Off Mike - Civil War, The First Omen, Immaculate, and more!

[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 geeks.

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

[00:00:09] Let's crack some jokes and tell some folks to come along and hang with us!

[00:00:12] Spike and Mike go to the movies!

[00:00:17] Spike and Mike go to the movies!

[00:00:22] Yeah!

[00:00:24] You have chosen wisely.

[00:00:28] Time for that beloved 1970s late night show whose cultural footprint involves a live demonic

[00:00:34] possession. It's Mike and Mike go to the movies! I'm Mike Smith and I never thought I'd die

[00:00:39] fighting side by side with an elf. Mike DiCriscio.

[00:00:42] How you doing today, Mike? I'm doing good.

[00:00:44] Bewildered. Well, not bewildered. I know why you did that, but what a whiplash

[00:00:48] between those two things. I'm great. I was hoping you'd finish the quote and say like,

[00:00:54] oh boy, what about dying side by side with a friend?

[00:00:57] I guess. I could have slam dunked your alley oop, but what if I just questioned it instead?

[00:01:03] Yes, Mike Di resistant to bits.

[00:01:07] Notorious anti-bit guy.

[00:01:11] Yeah, what's been going on, Mike? How you doing?

[00:01:13] I've been doing good. I've been pretty busy with the friends in town this past week.

[00:01:18] Don't have a lot to discuss. Not very many things.

[00:01:21] That's totally fine.

[00:01:22] Because one of my friends came from Texas for his birthday up to the Big Apple and

[00:01:27] we were hanging out in Brooklyn doing all sorts of stuff. We've gone to dinner,

[00:01:30] going to concerts, hanging out with the homies, living the dream.

[00:01:33] That's awesome. That's great. I'm glad you enjoyed your time in New York.

[00:01:37] Always a good time. Yes.

[00:01:39] I've been deep in the International Wildlife Film Festival at the Roxy,

[00:01:43] which has been fun. And so yeah, I got to talk to some filmmakers and

[00:01:46] all that stuff, which is cool. And yeah, it's been busy, but yeah,

[00:01:50] it's pretty much it. It's the reason you do it.

[00:01:52] Exactly. Yeah. That's why I get out of bed in the morning is that sweet,

[00:01:55] sweet festival rush. Yeah, no, but the entire team's been killing it.

[00:02:01] And it's been really fun to see the theater abuzz and all that kind of stuff.

[00:02:05] But in addition to the International Wildlife Film Festival, we've also got

[00:02:08] other movies playing at the Roxy and also at theaters nationwide.

[00:02:12] Every theater has something playing going on.

[00:02:14] Yeah. There's stuff happening.

[00:02:16] Yeah. And you've been out to the theater a couple of times recently, Mike.

[00:02:19] You've seen a few things.

[00:02:20] I've seen a few things, actually. Two of the four things I've seen exactly

[00:02:24] 50 percent of the discussions for this episode will be theater watches for me.

[00:02:29] There you go. Are movies back for you in a big way, Mike?

[00:02:31] Movies are back, baby. That's what's happening.

[00:02:34] We'll see if it's another six months before I go to the theaters or not.

[00:02:37] Right. But yeah, so we're going to be talking about mostly new releases here

[00:02:41] on this discussions. So I think all of yours are new releases, right, Mike?

[00:02:45] Yes, they are.

[00:02:45] Okay. That's rare. Usually it's the other way around.

[00:02:49] So true.

[00:02:50] But all right, let's get into it. It's time for some discussions.

[00:02:55] These are my discussions.

[00:02:57] Just when I thought I said all I could say, my buddy and I talk about movies we see.

[00:03:02] These are my discussions.

[00:03:04] There is so much to see you and me.

[00:03:07] So we're going to talk about movies for our discussions.

[00:03:12] All right. It's time for some discussions here on Mike and Mike go to the movies.

[00:03:15] And one of the movies that's on your list, Mike, that we should just start off with,

[00:03:19] because we also kind of went off on a tangent about it last week

[00:03:23] on Mike McGo to the movies is Alex Garland's Civil War.

[00:03:27] Civil War is out now.

[00:03:28] Yes, I don't like the way that sounds when you said that.

[00:03:32] Civil War, baby.

[00:03:33] It's out now. Oh, fuck.

[00:03:37] Yeah. So we talked about a little bit last week, but we can kind of go a little

[00:03:40] bit more in depth here on our discussions episode. So Mike D, what were your overall

[00:03:45] thoughts on Civil War?

[00:03:47] I don't really know what to make of this movie is still like two weeks removed.

[00:03:51] You're like, I don't know about this.

[00:03:53] Yeah, I feel like I have to see it again.

[00:03:55] But generally, broadly, I'm in the bag for Alex Garland.

[00:03:58] You know, big, big X, X Machina love annihilation men, I think is fine.

[00:04:06] I think men, I feel like I like men more than most people do.

[00:04:10] Men was very divisive.

[00:04:12] To say the least.

[00:04:14] And I think I really appreciate some of the stuff it's like,

[00:04:17] it's really swinging for the fences with some things.

[00:04:19] But I think there's some really effective horror sequences in men, like some really

[00:04:23] greatly constructed horror sequences.

[00:04:26] The thing where she's running from the guy in the tunnel and she goes back to

[00:04:28] the house and he's like, it's very effective and good.

[00:04:31] I think men reaches for something that it doesn't quite get, but it,

[00:04:35] you know, there's some really good stuff there.

[00:04:37] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:37] I think I admire the swing of men more than the actual movie.

[00:04:41] And then Alex Garland's screenwriter output,

[00:04:44] particularly with Danny Boyle, like 10 out of 10 Chef's Kiss.

[00:04:47] 20 days later, Sunshine, Sunshine with Michelle Yeoh, baby.

[00:04:50] We talked about that movie.

[00:04:51] It's great.

[00:04:51] Love that shit.

[00:04:52] So yeah, which makes my sort of lack of a response or anything like that,

[00:05:00] ambivalence to Civil War, like personally hurt more

[00:05:05] because I wanted so bad for my boy, especially after all the random hate

[00:05:09] that he got after saying that he was retiring from filmmaking or directing.

[00:05:13] And everybody was like, oh, finally.

[00:05:15] I was like, what the fuck is wrong with all?

[00:05:17] You made three movies, two of them were bangers and one of them is weird.

[00:05:19] Like, yeah, that's a pretty good track record.

[00:05:21] That's a pretty good run.

[00:05:22] Yeah.

[00:05:24] So anyway, yeah.

[00:05:26] So but I think Civil War at times when it does the

[00:05:30] sort of like horrific can't breathe suspense tension stuff is incredible.

[00:05:35] It's Alex Garland is great at that, I think.

[00:05:38] You know, particularly Jesse Plemons scene,

[00:05:39] but any of the kind of like combat scenes are like that.

[00:05:43] And they're very intense.

[00:05:45] I think all the performances are really great.

[00:05:46] I think here's some dunce is amazing.

[00:05:49] Could have been season four of the complete works.

[00:05:51] Could have been could have been us, but you were playing.

[00:05:55] Exactly.

[00:05:57] Kaylee Spani, I think, or Spani is amazing.

[00:05:59] Yeah, she's really good.

[00:06:00] She's great.

[00:06:02] And the guys names, who's I can't remember that are with the male leads are great.

[00:06:06] Wagner Mora is the main guy thing.

[00:06:08] Yes.

[00:06:09] And then Stephen McKinley Henderson is the older guy who

[00:06:12] I just love seeing him pop up and stuff.

[00:06:13] He's great.

[00:06:14] Yeah, he's great whenever he shows up.

[00:06:16] He's in the first dune.

[00:06:17] He's in Lady Bird.

[00:06:18] He has a great scene in Lady Bird and he was also on Devs, the Alex Garland TV show.

[00:06:24] Did you watch Devs?

[00:06:25] I've never watched it, but I remember you telling me I would love it.

[00:06:27] Yeah, I think you did.

[00:06:28] It's pretty good.

[00:06:28] It's weird and wild.

[00:06:30] And I think it weirdly kind of informs this like current period of Alex Garland's career.

[00:06:35] But I think Devs is better than both men in Civil War.

[00:06:37] So there's that.

[00:06:38] OK, OK, that's good.

[00:06:39] So where was I go with that?

[00:06:41] Oh yeah, so the performances are great.

[00:06:43] But the stuff I think in between, the moments in between, the combat suspense tension moments,

[00:06:51] I just was like, OK, yeah, I get it.

[00:06:53] It's kind of boring.

[00:06:53] I don't know.

[00:06:54] And I guess that's sort of like the point.

[00:06:55] This weird dehumanizing mundanity of war and that some of them are adrenaline junkies

[00:07:01] and all that shit.

[00:07:03] And I think it's an interesting experiment to do this thing that every American war movie

[00:07:10] does where you use just like, well, the war is sort of just a backdrop for this human

[00:07:14] story, right?

[00:07:15] Like, you know, yeah.

[00:07:16] But it's always in exotic foreign land.

[00:07:20] Right.

[00:07:20] And to do that in America with that is an interesting reversal experiment.

[00:07:25] But I think just in this current cultural moment to invoke all this deeply loaded imagery

[00:07:32] and language and ultimately not be about it is just a wild decision.

[00:07:39] And it and like it references and explains sort of offhanded, you know, stuff that like,

[00:07:45] you know, I feel like a lot of criticisms were like, well, it never says which side

[00:07:49] is which or whatever.

[00:07:51] Like it does.

[00:07:52] The movie says it's just not about that.

[00:07:55] It's in the margins look there.

[00:07:57] It's like a throw away couple lines and some like implied news reports and stuff.

[00:08:01] You have to like piece together what's going on.

[00:08:03] Yeah.

[00:08:04] They reference like, oh, the president's a fascist.

[00:08:06] He's already his third term or something.

[00:08:07] He's dissolved the Justice Department and like all that kind of stuff.

[00:08:12] Or the FBI or whatever.

[00:08:13] Yeah.

[00:08:13] So like, yeah, they explain it in the movie a little bit.

[00:08:16] But yeah, I don't know.

[00:08:18] There's just felt like something was missing in the in between moments.

[00:08:21] And I think maybe that's just the Alex Garland's strengths are like genre

[00:08:26] and suspense and that kind of stuff.

[00:08:28] And maybe they're like just kind of quiet human moments fall a little flat for me.

[00:08:33] Yeah.

[00:08:33] I mean, I get that.

[00:08:35] At the same time, I think ex machina and annihilation both have quiet human moments

[00:08:38] that really work.

[00:08:39] That's true.

[00:08:39] Yeah.

[00:08:40] That's the thing.

[00:08:40] That's a good point.

[00:08:41] You know, so there's that.

[00:08:42] And I would say even men maybe has some stuff in it like that.

[00:08:46] That does work.

[00:08:47] I don't know.

[00:08:47] I think I'm a little more positive in Civil War than you are.

[00:08:50] I think what it lacks in actually making a statement about anything,

[00:08:55] I think it does make up for in being a really effective thriller.

[00:08:58] Like it's a really effective just solid war thriller.

[00:09:01] And I think it's taking imagery that we recognize from history books,

[00:09:06] from other wars.

[00:09:08] This Jesse Fleming scene has like a mass grave in it that really is uncomfortable

[00:09:13] and unsettling and all that kind of stuff.

[00:09:15] And I know people who have watched this movie and were really shaken by it.

[00:09:19] It's very popular at the Roxy among the staff.

[00:09:21] A lot of people are really into it.

[00:09:23] And I've had conversations with people about it.

[00:09:25] And it really worked for them.

[00:09:26] And I don't know.

[00:09:27] I felt myself like a little bit out of a move from it all.

[00:09:30] Maybe because it's like all imagery that like, I don't know.

[00:09:32] It feels like it's trying to provoke maybe trying a little too hard or something.

[00:09:36] I'm not totally sure there, but it's like showing you that imagery.

[00:09:39] And then it's like, yeah, but it's not about this.

[00:09:41] It's about this other thing.

[00:09:43] And I think it's fairly effective at being about that other things.

[00:09:47] It's really it's a movie about these like four photojournalists,

[00:09:49] war photojournalists.

[00:09:50] It's about what those people kind of go through as war journalists

[00:09:56] and how that impacts their psyche and how they do their jobs.

[00:09:59] And I think that's pretty interesting.

[00:10:02] I think it's pretty effective for that.

[00:10:04] And I think even the movie does give you that information,

[00:10:06] but it's all on the sidelines and stuff.

[00:10:08] I think it very deliberately is trying to keep you as objective to the conflict

[00:10:12] as possible so that you're sort of like the journalists who are theoretically

[00:10:16] supposed to be documenting these things in how they're supposed to be acting

[00:10:19] as if it's like acting as objective observers to the whole thing.

[00:10:22] But then it's also about that, like, you know, the morality of that.

[00:10:26] And like if they are able to do something, should they do something

[00:10:28] or even just the act of observing that thing?

[00:10:30] Does that change how that thing is?

[00:10:32] You know, and so I think the movie is asking those kinds of questions.

[00:10:35] I think it's fairly effective at being about that.

[00:10:38] But I think maybe it shouldn't have been about like a fictional civil war.

[00:10:41] Maybe it should have just been about like a real thing that happened.

[00:10:43] Do you know?

[00:10:43] Like, I don't know.

[00:10:44] It feels weird, right?

[00:10:45] It feels weird.

[00:10:46] And then and like the movie tries to I mean, yeah,

[00:10:50] I guess it's just like my own political convictions of light

[00:10:54] or just human convictions that like it's impossible to be apolitical.

[00:10:59] That is not a possible thing.

[00:11:00] Right.

[00:11:00] So for the movie to take the stance of like,

[00:11:02] this is the morally correct thing to do sort of.

[00:11:04] It's like, that doesn't make sense.

