We’re So Back for Good: ‘Backrooms’ and ‘Obsession’ Mania and 10 Movies We Missed!

I'm Shawn Fennese, and this is the big picture a conversation show about the movies we missed in May, and man, we are so back! What we saw at the box office this weekend is nothing short of extraordinary, we will break down the remarkable sensations of obsession in back rooms, a man and I will also dig into 10 new movie releases that we overlooked while we were traveling last month. The movies are having a crazy return to relevance, but we don't want quality work slipping through the cracks, so we've got some recommendations for you today, but first, let's talk about what the whole movie world is talking about right after this. I take issue with return to relevance. Well, to the rest of you. From our perspective, we never left. Exactly. Well, that's not true. I have really waxed anyway in over the years. I've had some real doubts, post-cultivated. No, you never left, but your emotions went up and down. They did. They did. As I've said recently, in 2024, after Furio said it did not perform well, I changed my mentality. I wasn't going to be doing this emotional roller coaster, but it's hard to not overreact to what's going on. This is also amplified by a couple of other things. The New York Knicks are in the NBA finals. Yeah. When does that start? Seven years starts Tuesday. I don't know what to do with myself. I'm trying to not. No, not Tuesday. It starts Wednesday. I better get that date, right? Wednesday? Lucas? Come out. Well, why don't you have everything you've not put them in the calendar? Like in the family calendar. I do actually have them in the calendar. I have them. I did. Yes. I have no screenings planned for any of the nights of any of the potentially seven games. Okay. I would say I'm nervous. I fear Wembee. Are you familiar with the Wembee? I do. Yes. So something about the burden of carrying his emotions or anxiety around and that's other people. I saw half the quote. Okay. I don't know about this. I don't know. He seems like a very evolved young man. He is. And he's very young and he's very tall and he's very gifted. The Knicks did take two of three games from the Spurs this year. Okay. So anything can happen. Sure. And if it does happen, this will be also a June for the ages after a May for the ages. The other thing, of course, is that Steven Spielberg is on the rewatch. He was. And I would encourage people to check that out. We talked about 2000 and want to space odyssey. Just one of the great times of my life. The Christmas card this year is just coming together. It's really, really going to be beautiful. Who should be in front of you and back? Who's left? I mean, who are we going to pose with next? Really, honestly, just a very, very special conversation. Just letting Spielberg just extended vamp about that film for a long period of time was really cool. But for all those things to be happening alongside this thing that is happening with the movies, you know, for our purposes here is just genuinely thrilling. Now, when we recorded on Thursday, the conversation about back rooms, we knew that the movie was going to be a big success and that it was going to far outpace the $20 million projected opening weekend. Yeah. I know you probably don't spend a lot of free time thinking about this, but were you thinking like this could happen that obsession would go up again in its box office performance that, you know, the Mandalorian and Grogu would come in third place this weekend signaling at least, I don't know, metaphorically a kind of shift in the movie culture. I mean, yes, because in the barbenheimer way, this narrative took on a life of its own. And so I think people became aware, even if they weren't like pre-ordering tickets for back rooms, even if they haven't watched everything on YouTube, even if they're not 20 and like familiar with Curry Barker's, you know, Internet work, they were aware that like something's going on and it's not Mandalorian and Grogu. And so it became a center of culture, right? In a, in, and people who pay attention to like, oh, what's the, what's the big thing started looking in and so it sort of has a self-fulfilling prophecy. So yeah, by Thursday, you could feel like, oh, this is, this is a phenomenon, you know? It definitely felt that way. And people like a phenomenon. They do. And that's the thing is that there's obsession is obviously a huge word of mouth hit. Back rooms is a kind of Internet discussion point hit. Mandalorian and Grogu is a heavily marketed Star Wars movie. So, you know, even though that movie is, I would say, relatively underperforming at this point, it's still a, it's still a big thing. And we were in a movie theater on Friday. We saw two movies on Friday in movie theaters. And when we walked in, it was, I would say, not very crowded. By the time we walked out at the beginning of the afternoon, the lobby was buzzing. Yeah. And there's clearly something going on later that day on Friday. I was out with my family and my daughter and one of her friends and her friend's dad. And we probably talked about movies for an hour and a half. Now, obviously part of that is because people are talking to me and they're like, this kind of likes movies. But also there's just something, something's happening. I went out to dinner on Saturday night with friends. I hadn't seen since college. And again, we were like talking about movies. But neither of them had seen obsessions and back rooms, but they both had opinions on which ones they wanted to see and why. And then I was in the position of being like, no, no, obsessions, not that scary to all of the, the people at the other end of the table. But it's not. You know, I would say, I would say to your normy non horror fan, you've been in your, to, to the experience. I guess so. I think that they're just, they're different shades and different flavors. And it's not Texas Chan saw massacre. It's a little bit gross out. And I think pretty funny. Now, you know, if you think emotions or emotional unavailability are scary, then I suppose it is real nightmare. But for me, I was just like, I think this is insightful. I'll tell you what I thought was really scary in that movie. Yeah. Um, early in the, the possession, um, when Nikki wakes up in the middle of the night, yeah. And is just watching bear. And then when she's in the, in the distance in a corner of the room and watching bear, that was actually scary to me. That was actually, you know, I wasn't like. I wasn't like crying or anything, but I, I felt a kind of discomfort that, and that had nothing to do with gross out is not anything to do with violence. It was more just that that actress, let's let's show that a little, let's show that a little. So does that make you afraid because you think that's going to happen in your own life? No. Well, I'm a married 43 year old man. So no. I don't know what I mean is that I guess I lead a light sleeper. She has a light sleeper. I would say staring at me, not something she's interested in in this case. I think more specifically, there's something about being watched that is very unnerving, especially if you're being watched by someone who's dangerous, and we don't really know what's happening with that person. And that's something you can experience in any walk of life, you know, you're just walking down the street and you encounter somebody who's clearly doesn't have it all together. That's a bit of an intense feeling. That's a scary feeling. So like to me, the movie isn't, it does have some of those core horror strategies, but I think that that's part of what is working. And now I've seen the movie go into the like the the take cycle, you know, where it's like, actually, it's misogynistic, actually, it's this and I'm like, I think when a movie gets that this big and this popular, it tends to refract in a lot of directions before we get into any of that. I just want to put some of the numbers on the board for what happened this weekend because of how crazy it actually is. So back rooms, which isn't its first weekend of release, made $81.4 million domestic in three days, that is the highest grossing opening weekend in a 24 history. It's almost I think in more than tripled civil war, it already outgrosed everything everywhere all at once in three days, which was, you know, kind of a landmark movie for that studio. On opening night, it made $36.4 million. Yeah. That's like Marvel movie shit. I mean, that's like pretty crazy. That's a lot of people had the date circled on the calendar by and by people, I mean young fans. Yes. And I preordered their tickets and good for them, you know, they deserve a night at the movies. They deserve to learn the magic of a night at the movies. Yeah. I did. I saw plenty of reports on social media about very bad behavior in the movie theater during this movie. Okay. Say more. Well, just that there were a lot of people, tall young people talking and kind of talking through the lore and talking through what it meant and people having their phones out during the screenings. We didn't experience that. We went to a screening of the movie. I do like to see movies like this with the people you may recall my Minecraft experience last year, just to kind of get a sense of what it's like and I think I can push back against my own enthusiasm by saying, you know, maybe this back rooms thing in particular is a kind of unreplicable one off because of the huge amount of people that are already interested in this, this, this IP that pre existed. And then the movie over the course of the weekend went down, it went down on Saturday in terms of box office, it went down on Sunday in terms of box office. What do you make of the B minus cinema score? I think for any horror movie, cinema scores are usually a little bit lower. Right. But this is, you know, obsession has an A. This is a movie with like a very, very passionate fan base and with expectations of lore. Yes. And I was thinking a lot about Chris's, you know, honorary nieces who knew everything about back rooms and were kind of worried that back rooms, the movie would not honor their culture. I think some people feel that way. I think some people feel like there's, and as we talked about in last week's episode, the more the movie tries to movie, the less successful it is and the more it back rooms, the more interesting it is. And I think most people are feeling that way, even those people who come to it without any experience, that there's something kind of singular about what he's capturing when he's inside of the experience of the idea. And then trying to build narrative around it doesn't totally work as well. And so I noted this morning that it has a 3.4 on letterbox. It's pretty low now it's been viewed like I think half a million times already. It's been logged on the app, which in like three days is just absolutely bonkers. Obsession by contrast has a 4.2 on letterbox and has also been logged, I think, in a somewhat similar vicinity. That movie made actually $27.5 million this weekend. It went up again on its third weekend of release. And this is the first film outside of the Christmas window since 1982's ET, perhaps you've heard of it, to have second and third weekends bigger than the first. This is crazy. It's wonderful. Obsession, it's good. It is good. A lot of movies are good, you know? And it's interesting that the word of mouth actually leading to people going to the theater rather than, you know, earmarking it and being like, sure, I'll check it out when it becomes more available. Which I do think, you know, is aided by back rooms and the pre-sales and this kind of going to the theater moment, like, especially for horror movies. You're not gonna wait, but it is, no, it's wild and cool. And I'm glad that it's happening to a fun movie. - I agree. So it's made 105 million domestic now, 150 million worldwide. Seems like it could legitimately be a $300 million movie. This movie was made for $750,000. So it's gonna end up becoming one of the most profitable movies of all time. I think the real comp here in terms of how successful it is is weapons and that there are a lot, this kind of a movie now, if you can create a story with a hook like this, with a couple of performances that are kind of unforgettable. - Yeah. - And you can build that word of mouth and that's how you can find the success in this kind of a story. Looking at the films together, do they feel like a barbenheimer style blip? Do they feel like something that will be heavily exploited and wrung out quickly? Do they feel like a guide path to a new era of movie going? I'm genuinely curious what you think the impact of this is going to be. - I mean, it has already been discussed and exploited at least in a media sense. It was wonderful to watch everyone rush out their think pieces over the weekend. Everybody who was even the tiniest bit related to either of these is hitting that media tour. You know, good, you picked a good one. I guess that's what you do in Hollywood. You take the credit. - So. - So much credit claiming. - So many people were not participating in the production of these movies. Who didn't get the chance on these movies before I knew. So that's fine. And that's how certainly the trade industry works in this town. But no, I think it was a thing that is studied. And I do think able to come sort of a shorthand like barbenheimer was for a certain type of theatrical event going movie experience. And we talk more and more about how going to theaters is like an event activity now. And barbenheimer has been the prime example. Like this is another one. It's a different audience, different types of creators. It's not huge studio led IP multi-billion dollar international press tours, but there is a formula for both of these that people will certainly try to recreate. And probably not as successfully. And I don't think that we always talk about what will the lessons learned be and will the studios learn the right lessons? And you know, probably not, but also it's not just about learning lessons. It's that phenomenons like this are sort of, are not replicable. You know, and that is part of what makes it so amazing is that like nobody saw it coming on this level. Nobody really engineered it on this level. And you can make all of the same decisions again and it's not get to this particular moment because it's just, I don't know, it's one of those things. - It is one of those things. I think back rooms was a little bit more predictable. Not at this scale, but as recently as a year ago, I have people who know things say, hey, this is going to be a thing. Obsession is completely different. Now obsession did play gangbusters at Toronto and it was acquired for $15 million by focus. So it's not like nobody knew it had potential, but the fact that it is doing it opposite the Mandalorian and Grogu, which dropped 70% in after two weeks, it's at $250 million right now, box office, probably going to settle like between $350 and $400. I don't even remember what we picked for some remove preview game. We could talk a little bit about some of the things we got right and wrong there. But even solo, which is the biggest bomb really of the Star Wars history got to $393 seven years ago, eight years ago. And apparently it's losing I'm X greens to Masters of the Universe this week. - First of all, congratulations to you. - I'm very excited. And you know what, the early reviews are very positive about Masters of the Universe. And I'm seeing it tonight. - I'm excited for you. - It's all coming up to me. I agree with you that I don't think it's going to like radically change things. I do think that when we talk about how the studios will react, we tend to just think of them as like, faceless corporate morons, right? That's the perception of the people. Most of the people that I know who work in the kind of like middle class of movie executive, love when shit like this happens. They cheer, they're super excited. The problem with their jobs is, they bring stuff like this to their bosses all the time and their bosses tell them no. And so it's like, it's more like, will this wake the bosses up? Will this wake the sort of like, the actual corporate overlords, the sort of like larger corporations that own these companies that employ people who like movies who get into the movie business to make movies and then to get them off of the IV drip of only trying to make four quadrant, $250 million movies that could potentially make two billion, but probably won't. That to me, that is the issue. The issue is like, the whole strategy can't be maximize every single movie. If that's what you try to do, you're gonna miss. Like you're gonna miss and it's gonna be more costly than finding 10 curry barkers and trying and being like, oh, we lost 10 million on this one. Instead of we lost $1 billion on the future of Star Wars because we misplaced our hand for 10 years. And honestly, playing the middle because obsession is a huge, huge hit. Like, focus is biggest ever. It is, yeah. And back rooms, this is gonna be a 24's biggest movie, but you know, back rooms still made less and it's first week and then Mandalorian and Grogu did. And it's first week and you're, they're not playing. Like $200,000, but yeah. But like, but still. And I think that there is, they're playing for a billion dollars. They're playing for, you know, 200 million and maybe they're gonna get to 500 million, which is, but most studios and the way they are organized, which unfortunately, it's not just wake up the studio heads, it's wake up the shareholders and or the multimedia conglomerates that are being reorganized by, you know, hedge funds and private equity on a regular basis. They are constructed to only make the billion dollar or two billion dollar play. - Yes. - And it takes a long time to unwind that. And we are not seeing that unwind. We are seeing that at least on a big studio level consolidated in the form of, you know, Paramount and Warner Brothers. - That's totally right. And the other thing that is starting to happen this year and one of the reasons why the box office is up is 11% is because, not just because there's been new movies and exciting movies in movies that people like and also franchise movies that people still like and there will be this summer Spider-Man toy story. Like those movies are still gonna be huge. - Guess what I'm missing tonight. - What do you see tonight? - Minions and monsters, baby. - Wow, wow, that's right. - I know. - So excited for you. - Oh my God, that's just so excited. - He's been reenacting the trailer. - That's also gonna be huge. - So excited. - But it's about the double whammy of the COVID and the strikes slowing down production for a long period of time. And then the lack of movies being made and in that interim time a lot of movies going straight to streaming. Now, one of the things I was thinking about this weekend as I was watching a movie on Netflix was this doesn't make sense. The idea of putting a $100 million movie directly on Netflix, it never made sense to me. I wrote about this as far back as like 2017 on the ranger. - Yeah. - I never understood what this was all about. TV, of course. Netflix is desired to take over television completely and now YouTube, I fully understand it. It's a great business model, they've been killing it. Their movie strategy for 12 years I just don't, I have no idea what they're trying to do. They're trying to win Oscars, but they're also trying to make $350 million movies. And now more than ever, seeing what a movie like back rooms can do. And also seeing what a movie like Spiderman brand new day is gonna do. That is the whole business model. That's the only business model that makes sense. And I think it's okay like for documentary it makes sense for stand-up comedy. It makes sense for, I don't maybe like even an experimental kind of thing and of course for licensing old movies. But that period of time, that like eight or nine year period of time where huge movies would go direct to a streaming service is gonna, we're gonna look back on that as a complete oddity. Like one of the strangest choices in the history of the business. - Yeah, well also none of them are very good. - That's been a problem as well. - I was thinking a lot this weekend. - But we're more unforgiving of those movies when they go straight to streaming. That's the thing is they immediately got kind of like tainted. They were like, oh, that's a streaming movie. That's not as special. - Well, I mean it didn't help that they all looked like streaming movies and they were all edited and scripted and put together aesthetically to according to like streaming markers of how a movie should play, pacing, you know. - But anyone but you did that. Chris talked about this last week. And then they put it in theaters and it made $300 million, right? So it's like, you can change your perspective if you just put a movie in a movie theater and see it with a crowd on a big screen. If you just put it on your TV, it's like it feels less than. - Yeah, do anyone but you also just became a TikTok sensation. And that's how it got people to the theaters switch that. happens for, you know, gentle minions and one out of every 12 meetings that movies that help happens for Megan one, but not Megan two. So sometimes I do think that it's we can tell when a streaming movie is made for streaming because it is made in a in a different way. That's true. I was thinking a lot about stranger things this weekend in terms of back rooms and just and really I'm feeling at a distance from, you know, a young person for now, you know, just like a very something that kind of hit instantly will make well made plays on nostalgia, you know, separate worlds and clearly speaks to to young people in a way that we're all trying to like keep up with and be like, yeah, like isn't that cool. But and that was on Netflix, but that of course was a TV show. And there is just something about the basic building blocks of they have figured out how to make things in a longer and stretcher and more immersive way at home, but it does not fit for release. It just doesn't. It really has never. It doesn't mean that there haven't been successful Netflix movies. There've been plenty of them. It's just they don't feel as baked into the long-term culture because of the way that we receive them and because a lot of them just aren't very good. And you know, we see this year, Amazon is now putting all their movies in in movie theaters and it's working. You know, Project Hill Mary will talk about the sheet detectives. These movies are doing well. Masters of the universe will see, but nevertheless, they're trying. I'm so I'm very curious to kind of chart in the aftermath of Cliff Booth and Narnia what they end up doing because it feels like they're on the outside looking in of something that is changing again in the culture. And this is maybe not a permanent shift. These things are always evolved and maybe the back rooms obsession thing will be over in three months and we'll never think about it again. That's in play. It might we might just have a really bad second half of the movie here. We don't really know. But I don't think so. And I do think that teenagers are switched on to go into the movies right now. You can tell based on all the market research and you can also tell just by going to movie theaters. That's the other thing I want to say is we talk about this stuff all the time on the show. I think about it all the time. It's become a weird obsession of mine to chart this over the course of history. But I'm in movie theaters all the time and I also talk to people who make movies. Most box office analysts only talk to executives. You can't listen to those people. They don't know what they're talking about. They're only listening to what people who are financially motivated and are using their previous experience are telling them to talk about. You have to talk to real people go see movies all the time because that's actually what indicates where things are going to go ultimately. So it doesn't mean that we're without flaw in how we analyze it. I make mistakes all the time. We can talk about our preview game. We fucked up a million things. However, you can you can frequently tell when something is shifting when you're in the space with people. I was thinking about one other thing too, which is like the young person component of this making the movies, how Kane is 20, about to be 21 and Currie is 26. I was trying to think of who's the youngest person who ever made a movie for Disney. The youngest I could think of was Dometshi for Turning Red, which was just a few years ago. She was 33 when she made that movie. I don't want to pick on Disney, but like when she when it came out when she started it when she I don't know. I would imagine she was probably in her late 20s when she started it's significant. It is. I think those movies go through the like long life cycles too. So maybe it like as she got to the point of it. I was just trying to point out that those take a process and also the difference between you know 27 and 33 a lot changes. It's very true. Yeah, it's going to be okay. Yeah, you guys will be fine. You guys got him. So Kyle Buchanan noted in his profile of Kane that Josh Trank who made Chronicle at 27 years old was the previous youngest person to have a number one movie in America. Obviously Kane shattered that. I'm not I'm not sure that we need to like let every 20 something make a movie, but there is something also interesting about how will older executives heads of production even movie stars open their mind to working with younger people. I it's yet to be seen. How old was BTA when he made boogie nights? Definitely 20 is right. Seven 28. How old is your close personal friend Spielberg when he started? You know, he was famously very young. They're famously over time. He lied. I think he lied on his age. A lot of the studio lot. Yeah, lots of young people and then there are the older people like us who are trying to hang and maybe not totally getting it and also tried not to be too embarrassing about it. You know, like I can't. Yeah. I'm I'm too old to be like yes, I'm in the back rooms. You know, like I just it's embarrassing for everyone. I just think if you're enthusiastic about this stuff, then it doesn't matter how old you are. But historically, there have been people who make movies and are willing to make movies who will be who will hang out with young people. Yeah. I what you decided like to absolute comets in the history of the movie business. Sure. I know disrespect to Kerry Barker. I don't know if he's going to become Paul Thomas Anderson. He might. He might. But usually when this happens, it kind of augurs a really big change. It's it is the new Hollywood. It is the 90s Sundance O'Tour's arriving on the scene. This could be that. This could just be leveraging online fandom and a genre that is very applicable to the moment. But it's just interesting that there's not a lot of a studio examples of people getting a chance to do this. It has to be more of a renegade thing. And you're right. To me, Ryan Kugler's not 40 yet, right? Oh, he just turned 40 made 23. Happy birthday, Ryan Kugler. I think he was 28 when 27 when he made Fruitvale too. Yeah. Again, and then younger and then and Creed, he would have been much younger. So yeah, yeah, he was, I think, 30 or 31 when he made great. I just saying you named three of the most amazing filmmakers in the last 100 years. Like part of the reason why they are who they are. I think this is another thing also to keep in mind and to like have some respect for both Kate and Parsons and Curry Barker. Not everyone is going to be a genius, right? And we know that studios and producers and everyone who has any money to spend is going to be like hunting on YouTube or hunting on TikTok for the next great like Zoomer sensation. They will. And and many of those people are talented. But not everybody is going to be really great. And so I think to just reduce it to the age is unfair. You know, I hear you. I also, I'm also just like don't think that the next person you watch on YouTube is going to be a star. Like it takes more than that. This is right. That is that why we're not on YouTube anymore. A couple of other things about this. I've given this quite a bit of thought. Just a pure horror movie culture moment. There's something very exciting as somebody who spent his entire life obsessing over the genre for it to be at the absolute center of movie culture. And this has been the case for about 10 years, I would say. It's been about a 10 year stretch where we had the quote unquote elevated horror moment and that dovetailed into a kind of mass consumption moment. And I think that those two things are very connected. And a lot of it was kicked off by studios like neon and a 24 taking chances on younger, more inexperienced filmmakers who hadn't done stuff before. I don't think this moment is necessarily like a problem for Universal. They have Blumhouse. It's not a problem for Warner Brothers. They have New Line. I am really interested to see if like Disney or Sony or Paramount or Lionsgate or especially Apple and Amazon like start to care about this because it's a genre that most of those studios don't have not spent a lot of time on. Sony has of course, of screen gems and some other things that they've done over the years. But Disney doesn't really make horror movies. They don't really make scary stuff at all they have in the past, but not really very often Paramount. It's kind of come and gone. They did make smile, which is a really important movie to this moment. Like what does an Apple horror movie look like? I don't know. Widow's Bay, their TV show is fucking awesome. It's like one of the best horror things that's come out in the last 10 years. So I'm curious about that. And ironically, neon and a 24 like maybe not as at the center of this right now. Now obviously, back