Off Mike - Trap, Star Wars, The Purge, and more!

[00:00:02] Let's get together, talk about the movies that we saw this week. We'll have discussions, talk film news, we'll laugh a lot and act like geeks. Sometimes we'll have a guest or two, sometimes it's just the two of us. Let's crack some jokes and tell some folks to come along and hang with us!

[00:00:13] Mike and...

[00:00:28] The odds of successfully navigating an episode of Mike and Mike Go to the Movies are 3,720 to 1. I'm Mike Smith and joining me is a ruthless mercenary trapped in a house with a vampire.

[00:00:38] Mike Tarishio.

[00:00:39] How you doing, Mike?

[00:00:40] I'm doing great. I'm doing good here on Mike and Mike. Bonus episode time, baby.

[00:00:43] Mike Tarishio. Yes, yeah, it's been a little while since we've done just an off-mic discussions episode, but that is what we are doing today. Just kind of talking about some of the stuff that we have been watching lately.

[00:00:53] The stuff that wasn't big enough to get its own episode, which we've been doing lately. We did a Twitters episode, we did a Deadpool episode. Deadpool kind of by accident, but we did the Deadpool episode.

[00:01:02] It just sort of happened.

[00:01:04] Mike Tarishio. Yeah, we truly meant for that to be like a 15 minute in and out thing and we ended up talking for an hour about Deadpool and Wolverine. So apologies to everyone for that.

[00:01:15] But yeah, so today we're talking about all the other stuff that we have been watching lately.

[00:01:20] Mike D, I got to tell you, normally when we go into a discussions episode, I've got lots of stuff to talk about.

[00:01:24] Yeah.

[00:01:24] And I do have some stuff that I'm going to bring up, but I feel like lately, maybe it's just because it's the summer and I've had to do other things here and there, all that stuff.

[00:01:34] But lately I feel like all I've been watching is either stuff for the Ray Shider podcast, which, you know, great run of movies.

[00:01:40] Not going to complain about that.

[00:01:41] But then also stuff for the Montana Film Festival, like submissions that are coming in.

[00:01:47] And I said that to my girlfriend the other day and I was like, yeah, I feel like I haven't done anything that wasn't like for the podcast or for work in a while.

[00:01:53] And so I was able and so after that, I was like, I got to just watch something for me.

[00:01:57] You know, I got to got to watch something on my own just for myself.

[00:02:00] So I watched Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York and I'll talk about that in a little bit.

[00:02:04] Sometimes you just need one, you know?

[00:02:06] Yeah.

[00:02:06] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:02:07] What do you have to, Mike?

[00:02:08] What's been going on in your life?

[00:02:09] You know, the usual stuff.

[00:02:11] Not a whole lot, honestly.

[00:02:12] Living the dream, which is a nightmare under the late stage capitalism.

[00:02:16] But that's that's the norm.

[00:02:17] That's what it's been for a long time.

[00:02:19] Yeah, almost as long as this podcast has been around, perhaps even longer.

[00:02:23] That's so true.

[00:02:24] Wow.

[00:02:25] What a weird time we live in, huh?

[00:02:27] Puts it all into perspective.

[00:02:28] Yes.

[00:02:29] But we still have movies, Mike.

[00:02:31] That's right, baby.

[00:02:32] The movies, baby.

[00:02:32] The movies.

[00:02:33] And I've been seeing more new movies now more than ever.

[00:02:36] That's true.

[00:02:37] Yeah.

[00:02:37] You're you're a big moviegoer now.

[00:02:39] Back in the movies in a big way.

[00:02:40] Yes.

[00:02:41] Yeah.

[00:02:41] You've been using your your real unlimited thing and sounds like it's been paying off for you.

[00:02:44] You've been seeing a lot of stuff.

[00:02:46] Yeah.

[00:02:46] So we're going to get into it, Mike.

[00:02:47] It's time for our discussion.

[00:02:49] Watch this.

[00:02:51] These are my discussion.

[00:02:53] Just when I thought I said all I could say, my buddy and I talk about movies we see.

[00:02:58] These are my discussion.

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

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

[00:03:07] All right.

[00:03:08] It's time for our discussions here on Mike and Mike Go to the Movies.

[00:03:11] And we're going to start with one that actually me and Mike both saw in theaters recently.

[00:03:15] Uh, and that is the new film from M night Shyamalan trap, which stars Josh Hartnett and Mike D.

[00:03:22] I feel like you've been less on the recent Shyamalan wavelength that I have been, right?

[00:03:26] Yes.

[00:03:26] Correct.

[00:03:27] Yeah.

[00:03:27] It was definitely not particularly on board.

[00:03:29] I remember one of the early episodes we ever did.

[00:03:32] Early beginning ones was The Visit.

[00:03:35] Yes.

[00:03:35] I have been calling my shot for Shyamalan for a very long time.

[00:03:39] Yes.

[00:03:39] And when The Visit came out, yeah, we did a review of that one.

[00:03:42] And I was surprised at how much I kind of loved it at the time.

[00:03:45] I haven't seen it since.

[00:03:47] But I'm sure it holds up.

[00:03:48] I'm sure it holds up.

[00:03:49] I remember really enjoying it and thought it was like really fun and clever and thought

[00:03:52] it was such a like a fun pivot for the Shyamalan career, which had been built on these, you

[00:03:57] know, kind of big Hollywood productions that were increasingly awful, like were really increasingly

[00:04:02] bad.

[00:04:02] You know, you're leading the waters happening.

[00:04:04] Last Airbender, After Earth, bad run of movies like it can't can't can't defend those

[00:04:10] at all, really.

[00:04:11] But I thought The Visit was really fun.

[00:04:12] And I think since then he's like really turned it around and has done so by making like

[00:04:16] just small scale weird shit, often the kind of putting his own money up for it and just

[00:04:20] kind of being like, all right, here we go.

[00:04:22] I'm going to make this thing.

[00:04:23] And he made the thing.

[00:04:24] And I think it has paid dividends.

[00:04:26] I think I think this last 10 years of Shyamalan's career has been really enjoyable and interesting.

[00:04:31] And yeah, since since The Visit, it was, you know, Split, Glass, Old, Knock of the Cabin,

[00:04:37] I think is the run.

[00:04:38] Yeah.

[00:04:38] Up to now.

[00:04:39] And I think Glass is OK.

[00:04:41] I think Split is solid.

[00:04:42] But I really like Old and Knock of the Cabin.

[00:04:44] And where are you at in the in the Shyamalan filmography, Mike?

[00:04:48] Yeah, I mean, I'd like out of those last couple of movies that you mentioned, I like Split.

[00:04:51] I haven't watched it in a long time, but I remember really liking Split and being being

[00:04:55] like, why is everybody so excited at the end of that?

[00:04:57] Because I didn't I had never seen.

[00:04:59] You hadn't seen Unbreakable at that point, right?

[00:05:00] Yeah, I hadn't seen Unbreakable yet, which is pretty funny.

[00:05:04] So I did not like Glass.

[00:05:05] I don't think that much.

[00:05:07] I like Old and I think Knock of the Cabin is pretty good also.

[00:05:10] Probably like Knock of the Cabin a little more than Old.

[00:05:12] But I broadly was not super interested in this sort of, you know, late phase or most

[00:05:19] recent phase of his career until I think I heard it was Screen Drafts.

[00:05:22] They did a Shyamalan draft episode.

[00:05:25] And the two people on that episode were like so invested and like deep fans and really explained

[00:05:32] why they connect to his movies and stuff.

[00:05:35] And I was kind of like, huh, that sort of makes a lot of sense, actually.

[00:05:38] And that kind of that episode kind of turned me around on the like, you know, the common

[00:05:44] criticism of like no human talks that way.

[00:05:46] And like, yes, that's the point.

[00:05:48] And I was kind of like, oh, you know, like when you realize how he's going for style or emotion

[00:05:54] or whatever, rather than, you know, for similitude in a movie to real life.

[00:05:59] I was kind of like, OK, that makes sense, actually.

[00:06:01] And then I start you sort of watch them through those lens and you're like, wow, actually,

[00:06:04] this all comes together.

[00:06:04] And so I watched I probably would have never watched Old, probably would have never watched

[00:06:08] Knock at the Cabin.

[00:06:10] But if it hadn't been for that, because I was kind of like, whatever, I don't need to

[00:06:13] be this is somebody I don't need to be on the train for.

[00:06:15] But I'm kind of in now.

[00:06:17] I think, you know, Trap is it's a movie for sure.

[00:06:20] No, it's it's better than that.

[00:06:22] But I didn't love it.

[00:06:24] I enjoy it.

[00:06:24] I had a good enough time, you know, which I had a good time with Trap.

[00:06:28] I think it is weaker than Old and Knock at the Cabin and Knock at the Cabin, I think,

[00:06:32] is like up there with Shyamalan's best films.

[00:06:34] Like I would put it up with Sixth Sense and Unbreakable and Signs and that that era.

[00:06:38] I think that movie rules.

[00:06:39] It was in my top 15, I think, of that year, which was just last year.

[00:06:42] I think it was 2023.

[00:06:43] Yeah.

[00:06:43] Yeah.

[00:06:44] That movie rules.

[00:06:44] I love Knock at the Cabin.

[00:06:45] I think Old is great.

[00:06:46] But yeah, I think this movie is a pretty good time.

[00:06:49] It's a it for me.

[00:06:51] I feel like the common criticism I've seen of the movie is that it has a really strong

[00:06:54] first half and then it kind of gets derailed in the back half.

[00:06:57] Yeah.

[00:06:57] And I almost felt the opposite.

[00:07:00] I kind of I enjoyed the concert.

[00:07:02] You're a madman.

[00:07:04] I enjoyed the concert stuff for what it was, but I was kind of like waiting for the other

[00:07:09] shoe to drop the entire time.

[00:07:10] And I will say to Shyamalan's credit, there's not really like another shoe that drops like

[00:07:15] the twist of the movie is the one that's in the trailers.

[00:07:17] But that's just like the premise of the film.

[00:07:19] Yeah.

[00:07:20] You know, so I can we can say it.

[00:07:21] I think it's that, you know, there's a trap set up for a serial killer at a concert.

[00:07:25] Josh Hartnett is the one you're following.

[00:07:26] Turns out he's the serial killer.

[00:07:28] That's revealed in the first five minutes of the movie.

[00:07:30] Like, it's not really a spoiler in the trailers.

[00:07:32] And I tell you that because that's just the premise of what the movie is, you know?

[00:07:35] And so the entire time I'm waiting for like, well, something else has to be going on

[00:07:38] here.

[00:07:39] Like some other play has to be happening.

[00:07:41] Like the daughter is actually the serial killer or something.

[00:07:44] That was like where my mind was going.

[00:07:45] But there really isn't anything like that.

[00:07:46] What I did really find really fun and interesting is that the like Josh Hartnett is your main

[00:07:51] character of the movie, but he kind of shifts away from being the main character at about

[00:07:56] the two thirds point.

[00:07:58] And there's a really interesting kind of perspective shift there.

[00:08:01] And then it kind of continues into other territory, which we can't really get into for spoiler

[00:08:06] reasons and all that kind of stuff.

[00:08:07] But I will say there's a perspective switch.

[00:08:09] And then there's another perspective switch.

[00:08:12] And it's a weird case where like, you know, like my girlfriend was like, it felt like

[00:08:16] the movie like didn't know when to end.

[00:08:17] It kind of had like three endings.

[00:08:18] And I was like, yeah, but I was on board for all those endings, baby.

[00:08:21] Yeah, I was I was along for the ride.

[00:08:24] Once you leave the concert, I think I enjoyed everything up to that point, too.

[00:08:28] I thought it was pretty fun, but I kind of just enjoyed how how nuts it got in the back

[00:08:33] half.

[00:08:33] Yeah, yeah.

[00:08:33] I mean, I think I liked the idea behind that.

[00:08:37] The back half leaving the concert and all that stuff.

[00:08:39] But I feel like maybe that goes on a little too long for me to like really enjoy the whole

[00:08:44] thing.

[00:08:44] So maybe that was part of it for me.

[00:08:46] But yeah, I mean, at a certain point, the whole like that's not how people talk thing

[00:08:50] really works in this movie because Josh Hartnett is such a little freak.

[00:08:54] Sure.

[00:08:55] You know, like his character is such like a literal psycho.

