Ben Empey: I want to get an eyebrow pencil, I've decided. I'm going to start looks maxing. What's the, do you have a vision? you going to do, I can do something really dramatic or what? No, just, uh, arch my, my esposti eyebrows. That's my grandma's maiden name is that they get really thin right here. I'd like to fill those up a little just have like the little here you want to. I just want to. I just want to darken what's already there. In the words of Reese Witherspoon in Election, fill me up. Exactly. Hello? Correct. I like the looks maxing. I really shudder to use maxing, mogging, any of that shit. I know. I love it. I love saying maxing. Aspartame maxing. I just love saying... I just hate the Nazi avatar for the words. think if it came from a more interesting, not even like a more altruistic or good person, but just a more interesting place, I might have a good time. mean, clavicular is a deeply tragic figure to me. Go on. I hate that name. Clavicular. His real name is Brayden. Oof. That's a finding. Now, I've heard about sleep maxing is the new one. maxing. But didn't- I wanted to sleep max today instead of recording this podcast, DBH. Did Otesa invent that in her novel, Year of Rest and Relaxation? Yeah, I don't think- Does she use that phrase though? Yeah. No, I don't think so. think so. But I am due for But that's the concept. Is she just asleep? But while we're talking about things we want to do to our face, because I wear a baseball hat most days, I'm thinking I could like- tape back like this and have the hat over it and no one would ever know that I'm like like Anne Hathaway did at the Oscars. Yes. Everyone was commenting that she had that hairstyle so that she could pull and not be noticed. What does this make you guys think of? Brazil? Doubtfire? Mrs. Doubtfire! Yes, Mrs. Doubtfire. Harvey has to be Mrs. Doubtfire. Mrs. Doubtfire. Uncle Frank Anander. Why did I go to Brazil? Well, that's the other option. I was like, I hope that I'm conveying doubt fire and not Brazil. That is an iconic face pole face stretch. Mrs. Doubtfire's. A I've never seen, by the way. realized recently. Brazil? Yeah, I realized recently I've never seen it because it was in high school, know, top of the list. Got to watch that if I'm going to in It was like a hot cult classic when we were in high I think it's fine. I also just think it's fine. I saw it at the New Bev and remember thinking... I'm trying to think if there's any Terry Gilliam films I genuinely love, like that I actually care deeply about, and I'm not sure... I mean, apart from the Python work. And so maybe I won't love it. I don't know. But I remember... Don't you remember the Criterion disc back in the 2000s had that sort of translucent slip cover on top of it? I don't remember. If I'm remembering correctly. But I remember it was a really nice disc, really nice edition. I don't remember ever seeing that at Borders. I miss Borders. RIP. I miss Borders a lot. I love wandering to Borders. Now I around the globe. It's a real liminal space, a real Saiming Yang liminal space. My neighbor Ashley would walk over at 5 p.m. on a Saturday night, knock on the door and be like, hey, we're going to Borders. Do you want to go? And Jane Vick would be like, yeah, get out of the house. and we would go to Borders. What I wouldn't to get a text at five hours. You know? Would you ever sit in there and read? Oh yeah. Just like pick up a magazine or a book and read. Remember people used to read in bookstores? Yeah. Do they still? Maybe in college towns. Remember what people used to read? I had a full day at the dentist the other day and I had to like go in in the morning and then go back in the afternoon and I had a break in the middle. brutal. And because we were texting with us, Ben, I was trying to see epic Elvis Presley in concert or the new Christian Petzold movie because those were the right times for my break, but it took too long in the first session so I missed it. But then I was like, what if I just went to the library and grabbed a book off the shelf and just read for a while? Well, yeah, remember it. I'm but then I remember it. I'm listening to it on audiobook So I just went to the park and listen to it on audiobook. That sounds terrifying It was great into 35 minutes of the 20-hour audiobook 35 minutes just describing like what a street looks like at night, right? Like I I really cannot he cannot he cannot resist any tangent to fully develop like where where I am I'm about a quarter of the way through and the chapter I'm on now was like Because since I don't have it in front of me, can't really tell what the sections look like. But there's like the sections that have chapters inside of them, I guess. And I just got through the first section when they're kids. Let's look that up while I'm trying to finish this. Half a billion. I was wondering because on the Town podcast, promo for the Town, they were doing a thing about how books are hotter than ever. I don't know how book adaptations have ever not been hot. in the film industry, but... letters. IP. IP is they were saying Stephen King is still the number one IP the long walk was just last year, and I feel like there's another one coming out too. This is kind of where I started listening... year. Is it Running Man him? Yes, I think so. think so. He just commands so I've never read any Stephen King, and so that's why I'm doing this. Because I think I said to Ben, I, my brain needs a massage. just need pure narrative. Like, could argue he is the greatest artist of our lifetime. Well, I... If you wanted to argue that, there's I could only begin to argue it now that I'm 25 % of the way through it. Yeah, I just, I just got to this chapter and it's like, how about some headlines from the summer of 1958? And then we're just like, we see him, what was in the newspaper. Like, okay, Steve, go off. Go off. I... It's like he was getting paid by the word. can't do it kind of feels like it. I've retrained my brain to do audiobooks, and I do them because I spend a lot of time in the car. And so it got to a point where I was scraping the bottom of my podcast barrel to such a degree that I was listening to interviews with people I don't care about, stories about things I don't give a shit about. I could apply this time more constructively because I I was reading right now. I've gotten through some good ones. I mean, I feel like I've talked about it already on the podcast, but I did Ina Garten's memoir, I Jimmy Carter's last memoir, I did William Friedkin's memoir. do better with non-fiction than fiction, audio. Typically, typically same, typically same. I'm- Fiction, I prefer to be able to, you know, see the words and- pause and reflect. Ruminate, really soak in the prose. I like to sit with what you've Exactly, get lost in the turn of phrase. I like to sit with what I've seen. That is what you miss on audiobooks a bit is if you really want to savor a phrase. it along. You can pause it if you're going to savor. I also, whenever people say, oh, I'd like to listen to some audiobooks, but I'm not going to be able to pay attention. I might zone out for three minutes. I always say. Just rewind it three minutes. Just go back. It's If you yourself lost in thought, just bring it back. Book time for me is like, I gotta be locked the fuck in. The phone is away. Yep. Because it will just pick up. easier for me to lock in on the written page than audio. of course. Rather than passively listening. I can't even discern lyrics sometimes to music. I'll be like... I don't know one word from that song that I just enjoyed. You have ADHD. That's correct. We all do. We all do. But that is my ADHD. Exhibit A, this entire podcast. The flow of every episode of this podcast. Speaking of Who are we? Oh, we're not. Oh, I was going keep about you. Oh, hey. I was gonna keep wrapping on Pennywise, but we can get into it. We can get into it. We? Am I doing the intro every episode? I was actually... You've been doing it every episode. I have been. I don't mind doing it. We can take turns. think... One of these days we're gonna have to write some actual introduction text. some copy. And some copy. ⁓ I spend so much time between podcast recordings being like... These are three easy things we could do to really tighten this thing up and then I forget about it until five minutes before we sit down to talk to each other. I'm like, I'm gonna do that next week. It's not gonna get done can be the bit. Talking about how we should do it and then we'll retire. Exactly. Do you want to do the intro? Who are you speaking to? Daniel. ⁓ To whom do you speak? I've been meaning to suggest that the person who doesn't have a topic... I was about to say the same thing. Wonderful. ⁓ that's great. do the intro. By the way, really, am I the last one to have the week off? Yes. It's so nice. I was just telling Brandon before you got on the mic that like I was lying down a minute ago thinking like, it's so nice. I don't have to run the show this week. then I do. And then we're like, you are. waiting. I literally have. ⁓ Topic and and a challenging one to talk about. one of that. It's a topic that has been one that's going to enrage the masses Depriving me of sleep the past couple of days But we'll get to it. We'll get to it when we get to it. I'm about to slaughter the younglings Yes, and I'll be over here I enjoyed the picture. Yeah me too. So Brandon you've never seen it before speaking cryptically and we'll talk about it in a minute. First time. time. That's an interesting range of perspectives. Race for the student election, it filled up a blind spot. Fill me up. Fill me up. The way I think about it, fill me up once a week. Fill me up. That's One of her finest performances. ⁓ yeah, mean, it might be her best performance. It really might be, really. Maybe a future topic. you two fill me up spiritually. Um, Spiritually, get your head out of the gutter. Like I gotta go. Okay, wasn't there a Josh Groban song? Like he fills me up and it's about the Lord? Yeah. The Lord is fucking everyone. Happy Easter, by the way. He's filling them up. Last day of Lent. We're recording this on Easter. lot of people are gonna be filling up tomorrow. As Lent ends. People go and sell of it for lint. They're whatever they are. Yeah, because over lint you're really lacking, you're depriving yourself of something. So then after you fill up, you fill right up. Yes, yes, to excess. Anyway, so... Who do we fill up? We fill up our microphones every other week on this podcast. And this podcast is called Movies IMO. in some quarters might be referred to as the movie's IMO encore. This is a show that died and now it's back. And now we've been going for like six or seven And as one of our fans commented, it is one of the most useless podcasts. Yes. And by the way, can't disagree, but it's unnecessary to whom. Right. What podcast is necessary? No, that's the bigger question. This is all frivolous. You know, by choosing to listen, you are making a pact with the unnecessary-ness of the podcast. Caleb Huron is essential to the working of this government. That's why he has a podcast. That's right. That's right. That's right. I saw Caleb Huron at the Line Hotel one time. Where is the Line It's in Koreatown. Okay. Like Wilshire and Normandy. ⁓ I know exactly. Yes. Yeah. I lived there. Well, bye there. Not in the hotel. yeah, right, right. I lived in the hotel. Okay, actually I did live there for a couple of days last, no two summers ago. I don't know. Were you transitioning homes? Maybe I'll talk about it when we talk about the hole because there is some, there's a connection there. You had a hole in the ceiling? Basically. mean, we'll talk about it when we get to the hole. The first time I saw the hole, I lived in a different, much nicer apartment. And watching the hole four years later, I'm like, ⁓ I am living the hole. I'm in the hole. I'm the titular that in the Atwater? At the country club. Yeah. I lived at this amazing apartment complex in Atwater Village that was desperate to fill up their units because the pandemic had kind of wrecked their occupancy. And so my buddy and I got an incredible deal. I think we got like a couple of months free off the rent. And we had air conditioning, had ⁓ a dishwasher, we had tennis courts, we had a pool, we had basketball, we had a sandbox. remember watching the movie Reds there with Which by the way, might be talking more about that later. More about Reds in a bit. Because we're going to have to watch Reds soon for a reason that'll become clear in about an hour and 45 minutes. I'm already... I don't know if I'm mourning our Reds theatrical experience. Basically theatrical because my roommate had that incredible projector set up. But we basically watched Reds