rooms is an a 24 movie. But I don't think they have any more horror movies planned for 2026. Well, you and Chris talked about this a bit on obsession. Why are there no more horror movies in October? What's going on? I really don't know. I mean, I'm sure some stuff will also get slated in there at this point, but it's weaker now. I think it's general September. I don't understand what's going on with fall box office. I don't understand really the January, the new Q4. Whatever they're all doing is not according to the rules that we have learned in the last 10 to 20 years. I agree. And I don't, I don't know what to make of it. And maybe they have better information than we do or maybe they're only talking to executives. Yeah. I feel like last October was kind of soft too last year, whereas October's past have been really strong. I'm not sure. I mean, a 24 does have three movies on the slate, four movies on the slate that are all really exciting. I just don't know if they're coming out this year. One is Kyle Edward Balls new movie. That's a skin and marine filmmaker called Land of Nod. One is Pano's Cosmatos' Flush of the Gods, which is a vampire movie. I think the Kristen Stewart. Okay. Charlie Pollinger, who made the plague, who I met, a can who's lovely guy. His new movie Mask of the Red Death is coming. And Arcasha Stevenson, who made the, the, the first Omen, her new movie is also with a 24. So like they're still doing that thing, obviously. Right. But I made a quick list of the movies that had to happen for this, this to happen. Okay. Here's what they are. Okay. The first one is The Witch, the Robert Eggers movie. I remember. Which I think was a Sundance pickup from a 24. And I think probably kicked off this era. And then in, in quick succession, you get get out and hereditary. And get out when's an Academy Award. Hereditary is a box office sensation for a 24. How old was Ari Astor when hereditary came out? I think he isn't his early 30s. Yeah. Okay. Sam. 20 years old though. I mean, listen, this is what I was trying to give you under 25 is that like came is and the 20 year old. thing. It's just the exception. You're not gonna get enough. It's amazing. Congratulations to him. But I know. So, but so, so often it's like I think Barbarian is a movie that I wrote down and I think peel and cragger are worth citing because they have entire careers as sketch comedy performers before they started making horror movies and then Curry who also was making sketch comedy but then like cut out the eight years in between. It was just like I'm just gonna make a horror movie right away. I mentioned Smile, Terrifier, Terrifier 2. Those movies are a huge part of this Skinner Meringue. Talk to me the Philip O'Brothers obviously being YouTube guys as well. Five nights at Freddy's. I remember that. It's a big deal in this because that also is kind of like, you know, Gen Z young millennial online culture. I saw the TV glow you cited when we talked about the movies, long legs and just just a marketing campaign of long legs and getting people excited about that. And then last year the double shot of sinners and weapons and this year earlier this year, I think we're going to get to the end of the year and we're going to overlook Iron Long a little bit. The Markiplier probably not because people are already putting together their end of your YouTube packages. So I would hope that his phone is ringing. Yeah. I mean, or his, how do you message on YouTube? His his might be the craziest because it wasn't distributed by a studio. Yeah. And he crossed 50 million dollars. But anyway, um, May was just amazing at the movies and we went to can. Just I loved. Wait, you know, we just a lot has happened. Everything's going really well. It was great. Do you want to check in on the summer movie game stuff? We have one month of. Sure. I don't think it's going very well for me because well about even not to spoil the greatest film of May pressure. But as we learn, um, comps do not make for good weather. Oh, yeah. And they do not make for good box office predictions or maybe for business in general, which like I kind of knew I just didn't know where else to get numbers. I think you had some major misses, but you had some hits and same, same for me. Listen, and the other thing that I did was I, um, my strategy in general based on last year was like either really big or really small. And, you know, back rooms is a sensation obsession is a sensation, but they're not mine craft and super Mario Galaxy numbers yet. So the middle just in terms of like actual dollar amounts is back a little bit more. And that was just not my reading of the situation when I was wrong. That's okay. But luckily, I've seen pressure now. So I know, did I really hear that? I was wrong. You know what? If we went back, I challenged you honestly, do you find me Lucas? Anyone at home? Lucas is the only time for this. When I am wrong, I say it proudly and cleanly on the podcast. And every time you're like, did everyone hear that? And they did because I do it for, uh, okay. So the game we play you on the other hand, uh, well, turn really red in the face. Sometimes I'm so angry. Even when we know that you turned to me in Las Vegas and you said, Ray is not a Skywalker. Uh, that didn't happen. Um, the summer movie preview game, how did, how do we play the quickly the rules domestic box office total, we guess metacritic score, we guess. If your guess comes within one point, one, if one point, if it falls within five points of the metacritic prediction, five points, if it's exactly right, one point, if it's with in 50 million dollars of the box office prediction, five points within 10 million, 10 points within five million, 20 points for an exact correct guess. Double worst product is, I don't think I think it's the, it's not set, settled yet. Okay. So this is interesting. So you guess 210 million in the box office. I guess at 184. Yeah. I guess 57 for metacritic, you guess 68. Yeah. Metacritic score was 63. So we're more or less right in the middle. You got a little closer. Yeah. Um, and then the box office get total right now is 209 million. So you're almost right on the money. However, the movie paid six million dollars this past weekend and it's going to keep making money. So it's, I could be losing points. Yeah. So you, you, you have 11 points for your, for your, for your devilish product, which is really great. Yeah. And this is a game where we want points. We want to get points. Yeah. I only got one point here because I under bid, but it's going to probably end up going on like 225 to 30. So then you're going to get a little further away. Yeah. Close to just six points. Yeah. How's it going at coach? Holcomb. We talked about. Yeah. Feeling good about this one. Um, my box office guess was 18 years was 10. I guess 78 for metacritic, you guess 62. It came in at 76 on metacritic. Okay. And it's at 16.8. That's great. There's a chance that I'm getting right on the money here. I might get to 18 with what's lingering in the, in the box office. Now this is this one's really, so I have 11 points that you. This is fine. This is the best. This is the funniest one. It's, it's both of us. It's very funny. Billy Eilish hit me hard and soft. The tour live. A movie we'll talk about momentarily on this pod. I guess 42 mil you guess 160. Uh, once again, I used the Taylor Swift comp because I am told among the young people that Billy Eilish is as important to the youth as Taylor Swift. Yes. Metacritic 71 for me 65 for you. It's currently sitting at $9.9 million. That's top. Here's the other thing. Co-directed with James Cameron. This is a brick for Cameron. Yeah. A brick. Uh, Metacritic score was 73. So I was pretty close on that one. I got two points. You've got zero points. Congratulations. Mortal combat too. You know, this didn't do what I thought it was going to do. I guess 137. You guessed 60. I guessed 44 for Metacritic. You guessed 46. You nailed the Metacritic score. Exactly. Well done. Uh, the box office total. There is no science to this. What's so up? It's just yelling numbers. It's a game which is much like most box office track. Yes. So this is $77 million. Uh, total box office right now, which is like fine. I think worldwide. It's the biggest Mortal combat movie for whatever that's worth is God is. We talked about briefly on the show. Um, I guess 12 million. You guessed 11. It came in at 4.6. Metacritic 74 for me. 57 for you. It came in at 77. I got six points. You got five. Obsession. Yeah. I guessed 42 million. And I was nervous that that was too high. You guessed 15 million. I guess 69 million for Metacritic. 69 for Metacritic. You guessed 66 for Metacritic. It's currently sitting at 105. And it's Metacritic score is 77. We both get zero points. But we are rewarded with obsession in the world. We are in the gray. This is a movie. What is this? Oh right. You can talk about this. This is the guy richy movie starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill. Wow. No humans have seen this movie. I'm learning about this. Honestly, you predicted a 52 metacritic score. I predicted 37. And I'm surprised to learn that in the grade made it to 53. It did. But the movie was in theaters for two weeks. And now apparently it's coming to VOD on Tuesday of this week. Um, so yeah, I guess 37. You guessed 18. It's sitting at 5.6. Uh, I got two points. You got one. Okay. I love boosters. Interesting one. A little early to be coming in on these next couple because these movies just came out a week ago. But I guess 18. You guess 19 million. Metacritic. I said 81. You said 64. Interestingly, it's only at a 70. I thought it was going to do much better. And the box office is at 7 million. So we both get a point. Passengers haven't seen this movie. Horror movie. That's actually doing okay business right now. I actually exceeded both of our guesses. I guess 12. You guess 9. It's at 15 million after two weeks. And I guess 34 metacritic. You guess 52. Is it 41? I got 10 points for this. I don't know if that's going to hold. Um, Mando and Grogo. Yeah. Tough one. Tough one. I guess 275 for the box office. You guessed 421. Well, it's a 137. I have already explained that I had a flawed strategy. Yeah. The metacritic score is 53. I guess 52. You guess 58. You know, it was interesting. And this made more sense in Can where it's about, you know, the power of high-brow cinema. But then I was in Paris afterwards, like opening weekend of Mandalorian and Grogo, which you would think would be an international. I saw nothing. I saw absolutely no mention of Mandalorian and Grogo in Paris, like anywhere in France. Was it at the same time? I would assume so. And sometimes they open a little bit later. Still, yeah. There was plenty of. No marketing whatsoever. And there was plenty of Devil Wars Prada left over. I assume that all those shows are streaming in France as well, but I'm honestly not sure. The next few are all May 29. So like a little too early to check in on the pressure of the breadwinner tuner. I did just want to point out that our guesses for back rooms are pretty crazy. You guessed 16 million total. I guess 67 million. It has already exceeded that. I did guess 82 on a Metacritic score. It's sitting at 77 US 64. So I've got two points, but we're definitely not getting any points on the box office on that one. Currently the point totals, which will probably change pretty dramatically over the next few months. You've got 43. I've got 45. We'll check back in at the end of July on this. I just thought it was useful because back rooms and obsession just changed everything. And you know, like in my movie fantasy league that I'm in, which was a flutter with conversation over the weekend. You know, I didn't pick obsession or back rooms. And if you picked obsession and back rooms, you're cooking right now. Yeah. And so I think I was in like third place. And now I'm in like eighth place because I just didn't have either of those movies. It happens. You know, what can you do? Okay. That's the closest we'll get to you admitting any sort of error. I'm wrong all the time. Okay. It's frequently whenever I'm speaking of my daughter. That's the closest. The times I'm most wrong. Dad, no, no dad. That's I hear that all. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Let's say a quick break and then talk about 10 or so movies we missed. Great. Do you want to start with the sheep detectives? Yes. Some some begging and pleading for a discussion of this, this film, which we saw before we went to can. Yes. And then full disclosure opted to save until we got back from kid. We did. This is a nice movie that I think everyone is maybe losing the plot of life just like a little bit. Yeah well okay so let's let's let's describe the details of the Sheet Detectives which is just recently crossed one hundred million dollars in the box office. It's directed by Kyle Balda who you may recall as one of the directors of films in the Despicable Me and Minions series. Okay. It's written by Craig Mason who's of course the creator of Chernobyl and the adapter of the last of us and one of the you know we'll celebrate it's screenwriters in the game right now. It's based on the three bags full which is a novel by Leonie Swan. Like a cozy mystery. A cozy is that the subtitle of the film? I know that's the that's the genre but that's a thriving genre. Got you. A great number of stars in this film. In human form we meet Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Gallatin, Molly Gordon, Hong Chow and your beloved Emma Thompson. In voice form, Julie Louie Drifest, Brian Cranston, Chris O'Dout, Regina Hall, Patrick Stewart, Bella Ramsey and Brett Goldstein. Here's the plot. George Hardy is a shepherd who loves to read murder mysteries to his sheep never suspecting that they can understand him. When George is found dead under mysterious circumstances, the sheep decide to solve the crimes themselves even if it means leaving their meadow for the first time and facing the fact that the human world isn't as simple as it appears in books. Now you and I saw this with a fear that we were not doing right by the show by having an immediate review of the film and then we both saw it on the eve of our trip to Europe and we were like, I think this can wait. We're like, this is nice but yeah and it is nice and I don't want to ruin anybody's good time. I had a perfectly pleasant time at the film. I thought of you a bit while watching it because of course you love a mystery. I'm a connoisseur of this genre, but even on the cozy mystery spectrum that I just referenced, I tend towards the Richard Osmans and the Anthony Horowitz's and the little more real life base, a little bit harder edge, fewer talking animals. The other thing about this is that this is a mystery that is also, if not a parody that is sent up or a comment on the genre of the murder mystery and it's very self-aware and the sheep are making jokes about how a murder mystery works because they've