[00:08:57] So that's fun.

[00:08:58] Like getting to see like, well, how's he going to get out of this one aspect of it is fun.

[00:09:02] But yeah, I think ultimately it's fine.

[00:09:05] It's you know, I think maybe we overhyped it a bit kind of thing.

[00:09:08] And it's ultimately just like a Hollywood dad trying to jumpstart a career for his Hollywood

[00:09:13] daughter, which is cool.

[00:09:15] Like whatever, you know, go for it.

[00:09:16] I think weirdly, the movie itself is sort of a meditation on fatherhood in some ways.

[00:09:22] You know, and I mean, that's that's very literal in the in the casting of Shyamalan's daughter

[00:09:25] as Lady Raven, the the one who is putting on the concert, who then like has a speech about

[00:09:30] like, you know, how her father left when she was young and, you know, all that kind of

[00:09:34] stuff.

[00:09:34] But Josh Hartnett's character, it's a weird kind of metaphor.

[00:09:37] But, you know, he's a serial killer, but he's also a family man.

[00:09:40] And it's sort of about how he's leading.

[00:09:41] He's leading two lives.

[00:09:43] And when you're leading two lives, one of them will invariably like take precedence over the

[00:09:47] other one.

[00:09:48] And I sort of read it as like Shyamalan being like, you know, I have this like career as

[00:09:53] a director that keeps me away from my family for a lot of the time and like sort of feeling

[00:09:57] of residual guilt over that and sort of placing that into the role of the serial killer in

[00:10:02] this movie.

[00:10:03] Yeah.

[00:10:04] Stuff like that that made it, I think, textually pretty interesting for for Shyamalan heads.

[00:10:08] Yeah.

[00:10:08] No, it makes sense.

[00:10:09] It's it's fun.

[00:10:09] It's you know, the guy that's in the trailer, that's like you heard about the butcher

[00:10:13] like that whole thing rules.

[00:10:16] I don't know.

[00:10:16] It was a good time.

[00:10:17] Yeah.

[00:10:18] I mean, and I've been referencing this movie a lot since I saw it.

[00:10:21] I mean, actually, just today I was driving with my girlfriend and like we were driving

[00:10:24] behind like two police motorcycles.

[00:10:27] And while we're at a red light and another cop car like drove up next to me and is this

[00:10:32] a trap?

[00:10:34] Are they going to find out I forgot to register my car or something like that?

[00:10:39] What's going on?

[00:10:40] Every time I'm about to go to a concert, I'm going to I'm going to be very obnoxious about

[00:10:44] looking for clues that it's a trap.

[00:10:46] That kind of thing is going to be happening.

[00:10:49] So it's the movie has given me a lot already is what I'm saying.

[00:10:51] Yeah.

[00:10:52] Or cultural footprint.

[00:10:53] Yes, exactly.

[00:10:54] So, yeah.

[00:10:55] Trap.

[00:10:55] It's fun.

[00:10:55] I had a good time with it.

[00:10:56] Yeah.

[00:10:56] It's all right.

[00:10:57] It's fine.

[00:10:59] Plus, I saw it for free.

[00:11:00] So instant half star, you know?

[00:11:01] Hey, there you go.

[00:11:02] I also saw it for free because I work at the movie theater.

[00:11:06] I will say I sort of insisted that we try that we get it at the Roxy and we did.

[00:11:09] But everybody almost everybody else at the Roxy who has seen it.

[00:11:12] Not a fan.

[00:11:13] Didn't like it.

[00:11:14] Classic.

[00:11:14] There's not a lot of Shyamalan fans on the Roxy staff.

[00:11:17] Not a lot of Shyamalan fans.

[00:11:19] There are dozens of us.

[00:11:22] So, yeah, I've been kind of alone in my like for trap.

[00:11:25] Not even love for trap.

[00:11:26] I like trap.

[00:11:27] I think it's pretty good.

[00:11:27] Also, it's a fun title to say.

[00:11:29] Just trap.

[00:11:30] Trap.

[00:11:30] It's good.

[00:11:31] What else have you been watching, Mike?

[00:11:32] What other stuff has come up?

[00:11:34] So, another new movie that I saw that just came out last week is Cuckoo.

[00:11:38] Okay.

[00:11:39] New movie from Tillman Singer who directed Luz, L-U-Z, which I keep hearing about.

[00:11:44] It's been on Shudder for a long time.

[00:11:45] There's a Blu-ray.

[00:11:46] It's supposed to be amazing.

[00:11:47] I've never gotten around to it.

[00:11:48] So, I'm excited to go back and check that out.

[00:11:50] But this stars Hunter Schaefer and Dan Stevens and just a bunch of freaks.

[00:11:55] It's so good.

[00:11:55] This movie rocks.

[00:11:56] I had a really fun time with it.

[00:11:57] It's very weird.

[00:11:58] Yeah.

[00:11:59] Maybe not weirded the way I was expecting, which is interesting.

[00:12:02] I think it takes a pretty fun twist or turn.

[00:12:04] It just gets just like what?

[00:12:05] It does that thing where it's like, what if we just take this to its logical conclusion?

[00:12:09] And you're like, okay, whoa, shit.

[00:12:10] Okay.

[00:12:10] This is wild.

[00:12:12] I think Hunter Schaefer is great.

[00:12:13] I think Dan Stevens, it's another canonical little freak performance from him.

[00:12:17] It's a big year for Dan Stevens.

[00:12:19] Yeah.

[00:12:20] You got Abigail, which I think you're going to talk about.

[00:12:22] He's in, not Skull Island.

[00:12:24] What was the new one?

[00:12:24] The new Godzilla X-Kong colon the new empire.

[00:12:27] That's it.

[00:12:28] Yes.

[00:12:28] No wonder I forgot it.

[00:12:31] King Kong Godzilla movie.

[00:12:33] And then this, and he's great.

[00:12:34] And yeah, this is about Hunter Schaefer plays a character named Gretchen whose family moves

[00:12:40] to the German Alps.

[00:12:42] And Dan Stevens plays a Vito German guy.

[00:12:44] And he's doing that the whole time.

[00:12:47] And it's so fun.

[00:12:48] All right.

[00:12:49] Yeah, I know a little jerk.

[00:12:51] He's sitting right over there.

[00:12:54] And she moves there with her family.

[00:12:55] And it's like her dad and his new wife and daughter.

[00:13:00] So it's like, you know, she's on the out.

[00:13:03] Gretchen feels like she's on the outside and all this stuff and trying to adjust to this

[00:13:06] new life all while strange disappearances and attacks and what's going on and strange

[00:13:11] things starts happening.

[00:13:12] And Dan Stevens has a German accent.

[00:13:13] So right away, you're on guard, right?

[00:13:15] And yeah.

[00:13:16] And then it just kind of plays out and reveals this kind of like sinister secret about this

[00:13:20] resort that there are like whatever the Alps chalet they all live at now.

[00:13:25] Yeah.

[00:13:26] And it's cool.

[00:13:26] And it's real good.

[00:13:27] It's real fun.

[00:13:27] It's got spooky, violent, you know, horror stuff going on in it.

[00:13:30] So I had a really good time with Cuckoo.

[00:13:32] And I hope a lot of people see it.

[00:13:33] Nice.

[00:13:33] Yeah.

[00:13:34] I wanted to go see that this weekend and just didn't get the chance to.

[00:13:36] I had the opportunity, but my girlfriend also wants to see it.

[00:13:40] And she wasn't available.

[00:13:42] And so I have to figure out another time to go see it.

[00:13:44] But it looks really cool.

[00:13:45] And the people I've talked to have been really into it.

[00:13:48] So, yeah, excited about that.

[00:13:50] Cuckoo, which stars Hunter Schafer.

[00:13:52] Pretty cool.

[00:13:52] I have a couple of movies to talk about, Mike, that I believe you have already talked about

[00:13:56] in discussions before.

[00:13:57] One of which, you know, like you said, with Dan Stevens is Abigail, which this movie came

[00:14:01] out back in April.

[00:14:02] I wanted to see it then and just didn't have the time to do it.

[00:14:05] I hope I don't do that to Cuckoo, but that is what it is.

[00:14:08] But yeah, Abigail is the new film from Radio Silence.

[00:14:10] The guys who made Ready or Not and Scream 5 and 6.

[00:14:13] It stars Melissa Barrera and Dan Stevens and a few other people, Kevin Durand and Catherine

[00:14:18] Newton.

[00:14:19] And yeah, I had a blast with Abigail.

[00:14:22] I think this movie rocks.

[00:14:24] I would go so far as to say I think it is Radio Silence's best film.

[00:14:28] Wow.

[00:14:28] I think it is a really, really fun time.

[00:14:31] And it's a weird one because there is a twist halfway through this movie.

[00:14:35] And unlike Trap, where it reveals the twist in the trailer, but the twist is like, you

[00:14:39] know, the basic premise of the movie.

[00:14:40] That's kind of the case here.

[00:14:42] But like, it's really not revealed what's happening until like fully halfway into the movie.

[00:14:46] Yeah.

[00:14:47] You know, and so if you don't know what's happening in Abigail, maybe skip ahead like two minutes.

[00:14:52] Like if you are intrigued by the idea of Abigail, just the idea of us telling you to go watch

[00:14:58] it and you don't know what happens in it.

[00:15:00] You didn't see the trailer.

[00:15:01] Just go watch it.

[00:15:02] It's on Peacock right now.

[00:15:03] It's streaming.

[00:15:03] There you go.

[00:15:04] You can go check it out there.

[00:15:05] That's where I watched it.

[00:15:06] Even the thumbnail image on Peacock might be a spoiler.

[00:15:09] That's the thing about this movie.

[00:15:10] Throw that out there.

[00:15:11] Yeah.

[00:15:11] Mark for marketing really fucked up with this one.

[00:15:14] It is a weird thing.

[00:15:15] I mean, this movie underperformed at the box office anyway.

[00:15:17] So they're like, you know, it's all watched now.

[00:15:19] But like, I think it's a very difficult.

[00:15:21] It could have been a very difficult movie to sell if you didn't have that aspect in there.

[00:15:25] Right.

[00:15:26] Because then you could sell it to the horror fans.

[00:15:28] Right.

[00:15:28] And stuff like that.

[00:15:29] But yeah, the twist in Abigail is that.

[00:15:31] So there's these people, these kind of outlaws that are that have kidnapped this little girl,

[00:15:35] taken her to this like faraway house and are holding her for ransom from her rich father.

[00:15:39] And about halfway through the movie, it turns out this little girl is a vampire and has been

[00:15:44] toying with him this whole time.

[00:15:45] Yes.

[00:15:45] And it is such a blast.

[00:15:48] It's a really fun horror comedy.

[00:15:50] It's incredibly gory.

[00:15:52] The kills are really, really inventive and cool.

[00:15:55] Melissa Barrera is really solid in the lead.

[00:15:56] But the ensemble they kind of develop for this movie is just really fun.

[00:15:59] And they bounce off each other really well.

[00:16:00] Dan Stevens is awesome in this movie.

[00:16:03] He's he's killing it in this.

[00:16:05] Yeah, I had a blast with Abigail.

[00:16:07] I think it's sharply written.

[00:16:08] I think it's really engaging.

[00:16:09] I think it's the best movie.

[00:16:10] I think Radio Sound is like knocked out of the park with Abigail.

[00:16:13] It's really fun.

[00:16:13] Nice.

[00:16:14] That's exciting.

[00:16:14] I still probably like Ready or Not more.

[00:16:16] Yeah.

[00:16:17] Yeah.

[00:16:17] But yeah, Abigail was great.

[00:16:18] I had a lot of fun with it.

[00:16:19] And that like one line where I forget what Catherine Newton's character's name is, but

[00:16:24] he's when Dan Stevens is like, those are fucking onions.

[00:16:27] Like it's so funny.

[00:16:31] Yeah.

[00:16:32] I'm glad you really liked it.

[00:16:33] Yeah.

[00:16:33] No, it rules.

[00:16:34] So, yeah, it's streaming on Peacock right now if anybody wants to watch it.

[00:16:36] And the other movie that you've talked about, Mike, that I finally got around to watching

[00:16:40] is The Last Stop in Yuma County.

[00:16:42] Hell yeah.

[00:16:44] Which, man, what a picture.