in the theater in the living room. And now I'm just going to watch it on my fucking TV. I'm like, it compare on the small canvas? Another blind spot that'll fill me up. Hell yeah. ⁓ it's going to fill you up in a couple different ways. Jack, wait till Jack Nicholson fills you up. Maybe the hottest, the snackiest that Nicholson has ever looked on screen. Because Nicholson's been real... He's quite dreamy as ⁓ Eugene O'Neill. That's the right word for it. ⁓ And now I'm like, if only we could also do Something's Gotta Give. To do Reds into Something's Gotta Give double, like the Diane and Jack double. Anyway, ⁓ so this is Movies IMO. We are a podcast where... ⁓ We talk about film, we talk about television, we talk about other miscellaneous arts, whatever fruity miscellanea is floating our boats this week on the podcast. giving us a bee in our bonnet. And I think this week the topic might just give us a bee in our bonnet. We have both fruity miscellanea and bees in our bonnet. Ben has a big bee in his bonnet. I wonder if we'll also get some flies in the ointment as we go on here. I guess if anyone's never listened before, the structure, if you want to call it that, of our podcast is that each of us bring a topic from the world of film and television that is the fruity miscellanea that is currently floating our boats. Whatever is of interest to bring and discuss with the group. And one of us gets the week off every week, and I've got the week off. And I'm just going to sit here silently for the next hour and 45, I'm going take a nap. just going to lay my head down and take a nap. great. Just vibe. But do I... Okay, so this week we are talking about, I can't remember, Ben, does the person who's anchoring say the topics to start or? I think we don't say it. it. Yeah, we haven't done Another thing we should discuss. Another thing that needs to be Off mic, probably. Probably off mic. This is a free product, by the way. No one's paying for this. Yeah, and we're so good. If you're listening, you're whining. We're so grateful. We're so grateful to be here. This was a free choice. are reinventing the form. We're playing with time and space. We're showing the scene. Giving you a peek behind the curtain at what the wizard really looks like. Yeah, it's like John Goodman. It's like free BTS. The free bonus content is inside the main content. Every week I tell myself when we first. start before we hit record, I'm gonna ask, what order are we going in? Haven't done yet. Haven't done it. In my opinion, we should close out with the barn burner of Princess Bride. Okay, great. In my opinion, we should get that out of the way first. Wow, then I don't know, Ben, you're the tiebreaker. How do you want to go first. I'll go first. All right. Perfect. We'll end on a positive note. Not that... I don't even have anything, like I'm not gonna yell about The Princess Bride. This week, my topic is The Princess Bride. If you listened to last week's episode, I teed this up by saying it's a movie that I did not like when I watched it like in high school and the recent events have made me want to reconsider that opinion. Unfortunately, I have reconsidered it for the worse. You hate it even more. And, you know, we could have talked about When Harry Met Sally. We could have talked about misery. We could have talked about the American president. yeah. Which you also watched, Ben, recently. I did recently watch, because I think it was last Saturday night. I had plans during the day and I got home at like dinner time and I was like... I want to watch something that is zero percent challenging. And I was scrolling through Netflix and the American president had that Leaving Soon sticker on it. Gotta catch it. And I was like, gotta catch it. me up. Urgency created. I have never seen it. If I can say something quick about the American president before you continue then. I've never seen the film, but I have tried to watch the film. maybe about a year ago, Mark and I were right where you were, like, need to watch something mindless, easy, something that's gonna go down smooth. Yeah. We could not make it past the opening credits. It's just like a montage of American It literally has a theme song like The West Wing. It is The West Wing over a montage of like presidential papers. And it's very like, the American presidency is awesome and we have to care about it. I was like, I'm very interested in this stuff. the combination of the schmaltzy score, just the pornographic images of the American presidency and then written by Aaron Sorkin. I was like, I cannot do this. I'll come back to it. But I was like, this actually will be like nails on a chalkboard for me if I'm doing this today. As someone who has seen all of the West Wing more than once. Love the West Wing. It was like, oh, The amount that this is the same is so much more than I ever imagined it would be. I guess when I took... I love was right around the same time. Yeah, the West Wing came a couple years after. The West Wing is such important liberal fan fiction for the 1990s and 2000s. yes, its optimism can be grating, but I don't really care. I think it's like a, you know, massage on the also, Martin Sheen is in the American president. as the chief of staff. you were like, why is he? I was literally Leo McGarry. Literally, he introduces to an event, this is my wife. And I got confused for a second because I was like, you're like, is dead? No, I was like, the president is supposed to be. Yes, she's supposed to be. Wait, the love interest is President Michael Douglas cucking President Martin Sheen. I would get so confused. And then don't they have a love affair? Yes. But no, he's not cucking. has a wife that is different. ⁓ OK. Sorry. My bad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. to be vulgar. I apologize. Anyway, we're talking about Rob Reiner, who, look, let me get this out of the way. By all accounts, Rob Reiner was a very good person. In fact, I can quite. ⁓ Literally say that I know he was a nice person. I worked with him a little bit on political issues specifically He did a lot of really great things and he was always really nice to me over the telephone and email I never met him in real life He fought hard for gay rights so these guys could be not very nice about the princess And my boss at the time was also a a macha in gay rights politics And so he and Rob Reiner were very close But look, the only Rob Reiner movie that I think is great is When Harry Met Sally. I've seen a lot of them. a Spinal Tap guy? I haven't seen that since high school, and I did really like that in high Spinal Tap rocks. I love When Harry Met Sally. think Stand By Me, three stars. Misery, three stars. A Few Good Men, three stars. The American President, three stars. They're fun to watch when you've got nothing else going on on a Saturday. What about Flipped? I I think that first run was pretty extraordinary. Well, because I I really like it's like Great like a yeoman film. That's got no that's kind of what I mean Like I think it's a it's a run of success that you don't see I mean and even if every one of those movies isn't like a masterpiece to someone although most of those movies are a lot of people like I would know exactly I think I think too many people that is a run of drop-dead classics. Yeah, and I'm here to say I don't agree I appreciate the sturdy craft. I think he's a sure-handed storyteller. I don't think he gets overcomplicated. And then with something like When Harry Met Sally, there are some interesting narrative devices that shouldn't work and do work. But anyway, okay, so I've done my defending. And for me, the thing with that I did that like... God. Someone's getting buzzed. Sorry. Is that a landline? Are you having company? I'll just hold my thought. Yeah, sure. We'll just sit like Larry Sanders. We'll sit and sip. Sorry. Were you getting mail? It's this person picking something up from Facebook Marketplace. ⁓ what were you selling? He was supposed to be here like... Isn't that the way it always goes? Yeah, so I told him, I'm like, I'm just leaving it outside for you because I'm busy. Great. I'm working right now on something very necessary. Like, excuse me. Exactly. Hello. Okay, we're back. Continue. thing that I knock the most points from Reiner, I guess, is acting. And this is how we will segue into the Princess Bride. Because I also don't think that anyone else has that specific complaint about Rob Reiner other than me. And so I think a lot of people feel the opposite. I do not think actors like look, let me I do not think that Kathy Bates is that good in misery her Academy Award winning performance ⁓ I think when Harry met Sally is the only one that has wonderful acting and Spinal tap Again, I don't really remember in 20 years since I'm intentionally The children in Stand By Me? Get them off the stage! What was it about the younglings you were saying earlier? Slaughtering the younglings. ⁓ The performances in the American President were pretty good, but it's just like, I mean, you probably don't need to tell Michael Douglas and Annette Benning what they need to do. I don't know. You know what I mean? And I've also recently said that Jack Nicholson and a few good men, it may not be his best performance, but it is probably the best example of his talent because his big speech is like one close-up. be his most iconic. mean, obviously there's like five or six other ones you could say too, but that's just like that lack of among cuts. It just makes it iconic and immortal. ⁓ But nothing in The Princess Bride is iconic and immortal. I do think the the you know what never mind. Should I? Yeah, where should we start? I like The Princess Bride. Brandon, you liked it too. I need to say two things before we get into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead. I'll... ⁓ Yeah? Just that the... We came here to discuss Is The Princess Bride the most beloved movie? Which is what a friend of mine suggested that when Rob Reiner passed in December that The Princess Bride of people who are currently alive is probably... the single most beloved American movie. And I was like, you know, I think that might be fair. I disagree in that I don't beloved it, the people, the Princess Bride is a 1988 movie directed by Rob Reiner, written by William Goldman from his novel. I love William Goldman. So that's a shame. It's about a princess bride who is kidnapped ⁓ and then is kidnapped again and then is kidnapped again. ⁓ And it is a fairy tale that Peter Falk is reading to his grandson, the Wonder Years kid. Fred Savage. Fred Savage, thank you. And every three to... Four minutes, they cut back from the story. It's not every four minutes. being like, hey! You know me, I fucking detest a framing device. I do too. really, I can't do it. It would be okay if it was like one time in the middle they cut back and they open and close with it. I don't think it's every four to five minutes. do cut down quite a bit. I guess I don't have a problem with the framing device because it is so tied into the thematics of what this movie is. movie is about narrative, the movie is about being an audience member, the movie is about the magic of storytelling, which I think comes across in the sets, which I actually have mixed feelings on some of the sets, but I think that Oh, I have a lot to say about the I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will. But I think if you were to- put this movie in black and white, a lot of what I consider aesthetic imperfections with good intentions, like these very, you know, old school production designs, big sets, very theatrical. Like this would look like a swashbuckler, I think. I mean, obviously, Errol Flynn is such a visual reference I mean, I've seen The Sea Wolf. So I love The Sea Wolf. I don't know that this is at the quality of The Sea Wolf. Yeah, I mean, I like The Sea Wolf better too. But I think that I think that the movie has a lot of classical inclinations in the way that it looks and then obviously in the storytelling itself. And I just think that as nice as some of the vibrant colors are in The Princess Bride, I think the movie would look better in black and white. I think it would be more effective in the homage that it's making to these classic, almost serial adventures. can kind of see through the on purpose cheesiness of it. The artifice is very intentional. Yeah. That doesn't make it good. it does, it does. It's tied to theme, which is why I get that. That doesn't make it bearable for me. It does work for me. It started rough, but by the halfway point, I was kind of bought into it. I think the characters come into themselves more ⁓ as it goes on. ⁓ Really the turning point for me was that first prolonged sword fight because it is so on