[00:11:06] That's not possible.

[00:11:07] The very notion that they are, like you said, they are observing these things.

[00:11:10] They are deciding to share their like their imaging and reporting

[00:11:15] is a political movement, like it's a political act itself.

[00:11:18] So like, what are you doing?

[00:11:19] I don't know.

[00:11:20] But I think that is like the idea of what journalism is, right?

[00:11:23] Supposed to be like objectively reporting the facts or whatever it is.

[00:11:27] And yeah, I think the movie is like sort of exploring

[00:11:29] the like the cracks within that facade a little bit or whatever it is.

[00:11:33] But yeah, I think it's a movie that is a pretty effective thriller.

[00:11:37] It's got great sequences in it.

[00:11:39] And it's trying to say something that it doesn't quite reach much like men.

[00:11:43] I think I like it about as much as I like men

[00:11:46] because it's like, oh, there's good stuff here.

[00:11:48] There's a lot of really good stuff here.

[00:11:49] It just doesn't come together in the end.

[00:11:51] Which will reiterate is more than a lot that most people.

[00:11:54] I'm friends with a couple of people that like actively hate men.

[00:11:59] Men may have some of the most walkouts I've ever seen in a theater.

[00:12:03] Wow.

[00:12:04] I mean, I went to men and saw it and there's a couple of people

[00:12:06] walked out of my theater, but I was working at the Roxy front of house

[00:12:09] when we were showing men and just watching people like

[00:12:13] so many people were leaving men basically right as the birthing scene started.

[00:12:18] They're like, nope, you can't do that.

[00:12:19] Five minutes left in the movie at that point.

[00:12:20] I know, but there's like, yeah, I'm out.

[00:12:23] That's wild.

[00:12:23] That's crazy.

[00:12:24] Cowards.

[00:12:25] They're all cowards.

[00:12:26] Cowards all.

[00:12:27] Yes.

[00:12:27] Yeah.

[00:12:27] So, yeah, I don't know.

[00:12:28] I think it's interesting.

[00:12:29] It's an interesting.

[00:12:31] I think Civil War is an interesting experiment maybe.

[00:12:34] And maybe if I watch it again and I might, you know,

[00:12:37] can sort of do a little more hashtag analysis on it or something

[00:12:41] and come down on it.

[00:12:42] But I mean, ultimately, I'm positive or disappointed,

[00:12:45] like sort of that broad three stars on the letterbox we always talk about,

[00:12:49] like maybe the slightly negative of the three stars.

[00:12:52] I did give it three.

[00:12:53] So it's not like I don't think it's bad.

[00:12:54] Yeah, I just don't think it really delivers on what I was hoping or expecting

[00:12:57] or like sort of like you said, like men doesn't really quite achieve

[00:13:00] whatever larger statement it was trying to make.

[00:13:03] I don't think it really comes together for me.

[00:13:05] Yeah, fair enough.

[00:13:06] That said, the Jesse Plymouth scene is really good.

[00:13:08] Stand out.

[00:13:08] Incredible.

[00:13:09] Yeah, he's so good.

[00:13:10] He's one of those actors who just pops in and is immediately like,

[00:13:12] oh yeah, fuck, this guy's here.

[00:13:14] Yeah, he's wild.

[00:13:15] He's terrifying.

[00:13:17] And yeah, I mean, the whole final 20 minutes is like an incredible,

[00:13:21] intense, traumatic, suspense, thriller action, combat sequence.

[00:13:26] That shit all rocks in just like a scary, exciting filmmaking way.

[00:13:32] And then, yeah, I don't know, it doesn't really quite come together for me.

[00:13:35] Yeah, but there you go.

[00:13:36] That's Alex Garland's Civil War, which is out in theaters right now.

[00:13:39] A24 is biggest opening weekend ever.

[00:13:42] Yeah, and then they ruined it with AI posters.

[00:13:45] I don't really understand what A24 is doing right now.

[00:13:48] Not a fan of that.

[00:13:51] I mean, yeah, it is that that is a weird choice for sure.

[00:13:54] So yeah, I mean, hopefully the online backlash to that,

[00:13:57] you know, makes them not do that again.

[00:13:58] We'll see what happens.

[00:14:00] Yeah, Civil War out in theaters right now.

[00:14:01] And then actually speaking of an AI backlash,

[00:14:03] did you also watch Late Night with the Devil?

[00:14:05] Is that one of your four movies?

[00:14:07] It is.

[00:14:07] And we had two, we had potentially three,

[00:14:10] speaking of AI backlash and then two,

[00:14:12] speaking of birthing scenes.

[00:14:15] I have potential segues.

[00:14:17] So let's do the AI backlash one first.

[00:14:19] Yeah, fair enough.

[00:14:20] So you we both watched Late Night with the Devil,

[00:14:24] which is the new film, which is now streaming on Shudder.

[00:14:26] I got to see it at the Roxy.

[00:14:27] We were playing it for a few weeks and we actually got it like a few months ago.

[00:14:32] It was on my radar a few months ago because Solvei,

[00:14:34] one of our programmers, was trying to program it for her series Late Night Oddities,

[00:14:38] which is like contemporary horror.

[00:14:40] And we played it like 1030 at night,

[00:14:42] you know, sort of like close to a midnight.

[00:14:43] It used to be Midnight Madness, but turned out that was too late for people.

[00:14:47] So now it's 1030.

[00:14:49] And yeah, it's like, you know, just weird new horror movies.

[00:14:51] And she was trying to get this for a while.

[00:14:53] Skin of Mourning was also a Late Night Oddity before we started playing that one, too.

[00:14:56] And then, yeah, couldn't get it.

[00:14:57] And then finally they were releasing it.

[00:14:59] And so we were able to get it for that, but then also play it for a run.

[00:15:01] But I went to the Late Night Oddities screening.

[00:15:03] It was a sold out crowd for Late Night with the Devil.

[00:15:05] So I'll talk about my experience in a little bit.

[00:15:07] But Mike D, I know you were pretty excited about this movie for a while.

[00:15:10] And then the the AI thing happens.

[00:15:13] And you were less excited about this movie.

[00:15:15] Less excited. Yeah, I was very interested in this movie.

[00:15:17] I remember hearing about it.

[00:15:18] Big David Dismalchian fan.

[00:15:19] Love when he shows up from Dune.

[00:15:21] Also from Dune.

[00:15:22] Also from any Danny Villeneuve movie.

[00:15:26] But like just Stephen McKinley Henderson and David Dismalchian.

[00:15:28] We're just rounding up the Dune character actors.

[00:15:30] Yeah, exactly.

[00:15:32] So yeah, big fan of that.

[00:15:34] And yeah, they have the conceit of I heard the plot of just like,

[00:15:37] kind of struggling late night hosts, late night talk show host decides to have a

[00:15:42] like seance or possession or something like that.

[00:15:45] I didn't know at the time live on air and things go wrong.

[00:15:49] It's late night with the devil.

[00:15:50] Like, I mean, that sounds cool as hell.

[00:15:52] And I was very excited and I think it was getting some pretty good buzz

[00:15:56] out of some festivals and stuff.

[00:15:57] And then yeah, it was sort of like revealed.

[00:16:00] I almost want to say like leaked because that's sort of how it happened.

[00:16:02] It was like in the letterboxed comments reviews, be like, why am I the only one mentioning

[00:16:08] like whoever that first person was that this film uses AI generated images in the movie?

[00:16:15] And that kind of kicked off on Twitter.

[00:16:17] And yeah, they use it in the like I said, the conceit is it's a late night live

[00:16:22] TV broadcast.

[00:16:23] So in the kind of like technical difficulties, we'll be right back kind of moments.

[00:16:26] They use AI art, AI generated images in there because it's theft and not art.

[00:16:31] And it's it looks fucking awful.

[00:16:34] Like, it's so bad.

[00:16:35] I don't understand this movie.

[00:16:37] I understand it's like a low budget thing and I get it.

[00:16:40] And but like they could have just paid some artists on Twitter $500 and like they

[00:16:44] would have made it for you.

[00:16:45] Like I don't like does it make sense?

[00:16:47] Like look at the stuff our friend, friend of the show Mac V makes art for us.

[00:16:51] And it's amazing.

[00:16:51] It's incredibly like somebody like Mac would have done this for so cheap.

[00:16:54] Like I don't understand there's no reason.

[00:16:56] Any independent horror filmmakers that are listening to this podcast right now, please

[00:16:59] hire Mac V to hire any art that you might need.

[00:17:02] She's incredible, but just literally just go on.

[00:17:05] I guess I don't even know if this shit works on Twitter anymore, but used to be

[00:17:08] able to just go on and like search hashtag open commissions and you would

[00:17:12] just find literally countless artists that have their commissions.

[00:17:15] Yeah, just get the best art you've ever seen.

[00:17:18] Like, yeah, pay real people to make real art is what I'm saying.

[00:17:22] So and then and then coming right after all the writer strikes and the

[00:17:26] strikes and all of it being about the use in the future of AI in the film industry.

[00:17:30] It just made such a weird taste in my mouth.

[00:17:33] Right.

[00:17:33] And, you know, I mean about this, this specific example, like this movie was

[00:17:38] shot like two or three years ago.

[00:17:39] Right.

[00:17:40] It was, you know, kind of before we were like, we really started having

[00:17:43] conversations about AI and all that kind of stuff.

[00:17:46] So there there was that aspect of it too.

[00:17:48] But then the filmmakers were also very weird about it in interviews where

[00:17:50] they kept be kept like kind of digging themselves further into that AI hole.

[00:17:55] And they and they did like kind of were like, well, yeah, we did.

[00:17:57] We did use AI.

[00:17:59] We did have an art department that did kind of sign off on it.

[00:18:01] Right.

[00:18:02] Like touched it up or whatever or whatever it is.

[00:18:04] Yeah.

[00:18:04] But it is only used for like interstitial moments throughout the movie.

[00:18:07] However, I think one of the images is like in the background of the movie

[00:18:10] for a good portion of it.

[00:18:11] Like it's I didn't even notice if it is part of the set dressing or whatever.

[00:18:15] It probably is.

[00:18:16] And yeah, it's like I mean, there's a bunch of different like,

[00:18:19] you know, we'll be right back interstitial things.

[00:18:21] So I don't know if all of them are AI because a lot of them are just

[00:18:24] like text and stuff.

[00:18:25] Yeah, I think I think three of them are AI or something like that.

[00:18:28] Yeah, in particular, that skeleton one.

[00:18:30] Yeah, it's the one that got shared the screenshot.

[00:18:32] It looks awful.

[00:18:33] Like I don't understand who they allegedly who allegedly said, yeah, this is fine.

[00:18:37] Yeah, like it's so anyway, whatever, we don't need to get into that.

[00:18:40] The movie itself, though, yes, it's like fine.

[00:18:44] I was like pretty disappointed.

[00:18:46] I don't know if I was just like all of that going on when I like push play

[00:18:49] and was like, OK, and then and then like I think you even said this

[00:18:52] like when it when it comes up in the movie, you're like you're like hiss and recoil.

[00:18:56] Like when? Yeah.

[00:18:56] So I mean, I saw in the theater and I will say I thought the movie was pretty good.

[00:19:00] I enjoyed it. It's like overall removed from all the controversy.

[00:19:04] I had a pretty good time with it.

[00:19:06] But yeah, every time it comes up because it's like every 10, 20 minutes,

[00:19:08] like you it cuts to commercial and like that comes up

[00:19:11] and you can immediately tell like it's just like, ah, like,

[00:19:15] and I don't want to say mine.

[00:19:16] I don't think my entire theater was like privy to this whole conversation

[00:19:18] or like it's mostly an online thing or whatever.

[00:19:20] But like, you know, I felt myself being like,

[00:19:23] yeah, gross, like, take it away because it just it takes up the whole screen.

[00:19:27] It becomes that image. Yeah, exactly.

[00:19:29] And yeah, I mean, like, yeah, it's only three or four images

[00:19:32] in this very small low budget theater or film.

[00:19:35] But, you know, it's the slippery slope.

[00:19:37] Like already now there's that whole controversy around some Netflix

[00:19:40] Netflix documentary that used the images to just wholesale

[00:19:43] invent stuff about the subject of the documentary.

[00:19:45] It's like, OK, great. We don't like, you know, whatever it does.

[00:19:48] Fuck that. Fuck AI, basically.

[00:19:50] So yeah, I don't know.

[00:19:52] I think the movie Late Night with the Devil is interesting.

[00:19:55] One, every movie should start with Michael Ironside

[00:19:57] telling me what the history of the world is, which is great.

[00:20:01] I was not expecting that. That was fun.

[00:20:03] That was cool.

[00:20:03] But yeah, it's like, you know, the conceit is that

[00:20:07] this is the like kind of unearthed tapes of this live broadcast,

[00:20:11] this final show.

[00:20:12] So it's sort of a found footage thing and like also accompanying

[00:20:15] behind the scenes footage.

[00:20:17] So like when it's switch it, when it's when it is the live broadcast

[00:20:20] and it's the found footage part, it's very cool and interesting.

[00:20:23] Yeah.

[00:20:23] And then like the commercial breaks are this like behind the scenes footage.

[00:20:26] But it's like those are just regular film style.

[00:20:30] Like it's in black and white and it's like sort of like a handheld camera thing.

[00:20:32] Yeah.

[00:20:33] But it is not presented in like any behind the scenes footage that

[00:20:37] normally would exist.

[00:20:37] I don't know. It's very weird.

[00:20:38] Right.

[00:20:39] So yeah.

[00:20:40] And then and then overall, I think the kind of like low budget effects

[00:20:43] sort of bring it down a little bit too.

[00:20:45] It gets like kind of CGI heavy at the end and does this whole weird thing.

[00:20:48] But overall, I think I think it's fine.