learned all that from Hugh Jackman the shepherd. Right. They use their reading habits to apply the traits of the detective craft to the mystery and question and disemble everyone at the end to do the big reveal. They hit all the beats and they are aware that they're hitting all the beats. I appreciate the metanus of it. They've definitely read a lot of murder mysteries. I don't need a comment. I still just like a murder mystery where it all happens and then at the end you are gathered together and if you're going to be metta, I think I prefer something like Anthony Horowitz, who in addition to writing like four different mystery series, he does the continuations of the James Bond novels and I think he makes British TV. He's very busy. They are, the metanus is way more structural and self-congratulatory but also clever as opposed to like whimsical. I'm not a whimsical person. Is I think what it comes down to? Yeah, I understand that. I'm not sure if I saw this so much as a send up as much as a mashup. I think it's really like babe meets Agatha Christie. That is really what it's trying to do. Now, it is very remedial in terms of its mystery quality. It's not the most sophisticated. I will say about halfway through. This is pretty clear what's happening here. Shocking for my five-year-old, she had no idea that this was just coming. In a way, I appreciated hearing from her. I didn't see this with her. My wife took her while we were away but I liked talking to her about it because I watched her get interested in this kind of storytelling and she was very confused why a person would even be murdered. That's complicated to explain to a young kid but the movie is very warm. It's very kind. Even though it's about a murder. It made me think about, did you read or watch the adaptation of Encyclopedia Brown at all when you were a kid? Loved reading Encyclopedia Brown. I don't remember why. I think there was a TV series as well but the books were so good. Every single one of them. Get brought me back to the feeling of reading Encyclopedia Brown where you're kind of like, so this is riffing on Arthur Conan Doyle kind of like doing the kid version of it. And like every kid needs that. I think it's a cool movie for 14-year-olds and if you like a cozy mystery, it's nice too. It's a very pleasant movie. The jokes are fine. It necessitates a kind of like goofy performance style that like Nicholas Braun is great at but I don't know. It feels a little overstated. I don't want to ruin anyone's day. I'm glad everybody had a nice time. Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny before we went to Canon, before obsession and back rooms. This was like, wow, can you believe that people are going in the movies and like crying about talking sheep in a detective story that's definitely either for 85-year-olds or five-year-olds? Yes. Quite a few old people in my screening. Right. Yeah. There was no one in my screening. Oh really? Okay. Yeah. I texted you because there was no one else there so I was allowed to get out my phone and say there's no one here. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's doing well. It's doing well. And once again, Hugh Jackman undefeated. Sure. You can do anything. She talking to sheep, believably, reading to sheep. I thought it was good. Yeah. Any other thoughts on the sheep detectives? Will there be a second film? Probably. It feels like it. Is this part of a series? I don't, you know, I don't know because I have not read any Leigh, any swan, even though I do own some because my husband, you know, when he travels, we'll go to the local bookstore and buy some like jokerman-accoded books. Okay. And I did get a Leigh, only swan book brought back to me. I only realized this after the fact not the last time in this list that I will say, oh, I didn't realize that I accidentally own or consumed part of this novel. Okay. Let's, um, let's stay firmly in your comfort zone here. Let's talk about pressure. I'm sorry. Like you didn't have the time of your life. I have a great time. I'm not, I'm not, I didn't have as great a time as you did, though. I've not seen you vibrating out of a movie theater like this in some time. But we're talking about pressure, which is in the new film directed by Anthony Maris. It's pressure, Colin, the untold story of D day. Is that the actual title? That is the title. Well, no, pressure is the, I think it's a tagline. I don't know. What are we call? It's like the subhead. I don't think movies have subheads on the poster as the subhead. Okay. And also in all of the commercials running during the NBA playoffs. Yeah. It is definitely on the, it is pressure, the untold story of D day, just like it's top-gone Maverick. Uh, no, that's not correct. But okay. Maybe they should have made it the title. They definitely have untold story of D day at the end of every single commercial show during basketball. I think they'd need to explain what it means because pressure is kind of a vague title, but it isn't appropriate. It's not a kind of double entendre. Uh, the story of pressure is as follows, the fate of the free world hangs in the balance as general Dwight D Eisenhower and meteorologist Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice, launch the D day invasion or risk losing World War II altogether. First of all, what a premise? Just absolutely. Just crack. You know, and if you like a certain kind of cozy dad movie. Yeah. This is the, the, the Naples ultra of dad movies. It is so perfectly calibrated for what you want from a movie like this. Exactly. So it stars Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon, Christmastine, and Damien Lewis, and a whole horde of silver, fox, uh, stern British men, having serious conversations in, in more rooms. Right. They've, they've taken over a country home. Yes. I believe Suffolk House. Okay. And they, everything is wood paneled. I think there is actually like a spinning globe. Like there is in, in glorious bastards. They don't open the top, but you, you know, you like to think at some point that'll happen. Churchill invoked, but not seen in this film. Yes. And there is a lot of yelling. There are a lot of weather maps. Lots of maps. The most thrilling part to me was the, the first title card, or within minutes, they give you a, like a time and place and they say 72 hours until D day. And then they yell, D day will be June 5th, like 45,000 times. And of course, we all know that D day was in fact June 6th. Yeah. So you turn to me immediately. Did you not know that it was June 6th? I know that because it's also Ruthie Barron's, uh, birthday. Okay. So it's, and Rich Barron, Father and Law would never let you ignore the fact that the birthday was also D day. So what's the implication there that that's when she took over the shores of the Farron family? He's a history dad. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, are we all? This film is all of us. You got to know that June 6th is also D day. Yes. That's helpful to know because the tension is there and they just yell about June 5th for at least 90 minutes. Yes. And then there is the climactic moment when, uh, Ike Dwight D.I.'s in power as played by Brendan Fraser, who the first 10 minutes, I was like, this is an unmitigated disaster. And then by the end, I just, I was like, this is a, this is a man in crisis who does He doesn't know what to do. - Let me just say, Brendan Fraser is not like, like this is not good casting, and it's not a bad performance. - No. - It's a good performance because you're fully invested in the story and his kind of frustration and confusion, but his also his willingness to hear out stack was played by Andrew Scott, is the center piece of the narrative of the movie. - Right. - It's the primary conflict, it's the primary relationship. But have you looked at a photo of Dwight D. I. - Yes, I'm happy. - I've seen it. - I've seen it. - I agree, and I also, you know, the accents against the very, like, uptight British accents. - Yes. - And Andrew Scott is playing Stagg as British Miranda Priestley. - Yes. - He does like the no-no, he does, that's all. So there's a clash, which is intentional. - Yes. - Because that sets up one of the major tensions of the movie. - Two pressure systems. - Exactly. - But also you're like, oh no, this is gonna be really, really awful. And then they settle in, and you become really invested in pressure systems and Northern Ireland and weather stations and balloons. And you need atmospheric pressure as well as, you know, they're not checking all the right data. And I just, I mean, just a couple electric moments, including when Andrew Scott yells, when he finally loses it in one of the great cabinet meetings. And he's like, what he's not mentioning is the summer of 1916. And he's like, yes. You're screaming about an unpredictable hurricane. It was great. And but that is like the true peak of the drama is Andrew Scott just yelling about like a here-to-for unmentioned weather system. But why has he not mentioned it? I'll think until that moment in the movie. It's like his big reveal. - It's called drama. - Yeah. - And then also, I mean, I just, and what, so Chris Messina's character just completely overlooks 1916. - Yeah, well, he's cherry picking the data. As we know that statisticians do. - I know, I know. And that's what, that's what obsession can go to number one. The next can be in the finals. Like this, this data is meaningless. All we need to do is follow our hearts and our instincts as a stag does here, right? Andrew Scott, just one of the guys right now, just will watch him do anything. This is a very odd part about a very recessed man who's having a lot of difficulty. His wife is pregnant. He's left her at home so that he can work as the chief meteorologist in Northern Europe during World War II. - Yeah. - What a very strange job that is. I never would have thought you could build a movie here on this character. This movie very effectively does that. - They sure do. And then I have to be honest, when it's time to dramatize the weather, they dramatize the weather. That was another extremely exciting moment. - The big reveal of this movie is great. It is literally biblical. - It's beautiful. - This is a fun movie. It's a very particular flavor. You have to like this kind of World War II storytelling. This kind of men and rooms kind of barking at each other about the fate of the world as we know it. - You have to channel your inner history, Dad. - Yes. And we did also see it at 1 p.m. on a Friday, which I think was-- - Yes. - Which I think was many old people, many retirees. - Some young people who met after. - Yes, we did. And they were also fired up. - It's a fun time with the movies if you dig this kind of movie. I would recommend people check it out. Any other thoughts on pressure? - No, but maybe I'll just yell, what you're not mentioning throughout the rest of this. It's really, really good. - This is Sorkinian Moment in the movie. Carrie Condon, once again, playing the gal who makes sure the guys are okay. Becoming a bit of a thing here. Banches him in a chair and a phone. She keeps popping up. It's like, "Oh, you're a wee fool." But you'll be all right. - There's one more. Oh, Train Dreams. - Train Dreams. - Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she's being typecast my beautiful Carrie Condon. Okay. - Why did she and the wife look so similar? And then they did some cuts intentionally. - I think that's on purpose that he needed a kind of a female support system. - Okay. - A woman who believed in him. - Right, but the way that they added it suggests for a little while that Carrie Condon is gonna replace the wife? - I didn't see it that way. - You were shipping them? - I wasn't shipping them. I was a little concerned that the editor was. And I was like, "I don't know." - Let me ask you this. - Yeah. - A lot of these movies they have this trope of the man who has the answers, but he's so stormy inside that he needs a woman who can look him in the eyes and say, "I believe in you, follow your light, "follow your path." Do you feel that you need a man who believes in you? Did be great? - I have one. - Yeah. - Nox? Who is it? (laughing) - But also the other half is that they need a woman to believe in them, to be great. - Yeah. - And also to handle all plans and logistics. - Got the truth. - And she's just like here's how you're gonna get from A to B and I handle all the correspondence and I know when you need to eat and when you need to be where. And I don't have anyone doing that for me. I'm still the planner. I'd still when it's interesting. - Not on this show. - Well, no, not on this show, but when we travel. - That's true. - You know, like where are you eating? - You're eating. - Like when you can't. - That's true. - Where do we go? What's gonna be the, you know? - Well, I believe in equality among genders. - Okay, that's beautiful. - That's how I see things. We both do things very well. Okay, let's say what I love Booster's. - Okay. - This is the new film from Boots Riley. His first movie since Sorry to Bother You. Boots was on the show for that movie. A movie I really liked. On my way to the office today, I was listening to The Koo, which is a Boots' hip-hop group that he was in, starting in the early 90s. That was a huge fan of in the 90s and 2000s. And the first line of the first song on his first album is Presto Red the Communist Manifesto. And I love Boots and I've always loved Boots. I'm fascinated by his career and the way that he has like creeped into the mainstream. - Yeah. - In a way that I never would have guessed when he was making, his albums are called Steel This Album, Genocide and Juice. Like he really is like an on the edge, genuine progressive artist who has made a new movie with Kiki Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylor Page, Poppy Lou, Isaac Gonzales, Lake Heath, Stanfield, Will Polter, Don Cheetle and Demi Moore. The movie is about professional shop lifters who embark on a wild adventure as they target a cutthroat fashion mogul. This movie has more creativity in its right thumb than in almost any movie you'll see this year. And yet, I don't think this movie works at all. And so it's like a fascinating thing. And I'm like ready to pull apart with you. I think. - I think this is nobody who roots for Boots. But I was like, this didn't hang together for me. - Well, that's the thing, right? It doesn't hang together. I think it works beautifully in details and in moments and whether it's a specific image or a color or a joke or a political observation that are all threaded together, not even seen by scene, but really kind of a 22nd clip within 22nd clip. There is so much that it is smart and funny and insightful and unlike anything you've ever seen, and like visually memorable, which is respectfully to pressure not something that I can really say. - Pressure looks like every other movie made just like it. This movie looks like no other movie. - Yeah. But I would say like