purpose artificial and kind of hokey but charming at the same time. And I think that is what the entire movie is going for. that's when it clicked for me. I was like, OK, this is what we're watching. And people love that really bothers me in that sword fight. when they both jump from a ledge and clearly bounce onto a soft landing that is covered in dirt. And I was like, that would not fly on a Steven Spielberg set the way that can see it. But it's not, I understand the point you're making. think it's like, This is not a movie I am in. That's what I was going to say. But I understand. the on purpose-ness of it. You think, no, it just doesn't work for That wouldn't fly in a Steven Spielberg movie because the aesthetic is completely divorced from what Steven Spielberg is trying to do when he's leaning into the artificiality of the movies. There's a reality in every frame of a Steven Spielberg movie. And I think that would benefit this I think that, and just to be clear, this is a movie that I like but that I also don't love. And it's certainly Rob Reiner's movies, it's not my favorite. And it's one that I have a lot of appreciation for. I think a lot of people saw this movie when they were kids, if they're millennials. And of course, I kind of great against the nostalgia lens because sometimes just because you liked it when it was a kid doesn't mean it's good as an adult. I don't have a problem ultimately with the artificiality of it because the movie, I mean, the movie is just so basically about basic ⁓ storytelling convention. and leaning into this magic of this old school magic of the movies thing like with these very theatrical sets and everything and the way that it's like a combination of genres like with the swashbuckler the medieval film but i know i mean i i will say this as soon as it was over i just started watching clips from monty python and the holy grail because that is my preferred or something like the ⁓ pasolini's the decameron sure ⁓ just like these sort of ⁓ satirical or mocking but loving riffs on the idea of the medieval story. yeah, maybe the issue Those movies are very different than this movie. Yeah, because this one isn't... They're good. I wouldn't call it a satire either. Like, I don't think this... I don't think Princess Bride is satirizing the genre. I think it's ⁓ doing an homage to it. Celebrating than celebrating it. Rather than... It's acknowledging that it knows its conventions, which is not exactly satire. And it's, because I it's really still the hokey humor. Yeah. Which doesn't, which consistently doesn't land for me. did have a few laughs. I don't remember what they were, but most of the time I was like just staring at it. I see the joke. It's also just like, I don't always love the idea of we're going to take a modern lens and a modern comic sensibility and place it on this story in the past. the movie gets very sticky, which kind of works for me. It doesn't make me mad, but... sometimes it's just like the wink of like, we all know that it's 1987 and we're all in dress-up right now. But that, think, is what a lot of people like about it. That it kind of feels like a... not a joke at the film, but a joke that you are a part of. It feels like dress-up. It feels like a community theater, I guess. And I think the... I think that has something to do with the enduring appeal. I think there's something cozy about that for a lot of people. I'm curious why it's so beloved today. I think mainly or partly because millennials saw it as kids and revere it highly. Was it funneled into our eyeballs back then in such a way? It was TV a lot. A cable classic. Okay. And the babysitter shows it to you or you watch it at a sleepover kind of thing. Yeah, like I'm wondering like why was it so ubiquitous at the time to have people think of it so fondly now? Like did it make a billion dollars at the time? Did it? I to look up the box office. Was it only? a lot. It was, okay. Or was it like success later? I was surprised that it... I mean, well, I guess I'm looking up the box office right now. ⁓ I don't know what it is, so I'm just going to make a cut point if we want to get rid of that. ⁓ OK, The Princess Bride. The Princess Bride made 30 domestic and $55,000 internationally. Love it. But that was a decent amount. Yeah. ⁓ no, totally. Totally. was probably like 70 million today. The highest it ever went in the box office was third. So it was never like a number one box It was probably then a blockbuster classic. mean, Blockbuster didn't exist at that point, I don't think, but it was a video store classic. I remember the VHS cover of that movie very, very well. I mean, there was a ubiquity to that for sure. just, and I think... It was like a younger, I feel like I associated more with younger Gen X even than millennial because they were ⁓ teenagers when this movie came out. And so they were watching it on video in the basement type vibe in the 80s. And then I think it became just one of those things that caught on and lived forever somehow against all odds. The other thing is like the movie is like not Quotable except like when he when the one actor, you know, the villain keeps saying inconceivable that kind of like signals something ⁓ I've heard that before, know, but other than that like is the movie quotable? Yeah, I mean I would I would I would disagree with that a little bit even though it's not quotes that I'm ever using in my everyday life again This is not a movie that is really that important to me, but Mowage is a big one. Obviously the Inigo Montoya speech Inconceivable as you wish. would actually say this is an extremely quotable movie and the reason I think that is because people can not stop quoting this movie as far as like the Wallace Shawn Rumble with the poison is something I remember being quoted a lot. I mean I think Wallace Shawn is funny in this movie, huh Tick? I enjoy the work of Wallace Shawn period. I do enjoy him. was I I think think the one line as I mentioned in my log was really funny. What was the line that made you laugh? It's like you broke one of the cardinal rules, one of which is you should not wage a ground war in Asia. So good. Topical. Topical. the news. I also enjoy young Mandy Patinkin in this film. I enjoy Andre the Giant in this film. These are performances. These are considered iconic performances. That's what I mean. The word iconic in an objective sense. I have to admit that, like, I don't deny that it is a classic. like, a movie does not have to be good to be a classic. That's something we should investigate. I would say, like, something that is... more universally derided. Like, I Know What You Did Last Summer, the original. Fun movie, though. Absolutely a classic. No one really thinks it's a good movie. It's quite poor. It's quite poor. But still considered a classic. You cannot deny. I think that it takes a lot of chutzpah to make I Know What You Did Last Summer because it hinges on the idea of what if a rain jacket was scary? Right. Like, look at this scary fisherman in his chutzpah. Doesn't this give you the chills? Don't forget and what if you came home from college and didn't bring anything home, but your teddy bear? Your shit out of luck. Have you guys seen I still know what you did last summer? I still would have not seen still. Oh, that one's a blast. We should maybe do the I know you did last summer trilogy on this podcast. It's yeah, it's such a gas. Don't talk about the remake. Never saw it. I kept meaning to see it. I didn't either. I saw it and I regretted seeing it. It's that's it's a very news. Why didn't watch it? Yeah, it's like worse than you Yeah, it's like just like seven love him bad. Um, also I oh go ahead. No, no, no, please I was just gonna say back to Princess Bride. I was moved by I was mostly moved by Mandy Patinkin characters quest for revenge. I was actually moved by it. Yes, I find it. I find it touching Christopher guest Spoiler alert. Yes, a six finger Christopher gas. I'm in my notes. I have also don't you like really worth it the whole does revenge taste so sweet I didn't realize that was Mandy Patinkin Until like the very end. Yeah looking really good. Everybody looks looking at this movie, but I think Mandy Patinkin is hotter now I agree. He's gotten hotter as he is there. thought he was looking good hot old man Did you did you put in your letterbox log about how Carrie Elwes is hotter in the crush? Yes the crash I agree with the crush is also a very fun movie. The crush is really fun. Yeah, I enjoy the crush Brandon you should watch the crush. I'm about to look Maybe we can do it on the podcast. I had something I wanted to say in regards to the question that we're here to solve. And now I'm having trouble remembering it. have something to say about my own, just my own personal taste. only way that I know how to put it is that there is a level of commitment that I'm lacking in this film. they, it's just, it's this, it's the thing that everyone tells me is intentional with this movie is that it has a lightness to it. And there's a, there it's, but I need a sort of grounded realism in it for me. Like I need to really believe that this is happening. And I need them to believe that this is happening and that they're not characters in a children's book like whenever Previously whenever I have brought up that I don't like this movie people like well we're watching the story as envisioned by the Fred Savage character and My response is then his imagination doesn't work garbage That child's I for me to buy in it's also why like I struggle with like a hangout movie is like I Need the stakes to be life or death I want opera when I go to the movies Well, and that that's that I agree and that's why I'm surprised you enjoy the rat scene. Well, that was fun The rat was fun. There was a big giant I wanted more fear and danger in the fire swamp. Did you not see the rat's teeth? There was a big rat. It wobbled around and went... It was a human in a rat suit. But see, okay, so the other side is like, I need them to be committed from a comedic sense. If they're not doing the realism, I need Monty Python level, Mel Brooks level. Antics and I'm not getting that either. I just don't think that's the direction but I do think that I think that the choice that was made was wrong. Yes Like that my problem with the rat scene is that it wasn't funny enough or scary enough It was just like kind of you're just watching this guy in a rat suit. I remember that was least favorite scene Yeah, I didn't love the scene of the rat. I just love the rat I like the rat. like the quicksand and I also I think that this movie might be responsible for how over indexed quicksand was as a childhood fear for I was gonna bring up yeah, like quicksand is going to be everywhere like you can't you you can't walk down the street without having to you know, you fall into the quicksand. Yeah, it's scary. I also This is like such a screenwriting nitpick. The first act is way too short for me to care about this princess. I agree with you there. She is wedded to the king, or she's betrothed to the prince, the king, five or seven minutes into the story. Yes, I agree. With 17 cuts back to Fred Savage, by the way. That's right. I think for a movie called The Princess Bride, Buttercup has remarkably little to do in this movie. And I completely agree with you, Ben, on the establishing of the characters, which are the stakes that are going to You know, they're meant to drive the entire picture. part's giving a little bit of, uh, a little bit of Wuthering Heights, a little bit of Heathcliff, a little bit of... There is there is some crag material in this film, in case you didn't catch it. There's some cragging. They do, but a crag at some point. They're hitting the They're in the rolling hills of California. Of the Los Angeles mountains. Exactly. There's also, um, later on when Billy Crystal as Miracle Max is, uh, is doing Operation, there is some intubation. I Carol Kane coming out. That was fun. some shades of the pit to be found in that scene when he's got the giant antique elevator. I did like when Carrie Elwes is shirtless and being tortured. That's always something that I enjoy in a film. Felt like a precedent to Saw. Like, I guess like, we shouldn't have been surprised when he was cast in Saw. referring to the machine. We're going to put him on the machine. I did like the machine. I like the machine too. Good concept. you know. Going back to the original question of whether it is the most beloved film of all time in America, I feel like Back to the Future is probably my answer for that. Interesting. would still just go with Star Wars. Well, of course. Of course. It probably is just like it probably is just Star Wars. Like if we were going to