin Costner died, he actually put a down payment on a house, uh, that he was going to surprise the family with. Right. Uh, and, uh, so they are able to get out of the poor neighborhood and kind of move into, uh, you know, a larger house and kind of get back into their, get back to their old lives a little bit. It was like a foreclosure house thing or something. I forget. There's some sad, poor Southern thing about why he was able to get it. I think the bank was like trying to unload on these houses or something. And Kevin Costner was able to put a down payment on it.

[00:48:18] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Um, but that's, you know, the, the future there's potential there finally for them. Maybe. Yes, absolutely. They kind of got out of there. I'm hopeful that they still stay in touch with their childhood friends, but, uh, often that's not the case. You know, sometimes you get them for a summer and then that's it. Uh, so yeah, there it is. That's the war. Uh, I feel like in talking about it, it actually sounds like a much better movie than it is. It does. Um, you know, like I, I was like, just like listening to me and you talking about it and being like, this sounds pretty good.

[00:48:48] Why didn't, why didn't I like this that much? Something didn't hit about it. I don't know if it's the pacing or the whatever, but yeah, it just kind of feels like it takes forever. Yeah. It does feel like it takes forever. And I ended up actually watching it in two sittings too, which maybe is part of it. Uh, but that, that, that was couldn't be avoided. I have too many baseball games that I have to be a part of. Kevin Costner would understand. Yes, exactly. Uh, he's made no less than three baseball movies. Uh, right. Boulder and feel the dreams and forever the game. And, uh, I feel like I'm even missing one.

[00:49:15] I feel like there's probably one or two more that I'm blanking on, but in any case, that's the war. Should we move on to letterbox reviews for this movie, Mike? Yes. I'm interested to see what people thought of this movie. Yeah. I mean, uh, from what I have seen, there's a lot of people who, uh, like a lot of the letterbox reviews are actually pretty solid. I think a lot of people watch this as kids. And like, it was one of those movies that like, you know, they probably had on VHS and watched it every once in a while and all that stuff, like a family picture.

[00:49:41] Uh, but here's a three and a half star review from Austin Kendall, which reads a bit overly sentimental. It has good music and Elijah Wood gives a great performance. It's the kind of movie that has Vietnam flashbacks that begin with the sound of helicopter, uh, helicopters. And also I think the movie opens with Creedence Clearwater revival as well. Uh, which if it doesn't, I've inserted it in my memory that it does. I'm pretty sure it plays a, have you ever seen the rain or something? Like it's, it's, it's definitely playing Creedence. It actually, it does have a pretty good soundtrack. It's got Creedence. I think it ends with Cat Stevens.

[00:50:11] Yeah. Uh, it's got a few other, uh, fun needle drops in there, but they are like exactly the songs you expect to hear in like a Vietnam flashback, uh, kind of movie. Uh, there's a little more to this review. I do like that. It is a class struggle movie. That is the struggle movie between the have nots and the really have nots. Uh, there are also so many buck tooth goobers. I am surprised. I am surprised this movie has so few letterbox reviews because I used to watch this all the time and figured it was kind of an early nineties classic. Yeah. It's funny.

[00:50:40] It's funny the way certain movies can have that where it's like, surely everyone has watched this movie. And then it's like, you were the only person ever renting it. Like, yes, absolutely. Oh, interesting. What do you mean? You don't all know rock a doodle, you know, like that kind of thing. Yeah, exactly. Uh, here's a three and a half star review from Kelly Madden, which reads, uh, scavenger hunt number one Oh three prompt number four, watch a movie filmed in your hometown. I guess this was filmed in their hometown. Whoa. Okay. So I totally get that this movie is super cheesy.

[00:51:10] It's also sweet and familiar. The nostalgia factor is strong with this film. It makes me think about summers growing up. I'm surprised we didn't kill ourselves. We rode around in rusty wheelbarrows, played in mud and dirty Creek water climbed and jumped from crazy heights and brought home any critters we could find. We had a few less fires and explosions than in this film, but the danger was real. I understand why some people will hate this movie. I'm fond of it though. And I think it's worth a watch. Yeah, sure. Yeah, there you go. And I got one more review here.