much like back rooms, what the more like movie it tries to be. Like the, you know, the basic plot of the film and the character arcs quote unquote. Don't really gel. Don't seem to matter as much as all of them, much smaller but bigger ideas and as well within the movie. And, you know, I didn't really understand like, it's cool to make a movie about fashion. And again, that offers a lot of visual possibilities, but I was like, why is Demi more as a fashion mogul? The villain of this movie. - Why is he the standard? - We should talk about that. I mean, I'm interested in it. So, you know, in the 90s in New York, like boosting was a real thing. And you had kids kind of ripping and running polo gear and Tommy Hilfiger gear. That was a huge moment. You know, in hip-hop culture, they kind of spread out wide. And some of it was considered like, this kind of mischievous rebellious culture, some of it was considered a political statement. - Right. - There's a long history of this. The movie has like, I think a lot of the mischief and the kind of blow it up detonation quality that a lot of boots is. Music has, it's interesting that he, almost every character in this movie is a woman and that he is completely repositioned this story to be about women seizing power but against other women who are participating in a much wider culture of capitalistic brainwashing effectively. - Right. - And I really want to know what you think. We saw this together and did not say a word to each other about it because I'm super interested in situating the world of fashion as the epicenter of the kind of misdeeds of capital culture. - I mean, it's perceptive and in some ways I do think, I mean, you know, literal. It's that Jeff Bezos, you know, started a retail operation and you know, started with books and buying like all of the junk that you either don't need or could have previously gotten a target. And now he's gotten a huge amount of money and is like buying his way into the Met Gala and you know, Devil Wars, Prada 2. It has a Bezos-like character, it's sort of like the pinnacle of a certain kind of performative wealth and that it is a and also that it signifies, you know, quite literally, like you can see the money and it sets the expectations of how to spend money and you know, embedded within that is the idea that the money is the goal. So, I think it's savvy in the- that sense. I didn't, but this is the thing. And obviously, like, you know, the boosting culture and the political implications of that are also their smart. But as the movie plays it out, it kind of like gets away from those ideas. I didn't really understand all the specificities of the particular fashion company that Demi Moore is running, which is like, you know, they do drops, but they're monthly drops. And they're all one color. There's just like a, it's not really a supreme type theme, and there's also like an American apparel quality to it. I didn't really understand what it was trying to do in terms of the consumption. And like a high fashion quality, too, where it was like the Christie Smith, I think, isn't even the brand and Moore's label is like the most expensive label, which is why they target her label for all this boosting, which is like one part kind of social terrorism, one part statement making, one part couture acquisition, you know, like, and it's kind of all of these things. And so he's kind of digging into, I think a really interesting psychological collision, which is even if you want to make dramatic change in the world, you still like fly shit. Like that's a cool idea, you know, that there's something that even, even for boots who we ran into in Vegas, right? And still like, you know, he is a very fashion for a person. Like he is somebody who's thinking about the way that you present. And that's baked into this idea, but he's old, everything that he does is undergirded by the power of collectivist social change. And the movie ends with like a very literal explication of the way in which he wants to see the world change. And I would say that I found that a little boiled down ultimately, like what how he saw the world changing. But and a little bit like kind of oversimplified to communicate the message. I agree with what you're saying, which is that in the in the minor moments, like in Kiki Pomer's performance, right? The movie is a lot of fun. And like in the grace notes of all of the media coverage of Christie Smith and the boosters and just, you know, the political social world at large, are very funny. And it's like media, you know, media criticism baked into like B-roll within a movie, within a movie. So it's, there is so much. There's so many ideas, right? And and it's jam-packed. And there's always something to look at. But I agree that like on a macro level, it falls a little flat. Yeah. I think there's like a couple of movies I thought about, like John Carpenter's they live. I feel like there's a huge influence on this movie that has like a big reveal kind of in the second half of the film that I thought was very clever. And that's certainly not a subtle movie either. Like the move, the message that that movie is sending to you is pretty profoundly like we're all being tricked. And there's only one way to break the code here. But as a movie watching experience, I just felt myself outside of it a lot of the time. And it wasn't because I disagreed with the political point of view or anything like that. It was more like, you know what a movie is trying to have a tone. Like there's an app, and there's an absence of pacing. And you can feel like kind of moving in a shambolic way. When poppy lose character comes into the film, it opens up this other huge global perspective on what is actually transpiring in this world. But it also introduces a technology that is sort of confusing and a bit elaborate. And we don't quite know what this kind of MacGuffin type machine does. And it does a lot of different things. And maybe too many things to make the movie as coherent as I wanted it to be. I will say I use a Gonzalez in the movie as Rory Cochran from Days to Confused. It was amazing. I loved her doing this. It was so nice to see her not just be like I candy bombshell girl holding a gun like to be a complete stoner was very entertaining. I just I walked away feeling like a little like limp. I completely agree. I will say the clothes are are good and interesting and creations on the run, which is not always true in a movie about fashion. And this for being a movie about the line between fashion and as art or commodity or you know how that intersects. It had ideas. I thought it looked really good and also was done in a way that it understood. Like the color tones and everything really did speak to speak to each other compositionally, which I thought was great. And then like a lot of the effects were practical, which I enjoyed that I appreciated. Yeah, it felt very handmade, felt very gym intensity at times. A lot of the stop motion animation being used. That's I was cool. Two yards of score. I thought was really cool. It was like I don't know if that score totally worked in the movie, but I liked that he made that choice to do something that is like that has sonic cues that are wildly different from any other movie. Like it does feel like a completely different kind of a thing. And I have to tip my cap to it. Even though while I was watching it, I was like, yeah, this is such an on paper thing that didn't totally convert sort of speaking of. Billie Eilish hit me hard and soft colon the tour parentheses live in 3D. That's a lot of words for one movie. I didn't see this movie in 3D. I did. You saw it in 3D? I did. You're no kidding. Well, let's listen. I did the work. Wow. You really showed out. I'm the guy who does his job. You must be the other guy. I think we know that's not true. So I saw this movie with my daughter. That's cute. Who likes Billie Eilish, but I wouldn't say it's like overwhelmingly familiar with her work. She's not a scholar. When I was sitting there watching this in 3D, I did think a lot about how you said that your wife and daughter are both big Billie Eilish fans. And that's like, I wonder how this is going to go down with Alice. Yeah. I leaned loved it. Okay. Great. Because she loves Billie Eilish's music. So she had a great time. But I mean, this movie is very standard. So the idea of like James Cameron being attached to a dramatic mind blowing Billie Eilish movie like it isn't. It's a concert movie. Sure. It's a very straightforward concert movie. This seemed like a cool concert. Yeah, I thought it was well filmed. I liked that there was a little bit of like that when she was off stage, you went with her. And so, you know, you spend a decent amount of time under the stage as she's moving back and forth. And you either are the camera sometimes or you're, you know, following closely with her. I thought that was a cool way to film. And also especially since there is like no choreography to film at this show. That's true. Oh, well, I thought especially at the very beginning of the film when you see her in the box before the big reveal. That was very cool. I was hoping for kind of more moments like that. Oh, is it that to Katie Perry part of me? Oh, is that featured in that where she's? Well, yeah, you don't remember. And then she gets the text from, I mean, now she must be very thrilled that she got a text that Russell Brandon was divorcing her. Oh, right. And then she, and then she like puts on her Katie Perry face and rises up. But she doesn't go to a box. Yeah, but she's like down below. Did Charlie XX go in a box in the moment? I feel like she might have also done something like that. Or maybe maybe I'm just thinking of a harness. I think that she's like in some sort of below the stage thing. And then she has to rise. Well, this is a tricky one because Billie Eilish was the subject of a pretty long and expansive documentary about her life five years ago that RJ Cutler made that Apple put out. Yeah. So like she's already had what I think would have been the most interesting component of this. And you know, we've just talked about Madonna and Madonna movies on our friend Yossi Solik show Bandsway, which is coming out, I guess later this month. And we talked about Truth or Dare. And one of the all-time great truth or dare has what this movie has, which is like incredible live performances. And then the backstage stuff is amazing. It's what makes the movie. Right. This movie's backstage stuff is okay. It's fine. It's nice. I thought it was amusing when Billie Eilish taught James Cameron about eyeliner. Sure. Yeah. When she's like see, when you go out like this, he's like, wow, you can really see it from a different distance. Like, yes, James Cameron. That's something tells me he knows about makeup, having been making movies for roughly 40 years. I think I wanted a little more from this. I think I was hoping for a little bit more depth. And it's ultimately just the concert film. It's not a bad concert film. It was okay to see in a movie theater. But maybe the 3D was the was that did that impact you? No. And in fact, I thought it was it was cool in the concert moments, but everything behind the scenes, it was kind of I was sitting on the side. So and not the best 3D technological production. So everything was a little blurry. Okay. I as someone who was lightly familiar with Billie Eilish appreciated it just as a primer of like what's going on here. You know, I mean, I know some of the music, but it was interesting to think about her in relationship to all like all the other pop stars who are who have made these types of movies. And even what they're putting on stage is so very different from what she is. So that's cool. I mean, that also means that my brain had the time to be thinking about those things. But that's fine. You know, we like an intellectual exercise. I will say that I noticed I immediately came alive this second her Charlie X X collab started playing. And I was like, Oh, right. So I'm just a Charlie girl in a in a Billy world. Yeah. I was I lean and I were talking about this. Do you think Charlie is in the number two spot generationally behind Taylor Swift where it's, you know, no, I don't think so. I would love for her to be statistically. I think she is. I think she has that big. No, no, no, I'm in Billie Eilish. Oh, you said Charlie is number two. I was like, no, I wish. Yes, I do. I mean, that's why I guess, however much money, I guess, which it made none of which what happened there? No one went to say, I don't I don't know. I just don't think that the maybe the audience just don't want went to the show and were satisfied with that. Maybe the love for the most recent album is lower than where she was before. I mean, her Spotify numbers are I know that's why I don't understand. Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Maybe this isn't just something people wanted. Maybe it was the time of year when it was released. I don't know. The movie goes out of its way in a very similar way to the Taylor Swift movie to spend a lot of time on the faces of the young women. the show, singing along. And obviously Billy is very inspirational to a lot of girls because she kind of rejects a lot of the expectations of a traditional pop star, which I like my daughter being exposed to that too. I like that. I'm showing that like Billy dresses the way that she dresses and does what she wants to do in that respect. But the songs are still like pure pop songs. Like they're pretty working in a very similar tone and style as, you know, some combination of Charlie and Taylor and Chapel Rowne and Sabrina and Philippa, like, you know, it's all these kind of things mixed up in a blender. So I don't know why it didn't hit, but it didn't really hit that hard. Okay, we're going to introduce a new segment. This is Amanda's geopolitical corner. Yes. Are you ready? Yeah, born ready. Okay. So I have seen two films that you have not. The first I saw nine months ago in Venice Italy, while jet lagged with Yasis Alec speaking of fans played. It's called "The Wizard of the Cremlin" directed by Olivia Asas, screenplay by Olivia Asas and Emmanuel Carrera based on a novel, "The Wizard of the Cremlin" that I bought in a bookstore in I believe Charles de Gaulle airport and read three chapters of in translation. Let's let's be real. I'm not reading French. When was this? I think I must have bought the book in 2024. Okay. Because it was a, it was a sensation. And so then it was translated and then it was sold at like the, you know, Metro, whatever store and that terrible terminal. And you trust yourself. I want to read a fictionalized account. Well, it was, well, it was billed as a thriller, a political thriller. It was sort of the top Tom Clancy of, you know, France, Germany. And is that something? Do you read Tom Clancy novels? I mean, I think I, I don't think I've read any, but I've seen all of the films. I will get back to that when you were like, excuse me. Have you seen the film Jack Ryan? And it's like, well, I checked out a couple, I mean, the series Jack, right? And I said I checked out a couple episodes because I like to know what's going on with Jack. You do like these. You know, I'm from red October, Harrison Ford, clear and present danger. Shadow recruit, of course. That's the Ben Half like one. No, listen, Ben half like Jack, right? Shadow recruit is Chris Pine. Chris Pine. Right. All our guys have been Jack. Right. So, some guys, no, I mean, I liked the office, you know, I feel like you and Krasinski were like, pretty close in like 2015. And it's gone a different pass. And I have to say, you should be happy, you know, because people said I resembled him. And you are also doing like the direct to camera, like, we had a tonal. Yes. And you've diverged a little and say what? John Krasinski, very complicated reputation in Hollywood. He was on the show once for a quiet place. He was lovely and actually completely upended a lot of what you hear about him out in the world. Right. Maybe he was just performing. You never know. But he's still a big star with this show. A quiet place? Good. I like it. I'm a fan. Yeah. Anyway, that's the next movie. This is Wizard of the Crime Land, which is a film in which Jude Law plays Vladimir Putin. And Paul Dano plays his spin doctor, who is loosely his name is Vadim Baranov in the movie and the book, but he's loosely based on real person. Okay. And it is about his time working for Putin and really working in Russia after the opening of the Soviet Union and the rise of Vladimir Putin. And it's from the perspective of the guy who the cynical kind of left hand man who or right hand man who makes everything happen and then kind of sees Putin getting beyond his grasp. You know, I've created this beautiful monster and then and then here's how it goes. So once again, it features Jude Law as Vladimir Putin in terrible orangeish short like cropped wig and and shirtless if I recall a fair amount. I thought Jude Law was great in this. And I is not just your Jude Law bias. No, I mean, part of it is it's the only exciting part of an otherwise kind of weirdly paced Olivier Asas movie where people just like explain things to you and large blocks of text in questionable accents. And they just want to say that this came out before the whole Tarantino Paul Dano thing. And I saw it before the Tarantino Paul Dano thing. And I thought then to myself independently that Paul Dano was miscast in this. But that does not mean that I don't value his work other places. And we've all learned that many people appreciate Paul Dano in this one. It's a weird accent. I don't know what's going on. That's so funny because that's the most exciting thing to be about the sun paper as Paul Dano doing a Russian accent. I texted you last night. I was just I'm just down right mad. I haven't seen this. This is like this is a very specific kind of thing that I enjoy. Yeah, which is like a preposterous political document. Right. The problem is that it is more it's not as preposterous as you want it to be or it's preposterous in the wrong ways. Okay. It is a document. It's not a thriller. And and some of it is it is plotting and is now let me read you this, you know, political text that's been translated through like four different languages by the time it's being spoken to you. Yeah. I had a decent time. I don't think it totally works. We heard situation here where. Yeah. Olivier Asias. I think really one of the great European filmmakers last 50 years. Yeah. It has been in a real downswing since the show started. So we haven't had as much opportunity to talk about his work. We did we both like non fiction, which we talked about in 2018. And then in 2019, he made Wasp network, which went to Netflix. So I don't think we ever even discussed. And then he made a film in 2024 suspended time that I haven't seen, which is I think an animated movie. But you know, this is someone who he made Irma Vepin, but we don't get summer hours. You know, clouds of sales Maria personal shopper right before we have some great films. So I'm still holding a candle for him. I think me too. And when you're able to watch this at home, it'll be like a, it'll be a real little, it'll be a pressure type treat for you in a different way. I'm looking forward to it. All right. So you've already teased that you did see. Sure. Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, Colin ghost war. Now ghost war. Now there's two ways to think about ghost war. Yes. Now presumably ghost is sort of like a, like a spook, like a, like a, like a spy who disappears. It's a ghost protocol situation. Right. Which I understand. But what, what does maybe think of it? Like what if ghosts had a war? Like, what if there was like a Lord of the Ring style movie about warring clans of ghosts? Wouldn't that be great? That seems like a very use thing that I would support you in. And we're gonna have to tell you a story. Yeah. I'm Amanda. You're right now. I went shopping with my family yesterday. We're having just like a lovely afternoon. Okay. Where? We went to get, we were gonna get brunch at a restaurant in Pasadena, 40 minute wait. We went across the street to a breakfast burrito place called B bad. It was fucking amazing. Order our breakfast burrito. Walk to the back to wait for our order. It is revealed that B bad is connected to the Pasadena hotel. And then you can just sit in the lobby or in the atrium of the Pasadena hotel and eat your burrito there and play chess with your family as I did. That's very good. We had a wonderful time. Anyway, just went a mile down the road after we did that. Went to H&M. Just got some clothes for Alice, you know, going to school next year or some summer stuff. Sure. At the, uh, the Paseo. At the Paseo. Yeah. I walk by that H&M often. So we're sitting in the, in the plaza area outside of the H&M. Recently redone. Nice. Which is very beautiful. Yeah. Alice is jumping off of things and terrifying me. And behind us come three men dressed up. One man is dressed as Jason Voorhees. Got a hockey mascot. One man is dressed as some sort of ax murderer. And another man is dressed as the unspecified, unspecified or maybe I just didn't catch the reference. The third guy was wearing the heart size mask. I don't remember heart size. The horror movie that came out last year. Yes. And he was dressed as that killer. And I was like, that's weird. What are these people doing here? Why are they terrifying my five year old daughter in the plaza of the regal Paseo? And we get in the car out of the parking lot. We're pulling out and I see in the, in the local convention center to the right monster polluza is happening. It's been a three day convention full of monster stuff. And you only found out and I didn't know what was happening. And I missed it. And then that led to a long conversation about ghosts and one of the best kinds of spooky things and movies. My daughter that was great. And now I'm thinking about Ghosts War. And I want to see a, a war of ghosts. Okay. Well, maybe this could be just be Jack Ryan, Colin Ghosts War without Tom Clancy. And it could be the ghosts of all the people that Jack Ryan has killed over the years. Incredible and amazing things are happening. Anyway, this was not that this was sort of like the down nabby movie version of Jack Ryan, which after four seasons of Jack Ryan, which I did not see and did not know that there were four seasons. They've, they've made a film swell. Wouldn't you, you will be shocked to learn? So Jack Ryan has played by John Krasinski. Since we last met him has left the CIA. He's a, he's a civilian. He's on Wall Street. He's trying to make it work as a normal person, but they need him for just one more job. Okay. So he's drawn back in. It turns out that the job that they need him for is that it's, it's basically a born identity in reverse where there is like a task. What was the born program called Taskmaster? Something. Do you remember this? I don't. Anyway, the program that creates Jason Boren's. It's a similar thing. One of those exists and has gone rogue. Okay. But you're on the side of Joan Allen trying to get everybody down. I feel like I'm watching Spielberg talk about 2001. Let the master cook. Anyway, at some point, Seattle Miller shows up because she's at my six and it's a joy task force to defeat whatever this program is called. Okay. guy who's just running around London, Dubai, New York. I forgot to say, guys, that the way the Jack Ryan is recruited back into the CIA is that he is on a jog on their West Side Highway. And it's all this is clearly all they shut down many parts of New York City in order to film him running outside. He crosses West Side Highway is sprinting. He's on grind a java new for some at some point. And then he does an evasive maneuver through bookmark. The mark Jacob's book story in the West Village just featured prominently. And then it turns out that it was just Wendell Pierce and the CIA trying to get him back. Things, things work out. You know, there are some setbacks. There's some go-satted. And then I think that I think John Krasinski is going to and Jack Ryan are going to stay in the CIA again civilian life, not for him. He's working on Wall Street. Yes. Is that canon for Jack Ryan? I actually didn't look that up. I was too busy because there's an illusion to like a relationship that didn't work out. So then I went back and read all of the descriptions of episodes for season four to find out if there was like more to the love interest story. Okay. Couldn't pin that down on Wikipedia. So I moved on. Sounds like you should watch all four seasons of this series. I'll never see this. I'll never see it. It's not no shots. Anybody involved? So, but you know, so I saw one. I saw what's going on in Russia. I saw what's going on in the U.S. London. And then the, you know, various global communities that they terrorize. Just in general, not great. You know, that's my geopolitical report. You know, there's times or tough. There's a real one to one here with the Mandalorian in Grogu, though, because that is also a movie that is based on a streaming series. And that very much, I assume that this movie feels akin to the series. Yes. Having seen episodes of the show that it doesn't feel dramatically different. Maybe the stakes feel a little higher. Not really. There's a little more action. The opening set piece is a bunch of actors, you know, in a gun battle, who all look just enough, like more famous and more expensive actors that I kept being like, wait, is that, you know, is that so and so, and it's, and it's, it's nobody. They're just a bunch of maybe to the point that I was making about streaming movies and movies going straight to streaming. Like maybe, maybe this continues to be a coherent way to do this. This is a TV movie. It's a TV movie. Exactly. Yeah. In the Mandalorian in Grogu, in many ways, is a TV movie. And that it's probably going to do really well in Disney plus. Yeah. But we say that. But you and I saw all three down-navied movies in theaters and loved them. I did love them, but I don't, I don't know if they were cinema. Like they would have hit just as well. This second one was cinema, because you aren't going to get to the French Riviera on, on that PBS budget, you know? Okay. But I guarantee you, ghost work, cost a shit ton more than any of the down-navied movies. They built it everywhere. It was so crazy. And poorly, it looked quite bad. It's too bad. Anyway. Thanks for watching this episode. That you shocked me last night. When you saw me, you watched this shocked me. Well, I have to have to do while I was watching it. Because again, I had some time for other things, one real deep on the real real. So I'm up to date on all my things and I know it's up with Jack Raid. Okay. You're not up to date on Power Bell. I'll tell you about it quickly. Interesting movie, not a successful movie. Directed by John Karney, probably best known for once, movie school that I like quite a bit. This is a movie that he and Peter McDonnell, I think, wrote some years ago and there was in a drawer and got pulled out of a drawer and they were able to sell it and make it. And it's about a guy named Rick Power, who's a wedding singer living in Ireland. And he is at a wedding one night and he meets a kind of aging, sort of washed up boy band singer who's played by Nick Jonas. He's not playing himself, but maybe slightly inspired by some of his experience. And their buds, they become quick buds and they have a little jam session together. And while they're Danny, who's played by Paul Rudd in a very likable performance, starts playing one of his songs that he's written. And it's an undeniable catchy song. And Nick Jonas, who's trying to kind of relaunch his career, goes back to the States. And he effectively adopts the song. He takes them a piece of what the Danny character or what the Rick character has done. And he expands upon it and it relaunches his career and it becomes a huge hit. And then Rick, who has no documentation of this moment and no documentation of this song recorded anywhere in the past, tries to reclaim ownership and reclaim his own sense of personal grace. So yesterday and reverse. Sure. Yeah. There's something to that. A little bit less fame. Nobody else remembers. Yeah. Including, you know, the song, there's a beautiful component of the movie, which is who Rick wrote the song for and what it means to him. Okay. And what it means for the song to be taken from him. Okay. And what that I won't spoil for people who haven't seen it. Is it a girl that thing? I'm not going to say it. Okay. And I liked that. Yeah. I bet. But this is not really a movie. I like the way that it resolves is not satisfying. I don't think so copyright does not revert back to Paul Rudd. It's complicated. That's that's it. It always is. Yeah. I will say it's really sold by the fact that Paul Rudd is just winning. He's just it's just fun to be around. It's nice to see him nodding in spandex. It's nice to see him nodding and a condo movie just being like a normal person for the most part. Even though there's some curiosity about why this American guy is heading up an Irish wedding band. Sure. But they kind of sell it. You know, as we fell in love and Irish girl moved there. Yeah. Had a kid. That's better than asking him to do an Irish accent. I agree with that. People who attempted one 12 minutes ago and failed. I mean, in general with movies that are set in the present day, I think we could just be a little more, you know, understanding and accepting of this global community we've built. Like people do move other places and they can just keep their normal accents. Yeah. It's okay. Sure. I agree. So your pro immigration is what you're saying. Yes. Yeah. Me too. Yeah. This doesn't stuck with me. Okay. How is the song? It's honestly right now. I don't remember how it goes, but I honestly really like it. And it's kind of like the only reason to see the