look at literal math, it probably is Star Wars or I mean, I think you could point to Toy Story as well. The whole story Toy Story franchise. I it's considered like a pretty foundational part of American culture at this point. think I think the only Spielberg interestingly that I would consider for this is Jurassic Park. Yeah, Jurassic Park. Yeah, I don't think any of the 80s movies survive in that sense. You don't think Empire of the Sun is the most beloved movie of all time? Even though I think ET should be the most beloved movie in existence. So then I don't think it is I think that it might have been when we were younger Yeah, when there is one pieces collaboration was going on and when the ET ride was at the universe of theme parks I feel like ET was always in the commercial. I mean it was the highest grossing movie of all time when it was in the trailer package for like every ⁓ VHS I would have watched from the studio at that point. It's interesting that Steve Steve, my good friend Steve. E.T. is the only property that he refuses to exploit. love that. Like it's the it's the perfect one. No sequel. It doesn't get referenced ever. His other movies like can be referenced and like he doesn't let the score being used in other movies. Whereas like Indiana Jones score gets used. It's just like E.T. is just like whenever people come to him with questions, it is a It's a no. It is simply a no. It's a pure product. his baby. It's so personal. mean, that story is so personal to him. there's such a purity to it as well, perhaps with the focus on the children. Like the Drew Barrymore performance is such an avatar of childhood. And it's such a good-hearted movie. And it's rare to have something like that ruined or to not have it ruined. And I guess when he did, when he did... You know make a sequel of sorts when he made the ET ride, which I think he like collaborated on right at the Universal theme parks I mean he basically owned did you know that Steven Spielberg to this day gets a penny from every dollar sold at Universal Studios theme parks good for him He he because his deal has always been at Universal so when that was he was He was the he was still in his hot era when Hot in a lot of ways. When the Universal Studios theme parks were born, so he just had that written into the contract. Good. Anyway. Good for Steve for him. Is The Princess Bride the most beloved movie in existence? I'm gonna go with no. I'm gonna go with no, but I think that it is probably in the top 10. People really write hard for this movie. remember when the- prefer your answer, Back to the Future, which I watched for the first time as an adult not too long ago and realized is really quite a wonderful film. It's kind of a perfect script and it's wonderfully acted. And so I just saw Nirvana, the band of the show, movie, which of course is riffing on Back to the Future as well. Brendan, did you see that yet? I have not. No spoilers. No, it's quite good. Good movie. It's quite good. I know who Matt Johnson is, but I didn't know- these guys and like I know Matt Johnson as like he was a comedian once and is now a filmmaker director of Blackberry I didn't know about Nirvana the band before I knew about the show I knew they did a show yeah And now it's the show. Well, don't have to have seen the show in order to enjoy the movie. what everybody's saying. I was worried about. kind of why I just I went in completely cold and I loved it. Within a couple of minutes, knew exactly who the characters were, what their dynamic was. And just like the opening 20 minutes are so unexpectedly thrilling that I didn't need to know who these people were. I was so locked in on the scale of what they were doing. For that movie to be made on $3 million also, let's just say is so impressive. Just the billboard. mean, I don't want to say anything specific because Brandon should see this without any spoilers, but just some of the billboards. it's kind of insane what it pulls off for what it is. Yeah, for $3 million, the production design. mean, when I was watching it, I was admiring, you know, sort of the economy of shots being used in a specific context that I won't say specifically since Brandon hasn't seen it. And so in the moment, I was like, this is really smart filmmaking on a dollar. But some of the, I'm just going the iPod billboard, like, How much did that cost? Is it just a special effect? I don't know. I don't make movies. I just talk about them. That's right. But Princess Bride... look forward to seeing the picture. When the Princess Bride Criterion Disc dropped, I remember Twitter just exploding that day. And I think I said this at the end of the last episode, but I would be really curious if they were to release a Criterion, their just like basic numbers on discs sold. I imagine the Princess Bride would be towards the top. I mean, and I think they've made a smart business decision to like include things like Wally Princess Bride things that are even hunters kpop demon hunters. I know people are always like They're doing popular titles and it's like well, they got to keep the doors Do you that? Do you want to get your source for 4k? they're not gonna able to make the source for a 4k business of criterion is preserving old film, but also giving physical media two films that otherwise wouldn't have it. when people are like, why are these Netflix, or why is this Apple release getting, because otherwise it wouldn't have a nice e-ray. Otherwise it won't exist. I Killers of the Flower Moon on disc or don't you? exactly. I am still waiting for- K-pop Demon Hunters as well. Exactly. Still waiting for Matty Deop's Atlantics, which was supposed to be on Criterion six years ago. Still waiting for that why hasn't that happened? It's great question. Did you guys see Dahomey, her last movie? No, I would like to. I it was quite good. Yeah, really good stuff. Like, of important. that's on Criterion Channel or Can of P? It probably has been or is now, yeah. I'm sure it is. I've loving my Criterion subscription and my Can of P as well. Every time Brandon says Can of P, I think about the talking Can of P's from Wet Hot American Summer. Mm-hmm. I know the reference. That's what I'm visually seeing whenever you Can of P. I was scrolling through CannabPede the other night in the new releases. funny. It's just funny. specifically and I was like, what the hell are any of these movies? That's what's great about it. So many discoveries. like, there was, I'm forgetting the name, but there was some Jesse Buckley movie that's like new that I had not heard of and I was like, the fuck is this? Interesting. didn't watch it even though I'm now a Stan after The Bride. You love Which I'm- What a 180. I finally- What a 180 for the history books. Finally have had some time to go to the pictures lately because I wrapped some contracts and wouldn't you know it the bride has like one Showtime left. I'm gonna miss the I'm gonna miss the motherfucking bride. Yeah, it's in the head of the year It's be on HBO in two seconds, but I do need to get my hop on I really really know when you're gonna go if you want to be if you want to be two adult men hoppers together. prefer to have a friend. I was too adult then seeing hoppers. Were there other adults in the theater? There must have been. It was an evening show. Spring Break is over. If we go on a weeknight, it's gonna be pretty safe. Marked safe from Spring Break children. That's right. Jesus is risen, you know. ⁓ Is there anything else anyone would like to say? that it? I have one quick thing to say, but I worry it's gonna piss you off. No, I'm not gonna get pissed off, I might performatively respond. Well, no, but you'll know why I think it might piss you off. So you mentioned The Sea Wolf, and I would maybe point to something more like The Pirate, Vincent Minnelli's The Pirate, which is a movie that sort of revels in artifice. I think the sets are better in Vincent Minnelli's The Pirate. But some of the, like the cliffs... set reminds me a lot of Minnelli's The Pirate. With the big blue skies in the background. The difference between The Princess Bride and The Pirate is that in The Pirate, I can see the phenobarbital glare in Judy Garland's eyes and the fear that Gene Kelly and her husband Vincent Minnelli are bringing out of her that they're going to literally throw her into the fire pit. I wouldn't know that without reading her biography that that's literally true, but you can still sense it in the performance. I agree. of that happens in the Princess Bread. Well, no, Robin Wright's not being given enough to do. No, Robin Wright is not being asked to look at Gene Kelly's rippling thighs either. I knew you were gonna say thighs. knew you were gonna thighs. thighs of Gene Kelly. usually think of Black Narcissus when That's the episode title. yeah. Rippling thighs. Rippling thighs. The rippling thighs of Gene Kelly. don't remember what I was gonna say. stream the pirate. Stream the pirate. Great I was looking for a video on my feed. It's probably on Canopy. Do you know where I saw the pirate for the first time in my life? Sleepover? Did the babysitter show it to you? No, it was in college in... You won't believe what class it was. Are you ready? I'm listening. It was the class on the films of Martin Scorsese. Oh, that's interesting. We watched The Pirate. the through line? Minnelli is a huge influence on him. Because that's the darkest one, sort of. I thought there was Sugar Land. We watched Black Narcissus. We watched The Searchers. All of these on 35mm. you can believe were the days. Baby. Those were the days. Let's... Where'd you go to school again? I went to the University of Southern California. I don't endorse it, by the way. Unless you go to the graduate school program. I do not endorse doing film school undergrad at USC. I do endorse the way that Judy Garland says, the pirate Makoko. in the pirate. Makoko. Makoko. I just, my memory of the pirate is her just thrashing the shit out of that room. That's right. That's a great scene. I have a video on my phone that I can't find and I was going to maybe do a gift for our video listeners or our video watchers. But I did use it as a reaction for a long time. It's when Judy faints, but she basically, I think she sees the pirate Makoko and she like seizes up and then like just falls backwards really fast. It's so good. Fantastic. Underrated physical performer, Judy Garland. Is she underrated for that actually? not. I don't think so. Hear me out. knew how to use her body on screen. Because she was one take Judy with the dance sequences. She could come in and hit it and then they were done. well stream when met I'm in charge. I'm in charge. am the captain now. I'm the captain and I forgot. Stream when Harry met Sally. Tell us. Tell us. Did we touch the third rail or did we navigate this deftly? I think we navigated it pretty deftly. watch ET, email us, when you watch ET, you John Cassavetes weeping or are you Elaine May wondering when is this fucker gonna die? Let us know. Tell us. ⁓ God. Tell us, do you think Princess Bride is the most beloved movie ever made? We might talk about Elaine May a little bit later. Looking forward to that. Okay, so I don't know if we answered the question. We all think that The Princess Bride is not the most beloved movie of all time. think it is not the most... beloved. Yes. I would even go so far as to say it's top three. Yeah, that's probably right. But I feel like you have to... Indiana Jones is not allowed. Star Wars is not allowed. You have to take the big franchises out of If you take out franchises, I would say for sure top three. the Future is a franchise, though, so I'm breaking my own rule, because I still think definitively my answer is Back to the Future. I don't think Back to the Future counts the same way. Well, yeah, because they haven't been a new one in so long. Right. It hasn't been exploited into the ground like these other ones have. Like Star Wars and blah, blah. Yeah. Well, because I feel like I was waiting on someone to move it along and then I remembered. I just would like to say that I do think the sound of music is still up there. ⁓ yeah, sure. I wonder if that'll change generationally. That's really the only like pre-80s movie that I think is still like The Godfather. I think young people are kind of like what's the big deal? I see that take more I don't know if they're watching The Godfather. Yeah, but I feel like everyone is still watching The Sound of Music. Yeah, probably so. That was another VHS classic growing up. I remember that cover really well. ⁓ Take us to the next topic. Okay. us to Taiwan. Next! Yes! Mind if I take you to Taiwan? Taipei. So we're gonna take a quick trip to Taipei. Taipei. It's very wet in Taipei. Both movies are very wet. It's Tai-Fu season. There's a lot of drip in these movies and I don't just mean Lee Kang-Shing. It's hard to say who loves water more, Jim Cameron or Simon Lang. No, literally. That's actually the way of water. That's a really tough question because there's water in every... individual frame of both of the Psy films that we watched. But Jim Cameron made a movie with water in the title. He made a whole movie about the way of water. Well, Psy has the And then Fire and Ash was also about... I think Psy wins. That's a great point. I think Psy wins this one. I think we should give Psy the win. I think Psy deserves a win. Jim Cameron has enough. We are discussing... Which I don't actually believe. Two, for video viewers, I'm holding up two fingers. Two... films by Sae-Bing Liang, 2003? Goodbye Dragon Inn. sounded like a creepy door opening. 