[00:16:46] This is great.

[00:16:46] Two for two.

[00:16:47] They did it.

[00:16:49] Yeah, no, this will be rules.

[00:16:50] You know, it's a weird one where sort of similar to Abigail.

[00:16:53] It's about like a large ensemble of people in one location for most of its runtime.

[00:16:57] But this one's about, you know, these group of people that kind of trickle into this diner

[00:17:02] next to a gas station.

[00:17:03] The gas station has no gas.

[00:17:05] They're waiting on the truck for the gas to get delivered.

[00:17:07] And so they're all just kind of stranded there in the diner until the gas truck arrives.

[00:17:13] Two of the people, one of which is played by Richard Brake, happened to have just robbed

[00:17:16] a bank earlier in the day.

[00:17:18] And their crime is all over the radio.

[00:17:20] People know about it so that people can recognize their car.

[00:17:22] And tensions start to simmer.

[00:17:24] And yeah, this movie is just it's really, really solid.

[00:17:27] I think for the first like hour or so, I was like, this is pretty good.

[00:17:30] I enjoyed it.

[00:17:31] Like I took a solid like, you know, build up to what the movie is.

[00:17:34] And then there was this moment about an hour in.

[00:17:36] And I don't want to spoil what that is.

[00:17:38] But there's this moment about an hour in where I was like, OK, I don't know where this movie

[00:17:41] is going anymore.

[00:17:42] Like the last like 20, 30 minutes of this movie.

[00:17:44] I'm just like, I have no idea where this is going next.

[00:17:46] And I was very, very into it.

[00:17:49] And it works because of the buildup of that first hour has.

[00:17:52] Yeah, it's really, really great.

[00:17:53] So The Last Stop in Yuma County.

[00:17:55] I'm glad you recommended it, Mike.

[00:17:56] Like it was on my radar.

[00:17:58] But like I think if we I think we talked about it on like the last discussions episode

[00:18:00] where you were just watching it.

[00:18:02] And if you hadn't mentioned it then, I think I watched it like a day or two later.

[00:18:05] Because it's like it's available to rent an Amazon for like five bucks or something like

[00:18:08] that.

[00:18:08] You can do it there.

[00:18:09] It's it's well worth it.

[00:18:11] It's really good.

[00:18:11] Nice.

[00:18:12] Yeah.

[00:18:12] I forget.

[00:18:13] Probably on a podcast or something.

[00:18:14] Somebody mentioned it.

[00:18:15] But definitely I had seen buzz about it or whatever.

[00:18:17] And just like, yeah, I'll get to it eventually.

[00:18:19] And same thing.

[00:18:20] It's like, yeah, you sort of forget about it.

[00:18:22] And then somebody reminds you and you're like, oh, yeah, maybe we'll check that out right

[00:18:24] now.

[00:18:24] Yeah.

[00:18:25] And and everybody in the movie is like somebody that you like you probably couldn't like know

[00:18:30] by name.

[00:18:30] But you like know their face from something else.

[00:18:33] Yeah.

[00:18:33] You know, like Jim Cummings is also in the movie.

[00:18:35] Right.

[00:18:35] A guy from, you know, your werewolf movie.

[00:18:39] Wolf of Snow Hollow.

[00:18:40] Wolf of Snow Hollow.

[00:18:41] The movie I've seen like 10 times.

[00:18:43] It's a great movie.

[00:18:44] It's it's good.

[00:18:44] Yeah.

[00:18:45] But like even like the old man in the movie is like the guy from the gas station.

[00:18:48] No country for old men.

[00:18:49] That's right.

[00:18:50] Yeah.

[00:18:50] Like that kind of thing.

[00:18:51] Like there's just like people that pop up in this movie like that.

[00:18:53] You're like, oh, my God.

[00:18:54] Like, it's cool to see this guy again.

[00:18:56] But where do I know this face from?

[00:18:57] You know, you know, is that the main villain of The Dare?

[00:19:00] Richard Brake?

[00:19:01] Richard Brake.

[00:19:02] Yes.

[00:19:02] Friend of the show.

[00:19:03] Friend of the show.

[00:19:04] Richard Brake.

[00:19:05] So, yeah, there it is.

[00:19:06] The Last Stop in Yuma County.

[00:19:07] Well worth checking out.

[00:19:08] So, yeah, Abigail, Last Stop in Yuma County and Cuckoo.

[00:19:11] All new 2024 movies that you should go watch.

[00:19:13] Yeah.

[00:19:13] Look at that.

[00:19:14] We're doing it.

[00:19:14] All right.

[00:19:15] What else you got, Mike?

[00:19:16] What's what else is on your list?

[00:19:17] You know what?

[00:19:17] Movies are not from 2024 and are maybe worth it.

[00:19:22] The five purge movies.

[00:19:23] Movies.

[00:19:24] I watched all five over a weekend with some friends.

[00:19:28] Nice.

[00:19:28] We were watching on Dropout.

[00:19:30] We were watching an episode of Um Actually, which is their sort of nerdy trivia quiz show

[00:19:34] kind of thing.

[00:19:35] Which just wrapped up their season, right?

[00:19:37] Oh, really?

[00:19:37] I think it's done.

[00:19:39] Yeah.

[00:19:39] Nice.

[00:19:40] Probably.

[00:19:40] I think I've seen them.

[00:19:41] They're filming the new one now.

[00:19:42] I've been seeing some behind the scenes stuff from Ify, which is cool.

[00:19:45] Gotcha.

[00:19:45] I haven't seen the latest, like the newest episode, but I know it reunites a bunch of Avatar

[00:19:49] The Last Airbender cast or something, right?

[00:19:51] That's fun.

[00:19:51] I don't even know.

[00:19:52] I haven't looked.

[00:19:53] That's awesome.

[00:19:53] Okay, yeah.

[00:19:54] But they did a horror episode with Jonah Ray Rodriguez and Milana Vantraub and, oh, I

[00:19:59] forget the guy who's on that.

[00:20:00] Harvey Glenn from What We Do in the Shadows?

[00:20:03] Yes.

[00:20:03] Yes.

[00:20:04] I saw this episode too.

[00:20:04] It's really fun.

[00:20:05] And in one of the questions they mentioned, in the five film franchise, The Purge, and one

[00:20:09] of my friends that I was watching it with was like, spit his drink out and was like,

[00:20:12] there's five purge movies?

[00:20:15] And I was like, yeah, I've never seen any of them.

[00:20:17] And he's like, me neither.

[00:20:18] So we got another friend together.

[00:20:19] We watched all five of them over a weekend.

[00:20:21] And yeah, I think this is a Banana Pants franchise.

[00:20:26] It's crazy that this was like a major tentpole franchise for Blumhouse.

[00:20:31] But yeah, the first, well, Purge won.

[00:20:33] The original Purge.

[00:20:34] The original.

[00:20:35] You can't just call it the first Purge anymore.

[00:20:36] Yeah.

[00:20:37] That's the fourth Purge.

[00:20:38] That's the fourth Purge, which is just like The Omens, actually.

[00:20:40] The fourth, the fifth, if you count the franchise, whatever.

[00:20:42] Oh yeah, the first Omen is not, yeah.

[00:20:43] Yeah, it's not the first.

[00:20:44] We have to outlaw this titling convention, I think.

[00:20:48] Basically.

[00:20:49] But Purge won from 2013.

[00:20:51] Is a, I mean, Ethan Hawke is great in it.

[00:20:54] It's so wild.

[00:20:54] I remember.

[00:20:55] And he was also at Insidious, which I think is, no, not Insidious.

[00:20:58] Sinister.

[00:20:58] Sinister.

[00:20:59] Man.

[00:20:59] Woof.

[00:21:00] Yeah.

[00:21:01] Now, he likes to slum it in horror movies sometimes.

[00:21:03] He does.

[00:21:04] Yeah, that's right.

[00:21:04] I mean, Sinister's great.

[00:21:05] But I mean, just recently, the Black Phone was also one that he was in too, right?

[00:21:08] Yeah, I think they're making a Sinister 2 now.

[00:21:10] I saw some stuff.

[00:21:11] Sinister 2 already exists.

[00:21:12] What am I thinking of then?

[00:21:13] Sinister 3?

[00:21:14] Black Phone 2?

[00:21:15] I think they are doing that.

[00:21:16] Maybe.

[00:21:17] Who knows?

[00:21:17] Could be that.

[00:21:18] Anyway, Purge from 2013.

[00:21:20] And it's a taut, low-budget, home invasion movie set within this insane premise, right?

[00:21:27] That for one day a year, all crime is legal in the United States.

[00:21:31] Yeah.

[00:21:32] And I love that little just throwaway world-building stuff, you know, that he's, that Ethan Hawke's

[00:21:37] this character that has like made it rich because he runs this security firm installing security

[00:21:42] systems in this rich suburb and they all hate him for it and all this stuff.

[00:21:46] And so it's a intense, pretty intense, fun home invasion thing with cool concepts.

[00:21:50] And then the other four movies are just action movies.

[00:21:53] And I don't really understand what happened.

[00:21:56] So I think, I think definitely.

[00:21:57] And to that effect, I think the two movies, Purge Anarchy and Purge Election Year, which

[00:22:02] star Frank, Frank Grillo, you know, potential king of the DTV action movie.

[00:22:08] Yep.

[00:22:08] Are those two the great, those are great.

[00:22:09] Those two movies are awesome.

[00:22:10] He's a great protagonist.

[00:22:11] Those two, Anarchy and Election Year are very fun.

[00:22:14] And I think that's basically, they come, you know, so the first one's the home invasion

[00:22:17] movie.

[00:22:18] Anarchy is like, what if outside, right?

[00:22:21] And then, and then they blew that idea and they're like, oh shit, what do we do for three

[00:22:25] more movies?

[00:22:26] Because then they're just outside in the other room, in the rest of the franchise.

[00:22:29] Yeah, no, absolutely.

[00:22:30] I mean, I remember when the original Purge came out that one of the big criticisms about

[00:22:35] it was that, you know, this is such an insane concept for just like just a home invasion

[00:22:39] movie.

[00:22:39] Like there's so much more to explore with like the idea that you have here.

[00:22:43] And so they do in these next several movies.

[00:22:45] And yeah, I mean, so I, I've been like a diehard Purge guy for many years.

[00:22:50] I had a feeling.

[00:22:52] Uh, it's, it's like a horror franchise that I'm weirdly attached to for some reason.

[00:22:56] I've seen them all in theaters.

[00:22:58] I did not, I have not watched, there was a Purge TV show a few years ago that I think

[00:23:03] there was like a, the post credit scene of the first Purge teases like the Purge TV show,

[00:23:07] I think.

[00:23:08] Okay.

[00:23:08] Um, something like that.

[00:23:09] But, uh, yeah, so I, I've seen all, all five of these movies.

[00:23:13] And I, none of them are like better than like pretty good except for, I think, Purge

[00:23:17] Anarchy, which really does rule.

[00:23:18] Yeah.

[00:23:19] But there, but I'm like weirdly like, I don't know, like whenever there's a new Purge movie

[00:23:22] out, I'm going to go watch it.

[00:23:23] Like, I don't understand what it is about these movies that like has me so weirdly invested

[00:23:27] in them, but I am.

[00:23:28] Yeah.

[00:23:29] Yeah.

[00:23:29] I don't know.

[00:23:29] I think, I think there's definitely one, two and three are, are pretty good.

[00:23:33] I think.

[00:23:34] And that's like a solid trilogy of movies right there too.

[00:23:36] Um, which those are the ones directed, written and directed by James DeMonaco who like kind

[00:23:39] of created the whole thing.

[00:23:40] Got it.

[00:23:41] Um, and then yeah, the first Purge, which is a prequel, I think is fine as a movie, but

[00:23:46] ultimately a pretty big letdown conceptually.

[00:23:49] And for that, I was like, I got to dock you points, you know, like if you, uh, you're

[00:23:53] attempting, cause the whole thing is like with the other movies, like how did we get to this

[00:23:57] point as a country?

[00:23:58] Like how did the politicians convince people to, and it's of course that they're, they're,

[00:24:02] they're putting like secret Nazi soldiers out to kill, to kill the poors.

[00:24:06] Right.

[00:24:06] That's the whole, I was going to say subtext, but the text of these movies.

[00:24:09] Oh, right.