movie. Okay. Okay. What's next? Remarkably bright creatures. Yeah. Watch this this morning. This is a Netflix original film. Sure. Do you know the premise of this? I don't. Okay. So here's the premise, which is that Sally Fields is an older woman and living in the Pacific Northwest and down on her luck in life, things have not gone her way. Okay. And then Louis Pullman comes to town, things have also not gone his way in life. Okay. And they not, it's not a romantic thing. Don't raise your eyebrows like that. They just, they strike up a friendship and they teach each other things about the world, you know, in like a quirky small town in the Pacific Northwest. Here's the twist is narrated by an octopus. It is straight up. I did not know how I could play big places. She works in an aquarium and she's friends with this octopus named Marcellus. And then obviously Louis Pullman's character also comes to work at the aquarium and becomes friends with Marcellus, who is voiced by Alfred Molina and narrates everything that's going on. So you are watching this from the perspective, not the movie is not shot entirely from the perspective of an octopus, obviously, because but he does escape his cage or I'm sorry, his tank more than I thought it was capable for aquarium creatures to get out of their tanks. Okay. But yeah, he knows a lot about the town and the world, because as you have well, what is the title of this movie, Shot Fantasy? Well, I respect his, the octopus is intelligence, but is he absorbing the conversations that are transpiring in the aquarium? Yeah, I'm Sally Field as the ghost war situation is having a lot of conversations with him. He's sort of like a silent, but supportive therapist. You know, it's like an emotional support octopus based on a novel. Yeah, I think so. Okay. Yes. 2022 novel, I haven't read it. Anyway, I watched this film. You know what? Parts of it were like the town and the little characters were a little funnier and sweeter than they needed to be. Once again, this is a movie narrated by an octopus as performed by Alfred Melina. So, you know, I don't know what Lewis Pullman watch. Yeah. How's it going with him as a leading man? Well, I thought he was, he was charming in this. This I kind of put in the, I love lessons in chemistry, box of streaming Pablo, then Owen will talk about things that he signed on to probably before the, you know, the glow up. But see, and maybe that's where he became the future of the MCU. I guess so, but he wasn't bad. He performs a radio head song. What? Yeah, because he's in a band. He's in a band. Hold on. It's from Pablo, honey. I forgot to, I forget the name. He performs a Pablo, Pablo, honey song at the open mic. No, it's not creep. And hold on. I'm at the internet's out. Anyway, so he's in a band called mash sausage or something with a soft But they many such names they they dumped him, you know, so his band's done. His family life is not solid. But but he does like the local he meets a local woman who runs a paddle boarding shop and Sally and Sally fields helps Yes, and it is a point of contention is that they are paddle boards and not surfboards and it's embarrassing that he doesn't know that. And Sally field facilitate to romance the paddle board, the one you stand on. Yes, I don't know. I don't know. I'm just double checking. I don't want to get into a movement situation. It's a great core workout. Oh, great. Okay, because you have to, you know, I'll get right on that. Okay. So you would recommend remarkably bright creatures. That's my report of remarkably bright creatures. That's interesting that we spend time on that. You saw a propeller one way night coach. I did. Yeah. Okay, let's talk about that. I want to talk about more about combat too, but let's talk about propeller first. This movie is directed by John triple to premiere to the can film festival. We didn't go. You talked a big game about going. No, I, I, I fucked up because I went with you to the Steve, the Stephen Soderberg John Lennon documentary, which I should have done. But like, we were there to hold Stephen accountable. Okay. So now we can say, I guess so. The experiment did not work. Don't do that again. I, of course, I agree with that. John triple directed a movie. This is his first film as a director. I can't. Is the Pablo honey song. Oh, I can't. Yeah. That's not a bad song. I thought he did a very nice job. I would never have guessed that a million years. But triple to wrote and directed this movie. It's based on his children's novel, which is called propeller one-way night coach. This film is 62 minutes long. It's on the Apple TV plus streaming service right now. It's about a little boy who goes on a couple of flights one night with his mom. Yeah. That's the whole movie. Uh-huh. He just keeps going on planes and talking about what it's like to be on a plane and talking to people on planes. Right. What was this? I mean, it was actually very sweet and kind of well made. Well, this is a new form of entertainment. Again, a lot of attention paid to production design. Yes, there was. And looks and I think they use in a way, at least part of the, the ex-series of the mute, the TWA hotel. Yes. At JFK, which you stayed on. No, I will be staying at in August. That's right. With my two airplane obsessed little boys. So I did watch this with knocks in mind. Okay. But not with them. No, not with him. He was asleep. Okay. And this would be way more appropriate than most things you show him. This is about a boy being. What excuse me? Excuse me. Excuse me. You just said that as if I'm just like showing. Yeah, you're showing hardcore porn. And then you could be showing him this beautiful film directed by John from the center stage. Are they dancing at home? Yes. Anyway, this, but it's just really a little boy being like, which bowing do you like the past and why? And I was like, I, I relate to this. Yeah. And he doesn't want to eat the chicken. But and so there's a lot of blue. Yeah. There's a lot. I don't think I've ever had chicken cordon block in the world. But I do like fried chicken and cheese. Where would I have it? See, the, the chicken cordon blue preparation in this movie is not, to me that I've had it as grilled chicken, not as as fried or even baked with the breadcrumbs. But I guess there are multiple preparations. But I, my stepmom makes a wonderful chicken cordon blue. I've had it many times. But it's dairy, but the dairy is baked. So it's going to be okay for you. It's dairy. No, no, it's cheese. It's like melted cheese. Well, I just, I'm just checking in, you know, like weekly status reports on where we are. She can cordon blue on pro. Okay. I've never had it would love to try it. So this, this just felt like a movie made by my four year old with like slightly better artistic vision. No, he's really, he's really coming into his own, trying bunnies with eyebrows now. Um, your son, not the kid in this movie, not the kid in this movie played like Clark shot well. First of all, shot well. That's a, that's a hell of a last name. Is that a real name? I don't know. I'm shot. Could you imagine? Should I pivot? That's like a little, it's a little too much a literary shot. Well, like a filmmaker. I get it. Yeah. Or shot well, like Jalen Brunson. I did. That's great. I saw, while I was running around the Rose Bowl this weekend, I saw a woman at Jalen Brunson, like, uh, shirt, and I like almost, and it was a very cool Jalen Brunson shirt. Yeah. And I almost like you did what's up, but then, you know, I'm not allowed to hop on the bandwagon. And that's what it would be. Ah, yeah. You're welcome as far as I'm concerned. Uh, I'm not. It's just, it's very complicated in my house right now. Yeah. And the appeal of the next to a 4 year old also likes airplanes would be despicable, absolutely despicable. If I find out that that's the case, we're going to have big problems. I listen. The Spurs have plenty of titles. They don't need another title. Wembee is 23. He's going to have plenty of time to win. This may never happen again for the next. I'm fucking in my 40s. This is like, and can remember when I told you another Philly Sports related fact that was just my husband doing something Philly Sports related. And you started yelling at me for 25 minutes. Yeah. Well, okay. These feelings run deep. Anyhow, uh, one way propeller propeller one-way night coach. It's a, it's a good movie for children. Is it? No, because it's, uh, it's just a cute. He was going, and then this happened and then this happened. It's kind of sweet. There's a voltage is narrating. Uh-huh. The, uh, much like Alfred Molinas. Yeah. Remarkably bright creatures narrated by an octopus propeller one way, uh, whatever is narrated by a child. Is narrated by John Travolta just reading his own book. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a very, a very curious thing. I would think about Travolta. You know, obviously his beret and mustache combo that he was rocking and can was, was meamed very quickly. Travolta has kind of occupied this really strange place in the culture for the last 15 years where he's kind of become like kind of a meme, kind of a punchline. And he's already gone through. He's already had his renaissance and his return to greatness in the 90s. And now if you look at his CV. He's made more movies since 2010 to today than I think he made in the 1970s and 80s combined. But the movies that he made in the 70s and 80s were so iconic, especially in the 70s. And most of what he does now is this kind of red box straight to DV, like action thriller stuff. And I don't, I don't know. It's like we were back to thinking about him the same way that we did before Tarantino resuscitated him with pulp fiction where he's like kind of a punchline. He is a very winning character and even just hearing his voice narrating the movie, something calming and nice about that. But he's just got such an insanely uneven filmography. Perhaps the most uneven filmography in major movie star history. And yet I still want to do all of them for him. I still want to go back and watch all the movies. What are we going to do that? Including all of the red box movies. I don't know. This is what it's all about. You're going to have to, that's going to be like maybe after the podcast ends. You start another podcast that's just john triple to Hall of Fame. That's a whole separate other show. Well, I just, I'm not going to have any time. And until after the four Beatles movies, you know, that's a lot of movies. So we'll do it in 2029. We'll do the john triple to Hall of Fame. What how will he be then? Okay, let me tell you about Mortal Kombat 2. Okay. Like the first film directed by Simon McQuid, written by Jeremy Slater. Carl Urban is here as Johnny Cage. Are you familiar with Mortal Kombat at all? Do you know any, can you name any characters besides Johnny Cage? Now that I've said his name. Isn't there something about like the finisher or something? Well, you're thinking of fatalities. Fatalities? Yeah, fatalities are here. That's when you win a match and you get to kill someone, kill your opponent. What I know. I have learned from you talking at me like this on previous episodes. First Mortal Kombat movie is all about like establishing the lore in the world of Mortal Kombat. The movie is a complete waste of time. Just who gives a shit? The Mortal Kombat is a fighting game about killing people. Is it in this? Is it in this world or another world? It's in like an outer world and they travel all over the place. There's like all kinds of experience. I don't, that's just this realms. There's all kinds of realms. But no humans. No, there are humans. Johnny Cage is a human. Johnny Cage is an action movie star. Kind of a John Claude Van Dam meets Keanu Reeves type figure. Who is brought into the Mortal Kombat world to use his movie only martial arts skills and becomes a great warrior. And that's kind of the pitch on this movie. Johnny Cage was not in the first Mortal Kombat film. He's in this one. Karl Lerman's kind of the star of the movie and he gets thrust into this tournament of battle. And every time the characters that I know and love from 1997 are fighting in the movie, I was like, this movie is a 10 out of 10. Anytime anything else is happening, it's a zero out of 10. Like anytime characters are speaking to each other, I want to throw myself off of a bridge. But if they're not, if they're throwing razor tinged hats at each other and slicing each other's heads off, it's the best movie ever made. That's my review of Mortal Kombat 2. I was going to ask like a clarification question, but I'm not. Keep it moving. Okay, Mortal Kombat 2. I highly recommend it. Also, never watch it. That's my review. Okay, let's talk about Lauren. Okay. Lauren is the second Morgan Neville documentary about a world titanic pop culture American figure this year. He's getting into the habit of he's infiltrated a friend group of sorts, as I understand it. Well, aren't, aren't Lauren and Paul McCartney friends? Oh, well, they certainly are. I wonder if there's, you know, some, some, some connectivity going on there. Uh, the Paul McCartney documentary we talked about a couple of months ago. Man on the run about his life in the 1970s after the Beatles. Maybe Morgan will make one about our life after the Beatles and what happens when this show is This new one is about Lorne Michaels who is the famed Canadian producer who created Saturday night live and has been at the helm of that show for most of its 50 years, though not all. I know a lot about Saturday night live, read all the books, seen all the documentaries, love the cast, all the cast, I have affection for every, every era of the show. Big shared passion of Bill Simmons and I, big, or really connecting point for us when I started working for him. Lorne famously impossible to know, don't really know much better after this movie. Yeah. I didn't dislike watching it. I completely agree. And the movie I think wisely and cheekily makes the endowability a part of the movie within the first five minutes. And, you know, uses a lot of funny constructs in order to get around the fact that most of the footage that you have of Lorne both sitting for multiple interviews and wandering around both his office and his like main blueberry farm. Is him just avoiding the camera and being like, I don't want to do this and and doing his own version of the Lauren impression that we have gotten from every single Saturday live cast member for 50 years. So I, like, I thought it was funny. I thought it was entertaining. It's definitely entertaining. And it's, I think if you're more of a surface level fan of this stuff, then I think it will probably be enjoyable and informative. And there's a couple of moments that are amazing. John Malini explaining Lorne telling him why he always receives material from people. I was about to say that. That's that moment is amazing. So funny, you know, where he's like Terry Milcher failed to accept Charles Mance's demo tape. And