1998? Seven? Seven? Seventh? Eight? The whole. Two exquisite films just about people, loneliness, also togetherness. And honoring. Film work of the 1960s. That's right. Both sort of tied into that. Or entertainment of the 1960s. There's an intergenerational dialogue happening in both that is very thematically relevant to what the film is getting at. Both films. is. Let's start with Goodbye Dragon Inn. Okay. Because this was my first time seeing it. After hearing it, it's like one of the greatest movies ever. Wow. like now one of my favorite movies ever that I've seen. It's truly remarkable. It's about... There you go. Are you gonna ask what it's about? I was gonna say, agree. I agree. And what's the movie about? And what is the movie about? It's about a movie theater that is on its literal last day of being opened. ⁓ So it's this like fading multiplex in Taipei. ⁓ And you literally just follow... The movie is about the duration of... the, ⁓ Wuxia film, Dragon Inn, that is playing in the theater. And you're just throughout the duration of the movie playing in that lonely movie theater, you're watching a worker putter around, you're walking, you're watching like old film stars of that era watching themselves or their own, you know, peers. You're watching just people float in and out eating peanuts. And you're watching some people hook up. Watching people be annoying. The movie is so People taking their socks off and putting their bare feet on the seat behind you. That scene triggered me. The movie is surprisingly so funny. Just the moments where you can totally relate to this character being irritated by loud eating. My favorite is 45 minutes into the movie, you get the first line of dialogue. And it's this guy, I think he's trying to hook up with him. And he says like this place is full of ghosts. And then he goes back to the theater alone. There's this woman behind him. Her shoe falls off. And then she kind of like disappears. And it's like this jump scare. Like that she reappears right behind him. Like she is a ghost. But yeah, the movie just has a lot to say about. If you love movie theaters, if you love going to the movies, it just makes you fall in love with that feeling all over again. where people keep. Sitting near him. Yes So get away directly behind someone directly in front this empty movie theater and we've all experienced that where all you're in a nearly empty movie theater and suddenly someone sits Directly next to you this happened to me why? Within the last month and a nearly empty movie theater someone sat directly next to me that is jail behavior Well then doesn't later in the movie he goes and sits next to somebody himself? Sure does. One of the micro narratives in Goodbye Dragon Inn is about this guy learning to cruise. With his gay little pins on his jacket. Yes, his gay when that older man, I think the first person to go sit like right next to him, there is this feeling of like, why on earth are you invading my space in this way? And then the shot lingers and the man lingers and then you the audience are like, is this gay? Anybody feeling No, when my brain went, wait. Is this gay? It's kind of gay. I laughed aloud. So the gay cruising then journeys to the bathroom and there's this like really long shot of them at the urinals and they're for longer than anyone has ever peed. I don't think they're peeing, Brandon. They're not peeing. They're not peeing. They're cruising. And one of the bathroom stalls swings open and a guy comes out, swings shut, and then like seconds later the other guy comes out and I was like, guy. ⁓ ⁓ and then after about seven minutes of this uninterrupted shot of people not peeing at the urinal, this man walks in from the background to retrieve his pack of cigarettes, which is on the urinals between two of the guys. course, invading space again. But it's another one those wonderful comic touches in the directions. Unrelated to the cruising, I was going to say, the guy that I think of as the main guy that we're following, ⁓ There's a moment, I can't remember what he does, but he becomes the annoying one. And I think that's so interesting too. It's like everyone gets annoyed by everyone else. No one is immune from being annoying at a movie theater. And I love that the joke is on him at that point. And that it's still such a beautiful communal experience. Like I remember, so I watched this movie for the first time during COVID. And I was just like yearning to hear somebody chewing their popcorn too loudly to me in those moments. Like all the ways that people are annoying into one another in this movie. Like when you are divorced from the theatrical setting forcibly, like we were during the quarantine period. I had ⁓ such a wistful longing for it. And I think it was only like a month into the pandemic that I watched this. I could not imagine watching both of these movies. ⁓ We'll get into the other one in a minute. But both of these movies I think I watched both of these in the pandemic. Or it was like 2021 when we were still like still a lot at home. But I watched this a month into COVID. I watched days for work during COVID. And then I watched the whole like a couple of days after I got over COVID. So a lot of us were experiencing maybe his movies because Days came out, I think, in 2020. we were probably... Well, I think Days came out in 2021, its festival premiere was in 2020. I watched it from a virtual film festival. Yeah, I watched a virtual film festival screener of Days in 2020. And then that I, because I loved it, I watched basically all of his work. leading up to the theatrical release of Days. Yeah. I think Days was my first Siaming Lang film I saw. must have been. Mine too. It was mine. And this is only my second and third and I can't wait to keep going. I've only seen four or five of them, think, myself. But Days, watching that... They're all like this. Yeah, that's great. By the way. Slow-mo cinema for those of you who haven't seen... They're They're all like this. But watching Days... Wide, shots. Days like a month into COVID... like rewired my brain chemistry in the most satisfying way. And I do love that feeling of watching a Signing Liang film. Within the first five minutes, I can feel my heart rate slowing down. I can feel my directing more closely. I ⁓ was really tired this morning because I was up late last night and watching the whole, when I got that feeling of versus like, ⁓ this is exactly what I need. And then he's like wrenching, puking into the hole a couple minutes later. And I was like, I think maybe I should have watched Goodbye Dragon in this morning. But I do love that getting lulled into a side Mingliang film. all the great, well, I want to give credit as well to the movie theater worker character, because she's having some yearning throughout the film, isn't she? Trying to get the attention of the projectionist who doesn't take her steamed bun. It's because she's a ghost. It's because she isn't real. I don't think she shares like a frame with anybody in the movie for most of the runtime. is interesting. And the way that you meet her in the beginning. I never considered that, but I think that's probably right. Through her POV, through the curtains looking into the movie theater, then there's the sort of striking reverse shot. That to me, one, is just sort of like a visual metaphor for the aperture, like to be a spectator through this very specific. lens, right? But it's also to me, like the view of, it's like Steven Soderbergh's presence. It's like the view of the ghosts sort of in on the living. mean, I think- there's that line from- The movie's also filled with ghosts in other ways. Like those actors are kind of ghosts in their own way. and then you have to go back to, I wish I could remember the name of this essay and maybe one of you can help me, but one of the first essays that was written about film, you know, a hundred plus years ago, The basically described film as being this sort of chilling and uncanny experience, like it's a graveyard of shadows. You're just watching people in time that no longer exists. it's, you're just, it's actually very like looking at cinema as inherently very morbid because it will, you know, definitionally become filmed images of dead people. Yeah. Captured in this one specific time. So I also was thinking about that watching the movie because there's also that other element of, you know, death. I mean, the movie has such an elegiac tone. And that sort of barrier between life and an afterlife extends also to what's on screen. Made even more so because the actors are in the audience watching the movie, crying while watching themselves at the end of the movie for the last time. like... I had a brain fart. I like the shot of the theater after she cleans it. It's like a static shot of the empty theater. goes on for seven minutes. I thought the movie was going to end there. I like kind of wish it did, then the way the movie actually ends, I allowed it. I was like, okay, no, does Lee Kang-Sheng find the bun in the rice cooker after that? I think it is I think it's right after that, right? Yeah. He finds it, and then he leaves, she leaves. The two actors greet each other. it's after. that really ⁓ supports your theory that she's a ghost, is him finding the bun at that moment. That to me is this sort of like gift from a ghost. You know the way he reacts to it. I do love earlier. with her walking away. Mm-hmm Like kind of the leaving her haunted house behind almost Yeah, her last time she gets to have green drink pink snack in her little ticket booth. love that pink snack. I am Mac. need it and When I watch one of size films, I am always I always think about other slow cinema that I don't like because... Like The Princess Bride? Like The Princess Bride. Because it just like reminds you what can be done with this form of cinema. Yeah, absolutely. Because I think there is... ⁓ I'm going call critics out. I think that there is ⁓ a reticence... to ever be perceived as not enjoying a slow cinema picture. And they're not all good. And so I think that it just, you know, it's different when you watch a sci film or in a peach pong or an Ackerman. And there's a way to do it. Where you just feel like you're in such good hands with every shot, you become excited to see what is this going to mean when we get through this shot. I think that sometimes people are unaware of the fact or don't give themselves the permission to have a feeling of boredom or listlessness while watching slow cinema. And particularly with something like Dragon N or like Jean Diehlmann. That feeling of feeling kind of trapped in this space and your mind is starting to wander and you maybe get existential for a second, again, like a sense of listlessness, that is ⁓ an embodiment of what that character is feeling in that scene as well. like occasionally like the durational quality and how your mind might not necessarily hook in for all 100 % of it and that there might be an uncomfortability that comes with it or a sort of a wandering focus. That is a feature, not a bug. Yeah, exactly. think you're meant to fill in a lot of the space. Yeah. And yeah, with your own thoughts, your own like perceptions and... I mean, like you said, it can be uncomfortable. And that's fun. I love it. I love good slow cinema because I mean, Ben, I feel the same way when I'm watching slow cinema. really enjoy just an appreciation for what the filmmaker is doing with the form and then like a sense of embarrassment about how like, ⁓ everything I love is deeply conventional Hollywood storytelling. Like the grammar is not actually that novel because everybody's telling a story in the same sort of shot, reverse shot, wide close up progression. And, you know, I've spoken with people in the past who have had a hard time with a pitch upon, because it's just like, well, nothing happens or what I