Final Thoughts and Gift Exchange

Yeah Jack with Lin and Din don't know want to say the two aspects I was by Jack in twenty twenty three Four man into the blank check offices Reord a podcast They had survived a three hour and twenty eight mines Cord on Fight Club this episode is dedicated to them So Is this a tagline? No, this is the title card that opens the fil. Okay, okay. You didn't want to do the tagline I found. I can' do tag w, I think it sucks. Yeah, go ahead. cast was just the beginning. Ieed. Their escape was just the beginning. But how about this tagline Every loss is another fight. So every loss is another podcast. Every podcast is another fight. Yeah I mean that's sort. One battle after another, if you know what I'm saying? That's the tagline for the film, The wayay backack Oh, sure with Ben Affleck I was on. I was gonna to make. Okay, so what was your I was gonna to say it's really weird that Peter Weir came out of retirement to make this high school basketball movie. It wouldn't be that weird of him. Sounds like a good movie. My bit was going to be it's weird that Peter Weir made this like eighties throwback water park movie. Okay. Right.. All right, so that's what I was about to do the of my other tag. So I had a two stage bit, which was gonna be one Just let's get this out of the way. We all agree this is Ben Affleck's best performance, right? Could do that. Then I was going to pretend I had watched the wrong movie. Then I was going to say, no, of course I'm joking. It is surprising that Peter Weir came out of retirement to make an eighties waterpark movie though. Well, O I mean, you could say, we're talking about the way way back at this point. Right. That's a different film. N sequel to this movie.ight, but you could argue like, yeah, it's funny. I did not anticipate the sequel being about, you know You get it. They came out pretty close together, did they not The way way back is twenty thirteen and it's got a great tagline. I really want you to hear it. I can't wait to hear it. My ears are open. We've all been there It' like hell yeah, just walking into the theater and just like collapsing into a coma reading that to l. Yeah, brother I remember we've all been there. I remember thinking W way back. whichich is Sitting in the back of a car, Okay? read the cast of the way way back I'm about Alex Sometimes you and I are just I was like, I have to read this cast aloud Tony Coleette Rooster himself that the show, the new show We to get better. We just completed rewatching the Pacific and every time we started an episode, there was an ad for Roooster and it became every time I would go. Oh, it's roosters.. I've been. I've been HBO maxing and it feels like they drop a rooster ad every mid sentence, every line of d. The utter sickness of like Bill Lawrence, who obviously has contributed good things to our society. But now we're just like, Do want do another show and he's like, sure, theres a guy, I don't know, he's gott to learn a lesson or something. Where's my money? you know, Yeah but for cast a really famous guy in the role David, you're forgetting something A Rooster iss like the biggest hit show HBO Max has had in like five years. It is not. They have claimed it had Kight of the Seven Kingdoms. They It is their biggest premiere Sure f In years.. Biggest premiere starring Steve Carerell set in a university or whatever restur isly named after Fowl. Yeah. right. This is our biggest chicken related, poultry related drama. way, way back The other thing you have to remember is it was an incredible chess move against having to lead the sccrubs reboot He's not Is he just collecting a check on the scrub corot? I mean, he must have He blessed it. Yeah, he came in and threw the football around for a day. David Did can't do Did Terrible news, he's stuck in an overall deal with Warner Brosers He wishes he could run scrubs. It feels like a normal writer's room A very flesh and blood writer's room. You know what I mean? Humans. Air brought in and out of the lungs in that writer's room by all the participants. The people who are giving notes are people and not Cybernetic partners. of humans Steve Crel, Tony Colet Little miss sunshine so far. Aliceon Janny. Wow. She's she not She's a great in that movie She would' have been five that year. Okay, that's insane. That's the one she should have won the Oscar. Anna Sophia Rob. Yeah. we love her. Was she Care she was young Carry Harry. She read the diaries. Sam Rockwell Being a jerk, right? Or is he nice? No, he's nice. Okay. he's nice.s Carell who's jer Yeah, Caro first build is weird outside of his star pound. star. Yeah. Sam Rockwell is like Bill Murray in meatballs where it's like, this guy's too cool for school and then he takes the sad kid under his wing and he's like, I'm actually sensitive too. cool. You know, he's the mentor. Sounds like a loser. My Rudolph. My Rudolph is his wife or long term partner. Great. Rob Cordy. The tail end of Cordre being like, sneak me onto this Yeah get on there. I think Cordrey and Amandand's hospital stary are their Amanda Pete fun friends. Amanda Pete rudely below Rob Cordre. Yeah. And then and Liam James, is that the kid? Yes. I mean, I'm dashing to the theater. We've all been there. This is a coming of age movie with only adults in it And L And And. But that's two. No I know children an overwhelming amount of like, look, there's guys from gentle Sundancecy comedies of other you know. Wasn't this a giant Sundance movie? It was it was. It was a big purchase. Like twenty million sale, two million gross kind of thing. Oh yeah. It wasn't quite a full happy Texas, but it was maybe a ten and a five. Let's find out Well That's fine. I'm guessing it was a ten and a five. Do you think anyone today other than people Watching the skies at that time remember happppy Texas You know, Happy Texas is only remembered because of the exactly. Sunday. It's not even like I feel like now people like Hamlet too. Sometimes people are like Yeah secretly a good movie. But I feel like happappy Texas only comes up in this direction. I don't think it's like on streaming. I was going to he feels a little lost. Happy Texas, I remember liking. It's like please good Pfectly And I remember my brother and I being at like the video store, couch po a video across the street, My brother James and I being like, what's this? And my dad's like, happay Texas. That's like the most expensive Sundance buy of all time at flamed out. And we were like, interesting, watched it like four years after its's irrelevancy and liked it critical darlings podcast under the Blankchheck Productions banner that I've been executive producing, did an episode on Tin Dreams and the history of like Sundance movies at the Oscars, especially as it's now like The original form of Sundance has now come to an end I was just eagerly typing in the notes, Bring up happy Texas. Happy Texas must be discussed. You must go through the process of explaining happappy Texas to Ben Frish It is important that it exists as a cultural reference point forever. We cannot let it slide into a obit. I need to correct the record on the way way back. Okay. Fox seearchlight purchased it for ten million dollars I guess T Sundense, which was a lot. likeike that was a big deal but it made twenty one point five million dollars in North America. Domestically? Domestically. And dal five world. It doubble the investment. That's a lot more than the way back, man. Yes. they snuck it I guess because they had an extra way so that's But I mean, like, do we agree that if we're r wank if we're ranking. if we're ranking way back. Yeah Aff like I would put one and way, way is a solid third or are we putting Peter Weir in third? I would not I like the wayw, but Fair enough. fair en. Now if you were wanking. If you're wanking with your order. Th are three films that are not really going for Rota. If you had to way way or watch Richard E. Grant's woaa Which would you prefer Wi or waa? Look Weiwi is Temu Adventureand But I like Adventureand so much. I'll settle for off brand Adventureland. I struggled with this movie a bit. I think it is very well made. I'm not like Iant fuck. Yeah, I meant to put the sound all the way up the so that it just the whole episode sounded blown out and just like really harsh and hard to listen to. G. So that it mirrors the movie. Yes. Oh, sure. ye, okay. Yes. And then should our faces like kind of crrinklle and get all dried up and our lips get all like chpped. If we wantan to get an Oscar nomination, sure That' makeup. This movie is only major n. I'm gonna have to confiscate all of the liquids. No one's drinking. I watched on the Blu ray, there was a featurette there was like a thirty minute making of with all the actors. And Ed Harris has the most blown out audio I have ever heard It sounds like he was recording in the middle of a tornado. It is insane because you're watching and you're like, o, I guess they must have done this one over Zoom or something. And then you're like, no, it was twenty ten What's the excuse? You're talking in the special feature. Making of I'm talking making I's talking about the movie. yeah. the movie itself. Yeahah, also bat. Yeah. mayaybe it was the same sound guy, same sound apartment. We're filming in pretty harsh condition. It's a windy movie. Yeah. sureure. You't have to You don't have to fuck with windscreens in here. It would be funny if they all had windscreens. Yeah This is a windscreen. This one like Col Far's like I'll kn you butbody's holding up a windscreen. It if they were all like holding up loavs between their fingers, even though the clip is the part that's supposed to go on your shirt, but they were doing like the TikToker thing. That's what the TikTokers do. That's what the TikTokers do. You know who doesn't know about TikTokers? The characters of the way back. Yeah Here's here's that was deaft. An immediate reveal of how little I had ever engaged with this movie until watching it last night, like seriously engaged. It starts And like from that first title card, I was like Oh, this movie isn't about Irish people I just assumed you got call an insertion Inert. And I'm like Sturg just swings Irish a lot. I know he's actually British, but I feel like he plays Irish a lot. He's definitely played Irish, I think Yeahah. Right And I'm like Ed Harris could play Irish. I was so confident this was a movie about like the fucking potato fam or something. I know it is one of those movies with a poster. you're like, I don't know, it looks Looks like these guys are having a bad time doing something. you know, like I might My level of engagement with this movie is these characters are struggling. These actors on the poster are struggling in some way and I think they're walking a lot That has the same game that sometimes we do A movie like not this, but bigger ones like You could say to like somebody before they watched a year of living dangerously. Sure. What do you think this movie is about?. And it's one of those things where people are like, I don't know. I've heard of this title forever. Right. you know, maybe it's about like like alcoholic relationship of people that really, you know, it's a days of wine and roses kind of thing. Or it could be like, Yes, man, it's like he does one year living really dangerousous. He says the most does the most dangerous of doing everything. Sometimes we throw that out as a challenge when when we're watching something like famously at home A had never seen Rainman and before life started it. this was years ago. I said, what this movie is about She said, it's about like a guy who's like a savannet gambling and he makes it rain in Las Vegas ' all she'd ever seen was the shot in the casino. And I that's what you think this entire movie is about. This is like a gambling twenty one to bring That's why it's twenty one Jim Surges, right? It is. Okay. So she thought it was like twenty one. Like a guy who fixes gambling I was looking at the timeline because Social network comes out the same year as this movie twenty se, sureure. Yeah yeahah Andrew Garfield just fucking blew Jim Sturgis to the black wall. I was likeike who market corrected Jim Sturgis? likeike I was looking at that I was like I was like was really they were pushing him hard and then it was like completely slipped into oblivion. and watching it, I was just like, o This brand of like intense sensitivity in the face of adversity. became You know, like one of Andrew Garfields superpowers. I neglected to look up Jim Sturg just so that we could have the fun we'll have a good a look at Jim because it is a Like my wife was like, who's that, you know, because it's like Cal Farll. whooa, Sira wrote into this and she's like, And who's that? And I'm like Jim Sturgis, but I might as well just be going like Like it's just like it's like the name of a handsome sound but like four years was a thing Are we gonna in the universe? No, we're gonna do his career. We're I'm arguing like, was he ever a thing? Hollywood was trying to make him a thing Hollyw was have thought that he could be a thing. I think Hollywood was acting like he already was a f But that's what they do all the time. Yeah. And sometimes it works. Yeah. And sometimes it's the Kolon Ferrell thing where people are like, We sort of agreed that he was a thing, but you're trying a little too hard to make him a thing. Gut him away. Yeah. And then after a few years they're like, he was a thing. let's get it back. Let's open up the box. It's Cin go. I mean, we'll do it, but it's so funny to actually go through the Colin Ferrell filmography item by item because you You think of it in your mind as like, oh, and then he totally bottomed out and then he had a clean comeback and then he bottom out. It's always up and down. He never stops working, but it's always like a good choice, a bad choice, two good choices, three bad choices Yeah feels like someone