that's why he was murdered. That's why Sharon Tate was murdered that and it kind of like how you interact with people and the various people that. Lorne has mentored and have been on the cast of the show. They're talking about their experiences with them. That kind of thing is just cracked to me and I always enjoy it. And pretty much everybody is in an acceptable feral. Yeah, that's weird. Yeah, why wasn't real feral? I don't know. And I guess McCay is also not in it as well. But the vast majority of Lorne and his famous friends Steve Martin, Paul Simon, they all sit for it. They all kind of tell different versions of like Lorne's never going to tell you that. Which is it's entertaining, but it's also kind of annoying. There was a Lorne biography by Susan Morrison came out last year. That is amazing. And she is very briefly in it. And she is. And that is that to me is like as definitive an account as you can get. She doesn't get so much farther beyond the surface, but there's so much detail in the book. I'm moving like this is so weird because Neville is really good at getting underneath the cultural meaning of someone. Even if he doesn't explore truly who they are in their soul because it's hard to do that in a documentary. He has been most especially I think with with with Mr. Rogers, but he's done it many times in his career capturing why a person. How a person cracked through to something deeper to what we love. I don't know if this movie does that. I know I agree with you. And maybe it's thesis is just ultimately that it's a Lorne thing. The funniest of all the interviews is the Steve Martin interview because it's Steve and Lorne. Together at one of the three restaurants that Lorne Michaels goes to, but it's filmed like at a distance basically like across the restaurant. It's like TMZ video. It's obviously not that much farther from this if we were sitting there and they are. If you were talking like this, they are seated together like this. And Steve Martin is like asking sort of profanct really like expositional questions, but also being Steve Martin about it. But I think Lauren says to him, I think it's Steve Martin who asked somebody again to retire and Lauren says, no, he's like, because like the show, the show is from another time and as soon as I go, like it will not. It won't be what it is anymore, which is something that many people have suggested would be true. But it was, but it was interesting to hear him say that. But you know, but that is delivered as in a matter of fact aside at a weird dinner in a turquoise dining call filmed from across the way. I'll take back what I said somewhat. The one thing that I thought was revelatory, which I don't think I'd really seen before in any of the other documentaries about Saturday Night Live was the camera being trained on him while every sketch is playing out. And the way that he reacts his kind of restlessness and the backs hailing, which indicates, you know, a sense of unsuccessful in a moment. That stuff I thought was really insightful and that's for the real super fans who pay close attention to this stuff. I wanted more of that. Maybe that would not have made for his entertaining or or coherent movie, but a little bit more of that observational stuff. I think would have gone along. And it's interesting that he did let them film in that way, but he also wouldn't talk specifically about his childhood or what informed his comedic taste. They still spend too much time on his childhood, but whatever. Yeah, I guess I don't usually like that as much in movies anyway. I like that. Also, you know, it's the third section of the New Yorker profile. I know. I don't care about it. It's just one of those people who just feels like he just landed on earth. Yeah, he doesn't feel like a person who like had experiences that then informed who he became. Right. And that those alien people are very special. They usually tend to make something very amazing. And their lack of internality is very powerful and I don't relate to it. You know, I feel differently. So I guess I'm always going to be interested in them, even if it makes for ultimately an unsatisfying portrait. But it had enough. It had the observational stuff. It had enough candy. Like the talking head stuff had so many people thought the Chris Cornell narration was funny. It was funny. You know, it felt like papering over like, we didn't really get Lauren to tell us what we wanted. Sure. But like in a clever way. It was kind of, I agree. I agree. It was kind of like the, the Pharrell Lego doc, which I also thought was kind of fascinating and fun candy. But I'm still like, I don't understand what makes Pharrell tick at all after seeing this. Right. But I had a lot of fun watching him be in a world of creativity. So, you know, I love like Morgan's old project. I think it's really interesting. It's just so funny that you have to watch him like contend with the subject that he agrees to take on. And they're all right, because they're so powerful. They're like, they're also, they're fighting a battle, even though they've agreed to be portrayed. And it's an interesting thing. Okay. I just want to give a quick shout. It's a tuner. Which I would love to see. And I just didn't make time. I had to watch Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan ghost war. Yeah. Maybe we can talk about it more after you check it out. I feel like it's a movie that people are going to really find on streaming. It did pretty good this weekend. Actually, it was in semi-limited release, like in a thousand screens. And it made a few million bucks. I had Daniel Rohr on the show last week to talk about it. It's a movie about a piano tuner who is identified by a criminal outfit, because his piano tuning skills, which are extraordinary, allow him to crack safes. And he enters a criminal world doing that work. And then things naturally go awry. But all Dustin Hoffman, Leo Roz, Vaneroz Liu. Very old-fashioned and wonderfully entertaining movie that I think people should check out. Leo Woodall, I don't you think that's going to happen? It's been percolating. This would have been a nice breakthrough if it were bigger. What else to see? What's else is on the. On the docket. Well, he's in Tony. He's got a supporting part in Tony. Which is coming in August. He's in a film called Nomad, which is about a mysterious loner who has a bizarre condition that takes him to another place on earth every 12 hours with no ability to control his destinations. Okay. That's right up my alley. Oh, yeah. He's in custom of the country with Sydney Sweeney. Wow. Yeah. What? Yeah. Oh, and also he's apparently. Wait a minute. Sydney Sweeney is going to be in the custom of the country. Well, I told you about this on a podcast before. Yes. Sophia was developing it for years for Apple and then basically she was like, there's not enough money to do this. The way I want to do it. Or this is too depressing. She's doing an English accent. So now Sydney Sweeney has taken it on. I don't know. So this is directed by Josie Work, long time theater director who made Mary Queen of Scots. Yeah. The custom of the country is Wharton, so it would be an English accent. That's what I said, an English accent. Oh, no, an American accent. Oh, okay. American accent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it. Got it. My mistake. Still, I have some questions about whether. I think Neil Woodall and Matthew Goodin and Hugh Dansey and the cast made me think that this is going to be, are we sure this is not going to be like at least like kind of mid-Atlantic, you know, that kind of upper crust. Well, sure. I mean, it's of the time, but it's even more eateth Wharton. She's Undine Sprague, who I believe is, I mean, I know she's American. Let's find out where in the United States she's from. Okay. Midwestern young woman. Okay. Okay. I mean, I wish her well. Did you happen to check in on the series finale of Euphoria? No. Thumbs up, thumbs down. I haven't seen it. Okay. Yeah. I watched two episodes this season and I checked out. I know what happened in the penultimate episode. And then I saw that Sam Levinson went on pop cast to say that there will be no more Euphoria. Yes. Is that where he announced it? Apparently. Yes. Or at least that's, you know, I, I've followed Joe Cosgrole and it's probably also because of what happened in the finale. Okay. Maybe it didn't need to be explained. Sure. But I'm no spoilers here. Okay. Um, wish those people well. The cast of Euphoria? Yeah. I think they're doing great. They are. Seems like they're doing wonderfully. They are the future of movies. And this has been the future of movies, this entire conversation. How do you feel? Great. I love cinema. Yeah. I do so. What you're not mentioning is the summer. I hope it was 1916. It was 1917. I'm going to feel really bad. But I think it was 16. I think you got it right. You know. No, it's just. Did you see the breadwinner? No. I follow him any more on Instagram. How's that going? Well, so she's. She's an east side mom. But she's, you know, she's part of the viral mom. She's part of the viral mom chat. Did you follow this at all? Is it beginning of the year? No. So viral mom chat. Yeah. Is that like a zombie movie situation? No. But once again, that's the idea. Keep making the movies that you want. No, this was. Okay. So. Who actually tisdale. Is that right? Everyone. Yeah. Thank you, Sarah in the booth. Actually, tisdale wrote an essay for the cut. Well, first for her own blog. And then for the cut about how she was. Excommunicated from a mom group chat friend group. And she felt that it was very mean. And then everyone realized that it's the mom friend group featuring Hillary Duff. Who is incredibly famous? Do you know this? Well, I'd certainly do. And I'll tell you why. Sure. Yeah, Lizzie McGuire. No, she's insanely hot. That's why. That's a whole thing. Yeah. No, I mean, I know. But like that's your flavor. This is a little bit. Historically. No. This is just like a little bit of like a Kaley Cuoco situation for, you know, me. But okay. That's. A beautiful young woman. Um, I'm not going to get into describing people's personas in that specific way. Okay. However, you got to learn up on Hillary Duff right in her 40s right now. So what's happening there? Oh, no, listen, I, I am aware. There's a lot happening because she keeps being re-blogged on Manny Moore's group chat because what happened is, is that re-blogged? Yeah, because I'm not following Hillary Duff because I am re-blogged. I will re like posted on Instagram. They all went to her opening in Las Vegas. They had like a girl's weekend. Basically, so the mom chat that was identified as the mean mom chat has responded by just doubling down on like being out in public and posting and doing girls trips and being like we love our life without Ashley Tisdale and Hillary Duff has an album and Hillary Duff's in Las Vegas. And Manny Moore is in the breadwinner and Manny Moore is doing this. So I'm up on what they're doing. Yeah. But I did not see the breadwinner. We can really do anything on this show. There are no boundaries. It's extraordinary. And you got to wait until you get to minute the 112 before you can get into this kind of conversation. But I'm really proud of us. I'm proud of the movies. Yeah, good job. Good job. Good job to the youth for going to see it. You have no regrets about sitting out the next episode. Well, I can't go tonight to see the film. Yeah. And I, I do feel. It's going to be the nerdyest episode of all time. But like I don't, I don't want to infringe on your time. You know, it's going to be a safe space for the two of you. The real question is, well, I listen to it. I think I will. I think I will. But I still got to do Spielberg rewatchables. That's a fair question. I got a prep for Mondays app. You know, like I got, I got movies to see. Let me excuse you. Yeah. So we're going to do a disclosure day episode, obviously in June. And then there's another episode that will come after disclosure day comes out. We'll talk about Spielberg. Now we've done top fives, right? I think we did a full, did we do a full ranking or no? Did just me, you and Joe did our top fives? I thought that we did a ranking, but I thought we did. I thought we did both. Yeah, because I just remember having to be like ET and Jurassic Park should be higher. What's wrong with both of you? I think you're right. I know, but you're not an AI person. And this is a big problem for us historically. The film or the technology. You're not into the technology or am I? The film though, which is a five star masterpiece. Well, I was assigned it as summer school, not summer school homework. Let's be clear. I did not go to summer school, but I went to school during summer. Well, God forbid someone ever went to summer school, everybody. Listen, I have a homework, you know, reputation to pay 10. So what are we going to do with Spielberg? What are we going to talk about? Not with him, the man. So we're not re-ranking. I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out. We've seen disclosure day and I love the idea of putting it in the context of his career. For sure. We'll probably do that in the episode that we do. Yeah. I would imagine it would be hard not to. Very hard. Let's give that some thought. Okay. What would be the best way to do it? Okay. But anyway, later this week, Griffin Newman will be joining me to talk about Masters of the Universe. Perhaps you've heard Griffin on the Blind Check podcast. One of our buds. He knows a lot about he, man. And he knows a lot about toys. Yeah. And he knows a lot about fantasy films. And those are the things we'll be talking about in this episode. I think that's beautiful. I need this movie to be good. Good. Good. And then I'm going to be not happy. I'm going to be sad. Yeah. I'm going to be mad. You're just going to be sad. I'm just going to be sad. Okay. And I'm having such a happy time in my life. And I want it to continue. I think it will. I'm rooting for you. Okay. Early buzz is good. Maybe your heart is open right now. You know, you're entering from a space of positivity. Yeah. And that's if you were already dead in the ditch, if like if we had to talk about the meds for a while, then you would. And you would. Oh, congratulations. Things are looking fine. Okay. I don't think they're going to go to the playoffs, but they're fine. It's again. Wansoto is him. It's June 1st. It is June 1st. You're right. I'm rooting for you. Thanks. I appreciate your support. There was a tweet that I saw on the internet. Okay. An x.compost that said, damn, really seems like Travis Knight loves Jane Shonebrun's movie after seeing Masters of the Universe. Okay. So I just want to let you know that that's the vibe. Okay. Cool. Yeah. We'll see. See you at the movies. Later this week. And thank you so much to Lucas Kavanaugh and Sarah Reddy for their work on this episode. We'll see you later this week to talk about Masters of the Universe. [BLANK_AUDIO]