[00:51:38] It's a three and a half star review from Jordan Falk, which reads, yeah, it's cheesy and preachy, but damn, was I worried about little Elijah Wood when he was drowning in the water tower. A fine addition to the Elijah Wood has a treehouse slash fort cinematic universe. Whoa. Look at that. We're onto something here. Do we have to, uh, and I got to imagine this stops soon after this movie because he's becoming an adult, but do we have to do like a Roy Scheider shorts watch before Elijah Wood in a treehouse? We might have to.

[00:52:06] Cause I think, uh, paradise definitely has, if not a treehouse that has like some kind of like high up thing that he gets stuck on. It's got like a tower thing. Yeah. Yeah. Radio flyer has a treehouse for sure. Right. For sure. Or actually no forever young has a treehouse is what I'm thinking of. Yeah. Radio flyer has like a back shed. Yes. Radio flyer has a shed, but also, uh, heights. It has like, cause they go flying and radio flyer. Yeah. They do fly in that one. The good son has a treehouse for sure. Uh, and then a cliff as well, uh, dangling from a high heights.

[00:52:35] Uh, and as you mentioned, North has a treehouse fake out, uh, but, uh, doesn't actually have a treehouse in it. And then now we have this movie. Yeah. There's a lot of treehouses in the Elijah Wood cinematic universe. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I like, is that real? Is that one of those things that like T movies have invented as like a thing that used to happen that kids built treehouses? Uh, you know, I, there's not a single human that I knew has had a treehouse. Yeah. Well, you also, you grew up in Queens, which makes that a little trickier. Uh, but not, yeah, sorry. Yeah.

[00:53:05] That's what I mean. But, uh, yeah. So there's, there's not as many trees over by you is what I'm, is what I'm getting at. Sure. Uh, that said, I also didn't know anybody who had treehouses and I was in a much more suburban area than you were. Uh, when I did move into my house, like we moved when I was eight into, uh, the house that my mom is currently at. Uh, and we moved in there and it wasn't the treehouse, but there was like a fort in the backyard that the previous kid who lived there had built with like the neighbor kids.

[00:53:32] And I had lived, I had lived there for like three days and, uh, the neighbor kids like came down to like show me the fort. It was like, uh, you know, initiation, like this is your fort now kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, cause they were a few years older than me. They were probably like, you had to have a knife fight in order to be the one to allow to own it. Exactly. They, they, they were like in sixth or seventh grade and I was in like third grade or something like that. Just imagining the Jimmy's from 28, 28 years later. That's exactly how it went down. Yeah. That's what it was. Yeah.

[00:54:00] Uh, and so, yeah, we went back there and they showed me and it was like a fort kind of thing. And so it was like, you know, uh, sort of a built up wooden, like, you know, wooden boards and a house situation was not in the trees. It wasn't high up, but it was, it was on the ground. Uh, but still that, that's the closest I think I've gotten to it. And I did spend some time there, you know, it was, it was pretty cool to have that in my backyard. I don't think that's there anymore. I think at some point, probably when I got a few years older, my dad was like, you got to get rid of this. Yeah. Yeah. Taking up a lot of space in the backyard.

[00:54:29] Uh, but still pretty neat. Uh, yeah, no, I, but I was when I was a kid, like obsessed with the idea of a tree house. I thought it was so cool. Yeah. And I think specifically, I remember this very, I remember this very specifically and I don't know if this ever actually happened or not, but I remember Cartoon Network had a contest, uh, you know, where every once in a while, like, you know, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, they would do like, you know, go on nick.com, go on cartoonnetwork.com and enter your name to win this contest or whatever. With your parents' permission. With your parents' permission, of course.