hate hearing is like the, it's a little try hard to me. Like, yeah, okay, because you held the shot, you're really deep. It's like that to me is like an aversion that comes from a lifetime of watching conventional Hollywood storytelling, which by the way, I love conventional Hollywood storytelling, but there is sort of a fascistic impulse that everything has to subscribe to the same visual grammar and pace. And I always find it really liberating to spend time in a good piece of slow cinema because like I said, I can feel it rewiring my brain and rewiring my ability to complement images together and create the relationship between the two. And sometimes you're not in the headspace for one. And that's OK. Come back. I admittedly started Goodbye Dragon Inn, got in five minutes, and I was like, not for me right now. My brain's the time. It's like me watching the American president. I wasn't slowing down with it. was still thinking about it. I wasn't able to settle in. So then I watched it another time. And there's no shame in that. No, and like you did their great morning movies because your always wasn't in the morning on yet and yes You can really as a warning with coffee indulge in it I realized that while I was watching the whole this morning Ben and I had not thought about it before but every time I've watched a sci-movie apart from rebels of the neon god, which I watched in an airport I I watched these movies in the daytime like in the morning time specific morning time. Not on purpose It's a, granted the cup of coffee helps too, but it really does just feel like this bracing, you know, splash of wonderful are tornado sirens happening in my home. ⁓ I can't hear them. Midwest alert. Midwest alert. Are you safe? I think I'm safe. need to batten down the hatches? I was going to go to the gym after this. Maybe I will, I'll blow away. You can do crunches at home for your safety. It'll be just like the Jessica Lange film, Country. Which I'm halfway through. Does she blow away in a tornado? No, but her son almost drowns in the corn. know. Like, it's like quicksand, but corn. Corn sand. Me when I'm drowning in the corn. He almost drowns in the corn. ⁓ a silo of corn? It's the truck tips over onto... ⁓ no. All the corn spills out. Oh no. The corn that Reagan didn't want them to plant. That's right. That Reagan didn't want them to harvest. Now he's You didn't have to take the loan. The mean bank man said you didn't have to take the farm. Did check my phone? Country, think, is like an okay to good movie, but the... I'm really enjoying it, but I did feel like, can finish this tomorrow. Right. have to put it in that movie has such a... pure loathing for Ronald Reagan that it's just hard not to get a high from that. What Brandon, are you safe? I do have a tornado warning. Do you to? Should I into a bunker? You should get under your desk. Do you to pause and decide if you're safe? No. If I blow away, if my frame of the video rips out and I... That's content. That's great content. That would be great content. That's necessary. I'd post the clip immediately. podcasting. Podcast or blows away. Westin Power King. should we move on to the hole? The hole that I'm about to be in when my apartment gets razed to the ground by a tornado? God damn. Can we quick, before we move on to the hole, can we just talk about... the theater a little bit more and just like cavernous hallways that the one thing is a massive theater. paper, wet cardboard boxes. is wet. Why do they shimmy along the wall? Because they're ghosts. Because they're all ghosts. I think there's something about because they're lonely and they want the haven't connect. It's like when you intentionally go through the TSA wrong so that you get your dick patted down. Yes, that happened to me recently, but I did do it on purpose. You brought a knife on a plane one time, so the TSA would give me a throw up in that town. to get a grope. That's why I cruise in my moldy cardboard box room, because I'm just trying to get a grope. I just need a grope. right. I like when he follows the man with the cigarette up. Me too. He just wants to say, ⁓ That first line of dialogue that comes 45 minutes in and I think it is exactly 45 minutes because I paused to check I paused it by positive because I realized I hadn't had the subtitles on the entire time. and I was just so it was such a I like, how are you watching the movie? Then I realized no dialogue. It's entirely dialogue free. Yes It's all that's visual storytelling. Exactly. Well, you're not getting the dialogue of the diegetic movie ⁓ I was like, ⁓ it's an interesting choice not to put the subtitles on, because it's not about that. Honestly, fair point. I watched the Thin Red Line for the first time, I was like, this sound design is so interesting. It sounds like everything is submerged underwater. And then 30 minutes in, I realized I had the cords plugged into the wrong outlets. It's like Terrence Malick. God, how inspired. He's creating his own oral language. You can't even speak. One of the film Twitter guys ⁓ watched half of another round and then was like... I think I was off Twitter then. Some was like, I thought it was a stylistic choice to not have any subtitles and that's a very talky movie. The movie's all script. It's wall to wall talk. It is all talking. There's also walking. There's walking and talking. And dancing. who tweeted that. Some good dancing. That is funny. The dancing. Just want to do a shout out for anyone in LA listening to this who remembers going to the All-Star Lanes in Glassall Park, which never made it back after COVID. So All-Star Lanes is actually where the parking lot is where they shot the iconic reservoir dogs, like walking shot for the credits. That's in the parking lot for All-Star Lanes. But All-Star Lanes was this working classic bowling alley that had not been renovated in decades. And it also was a dive bar and a karaoke spot and like punk bands would play there. And oddly, like in the late 2010s on a Friday night, it would be packed with like 20 and 30 somethings. And I have a wonderful, and it's since closed and it breaks my heart because it was a really fun place to hang out. But I have great memories of seeing a band play there while it was raining outside and the drop ceiling was just like dripping on the band and the audience. me. And thinking to myself, I would rather be here than anywhere else on earth. Sometimes it's nice to be in a wet place enjoying art. Yes, and that is Goodbye Dragon. Or cruising. ⁓ The Hole! The Hole. Another wet film. Only in the rain. Arguably wetter. I'd say wetter. Much wetter. I'd say wetter. this film Goodbye Dragon is moist compared to The Hole. The hole is soaked. can't get away from being wet. are simply wet. Wet. Takes place in the near future. The year 2000. Some unknown plague has taken over Taipei. That turns you into the cockroach. Roach-like you turn into a bug. You roach like behavior. Well you begin to act like one so you've been you begin to be kind of a loner and to burrow and to be Antisocial and literally irritated on all fours and you know what roaches love not to bury the lead water They do they love it the way of water But two characters have decided to stay against the evacuation notice and their neighbors upstairs and downstairs neighbors and the downstairs neighbor, nope, the upstairs neighbor has a plumbing issue and the plumber comes and just bashes a titular hole into his floor so he can peer down into the downstairs neighbor and then he barfs into the hole. The reveal of the hole. drips on her. No, so for the downstairs neighbor, the reveal of the hole is so funny because she has just in this very creative way removed the egg white from an egg. to apply all over her face as skin care. And then she walks into the living room and just gets this like plume of dust from the ceiling. barfed on. Oh no, it's the dust. It's the dust, yes. It's dust. If it was the barf. it's um... The barf is later. It's just, I find it to be a very funny moment where she like has egg on her face except she already has done one nice thing for herself. Exactly. And then it gets in her miserable little apartment. of gravel, of microplastics. I love how often they are just quietly eating ramen in their silent homes. And then later in the film, the cut between them eating the ramen in the same place in the frame and they have like the same side dish. I find it so moving. mean, that's the movie is playing with a lot of like... So it's like the tension between I wondered if they shot the apartment, the same apartment. I was wondering about that too. And I think ultimately... faucets are different in the kitchen, but that... They could have swapped it out unless it's a real, I'm guessing if I'm putting the budget together, it's really just about whether you can afford to build the two identical sets. Because particularly when the downstairs neighbor, when she starts stripping down all of the wallpaper, and when the titular hole goes up in Lee Kang-Shang's apartment, like that seems to me hard to reset unless you shot all of the one apartment and then you shot all of the second apartment. But the movie feels like the spaces feel so interconnected. That very well may be how they shot it, but it always feels like it's happening in real time. Again, like, the style sort of encourages a presentness. And even though when that reality breaks with these fabulous musical numbers... I need to talk about those. Yeah, we should talk about I will say, so the movie ends with, like, such a gay guy postscript, which is Signing Liang being like, thank God we have the music of Grace Chang. The world is falling apart, but Grace's music is yours. And I was like, this is like such gay guy postscript. Almodovar doing the same thing in All About My Mother where he literally, it's like this movie is dedicated to women. Thank General Lins. Thank you to Betty Davis, General Lins, and all the women. Women, You know, this reminds me. Me today with the music of Madonna. well, thank God. God. My, okay, so there's postscript on Goodbye Dragon Inn, too, and mine wasn't translated. I didn't have subtitles for it, so I was just like, ⁓ well. Does anyone know what it says? don't remember. Tell us! Do you know what it says? Email us. think it's a poem. I think it's a poem. Don't remember. was gonna look it up, but I was like, it's maybe not for me to know. That's right. Maybe the decision was made for you. To know we're not. This wasn't for me. Anyway. But yeah, the first break away from reality into this wonderful musical sequence, Calypso, just knocked my hair knocked me for a loop. So single shot. And I want to talk about the from the foyer, the mailboxes to the elevator. pushes in with light and then it pulls out without light. no light. Wow. In the elevator. Yes. Dancing. Yeah. And the elevator is dressed. It's dressed with like popping Christmas lights. Sparkly. Yeah. I mean that shot. The lighting is extraordinary in both of these films, but the aesthetic contrast between just their dank apartments where just like the moldy box cruising ground, like I know it smell crazy in there. Like the first time you see her apartment, it's just like, what a dump. Like there is just garbage everywhere. She's hoarding napkins. Eventually she's peeling the wallpaper. ⁓ The napkins, I feel like every time we return to the apartment, there's more napkins. There's more napkins. Yes. They're growing. They're multiplying. They're multiplying. Leave us a review and tell us, do you ever pull out a single napkin from your napkin stash to rub suggestively under your bra and up to your neck while on the phone with your crush? Tell But the contrast between just sort of like, again, like how dank everything is in those apartments and then we move to these magical musical numbers that have a... You know, they're, you could call them lush, guess, because of the colors. They're not particularly lavish. they're still taking place in this rundown apartment building. But now there's pops of color, the lighting scheme changes. Like, that is such an interesting dialogue, taking music from the 1950s, which, and the characters and the musical numbers are dressed in sort of Copacabana-esque outfits. Like, there's something about this sort of glitz and promise of the mid-century, contrasted with the present in Taiwan. and how it seems to have no promise. It seems like it seems like the dead end of their lives. It seems like this is the rat hole they're going to die in. did we lose Brandon Kirby? Did a tornado take him away? ⁓ Do we have an update? Sorry. I think my internet is dying. Hello? Are you there? Are you there? I fear Brandon got snatched. He disappeared like the woman in the Goodbye Dragon Inn