[00:20:50] It's pretty cool.

[00:20:51] I like the the like skeptic guy versus the like real life supernatural stuff

[00:20:56] that might be happening on set and him just being like, well,

[00:20:58] it's this and all the clearly the explanation is this.

[00:21:01] And that whole, you know, eventual come up and stuff is a fun thing.

[00:21:05] Yeah. No, I thought the movie was pretty solid.

[00:21:07] I enjoyed it.

[00:21:08] I think David Dismalchen is giving a good performance.

[00:21:10] Yes.

[00:21:10] Yeah, which is very fun.

[00:21:12] I liked the conceit of it, that you're kind of watching it as the show,

[00:21:16] like it all takes place in real time with the show and the behind the scenes stuff was fine.

[00:21:20] I think it does break the format of the movie at the end.

[00:21:24] Yes.

[00:21:25] You know, and I think that kind of hurts it.

[00:21:27] And I think, yeah, it kind of goes into some weird places

[00:21:29] that theoretically could work, but I don't think the movie has the budget

[00:21:32] or the skill to really pull off what it's trying to do.

[00:21:35] But like about half of the movie, I thought occurred to me that I couldn't shake.

[00:21:40] It wasn't about the AI or anything like that.

[00:21:42] It was that as good as David Dismalchen is in the movie and he's good in it.

[00:21:45] Yeah, he's very good.

[00:21:46] He does a good job.

[00:21:47] Like imagine if this movie was exactly the same,

[00:21:49] but it starred Conan O'Brien in the lead role.

[00:21:52] This was before the Conan Hot Ones and stuff came out.

[00:21:55] I know the Conan, like, you know, the love on Twitter

[00:21:58] that was going around for Conan O'Brien that made it seem like he had died.

[00:22:01] But it was just because everybody loves Conan.

[00:22:03] Yes.

[00:22:04] You know, I had that thought and I was like, man, this movie,

[00:22:07] if it's exactly the same, like he doesn't have to play.

[00:22:09] He can still play the same character.

[00:22:10] Doesn't have to be literally like playing Conan O'Brien or anything.

[00:22:13] But like Conan, it would kill.

[00:22:15] It would be incredible if Conan O'Brien played David Dismalchen's character

[00:22:20] and Andy Richter could play the sidekick too, of course.

[00:22:22] Of course.

[00:22:23] But yeah, and that reminded me like I was talking.

[00:22:26] I was saying that to somebody and, you know,

[00:22:27] they had kind of told me about this British movie that basically does that.

[00:22:31] There was a British movie and I'm blanking on the name of it now.

[00:22:34] Is it Ghost Watch?

[00:22:36] I think it is Ghost Watch.

[00:22:37] Actually, I think you're right.

[00:22:38] Yeah, it's a Ghost Watch is the name of the movie.

[00:22:40] And it was a TV horror.

[00:22:41] It was a TV horror movie that starred British TV personalities,

[00:22:45] like real TV personalities playing themselves.

[00:22:48] And it was exactly this.

[00:22:49] It was like a late, like a sort of late Night of the Devil.

[00:22:52] Like you're watching them like a possession on live TV and things go like crazy.

[00:22:57] And it became like, you know, a big thing in British television in the early 90s

[00:23:01] because it was because people thought it was real

[00:23:03] because it was like the real people playing themselves in this movie.

[00:23:07] And yeah, it was one of the things like, oh man, that sounds really cool.

[00:23:11] I want to watch Ghost Watch even though I have like less familiarity

[00:23:14] with the early 90s British TV personality.

[00:23:16] Right.

[00:23:17] Yeah, I've heard of that because it was, yeah, that like they sort of like

[00:23:21] unannounced aired this like Ghost Hunter thing with the real TV people.

[00:23:27] And yeah, freaked everybody out.

[00:23:29] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:23:29] And so, yeah, I believe Ghost Watch is also on Shutter, by the way.

[00:23:33] I feel that people want to check it out.

[00:23:34] I think it is.

[00:23:35] So, yeah, I do want to watch that at some point.

[00:23:37] But yeah, somebody compared this movie to Ghost Watch as well.

[00:23:39] I was like, oh man, sounds really cool.

[00:23:41] Sounds neat.

[00:23:42] Yeah. Check out also if you're in.

[00:23:44] I've talked about it before.

[00:23:45] I think the WNUF Halloween special.

[00:23:47] Yes, we mentioned that a few times.

[00:23:49] Which is a the conceit for that is that it's a local news.

[00:23:53] So, you know, public access news show on their Halloween special.

[00:23:56] They're going to go into the haunted house, the supposed haunted house

[00:23:59] where like a triple like a Amityville horror,

[00:24:01] like a triple homicide happened or something like that.

[00:24:03] And yeah.

[00:24:04] And this is a taped VHS of that TV broadcast, right?

[00:24:08] And then so it's a lot of most of it is fake commercials, which is fun.

[00:24:11] But then when they go into the house, scary shit happens.

[00:24:14] And it's like just a found footage, you know, like 20 minute horror short film

[00:24:17] at the end of this mostly joke fake commercial thing.

[00:24:21] So check that out too if you're interested in this format.

[00:24:25] Very cool.

[00:24:25] But yeah, late night with the devil.

[00:24:26] I had a pretty good time with it.

[00:24:27] It's solid.

[00:24:28] It's you know, it's pretty fun.

[00:24:29] I enjoyed it.

[00:24:31] I wish the AI stuff wasn't there.

[00:24:33] But for what it is, I think it's pretty good.

[00:24:35] Yeah, I was kind of really I was really hoping that this would be like the

[00:24:39] like breakout indie horror like, you know, darling cult darling

[00:24:44] sort of like Terrifier 2 was or something last year

[00:24:46] or two years ago whenever that was.

[00:24:48] Whereas it's kind of like, you know, building steam, building momentum,

[00:24:50] like holy shit, people got to watch this kind of thing.

[00:24:52] And I don't think it quite comes to that level.

[00:24:54] I haven't watched Terrifier 2 yet still actually, but yeah,

[00:24:57] just from broader reactions and then you add on the AI stuff.

[00:25:01] And it's just like, what is you just shot yourself in the foot?

[00:25:03] Any girl you might have had the just Mouchy and heads.

[00:25:06] It's just you lose me.

[00:25:07] Yeah, you know, you know what is weird is that we have three new movies

[00:25:12] that just came out that are all about demonic possession,

[00:25:15] two of which are from independent studios.

[00:25:17] But the one that like is the general consensus pick for like the best

[00:25:20] of those three is the one from a major studio that's tied to an IP.

[00:25:24] It's weird as hell.

[00:25:25] It's it's all backwards.

[00:25:27] So the dogs and cats living together.

[00:25:28] Yeah.

[00:25:29] Mass hysteria.

[00:25:31] And speaking of those movies, Mike, so you actually watched the other two of those.

[00:25:35] Yes.

[00:25:36] And I have only seen one of them.

[00:25:37] So why don't you talk about the one I haven't seen first?

[00:25:40] And then we'll dive into the one that I have seen,

[00:25:42] which is consensus pick the best one.

[00:25:44] Yes.

[00:25:45] So I watched just recently hit VOD, I think in the last week or two.

[00:25:49] Yeah.

[00:25:50] Immaculate starring Sydney Sweeney,

[00:25:53] which came out in theaters a couple of weeks ago.

[00:25:54] I think the same week as the first omen or the week before.

[00:25:57] The first omen is the movie referring to.

[00:25:59] Yes.

[00:25:59] Yeah.

[00:26:00] Yeah, I think Immaculate was like late March and first one was early April.

[00:26:03] Yeah, they were like right on the heels of each other.

[00:26:06] Yeah.

[00:26:06] It's one of those times where weird movie releases sync up to be the same topic or some genre.

[00:26:13] Your Armageddon deep, you know, deep impact.

[00:26:15] Impact.

[00:26:15] Yeah.

[00:26:16] Exactly.

[00:26:17] And yeah, Immaculate is really good.

[00:26:19] It's fun.

[00:26:21] Yeah, it's about, you know, it's pretty funny on colors of the dark podcast.

[00:26:26] This, you know, horror podcast.

[00:26:27] They were talking about these two movies and Elric Kane did a bit where he's like,

[00:26:31] OK, I'm going to read the plot synopsis for Immaculate.

[00:26:34] And he read it.

[00:26:34] And then the cohost was like, OK, now read first omen.

[00:26:37] And he was like, I read you first omen, but told you it was Immaculate

[00:26:41] and you didn't know.

[00:26:44] But yes, Sydney Sweeney is this young American nurse who goes or not nurse,

[00:26:49] none young American nun who goes to Italy to take her vows to join a convent.

[00:26:55] So far, that's the first omen.

[00:26:56] So far, that's the first omen.

[00:26:58] Immaculate is ambiguously set or anachronistically set.

[00:27:02] Like they don't specifically say when it's taking place, but it's got 70s vibes.

[00:27:08] It's also a period piece.

[00:27:11] And when she gets into the convent, she discovers like a sort of sinister cabal

[00:27:16] operating in the shadows of this convent and they, you know, a pregnancy occurs,

[00:27:22] as you might have assumed from the title Immaculate.

[00:27:26] And then, you know, maybe she's being foisted into this power of

[00:27:30] or this position of like power and all this stuff.

[00:27:33] And yeah, it's really intense.

[00:27:34] It's a lot more maybe like exploitationy genre wise than first omen.

[00:27:40] And like it sucks that they can only be talked about together as a comparison.

[00:27:45] But there's it's so easy to talk about them that way.

[00:27:47] But yeah, it's a lot more of like an exploitation film.

[00:27:50] It's a lot more violent, I think.

[00:27:53] The guy who plays the professor in Money Heist on Netflix, he's the like head priest

[00:27:59] and he rules and he's really great as the professor in Money Heist.

[00:28:03] I can't say I've watched Money Heist.

[00:28:04] That's not.

[00:28:05] Yeah, I've talked about it.

[00:28:06] I watched the first two seasons.

[00:28:08] Talked about it when I watched those,

[00:28:09] but I don't remember his name, but he's really great.

[00:28:12] But yeah, Alvaro Morte.

[00:28:15] Yes.

[00:28:16] And Sydney Sweeney is really great.

[00:28:18] I've never watched Euphoria.

[00:28:19] So as this movie started, I was like, I think this is the first time

[00:28:23] I've heard Sydney Sweeney's voice.

[00:28:25] You know, like I've only ever seen pictures of her and stuff.

[00:28:29] But she's really great.

[00:28:30] And that's just a weird thing that happens sometimes

[00:28:32] when somebody gets famous from a thing you haven't watched.

[00:28:35] And then they're in stuff and you're like, wait, what?

[00:28:37] Yeah, I've been curious to watch this specifically for Sydney Sweeney's performance

[00:28:41] because I have also not watched Euphoria.

[00:28:43] I think the only Sydney Sweeney movie I've seen

[00:28:46] or I've seen her on the White Lotus.

[00:28:48] She was in the first season of the White Lotus.

[00:28:49] OK, I didn't watch that either.

[00:28:50] And I watched Anyone But You, which came out last year,

[00:28:54] her romcom with Glenn Powell, which was a big hit.

[00:28:57] You know, one of those things that's oh, she was actually

[00:28:59] she's also in West Virginia, Hollywood.

[00:29:00] She's one of the.

[00:29:01] Oh, really?

[00:29:02] Yeah, I think she's one of the group like, you know,

[00:29:03] one of the ranch man.

[00:29:04] So yeah, exactly.

[00:29:05] But yeah, I still haven't seen Madame Webb.

[00:29:07] I still haven't seen a couple other things

[00:29:08] that I have been meaning to get around to, you know, Madame Webb.

[00:29:10] I'm going to I'm going to watch it eventually.

[00:29:11] Top of the list.

[00:29:12] Top of the list.

[00:29:14] Sorry, Lawrence of Arabia.

[00:29:15] I'm going to watch you later.

[00:29:18] Got to watch Madame Webb, but I did see.

[00:29:20] So I've seen her on the White Lotus,

[00:29:22] which I thought she was pretty good in, but she's, you know,

[00:29:24] she's a mean girl kind of thing.

[00:29:26] It was like that felt like the kind of thing

[00:29:27] that she's probably doing on Euphoria.

[00:29:29] I haven't watched Euphoria.

[00:29:29] I don't know.

[00:29:31] But I've seen her Anyone But You and I thought she was

[00:29:33] like actively awful in Anyone But You.

[00:29:35] And I'm somebody who's like pretty lenient with a lot

[00:29:37] of performances.

[00:29:38] I think I'm like, oh, it's fun to see them in a movie

[00:29:41] or whatever.

[00:29:42] And in Anyone But You, I think she has zero chemistry

[00:29:44] with Glenn Powell.

[00:29:45] And I feel like every time she speaks, it's like she's

[00:29:49] learning English for the first time.

[00:29:50] Like it's like she's she's learning how humans

[00:29:53] like emotes and like she's an alien that has landed

[00:29:56] in this movie.

[00:29:57] It's like she's Scarlett Johansson under the skin

[00:29:59] or something, you know, like just incredible feels

[00:30:02] so alien watching her.

[00:30:04] And yet there is like an undeniably like there's

[00:30:06] some kind of presence here.

[00:30:08] I'm not quite sure what it is, but there's some

[00:30:09] kind of presence.

[00:30:10] And then she did a host SNL recently.

[00:30:12] And I kind of felt similarly where she was like she was

[00:30:15] mostly wooden throughout the show.

[00:30:16] There is one really great sketch that she's in

[00:30:19] called Bowen Straits, where it turns out Bowen Yang

[00:30:21] is a straight guy and he and Sydney Sweeney

[00:30:23] have a relationship.

[00:30:24] Just pretty funny.