paying the bills. I think if he had been if Colin Ferrell here in this movie Five years earlier or five years later, people would have really lined up for him Like earlier, it's like, man this guy can do anything. And later it would be like, Colin Ferrell is like always kind of good and like it's cool that he's in this big auteur movie in a small part We love callin f But at this point people were kind of like, That's enough of this guy. Yeah, Al also it's like five years earlier he would have been the Jim Sturgis part. and he would have been legitimate. Colin being in this movie was so excited to David Sims. Yeah. So exciting you geter weir D didn't say it for fourteen this is when I'miled Yeah it's like Peter Weir' making his follow up to Master andaner. I'm like, sounds good. And're like, it's like a true story drama about and I'm like Okay sounds fine. But Calin Ferrells in it. I was like, I love that. He's got the and. He's got the right. He's got the sort of plum supporting ro. do a character actor play. And then the review, you know, the film came out and everyone was like, it's okay. sort of handsome. And I was like, oh and then it was gone like from theaters. And I was like, okay. well ye, I guess I missed it Iess I'll wait for Peter Weir's next movie Never. still waiting. I have very clear memory of trying to see this at Union Square and just not getting around to it Like you were like walking around the hallways and they just like back in back at that time, like you would just you would just write down you just write down showimes and be like, Yeah Yeah this week I could go see and I just I just remember post it note Union Square the way back you know, like just like Mento style. I could go see that like this week or next week because I really want to go see it. Yes didn't happen Never happened. I years ago see it. M after that. Well, I assume you saw as part of one of your sort of projects. Yes. And we can talk about that, but we should first say what the pro projects are watching good movies. Of course, the eternal project we're all part of What's the podcast? This podcast is called Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin I'm David. You almost just fell for it. You almost you started looking at an email. you almost missed the ceue. I almost did. You were actually second. someone actually texted me, who do you think will win bllank Ceck March Madness? The Uend D this episode record. Yeah. Right. And I was like, who, and I had a little my brain deli I should vote while you guys are in some tangent. Who texted you and how are you gonna to answer? Ellen Cushing host of Hits different podcast It's not a secret. I want everyone to listen to it. But I said I I'm still thinking it's going to be Marty Tony And I think I'd bet Tony very soft like Id put a flutter down, like a ten bucks on Tony. Like I'm not feeling too secure. Awesome, much like Wes Anderson movies often have one burst of estatic violence. Right. Perhaps he just shanks Tony Scott. It would be funny if we're like, Ohh, Tony's a juggernaut and then right like he gets blown in half by Wes Anderson in a very artful way Uh But no, I think that would be my guess. I mean, what's your guess Is it for Carbon date in the episode now You feel like it's swinging Tony, but maybe I'm very wrong about it. I just making the Tony guess on the we've already said the sort of like Well, there's just the mildest backlash to Marty the Juggernaut. And so maybe Tony Benefit. Don't tell me who going to vote for. But that's I don't really know I can't keep t get getting the brains of these crazy people. They voted for Chris fucking Columbus over H. I was going to te you up for that. can't get you can can't predict any. And I think he's he's going to sneak by whoever he's up against today. Gus Van San Yeah. That was a war crime to watch. spepeaking of sending to the Gulog, like five thousand gulag seats needed for people that looked at all here ten years of Columbus and we're like votease Columbus. Yeah, I really want them to cover Pixels and Christas Chronicles, two, but not one pixel's episode would be. Pixels episode would be hard. Christmas Chronicles would be a nightmare. There's a couple of night Yeah And the fucking Thursday Murder Club. Oh yeah, Jesus. Yeah, the Netflix run is really bad. But I mean, Chris Columbus is currently like a folding gus vanccent, like one of his flannel shirts. Here's the insane thing edging by. Obviously my support of you guys doing all overver Stone needs no introduction at this point. Here's the insane thing about people voting for Chris Columbus. You'd have to keep covering his movies. It is true that we would being realize that this guy makes like massive shit every two years. You're happy to report this.m not I wish him no ill will. He seems very healthy. He does. Like I'm not looking at Chris Columbus being like this guy's near retirement He like he's in great shit. He's got four decades of bull shit less. he could honestly like You know, he could there's no bottom to what he could end up making next. Now I want to share with you to the ledger. Oh yeah. JJ J J in our group read our researcher was saying he secretly wants Columbus to win. In fact he doesn't under it with. I'm keeping quiet about this. So it's really It's sure So that he can have several months off because you guys would cover someone no one writes about or gives a fuck about. Right. H his dossiers would be like one page.'d be like, ye because Souls was released on this date.' Chras Chricles too on a dumb idea, Adam Sandler. figured out the way to like Bialishop. Yeahie One public screening, it was like the Family Heartland Gala at the Nebraska Film Festival. Columbus did one interview for it. Here it is. It won a familyily heart. It won like the Dove familyamily Gentleus. Chris Columbus has made three of the most successful films ever made in history of Hollwood.'re saying H commercial H Stell fired very fucking potter Sure T Harry Potters, two hold al loans misses Doufire. Exactly the sequels, which are less exciting. But five of the highest g Macbeth Cooper made a Bill five, right? But that's the rust bump. We can't give that to Yeah. We could have rust on that episode. I have no idea how he feels about that. I think he probably wants to do Percy Jackson instead. This is a podcast about filmographies. directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are giing a series of blank checks make whatever crazy fashion products they want and sometimes those checks clear. and sometimes They walk a really fucking long This movie should be called The Long Walk, right? I assume they is because of the fucking Stephen King. Look, I assume so. obbviously this is based on a book called The Long Walk. so It's interesting that they did not, but yeah, maybe they were worried Come off is a adaptation of a Stehen G it the longest walk or something. I like the wayay backack tells me nothing. and this movie starts and I'm like, oh, the premises they have to walk. I' also not going back anywhere. going somewhere. none of them have been before. No That is true. I don't I think this is like a fairly good movie. I think it's fairly well done. We gotta get it. It's well made. I think the answer to all of our questions is like, don't make this movie, make something else Just make something else. Who are you talking to in this? Peter here Like I'm just like, you know, if this is going to be your last thing and you're going to put a lot of effort into it, I think you should do something el. But you think he called this was his last thing and And I'm not sure that he did I want to put forward Do we think, you know, Ethan Hawk gave this interview recently? because this is a minis series on the films of Peter Weirer. It's called Pod Nick and Hanging Cast. Our guesterday, of course is Alex Ross Perry. returning after my banishment has been lifted. We get him in this Hin, I have some news in this What is his tenth episode? Is that right of main feared of main feed unless I'm wrong about something. I'm going to read themem out now. And I brought gifts for you guys. Can I try to guess them?ure C you want to go in order? I forgot to wear my hollow Man hat today. I was gonna do that to memorialize your run U Okay, so it starts with Inomnia starts with insomnia, which I rewatched recently. Good movie. Yeah because my insomnia has been out of control and I was like It's time to check in with Detective Dormer. Let me sleep Um Garbage bs. The garbage scene is in the Scarsgard version. Yeah. like when I rewatched when I watched the original like Inomnia has a tongue criteria, I bought it at some point and just announces a new Deluxe second site kacks. I'm fine with my criteria in Blue ray. But like where's there' this sce where Sarscd's like picking up garbage I'm like, wow, this is just all in the origin. L Anyway, I do think the Null one's better. I agree. I haven't yes, it is definitely better. Scarsc's really good in it. Inomnia Then it's Is it Hollowan and then the Ke Hoaman and then Taking woodsty. taking woodstock. Those are the ones I remember doing at Audio. Those are the first four in studio. The fifth was a remote episode. And that was always when it was Can I pick the least relevant film? Which I have done again, I argue. We've come back around to it because then when we get onto Zoom, It swings into Lucky numbers was irrelevant. Oh, you're right. That's the end of the irlevancy. That's a Ben's landlord who bought the tape and kept it sealed. But is irrelevant to most people? We still have it here in the office. Yeah. O DVD and VHS. Yeah. Well, I brought the DVD and then Ben brought the tape. And then it swings around to four the most important movies in your history as a person So then it's Halloween or right Halloween correct into Fight club, no You're missing one It's of a contentious episode. Now I have to think of what we did at Bent's house. Clocker orrange. Correct And so the Halloween and Clockwork Orange, those were at Ben's placeure. And then the most recent two he did. Clockwork Orange was here. Noope. No. was it Ben's house. It was I brovee you home after. Okay. That was a build. I have reference it was something because before was You worked it out. We didn't have to work out anything. Everything was im was fine. Everyone on this Reddit is always like, Jesus, you could cut the tension of the b.ight We got him in the dri weize the career of Macauly Caulk while David blasted the prodroigy inst said I listened to song every day. So I wasn't like Alex, who was really fucked up in there. I'm really mad at you. Like there was no atmosphere. David was like except in the room when I was. It was like you see when MC Max in reality entered into this particular phase of his rhymes. Uh But wait, there was one after Fight Club, right? Correct. his most recfousan eleph So that's nine. And this is ten and you are back to maybe the less relevant episode abstract film. But I've also never done the last movie You've never done the last film Never been here for a ranking Oh, that's right. although we're going to have to fit our ranking in record it later. Yeah because you haven't watch all the movies. I haven't, I mean, I've seen all the movies But I haven't rewatched Year of Living Dangerously yet. I've only seen that film once. I've never seen that and I've only seen Master and Commander once so I desperately need to rewatch I have a rank feeling that Master and Commander might be number one on my list, not to spoil. So interesting. guys ha You guys haven't Have you done those episodes? Yeah? Those are the two we haven't done. Correct Were either of you present at Lincoln Center for the Peter Weir retetrospective around when this movie came out? No. He was there. I just became it weird. A week of Q and As. Yeah, that's what it was called. Yeah But it was centered around this. I believe so. I could be wrong. In my mind, it was twenty ten. so I think it was sort of in conjunction with this movie If he was doing a retrospective, I mean that makes sense. Yes, it was january twenty eleven, whichich is when I mean, it was when this is probably going wide. This film came out U o no, I didn't Isn't it early twenty eleven? Came out early twenty eleven. Yeah. So it was it has a qualifying run in twenty ten gets nominated. No, it didn't have No no wait, I think it's a festival twenty ten. Be it's a festival twenty ten. It's a festival twenty ten. It's a proper theatrical twenty eleven. Right? Be it loses to the Wolfman for makeup Okay. Yes. And that's the no, that is the twenty So it must have had some like petic qualifying. It must have a pathetic piece of shit qualifying run. I mean, truly, yes, Griffin. Yeah december twenty ninth, twenty ten ten Los Angeles, California likeike they don't even allow that at the Oscuse anymore. They're kind of like what? We coughed it onto theaters for one day on like New Year's Eve. I mean, this was an image and new market. Yeah, ho distribution Yeah But it came out and it's not even wide, but like sort of six hundred screens, january twenty eleven. So neither one of you you were not present at this retro. It was, I didn't have any money. It was wow go see a movie. No, you're forgetting Alex, it did infinously cost one million dollars a ticket for we in retrospect. It was great, but he was there for almost all the Q and As. Yeah. I saw him do a Q and A at a double feature year of living dangerously and the mosquito coasted. That's cool And then I think he just gave like a talk. I think there was like a ninety minute like discussion some other day. His muggiest movies. Yeah. Th thoseose are the two most kind of like damp aired films. I had already liked those movies, but seeing them Walter Reed. on film with him It was like, man, these are the best. like This guy I saw Gibipily there. I saw a bunch movies because I was kind of filling in the gap. Sure