[00:24:10] So, and then the Purge election year ends with the, the, them winning the election to like,

[00:24:16] like an anti-Purge party basically winning the election.

[00:24:19] Ending the Purge, right?

[00:24:20] Right.

[00:24:20] Exactly.

[00:24:20] Yeah.

[00:24:21] Ending the Purge.

[00:24:21] So then to go back and be like, we're going to explain and show that in the first Purge,

[00:24:25] which is the fourth movie, uh, they're going to explain like how we got here and what

[00:24:29] was the first Purge like and why, how did, and they skip all that.

[00:24:31] They go right to the, the AF, the founding fathers party or whatever the hell they're

[00:24:36] called has already won.

[00:24:37] The, the Purge is already starts tomorrow.

[00:24:39] Like we skipped the whole thing that I want to learn about.

[00:24:41] What were we hearing the prequel for?

[00:24:43] We're going to skip all this.

[00:24:43] You just want like the political thriller.

[00:24:45] I want, yes.

[00:24:47] About the passing of the law that made the Purge happen.

[00:24:48] I want, I want the, you want Lincoln.

[00:24:50] I want Lincoln that ends with 20 minutes of Purge one, like Purge night one.

[00:24:54] Like it ends with that happening.

[00:24:56] I don't want an hour 15 of Purge night one.

[00:24:59] I want to see how we got here.

[00:25:01] The collapse, the election.

[00:25:02] And it's all just like the, uh, the opening credits, like montage to like, yada, yada,

[00:25:07] yada.

[00:25:07] We got here for the, the, the prototype Purge is tomorrow.

[00:25:11] Yeah.

[00:25:11] Is Marissa Tomei the one that like starts the Purge or something like that?

[00:25:14] She's like sort of the, um, the like person overseeing it, uh, who gets cold feet because

[00:25:19] the whole thing, which I thought was actually very interesting in the first Purge is like, oh

[00:25:23] yeah, nobody, nobody wants this, right?

[00:25:24] It's just like parties is what happened.

[00:25:26] Like the, the law that's getting broken is like open container laws, right?

[00:25:29] They're not like giant block parties and everything.

[00:25:31] And so she's like, we got to pick it, pack it up.

[00:25:33] That's it.

[00:25:33] It's over.

[00:25:34] And then there's like one other guy, the other guy in charge is like, send it the Nazis,

[00:25:38] right?

[00:25:38] Like, and he sends in the evil guys and has Marissa Tomei killed.

[00:25:41] So yeah, it's wild.

[00:25:42] It's so, but because I don't get enough of the juicy political thriller part, two and

[00:25:46] a half stars.

[00:25:47] Sure.

[00:25:47] Yeah.

[00:25:47] I do think the first Purge is probably the weakest of the Purges.

[00:25:50] Yeah.

[00:25:51] Uh, and then the forever Purge is fine.

[00:25:52] I mean, it's like the, I guess the logical end of the whole thing is like, what if these

[00:25:56] people decide Purge night's not enough and they just keep going?

[00:25:59] And it is of course all the, uh, you know, vigilanteism stuff around the border and the

[00:26:04] immigrants and all that shit.

[00:26:05] Right.

[00:26:05] That one adds like the border, the border control kind of commentary to it.

[00:26:09] Right.

[00:26:09] Yeah.

[00:26:10] It's like these white ranch hands are mad that these non-white ranch hands have their

[00:26:13] jobs.

[00:26:14] So they, they continue to Purge after the night ends.

[00:26:16] Uh, it's sort of the whole thing.

[00:26:18] So it's fine, whatever, but anarchy and election year are definitely the two best ones.

[00:26:22] And I think I saw Brillo's coming back.

[00:26:24] They're trying to make another one or something.

[00:26:25] Oh really?

[00:26:25] I don't know.

[00:26:26] I mean, that's something that would be, who does?

[00:26:28] That's the most exciting thing you can do for a new Purge movie is to bring back Frank

[00:26:31] Grillo.

[00:26:32] Yeah, true.

[00:26:32] He's so, what I like the most about anarchy and I haven't seen, I've seen these movies

[00:26:36] exactly one time except for the original Purge, which I saw it in theaters twice.

[00:26:40] Oh.

[00:26:40] But, uh, the Purge anarchy feels like a, like a lost John Carpenter movie almost.

[00:26:45] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:26:46] The way it's framed and like, like the, the satire is like fairly, like it's blunt, but

[00:26:50] it's like, it's, it's really effective.

[00:26:53] Uh, like I think it's the most effective of the movies and Frank Grillo is like that perfect,

[00:26:57] like snake Plissken sort of protagonist where he's killing it.

[00:26:59] He's so good in most of these movies.

[00:27:01] He's on his personal revenge mission that gets interrupted by having to save this family.

[00:27:05] Um, kind of thing in anarchy.

[00:27:07] And, uh, yeah, it's pretty cool.

[00:27:08] Holy shit.

[00:27:09] Lakeith Stanfield's in Purge Anarchy.

[00:27:10] Yeah.

[00:27:11] He's, he's one of the guys that kidnaps them or something as part of that.

[00:27:14] That crew with like the, I love the other thing too, is there's like these like really

[00:27:19] intense, like mask imagery on the posters.

[00:27:21] And I remember like in the trailers and it's like the iconography of these movies.

[00:27:25] Um, and they're a single 30 second scene of somebody in that mask is like what's actually

[00:27:30] in the movie, but they're like, we're going to market the shit out of this.

[00:27:32] It's like, what?

[00:27:34] What's happening?

[00:27:35] Yeah.

[00:27:35] I mean, it is a weird series where like, I feel like not that many people saw the sequels

[00:27:40] at least.

[00:27:40] I think the first one was a solid hit.

[00:27:42] Yeah.

[00:27:43] But, and then enough people saw the sequels to keep making them, I guess.

[00:27:45] But like, uh, you know, like the first one was a solid hit, but like the concept of the

[00:27:50] purge just like immediately steeped into pop culture.

[00:27:52] Like everybody knows, like, like everybody knows like, oh yeah, all crime is legal now.

[00:27:56] That's from the purge.

[00:27:57] Right.

[00:27:57] To the degree where like, I think like even like a year or two after the purge came out,

[00:28:00] like that Rick and Morty episode aired, where it was like, oh, now we're on a purge

[00:28:03] planet where all crime is legal on this planet or something like that.

[00:28:06] Yeah.

[00:28:06] Like it's just like immediately entered the pop culture lexicon, uh, in a way that a lot of things

[00:28:10] don't.

[00:28:10] So the purge, you know, even though it's a, it's a weird, like, you know, it's a mixed

[00:28:14] bag of a franchise, but like it has some kind of stranglehold on the, on pop culture.

[00:28:18] Yeah.

[00:28:18] Yeah.

[00:28:18] I think it's just a really evocative idea and one we're, uh, all, you know, grappling

[00:28:22] with.

[00:28:25] Sounds like I need to do a purge rewatch.

[00:28:26] Uh, uh, if, if they're actually doing purge six with Frank Grillo coming back, I should

[00:28:31] do a purge watch.

[00:28:31] I should do, I should do a rewatch.

[00:28:32] I haven't seen most of these movies since theaters.

[00:28:34] So it'd be fun to watch them again, but all right.

[00:28:36] That is the purge series.

[00:28:37] I'm glad you did it, Mike.

[00:28:38] I'm glad, I'm glad you took the purge.

[00:28:39] Me too.

[00:28:40] Yeah.

[00:28:40] I'm glad I purged.

[00:28:41] All right.

[00:28:42] And so, yeah, other stuff that I've been watching, uh, we've been having sci-fi summer

[00:28:46] going down at, uh, the Roxy theater, the Indian theater near my house in Missoula, Montana,

[00:28:49] where I also work.

[00:28:50] Uh, and we programmed like two full months of science fiction classics at the theater, uh,

[00:28:55] throughout July and August.

[00:28:56] And so I've been watching a bunch of that stuff.

[00:28:59] Uh, and so it kicked off with 2001, a space odyssey, uh, which I got to watch in a theater

[00:29:03] for the first time.

[00:29:04] And, uh, that was pretty rad.

[00:29:05] Uh, high recommend watching 2001, uh, in general, but especially in a theater, if you can, it's

[00:29:10] very, very good.

[00:29:10] I also got to see inception on 35 millimeter, uh, which, uh, that was really cool.

[00:29:15] Uh, I had just watched inception like a year earlier when I did my Nolan rewatch before

[00:29:19] Oppenheimer and had like rediscovered my love for inception.

[00:29:22] Um, and yeah, got to watch it on 35, which by the way, the 35 millimeter print of inception

[00:29:27] was like an original one from 2010, which came with a trailer for a movie that we could

[00:29:31] not remove.

[00:29:32] Um, so we got a 35 millimeter trailer of Ben Affleck's the town right in front of inception.

[00:29:38] I bet that shit tore the house down.

[00:29:40] Oh my God.

[00:29:41] People went nuts.

[00:29:42] That's awesome.

[00:29:43] It was like, can we just watch the town instead?

[00:29:46] Yeah.

[00:29:47] Truly like transported me back to being 17 years old in the year 2010.

[00:29:50] Like just like zoom.

[00:29:51] I was, I was back there.

[00:29:52] That's so cool.

[00:29:53] Uh, which was pretty awesome.

[00:29:54] So yeah, I got to watch inception in 35 and I got to watch the matrix, uh, as well,

[00:29:58] which, uh, I did not get to, I didn't go to a screening of it, but like a day before the

[00:30:03] actual screening of the matrix, um, Matt, our tech director was testing it out.

[00:30:06] Um, and he came in the office and was like, Hey, I'm going to test out the matrix for like

[00:30:10] 10 minutes.

[00:30:10] I test out the sound and stuff like that.

[00:30:12] If anybody wants to watch like 10 minutes of the matrix come down.

[00:30:14] And I was like, well, hell yeah, I'm going to watch 10 minutes.

[00:30:16] So I went down and then we ended up watching the whole thing.

[00:30:20] We went down there and, uh, like 10 minutes pass and we're both like, okay, well, yeah,

[00:30:25] we'll, we'll go.

[00:30:26] But you know, the, uh, the, the, the cubicle scene's about to start.

[00:30:29] We can't miss the cubicle scene.

[00:30:30] And so cubicle scene happens.

[00:30:32] And we're like, all right, well, yeah, we should probably go.

[00:30:34] But now the interrogation scene's happening.

[00:30:36] And, uh, that continued for two hours.

[00:30:39] Well, now it's the lobby scene.

[00:30:40] We got to stay.

[00:30:41] Exactly.

[00:30:41] Yeah.

[00:30:42] Uh, and so truly by the end of the movie, it was like, well, well, you know, they're

[00:30:46] about to save Morpheus.

[00:30:46] We got, we can't just leave now.

[00:30:50] Uh, Morpheus and you are fighting.

[00:30:51] We got to stay.

[00:30:52] Yeah.

[00:30:53] And so, yeah, I missed out on a day at work because we watched the matrix for two hours,

[00:30:58] which was really fun.

[00:30:59] But the, the stuff I really wanted to talk about, I did get to do total recall, uh, for

[00:31:02] inferno of danger, uh, which was a lot of fun.

[00:31:05] And, uh, just this past weekend, I did demolition man also for inferno and, uh, both those movies

[00:31:10] incredible, uh, total recall with the crowd was unbelievable.

[00:31:13] Like the crowd was going nuts, uh, for that movie, which was really fun.

[00:31:16] Uh, and demolition man, I wasn't expecting as big of a crowd, but we almost sold it out.

[00:31:20] Uh, people came out for demolition man, which was really fun to see.

[00:31:23] And yeah.

[00:31:24] Have you seen demolition man Mike?

[00:31:25] I have.

[00:31:26] Yes.

[00:31:26] Yeah.

[00:31:26] Okay.

[00:31:26] Yeah.

[00:31:27] That movie is, uh, it's much more of a comedy than it is an action movie.

[00:31:30] Um, but like, it's very much like disguised as an action movie.

[00:31:34] Like it's, I mean, it's got action scenes in it and like, so that's just thrown and

[00:31:36] Wesley Snipes are in it.

[00:31:37] Um, but it's, it's like 80% like fish out of water comedy with Sylvester Stallone in the

[00:31:41] future.

[00:31:42] And that's a good time.