[00:30:25] But yeah, I don't know.

[00:30:26] And so I've been curious about Immaculate

[00:30:27] because it does seem like this is a bigger stretch

[00:30:30] than what I've seen her do before.

[00:30:32] And most of what I've heard about her role

[00:30:34] is that she's pretty good in it.

[00:30:35] Like I heard she's good.

[00:30:37] I guess she apparently was also on Sharp Objects,

[00:30:40] which I did watch.

[00:30:40] But that was before I knew who she was.

[00:30:42] So I don't remember her character.

[00:30:43] Fair enough.

[00:30:44] Yeah, yeah, I think there's also some she's also

[00:30:47] a producer for this film.

[00:30:48] And I think I remember some behind the scenes stuff

[00:30:50] that this like sort of almost didn't get made

[00:30:52] and like some people dropped out

[00:30:54] and she sort of like financed her people or whatever.

[00:30:56] Yeah.

[00:30:56] And it's like a real passion project for her

[00:30:58] and the director.

[00:30:59] And like she really was like I want this

[00:31:00] to be my big movie kind of thing.

[00:31:02] And so she really took the helm on it and stuff

[00:31:04] and made sure it helped to get made.

[00:31:06] And yeah, I mean, it's you know, a lot of it,

[00:31:08] the first half or so is sort of that like deer in a headlights,

[00:31:13] you kind of like I guess alien learning humanity

[00:31:15] for discovering humanity.

[00:31:17] Yeah, because she's dropped in the Italian culture.

[00:31:18] She doesn't speak Italian.

[00:31:19] And she's out of realm and all this stuff.

[00:31:21] But once it sort of kicks in in the movie,

[00:31:23] like the horror stuff really gets going,

[00:31:26] it's like a really physical and intense bloody performance

[00:31:29] that she's giving.

[00:31:30] And I think it's like really it's really powerful.

[00:31:32] And the last five minutes are just like, holy shit.

[00:31:35] Like we're going here.

[00:31:36] This is what we're doing.

[00:31:37] So it's pretty cool.

[00:31:38] Yeah, it's cool to see her get that kind of give

[00:31:41] that kind of like, you know, scream Queenie kind of performance.

[00:31:44] So yeah, I mean, it seems like also another big horror year

[00:31:47] in general, you know, horrors back in a big way,

[00:31:48] just like it is every year.

[00:31:51] I think and specifically for the euphoria girls, right?

[00:31:55] That I don't know if challenges or challenges

[00:31:57] is a horror movie, but it is not a horror movie.

[00:32:00] Unless you find romantic triangles horrifying

[00:32:04] because of the stress that that comes with

[00:32:07] two boyfriends who could handle that?

[00:32:09] It seems impossible.

[00:32:10] And she's dating them.

[00:32:12] I'm trying to picture like a sitcom plot where she's like,

[00:32:14] oh, they're both in the same night.

[00:32:19] And yeah, Cuckoo with Hunter Schaefer, right?

[00:32:21] Hunter Schaefer.

[00:32:22] Yeah, that's that comes out of Think-A-Later this year or something.

[00:32:24] Yes, yes, it does.

[00:32:25] So that's cool.

[00:32:26] Yeah, I'm at here pretty good.

[00:32:27] It's good.

[00:32:27] I think it's worth a watch.

[00:32:28] It's 90 minutes and it's just like bloody kind of Italian horror movie fun.

[00:32:32] Nice.

[00:32:32] Yeah, I plan to watch that pretty soon.

[00:32:33] I see that hit VOD recently.

[00:32:35] I'm sure that'll be streaming soon elsewhere.

[00:32:37] But yeah, there it is.

[00:32:38] And then, yeah, might as well get into the other one, Mike.

[00:32:41] I don't mean to get all of your movies out of the way before the episodes over,

[00:32:44] but these segues, they don't they you got to take advantage.

[00:32:48] Too easy.

[00:32:49] So this movie, The First Omen is about a young American nun

[00:32:52] who travels to Italy to join a convent for the first take her first vows.

[00:32:58] A surprising pregnancy happens.

[00:33:02] So the first Omen came out.

[00:33:03] Not the first Omen.

[00:33:04] Yeah, the first.

[00:33:06] Yes, this is a this is one of my least favorite title conventions.

[00:33:09] This happened a few times.

[00:33:10] The first purge also did this where anytime I talk about the first purge,

[00:33:14] which is often

[00:33:17] champing at the bit to talk about the first purge,

[00:33:20] people like, oh, you mean the purge like the original purge and like,

[00:33:23] no, I'm talking about the first purge, the fifth purge movie.

[00:33:27] Yeah, insane.

[00:33:28] And this is, I think, the sixth Omen movie, if you include the remake.

[00:33:31] Right.

[00:33:32] Yeah, because there was so the Omen came out in 1976, iconic horror film.

[00:33:36] Richard Donner has, you know, it was kind of made as sort of an exercise knockoff,

[00:33:40] but it kind of stands on its own as its own thing.

[00:33:43] And yeah, it spawned a franchise.

[00:33:45] There were three Omen movies, like three Omen movies.

[00:33:48] And then there was a fourth one.

[00:33:50] And then there was the Omen remake in 2006.

[00:33:52] Yes.

[00:33:52] And then it's been sitting dormant since then.

[00:33:54] And the one in 2006 was mostly made just because June 6th, 2006 is coming up.

[00:33:58] We got to make an Omen.

[00:34:00] Yeah, 6606.

[00:34:01] We got to do it.

[00:34:02] Yes.

[00:34:02] And they did it.

[00:34:03] And I think it bombed.

[00:34:03] I don't think it did very well.

[00:34:05] I don't know.

[00:34:06] I remember going to see it in 2006.

[00:34:08] Yeah.

[00:34:08] OK.

[00:34:09] I've never seen the Omen remake.

[00:34:09] Omen is a big horror franchise, big movie, the first one in the Decrecius House.

[00:34:15] Really?

[00:34:15] OK.

[00:34:15] Yeah.

[00:34:16] My parents always joked once I saw it.

[00:34:18] Well, I mean, I saw it because they always joked about this,

[00:34:21] that I was born with a full head of like Elvis hair.

[00:34:23] Like, that's what they always said.

[00:34:24] So they would always joke, how are they going to see the 666?

[00:34:27] Because I had so much hair.

[00:34:28] And I was like, I'm five.

[00:34:31] What are you talking about?

[00:34:31] No.

[00:34:32] Your parents seem fun.

[00:34:33] They seem like fun people.

[00:34:35] We're quoting movies left and right, baby.

[00:34:38] And so yeah, it's always been like just the thing in the house.

[00:34:41] And then, yeah.

[00:34:42] So we always put every time the Omen comes on, we're like, oh,

[00:34:45] watch the Omen, whatever.

[00:34:46] So yeah, I remember being like, we got to go see the remake.

[00:34:49] And I made my mom or somebody take me because I was 14.

[00:34:52] Yeah.

[00:34:53] Ever since it's an R-rated movie.

[00:34:54] So where were we going with that?

[00:34:56] I don't know.

[00:34:57] We were talking about the Omen series in general, I guess.

[00:34:59] But yeah, so I've seen the Omen 1976.

[00:35:01] I've seen the original Omen.

[00:35:02] I've not seen any of the sequels.

[00:35:03] I've not seen Omen 2 or Omen 3.

[00:35:05] Omen 3 is the one with Sam Neill where he plays a Philip Damian.

[00:35:08] I think it's running for president or something.

[00:35:10] He becomes the ambassador, I think, that Gregory Peck was.

[00:35:13] Sounds great.

[00:35:14] It sounds like a great movie.

[00:35:15] Sounds cool.

[00:35:15] Yeah.

[00:35:16] Sounds cool as hell.

[00:35:17] So yeah, I've not seen any of the sequels.

[00:35:18] I've not seen the remake.

[00:35:19] So this is like my first Omen sequel.

[00:35:22] Technically Omen prequel because it's the first Omen.

[00:35:25] And so, yeah, this takes place before the events

[00:35:26] of the original 1976 Omen and this movie Fox.

[00:35:30] It's really good.

[00:35:30] This movie rules.

[00:35:32] This is cinema.

[00:35:33] The movies are back.

[00:35:34] Cinema TM, baby.

[00:35:35] Yeah.

[00:35:36] I mean, there's a couple.

[00:35:37] So yeah, I think this is a first time, first feature for the director.

[00:35:41] Right?

[00:35:41] If I understand correct.

[00:35:42] I think she made, I remember hearing that all new cherry flavor or whatever.

[00:35:47] That Netflix, something like that.

[00:35:49] Yeah.

[00:35:49] So our Kasha Stevenson is the director of the film.

[00:35:52] Yeah, it's her first feature film.

[00:35:54] And she directed an episode of Brand New.

[00:35:56] Cherry flavor, it looks like.

[00:35:57] But yeah, that's about it.

[00:35:59] And it's insane that this is a first time director, first feature director,

[00:36:04] because it is so bold and exciting, I think.

[00:36:07] And like stylized.

[00:36:08] There's that one shot that's like the poster or whatever

[00:36:11] or gets shared a lot where like the candles form like the mouth.

[00:36:14] Yeah.

[00:36:16] Yeah, the candles form like a mouth and the lamps kind of are looking like eyes.

[00:36:19] Eyes, yeah.

[00:36:19] It's looking like this monster about to eat the protagonist whole.

[00:36:24] And it's just, it's such a good shot.

[00:36:26] It's so cool.

[00:36:26] Like when you see that still image, you're like, this is kind of cool.

[00:36:29] But the way that that like reveals in the movie, I was just like gasp.

[00:36:34] Like, oh my God, like, holy shit.

[00:36:37] And there's a lot of moments like that throughout the movie.

[00:36:39] In particular, there's two moments that just like really stand out

[00:36:42] where someone looks right down the camera.

[00:36:45] And each time it happened, I was like shocked.

[00:36:47] I was like, holy shit, because a lot of times that's like,

[00:36:50] I don't know if it's like hoagie or whatever, but like,

[00:36:52] you know, it doesn't usually have like a profound effect.

[00:36:54] My friends and I, when we're watching stuff in discord together,

[00:36:57] when that happens, we're always like, oh, they're looking at me like,

[00:37:00] whoo, whoo, whoo, like, you know, like whatever.

[00:37:02] But like when it happens in first home and I was like, oh my God,

[00:37:06] like she sees me, you know, like it actually worked, which is crazy.

[00:37:10] And there's a couple of moments like that throughout it just in general,

[00:37:14] like really just like confident, strong horror stuff.

[00:37:17] Yes.

[00:37:18] Just fucking rules.

[00:37:19] Absolutely.

[00:37:19] And I think the lead performance from Nell Tiger Free is so, so good.

[00:37:23] Unhinged, especially towards the end.

[00:37:26] And I think one of the things I really appreciated about this movie

[00:37:29] is that it is no one prequel and, you know, it takes place within

[00:37:32] the context of the Omen.

[00:37:33] But, you know, it draws its influences from beyond the open, like it,

[00:37:37] you know, which I think is a franchise trap that a lot of like

[00:37:41] newer franchise movies fall into.

[00:37:43] I think about the J.J. Abrams Star Wars movies, like for example,

[00:37:46] where their only influence for the most part is other Star Wars movies.

[00:37:50] Right.

[00:37:51] And with and with this, like with the first moment, it's like,

[00:37:54] oh, they're clearly drawing from Rosemary's Baby.

[00:37:56] They're clearly drawing from possession, like possessions,

[00:37:58] like a huge influence on this movie to the point where there's like a

[00:38:01] scene in the movie that's like a direct recreation of the freak out

[00:38:04] scene from possession, which is pretty cool.

[00:38:08] Just cool to see that in a movie that's technically being released by Disney.

[00:38:12] You know?

[00:38:12] Right.

[00:38:13] Yeah.

[00:38:13] I mean, there's just spirit of vibes also, like there's a lot of

[00:38:16] just kind of like, you know, European horror, 70s horror stuff going on

[00:38:21] in the movie.

[00:38:22] And it just lends it like, you know, a feel like a 70s horror movie vibe.

[00:38:28] Like I think it was first Omen did a trailer version that's like all the

[00:38:33] like kind of grimy scratchy.

[00:38:34] Oh yeah.

[00:38:35] It looked like a 70s movie kind of thing.

[00:38:36] Like, yeah, they put out a trailer that looks like that.

[00:38:39] And I was like, this is pretty cool.

[00:38:40] Like it's sort of leaning into the aesthetic and all that stuff

[00:38:43] of the time period and the like the political unrest in Italy and the way

[00:38:47] that like the turmoil of the world and like all that at the time.

[00:38:50] It's fucking rules, man.

[00:38:51] Yeah, it's really, really cool.

[00:38:52] And I think the only downside to this movie is the fact that it's

[00:38:56] no one movie almost because there are, I would say, like two major scenes

[00:38:59] in the movie, one about halfway through and one at the very, very end,

[00:39:03] like the last scene of the movie that like directly tie into the Omen.

[00:39:06] Yeah.

[00:39:07] And they, you know, the one in the middle is weird because it is,

[00:39:11] it's recreating a scene from the original Omen.

[00:39:14] And it's one of those things where it's like, OK, so this happened in the Omen.

[00:39:17] This is taking place before the Omen.

[00:39:19] Why did nobody mention this happening when this happened again in the?

[00:39:22] Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I mean, it makes sense in this movie

[00:39:27] because it's like, I mean, if you like literally want to break it down,

[00:39:30] like whatever that is because there's nobody is there.

[00:39:32] It's they're all different people.

[00:39:33] I guess that's true.

[00:39:34] Yeah.

[00:39:34] But but in particular, this is reminding me when I went to see the first Omen,

[00:39:38] I saw the trailer of the strangers first prey or first.