And it was really a really successful series for me. I mean, he's this has been a successful series for us. He's made really interesting great movies, some of which I know well, some of which I'd like seen zero to one times and they were all rewarding. And even this which was the true ll I'll get to it. I know I should see. I know Peter Weir made it. like for like basically for the last fifteen years, I've been like, no I'm getting to that. That's strange because to me, this is an incredibly easy to watch movie. I found this fil so hard to watch. Like the I'm getting to that is like, well, it's one hundred and seventy minutes long. Ebody thinks it's bad. This is this is one hundred thirty three. Yeah, but not short. Yeah, but it's Rockham Sockham. I would say very early in the movie. just movie is Rockham Stockham. I did not find it as hard as I'm surprised to learn Griffin. I don't think this is a bad film. and it wasn't like I was like squirming in my seat in discomfort, but I did find it to be a bit of a slog. a handsould you have enjoyed the intention slog in a forty X rerelease This movie would if the steps were happening, the subtle steps Or like it's like you coughing the seat coughs for you. A treadmal screening Yes, I'd love a slow treadmill squeeee. It would spray dirty water in your f. Yeah Mosquitoes would come out. But imagine how satisfying it would be when they get to the water in the middle of the desert. And suddenly they're just spraying water directly into your mouth. look like a fucking water. I would say I thought this film was going to be a little more like brutal and tough to watch and slow. and I was I was when I watch. I was like this moves because I'm like, right, becausecause Peter Weere's like a good director and like this isn't quite the slog I thought it was going to be. I would not call it rockem soccer. You don't think you don't think the the gulag break is Rockam stckam. I've reserve that term for robots only. Yeah. Ble Steel is a rock 'am suckin movie Yes. It is. I mean if it wasn't then they really blew the aside. Not saying it's good, but it does have that Sean Levy feeling. U You saying I would tell Peter we are just make something else, right? I think so. I was watching this thirty minute making of thing Everyone is talking about how difficult an experienence this film was Yeah, but they're talking about it in the window between when they have rapped and when the movie is released and they all clearly feel like this is going to be a historic effort. Everyone is going to talk about You know, they're not like there's no reason not to think that. He had ch that at this point for almost thirty years straight. But this was like a four month shoot of them fighting the elements. Sounds good. You know? And they're all like and by like day twenty, the line between and reality is blurred and we're feeling the real things and we're all in it together. no one has any egos and we felt such a responsibility to tell this story to like Go through such a Herculean effort to make this movie and then have it treated with It's such a shrug You know, just like a complete kind of It doesn't exist Ethan Haw in that interview. play this movie in Cinematrix time It's a smart play. It's a good play. Ethan Hawk had that interview that gets recirculated all the time where he said like, oh my buddy Peter Weir retired After years of people being like, Peter, we're going gonna make anything again. And he said, Peter's retired and the industry kind of broke him and it stopped knowing how to make the kind of movies that he wants to make and he's good at. And also he got broken by like movie star egos And the two things he cited were how difficult a time he had working with Crow on Master and Commander And that the other thing, was it supposed to be after this that he was going to make Chantaram? That certainly was. we can talk about it I'm sure John Deppsashion P project. He said the process of dealing with Depp in development for like two years That wass interesteresting. I haven'tard anything about Johnny Depp being tough to deal with And Ethan Hawk pinned it just on the industry changed and he stopped being able to deal with A lS leading men who were no longer collaborators who were sort of you know, dictators, right? Whereas before, he had been this guy where A list men would trust him to mold them I also I watched this, and I'm like, I get why he retired to put this much into making this. right and just have it exort with a shrug. Right. It seems like he You guys have more research, hopefully than I do, which is zero It seemed like he tried other things after this. He wasn't like there was right. There was some sort of mean he just said like, I don't have the energy. R And like it's interesting because Mastering Commander is now a movie that was liked at the time has now become this like canonical movie I think he appreciates that, but then there's also the kind of the sort of melancholy of like, I didn't get to make another one. I I wanted to. Like Masterin Commander had Oscar nominations, right? tenen It's crazy that it just went up against Return of the King right? It still snuck a couple Aside from it just not winning, but it's just crazy that that catapulted him to nothing That makes me feel like Chhanted Tram might or whatever. Good thing that didn't get. I mean, I think that became a TV show. It became an Apple pllus original series. was Charlie H. Yeah, we all know. It was almost Nir in a year, Peter Weir. And I think there was a third major director who almost made it with Johnny Depp and then like ten years later became an Apple plus series that no one. It wass a good thing. we didn't have to learn how to actually say that I just do you remember? guess what? that there was a Hulu original series about Sean Penn going to Mars in which they never actually went to Mars because in classic streaming series. you know, fashion season one ends with them like going to go to Mars. He's discoveered a new planet, a telescope. And then like they're like, no one watched this season two has been canceled. So you didn't actually even get to watch Sean Penn go to Mars. It was a show, right Yes, that's right. Yes. I truly forgot that existed until you mentioned it right now. I think that's what he was promoting when he was on Mer and saying he's iring. Yes. It's like I've done yeah, I've done everything belting as Oscars full time into books. We all love his books. Now, of course, Bob Honey, who do stuff C you read bothoth of you read Bob Bonny who do stuff to your daughters every night. Every day. Honey honey Joney Bit Ben Ben lookook up the cover of Bob Honey Wh whooo stuff. Look Bob honey Wh I believe it hang I you just do stuff. Hang on. how do you think you spell honey in the title of Sean Penn's novel like honey. No. No, noope. thinkink a little bit more Winnie the Poop. H U N N You're on the right track, E. I don't know it's something like that. Yeah. I'm seeing it as tony spelled regular. I willct to revise my memory of what the title is. That's a true show that doesn't exist.. And I want to correct shantteram with Charlie Hunam. I think my joke about the first was two kind. Season one would end with someone making the telescope. This is for k two would end with them No it's how you introduce your kids to sophisticated political satireire This this a book I think he's writt ask people. I think he's written multiple Bob Honey. I too Bob Honey crr. It's like some kind of it's not far as gumpy, but it's like some kind of character who like drifts through history I think. Everything I'm pulling is from a ten year old episode of Dunginia. But like a Forest Gump character. I don't know. Yeah, sure This was don't correct me. This was him saying like I'm done with movies, fuck them. I'm doing this full time. I did this Hulu show. That's my final thing as an actor. And then he won a third Oscar.. There are eight actors in history with three acting Oscars. He is the eighth. Yes. He won it for an incredible performance In a movie that I think will be very well remembered that won best picture. Yeah. And when he won everyone was like and he didn't show up. It being his third award so we him not showing up. People will forget that he won. I think truly it will become a like who won best supporting actor that year? And like apart from Walter Brennan, who God bless him, we love him. Walter Brennan is the weirdest of the winn. Andberergman Catherine H Hepburn, Yeah, Jack Nicholson, right? Uh mean Seaan Penn is five.s friend Ben's friend Daniel Day Lewis Meryl Streep. And there's one more She's got a bit of a hard face these days.ixed arm. A bit of a fix, you know, a tough stare. And she even has's we fourour Academy Ar. No she three I guess four if you countter producing. Yeah. She has three acting. She' three acting wins and a best picture. You would think pen and wear would have overlapped they kind of hit the same your your very same stride around the same time. I mean yeah, I wonder if he ever even considered him for one. somethingomething I always loved about Peter Weirard younger watching these movies is what you just said like Man, he really just has these like awesome men at the center every time And they're just doing some of their best work consistently. The crazy thing is that Brenndnan won three Oscars in a span of five years. Yes For playing I mean I haven't seen all the movies that he won Oscars for, but I assume basically doing the same shit every time because that's what Walter Brennon always did Yeah. And he was only nominated one other time. So he has a seventy five percent track record of winning if nominated. Meryl Streep, you're like three oscars. Yeah, twenty one noms. She sucks. I don't mean She was striking out. I don't mean to be rude.. Is there not some weird explanation for the Walter Brennan thing that the rules of the accademy changed you're thinking of possibly, wasn't there a thing where he was nominated for both lead and supporting or something? Like B just pin that I tried to steer the conversation back to Peter where and David immediately brought it back to this trivia factory that we're all tired of hearing at the end of Oscar season. It It is true that Oscar season' over and it is kind of like, who cares? But I very definitely tried to turn this San. And pen came up. What do you mean? We werere on our great Yeah run. But then I brought it back. The honey thing I brought it back and David, who likes things to keep going in a tangential direction was like, hang on, we'll talk about Peter Weare in a second. Walter Brennan, who never worked with Peter Weare. that we know of. I'm I'm gonna to solve this. I don't I know I feel like I know what you're talking about, Griff, but I'm not totally sure. There Oh yes. o, this is what it is. Yeah. in the early years Extras could vote. There makes no sense because like what does that mean? Extras could vote. But they realize basically that would always whip and votes from the Eras like a nice guy that everyone would like. So they sll up next to them at R and they'd be like, he's a man of the people. 'Cause there's the other thing where like what is it like Betty Davis got a write and vote. and then there's the other thing where like someone was nominated for both lead and supporting and won in support. I don't know, But that wasn't to clean up all the rules right's not Who was that? I't fucking know.,ook,lease that out. It's Alex's tenth appearance on Bank check here out. There was this f. You're claaring you've been banned from the show. Well, but I mean, at some point in didn't do an episode in twenty twenty five, but it's at some point in that year, both Emily Yoshida and I confirred that you guys had gotten too big for for sort of the, you know, twin flames of Blank Jekins you had just outgrown some of your core voices. Okay. so in favor of heavies and fame, but excuse me. I mean, what it really you guys both left the city. I mean not no, no no no, no o. There's a bigger thing here.. okay. bigger thing is you were chasing clout and fame. The bigigger thing here is The Cohen Brothers series and the early Spielberg series were both long, right? Those two series basically comprised a full year We knew we were doing Lyn Ramseay after Spielberg. Is that right on the timing No after Spielberg then it's Heckerling and then it's Cohens's Oh yes, I'm sorry, That's what it is. We knew we were doing Lynn Ramseay after Cohenens. So we didn't book Yoshida on a Cohenenss because we knew she had to do more Vn Cow with you is We have a group txt called News and Deals. It is the three of us. Hitmaker Simons, David Lowry and Sean Fantasy. Sean Hollyoodantasy? Yeah, Sea Hllwood F fantasy. Tim hitmaker Simons.. David, everythingverything's biger in Texas L.ood, really lovely man, Lowerry Gentle soul Yes in a thread that's like heavy on shit talking, David's really there for like I feel like a really more pure energy. I invited David to it because I was simultaneously getting a endless flurry of texts from the this group text and David, the day, the first one batt after another trailer came out and I was like David, what would you like to just combine these threads This similarly. we had a group text with fantasy We had a group with him Both of them were trending towards physical media news and deal announcements. We combined them. and then I had this is maybe the single act I'm proudest of in my entire life. Wow.'s gonna be What are I going to say? One day I say to the group, What do you think about introducing ARP to this group text? It was important because Things are a little too Right. We're a little de aligned here. Everyone kind of agrees on every friction. There's no the biggest controversy is hitmaker not liking Zodiac, who cares? You know, We all always riled up about it.ers you. and's been it's been the greatest choice. You roll a grenade in there every