[00:31:43] So yeah, I wanted to mention that it's great.

[00:31:45] Uh, but what I really wanted to talk about Mike is that I got to do a rewatch of the original

[00:31:49] star Wars trilogy as part of sci-fi summer.

[00:31:51] Uh, so we got to do full one week runs of each of the original three star Wars movies.

[00:31:56] Uh, none of the other ones.

[00:31:57] Um, I think originally we were like, ah, you know, we don't want to do the prequels or

[00:32:00] anything like that.

[00:32:00] Um, you know, you know, we have standards or whatever.

[00:32:03] Uh, but we've also had like a lot of people asking us like, when are you going to show

[00:32:06] the prequels?

[00:32:07] I was like, maybe we should show the prequels sometime.

[00:32:08] Interesting.

[00:32:10] Might make money.

[00:32:11] Is it me or the people that are wrong?

[00:32:13] Exactly.

[00:32:14] Uh, but I hadn't seen the original star Wars trilogy in like five years.

[00:32:18] Um, or at least like sat down and watched them in full.

[00:32:20] The last time I watched them was a big star Wars rewatch before rise of Skywalker came

[00:32:24] out.

[00:32:25] That was 2019.

[00:32:26] So it had been a long time since I got to watch the originals and man, what movies

[00:32:31] turns out good stuff.

[00:32:33] Um, and so we, we were showing them at the Roxy and I got to watch the original star Wars,

[00:32:37] uh, with a pretty packed crowd of people who are really into it.

[00:32:40] And there's been a lot of, a lot of like families coming in, kids watching it for the first time

[00:32:44] and getting excited or kids who were like really steeped in it already.

[00:32:47] Like it's actually really, it's been really funny to see like, you know, six, seven year

[00:32:51] old kids who, uh, you know, have, have already seen and love star Wars to the point where

[00:32:56] like we have like a, you know, a display case, uh, in our candy section that like gets

[00:33:00] updated with like stuff for certain things that were showing.

[00:33:02] And there's a bunch of star Wars toys that are in there.

[00:33:04] And I was working one day and like this, like seven year old kid, like came in and was like,

[00:33:08] Oh my God, look, it's Boba Fett.

[00:33:09] It's like, he just named like all these different characters.

[00:33:12] He knew all of them.

[00:33:13] And he's like seven years old.

[00:33:14] And I was like, Hey, this reminds me of me.

[00:33:15] I don't know.

[00:33:16] Like, that's cool.

[00:33:17] And it's like, Oh, this it's, it's wild.

[00:33:18] Like how enduring these movies from the seventies and eighties are, you know, like this original

[00:33:23] trilogy of movies, um, where like, even like the, like six year old kids can be still really

[00:33:27] into them.

[00:33:28] And especially watching the first one, which is such a weirdly structured movie where the

[00:33:32] first like 20, 30 minutes are, you're just watching droids kind of wandering around the

[00:33:35] desert for a while.

[00:33:36] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:33:38] But that's great.

[00:33:39] That's really fun.

[00:33:39] And, uh, you know, the way that movie builds is so fun.

[00:33:41] Uh, these were the, uh, special editions, uh, that we're showing, uh, cause we have to,

[00:33:45] that's, that's what is available and it's the most recent version.

[00:33:48] So it was my first time watching the McClunky cut of, uh, Star Wars.

[00:33:53] So had that, uh, going on.

[00:33:54] Uh, but I got to watch the first one with a big crowd, Empire Strikes Back, which is

[00:33:58] my favorite.

[00:33:59] Uh, I did not get to watch the crowd, but I did watch it at the theater before hours.

[00:34:03] Okay.

[00:34:03] Cause I, I realized I wasn't going to have time in the week to go see Empire Strikes Back.

[00:34:07] So I watched it like before hours at the theater just by myself and had a great time.

[00:34:11] And then Return of the Jedi, uh, I actually did not get to watch in the theater.

[00:34:14] Uh, I was trying to find a time and couldn't work out and all that stuff.

[00:34:17] So I just didn't get to watch it, um, in the theater, but I decided to take the opportunity

[00:34:21] at home to bust out my despecialized Blu-ray edition because I bought like a bootleg despecialized

[00:34:28] version of, of the Blu-rays of Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

[00:34:32] And I watched Return of the Jedi despecialized and man, you forget how good this movie looked.

[00:34:38] Like I, it's almost weird to watch it without the extra like CGI bullshit.

[00:34:43] Yeah.

[00:34:43] Yeah.

[00:34:43] Yeah.

[00:34:44] That gets added into it now.

[00:34:45] And I, and like starting it, I was like, okay, well I know like, you know, I won't see

[00:34:49] Hayden Christensen's force ghost, uh, in it anymore.

[00:34:52] I know that.

[00:34:53] And I know that like the, uh, the second performance at Jabba's palace is not going to happen.

[00:34:58] The, like, uh, you know, the song that gets added, uh, you know, but yeah, like even like

[00:35:05] that moment where like normally there would be like an extra song here at Jabba's palace,

[00:35:09] there is that song, but like the creature that sings it in the Return of the Jedi in

[00:35:12] special edition is like a fully CGI creature that looks pretty bad.

[00:35:16] Uh, and watching the despecialized version, I was like, Oh, here's the original puppet

[00:35:20] that is like, just stuff like that, which, uh, felt like a very fresh experience.

[00:35:25] And like it, I had seen this version of the movie before, but it was when I was like seven,

[00:35:30] you know?

[00:35:31] Um, so it was, it was cool to watch.

[00:35:32] It was cool to see the despecialized version.

[00:35:34] I kind of want to rewatch star Wars and empire just to have like that despecialized version

[00:35:38] in my head now.

[00:35:39] Yeah.

[00:35:40] Um, but, uh, yeah, it was pretty cool.

[00:35:41] So yeah, the star Wars movies, hot take.

[00:35:43] They're good.

[00:35:45] Wow.

[00:35:45] So brave of you to say, but if you want a real hot take, yeah.

[00:35:51] Prometheus rules.

[00:35:52] There you go.

[00:35:52] It did it.

[00:35:53] Boom.

[00:35:53] Hey, there you go.

[00:35:54] Um, so yeah, you did a Prometheus and alien covenant rewatch.

[00:35:57] Yes.

[00:35:58] Um, ahead of the new alien movie, alien Romulus, which, uh, is coming out as of this recording

[00:36:02] this weekend.

[00:36:03] Yeah.

[00:36:03] Coming out soon, uh, which has nothing to do with Prometheus or alien covenant.

[00:36:07] Right.

[00:36:08] But you were like, this is my chance.

[00:36:09] This is my chance.

[00:36:10] Yeah.

[00:36:10] I haven't seen, uh, well, I've watched Prometheus a few times, uh, recent, well, like, you

[00:36:14] know, since it came out, uh, but I've only seen every couple of weeks.

[00:36:16] I pop on Prometheus and let me just throw it on.

[00:36:19] Let me just look at that map scene.

[00:36:21] You know, uh, I've logged it three times on letterboxd.

[00:36:24] Okay.

[00:36:24] It feels like more than most of, although I saw a real Prometheus or whatever going on

[00:36:29] right now with, uh, Romulus.

[00:36:31] Sure.

[00:36:31] Yes.

[00:36:31] I mean, any, any time a new movie in a franchise comes out, the maligned movies in the franchise

[00:36:35] get their reappraisal, uh, you know, and alien certainly has many maligned movies in their

[00:36:42] franchise.

[00:36:42] Yeah.

[00:36:43] I saw one tweet that was like, you know, the alien franchise is crazy because you'll find,

[00:36:47] uh, people willing to go to bat for every movie in the franchise except resurrection.

[00:36:52] Which I don't think I've ever actually seen resurrection.

[00:36:54] I don't think I've, I've always sort of heard that's the worst one.

[00:36:56] I just think I never bothered.

[00:36:57] It sucks.

[00:36:58] It's bad.

[00:37:00] Yeah.

[00:37:00] Maybe I will one day.

[00:37:02] Um, I mean, there, there is good stuff in resurrection.

[00:37:04] Um, weirdly, I mean that resurrection has Ron Perlman in it.

[00:37:08] That's mostly what I've heard.

[00:37:09] Yeah.

[00:37:09] That's, and there's a moment in alien resurrection where he is hanging upside down from a ladder,

[00:37:13] like wielding two pistols.

[00:37:14] Pretty rad.

[00:37:15] It's cool.

[00:37:16] You know, it's, I think conceptually like the story behind resurrection is really dumb, but some

[00:37:20] of the set pieces are pretty fun and there's like some cool inventive stuff in there.

[00:37:23] Like, even though it's, I think the worst alien movie, it's like, there's still value in there,

[00:37:27] you know?

[00:37:27] Yeah.

[00:37:28] Yeah.

[00:37:28] So, um, yeah.

[00:37:29] Prometheus.

[00:37:30] Great.

[00:37:30] Big fan of Prometheus.

[00:37:31] Uh, and have been for a long time.

[00:37:32] I think too much to the podcast chagrin.

[00:37:35] Um, I, I, I've always, uh, not that I think it's great, but I've always been pro Prometheus.

[00:37:39] That's from pro.

[00:37:40] I've been Prometheus.

[00:37:41] I'm just, I'm just defensive.

[00:37:44] You know, people usually hate this movie.

[00:37:46] Um, sure.

[00:37:46] I mean, people hated this movie the second it came out.

[00:37:48] That's what I'm saying.

[00:37:49] I saw, I saw it at the midnight screening back in 2012.

[00:37:52] Fuck yeah.

[00:37:53] Uh, it had a trailer for life of pie attached to it.

[00:37:55] I think, um, as well as Django and chained.

[00:37:58] I think both of them like had trailers attached to Prometheus is, and I went with a few of

[00:38:02] my friends and we sat and we were like in a big circle afterwards.

[00:38:04] And I was like, yeah, you know, I mean, it looked amazing.

[00:38:07] Like that map scene was incredible.

[00:38:08] I saw it in 3d and like the map was awesome.

[00:38:10] And, uh, I remember like that, that, that abortion scene is like so cool and like such a great

[00:38:14] set piece.

[00:38:15] And everybody else was like, yeah, but that was like really dumb.

[00:38:18] Right.

[00:38:18] And it's like, I mean, kind of, if you look at like the, the nitty gritty, I guess, but

[00:38:22] like on a grander scale.

[00:38:24] Yeah.

[00:38:24] It's not about that.

[00:38:25] It's not about whether or not they could that kept their helmets on.

[00:38:28] It's about whether or not robots can create.

[00:38:30] Um, and I think one of the greatest things robbed from us is in the Disney Fox merger

[00:38:35] is the conclusion of the David trilogy.

[00:38:37] Yes.

[00:38:37] Yeah.

[00:38:37] No, I mean, we, we should have gotten a David three, uh, that, uh, should have come out.

[00:38:41] I mean, I'm looking forward to alien robin.

[00:38:43] This I think it looks pretty cool and I like Fetty Alvarez, but, uh, I would have rather

[00:38:47] seen Ridley Scott close out his thing, um, before, uh, anything else like happened to

[00:38:51] the alien verse.

[00:38:52] Exactly.

[00:38:53] Um, and yeah, alien covenant.

[00:38:54] I had only seen once when it came out in theaters.

[00:38:57] Um, and I just forgot how like absolutely stacked the like crew and cast is, uh, yeah.

[00:39:03] Doesn't James Franco die like off screen in the first like two minutes or something.

[00:39:11] But, um, that's still one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a movie is we got James Franco

[00:39:16] to die off screen basically, uh, without any dialogue, um, for 30 seconds.

[00:39:22] And then it's, then there's like one flashback, uh, and I assume there must be stuff that was

[00:39:26] filmed and cut.

[00:39:27] Um, but so funny that he dies so quickly, but, uh, uh, Billy caught up Catherine Waterson,

[00:39:31] Amy Simetz, um, Danny McBride.

[00:39:34] Yeah.

[00:39:35] Like what is happening?

[00:39:36] So yeah, it's a great, great cast.

[00:39:38] And then I think, I think this movie, the first half of this movie is really intense

[00:39:42] and scary.

[00:39:42] And you know, they land on that planet and all this stuff and things go wrong with the

[00:39:46] ship.

[00:39:46] It's sort of like sunshine a little bit.