[00:54:57] And Cartoon Network had a contest where, uh, if you were the winner, it was like you enter it and it would be a random drawing. And the one kid who was selected, uh, would get the kids next door tree house built in their backyard. Whoa. Uh, which if you've seen kids next door, it's a pretty sick tree house on that show. Right. Uh, and it's huge. It's a massive tree house. Uh, and so I remember like entering that contest and being like, all right, any day now I'm getting that kids next door tree house. It's coming for sure.

[00:55:24] There's a Cartoon Network's going to drive up to my house and install that thing. Uh, and it never happened. And I don't think any kid ever got that tree house. I think Cartoon Network was lying about it the entire time. They were lying. For sure. Yeah. But, uh, still pretty neat. Now Cartoon Network has my information forever since I gave it to them when I was eight years old. Classic. Uh, but that's okay. Cause Cartoon Network barely exists anymore. Uh, thanks David Zaslav. Uh, in any case, uh, yeah, we're on tree house watch now for the foreseeable future.

[00:55:53] It will be very funny if like 50 episodes from now we're watching, we're watching, you know, toxic Avenger and realize that Elijah Wood is a tree house or something. What, what is a hobbit home? If not a tree house, that's a very good point. Actually. What is it? Is it not the ultimate tree house? Uh, you know, this tree house have to be in tree or can it just be hole in the ground? Cause then that's definitely a tree house. I think it's covered in moss. So I feel like it's, it should be considered. It's in the tree house family.

[00:56:21] I think, you know, uh, in any case that is the war from 1994. Mike D where can we find you online this week? You can find me at MD film blog on letterboxd and blue sky. And if you want to donate, support the show, you can do that on our Kofi page, which is Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods, where you can donate $50 and pick a bonus, uh, movie for us to watch on the bonus episodes. Mike and Mike go to the movies. You want us to watch universal soldier? Sure. Hey, why not? Find another role in Demerick.

[00:56:51] We're missing fill in the hole. Make us watch anonymous. Uh, you know, the, uh, the, what if Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare movie? What if Shakespeare pretty fucks? Um, I believe that's Shakespeare in love actually. I think that is Shakespeare in love. You're right. But I've also actually never seen Shakespeare in love. So if you want to make us watch that. Sure. Yeah. Me neither. Actually, uh, $50, $50 on the Kofi page. Best picture winner beat saving private Ryan. You know, that, that's pretty crazy. That's good. That's, um, and if you want, I'm just going to move on.

[00:57:20] And if you want merch, we are merch available on our red bubble. Like in Mike pods. Red bubble.com. That's right. You can find me online at M Smith film blog on Twitter and blue sky. Mike Smith film on letterbox radio, Mike sandwich, Instagram. And you can find this podcast now on Instagram at complete works pod. Thank you for listening to complete works. I'm Mike Smith's my decree show. Don't forget to read and view the show on Apple podcasts or any other podcast app. If you want to contact us, go to blue sky or Instagram at complete works pod. You can find the rest of our podcast and rapture press alongside many other podcasts, all kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good stuff.

[00:57:49] Our theme song was created by Kyle Cullen. You can reach your own podcast themes at Kyle's podcast, themes at gmail.com. And our logo was designed by Mac V or at fearless guard on blue sky. Next week, Elijah would become his friends with a dolphin in flipper. Also he's in flipper. Yeah. Can't wait. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to seeing it's Elijah Wood and Paul Hogan in that movie. Oh, crocodile Dundee himself, uh, popping up in flipper.

[00:58:17] He's racking up the major film stars, co-stars. That's crazy. It's Kevin Costner. It's Mel Gibson. It's Don Johnson. It's Paul Hogan. Baby. Yeah. That's the big four. That's what they call it. Yeah. That's the Mount Rushmore of nineties actors right there. Uh, and remember to check out our other podcasts. Mike might go to the movies for all kinds of other movie related stuff, including recent releases, ranked lists, general discussions, and a lot more. Thanks so much for listening guys. Join us next time. Would you?