day. It's improved all of our lives. You bring us so much joy and happiness. I just don't have much else to do But I can devote a lot of you I m and My father. but Very often we will give news and deals first crack. That's true. If we've settled on a miniseries or we're like, Hey, March Madus feels like it's trending this way. That happened in this minis series and I said two movies and you're like oh, that's gone already Peter Weir. Yeah, what did he say? The second you said we' doing Weir, I was like, I just revisited Trumanh showow. L like, JadD's doing Truman show. Yeah. When the Cohenss looked like they were going to win March Madness, we throw out to you guys what were your Cohen's picks.. Everyone else has a choice. you say Okay he has it up. So this is going to be a verbatim line. Because Yoshida brought this up to me and was like, yeah, Arp and I have been complaining that we both feel like we've been shadow banned. I'm like, you're herere doing an episode right now. How mine? And this is what Arp' not explaining to you. You said, I'd request Hail Caesar, a movie that so doesn't exist. It took me twenty minutes to remember This is me talking. Yes. Yes. then Simsung Another G Cinem a Matrix play no one remembers all of these people there in the movie for one scene We thought you were just making a comment about the public rudely not remembering this film him says CBS films failed that one. That's a great art that was inside Louew and Davis. Okay, whatever Hel Caesar was universal S David says that's a great art pick, a great film And then like, a month later, I was listening to some another episode and someone they was like, all, I's got a text from a friend of mine. She's gonna to do Hill Caes or something. I guess that's There goes that. I say five star masterpiece. you give it a thumbs down. You respond another chance post Hollowan to talk about what a Dud Brolin is to me. That's right. I say Alex, you're coming in ice cold with this shit. You are. You were I reverse course on Brolin for weapons, I really liked him in that.'s good weap But then it was in something else after that that he was bat in again. What was What else was he in the back half of last year? he was in the Running man in Wake upp Dead Man. Yeah. I was wake up deead Man that I was like, this is bor. I mean, I feel like Wake up deadan, he's he has kind of a boring role. Go ahead. Later fantasy swinging in with his love of Buster Scruggs, you give that a thumbs down Relevant for the film today because this to me is almost as good of a last film as you guys have covered That is to me almost as bad of a last film. is exactly the kind of spice and flavor spice that Bank check needs. You said that you can see watching this movie that Peter Weer felt like he was ready to hang it up, which is what I felt watching Buster Scrus at Walter Reed, a truly dispiriting screening F Alice Telly. The Netflix effect makes it nonxistent sadly. You go that plus it's a gentleman six. It is so funy to me how unsuccessful I don't driveway dolls are. financially, I've seen neither. And then still true. Sean posts a picture of Tom Waites panning for gold and writes Alex looking for hot te. Yeah. Solid solid little meme there. Yeah. Well a group text me And Sim sends me his breakout text with you one on one. I love it Oh from likes from years earlier, right The Coen Brothers are old guard with nothing new to offer. Buster Srugs was embarrassing. Tuly embarrassing I dug it up Hel Caesar should have been the last one. It's just Cohen's by the number. That's right.. When they have numbers, they're pretty good in IMO. Like four months ago, you teexted us you went Fargo sucks. No I't say embarrass Francis McDorman it is. That is an embarrassment. That is an embarrassing. When' you spend six months being like the blank check guys are big timing me, they won't have right now. You were saying every Cohen brrothers thing is embarrassing U notot everyone, just to me like Peter Weir is a guy. I don't think I have a movie of his in my brain that's below a three star film. So great that we got you one this year. That is true. I want you to do Weirre for a long time. But to me, I feel like That is a body of work I' with that has some real lows for me. I would agree that Peter Weir's basement is three stars. Yeah, which like can't make a bad movie in my opinion. No, largely not make a bad movie. changes what he's doing so much. Sure. And because oftentimes his instincts are just, this is what's so sad to me about the industry failing him as Mr. Hawk pointed out And as obvious from this movie's release and everything. like How can we fail a guy like this? Sure. Did we fail him? He had an enormously successful de. the contraction that happened in the twenty ten s You know, he's like the kind of guy you picture a scene like Some guy who's been at the company for twenty five years has been a top salesman get brought in. It's like, list We're just making some cuts and we got to let you go. And it's like, I've been here forever. I've done so much for you. And it's like, it's not personal. We just We just got to kind of sayay goodbye. Like we're gonna to offer you an early retirement. But I still have work and it's like, no, I'm sorry, you just kind of have to go away. And he's someone it's like, if even he couldn't get the means after and this is a good movie. Like this isn't like Yikes, Tarantino's right. peopleople really should hang it up. This is everything inn is that he's good at. Yes. is this is a respectable final film. Right now, I'm always saying Tarantino's right. This is the moment for that. He's right about everything. He keeps getting more right. I don't see anybody selling any Tarantino was a dope shirts Paul Dano should sell some of his front la. do you like McDorman's an embarrassing win becausecause Emily Watson should have won? sureure Emily Watson obviously very powerful. Obviously I hate this kind of like hindsight like, it's a bit of. You know she's gonna get two more awards, but like barely in the movie. For thirty minutes., that's. If I mean, you're just immediately, you're just on the crazy trition. she If she won for supporting, I'd be like, fine, whate The Emily Watson performance in Breaking the Waves is I think one of the ten best screen performances I have ever seen. It's an incredible performance, but this is just silly. It's like it's the Oscars. The movie where Emily was even got niled constantly because Stell and Skarkar got paralyzed in like the fucking insane Lauris Montreu movie. it's like the nb is the reward. Like stop being crazy You were also com in, you were coming in harsh on other areas of Fargo. You were coming generally. My rewatch of it, I was really bored And also like minute mo. Yeah, I know I I want you to understand that we don't shadow ban you from the show. Sometimes we strategically go, if you come on a Fgo episode and go obviously I come on a Fargo episode willri you apart like glad It No. I didn't want to watch a Fargo episode. Also at that time I hadn't seen it in fifteen years. And I'll say this, I asked after you guys roasted me on group chat I asked Every single person I worked at Kim's video with, what do you think of the Cohen brothers and Fargo? This is like seven people I ask. Every single one of them was like nothing I think maybe the example of One person was like, I haven't seen it since it came out, No interest in revisiting I stopped watching their movies. One of the One person said the best movies for Normies. One person said now, wait, hold I'm just saying I'm just saying hold on.ick question is about hated going to clking videos often were they contrarian snark snark friendlly O people, open hearted. friendriendly cinema lovers Okay I'm just fr facing Yeah. It's very interesting me make strong eye contact. Yeah. I'm simply saying, it's very interesting to me that you can turn from one side to the other and have two one hundred and eighty degree different opinions on the exact same body of work H I was hearing opinions from my old coworkers that in other contexts would be sacrilegious. And then say yes. You guys were saying opinions that if I brought to them they'd be like, Wh are these fucking darks? I agree with you that it is interesting that different people can share can hold different opinions I also think if our listenership was like, o, great, I can't wait for the Fargo episode. No far I never No, no, he was never gonna to be. He's later movies, Lou and Davis aside that I found Yeah, I I'm riding with all them Alienware's back to school event is the perfect time to score top gaming gear with incredible features and Intel core processors to go beyond performance. Lord knows, I'm stressed about returning to school. You can save big on gaming desktops, laptops, and more. Start your Alienware journey with the Alienware fifteen gaming laptop featuring Intel core processors Smoothly game, live stream and multitask for hours on end. plus. Play through every game exactly how you want with customizable alien FX lighting across your alienware ecosystem, creating your very own gaming profile and more. We're talking full disclosure Finally, pair your incredibly smooth gaming experience with immersive visuals and sound by saving on sleek alienwar, monitors, headsets, and more the world deserves to know. This limited time sale awaits you now at alienware dot com slash deals. That's alienware dot com slash deals thing is about Hil Caesar that none of you brought up. What? While we talk about the long walk. fistically muddled sense of the nineteen thirties. You did write that. Yeahes, This drives me crazy that no one points this out. People who supposedly know what movies are. Every time they go to a different movie in that in the fifties. Then why is there a fucking Esther Wiams synchronized mov? I those for fifteen years. It's funny. Who cares care Well, clearly, I mean that is obvious. Nothing in million dollar mermaid was nineteen fifty two, I will say. That is like that's like saying never say never again was, you know, I believe that's exactly what it's like saying, but it is like saying It's not presented as like, wow, we're making one more of these. And it's just crazy to me that this movie that's supposedly steeped in Hollywood history And the fucking the The Ray Festing that is a thirties movie. He's visiting like a Ruben Mamullion comedy of Manners and then they go to supposed to a little bitch, but yeah sure Really I mean they still kind of exist. I'm having such a good Everything you're saying is like the magic is bad. These movies from the thirties coxist with these movies from the fifties in this pointless fantasia of nothing. I know, nothing can be realistic like your favorite film of all time, Damien Chisell's Babylon Another film that I think presented Hollywood exactly as it was, right? Like that's that's an opinion you share. You're not saying anything so we' carry on. T test the testable work of art. Alex's body is slowly from the toes to the top of his head turning red. It's working up his body like a thermostat. Hil Caesar, look should you should yell of this at the coens and they probably go like Okay God I gott to get that good so But Griffin only because Griffin said this is a movie you can feel of a guy being like, I'm kind of ready to hang it up. and I don't feel that in this mov. No no, I don't feel him saying that while I don't feel the movie saying that. I understand why the response to the movie would make him say that That's the point I'm trying to. Do think he cared that much about the sort of fallout of his work after that much I think his career ups and downs so much harder for him to get this movie made. PW. Well his other films, right to had to make it in a much scrappier way. Wow. It barely gets released. Yess who steps up to the plate image, bigig yellow triangle. Second, National Geographic film covered on Blank check Canan on the watermaker. Yeah, yeah. And I would say I can't believe you missed that logo because It's long. It's a really, really long pre roll logo. but This movie really reminded me of K nineteen. I think it's better than K nineteen. Yeah, but similar kind of like Why did you think anyone was really gonna be hot for this story? National geographics two movies where it's like, and then they suffered and then they suffered some more. And let me tell you, it's true. They had this directive at the time of like, let's dry. It's dry. Everyone's doing an accent, but they're different accents. It's a lot of emotionally closed off Russians. Yeah, let's tell the Russian side of things. is National geographics two thousands And and basically what willver a third national geographic What else is aational geographic? And I don't remember now. it's weird. I kind of thought maybe these were the only two, but there's actually others. I'm gonna to figure it out. I will figure it that out and I will crack up with the Delsia. Here's some other obvious ones of course, March of the Penuins. but we're not going to count now we'rere not to count the narrative historical Restrepo. rememember that one? That's a documentary too though. Yeah. there's really not much. This is kind of it That's why I was fascinated to see that big yellow square. There's the J in Chad ye film The first grader. I think that is a drama which is about like Kenyan education. Okay. There's that movie Amrika. rememember that? which is about like a Palestinian family moves to Chicago. These were all like goodood mo, you know, like u, you know, civic kind of movies, you know what I mean? Like a like sort of weighty issues U Mostly it's documentaries. Yeah. So this is the final national Geographic film to be covered on Blankchck. that I think there's no. Well, then it's more unlostly works for the Penguin Yeah, what would that be? p Penguins Patreon We've already done both happy feed. It's true. kind of you f of the