[00:39:42] Oh, chapter one.

[00:39:43] Yeah.

[00:39:43] Chapter one.

[00:39:43] Whatever.

[00:39:44] Yeah.

[00:39:44] The first strangers.

[00:39:48] And in that movie, in the trailer, they recreate a scene from the strangers,

[00:39:52] which like the most powerful scene in that movie when Liv Tyler and Scott

[00:39:56] Speedman, friend of the pod are tied up and they're she they beg.

[00:40:00] It's a friend of the pod.

[00:40:01] Scott Speedman.

[00:40:03] Because of that one werewolf episode we did.

[00:40:06] But Lou Tyler and Scott Speedman, they ask, why did you do this?

[00:40:09] Why are you doing this?

[00:40:10] And the strangers responses because you were home.

[00:40:13] And it's like, it's holy shit.

[00:40:14] It's terrifying.

[00:40:15] It's fucked up.

[00:40:15] And then they do that in the trailer for the chapter,

[00:40:19] Strangers Chapter One, where the guy person says, why are you doing this?

[00:40:22] And they say because you're home.

[00:40:23] And it's like, isn't that so weird that the guy you're doing it like now

[00:40:26] a year later at your next home invasion murder is like steals your response.

[00:40:31] Like he says, let's see.

[00:40:33] I don't know.

[00:40:33] It makes prequels are weird is what I'm getting that.

[00:40:35] It's very, very weird.

[00:40:37] It creates a kind of weird timeline stuff.

[00:40:38] So when this scene happens in the first omen, like it's it's effectively done.

[00:40:42] It looks cool, but it's just one of those things.

[00:40:44] It's like, oh, this is exactly the same as the original movie.

[00:40:46] Yeah, it's a cool scene.

[00:40:48] And if they just didn't say the line that is in the first omen,

[00:40:51] yeah, in the original omen, it would have been fine.

[00:40:55] Like it's the same action without the dialogue.

[00:40:57] It would have been cool.

[00:40:58] It's a reference rather than like a recreation of the same exact thing.

[00:41:01] Yeah.

[00:41:02] The more egregious one is the final scene in the movie where

[00:41:05] he's like, oh, by the way, your son, he has a name now.

[00:41:09] Damien and I think we figured that one out from context clues.

[00:41:12] I don't think we needed that.

[00:41:14] OK, but those are those are both like, I think, minor complaints again,

[00:41:16] like the movie itself rules.

[00:41:18] It's really cool.

[00:41:19] Yeah, I mean, like it's interesting, too, because thinking thinking about it,

[00:41:23] like the for the openings, the cold open of the movie is more of a reference

[00:41:27] to something that happens in the original omen with the lightning rod

[00:41:30] and the single window in the pre so like they do it in that scene,

[00:41:34] like where they sort of just like do a different version of it.

[00:41:36] But then in the middle, they just do the same thing.

[00:41:39] And it's like, this is weird.

[00:41:41] But yeah, it's really rocks.

[00:41:42] It's so good.

[00:41:43] It's so, so good.

[00:41:43] It made me want to rewatch the omen, which I haven't.

[00:41:45] I unlike my day, I've seen it once and it was like 15 years ago.

[00:41:49] Like it was a long time ago.

[00:41:50] And yeah, I really liked the omen.

[00:41:52] I thought it was cool.

[00:41:52] But I also I want to watch the omen.

[00:41:54] I also kind of want to watch the sequels.

[00:41:56] I've never watched the sequels.

[00:41:58] Yeah, but I kind of also want to also from this.

[00:42:00] Like we're going to be omen guys now.

[00:42:02] That's I mean, I was already.

[00:42:03] I was born in omen guy has 666.

[00:42:06] There it is.

[00:42:07] Yeah.

[00:42:07] And forget what I was going to say.

[00:42:09] Oh, this movie has first omen has one of the most like shocking moments

[00:42:14] I've seen in a movie in a really long time.

[00:42:16] Yeah.

[00:42:17] About a birth scene, I guess.

[00:42:19] Oh, yeah.

[00:42:19] Yeah.

[00:42:20] And like, I can't believe they got away with that.

[00:42:22] How they do like how is that allowed in movies?

[00:42:26] You know?

[00:42:27] Yeah, that's crazy, man.

[00:42:28] In a wide release by Disney.

[00:42:30] By Disney, technically.

[00:42:32] It's 20th Century Fox film, but you know, it's still that's Disney now.

[00:42:37] That's crazy.

[00:42:37] Yeah.

[00:42:38] No first omen rules.

[00:42:39] It's really good.

[00:42:39] People check it out.

[00:42:40] I know it kind of underperformed to the box office.

[00:42:42] I think it maybe kind of got overshadowed by immaculate coming out a week earlier

[00:42:45] or two weeks earlier or whatever it was.

[00:42:47] Yeah.

[00:42:47] But but I also think like, you know, I am somebody who should know

[00:42:51] that there is an open people coming out and I barely knew that this movie was like I

[00:42:55] I wasn't going to go see the first omen because I was like,

[00:42:58] I'm barely aware about this thing.

[00:42:59] Like I've kind of heard about it.

[00:43:01] Like I was making an omen prequel, whatever.

[00:43:03] I liked the omen, but I, you know, I have no faith that this will be good.

[00:43:06] And then I saw positive reviews.

[00:43:07] So I went and I'm glad I did.

[00:43:09] But I was like one of like three people in my theater.

[00:43:11] Like it was a pretty small theater.

[00:43:12] Yeah, that's crazy.

[00:43:14] I guess we could get off the first omen, but it's good.

[00:43:16] It's awesome.

[00:43:16] I'm glad it exists, which is crazy for a prequel from a movie from the 70s.

[00:43:22] Yes, absolutely.

[00:43:23] Glad it's there.

[00:43:24] Glad it rules.

[00:43:25] First omen.

[00:43:26] Good stuff.

[00:43:26] I think it's probably the best of the three of the four movies that Mike Deist talked about.

[00:43:30] Yes, definitely my favorite.

[00:43:31] Yeah, nice.

[00:43:32] Cool.

[00:43:33] And I think that's that's all you got, right?

[00:43:34] Mike, that's everything.

[00:43:35] Otherwise, I was running around New York City with my friends.

[00:43:38] Right.

[00:43:38] The Big Apple, as it were.

[00:43:40] And yeah, so I'll just talk about a few other new releases real quick.

[00:43:43] Godzilla X Kong, the New Empire, which is the sequel to Godzilla versus Kong.

[00:43:48] I believe the X is supposed to be silent.

[00:43:50] That's insane.

[00:43:51] Godzilla.

[00:43:51] That's crazy.

[00:43:52] Godzilla.

[00:43:52] We live in a society.

[00:43:55] You were the one who called this movie Godzilla X Kong.

[00:43:57] You have to live with it.

[00:43:58] Yes.

[00:44:00] But yeah, Godzilla X Kong, the New Empire.

[00:44:01] I saw that I really liked Godzilla versus Kong.

[00:44:04] I mean, I maybe really like is a strong word, but it's the movie that I saw

[00:44:08] when I first got the vaccine.

[00:44:09] And so it holds a special place in my heart.

[00:44:11] It's my God.

[00:44:13] Yes.

[00:44:13] Yeah, I remember that they were very adamant about it.

[00:44:15] Yes.

[00:44:16] And so, yeah, I enjoyed the big monsters fighting and the action in that movie is pretty fun.

[00:44:20] Godzilla X Kong, the New Empire.

[00:44:21] I was I was less into.

[00:44:23] I don't know.

[00:44:23] I wanted to like it.

[00:44:24] I mean, on a base level, it's got Godzilla.

[00:44:27] It's got Kong.

[00:44:28] There's stuff to enjoy.

[00:44:30] They're doing it.

[00:44:31] They're doing their thing.

[00:44:31] They're fighting.

[00:44:32] It's Adam Wingard returning to direct.

[00:44:35] And it's one of those things like, man, Adam Wingard was a filmmaker

[00:44:38] I was so excited about years ago when it was like, oh, man, the one two punch

[00:44:41] of you're next and the guest like this guy's going places.

[00:44:44] And then there was the Blair Witch movie, which I liked, but many people did not.

[00:44:50] Do you see all that to totally derail all the Blair Witch stuff now?

[00:44:53] I have seen that.

[00:44:54] Yeah, like the original actors are like, hey, could you pay us?

[00:44:57] Yeah, yeah, it's great because I think they're they're trying to make another one or something.

[00:45:01] Yes.

[00:45:02] Yeah, something like that.

[00:45:03] And so like 25 years after the original, the actors are like, we should get some kind of money for this movie.

[00:45:08] Yeah, like, hey, we wrote, directed, produced, started in film like they did it.

[00:45:12] The whole crew and they like apparently only been getting like just actor residuals or something or whatever.

[00:45:16] Right?

[00:45:17] Yeah, something along those lines.

[00:45:19] And so everybody who is involved in the original Blair Witch project has like backed them

[00:45:23] and are hoping that they get paid and hope they do.

[00:45:26] But yes, but Adam Wingard directed Blair Witch 2016, which I again, I liked.

[00:45:30] That was pretty fun.

[00:45:31] I haven't seen it since, but I thought it was a good time.

[00:45:33] I know you didn't like it.

[00:45:34] I remember not liking it, but I haven't thought about it since then.

[00:45:37] Yeah, but that's been the case for most people.

[00:45:39] They didn't like it and haven't thought about it since.

[00:45:41] But then he made Death Note, the live action Death Note movie,

[00:45:44] which I thought was awful.

[00:45:45] And then there was I think Godzilla versus Kong was next.

[00:45:48] I think that was the next thing.

[00:45:49] And yeah, it's over.

[00:45:50] Kong is pretty good.

[00:45:51] I enjoyed it.

[00:45:51] But yeah, Godzilla X, it just feels like man, this is a guy who I was really excited

[00:45:55] about that has now gotten trapped in like blockbuster worlds, like trapped in like

[00:45:59] just kind of soulless IP sort of things.

[00:46:01] And again, Godzilla versus Kong had some fun with Godzilla X Kong.

[00:46:05] Man, this movie is dumb.

[00:46:08] It's a real bummer and there's some fun stuff in it, but it's completely nonsensical.

[00:46:14] You know, it's got Dan Stevens being cool and that's fun.

[00:46:16] It's got Rebecca Hall, who, you know, is just really good.

[00:46:20] Like she's having fun delivering the stupid dialogue,

[00:46:24] which is fun.

[00:46:25] Most of it takes place in Hollow Earth, which was like the dumbest conceit in Godzilla versus

[00:46:29] Kong.

[00:46:30] So they really doubled down on that.

[00:46:31] And my weird thing about this movie is that I don't know.

[00:46:35] There's no sense of scale in Godzilla X Kong, which is my main thing is that,

[00:46:40] you know, and I think most of it is because most of it takes place in Hollow Earth.

[00:46:43] In Hollow Earth, everything is Godzilla and Kong sized.

[00:46:47] So when everything is Godzilla and Kong sized, then Godzilla and Kong look like

[00:46:51] they're normal sized.

[00:46:52] Kong looks like a monkey.

[00:46:55] That's the issue really with Godzilla X Kong.

[00:46:58] One issue among many, but you know, even when they're on Earth, it doesn't really

[00:47:01] feel like there's much effort kind of thrown into like trying to make these things seem

[00:47:05] big and gargantuan, which I think the American movies have mostly done a pretty good job

[00:47:09] with.

[00:47:09] I think the Gareth Edwards Godzilla 2014, like Godzilla feels like a huge monster

[00:47:15] when you're watching that movie.

[00:47:16] And especially, you know, coming off the heels of Godzilla minus one, you know,

[00:47:19] that movie rules and it does a really great job of like making Godzilla seem

[00:47:22] like a real threat.

[00:47:23] And in the American movies, Godzilla is, you know, he's sort of the hero kind of

[00:47:27] and Kong is like sort of a hero also.

[00:47:30] But they're also killing people like all the time.

[00:47:33] There's a moment where God's where King Kong emerges from Hollow Earth and he

[00:47:37] emerges in the pyramids like he like breaks the pyramids and people are falling off

[00:47:41] the pyramids as he's doing it.

[00:47:44] So he's just killing people.

[00:47:45] He's just killing people.

[00:47:46] Yeah.

[00:47:47] And you're kind of just be like, well, yeah, but it's for a greater good.

[00:47:50] You know, exactly whatever.

[00:47:51] So it has some fun with it.

[00:47:53] Like there's, you know, Godzilla as the protector of the earth, like takes naps

[00:47:57] whenever basically takes naps in the Roman Coliseum whenever people aren't

[00:48:02] whenever there's no monsters attacking people.

[00:48:04] But otherwise, like, you know, other than some fun touches like that,

[00:48:07] doesn't really work, which is a bummer.

[00:48:09] But that's Godzilla X Kong, the new empire.

[00:48:12] Yeah, I sort of didn't really want to see this after after having my brain

[00:48:17] destroyed by Godzilla minus one.

[00:48:18] It's like this is never going to come close.

[00:48:20] So like whatever.

[00:48:23] Yeah.

[00:48:23] So we'll see what happens.

[00:48:24] I know Adam Wingard, you know, he's been trying to make face off too for a while.

[00:48:28] That's right.

[00:48:29] There was a there was a story recently where like, hey, Travolta and cage are on board.

[00:48:32] They're going to do it.

[00:48:33] So we'll see what happens with that.

[00:48:35] And yeah, curious what the face off movie looks like without John Woo.

[00:48:39] Not sure it'll work, but yeah, you got cage back.

[00:48:41] I mean, that's something that's that's pretty big.

[00:48:43] Yeah.

[00:48:44] So yeah, Godzilla Kong, the new empire.

[00:48:45] Yeah, it's it's what it is.