theater. Totally. I was thinking it's like an unfriended moment where his video just disappears from the screen. His internet went out, thinks. Laughing my butt off one minute. ⁓ no. Can't wait to see you again. Brandon? Hello. How are you feeling? Well, your audio's off. ⁓ hold on. I think my internet... died momentarily. Brandon. Oh, you sound great. Oh, thank God. You're back from the shit lands. we're back. Some might say we never left. Anyway, what were we talking about? Holes. was. Legs in holes. I was talking about sort of the aesthetics of the musical numbers, like recalling sort of. this glitzy promise of the mid-century of how incredible society is going to be. We're on the up and up after the World War. And then contrasting that with this movie that is very much about the end of the millennium and everybody's living in these terrible apartments by themselves exhibiting roach-like behavior. And isn't that interesting? Isn't that so interesting? I agree. The only reason I don't exhibit roach-like behavior is because of my cat who has just come to my side. and is requiring attention so Can you show her to our video viewers? bring her up? She does not She does not like her bodily autonomy violated with being fair, picked up, picked up, fair, fair Leave her down We hear her screaming Hey Lynn She doesn't like it Anyway, same. was thinking, I was also thinking about Yi Yi, because that's another movie that takes place in Taipei just right after, or like right at the Millennium. And just what a radically different depiction of Taipei this is. Again, this is sort of like industrial, grimy, this is the rat hole you are going to die in. post-apocalyptic, or like apocalyptic in real time, because you're watching, you're watching this building fall apart, whether it's the titular hole, or just like... If I could have any job on this set, it would be the guy who is in charge of just throwing the trash bags out the window that you'll just see like fall in the background of a shot. yeah. It's a fun job. I love when Lee Kang-Shang decides, well, I guess this hole is permanent, so I'm going to tidy up. And he starts to tidy up the hole. And he starts deciding what he's going to do. Such as drop things into the hole, including my leg, my hand, my arm. I get so scared when he sticks the leg in. Both times I've seen it. He's not going to get that thing out. I know. And he pulls it up just in time for her not to see it. does. What do we make of, why does he put the leg through? I think it's just to feel something. I think it's a yearning for connection or to get out of his apartment. for the fuck of it. He wants her to see the leg. And it's a puncturing, I guess he definitely does, even though he pulls it out just in time before she sees But he doesn't know that. No, no, no, that's the thing. But there's cosmic element. I think there's also like a puncturing of the simulation going on with the hole. know, like they are trapped in hell and by... Excavating this hole and widening it and possibly passing through it passing through this barrier Opening up a portal to perhaps an alternate reality, which is what the picture ends on when he lifts her through the hole I know they are and they are in that together mid-century musical dream space the lighting has changed the lighting is beautiful in that scene because the question of the whole movie leading up to that point is why Do they still live in these squares alone? they're very small apartments. no one else lives in the building, seemingly. Maybe a boy. Yeah, they could just expand. Not that they have things. Not to make this un-serious, but I know that they stay isolated. I know that the musical performers are played by the leads and then some extra actors are well, but it would be funny if there was a line of dialogue at one point when they finally talk to each other. It's like, isn't it crazy that it's just us here and then that theater troupe on the fourth floor just walking through the building, the musical stuff, some lip-syncing? Fun! But to your question, I think it goes back to the description of those afflicted with this mysterious illness as exhibiting a roach-like behavior. I think it's saying something about... urban alienation and the way that we self-select or rather we all exhibit these roach-like tendencies by never leaving our apartments, by not wanting to be social, by burrowing deeper and never leaving. And that to me is the answer. And it's like, already have the roach-like sometimes. They know each other. Hello, Dana was getting carried away by the tornado. It's a lot of crazy shit happening today And it is insane that this is the most kovat movie that came out a 20 however many years before kovat like it really captures that feeling Like has so well they know like cove it's not just kovat that has ever isolated people There's been other things that isolate people, but it's just about that for our lives and our is just like living inside of the matrix. you use that exact phrase, Daniel? I think I said simulation, but that's what I mean the same thing. yeah, and it's like, it has just not even occurred to them that they could be going through this together. Or that they could leave. So much of the movie is, why don't you just go down to her apartment? Right, why don't you guys just hang out every day? They're in their pods. kinda like how we're in our little squares right now. That's it. ⁓ shit. Let me reach across to Ben's square. Daniel and I only live a 15 minute drive from each other. are you two isolated in your boxes? Well we actually thought we'd talk about recording in the same place today and then Ben texted me and like, have to change the plan, I'm very tired. I was like, I also needed to change the plan. Mind you, I was in bed when I texted that and I was like, I don't... I can't tidy up before Daniel gets here. I was watching Lee Kang Seng tidy up his own hole when you were having that thought. To go back to the point of the Matrix or the simulation, he is still going downstairs to his little grocery. Where no one comes except that old He's doing his job. he's like, haven't made this for years. And he feeds the cat, and he tries to save the cat, and maybe the cat is dead by the end of the movie. That cat got fumigated. He tries to get the cat out tries to get the cat, but then at a certain point he's like, well, I have to not be fumigated. Well, like Linda, that cat does not want to be quote unquote picked up. Picked up. Yeah, if that cat wants its bodily autoimmune nervous spectrum. I have grabbed Linda in an emergency though, like during an earthquake, and she doesn't try to run. It's like whatever my energy is telling her is like, this is different than when he this is urgent. This is not when he just picks me up and annoys me. Sometimes when I'm Linda sitting and I'm hanging out at your apartment and sitting on the couch, she'll come up and then like get on top of my lap and it's very cute for a while. But then she starts just like stretching all over me or kneading with her claws and to be like, Linda, thank you so much. And I'll just like pick her up and put her like a foot to the right. And every time I do it, then she looks at me like, what the fuck? She's mad. you you could do this? I never. move her off my lap unless I like really have to get up. I will like I will ruin my bladder so that Linda is not disturbed you know. It's what she deserves. Because she will give you that look. whole life. Her whole life. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I want to say about the whole. This is more Goodbye Dragon Inn but it's also here a little bit but more so in that movie. But I do love films that fall into the subgenre of possibly everybody on screen is a ghost. And I always point to all of Christian Petzold's movies as like the main canon of that. But I don't think the first time I watched gotta make time to see the new one. Me too. And I was working at a festival. arrived. We programmed it. I didn't, but at a festival I worked at and I was like, great, I'll be able to just see it while I'm there for work. And then I, for free. And then I never got to see it. And now it's only at the Lemley. at bad times, but I gotta go see it. Treat yourself to a little... Glendale at least. It's not just on the West Side. They never do that anymore. Just have one on the West Side like they used to. Which I'm happy That used to be not a West Sider. Going to the Royal. Now they always have the Glendale I probably talked about this on the episode of Movies IMO about the wife, but I think that was the first time I went to the Limley Glendale. it was like a Sunday afternoon in the summer. I was wearing very short shorts and a Casey Musgraves tank top. when I walked into the theater, there were these two elder, limley matinee seniors, these two ladies, and they looked at me and they were like, where are our seats? Like, shut up, you work there? I don't work here. That is the kind of... That is what the staff work... looks like there though. Yeah, the KC West Coast Tech Tops. the booty shorts. They'd be like, yep, that's you. You work here. Oh, sorry. Is that row E? It's right there. And I'm sitting right next to you. So this will work out for you. I love Levely seniors. you go up to anyone with a red shirt at Target. Oh, yeah. But that makes Or CVS. I mean, you know, something that's really humiliating for yourself and really embarrassing is Brandon in Detroit are all the CVS items behind lock and key like they are here in Los Angeles. No, it is a free for all. You can grab whatever you want and that sounds great. Throw it around the blessing of suburbs. Whenever I need toiletries now, I go to the Vons in Burbank on the way home from work because they're not caged in the valley. There are only cages on this side of the hill. In the city. It's so embarrassing though when you're trying to get help for someone to open one of those cages and then you see someone, pardon me, in a red shirt, like, guys, can you come over here? Like, I don't work here. Yeah. Like, I've made the mistake more than once. And then you just God forbid you need multiple locked items. Oh my God. I know. And I usually I'm like, I need here, here, here, and here. one at a time? They're like, let me come back. They have to unlock. Yeah. It's crazy. Then they have to lock it back. And then they lock it. I mean, talk about dystopian. Talk about roach-like behavior. Exactly. Exactly. I urban alienation. I love crime and punishment. You know, the the the Vons in Los Feliz by the Vista. Yeah. It has it has little gates to enter and exit. Yes, that's right. The Ralphs near me has that too. We live in dark times. I know, we live in hell. We live in the hole. yeah. Well, that's, think, maybe I was saying this when Brandon was getting twisted up in the tornado, but when you watch the woman downstairs for the first time, like take the ramen from the drawer and make her little dinner, because of the context that's been set up with the epidemic, because of the maison sang of her apartment, like you really do feel like you're at the end of the world. And when she's just... pulling out the ramen, peeling it back, it's like, oh God, it's so sad that this is what it's come to. And then you think like, that's me three days a week. No, that. right? Silently opening my Trader Joe's frozen meal. makes me think of- Roach-like behavior. down to watch a movie alone. What is the, I should And then Grace Chang comes bursting through the front door. That's right. Gesundheit. Achoo. The sadness of putting together a meal then what was the name of that movie? This is not interesting because I don't remember the sadness of putting together a great. That's a That's a really interesting title equal to the time for doing things has passed. Hmm. Yes, that movie was gone. Yes movie I'm thinking of okay, so the scene where she is squeezing out her like, it's like a soup or a chili, and it's a close-up on that bag just squeezing out. That's what it reminds me of. It's like, that looks so sad and disgusting, but we've all squeezed out our sad little meal. If I'm not having my tofu broccoli rice or chicken broccoli and rice, I'm having some version of that. Exactly. And that scene like just still sticks with me. I'm so glad you came up with the title, Daniel, after me not knowing the title, thank you. For a movie I never saw. That I would like Incredible work. Incredible I'd like to see it. I would like to see it. You want to see that chili get squeezed. Anything else we want to say? Love the green bowl when she's peeing, that she's holding over her head. Oh yeah, I really Almost an aesthetic callback to the Calypso numbers earlier with the vibrant color. Oh The one pop of vibrant