penguins march to the penguins. You march and then you first I mean, perfect, perfect, serious. Little this little right Following the release of Mastering Commander, which Alex pointed out got ten Oscar nominations one two and was successful although As I'm sure we discussed last week, was not hugely successful. Incredibly expensive. It was very expensive and they wanted it to make. was basically a financial break evenven. And you asking like, why didn't he immediately gain like a new wave of momentum from Master and Commander? I think part of it was Well, is this a series that he's going to stay on? And then it was kind of in a midpoint for a while of like we can't decide whether or not to make more of these. Yeah. and Crow is like, I'm only getting more addicted to sandwiches guys. So if you want me, you know, to fit into that vest. I'm either throwing pham or eating a hook Be like Robin Hood is which is this year, I think is twenty ten, right? Yeah That's the last where he's like, I went back to the gym and it's like he at least like walked through the gy tightened it ay up As way up as he could. But body alizes right before that body ales, he's God bless. Well, it's just the character demanded. The character's on the phone all the time eating sandwiches. and I love sandwiches. I sent you last night our in our text with Sean Clemments. Oh that fucking crow movie. What's it called? Yeah, I'm going to send you a crow poster. I just want your reaction on Mike to this Alex. What's the phone call again? Let let me just get I so yes, Peter Weere, you know, in between seventy four and eighty six, he makes eight films. in between eighty seven and twenty two thousand three He makes just five films. So he's going taking longer and longer to make movies, takes him seven more years to make the way back. But in between, here are some of the things he was attached to because there were other projects. first is I was surprised he did not have the beloved separate Wikipedia page of list of unmade and unrealized projects. Yeah. He's a guy that should. He probably should He has a t. you know what? he deserves that. And if someone could get on that, please someone make it. F first one is the war magician Right. A Cruise Wagner at Paramount project based on a nonfiction book about a patriotic British stage phician who volunteered his illusionist abilities to help the Nazis. I mean, this sounds like watch Like Harvey Weinst seems like let me out of prison. I can release that shit. Am I insane for thinking that Benanda Cumberbatch has tried to revive that recently? Or is there a different Itber Batch wartime magician movie that is being made. Well, Oviously he was Doror Strange who fought the Infinity W. Of course. This is what I love about Peter Weir is that here was this brand of like, well, this is a vast historical challenging thing that would have a lot of really great roles for our finest movie stars. He should do it And he had all these projects for years. Well, like Tom Cruise a guy that it's actually surprising he never worked with because it felt like Tom Cruise was a bit checklisty at that point. Yeah. I mean, I imagine there's a a guy who you would imagine he's both meeting with and saying what do you want to do and also any time he options a book though ising. Cruise was doing that. We was in the kind of other key of dead poets and Green card and Fairit likeess. Yeah. But I mean, running through the early made more movies. Yeah. but you know, he just he just started taking a long time between projects. All right look Cz had one at one point been attached. att this point, he's just a producer on it Um, Cruise Wager split from Paramount, obviously in two thousand six. Amicably I'm sure. very. There was no problem Cext notes here, cool and normal. At that point, Cruise actually reattaches possibly starring But we are let's it go. Mark Forster, your best friend. gets attached and indeed, Benedict Cumberbatch was eyed to star. There we go. Now it is this wasiss Maestro himself. Just quick pause because I sent Alex Bear country a poster image and I want you to des Bear country. Your favorite blank check segment describe a poster. Okay. H, I' I get to do this? So Russell Crowe is doing a yoga pose. Well, what's the first thing right at the top of the poster? It's from the director of Unhinged. Oh, that's the car movie that he made that came out that was like in theaters. L they were like It was in like thirty thousand theaters. mayay twenty twenty, let's put this thing to break the record of being the first movie to new releed to open in theaters. But okay from the director of Unhinged, that's like a scrappy fucking schlocky like B movie action film. What we have here is the tone you imagine is gonna transfer to the rest of this post. Beyond pink font with a kind of rounded look that says Bear countountry doing a yoga pose in front of a pool with a palm tree with the ocean behind him. What I can only imagine is Australia. I would argue he's dressed like DJ Calid. I haven'tone to the clothes yet. Okay. because he has on noise canceling headphones. Noise cancellling headphones, spiky crazy hair. It's a crunchy tong forass I might say a uh kind of like have a lower looking tracksit Yeah that is orange, but yeah. I would say Calid desesque for sure, yeah. But despite the yogi pose, which conveys tranquility by his feet is a gun that a hand gun. That looks like it is a cartoon that was drawn onto this poster. Yeah. It's not the most It's also just got like a couple loose bullets. Yeah the bullets the g Tsa Palmer is listed beneath that she's Australian. Yeah. Luke Evan also Australian is listed there. He might be Australian. He definitely or British. Is I thought he was. And there's some other names and it says with Nina as What am I talking about? And Aron Paul and Eron Paul. necessarily who you want with the an to excite the movie. no offense to Aaron Paul, but right, you do not want him in your an. And then there's some lady who's probably sexy, but we can't see her can't see her. in a lounge town on the other side of the pool, but she's blonde, so you know she's Australian. It might even be Teresa Palmer. It could be Ver possible. It could be. You could show me your face and I wouldn't be And I was holding a lot of Theereressa Palmer stock throughout those and that's Bear twenty ten. I guess I called those any stock. They were. But I was holding. Well while we're on that subject, while David Reesy' off above what Griffin just texted me is a series of unresponded to text messages where I was asking the questions about Gifts for Ben. This is a good while Griffin has put me back and it's just worth mentioning that Griffin doesn't respond to one on one text, but if I ask the same question in a group text, he responds literally within seconds. It is an interesting phenomeny. Iish notar everyone else inventory of some objects for Ben, which I will now o in the middle of Tachies conversation. I guess we can just bring out a really important clean segue. So Ben, this is for you Oh shit. Do you Do you see what it is? Can you make out the copper name? It's gonna to come get This is a vintage boxed Dare I say really good condition Bawn action figure T Dg Mack And what is the character name on here, Ben Look on the side and on the top right there Future spawn. This is spawn from the future. So is this sort of like a spawn twenty ninety nine type situation? But it's like a roobospawn, mechaspawn. There's a little like a sticker on the upper right hand that describes what his deal is. And this is machine, part human. All spawn. It's very roobocop. Now it's funny, you give me this, which thank you. This is awesome, Alex. I really appreciate it. I just feel like future sppawn is in line with your like pitches for spawn.. They now have a futurewnances a new clearly they had it all along. And I just brought it here with me Rat City I just read the first six issues. It's great.al about happppy to give you this thing that I bought thirty years ago and immediately was like, this is going to be worth thousands. Yeah. this is going to pay off. Has anything ever sounded more like a Ben Hotley pitch than Hey, I got a gad idea for a comic book. It's spawn in the future. Yeah. So he's like a demon from hell, right? But yes, now he's in like a robot machine. Right. And you're like, cool. I assume it's called Future spawn. No, it's called Rat City. No That's why you would call it I feel like Ben's always bringing lovely gifts and I wanted to return the favor. Thank very kind of you. This is so appreciated. Damn, there's some really good other toys here. Yeah, the line on the back promises a lot of good stuff. Have I finally broken Ben into becom an action figure collector make in front of or crack this guy. Do you see Do you see he's got a violator on the? Yeah no I saw that That's the Bendy. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't bringing you something you already have srape April two thousand four, Variety announced that put a picture of that in the carousel abbsolutely. contontent for. Here was attached to direct an adaptation of William Gibson's novel pattern recognition. two thousand four, you said. Yes. This is right after mastering yes, that I feel like that was a a two thousand three novel by Gibson. I feel like that was also project that got passed around a lot He rewrote it with DB Weiss. Okay. Nothing ever became of it And he said, I couldn't get the script right and pulled back out of it. I don't know The major one, of course, as we already mentioned, is that in october, two thousand four, Warner Brothers purchases the film rights to the novel Chantaram for two million dollars at the urg of Johnny Depp It's a one thousand page book. He wanted to beat out Russell Crow, who was also really into like that book And now I don't know what depthsw in a roll like this An Australian heroine addict convicted of robbery escapes from a prison and flees to India and reinents himself as a doctor in Bombay and gets involved in counterfeiting and smuggling and gun running, which leads him to Afghanistan, where he and a mob boss battle the Russians That is what the book is. I will say as a weird fan at the time And a depth fan at the time. Re? Yeah. I was like for sure. a height of dep. I was truly like, let's fucking go. I was sounds so good We're going to shoot all over the world. It's going to be hard as hell. It's going to be like a hundred million plus budget for like an adult tent poll. R. And this is Johnny Depp is so at the peak of his powers right now. Yeah that this isn't like fuck, Disney's agreeing to option Chantaram in order to make Jack Sparrow happy. This is Warner Brrosers, a company he doesn't really do movies with Everyone starts committing some crime. sure. but every real and on screen. Everyone's like truly anything Depp wants to do, we will make And make it his requested budget level and with whatever creative team he wants. Yeah. he wants to crack open the window. Yeah. seems to crack Yeah seret I mean, it would be funny if in two thousand four Dpp had pitched the crimes of Grindelwald and they'd be like what? And he's like, don'try about it's But this is going It's going great. This is all. I mean I I'm not enop I' not encylopedic in the unmade projects of Wear, but this to me, it was always kind of like the great unmade one Because he was at peak of his power even though he's probably in his sixties by now. Yeah, he'd be in his like early sixties. After Truman and master and commander, it was like, man, this guy He's just he's still the best. Mosquito cooast at this point's twenty years ago. and he's still got this power over movie stars and environments Eric Roff is brought in for a rewrite. so obviously this is being taken very seriously. It's a heavyweight screenwriter. In two thousand six, Weir does enter the project, but then apparently he andohnny Depp were unable to get on the same page and he decided the pairing wasn't meant to be. The page was, how many bottles of wine should we drink an hour Weir says I was involved for P period. I went to India I talked Johnyiff about. It's his film. I just wasn't, you know, it wasn't the right combination. That's being very diplomatic cor. But I think it's going back to what we're saying that it used to be like these guys would go to him with their passion projects and say I want you to get something out of me that I don't know how to get out of myself. And now it's like People like Depp and Crow trying to call the shots Yeah and be like, no, you work for me. I think we arere also at that point is a little paralyzed by having made a couple like really heavyweight movies and just being like, well, if I want it to be really special, I want it to really spe, you know, like he's not just like, well, let me make a movie because like it's good to make a movie. Best director nominated for Master and commommander and for Treman showow And for Truman S showow. in a row. and for dead poets and witnesses he have four It's four total, I believe yes Th those are the four, I think.. He wasn't nominated for Green Carter Free But two consecutive best picture best best director. Truman was snubbed for picture, but he was nominated. Yeah Obviously, yeah, again with master and Commander, it's like, you know, he's he's a he's undeniable. L he's just one time nominee total because also a best picture nod for commander and writing nod for Green Card. He's just one of the best. like at this time. he's just undeniable like a totem of stududio filmmaking where at this time The script is everything I gott to get a great script and a great star, and there's nothing more to it than that. And now he's always his formula. I'ote if there is a forula in other episodes, but it's a quote that stuck with me in that same Ethan Hawk interview. He goes, he was that rare thing, which is an actual popular artist He was