[00:48:47] Some monkey man also, which is the new action film directed by Dev Patel,

[00:48:51] who also stars in the movie.

[00:48:52] And I was really excited for monkey man.

[00:48:54] I was pumped for this trailer looked awesome.

[00:48:56] People were really excited about it.

[00:48:58] I think it's a very different movie than what the trailer is selling.

[00:49:01] You know, it is an action movie, but it is an action movie with like two big action scenes.

[00:49:07] And that's kind of it.

[00:49:08] And it takes a long time to get those actions.

[00:49:11] The action scenes in question are very good.

[00:49:13] Like they look really cool.

[00:49:15] There's some great kills in the movie.

[00:49:16] And Dev Patel has a lot of charisma in front of the camera.

[00:49:20] I don't think the movie ultimately kind of comes together as as much as it should,

[00:49:24] much like Civil War, which is I'm just saying that because I also said that about Civil War.

[00:49:29] But yeah, I think there's some interesting stuff here that it kind of just feels

[00:49:33] confused about what it's trying to do narratively.

[00:49:35] And I wish it had kind of gone harder into being an action movie

[00:49:39] because that is what the movie strength is.

[00:49:41] Also, Charlotte Copely is in it.

[00:49:42] I'm in and yeah, I think you're a cop.

[00:49:46] You're pro Charlotte on the big, big Copely head.

[00:49:49] OK, fair enough.

[00:49:51] I think somebody should be sorry.

[00:49:53] No, what were you saying?

[00:49:54] Somebody should make like a Mike D movie, Mike D guys movie.

[00:49:57] And it's just making Blair, Charlotte Copely and Scoot McNary

[00:50:01] and they get up to some bad crime shit.

[00:50:05] And I think it'd be the best movie ever made.

[00:50:07] So fair enough.

[00:50:08] So yeah, I don't know.

[00:50:10] Charlotte Copely is somebody who I don't dislike seeing him in a movie usually,

[00:50:13] but I think he's a presence that can be used effectively and can be used

[00:50:17] unaffectively.

[00:50:18] And I think he's not effectively used in Monkey Man.

[00:50:21] In my opinion, on a district nine to Chappie scale.

[00:50:25] Where is he?

[00:50:26] Where is he?

[00:50:29] I've given two and a half Chappies.

[00:50:30] Oh, shit.

[00:50:33] Yeah, I forgot about Chappie.

[00:50:34] We reviewed Chappie.

[00:50:35] You forget about Chappie.

[00:50:37] I mean, who could forget Chappie, right?

[00:50:39] Yeah, no, we review that was like episode four or five of the podcast.

[00:50:42] I remember Chappie.

[00:50:44] Yeah, and I think I kind of liked it.

[00:50:46] I think we were both like kind of positive on Chappie.

[00:50:49] Yeah, but no one has gone back to watching in the last 10 years,

[00:50:52] so we could never confirm.

[00:50:53] We can never confirm.

[00:50:55] Although we can confidently say Mike and Mike go to the movies

[00:50:58] pro Alex Garland's men.

[00:51:01] I was going to just say pro men, but that felt bad.

[00:51:05] Pro Alex Garland's men and pro Chappie.

[00:51:09] Pro Chappie.

[00:51:10] Yes, absolutely.

[00:51:11] So yeah, Monkey Man.

[00:51:12] It's out in theaters, I think still.

[00:51:14] And then also one more new release I wanted to talk about

[00:51:16] that was a straight to Amazon Prime release was Ricky Stanicki,

[00:51:20] which according to my D is the talk of the town.

[00:51:22] Everybody's talking and stuff.

[00:51:24] Who is Ricky Stanicki?

[00:51:25] We got to know.

[00:51:27] That should have been like if this was in theaters,

[00:51:29] that could have been a great marketing campaign.

[00:51:31] Come on.

[00:51:31] Just posters all over who is Ricky Stanicki?

[00:51:34] Yeah, I think Ricky Snickie, if it came out in theaters,

[00:51:37] could have been like an anyone but you ask sleeper hit.

[00:51:40] Like a comedy movie that people didn't really expect too much from,

[00:51:44] but ended up being kind of big.

[00:51:45] Instead it went to Amazon Prime and I mean, according to my D,

[00:51:49] people are talking about it just on podcasts and stuff.

[00:51:51] I saw a few people talking about it like before it came out

[00:51:55] because the trailer made it look like one of those like 90s comedies

[00:51:59] and it is a Peter Farrelly movie.

[00:52:00] Peter Farrelly, one half of the Farrelly brothers,

[00:52:02] the director of Green Book.

[00:52:03] I was going to say, is this the Green Book one?

[00:52:05] This is the Green Book director who and it's like him kind of returning

[00:52:08] to his gross out comedy kind of roots, which that's fun.

[00:52:13] That's the height of the Farrelly brothers.

[00:52:15] That's dumb and dumber.

[00:52:16] There's something about Mary, all that stuff.

[00:52:18] Ricky Snick didn't work for me.

[00:52:20] It's OK.

[00:52:21] There's OK stuff in it.

[00:52:22] The thing about the movie, John Cena is great in it.

[00:52:25] John Cena plays Ricky Snickie and he's really terrific.

[00:52:28] But the idea of the movie is this.

[00:52:30] It's about these three guys who since they were kids

[00:52:33] have invented a character, like invented a fake friend

[00:52:36] that they named Ricky Snickie to get them out of trouble

[00:52:39] or to use as an excuse for whatever things

[00:52:43] that have been going on in their lives.

[00:52:44] And they've been doing this since they were like 10 years old.

[00:52:46] They're still doing it now and like into their 30s.

[00:52:49] Zac Efron is one of the guys.

[00:52:51] And so it's like, you know, any time, you know,

[00:52:54] my girlfriend wants me to go to this bar mitzvah or whatever.

[00:52:57] Ricky Snickie just beat cancer and he wants us to all come out

[00:53:00] and like party and all that kind of stuff.

[00:53:03] And, you know, inevitably these lies start catching up to them

[00:53:07] because this is it's not a great long term plan.

[00:53:10] And so they hire an actor to play Ricky Snickie

[00:53:13] and that actor happens to be John Cena, who is insane.

[00:53:16] And they have and John Cena has a lot of fun in the movie.

[00:53:19] He is the source of pretty much every laugh in the movie.

[00:53:22] John Cena is like when they find him, John Cena is an actor

[00:53:25] whose entire source of income is he like works in Vegas

[00:53:30] and he has like a one man show where he sings

[00:53:33] masturbation themed parodies of famous songs.

[00:53:38] Yeah, it's going right for.

[00:53:39] Yeah, exactly.

[00:53:40] And that stuff very funny.

[00:53:42] Really enjoyed it.

[00:53:43] Anything else like any of the other stuff that the movie does,

[00:53:46] it's it just feels very sluggish.

[00:53:48] It feels very slow.

[00:53:50] And also once you get to halfway mark,

[00:53:51] it goes into like a lot of like trying to go for like

[00:53:54] very earnest heartfelt emotion, which is just not the mode this movie has to operate in.

[00:53:59] And yeah, so there was that Ricky Snickie.

[00:54:01] You know, there's some fun stuff in it, but it's mostly pretty bad.

[00:54:04] That's a shame, I guess.

[00:54:05] Yeah, I think actually the thing I heard is that very similar.

[00:54:08] Like most of the movie is like whatever, but John Cena is incredible.

[00:54:11] So yeah, so there is that and agreed John Cena is great.

[00:54:14] You know, Oscar campaign for best supporting actor who's to say Ricky Snickie.

[00:54:18] I mean, yeah, we'll make that happen.

[00:54:20] So those are the new movies I wanted to talk about.

[00:54:22] And then just a few other random ones to throw in there.

[00:54:25] You know, we've talked a lot about a movie called Speed on this podcast in the past, Mike.

[00:54:29] Foundational text and the Mike and Mike go to the movies.

[00:54:31] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:54:32] But one of our very favorite movies of all time.

[00:54:34] We talked about it for your birthday one year.

[00:54:36] That was a Mike D's birthday pick.

[00:54:38] Actually, your birthday pick was Twister, but we were like,

[00:54:40] we got a first speed in there also get some Yon debauchery going on.

[00:54:43] Yeah.

[00:54:43] And so this past month for Inferno of Danger of the Roxy,

[00:54:46] my action movie series that I host once a month, I showed Speed and man Speed Rocks.

[00:54:52] Real good movie.

[00:54:54] Hell yeah.

[00:54:55] And I will say it was great crowd.

[00:54:56] It was almost sold out and we had a sponsorship from the local bus line.

[00:55:01] That's awesome.

[00:55:02] Which was great.

[00:55:03] But yeah, it was it was really fun.

[00:55:05] I gave away a Keanu Reeves coloring book as a prize

[00:55:08] and you know, it was a great crowd.

[00:55:09] There's really into it.

[00:55:10] And the moment when the bus landed after the jump jumps the bridge.

[00:55:14] Yeah.

[00:55:15] Huge applause in the theater.

[00:55:16] Huge sheer moments in my theater, which was great.

[00:55:19] I was I was hoping after that there would be more cheer moments

[00:55:22] and didn't quite get there.

[00:55:23] How are they not just erupting in applause every 30 seconds?

[00:55:26] That's what I was wondering.

[00:55:28] What I have found about Montana crowds is they tend to be more reserved crowds

[00:55:32] than I was used to back in New York.

[00:55:34] I'm not sure if New York is still like that.

[00:55:35] I would imagine it is.

[00:55:36] Yeah, probably.

[00:55:37] But yeah, I just remember the stark difference.

[00:55:40] When I saw Avengers Infinity War in New York before I moved to Montana,

[00:55:44] it was opening night crowd going nuts the entire time.

[00:55:47] There was every time a new character entered, you know,

[00:55:49] there was huge applause and all that kind of stuff.

[00:55:51] Just all that kind of applause breaks and cheering and all that kind of stuff.

[00:55:55] So Avengers Endgame a year later in Montana, dead silent, quiet, wild,

[00:56:00] a smattering of applause when Cap grabbed Thor's hammer.

[00:56:03] Otherwise nothing.

[00:56:05] Holy shit.

[00:56:06] Which is like the opposite experience that

[00:56:08] it seemed like everybody else I knew had with Endgame.

[00:56:11] Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[00:56:13] So yeah, very weird.

[00:56:14] But yeah, I'm glad that speed got that cheer moment, which was very fun.

[00:56:17] And then speaking of cheer moments this month at the Roxy,

[00:56:19] we were showing all three Lord of the Rings movies, the extended editions.

[00:56:23] Let's go.

[00:56:23] And so here's the thing about Lord of the Rings, Mike.

[00:56:25] I've never been like the biggest Lord of the Rings guy.

[00:56:27] I've always liked it.

[00:56:29] You know, I like Lord of the Rings, but it was a big thing in my dorm room

[00:56:34] and like my in my old apartment in college because my roommates were big Lord of the Rings guys.

[00:56:38] And so they would watch my DVDs all the time.

[00:56:42] You know, because I had the extended edition DVDs, which I didn't even buy.

[00:56:44] Somebody had given them to me and I was like, yeah, I have these now.

[00:56:47] Great.

[00:56:47] I think I watched one of them like when the Hobbit was coming out,

[00:56:50] like I watched the Fellowship of the Ring because I was like,

[00:56:53] oh, I'm going to rewatch all the Lord of the Rings.

[00:56:54] I watched Fellowship and I was like, I don't need to watch them all.

[00:56:57] And I watched all three Hobbits in theaters and all that stuff.

[00:56:59] But I saw all the Lord of the Rings movies when they were in theaters.

[00:57:01] I had seen the extended editions at least once and I had seen bits and pieces of them

[00:57:06] when I was in college because my roommates would have it on all the time.

[00:57:09] But I don't think I ever actually like sat down and watched Lord of the Rings movies

[00:57:13] maybe since high school.

[00:57:15] Wow.

[00:57:15] It had been a very, very long time.

[00:57:18] And so we showed all three extended edition movies at the Roxy for the month of April

[00:57:22] and we did two screenings for each one.

[00:57:24] All six screenings completely sold out.

[00:57:27] We also showed the 1977 animated Hobbit movie also sold.

[00:57:33] They're a reserved crowd, but a hungry for Lord of the Rings crowd.

[00:57:38] The people were clamoring for Middle Earth.

[00:57:41] But politely.

[00:57:43] Politely clamoring.

[00:57:46] But so I so I went to all three screening.

[00:57:49] I went to all three movies and it was my first time rewatching them in a very,

[00:57:53] very long time.

[00:57:54] And in my memory, Fellowship was always my favorite.

[00:57:57] Fellowship was one that I liked the most.

[00:57:59] I was like, oh yeah, that's the one that's like the most complete story.

[00:58:02] Once you get past Fellowship, then extended editions get really,

[00:58:04] really long and they kind of like, you know, they get too self-indulgent,

[00:58:07] whatever it is.

[00:58:07] I remember Return of the King having like an hour and a half of endings and

[00:58:11] all that kind of stuff.

[00:58:12] That was what was in my head.

[00:58:13] Fellowship was good.

[00:58:14] I liked watching Fellowship a lot.

[00:58:15] When I watched Two Towers, I was like, you know what?

[00:58:17] That might be my favorite.

[00:58:19] Two Towers rules, Helms Deep, incredible, so great.

[00:58:22] Love the ends, all that stuff.

[00:58:24] And then I watched Return of the King.

[00:58:25] I was like, you know, that's my favorite.

[00:58:29] They just get better every time.

[00:58:30] They do.

[00:58:31] Every single movie.

[00:58:32] I don't understand.

[00:58:33] And so when I was watching Return of the King over the weekend.

[00:58:36] So here's the thing.

[00:58:37] We did screenings on Wednesdays and Saturdays for these Lord of the Rings movies.