[00:39:47] It reminded me, um, you know, they get hit by this like solar burst and everything goes

[00:39:51] wrong and they end up on this planet.

[00:39:52] And then of course there's the, the Michael Fassbender dual role thing, which I think he's

[00:39:56] amazing in.

[00:39:57] He's really great.

[00:39:58] Uh, and then terrifying as David, but it definitely takes the, I feel like the first half of the

[00:40:02] movie is much more of a straightforward horror alien movie.

[00:40:05] And then it pivots back into this like, Oh yeah, don't forget.

[00:40:07] We're doing some philosophical shit with this, this trilogy.

[00:40:09] Right.

[00:40:10] Uh, it goes back into some weird stuff, which I really loved this time.

[00:40:13] I don't remember if I didn't like it in the first time I watched it, but, but, uh, you

[00:40:16] know, maybe it throws the pacing off a little bit and kind of like hits the brakes on the

[00:40:18] scary horror stuff to do this look in the face of God horror kind of thing that David

[00:40:23] is going through.

[00:40:24] But he, he rules, uh, Fassbender rules.

[00:40:26] So yeah, I really, I really liked, uh, alien covenant this time around.

[00:40:29] So nice.

[00:40:30] Yeah.

[00:40:30] Yeah.

[00:40:30] I, I remember thinking it was pretty good when it came out, like liking it quite a bit.

[00:40:34] I think liking it more than Prometheus maybe.

[00:40:35] And again, I liked Prometheus.

[00:40:36] Uh, so there was that too, but I, I haven't seen it since I have the Blu-ray.

[00:40:40] I should watch it again.

[00:40:42] I kind of wanted to do a big alien rewatch before Romulus came out, but just like hasn't

[00:40:47] happened.

[00:40:47] Didn't have the time.

[00:40:48] And now it's too late.

[00:40:49] Uh, now I, now I can't ever watch an alien movie.

[00:40:51] Right.

[00:40:52] Well, so yeah, so I did.

[00:40:53] Um, I'll just go to my last movie also, cause it sort of ties into why I watched Prometheus

[00:40:57] and Covenant, which was to get ready for alien Romulus, even though I know it's not necessarily

[00:41:01] connected to that story, but, uh, just get in the zone for more alien,

[00:41:04] right.

[00:41:04] Get back in the alien zone.

[00:41:05] And I, and I've seen alien and aliens much more times than I've seen these two movies.

[00:41:10] Um, and so I was like, Oh yeah, Fitty Alvarez like him, you know, of course don't breathe

[00:41:14] and, and everything, uh, evil dead remake, yada, yada.

[00:41:17] So I was like, Oh man, I haven't seen the last movie that he made.

[00:41:20] Let me watch society of the snow.

[00:41:22] And that movie opens with the title card, a film by J.A.

[00:41:24] Bayona.

[00:41:25] And I was like, Oh yeah, that's right.

[00:41:29] It's like, huh?

[00:41:30] Interesting.

[00:41:33] So to get ready for alien Romulus, I watched society of the snow.

[00:41:37] You watched the film from the wrong director.

[00:41:38] From the wrong director is what I'm saying.

[00:41:40] Uh, nice.

[00:41:42] Well, did you like society of the snow?

[00:41:43] Man, what a fucking picture.

[00:41:45] Holy shit.

[00:41:46] I was transfixed.

[00:41:47] I was, I was blown away.

[00:41:48] I know this had a lot of Oscar buzz and I think it was nominated for best international film.

[00:41:52] I think it was.

[00:41:52] Yeah.

[00:41:52] Something like that.

[00:41:53] It was definitely in the conversation.

[00:41:54] Yeah.

[00:41:55] And yeah.

[00:41:55] Holy shit.

[00:41:56] Did you, did you see this?

[00:41:57] It's on Netflix.

[00:41:57] It's a Netflix original.

[00:41:58] Uh, I did see it.

[00:42:00] Yeah.

[00:42:00] Uh, I, I wasn't that crazy.

[00:42:03] Really?

[00:42:03] I remember thinking it was okay, but I was also like pretty burnt.

[00:42:06] Like I happened to watch it while I was home.

[00:42:09] Uh, yeah.

[00:42:10] Last January.

[00:42:11] And I was so burnt out.

[00:42:13] I mean, you, you saw me at that.

[00:42:14] Yes.

[00:42:14] I, I saw, I had like so many different things happening like all in a row.

[00:42:18] And like, uh, you know, like the one like night where I like, okay, I can relax a little

[00:42:22] bit.

[00:42:23] And I turned on society to snow and I was like, this isn't doing it.

[00:42:25] This is not, it's not going to do it.

[00:42:26] Yeah.

[00:42:27] This isn't doing it.

[00:42:27] I think I watched that and like Meg to the trench and I was like this, like, I don't

[00:42:31] know.

[00:42:31] Do I hate movies now?

[00:42:33] I don't know.

[00:42:34] Ruby's a mistake.

[00:42:34] Is art bad?

[00:42:35] Yeah.

[00:42:35] Um, so I, I remember thinking the, uh, the plane crash sequence was really effectively

[00:42:39] directed and all that kind of stuff.

[00:42:41] And I, and I was rooting for it cause I, I really liked, uh, Jurassic world fallen

[00:42:44] kingdom, which is the only good falling, the only good Jurassic world, the only good Jurassic

[00:42:47] world movie.

[00:42:48] Um, and, and J.A.

[00:42:50] Biona directed that, but yeah, it just didn't really work for me.

[00:42:52] Um, I'm glad that it worked for you, Mike.

[00:42:54] Yeah.

[00:42:54] Yeah.

[00:42:54] I was really, uh, really into it.

[00:42:56] And I, and I know I had heard like, Oh, very intense, violent since, you know, whatever.

[00:43:00] And I was like, Hmm, I'm not, you know, what I still thought it was a fitting Alvarez movie.

[00:43:06] Um, so yeah, when I pushed play and I was like, Oh, J.A.

[00:43:09] Oh yeah, sure.

[00:43:10] Okay.

[00:43:10] Whatever.

[00:43:10] Well, I'm already here.

[00:43:11] So I might as well just watch this.

[00:43:12] I had meant to watch it and just never got around to it.

[00:43:14] Um, and I think maybe because I heard it was really intense and like, uh, draining, um,

[00:43:18] emotionally.

[00:43:18] So I was like, well, we need to put that away.

[00:43:19] Um, so I was surprised at how, yes, the plane crash sequence is very gnarly and harrowing

[00:43:27] and kind of really shows, uh, you know, what might happen to a body in a plane crash, you

[00:43:31] know, lots of stuff like that.

[00:43:33] But then after that sequence, it is really just, I was shocked at how restrained it was

[00:43:39] from like what I heard the reputation was.

[00:43:41] Um, I don't know.

[00:43:41] I was like, it is graphic, um, but not in a exploitation kind of or exploitative way.

[00:43:46] It doesn't, it's not graphic about the thing you might expect it to be graphic about.

[00:43:50] If you're familiar with the story of this Uruguayan rugby team that crashed in the Andes.

[00:43:54] And I think it handles that really honestly and emotionally and intent.

[00:43:57] And, um, I don't know.

[00:43:58] I was just like really surprised that artfully, I think maybe is the word I was trying to

[00:44:01] get to, um, while also being like so deeply optimistic and hopeful about just the like

[00:44:07] triumph of the human condition and spirit and the will to live and all of that.

[00:44:12] Um, so yeah, you know, it was definitely moved by the end of it.

[00:44:15] And, and like my friends and I were like, yeah, like cheering and stuff while we were

[00:44:18] watching it together.

[00:44:19] So, uh, yeah, it was really, and, and yeah, just it also goes like weird experimental film

[00:44:24] stuff, like, you know, dreamscapes and all those things.

[00:44:26] I don't know.

[00:44:26] So I was very, very into society of the snow.

[00:44:29] Um, a pleasant surprise from J.A.

[00:44:31] Paona for me.

[00:44:33] A true surprise.

[00:44:34] Cause you thought it was stretched by Fede Alvarez.

[00:44:35] Um, yeah.

[00:44:36] If you, in case you did want to know Mike, Fede Alvarez's previous film, uh, was the girl

[00:44:40] on the spider's web from 2018, which was the, uh, Elizabeth Salander movie without Rooney

[00:44:44] Mara.

[00:44:45] It was Claire Foy playing, uh, Elizabeth Salander.

[00:44:47] Right, right, right.

[00:44:48] Less interested in seeing that.

[00:44:50] Then yeah, I've heard it's not that great.

[00:44:51] Uh, he also wrote and produced don't breathe too, which I've seen.

[00:44:54] Have you seen?

[00:44:55] Uh, not the second one.

[00:44:56] No.

[00:44:56] And I remember we saw don't breathe either together.

[00:44:58] We definitely did an episode of it.

[00:44:59] We definitely did an episode of the first don't breathe.

[00:45:01] Yeah.

[00:45:01] And don't breathe too.

[00:45:02] I saw, and I remember being like, you know, I didn't dislike it, but it's a really weird

[00:45:07] movie because Stephen Lang is now the protagonist.

[00:45:10] Right.

[00:45:10] Uh, and it's like really, and it's like really trying to ask you to sympathize with him.

[00:45:14] Uh, and after the events of don't breathe, I'm not sure that I do, but I don't think

[00:45:18] I can, but yeah, he wrote and produced a don't breathe too.

[00:45:21] And also did the story and produce the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022.

[00:45:25] Is that a remake or a sequel?

[00:45:26] The one with Elsie Fisher.

[00:45:28] Yeah.

[00:45:28] That wasn't that good.

[00:45:29] I didn't like that.

[00:45:30] I never saw it.

[00:45:30] I heard it was quite bad, but, uh, I'm holding out hope alien Romulus.

[00:45:33] I think it could be a lot of fun.

[00:45:35] And, and I do, I, I guess I have like a, like a, you're, you're pretty big on his evil

[00:45:39] dead remake.

[00:45:39] I think, right.

[00:45:40] You're, you're a fan.

[00:45:40] I've come around on it pretty hard.

[00:45:42] Yeah.

[00:45:42] I'm a big fan of it.

[00:45:42] I, I still feel like it's the weakest of the evil dead movies.

[00:45:45] Like I, I, I'm much prefer.

[00:45:46] Okay.

[00:45:47] Well, sure.

[00:45:48] Yeah.

[00:45:48] The original trilogy is unbeatable.

[00:45:49] Sure.

[00:45:50] And then I, but I do like evil dead rise more than his evil dead remake.

[00:45:53] Uh, and I think he will, his evil, there's some fun stuff.

[00:45:55] I rewatched it before evil dead rise and, uh, yeah, it's, it's got some fun stuff

[00:45:59] in there.

[00:45:59] I did like don't breathe quite a bit though.

[00:46:00] Yeah.

[00:46:05] It's spoiled for me and I'm so mad about it.

[00:46:07] Interesting.

[00:46:07] For Romulus.

[00:46:08] Uh, I can, I'll let you know later, I guess after we're done recording, but.

[00:46:12] Okay.

[00:46:12] Uh, is it, is it a spoiler?

[00:46:14] Like are you mad about getting spoiled or are you mad about the thing that you like the

[00:46:19] actual spoiler itself?

[00:46:20] Mostly the fact that I was spoiled because it's not necessarily a plot thing that I got

[00:46:23] spoiled on.

[00:46:24] Um, but it was somebody doing a critique being like, Oh, remember this?

[00:46:28] Blah, blah, blah.

[00:46:29] Well, anyway, Romulus comes out and he's like, fucking asshole.

[00:46:32] Like, why are you, you know, it's like, so yeah.

[00:46:35] Right.

[00:46:35] Wait until, wait until at least after that first weekend.

[00:46:38] Wait till the day it comes out.

[00:46:43] Anyway.

[00:46:44] Anyway.

[00:46:44] All right.

[00:46:44] Society of the Snow and, uh, Alien, uh, Covenant and Prometheus, uh, might de-watched.

[00:46:49] I got a couple more things to reference on my list as well.

[00:46:51] Uh, and like I mentioned earlier, I watched Games of New York this past weekend.

[00:46:55] Hey.

[00:46:55] Uh, so earlier this year, you know, I kind of got back into the habit of going down a watch

[00:47:00] list.

[00:47:00] Like I have like, you know, stuff that I actually really like want to watch, like stuff I'm scheduling

[00:47:04] myself to watch that.