like an artist of like intelligence and skill who made entertainment.'s a weird thing for Ethan Hawk to respect so much U someome other minor ones that sort of cross his desk the Fox two thousand project Shadow Divers. Okay E that sent people pial discovering Hitler's lost suby fucking rules. Was anyone ever attached to that? I mean, that feels like another project that I' occasionally hear about because it's like, it would be these like nonfiction bestsellers, right? Uually about World War two And you know, it's like, yeah, why do you know, they get optioned and they sort of pass it around, but no, it's never been made So I Peter Weir says the thing that changes I no longer work with the studios. right? Why is he saying this? Like he's saying this in a twenty twelve interview, but he's saying like from Witness through master and Commander, that's my studio period. Yeah. They no longer make those kinds of films. Someone from a studio said to me recently, We're not in that kind of business anymore I've watched the market change. This is all from around right after right around when last when this movie comes out. When he has not yet claimed. He's not retired but's like, what's changing? says I watch the market change moving towards what I would call children's programing. Okay, Peter. Okay I'm surprised that even amongst acquaintances and my friends of my children in their thirties, you revisit childhood by going to the cinema as an adult. I find that quite fascinating I feel like when he says, I find that quite fascinating, he means I don't like that or I think that's stupid Anyway, so he doesn't really want to make what he thinks of as a kids movie. He wants to make a large canvas movie which is basically what he's been doing So he's looking around. He now That is fascinating As this contraction happens, that he's not likeike I guess my move is looking at dead poets, looking at a even something like fear L H his move isn't like, you know, I've done that really well also. Yeah. I have made fairly small character dramas kind of more widely p. That seems like a lane I'm in now. and it's not like, o well, I've grown out of that. S. Even Truman's show is kind of that, even though it's fairly large movie. The book he reads that he in cllassic Peter Weare Fashion, which I feel like is always the case with the movies he makes. It's like he can't stop thinking about it. He can't let it go is this book The Long Walk, which allegedly details a true story, although it seems like it's a very kind of like, we're not really sure totally sure was it is Real? Did it happen to the guy who wrote it? Did he steal someone else's story? or exactly this way R And then weir himself has admitted that basically he wrote a fictional movie based on this sort town That is questionable. What if you escape from a Soviet labor camp in Siberia and marched by foot through Siberia, China, the Gobbe desesert, Tibetan and Himalays all the way to India And what if you had to walk so fucking far? like U He read An Applebaum, my coworker, Anne Applebaum, works at the Atlantic her book Gulag he gets very interested in the gulag and like, you know, all of this and then the feat of endurance and the tenacity of human beings and sururvival stories, I guess he's Never really quite made that kind of a movie, but that was kind of a movie in the nineties Yeah really, right? Like aer says, I've gotten really interested in gulogs and American studio heads are salivating could not be swinging further away from the interests of the studios at this moment. They want You know, Guantanamo. That's like a cool prison for us now. We don't want to see Russians in prison in two thousand. An Guantanamo related film mean, this was an era where they were all hitt and big at the box office. People wanted to see movies about Peter, are you interested in imprisoning men from the Middle East or just Russians? Because we'll keep green lightighting those despite audiences telling us please stop Now I can't I will mispronounce the name of the author of this book. Slavamir Rit R I'm not sure. I think that's correct. But BBC Radio four in two thousand six had attempted to verify his account They walked away being like, this is likely not true. That's offensive also that they walked away because that's kind of like hitting the murders. He was a prisoner in the Gulag We can't find evidence that he escaped, posossibly someone else escaped and he's telling their story, something like that. So wed gets jumpy and it's kind of like, okay, well, fucking like I don't want to do it then if it's like, you know, controversial But then he finds that three men had done a walk like this. Yes and they do more research. And so he decides to kind of re fictionalize it. He want That's why he retitles the movie, not because of Stephen Kay. Okay becausecause he's like, I don't want to be presented really as like a straight adaptation of this book that's a little you know, muddy. he goes and talks to these people. The one guy Glinsky told Blinsky who lives in Cornwall. who he said basasically was like his first major hire and was the primary consultant on the movie. This making of thing on the Blue Ray has a lot of talking to all the actors about how to do everything and what it physically felt like. C on guys, one foot in front of the other. You know the deal. But basically, yeah, this guy was like a survivalist Right who decided to like, it be an interesting challenge to see if we can do the thing with from this book did it with a group of guys and then he basically writes a fictional movie based on this guy's accounts of what the emotional experience was like. Right. N me to other people who had bab trek through the Himalayas but, you know, he's he's coming to it as truthful as he can. He also hired an Apple Bam. I had no, I should have emailed in I mean, she's a bigger shot than me, but she does work in the Atlantic and I've been on many a Zoom with her. Is she in the sllack? C you like, she's in sllack Yeah? I could probably you ask right now, like, hey, anything you want to tell us about Gulogs Like takes on Gulag. She's on the Gulogag beat for the Atlantic, you're say? She writes about like political oppression in easastern Europe byge.. So she just writes a lot about Russia, right? She does man the Gulog desk I really honestly cannot be flipping about this. So I'm not being flipped No I is more than what she's doing sounds very serious. and I like the idea of someone talking about political oppression in easastern Europe and you being like. So here's who has three Oscars and why Anne says David, I wrote the book on the gulag. Anne says that Peter, please keep sending me most of the slack. U used them as a sounding board U, you know, and then she she and other professors directing to survivors and all that. Look, the way back What you're also hearing in my like accounting of all this is this took years. likeike this is yes. his process just seems so slow. because he's so mater. that also used to be allowed. That also used to be givable for these filmmakers that prioritized like authenticity, research, veracimilitude and their storytelling. It used to be like You're vaguely being paid to develop this while you do research for two years. Also and I'm sure Master and Commander had a similar kind of heavy lift of like approaching time period. He also talked Yeah, I think absolutely the Truman Sh show episode, but like because Care's dance cart is so full, he gets two and a half years to prep that movie while he waits for him to run through his other contractual obligations And like when movies have major budgets like this and people go, why did it cost this much Sometimes like those are major factors and those are things that studios refuse to spend money on now, I would say, basically, is like We'll let you work for like a year and a half with like a small staff to just figure out how you're going to approach this. Yeah. And he really did the most with that kind of thing. And that's the kind of thing where if you had a list actors attached, they would grant you that because they were like, well, if it's Mel Gibson, If it's Harrison Ford, if it's Russell Crow We think we will make back that investment. Yeah. R. The money we spend on your research But the thing is, we'll be paid opening week. But I lament that is obviously dead and gone that he represents is like whether they knew it or not Almost every time, these were forever movies Like obviously, year of liivving dangerously is not like, you know, a basic cable classic, but By you, these movies last forever. Master Commander is a great example of that, where I'm just like certain that movie has gone into profit many times over now. At the time release, it was seen as a you know, breaky. And even like dead poets just becoming what it is But that was a major hit at the time and then has just become like an forever movie. Right He really just had this instinct of making something that wouldn't age at all that was not the way they were thinking at that time. And you also imagine if Peter Weir is like, cool, I'm going to like not rush and take my time to develop this movie every six months that he spends working on this film. the chances of this getting made in any traditional way are like cut in half. Also like This only gets more old out of fashion. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, it's just like each passing year it like you're losing the last development executive each studio who would maybe green lightight something and how power to do so. No studio is making this. Instead, it's funded by exclusive media group, Spitfire Pictures Image Nation entnterertainment, which is the film division of Abu Dhabi And imaginational geographic. Imagination is still very active. Yeah this. But none of these are obviously like good. Pay for a lot of shutter movies They're very you'll see that logo a lot No, I know the logo very well. It's a very It's a. I know the logo.'s and I think it's a have a tattooed on your trest. Y. That would be weird. So But thats when that's when shit gets very depressing for me of this this generation or this level of filmmaker where you see the independent coubed together financingings from all the people who are probably in jail now for one reason or another for the red granites of the war financial crimes in their own country. And just the idea that he's going hand in hand to the Middle East trying to get five million dollars for a chunk of his epic This is just really bad when this starts happening But you asking because we sit here in the shambles of Roquet the collapsing nature of being able to support things that are just obviously of interest to audience. I haven't done a deep dive on Roque Yeah, but well we keep sending you the links. I know I holding you up I looked at one of the articles but like it does seem like they way like We think there's a market for the stuff that's not really getting picked up at film festivals right now And then they're like, it turns out there's not a huge market. There might be a reason stuff' not picked up. Yeah Roquet distributor that has like a dead man's wire, right? Right. Basically like formed a year ago where like we got a lot of financing and there's more product than there are distributors these days. There's stuff getting left at the table at festivals and also there's not enough stuff being put in the theaters buy these movies and will back them fully and will overpay because we know we basically need to pay a tax on being so new. O course that filmmakers are wary to trust that will support their film they forgot is when you do that, you have to fail for like two years. Right. And instead, they failed on one movie and are now insolvent. Well there are like five other movies they' bought that are now like, are we ever coming out? I sent the best the best trip tick of images to illuminate this narrative Um But the douff Yeah Yeah. Yeah. thirty minutes later out of business. Yes. But but this new newew market is to me, like seeing that logo and looking it up This is their Pen utimate movie. Yeah. they're out of business. Yeah. Probably when this movie's coming out. right esssentially And this is just super depressing Yes And this is, I mean Theyirre final, do you know what didid you look up New markarket? The New markarket chronology to their first film. Much like National Geographics, another film you've covered. Memento. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's right. So they have this like ten year miracle run that ends basically with this, followed by the Joseph Gordon Levitt heavy metal movie, Hesher. Oh right. And then they're done. 