[00:58:40] And the first two, I went to Wednesdays.

[00:58:42] And like I said, like I said, they're pretty reserved crowds.

[00:58:46] Dead silent for the whole movie, except for the very end when there was applause,

[00:58:50] like when the credits rolled, all that kind of stuff.

[00:58:52] But like they were pretty quiet crowds.

[00:58:53] Return to the Return of the Thing I went to on Saturday.

[00:58:56] And it wasn't like a crazy crowd, but there were two big cheer moments in Return of the King.

[00:59:01] There are two of them.

[00:59:02] And can you guess what they are, Rick?

[00:59:04] I'm no man.

[00:59:05] Yeah, that's one of them.

[00:59:06] And is it when the guy bites that cherry tomato really weird?

[00:59:10] Sorry.

[00:59:12] It was not the cherry tomato guy, although great guess.

[00:59:14] No, it was I am no man.

[00:59:16] And then also much earlier in the movie,

[00:59:18] it's when Viggo Mortensen runs in and says Gondor is asking for aid.

[00:59:23] And Theoden like thinks for a second and says,

[00:59:26] and Rohan will answer the entire crowd went nuts, which was very.

[00:59:32] That's fucking awesome.

[00:59:33] But the thing about Return of the King is specifically.

[00:59:35] Applaud in two towers when he breaks his toe and he kicks the hell.

[00:59:41] No, that's the story.

[00:59:43] Philistines, unfortunately.

[00:59:47] But yeah, the thing about watching Return of the King again is that

[00:59:51] that movie is like nonstop battle.

[00:59:52] Like it's just it's nothing but rising action and it just gets so tense over.

[00:59:59] Fellowship in Two Towers I was into I really liked.

[01:00:02] But you know, they're four hour movies.

[01:00:04] And so at one at a certain point, like about halfway through,

[01:00:06] I was like, I got to go to the bathroom.

[01:00:07] And so I went to the bathroom, came back, turn to the king,

[01:00:10] locked in for all four and a half hours.

[01:00:13] Because it's just so it ramped.

[01:00:15] It's it's all rising action.

[01:00:16] It's all like like keeps going and going.

[01:00:19] And to that end, like in my memory, I was like,

[01:00:21] yeah, there's like an hour and a half of endings after this thing.

[01:00:23] Like but it's really like 20 minutes of endings.

[01:00:27] It just kind of felt long maybe when I was younger or whatever it was.

[01:00:30] And I think the movie totally earns the amount of endings.

[01:00:32] That's because it's because Clark Clark's to made everyone be like,

[01:00:35] well, yeah, the movie is really dumb.

[01:00:39] No, it's not.

[01:00:40] Yeah, no, all three Lord of the Rings.

[01:00:42] What a what a massive achievement.

[01:00:44] I completely underrated them, I think.

[01:00:46] And watching Return of the King, I was like, yeah,

[01:00:48] I'm glad this one best picture.

[01:00:49] This makes sense.

[01:00:50] This makes sense to me.

[01:00:51] This movie rules.

[01:00:52] It's so good.

[01:00:53] Yeah, I think I think I rewatch two towers the most.

[01:00:57] OK, because that is somehow the only extended edition that I own.

[01:01:01] Really?

[01:01:01] OK.

[01:01:02] Yeah, I don't know how that happened.

[01:01:04] I think for sure.

[01:01:05] Yeah, I don't know.

[01:01:05] I just like to I think really it's the Helms Deep Battle.

[01:01:08] Battle of Helms Deep is incredible.

[01:01:10] It's so good.

[01:01:11] And yeah, I think two towers.

[01:01:13] Yeah, that was the one where I was like, I you know,

[01:01:15] I feel like I don't know.

[01:01:17] It was like the awkward middle child maybe or whatever it is.

[01:01:19] Like the middle movie.

[01:01:20] Like how good is this going to be?

[01:01:21] It's great.

[01:01:22] It's unbelievable.

[01:01:23] It's so good.

[01:01:23] They get better every time.

[01:01:25] And yeah, Return of the King is like this crowning achievement at the end of it.

[01:01:29] And yeah, they're so, so good.

[01:01:30] Loved them all.

[01:01:31] I'm glad I had a chance to rewatch them because they're movies I had seen a couple of times.

[01:01:35] I knew them pretty well, but I hadn't seen them in over 10 years.

[01:01:39] And that's crazy.

[01:01:40] And watching them again with a crowd was really fun.

[01:01:43] So yeah, Lord of the Rings.

[01:01:45] People should watch.

[01:01:45] People should watch it.

[01:01:46] I remember in fifth grade when Fellowship came out.

[01:01:50] Yeah, my mom let me skip school that day.

[01:01:54] Really?

[01:01:54] To go see Fellowship?

[01:01:55] To go see Fellowship.

[01:01:56] Yeah, nice because those movies, those books are very important to her.

[01:01:59] So I was like, we're going.

[01:02:00] And I was like, OK, I'm 11.

[01:02:03] Whatever you say.

[01:02:04] Right.

[01:02:05] Didn't your mom have a thing where once the movies came out,

[01:02:07] she was sort of mad about it because now she only pictures the movies

[01:02:10] and can't picture what was in her head with the books?

[01:02:12] Yep.

[01:02:12] Yeah, and all the actors replaced her mind's version of the characters when she reads them.

[01:02:19] So she's like, ah, curses.

[01:02:21] But who does want to picture Viggo Mortensen?

[01:02:22] That's just Eric Borg.

[01:02:24] Yeah, let's be real.

[01:02:25] Just as everybody.

[01:02:26] Everybody I see I wish was Viggo Mortensen.

[01:02:28] My day to day life.

[01:02:30] Yeah, his big speech towards the end of Return of the King,

[01:02:32] the for Frodo moments, his thing at the end, you bow to no one as yeah,

[01:02:37] I was almost crying.

[01:02:37] It's so beautiful.

[01:02:38] It's so great.

[01:02:40] The payoff set up in Fellowship when Borobir calls him my king and then he's,

[01:02:46] ah, it's so good.

[01:02:48] Movies are raw.

[01:02:49] I'm going to watch these.

[01:02:49] I want to stay up all night and watch.

[01:02:53] I do watch them like not once a year, but pretty frequently every year or two.

[01:02:57] Pretty regularly.

[01:02:58] I mean, there are a lot of people who make it like an annual like,

[01:03:00] you know, every year kind of thing.

[01:03:01] I think frequent podcast guest Nick Wermuth is one of those people where

[01:03:05] he watches it quite frequently.

[01:03:06] If I looked at his letterbox and yeah, all movie.

[01:03:08] They have a lot of rewatches for for Lord of the Rings.

[01:03:12] But yeah, rewatched all Lord of the Rings movies.

[01:03:14] Great time.

[01:03:15] Not going to do it with The Hobbit.

[01:03:17] But you should watch that.

[01:03:18] That remember we did the alternate cuts.

[01:03:20] Oh yes.

[01:03:21] Fan edit thing I found.

[01:03:23] I think it's called like the talkie talking edit or something.

[01:03:25] Right.

[01:03:25] And it's like the three movies condensed into like what the book actually was.

[01:03:29] Yes, it's a single.

[01:03:30] I think it's four and a half hours long,

[01:03:33] but it's a single edit of the four three movies that more closely is just the stuff from the book.

[01:03:38] Interesting.

[01:03:39] And it's really it's good.

[01:03:40] You know, it's cool.

[01:03:40] It's a four.

[01:03:41] It is a four and a half hour movie, but it is condensing three movies into one.

[01:03:44] So yeah, but I mean, truly I think part of what I liked about these watching these again,

[01:03:48] it's just like seeing the craft on display

[01:03:50] and what Peter Jackson was kind of able to do as a director.

[01:03:52] And just there's moments in Return of the King like, you know,

[01:03:55] to say an oft used might be saying like, man, we used to make movies.

[01:03:59] We used to never forget what they took from.

[01:04:02] Yeah.

[01:04:02] There's this moment where the camera is like swirling around this tower as it's crumbling.

[01:04:07] And I was like, God damn, what a picture.

[01:04:09] Yeah.

[01:04:09] When they when they and the ends flood Eisen guard break the dam or whatever.

[01:04:15] That's a real like a mini that they they fucking flooded like,

[01:04:20] and it looks so cool.

[01:04:21] You can tell.

[01:04:22] Yeah, I miss movies.

[01:04:25] Movies like the first omen go see it.

[01:04:26] Go see it.

[01:04:28] But yeah, Lord of the Rings.

[01:04:30] They're all good people should watch them.

[01:04:31] And then I have one last thing I wanted to quickly mention.

[01:04:33] This is a movie that Mike D actually talked about a few months ago on the podcast.

[01:04:36] Oh, a rare Mike D recommendation.

[01:04:38] Yeah.

[01:04:38] Well, it's you know, it's weird.

[01:04:40] It's not a movie I think I would have picked out,

[01:04:42] but Criterion Channel recently launched a new service on its

[01:04:47] or a new platform on a streaming service, I guess is the way to call it.

[01:04:50] Yeah, I don't know.

[01:04:51] It's a new channel on the channel, which is called Criterion 24 7,

[01:04:56] which is a live feed of just whatever they're going to play.

[01:05:00] And so it's very similar to what shutter does.

[01:05:02] They have their own kind of live feed as well.

[01:05:04] It's also similar to cable, you know, just TV,

[01:05:08] which is what people really want it all along.

[01:05:10] Yeah.

[01:05:10] I mean, for how how many years have people been begging Netflix for like a shuffle button?

[01:05:14] Right.

[01:05:15] Exactly.

[01:05:15] Like on all those syndicated or to recreate when they have all those like

[01:05:20] full series of nine seasons of Friends or whatever, it's like I don't want to pick a season.

[01:05:24] Like just give me just give me a random episode.

[01:05:26] Yeah, exactly.

[01:05:26] And honestly, if Netflix had developed, you know,

[01:05:29] or would develop some kind of like channel system where they have,

[01:05:32] you know, five or six different channels where they just have stuff constantly running,

[01:05:35] I would bet that a lot of their movies like could get the kind of cultural cachet

[01:05:40] that they are missing currently.

[01:05:41] Yeah.

[01:05:41] Like, you know, because I think what is lacking often is that these movies have like,

[01:05:46] you know, no shelf life because they come out, they get lost in the algorithm.

[01:05:50] People don't know to pick them and then they're gone.

[01:05:51] But a lot of people just want to put something on.

[01:05:54] And so if they can just put something on Netflix,

[01:05:56] like a channel that's already going, they'll get sucked into a movie,

[01:05:59] which is what happened to me with Criterion 24 seven.

[01:06:02] I've been having a lot of fun with it because so I think this will probably get fixed at some point.

[01:06:07] But if you go onto a movie in Criterion 24 seven,

[01:06:09] it doesn't tell you what movies play.

[01:06:11] Yeah.

[01:06:11] And, you know, I think some people have been kind of frustrated with that.

[01:06:14] And I understand that.

[01:06:15] However, I've been having a lot of fun trying to guess what the movie is that I'm watching

[01:06:19] once I turn on Criterion 24 seven.

[01:06:21] And so I've been doing that and I popped it on one sense like,

[01:06:24] oh, hey, Night on Earth is playing.

[01:06:26] I just watched that two months ago.

[01:06:27] I recognize that right away.

[01:06:28] I popped it on another time.

[01:06:29] Oh my God, it's the ending of Police Story.

[01:06:31] What a great time this is.

[01:06:32] Right.

[01:06:33] And so, yeah, but having fun with that.

[01:06:35] And then there are movies that like, oh man, I'm trying to figure out.

[01:06:37] I was able to figure out the Lady Vanishes,

[01:06:40] which I was pretty proud of.

[01:06:41] I saw the movie once like 10 years ago.

[01:06:43] And there was one that I was like, hmm, Walter Mathaus in this.

[01:06:46] Is this Charlie Verrick?

[01:06:47] It's probably not Charlie Verrick, but what if it is?

[01:06:49] It wasn't Charlie.

[01:06:50] Oh, imagine.

[01:06:51] But that would have been cool.

[01:06:52] But yeah, there was a couple of other movies like that.

[01:06:54] And so I've had some fun kind of trying to figure out

[01:06:56] what movie is playing and all that kind of stuff.

[01:06:58] There's also a Twitter account, by the way,

[01:06:59] that's called Currently on Criterion 24 seven,

[01:07:02] which kind of works like the Next on TCM account.

[01:07:05] But it's like it's it's not affiliated with Criterion Channel.

[01:07:08] And it's kind of just somebody being like, oh, yeah, this is what's on right now.

[01:07:10] Click.

[01:07:11] There it is.

[01:07:11] So they miss stuff sometimes.

[01:07:13] And yeah, they have I've seen.

[01:07:15] I think they created a like separate web page on Criterion Channel.

[01:07:19] Oh, yeah.

[01:07:19] So you can see if you're on the web page.

[01:07:21] Yeah, like it's like you can.

[01:07:23] I don't remember what the URL is, but it might be like what's playing now.

[01:07:28] Like whatever.

[01:07:28] Because I've seen them tweeted out a few times from the Criterion Channel account.

[01:07:32] OK, gotcha.

[01:07:33] So there is something but like you can go to a page

[01:07:35] and it might show you like the current movie plus two more like what's coming up.

[01:07:39] OK, cool.

[01:07:40] But it doesn't when you go to Criterion 24 seven on their chat,

[01:07:44] it doesn't show the title, which is bizarre because that Shutter has that 10 years ago

[01:07:49] or five whatever like five years ago.

[01:07:50] Shutter has had it for years.

[01:07:51] Yeah.

[01:07:52] And they've had this for years.

[01:07:53] They used to have multiple channels.

[01:07:55] There's called Shutter TV and they used to have multiple channels that would do.