[00:47:05] I don't like when I go to watch a movie, I don't have to like try to select one for a

[00:47:08] while.

[00:47:08] I just already have one like queued up, ready to go kind of thing.

[00:47:11] And one of the things in my watch list is like filling in the, uh, the missing gaps of

[00:47:14] directors filmographies that I really like.

[00:47:16] And so, uh, Martin Scorsese was one of those filmmakers who I've seen most of his movies,

[00:47:20] but at the beginning of this year, I was like, you know, there's still five Martin Scorsese

[00:47:23] movies that I haven't seen.

[00:47:25] Narrative films.

[00:47:25] The documentaries is a lot more.

[00:47:26] Uh, but as far as just narrative feature films go, I had seen, I had not seen five Scorsese

[00:47:31] movies.

[00:47:32] And so I had been crossing those off one by one throughout the year.

[00:47:35] Uh, and so I watched, who's that knocking at my door?

[00:47:37] I watched boxcar Bertha.

[00:47:38] I watched New York, New York.

[00:47:40] I watched Kundun.

[00:47:41] And thanks to Mike D for getting me New York, New York and Kundun.

[00:47:43] You're welcome.

[00:47:43] Uh, they're not easily available elsewhere.

[00:47:45] And then I finally watched, uh, gangs of New York, uh, this past weekend, uh, which is a

[00:47:50] pretty major one in the Scorsese filmography.

[00:47:52] I don't really know how I didn't see this one at some point, but, uh, yeah, it's very

[00:47:55] good.

[00:47:56] Gangs of New York.

[00:47:56] Check it out.

[00:47:57] Good movie, I guess.

[00:47:58] Yeah.

[00:47:58] Have you seen gangs of New York, Mike?

[00:47:59] I don't think I've seen the whole movie.

[00:48:01] Okay.

[00:48:02] I feel like I've watched, you know, 20 minutes of it on HBO or something and it'd be like,

[00:48:05] well, I'm in hour or two of this movie.

[00:48:07] I don't know what's going on.

[00:48:08] And it just likes, and then keep going, keep going or whatever.

[00:48:11] Yeah.

[00:48:11] Um, so yeah, I don't think I've seen the entire, like set down and watch the movie.

[00:48:14] Fair enough.

[00:48:14] It is, uh, our editor, Kyle Cullen.

[00:48:16] I believe it is the movie that he ranks as his favorite movie of all time or among his

[00:48:20] favorite favorites of all time.

[00:48:21] He's a big fan of this movie.

[00:48:22] Nice.

[00:48:23] It's basically this and Star Wars, uh, are his, are his two big ones.

[00:48:26] And boondock saints.

[00:48:27] Jesus.

[00:48:28] Um, but, uh, sorry, Kyle.

[00:48:31] But yeah, gangs of New York, uh, is from 2002.

[00:48:34] Uh, it's Martin Scorsese's first collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio.

[00:48:37] Uh, it's also got Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly, Jim Broadbent, a huge

[00:48:41] ensemble cast.

[00:48:42] Uh, and it takes place, uh, in the 1860s, kind of at the height of the civil war.

[00:48:46] Uh, and it's sort of about the, uh, the lawlessness of, uh, New York city during that time and

[00:48:50] the kind of the feuding, uh, gang rivalries, uh, that happen.

[00:48:53] Um, but essentially Daniel Day-Lewis plays Bill the butcher who at the beginning of the

[00:48:57] movie in a large gang fight kills Leonardo DiCaprio's father and who's put by Liam Neeson.

[00:49:03] Nice.

[00:49:03] Who's amazing.

[00:49:04] And that, that whole sequence is unbelievable.

[00:49:06] That whole like 20 minute kind of like build up to the gang battle and all that great.

[00:49:10] Uh, and then several years pass, he grows up to be Leonardo DiCaprio and he's like

[00:49:13] out to get revenge against Daniel Day-Lewis essentially.

[00:49:16] While also kind of building up like, you know, an Irish community in town and all that stuff.

[00:49:22] And yeah, I think the movie for the most part really works.

[00:49:24] It's such a grand scale production.

[00:49:26] Uh, there's so much money behind it.

[00:49:27] It looks incredible.

[00:49:28] Daniel Day-Lewis unbelievable in it, which, you know, is part for the course.

[00:49:32] He's unbelievable in everything.

[00:49:33] Uh, but he's really, really great in this movie.

[00:49:34] I think the thing that like holds it back for me from being like a top tier Scorsese is

[00:49:39] I think DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz feel miscast.

[00:49:43] They feel like sort of out of place in this like larger world.

[00:49:46] That the movie has built.

[00:49:47] You know what I mean?

[00:49:48] Yeah.

[00:49:48] I mean, just from like the images and stuff I've seen, it's, you know, it's, it's these

[00:49:52] like, you know, character actors with their faces.

[00:49:55] Uh, and then also Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio.

[00:49:59] Yeah.

[00:50:00] Right.

[00:50:00] Who like walk into the movie and look like supermodels.

[00:50:03] Yeah.

[00:50:03] You know, while everyone else like feels, I mean, everyone else is a lot older than they

[00:50:07] are too.

[00:50:08] I mean, you know, at this, at this point DiCaprio is probably like in his twenties or something.

[00:50:11] And the same with, you know, so it's just like a weird, like, you know, they're creating

[00:50:16] a very specific time period.

[00:50:17] And it's not like everybody else in the cast was around in 1863 either, but like they all

[00:50:22] believably read like they could be in 1863, you know, like John C. Reilly fits right

[00:50:27] in there, you know?

[00:50:29] And I don't know.

[00:50:30] It's, it's a weird thing that happens a lot in modern movies.

[00:50:32] I think where you're watching a period piece and you're like, that guy looks like he's

[00:50:35] seen an iPhone before.

[00:50:37] Yeah.

[00:50:37] You know, but I think that's a real problem when, uh, and you know, if it's, if it's a

[00:50:42] background player or whatever, that's, that's one thing.

[00:50:44] But like DiCaprio and Diaz are like the leads of the movie.

[00:50:46] They're, they're two major characters.

[00:50:48] And so, and they're both like, it's, they're both good.

[00:50:50] They just kind of feel out of place, I think.

[00:50:52] But the movie is very good.

[00:50:53] I liked it a lot.

[00:50:54] Uh, it's not in my like top echelon of Scorsese movies, but I'm glad I was able to cross

[00:50:58] off the list.

[00:50:59] Uh, and now I've seen every narrative Scorsese movie.

[00:51:01] So that's fun for me.

[00:51:03] I enjoy that.

[00:51:04] Yeah.

[00:51:04] That's satisfying.

[00:51:05] Yes.

[00:51:06] Yeah, definitely.

[00:51:06] And so now my next director is going to be Michael Mann.

[00:51:08] Going to cross off the, the Michael Mann movies I haven't seen.

[00:51:11] Hell yeah.

[00:51:12] Uh, and go through that.

[00:51:12] But there you go.

[00:51:13] Uh, and then one other thing that I wanted to talk about a couple of TV shows, uh, first

[00:51:17] of which, uh, I've been watching hacks, which, uh, season three recently premiered

[00:51:22] on HBO max.

[00:51:22] I have not watched season three yet, but I've watched seasons one and two.

[00:51:25] Uh, are you familiar with hacks, Mike at all?

[00:51:26] Um, not particularly.

[00:51:27] I mean, I've heard of it and I know it's supposed to be very good and, uh, and people really like

[00:51:31] it, but I've never, I don't really know anything about it.

[00:51:34] Um, yeah.

[00:51:35] Well, it's a comedy show, uh, starring Jean smart, uh, as a comedian, uh, who is like

[00:51:39] sort of, sort of an aging comedian.

[00:51:41] Who's kind of settled into like a, like she has a residency in Las Vegas where she's kind

[00:51:44] of does the same jokes that she's been doing for like 30 years over and over again.

[00:51:47] And like, it just is very much in her wheelhouse knows exactly how to play that crowd, all that

[00:51:51] kind of stuff.

[00:51:52] But her career is waning.

[00:51:53] Um, and you know, she's like recently finds out she's like getting kicked out of her residency

[00:51:58] in favor of like a stage magician or like a David Blaine-esque stage magician.

[00:52:03] Meanwhile, there's, uh, this like young up, up and coming comic, uh, played by Hannah

[00:52:08] Einbinder who, um, has recently like been canceled and blacklisted from like any job in Hollywood.

[00:52:13] Uh, she like had a stupid tweet that went out and went viral and like, now she can't

[00:52:17] get hired for anything.

[00:52:18] And, uh, she's like in her early twenties and it's just like a mess over it.

[00:52:21] And it's like, just really like, you know, you know, mean and like, just can't deal with

[00:52:25] this thing that's been happening.

[00:52:27] And it's like, just kind of burning bridges left and right as far as like her past relationships

[00:52:30] and all that kind of stuff.

[00:52:31] Uh, and the only job she can get is working as a writer for this comedian, Jean smart.

[00:52:35] Uh, and the two of them form an unlikely friendship and, you know, start to turn her act around

[00:52:41] in, in certain ways.

[00:52:42] Uh, and so season one is very much about like the forming of that friendship.

[00:52:45] And season two, uh, is about like them kind of like really kind of trying to do a new version

[00:52:50] of her show, uh, and kind of going into new material and about like, that's more personal

[00:52:54] and about her life and all that kind of stuff.

[00:52:56] But the show is really great.

[00:52:56] It's really fun.

[00:52:57] It's really funny.

[00:52:58] Uh, it's great satire of the, uh, you know, kind of comedy industry, uh, and all that stuff.

[00:53:03] So yeah, I, I, I've had a great time watching seasons one and two of hacks.

[00:53:06] I have not seen season three yet, uh, but I've heard it's also good and I'm looking forward

[00:53:09] to watching it.

[00:53:09] Nice.

[00:53:09] It sounds, I don't know what I thought it would be about.

[00:53:12] I don't know, like computer hackers or whatever.

[00:53:14] And it's like, but Jean smarts on the thumbnail, what's going on?

[00:53:16] Right.

[00:53:16] So that's interesting.

[00:53:17] Yeah, no, it's really solid.

[00:53:18] So, uh, yeah, hacks seasons one and two I'm watching.

[00:53:21] And then also a house, the dragon recently wrapped up at season, Mike, which, uh, you have

[00:53:25] not been watching you.

[00:53:26] I kind of got you onto house, the dragon for a little bit in season one, but you never finished

[00:53:29] it.

[00:53:30] Yeah.

[00:53:30] I don't really remember why.

[00:53:31] I think I got to like season episode six or something and was like, well, okay, okay.

[00:53:35] I'll finish it.

[00:53:36] And then I just never did.

[00:53:37] And then season two started.

[00:53:38] It's like, well, I gotta go back.

[00:53:39] I'm going to have to restart season one now.

[00:53:41] It's been so long.

[00:53:42] Right.

[00:53:42] So here we are.

[00:53:43] Season two is over and I haven't watched.

[00:53:45] Uh, I mean, I, I've been really enjoying having house, the dragon back.

[00:53:49] I, and I really enjoyed the season.

[00:53:50] I think it's a little bit weaker than season one was.

[00:53:52] Um, but season one, we just felt, it was like, I don't know.

[00:53:55] I was so surprised by season one, I think.

[00:53:58] Um, because I, I was not looking forward to it at all.

[00:54:01] You know, and I, and I was somebody who really loved game of Thrones.

[00:54:04] I watched like, you know, like everyone, I was there every week watching game of Thrones,

[00:54:08] you know, talking about it for like a week.

[00:54:10] And then the next episode would air all that stuff.

[00:54:12] And then game of Thrones, you know, ended the way it ended.

[00:54:14] And then a few years passed and I was like, I don't know.

[00:54:16] I think I'm good on more game of Thrones.

[00:54:17] I don't think I need to watch anymore, but house, the dragon premiered.

[00:54:20] And I was like, I'll watch the first episode just, you know, for the lulls, whatever.

[00:54:23] I'll check it.

[00:54:24] I'll check it out.

[00:54:24] Yeah.

[00:54:24] And I wasn't super impressed by episode one and I was like almost about to give up on the show.

[00:54:28] And then somebody else I know watched episode two and we were like, I kind of got really hooked.