'ause am I mistaken that they were a production company and they couldn't find a buyer from Memento. And Bob Bernie was like, fuck it, I'm going to figure out how to release this. What we now call a black Yes, it's a bit of a black bear. Can't find a buyer for the rifles of Emiah King. F it Race it ourselves We'll show you guys how much money there is in beekeeping thrillers. They were primarily financier production company, but then they have this run of fucking meento, Donnie Darkco Real Woman have Donny Darkco was a giant bom, but real womomen have curbs. I mean theyer was a hit and the Passion the Christ is the most successful independent film in history. They probably they probably didn't have a very favorable split on that with No with Mel but no took home the lion share, but it is crazy that they released Passion of the Christ. They successfully got that movie to like record breaking numbers, that records that still hold and seven years later they were. Now they're a major player in this mid Odds boom time of It kind of like big, small movies. Yeah, but they could like last four years of struggle Whereas like Ro K can't survive one movie. and if the way back screened at Tiff last year, Ro K would have been the only place that off or it's like the Eden Ron Howard's movie that's like kind of a similar Peter That's kind of I like that movie. I don't know if you guys saw. I did not care for that movie at all. I think we all agree it's very strong. And but that is to me like That was released by Vvertical. Yeahes. But that is the state of the Peter Weir type of movie now. is that it's like, why did this person make this? What were they thinking? Who on earth would release this? And then it comes out and everyone's like, what is this? Well, no, to your earlier point where you're like, why wouldn't at this inflection point in the industry we pivot back to something like Dead Poet Society that is easier to more of those Right becausecause it's like that movie had a budget that maybe a studio wouldn't give him, you know answers don to do that anymore. He says I want to work on a big campa. I was like I' not interested. Yeah. So like right, you could more easily make a cheaper version of Dead Poet society than you can make a cheap version of the way back. But I do think there's almost like a lifestyle creepe, a like scale You saying Peter Weir is Ballen, Like he needs the money. It's beyond that. I think these guys get addicted to the challenge of how difficult it is to mount these big productions especiallyally But that's the thing like if you're successful at doing it, you know how to do it and like maintain the story thread within it and like hold on to dramatic, you know, and artistic integrity, then I think it's hard for you to scale down. like Ridley Scott is a weird I thought a lot about Ridle S exception who will throw in a like fucking good year I've thought about Rley Scott with this movie a lot because they're very similar in a lot of ways in the scope of what they do and in their kind of hit ratio of forever movies. And for some reason, really Scott has figured out how to never slow down. Well, he works fast and the movies he makes can be a little sloppy as a result, although often they really are good he also, you know, works with bigig stars, which I feel like Peter Weir is clearly getting sick of. Eden, I think is a really good comp for the wayayback because that movie is also really dreary and about survival and like You know, it's these people who went to live on an island and it's like, It's based on a true story. and they're like, what do you think happened when in nineteen thirty one, like a bunch of raandos decided to live on like a random island in the Galapago S Islands? I'm like, Did it go badly? And they're like, o, yeah, it did. We were hoping to surprise you with that. Like, you know what I mean? whereere they're like fiftyutes in they're like it' starting get worse. And I was like yeah, I called that from the beginning. Jud L laaw and Sydney Sweeney, we're not gonna recreate society. Sure, but that movie was also Hang on. here are five of the hottest people in they don' look don't do sex. That's like Kirb needed to restart society. Siddney Sweeney showed up. Shes on causing trouble. No, that's the thing.'re like it's like, it's Anidaras and Siddneyweeney. And you're like o, do they look good? like No, they're like starving and like their faces are dirty.. David's really throwing some shade on these the movie's beautiful actresses here. Yeah. I thought it was solid. to it This is the same with Nuremberg, where everyone's like, Oh, Nuremberger was good including friendberg second best movie in the a. And I'm like, no, you guys are forgetting how good these movies used to be. That movie stunk. Like it's no good and it's all gray and like it anyway forgetting how good they used to be. the way back. There's alwaysempt a temptation to cast a nationality where says, but that gets impractical Sure He didn't want all American. He didn't want all English guys doing accents. So he wants a mix of guys. He sure gets a mix. When Ed Harris started talking, were you guys like, that's cool. He's just not doing a voice. briefly go like, oh, so right, are we just doing But then like Colin is like, o, he's American. Col' speaking Russian. Like you' not doing. And I'm like, okay so we're not doing that I not I was respect though, 'cause I'm going into the movie originally thinking, I'm gonna hear Ed Harris full Irish brogue R for two hours and ten minutes. And then the movie starts and I'm like, Ed Harris could be playing any nationality. I didn't know it got this cold in Ireland.. I'm looking at this Paul. I'm like the That's why the potatoes died. They froze. Looks like the Arctic circle here razy. So And Harris' obviously has already work computer Yeah They respect each other. Yeah and And so that anotherother weird super down there is kind of keeping people. Not forever. Yeah a couple a couple Fords, a couple mels sure Yeah cou couple heads. Yeah. Interesting that to have a couple heads. But Ed's like his like in the pocket supporting MVP both times. Yeah, for sure, for sure. And it might not surprise you guys to hear that in this making of a special feature, Ed Harris seemed really activated by how difficult this shoot was And I'm not was no, he was really into. I think he's also just into Peter Were because Peter We're similarly intense with like. let's fucking figure out like what bread they ate or whatever. You know what I mean? Like let's do deep research get into the charactersaris he's obviously in the news lately with the Arm candy for Amy Matt again. Yeah. He's just the fucking best. does wrong Just like one' like has been he's never, ever been back. Truly and has never really been given credit for how consistently awesome he has been. That's a great question for what What's his wor and Harrison where you're like, 'use he does a ton of movies where you're like, okay, he's phoning this in. But that is to me, I stopped watching Westworld, but that's. But I loved him Yeah. But then he started giving interviews where he's like, Well, I'm phoning it in now because they changed the character and I don't like this new character. Right. It is true that they kind of like twist by the way, now you're a robot and he said he was sick of it. He was still good. He was like, I sign up to play the man in black. Now I'm the man in white I'm phoning it in now But like I'm looking through here Ian McCllen said that once upon a time. I don't think I have seen an embarrassing Ed Harris performance. He couldn't embarrass himself if he tried. Like I haven't seen radio I imagine he equits himself better than anyone else in the cast of that film That's pretty close though because I haven't seen that. It's embarrassing that he's in it. Sure. I would say that's also the era the sort of post he gets a bunch of Nom's era. Yeah, that early two thousands where you kind of feel like himm trying to sniff anscar He's on the post. Well P I got so close. Well, But then see have beautiful mind Which he's good in. He's really good in. Eemy at the gates where he Rcks. I was thinking of enemy as We're talking about great Russian war narrative. The hours, which like is an undeserved oscaronom. He's not like bad in it, but that that's my least favorite part of the ee it's not a movie I like. That's when he felt like he's a'somory and it's inevitable. he's gonna to get one so. What I've never seen is the human stain which is a book I love. Ive never seen that either. But and he has he has the most interesting part in it. Yeah if it's the part from the book that I remember, but know you know, that was forgotten. But I also think he's starting to get into this era where like beautiful mind, for whatever reason, I was like driven to rewatch the trailer recently because I was like, is my memory correct about this? That the marketing of the movie was just selling the fucking CIA shit so hard. He's the other name on the poster. Exactly.' posters do Russell Crowe Ed Harris and the No, it's Russell Crow A beautiful mind. Harris tiny But like Jennifer Connolly's barely in the trailer. They obviously don't show the Paul Betneany stuff. Like that movie was they cant, he's not real Right You can't put them in the trailer. The movie sold itself as badass story about a cool CIA analyst And so the trailer and all the marketing was so Ed Harris heavy, and then you watch the movie and you're like, o, Ed Harris is the red herring And I feel like history of violence is the same thing. Well, he's obviously remarkable in that. He's so movie. like this should have been ansc nomine you're like, but then William by hurt. Yeah. Right. The same kind of thing happens with Jennifer Connelly and like He's there's he's used in a way that's making it easy to take him for granted because you don't walk out of the movie thinking about his ar. We haven't even started. Do you guys rewatch Pollock recently? No? No, I actually it is So good Yeah, Paock Rock. It is such a good movie. So good in it. Yeah. Well, he directed Appalusa. Do you ever see He wrote Appalusa. I believe directed it to I directed it. Let me look at it up. Did't Did he direct the Beethoven movie Beethoven again, I' telling you,ly said the same thing. trying to te you up here Yes Yeah, written directed, written and directed. I saw Appalusa. Appalusa Did you see A I've never seen Appalusa. do love a modern Western. R. It's very solid. It feels like he I of wanted to make I always confuse it with Hidalgo because they both have Vigo and they both have names where you're like, hh yeah U Inesa loses a um and Hadogo's a horse. correct ye But those are the only two movies he directed. That's interesting. He hasn't done more of that.'s just. I interviewed him and he was so scary, as I brought up many times on this pod. Jim Sturgis makes a comment in the special feature, saying like I always pitied the PA who had to go up to head Harris and tell him me cameras were ready Py to fall He pities the fool. Okay Jim Surgis. See him into Killim Mocking burders. Yes, I interviewed him for to Kill Mcking That was why I interviewed him. He was good. You can't act like talking about Ed Harris isn' talking about this. canan I bring up the Ed Harris stuff relevant to this movie I want to say finish your anecdote? No, no what No, I'm sorry. You interviewed Ed Haris. No, it's fine. What are you gonna to say? we talk stges? What were you going to say? What love sturgous? He's got a lot of sturgous things. No, that he was like He likes the good burn so much that they talked about, they built a set for the woods where they could control the elements just in case like u, you know, the scheduling didn't line up. They tried to shoot most of this movie chronologically. So they had a large indoor wood set that they could redress. and have a snow machine or have sand or whatever the fuck Ed Haris would like, get to a set every day and he be like Come on, let's just go out there. If it's snowing, we'll wake all these guys up at two o'clock in the morning. Everyone would do it that he like really wanted to be in pain.. He' the best. He was good in loveo lies bleeding also. He's great in He's great in loveve lives bleeding. He's good He's a guy who's deolved. The only problem with Love lies bleing is he's like, I'm your dad. and I'm like You're like seventy eight years old.' so. But it doesn't still fuck. It's like DeVal when we were saying after he died, it's just like, this guy just was awesome forever. Dval was awesome forever. And also was a guy where everyone was like, Yeahah, but he's like kind of scary and a pain in the ass and And you're like, ye Yeah, why don't give a shit? Like Be because he has such an intense amount of integrity for the craft of acting. Yes. The other Ed Harris anecote was that they he was like, you know, they were saying that when theyd be setting up Ed Harris would like wander off like a hundred miles away from where everyone else was far and just stand by himself And he was like, it's graping in nature. You're in these places where no one is in like Cln Eastwood. You can really hear. Weir comparison to Clintn Eastwood says like I think he has a bit of a Clint thing. Yeah. He was like, this is the privilege of being away from all the noise and the cacophony and you can actually listen to nature. except you make a movie and there's always one hundred forty fucking people yapping about All rightisterg just is like so one day at Harris like PA comes over and Ed Harris just starts screaming, canan everyone be quiet for five minutes? We need to connect to the land before we film. And then everyone' saying like, and he was right. And it was incredible how different the next take was. likeike this is all the stuff in the interviews. S But that felt like squad tattoo. Yeah, like then in the way back, which of course, I assume at this point has been nominated for ten more Oscars. Beyond that. it's like, do you know that like Vincent Dinfrio gained sixty pounds for full Medal jacket? Like everyone assumes they're telling the stories that will go down in history about the commitment to the craft and the struggle in this movie David. Yes. you got any big summer plans. If you're traveling, you got late nights, packed weekends, zero structure, any of those AG one in your routine helps you stay That's a loaded word right there. consonsistent. When everything else gets and here's another loaded word unpredictable. Oh, I don't want that and I know you don't either. Look, it's a daily health with a multibiody. Free N pro biotics. Yep, suuper foods and antioxidants. all stir lineup. One scoop, eight ounces of water. You just shake it. There you go. That's it. You drink it. It takes thirty seconds. I know you drink it every single day. What's your favorite flavor right now? Right now, I'm actually really big into berry. I've been cycling through them and I've really been enjoying this berry phase. I will say this as well David You said wherever you are I'm about to go away for six weeks and you better believe I just ordered a whole box of travel packs