color. Yeah, buffer head which is her water is dripping into from the screen while she peas it the the idea of living in a water log department Like waking up and discovering you're in a water. Long makes me Sick, it chills me to the bone. Yeah, the idea that she she has all of her cloth towels clothes to sop up the water and that she squeezes... gives me chills. ...into a bucket when they're fully saturated. It's disgusting. really makes me... napkins are wet. ...upset. I'm very upset about it. But then it makes me think of what are all the little things in my apartment that I just put up with and I haven't ever fixed. Well, I was just... The other day... ...are sort of the same. Roach-like behavior. The other day I accidentally... I accidentally made a hole with a knife and like the molding beneath my countertops between the cupboard and the countertops and my fixtures that I'm looking at that you can't see that are right here are very old. And because it created a hole, I immediately reached for the tape to like fill that thing up because I don't want any bugs. ⁓ And I was thinking of that when she was taping up the hole. I was living at the line by the way, because my building had an infestation of bugs a couple of years ago. And they had to like rip the carpet out of my bedroom. Like it looked like the end of the movie with her apartment where it's been completely stripped down to the studs. Like that is what my bedroom looked like. it was a nightmare. watching the whole now kind of just feels like going home to me. This all feels very familiar. And I've ⁓ never had flooding in here, but for some reason the image of like the water on the floor that you guys are talking about. To me, feels like a lived experience just living in a 100-year-old building. Like, that kind of stuff happens. We are about to have a cameo appearance. Linda! From Linda. Linda! Now that she has jumped up on her own, I am going to hold her. Oh, Linda! Do you want to say hello, Linda? Hey, Linda. She's like, uh-uh. She's looking crazy. She's disturbed. She is perturbed and disturbed. Bye, Linda. Goodbye. Love you, Linda. Sweet angel. you had looked, your friend Daniel is there. You see him all the time. She gives me little kisses when I come over. Oh. I like, I bend down to pet her, she starts like licking my cheek. God, I love Linda. God, I wish I was in the show. I love Linda so much. Daniel, take us home. I was going we're spinning out. So take us home. Yeah, said it a couple times already. Closing thought. know it smelled crazy in there. in all the places in the Simon Lang movies and beautifully subjective lighting. final thoughts? ⁓ you can smell it. Think of the mildew. Girl, not the mildew. In all of those spaces. Girl, the mildew. Okay, so the next thing we do on this podcast is we are each going to say the last thing that we watched. I'll go first. The last thing I watched was Steven Spielberg's The Sugarland Express, which I had never seen before, which is a hangout movie. What a fun movie, though. Super fun, really liked it. And I did like Leo pointing meme when he employs the dolly zoom in that film. And I didn't realize that I figured Jaws was the first and only time he did it in that way. But he employs it to similar effect later in like the climax of the Sugarland Express. It's an interesting movie like between Duel, which I love and Jaws, which I love. that he is still playing with the car movie, the road movie. But the scale is increasing. Now there's a hundred picture cars. And now there's these massive crowd scenes. And there's the shootout in the used car lot, which is extraordinary. Like, even though it is so different in narrative style from something like Jaws, it is a really interesting stepping stone. Who's the man? I don't know. I don't remember. Goldie Hawn is the woman. And Ben Johnson is the sheriff. Johnson is the sheriff. Chasing them. But the male lead's quite good. I think the scene of them in the RV for their little date night in the middle of their life on the lam is really quite beautiful. They just sort of spontaneously burst into laughter after days of this strange chase, like they finally have a night in themselves. It's a funny chase movie too, because the police are always about 20 feet behind them and they're in constant dialogue the entire movie. Like it's not Smokey and the Bandit kind of like. There's only in that RV sequence and the used car lot, think, is the only time there's really significant distance between them. great performance from Goldie Hawn reminded me a lot of ⁓ Ace in the Hole. maybe it was just Ace in the Hole, but it made me think about sort of ⁓ media sensationalism. Sugarland Express, worth a watch. In a crisp 4K. think it was a crisp 4K. It was a very nice transfer, whatever I watched. The last thing I watched, well, was Country, which we already talked about a little bit. You can go back one. You can cheat. The... Well, I will say about Country, is that the editor was a professor of mine at USC. ⁓ God. At the school you denounce. Yes. I've never... Interesting how quickly you are reclaiming your time at USC. ⁓ I've never noticed his name. I know that he was a... an editor by trade before he started doing teaching of production. I really liked that. That's cool. I thought it was a good movie, the first hour and 10 minutes that I've seen of it. I think it is a good movie and I'm excited to see where it goes in the third act. You know who's hot as hell? Sam Shepard. Sam Shepard. ⁓ I agree. He gives up in that movie. It's sad. A lot of farmers... A lot of farmers did in the 1980s because of how the Reagan administration was And his father-in-law, Wilford Brimley, is pissed off about it. He cannot believe that this man that he led his daughter marry is going to lose this land that has been in his family for 100 years. Can't wait to see what happens. I can't wait. Wilson Reagan 666. What happens next on Country? Nominated for best actress Jessica Lang gorgeous great performance The last film I watched was Project Hail Mary I did I did go see it and you loved it You know what kill me. I loved it. I loved it that fucking rock it got my ass I'm sorry. I am reminded the fucking rock. Um, I am reminded that That Chris Lord and Phil Miller have got they've got the juice they got the sauce they got what it takes to make a movie like that it just feels It's so much movie. It just I don't it like just is such Like movie, I don't know how to explain it like you really like it's it has like six endings. It's so now we're talking It's so triumphant with the score and like... Who did the music? It hits every beat. Drew's... No, the screenwriter is Drew Goddard. I know that. Daniel Pemberton did the score. Oh, okay. That name is familiar. But the score is basically interstellar light. it does... It moved me. I was moved. I need to go see that while it's in premium formats and this is a reminder that I need. It's done? Oh, because of Super Mario? Mario gets two weeks and then Project Hell Mary's back. It'll get one or two showtimes probably in the item That is confirmed. That is confirmed. Well then I better get to Mario in IMAX. Yeah, you're gonna miss it. My most anticipated film of the year. Mario Galaxy movie. Next week, ⁓ Ben, I'm not seeing a topic here for you. Do you have something to bring? Next week, So next week, Ben, what are we talking about? Speaking of Wilford Brimley, next week, Talking about Kukun? Yeah. No. We will be watching ⁓ to celebrate the late, great Robert Duvall, his Academy Award winning performance. Yay, tender mercies. I'm excited about that. Now on to be, not movie, to be, and there was something that I was specifically gonna say, that ⁓ Betty Buckley is the greatest singer that I have ever witnessed in my life. I've said it before and this film proves it again. I also always thought that this was a Larry McMurtry. It's not. It's not. The cover art is very lonesome, Dove. Yeah, I always thought it was. I thought it was an original screenplay of his. didn't think it was, and it's just, it's some other guy. It's the guy who wrote the To Kill a Mockingbird screenplay. What's his name? Horton Foote, something like that. Sounds about right. Yes, Horton Foote. Horton Foote. I'm very excited to watch this. this, Tender Mercies. I saw it theatrically last week and it just sort of blew me away. Not you for a loop. excited. I met the actress Tess Harper a number of times many years ago, and she was so wonderful. And I was always told, like, you got to watch Tender Mercies if you Tess Harper. So I'm excited about that. have to The whole movie, was like, Like, she has such a familiar face. What do I know her from? it's like, mainly no country. Breaking Bad? ⁓ she's Tommy Lee Jones' wife. She's Tommy Lee Jones' wife. No country. Who's she on? She's Jessie's mom. ⁓ shit. Yeah. Mm-hmm. OK. And she's in a movie called Cries of the Heart that I don't really care for, I she got an Oscar nomination for that. film either. But Jessica Lange is really fun in that movie with her bleached eyebrows and the jean jacket. a good Jessica Lange performance. I love when Jessica Lange's just letting it all out. soon. Yeah, I've been meaning to watch Frances forever. Is it supposed to be good? Maybe we'll do it on the podcast. Maybe, maybe we will bring it Well, speaking of doing things on the podcast, I'm back on next week. I've got a topic. Apropos of nothing. We are going to be watching and discussing Warren Beatty's magnum opus, Reds. One of the greatest American films ever made. And, you know, ⁓ at a time when maybe some people are talking about how we do or do not, or rather, not how we do or do not engage with the politics of a movie, but how a movie has to present its politics in order for us to like it now. Reds is an interesting case study in that. think Reds is an interesting case study as a movie that is actually about its politics, about its revolutionary politics, which, you know, you can make a movie about the revolution and it doesn't have to be about the nitty gritty of the infighting with the American communist and socialist movement. And, you know, interesting to see a movie that maybe can both celebrate and critique the movement at the same time and that... This doesn't make you a phony. This doesn't make you unworthy of using a milieu of revolutionary radical leftism. For no reason am I talking about any of these things. But we are going to look at them through the lens of Warren Beatty's masterpiece written in part by Elaine May, I believe. think she did some punch up on it. Uncredited work. So bringing that background, Elaine May, uncredited work on Reds. ⁓ Very, very excited to watch Reds again and talk about it. film starring the late Diane Keaton. best performance in my personal opinion. also would point to Reds Brandon, is this your first time watching the film? It'll be, fill me up a blind spot. ⁓ you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it. It's Warren Beatty's best movie, but... And I like all of Warren Beatty's movies, but it's not just Warren Beatty's best movie. It's like better than don't think Boalworth is number one? I'm not... crazy about Bulworth, I'll be honest. I've only seen it once. I thought it was decent. No, think it's decent. think my expectations were too high because when I was a young baby cinephile at teenage years, being told that nothing will prepare you for the no holds barred candor of Warren Bates' Bulworth, movie that dares to speak the truth. no. How much Bugsie? Not this week, but in general. ⁓ yes, I've been meaning to watch that Warren Beatty? Yeah, isn't it? He's in it. Now I'm, now I'm... It's Barry Levenson, isn't it Barry Levenson? Maybe, maybe. I'm confusing it with Dick Tracy. It's Barry Levenson, but Warren of course stars as Bugsy Siegel. That's right. I have not seen Bugsy. Well, it's been wonderful chatting with you guys. Maybe we should do this again sometime. ⁓ Let us know, please ⁓ rate, review, subscribe on all platforms and email us at moviesimopod at gmail.com and tell us. Tell us. Shit, I had one a second ago. Fuck. A good one. Damn Would you stick your leg through the concrete hole on your form? I wouldn't. I can't think of one. had a really good one and now I'm going to have to cut this. And we're gonna have to talk about something else for a second so that it comes to me. Okay. Because it really good. Let's get you there. Tell us, do you... Do you also like green drink pink snack at work? Tell us. Thoughts? Tell us. It's come to me as soon as we hang up. It's gone. I guess there's only one thing to do then. Tell us, do you want... To see Carrie always stretched on the machine? Yes. Indeed. Okay, I think we did it. Okay. Uh... Shall we? Okay, awesome. I was trying to call it.