[00:54:32] And I was like, fine, I'll watch episode two.

[00:54:34] And I kind of got really hooked, you know?

[00:54:37] And so season one is like very much charting like the progression of time between the Targaryens and the greenhouse, whatever the name is, the Hightowers.

[00:54:47] And, you know, it's about Paddy Considine kind of planning for his successor being his daughter, which is a huge, you know, stir in the Westeros community.

[00:54:56] And I think season one does a really good job of like showing that passage of time and showing like kind of the major events that kind of bullet points to how he gets at these moments.

[00:55:04] And you're also watching Paddy Considine like decaying in real time.

[00:55:08] Yeah.

[00:55:08] And like that was TV, man.

[00:55:10] That was you never knew what that guy was going to look like from scene to scene.

[00:55:14] I mean, yeah, that was the thing about season one, of course, the time jumps and recasting characters because now they're decades older and all that stuff.

[00:55:20] Like, oh, that was that was so cool.

[00:55:22] Yeah.

[00:55:22] So I don't still don't know why I didn't continue watching it.

[00:55:25] Right.

[00:55:25] So season two doesn't really have that aspect of like the time jumping aspect of it because it's very much like now we're in it.

[00:55:31] Like that's like season one was sort of like, you know, now the powder tag has been lit and now like we're about to go into war.

[00:55:36] And I think season two has a lot of great moments and is overall like I think a really compelling season of TV.

[00:55:42] And then by the time it ends, you're like, it kind of feels like it was spinning its wheels a little bit just to get us to where season three is going to be.

[00:55:48] Interesting.

[00:55:55] Great stuff in it.

[00:55:56] Some really terrific moments and like some really great character interactions.

[00:55:59] And it has this like great kind of closing montage that feels like, oh, man, shit's about to happen.

[00:56:06] And then it cuts to credits.

[00:56:08] It was like we're out of episode.

[00:56:10] Yeah.

[00:56:10] And it's a weird thing where like I think people would be more forgiving of that if we didn't have to wait like at least two years before the next season.

[00:56:16] Right.

[00:56:16] Like we I mean, you know, used to be if that was the ending of a season four months later, there'd be here's 22 more of these.

[00:56:23] Exactly.

[00:56:24] Yeah.

[00:56:24] And then, you know, when you get to the prestige era, I mean, you know, Game of Thrones used to be like, you know, every year there'd be a new season of the show, you know, roughly around the same time of year and all that kind of stuff.

[00:56:34] And the TV landscape has really changed since even just the Game of Thrones ended.

[00:56:38] Yeah.

[00:56:39] But yeah.

[00:56:40] So when you have an ending like that and then you have to wait like another two years, that that feels a little like, hmm, I don't know about that.

[00:56:46] Yeah.

[00:56:47] But I was still into it.

[00:56:47] I think there's a lot of great stuff this season.

[00:56:49] There's a lot more dragon action in the season.

[00:56:52] And OK, there's one sequence in particular in episode seven that is just like unbelievable.

[00:56:56] Just just really cool stuff involving the dragons.

[00:56:59] And yeah, it's it's it's good.

[00:57:00] I still really enjoyed season two.

[00:57:02] I don't think it's quite as strong as season one, but I will be there in two to three years when season three appears.

[00:57:07] But it does feel like season three like almost has to be the last season.

[00:57:10] Like it feels like this has like a finite run as opposed to Game of Thrones, which probably could run for much longer.

[00:57:15] Yeah.

[00:57:16] And, you know, it's based on a shorter book, I think.

[00:57:19] Yeah.

[00:57:19] Or a section of a book or something.

[00:57:21] I don't even know.

[00:57:22] There's like a history textbook.

[00:57:23] Or whatever.

[00:57:24] Yeah.

[00:57:25] Yeah.

[00:57:25] In the meantime, there is apparently a different Game of Thrones spinoff airing next year.

[00:57:29] There's multiple Game of Thrones spinoffs, I think, in the works.

[00:57:31] Yeah.

[00:57:31] Yes.

[00:57:32] So and there is one airing next year called The Night of the Seven Kingdoms, which is apparently adapting the Dunkin' Egg stories.

[00:57:38] OK.

[00:57:39] Which I don't know too much about, but they sound whimsical.

[00:57:44] Yeah.

[00:58:10] And I hope that's fun.

[00:58:11] I'm really disappointed.

[00:58:12] If it doesn't match this show I've invented, I want to be mad.

[00:58:15] Yeah.

[00:58:16] Yeah.

[00:58:16] And I think that's fair, Mike.

[00:58:17] I think that's totally fair.

[00:58:18] But yeah, House of the Dragon, I really enjoyed season two.

[00:58:21] It's not quite as good as one, but I think it's solid stuff.

[00:58:24] And I just also just really enjoy having a Sunday night show.

[00:58:26] There's something about like the Sunday night ritual of sitting down and watching the new episode of a show.

[00:58:31] And so House of the Dragon was nice to have for that.

[00:58:34] And I was looking ahead at like the HBO schedule because they're like my go to like, well, what's happening on HBO Sunday nights?

[00:58:38] Like they're the ones who own Sunday nights.

[00:58:40] And the next like kind of big HBO show that I'm probably going to watch is The Penguin, which is the which, you know, it's one of the things where I probably like I was like, I don't know.

[00:58:49] I like a similar Game of Thrones.

[00:58:51] Like I liked the Batman.

[00:58:52] It's like, I don't know if I need to watch a Penguin spinoff TV show about Colin Farrell.

[00:58:56] And then I saw the trailer and I was like, this looks pretty dope.

[00:58:58] This looks pretty cool.

[00:59:00] It's basically it looks like The Sopranos, but with Batman.

[00:59:03] And I was like, I think I'm in.

[00:59:04] That's kind of cool, actually.

[00:59:05] I think I'm into this.

[00:59:07] I saw what's the Thursday nights.

[00:59:09] It's not on Sunday nights.

[00:59:10] And I'm so mad about it.

[00:59:12] You know, forget it.

[00:59:13] You can never watch it now.

[00:59:14] Yeah, I feel like, you know, I work on Thursday nights.

[00:59:17] And by the time I get to Sunday and like turn and hit turn play on the show, it's going to be spoiled for me.

[00:59:21] There's these spoilers all over the place.

[00:59:22] People can't wait to drop spoilers on Twitter.

[00:59:24] It sucks.

[00:59:25] Yeah.

[00:59:25] What's the what's that show about like the bank investment banking?

[00:59:29] Uh, people that's like industry.

[00:59:32] I think it's industry.

[00:59:33] Yeah.

[00:59:33] That's like the big, you know, trying to fill the succession.

[00:59:36] Sure.

[00:59:36] Thing that people are pushing right now.

[00:59:37] Um, but I saw Kit Harington is in the current, in the third season.

[00:59:41] Oh, is he?

[00:59:41] Um, and I saw somebody recently asked him like, Hey, so like season eight of Game of Thrones, like what happened?

[00:59:46] You know?

[00:59:46] Um, and he, like, and I saw it in the context of like, this is, I believe I accept and believe this answer.

[00:59:53] Um, and his was just like, we were so exhausted, man.

[00:59:56] Like we just had to end.

[00:59:58] And like, genuinely that is so like real.

[01:00:01] And like, then like, well, it's the best story for the art, you know, best version that we could have.

[01:00:05] No, we were just fucking all burnt out and I had to end it.

[01:00:08] Right.

[01:00:09] That all makes sense.

[01:00:09] I believe.

[01:00:10] Yeah.

[01:00:10] I mean, that is like refreshing honesty, I think.

[01:00:12] Yeah, exactly.

[01:00:13] Yeah.

[01:00:13] Yeah.

[01:00:14] Cause that was like when Game of Thrones, like that final season was ending, you know, like that, that was every interview, every like kind of post show discussion was like, yeah, you know, so this is why Daenerys did this.

[01:00:23] Yeah.

[01:00:23] Yeah.

[01:00:24] But this doesn't make any sense.

[01:00:24] Why is this happening?

[01:00:25] She just forgot about that fleet of ships she had or whatever.

[01:00:28] Yeah.

[01:00:28] She forgot about it.

[01:00:29] It's like, well, yeah, I guess.

[01:00:31] Yeah.

[01:00:31] So I don't know.

[01:00:32] It's, uh, it is, uh, it is what it is.

[01:00:33] Game of Thrones ended and the books are probably never going to finish.

[01:00:36] Yeah.

[01:00:37] So this is what we have.

[01:00:43] Flash forward vision moments where they're kind of flashing forward to like the, you see a brief glimpse of a spoilers for house, the dragon, I guess.

[01:00:50] Um, you see a brief glimpse of like the three dragon eggs and Daenerys.

[01:00:54] Um, and like, there's a three eyed raven that kind of swoops by, uh, and, and, um, you know, a white Walker and all that stuff.

[01:01:00] And, and it's one of the characters, like seeing a vision of the story of the future.

[01:01:04] Right.

[01:01:04] But it's very much played as if like, you know, we, like we have our part to play in this stories that that story can happen or like that kind of thing.

[01:01:11] Yeah.

[01:01:11] Uh, and then in my head I was like, yeah, but like in that story, like Daenerys turns out to be a bad guy.

[01:01:17] She's a genocidal maniac by the end.

[01:01:18] Yeah.

[01:01:19] Yeah.

[01:01:19] Like it's kind of like built up as if like, that's not the case, which is a little bit weird.

[01:01:27] Uh, but anyway, how's the dragon?

[01:01:28] Pretty good.

[01:01:29] Go check it out.

[01:01:30] And I think that wraps up our discussions episode.

[01:01:31] Mike, let's got anything else.

[01:01:32] No, that's it.

[01:01:33] We talked about a lot of stuff.

[01:01:34] I think for a week that you claim to not have much to talk about.

[01:01:36] That's true.

[01:01:37] That is very true.

[01:01:38] Yes.

[01:01:39] Yes, we did.

[01:01:39] All right.

[01:01:40] And that's going to bring us to the end.

[01:01:41] End of this week's episode.

[01:01:42] Mike D, where can we find you online this week?

[01:01:44] You can find me at MD film blog on Twitter and letterboxd and blue sky.

[01:01:48] You can also, uh, follow the show.

[01:01:50] No, wait, do you say that?

[01:01:51] I don't say if you want to donate to support the show.

[01:01:53] There we go.

[01:01:54] It's only been eight years.

[01:01:55] Um, if you'd like to donate to support the show, you could do that at our Ko-fi page,

[01:01:59] which is Kofi.com slash Mike and Mike pods, where you can donate $50, pick a topic of an episode

[01:02:04] for us.

[01:02:05] We'll talk about whatever movie you want.

[01:02:06] We double dog dare you.

[01:02:07] And if you want merch, we have merch available on our red bubble, which is Mike and Mike pods

[01:02:10] dot red bubble.

[01:02:11] Dot com.

[01:02:12] That's right.

[01:02:12] You can find me online at M Smith film blog on Twitter, Mike Smith film on letterboxd,

[01:02:16] radio, Mike sandwich, and Instagram.

[01:02:17] Uh, thank you for listening to Mike.

[01:02:18] My go to the movies.

[01:02:19] I'm Mike Smith.

[01:02:19] It's my decree show.

[01:02:20] Don't forget to rate interview the show on Apple podcasts or any other podcast app.

[01:02:24] And if you want to contact us, you can tweet at us at Mike and Mike pod.

[01:02:27] You can find the rest of our podcast and Rapture press alongside many other podcasts,

[01:02:30] about kinds of goods, uh, about kinds of comic books and movie news and all that good

[01:02:33] stuff.

[01:02:33] Check out the main podcast, the complete worst to keep up with all of our Roy Scheider

[01:02:36] movies.

[01:02:37] That's right.

[01:02:38] We just, we, uh, just released as of today, our episode on jaws, uh, which Hey, pretty

[01:02:42] good movie.

[01:02:43] It's a big one.

[01:02:43] Solid stuff.

[01:02:44] Uh, by the time this is out, our marathon man episode should be out.

[01:02:47] So go check that out too.

[01:02:48] Hell yeah.

[01:02:48] Is it safe?

[01:02:49] Find out.

[01:02:49] Yeah, exactly.

[01:02:50] All right.

[01:02:50] And that's the end of this week's episode of Mike's Mike go to the movies.

[01:02:52] We will see you on the other side.