[01:07:59] It was like Slash X or something.

[01:08:01] So it's like classic slasher movies.

[01:08:03] Yeah.

[01:08:03] And they would like change them.

[01:08:04] Like when it got to Christmas, they would put like a Christmas channel and stuff like that.

[01:08:08] But since it came from Shutter and the Gulag, I think were the three channels.

[01:08:11] Yeah, they would do the Gulag.

[01:08:13] And then there was one more they would do.

[01:08:14] The Gulag would come around Halloween.

[01:08:16] Yeah.

[01:08:16] But since all the Warner Brothers, AMC, fucking David Zazloff bullshit,

[01:08:21] they've had layoffs has been trimmed down to just one.

[01:08:24] Oh, I didn't know that.

[01:08:25] Yeah.

[01:08:25] It's only got one channel now.

[01:08:27] But but it tells you the title when you go to it, which is nice.

[01:08:31] Yeah.

[01:08:31] And so this seems like this could be like a

[01:08:33] something that kind of picks up with streaming services.

[01:08:36] Peacock has also just a bunch of channels that are just like it's not live.

[01:08:40] There is one feed.

[01:08:41] I mean, they have like news channels that are live

[01:08:44] and they also have an SNL channel that kind of just keeps running.

[01:08:47] Just random sketches, which is fun.

[01:08:49] But the rest of the channels are all like sort of on demand channels

[01:08:51] where it shows you like what's about to come up.

[01:08:54] And if you click on it, it'll start that thing from the beginning.

[01:08:56] That's nice.

[01:08:57] That's good, which is kind of nice.

[01:08:58] But I also kind of like just dropping it on something at the same time.

[01:09:00] Yeah.

[01:09:01] You know?

[01:09:01] Yeah.

[01:09:02] And so some of them are movies and it's just like, oh, man,

[01:09:04] I wonder what part of Shrek 2 is about to start.

[01:09:07] But instead, it's like, oh, it's the DreamWorks logo.

[01:09:08] We're starting the movie from the beginning.

[01:09:10] Yeah.

[01:09:10] I mean, the Shutter TV thing actually is really fascinating because they

[01:09:14] that's when they air, you know, The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs.

[01:09:18] When those episodes come out, they drop live, live air quotes.

[01:09:22] You know, it's not a live show, but on Shutter TV.

[01:09:25] Like, yeah, they'll do like Fridays at 8 p.m.

[01:09:28] is when the new thing is available to stream.

[01:09:31] You could just go to the like navigate to it and watch it in the on Shutter.

[01:09:35] Or if you go to Shutter TV at 8 p.m.

[01:09:37] is when that thing starts.

[01:09:38] And so they do like live tweet alongs and all that stuff.

[01:09:41] So like, they're sort of recreating the cable thing.

[01:09:43] And like, you know, like you started talking about, you missed the,

[01:09:45] you know, I was all on board for the full binge model stuff for a long time.

[01:09:50] But I, you know, we're sort of reverting back to the weekly release stuff.

[01:09:54] And I think, yeah, that is way more fun when that should happen.

[01:09:56] Embrace tradition.

[01:09:58] Yeah.

[01:09:58] I've been watching Shogun, I guess, is another discussion

[01:10:00] that I could have talked about.

[01:10:02] But having to wait and talk with my friends and be like, oh, my God.

[01:10:04] It's like, what's going to happen to Mariko?

[01:10:06] We got to know all that stuff is really bringing me back around

[01:10:10] to the weekly release model.

[01:10:12] Nice. Love to see it.

[01:10:13] But yeah, so all of this is a long preamble.

[01:10:16] Oh, we didn't even get to your movie yet.

[01:10:18] To say that I popped on Criterion 24 7

[01:10:21] and I realized pretty quickly that it was the last like 10 minutes

[01:10:24] of personal shopper.

[01:10:25] And so I kind of had personal shopper on in the background,

[01:10:27] like, watch the end of it.

[01:10:29] And I was going to turn it off, but I was like, oh, I should see what's

[01:10:31] playing next, see if I can guess it or see what's happening.

[01:10:34] And the movie started and I didn't know it.

[01:10:36] I was completely like, oh, man, I'm watching the opening credits

[01:10:39] and I see Laura Dern's name and I see Treat Williams' name.

[01:10:42] And it turns out I was watching Smooth Talk from, I think, 1987,

[01:10:47] which is a coming of age movie starring Laura Dern

[01:10:49] as this teenage girl who feels kind of alienated from her family.

[01:10:54] She doesn't really like get along with her mom.

[01:10:56] She doesn't get along with her sister.

[01:10:57] And so it's about her kind of sneaking off, like hanging out

[01:11:01] with their friends and the first half of the movie.

[01:11:03] It's a pretty normal coming of age movie.

[01:11:04] Then the second half.

[01:11:05] It's kind of funny.

[01:11:06] Yeah, it's kind of funny.

[01:11:07] There's like upbeat pop music kind of throughout

[01:11:09] and all that kind of stuff.

[01:11:10] And then the back half, man, it takes a turn.

[01:11:12] Yeah.

[01:11:13] And so Treat Williams shows up at her house one day

[01:11:15] and it's this very long, like a very uncomfortable sequence

[01:11:19] where he's trying to get her to come out of the house

[01:11:21] knowing that her parents aren't home and take a ride with him.

[01:11:24] And yeah, it's really intense and uncomfortable.

[01:11:27] And Laura Dern is great.

[01:11:28] Treat Williams is very menacing.

[01:11:29] And yeah, I think this movie is really, really solid.

[01:11:33] I saw a review on Letterboxd that it's like, yeah,

[01:11:35] it's kind of like an elevated lifetime movie.

[01:11:38] And I think that's about apt.

[01:11:40] But I think it really gets to the heart of that fear and that emotion.

[01:11:46] And yeah, I thought it really effectively did what he was trying to do.

[01:11:49] You talked about this movie like a few months ago

[01:11:51] on the podcast, right?

[01:11:51] Mike, in discussions or something.

[01:11:53] Yeah.

[01:11:54] Yeah, I think I bought the criterion I might have at the disc.

[01:11:58] Oh, really?

[01:11:58] OK.

[01:11:58] Yeah, because I heard about it on some probably screen drafts,

[01:12:01] to be honest.

[01:12:02] And they talked about it.

[01:12:03] It sounded really intense and interesting.

[01:12:05] And yeah, I remember it being pretty light and fun.

[01:12:09] And you know, well, the first half, like you said,

[01:12:11] being about that kind of struggle when you're like 14 or 15

[01:12:14] and like, you know, I'm my own person

[01:12:16] and your parents are like, no, you're still literally a child.

[01:12:18] Like, yeah, like you don't know anything

[01:12:20] and sneaking out and going to the mall and lying,

[01:12:23] putting on makeup and all that stuff to look older, right?

[01:12:26] To her and her friend, to pick up guys at the mall

[01:12:28] or flirt with guys at the mall.

[01:12:30] And then, yeah, they're at that like burger joint or whatever.

[01:12:33] I remember because it reminded me of the scene in Death Proof

[01:12:37] when it's the second half, when it's Rosario Dawson

[01:12:41] and that crew at the diner and stuntman Mike,

[01:12:45] Kurt Russell's character.

[01:12:46] Yeah.

[01:12:46] Yeah, is just in the background and he's sort of just watching them.

[01:12:50] Right.

[01:12:50] But there's a scene in Smooth Dog when they're at this like burger joint

[01:12:54] or whatever and they're like walking out to the parking lot

[01:12:56] and Treat Williams is just like sitting on the hood of his car,

[01:12:58] watching them in the background.

[01:12:59] I was like, oh, this is like the same thing.

[01:13:01] Like, whoa, this is crazy.

[01:13:02] And then, yeah, he like introduces himself into more and more

[01:13:05] like he'd like has taken notice of Laura Dern.

[01:13:07] And yeah, and then I remember it's like that last just like 30 minutes

[01:13:10] is just like a 30 minute real time discussion of,

[01:13:14] or, you know, a horrifying scene of him trying to convince her

[01:13:17] to come out for a drive with him knowing that she's home alone.

[01:13:20] And there's the inherent menace of an older man doing that.

[01:13:23] And yeah, holy shit.

[01:13:24] It's so scary and intense and ends at a very bleak note, you think?

[01:13:28] Yeah.

[01:13:28] No interpretation, but yeah, it's very intense.

[01:13:31] And yeah, it ends in a very like, you know, it's

[01:13:33] it doesn't tell you specifically what happened,

[01:13:36] but something definitely happened.

[01:13:38] Yeah, exactly.

[01:13:39] And yeah, it kind of leaves you like wondering what happened

[01:13:42] and like how that affected her.

[01:13:44] But at the same time, she seems like she's gained a new found respect

[01:13:47] for her family.

[01:13:48] Like she's you know, like I don't know.

[01:13:50] It's a really morally ambiguous ending.

[01:13:53] And yeah, I found the movie really fascinating.

[01:13:55] I really dug it.

[01:13:56] And it was one that I probably wouldn't have watched if not

[01:13:59] for Criterion 24 seven because I just happened to have it on

[01:14:02] and it came on.

[01:14:03] And so, yeah, that was neat.

[01:14:05] It was my first full watch Criterion 24 seven movie, which I appreciated.

[01:14:09] And then I basically had to tear myself away from the TV right afterwards

[01:14:13] because again, I had to play the same game as this movie.

[01:14:15] And then I was like, well, what's coming on next?

[01:14:16] What's next?

[01:14:17] Yeah, I see.

[01:14:18] And the opening credits started and I immediately was like,

[01:14:21] this is a David Lynch movie.

[01:14:23] Like it was like the blue curtain and I could hear the kind of

[01:14:26] soundscape that felt like a David Lynch thing.

[01:14:29] And then the title came on and it was Twin Peaks Fire Walk with me.

[01:14:31] And I was like, oh my God, let's go.

[01:14:33] But it was already pretty late.

[01:14:34] My girlfriend was like, we have to go to bed.

[01:14:37] Can't watch two fucked up suburban nightmare movies.

[01:14:40] Exactly.

[01:14:41] I wonder if that was a deliberate choice on the Criterion channel's part.

[01:14:45] But yeah, and I but it did make me want to rewatch Fire Walk with me.

[01:14:48] It's been maybe seven years since I've watched that movie

[01:14:51] because I watched it right before Twin Peaks Season 3 came out.

[01:14:53] Yeah, that makes sense actually.

[01:14:55] Yeah, it was like 2017.

[01:14:56] I think it was the first movie I watched in the year 2017

[01:14:58] was Fire Walk with me, which really set the tone for the year 2017.

[01:15:02] Really momentous year for Mike Smith.

[01:15:05] Exactly.

[01:15:05] Yeah.

[01:15:06] But all right, I believe that should wrap things up for today, Mike.

[01:15:09] We can finish our discussions and say goodbye for another week.

[01:15:13] Yes, this is a long episode.

[01:15:15] I didn't think it would be, but we did.

[01:15:16] We did a lot.

[01:15:17] Yeah, we certainly did.

[01:15:18] So Mike D, where can we find you online this week?

[01:15:20] You can find me at MD Film Blog on Twitter and Letterboxd and Bluesky.

[01:15:24] If you would like to donate to support the show,

[01:15:26] you could do that at our Ko-fi page, which is ko-fi.com

[01:15:30] where you can also donate $50 and pick a movie, pick a topic for an episode.

[01:15:33] We double dog dare you.

[01:15:34] We'll talk about whatever you want if you donate 50 bucks.

[01:15:37] And if you want merch, we have merch available on a red bubble,

[01:15:40] which is Mike and Mike Pods dot red bubble dot com.

[01:15:43] That's right.

[01:15:43] And you can find me online at M Smith Film Blog on Twitter,

[01:15:45] Mike Smith Film and Letterboxd, Radio Mike Sandwich Instagram.

[01:15:48] Thanks so much for listening to Mike and Mike go to the movies.

[01:15:50] I'm Mike Smith.

[01:15:50] That's my decree show.

[01:15:51] Don't forget to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast app.

[01:15:55] And if you want to contact us, you can tweet at us at Mike and Mike Pod.

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[01:16:01] all kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good stuff.

[01:16:04] So, yeah, the the formatting of the podcast is as we've talked about in

[01:16:07] the last few weeks has changed a little bit.

[01:16:10] And so this might be the last episode we release in the Mike and Mike feed

[01:16:15] as well as the Complete Works feed.

[01:16:16] Maybe we'll do one more after this just as a final warning or whatever it is.

[01:16:20] But yeah, pretty soon it's going to be solely on the Complete Works feed.

[01:16:24] So if you have not gotten over there yet to subscribe, do it.

[01:16:27] Come on.

[01:16:29] Yeah, go subscribe to the Complete Works.

[01:16:31] We should be releasing very soon or at the same time as this.

[01:16:34] Our latest Jeff Goldblum episode.

[01:16:37] Yeah, because Goldblum's got a new movie out.

[01:16:39] So that'll be that'll be coming up soon or has just dropped.

[01:16:42] I don't remember to podcast time travel.

[01:16:43] I think that'll be coming up soon.

[01:16:45] I believe this will come out first.

[01:16:46] Yes.

[01:16:47] So check that out and get subscribed over there.

[01:16:49] And then we'll be releasing the Mike and Mike bonus content over there.

[01:16:53] There you go.

[01:16:53] Yeah.

[01:16:53] And the next Mike and Mike episode will probably be a Mike makes Mike watch.

[01:16:57] So stick around for that.

[01:16:59] In the meantime, yeah, Complete Works returning soon for season four.

[01:17:02] Our Roy Shatter season is going to kick off in May.

[01:17:04] And that is the end of this week's episode of Mike and Mike go to the movies.

[01:17:07] We will see you on the other side.