so that I don't have to travel unarmed. I had no doubt.. Visit drink AG one. com slash check to get your free morning person hat and free AG one flavor sampler. for that hat. In your welcome kit with your first AG one subscription. That's an eighty two dollars value Drink That's drink AG one dot com slash When I wear that hat, it's gonna be so ironic I don't like the mornings. No. But I love Ay one. Yes Jim Sturges, ascendant, as we said possibly Weir says he saw across the universe. okay. you say so. You're questioning whether he saw it? Do doesn't really feel like something he'd run to. Proably like the Beatles. Yeah, maybe. Right. He thought he had a quality U and then he said in meeting him he has a very interesting manner He's got a kindness to him I was keen to not have a typical hero. I'm willing to believe that Peter Weir feels this way. My whole thing with Jim Sturgis is I'm like, he never has read as much of anything to me. Even watching mov he's fine. He's like an adequate looking guy who's fine. He blends in with like these other five guys in the movie. even you he's the lead. There's no doubt that at this time, Weir is told like this is a guy that you really want to put in the center of the movie. And probably like, you know, he'll do it. like Right? He'll fucking do four months in Bulgaria for you. wants to do it. He wants to be like I'm I'm getting like the real serious actor heavy lift shit.. You also you talk about this phenomenon all the time aret, but like guy who is bankable who you can get a green light for any project with this guy for like exactly two weeks. Y You know, where Hollywood's just like, we think if we invest in this guy now two years from now, he will be worth times as much as we paid So he is like a go picture green light activator. I mean And it's a guy who either has like hits that you can't credit to him O hasn't had a hit yet, but the charisma' so strong in movies that didn't make money. But this is what I don't understand. because. that's the Okay, But but we remember what weirir kind of wants here clearly is like Mel Gibson in Galipoli. Yeahes. Yeah sure. I want to be finding someone with a bit of a who's young, but has a little bit of earth to him or something. But like across the universe was a colossal bar Yeah It was incredibly expensive Oh jet out Then in two thousand eight, he's in the other Bolin Girl, which is a movie that I think like made its budget back and did fine, but was really poorly received. And I do I don't even remember him in that. He's the he's the fucking the poster Isn't the poster Ban because Bann is doing this one girls are thinkingirls he's Amberln's brother. I was gonna say he's the other Blin guy He is the Billin guy But across the universe sort of the Rosen Krans and Gildensttern are dead of the other Pin franchise. He was a Julie Tammor discovery. Yes This is Amy Pascal Sony. Across the universe is delayed for a long time.. Ammy Pascal loved like discovering stars and like keeping them in the stable andbedding on them. so they throw them ono twenty one, which is also Sony. And he's the face of that movie. likeike he's on a front center on the post for That movie is a hit. Yeah to they let him they let Facey be frank in them There's only one reason you make the money. Let him be frank. And so that movie has made money. like it made like eighty mill domestic Like it was like a sa After that, I mean, I assume we're getting close to when this movie starts to be made, but crossing overKA woke crash. Right which went nowhere. That was also delayed for years. Right becausecause Sean Pen was in it and he demanded they cut him out of it There was a whole plotline with Soten where he didn't like the politics of the final movie And he said he somehow had the power to get his whole story chunk rememoved. you, Bob, honey, do stuff. He was in the film Heartless, directed by the greatreat Philip Ridley, which I've never seen, which is sort of like the last time Red Ridley made a movie. This year obviously has the insane one two punch of way back in Lend of the Guardians, the Al of Gahouul. He's the main voice in Gahul. Right. I mean, so I mean, at this point his agent is basically just imagining like how big how big a vault will I need for the gold coins I'm going gonna to be making off this gu And then one day with Anne Hathaway and Cloud Atlas are like the last two movies of what feel like the things that he got on after twenty one. Cloud Atlas is one of my favorite movies and it's one of those things where you're like, oh, right, and Jim Sturges. Yeah. You know, like all the other guys, you're like, cool. and then he's there too. because then it's five years of movies you haven't heard. And then like Dean Devlin tries to make him the hero at the center of Geoostorm. and then it goes back into movies you've never heard of I think he's done some TV. has No way No way to know. There kind of is no way to know, but he was the star of Fed the Beast. Of course on AMC and then he was the star of homeome before dark on Apple TV. Brooklyn Printince, of course And then he was the star of M. Jesus, mix tape, which premiered on binge. Why are you saying things we all know? The fuck is going on You're wasting air time. Okay, so he cast youstter just like that sounds greatrazy. It just feels very ye L like Griffin says, it's like if you need a guy of this age, he's I'm sure ten people passed on this movevie. Right. But like ten years earlier, it's or not even like five years earlier, it's Ewan McGregor or it's Colin Ferrell or it's, you know Jan Hall. Yeah. withith Farrell, as we often will hear about Farrell, I feel like, they meet and Peter Weer was like He's really fucking fun to talk to and hang out with. He had the like I was not going in thinking this was his part. He walked out with the part. He's relishing. It feels like this off to Eastern prromises in terms of zero seven, maybe Yeah, it is. It was seven. Really? Yeah. I thought it was like nine or ten. It seven. Okay, so tolerance for like tattooed Russian convict is high. through the roof. The Q score is immense. The public is demanding it. They're angry every time they show up in a theater and that kind of guy doesn't show up. Where's a guy with like a weird knife that he talks to? This performance I found very subtle and moving Oh yeah And I do I fuc in love what I love about the way backack is that you're like, okay, when they're all going to die and weirre's like, no, actually And some of them will just kind of stop walking for other reasons. They're just like, you know what? I'm tapping out. Yeah, Parl's just like,, Mongolia. I fucking love Stalin though. I was like actually bummed. He didn't get a big dramatic death scene. Or just a big dramatic anything. Yeah. Ben, this is a tattooed crazy convict whose best friend is a knife. He C. What did you think of this part of the movie and the general dryness of this movie Well, it was a subtle performance Best friend is a knife. His best friend is a knife You know, it's like one of the few objects he has left. Yeah. So of course, I understand why it's so important to him rememinding him of, you know, before he became Kulock prrisoner. If Faroh wasn't going big in this movie It would be tough because was like I was everyone else is pretty low key in this movie. Ferrell getting the end in this movie. it starts immediately Ferrell has the juice and I'm like, I'm going to hate it when he's out at the end of the first act. Right Because he's so front loaded that the only reason he would get the end is if he has an early exit. And it's no Mer Arstrong exits in the first act and Ferrell exits in the secondary. Yes Okay, but Russian prison tattoos are fucking awesome. And it was definitely something that went across my desk at one point in my life. There was like that book that waswhere.act. It was like an urban outfitters on the counter book of Russian tattoos. That's why you have those diamonds on your kneecaps. Right. Well, of course Uh Sir Sironin, I mean, there's no You don't need to explain casting her Yeah, but as Peter Weir says, she's got an old soul. She's, you know, so talented, blah blah. I mean, like, obviously you fucking cast. Here was my experience watching this movie last night. You see her her just her frame off in the distance, right? The guys see someone walking towards them and I was like, oh my Godd, yes, here we go, Sirio, no, wait. this is one of those movies where she's still a child Right Just immediately was like, Oh right, she's a little kid in this. Yeah. I mean, she's probably I think there's a Teggy Siegel, Jeffy Epstein email to that same that same effect. Almost definitely She would' have been about fifteen or sixteen, which means Really? Yeah. Okay. Yes's. When'stement Isn't atonement? Atement zer seven. Your favorite of the year you can't remember clear. Yeah. And then loveovely Bones zero eight and City of Ember is zero nine. Well, everyone knows that. Everyone knows that. I haven't checked in with the City of Ember recently. K keep going great. So this oneil was shot in Bulgaria and Morocco someome shooting in India, I think, right for the end. So the Bulgarian forest became the Siberian forest, crazy. Morocco is the Goi desesert. crazy. Okaykay, cool They weren't actually going to be able to film in the real Goby Desert or Russia because of problems that would come up with doing that U Bulkaria obviously has like old Soviet era studios. They're being used now. I mean, this is how you make the fuck in any movie these days? Sure. yeah Um And he had to shoot on location. It was an advantage visually, It was advantage psychologically U I wanted to create true emotion for the audience to connect with these people. I mean, You know, they're all, it's what you're talking about, Griffin. It's like they're all talking about this movie with so much integrity and so seriously. And it was so fucking hard to make it And they're all giving these interviews, I assume, because these interviews are all from january twenty eleven, being like, but it was all worth it to make the way back I just want the listener to know that ARP has entered the bathroom.. We just need to quickly. I think give some space to make sure no toilets are broken. No oops are loudly uttered I just want to I just we're a little bit on edge until we hear the flush, right just knowing the history in this bathroom. Uh I was going to try to find if there's any other, you know There's nothing else that's like really that interesting about how they made this movie to me, honestly. It is They shot on location it was really hard. Yeah. We were kept saying he had this running bit and the making of thing about how he had to approach casting the locations like he was casting actors because they couldn't film in most of the real places that they walked through So then it's like which country is going to double for which other country But this movie truly like had four months of filming across multiple continents. Right, right. And then the film exits production. doesn't have a distributor. Yeah. Like they can't find a Now it is like post recession, I guess, like, That's what weir is saying. Okay, we're here in a flush. We're herearing a flush, all good so far Okay, the seat is down. Okay. like it basically takes until they play at the Tellyride Film Festival and New Market signs on. So that's in september twenty ten. Right. So like it really was like touch and go if this was even going to get released in twenty ten, I guess. Yeah, and I'm sure you remember it was just on all these lists of like and maybe this is a chance for like anaris career. There wasn't like a focus Harris career cabinet usually get's nods. There Peter Weir movie that many people haven't seen, but like it might be able to score in a few categories. and then looking through it's like basically got zero precursor nums anywhere, not even critics groups and then just kind of got the surprise makeup nomination. You've pointed out like both publicly and privately that even by this time the strategy of like The Oscar Hopeful movie comes out december twenty fifth was just kind of cooked. It's like a nightmare. E then you couldn't you couldn't do it Put it in there that late, especially with a distributor that's probably like at that point, just one person sitting on the floor in an empty office answering the phone. Correct. Right it's like, if you're going to do that you need to push like an incredibly major campaign to get it like in front of everybody in this movie. It's like, no, but they w. Right. Their skin got so dry and people like,. then I mean, you like the dryness, right of one of the drier movies. It's very dry becausecause you werere probably because you were watching Mosquo coast, you're like, this is the ' been muggy I don't like this. Yeah, no. it looked really unpleasant. too buggy. Except for the mosquito part of this movie, which is fucked up. It's so fucked up I have to say that it looked unpleasant being in the desert. so you figured walking tribe desert by yourself with no possessions would be easy But actually it seems like pretty shitty Yes. Now Ben, you were saying that you ran out of your, um L and jes that you're fixated on now. haveave you considered sucking on pebbles? peebbles, notot just any pebble. Yeah. It'll keep your mouth satfated. G a little moisture out of it. You don't have to keep buying them. You can just find them and carry them around in your pocket. Yeah you save money. Less sugar intake too by far. I kept thinking, you know, pebbles have almost no sugar. It's actually crazy we don'tat them all the time. I'm surprised people have Ben came in one day saying like, you know what I've started doing is sucking on rocks I think I'd be a little alarmed. I didn't say you'd wouldn't be alarmed. I said you wouldn't be surprised. Th we find selling bags of rocks. I become a rock influencer. Yes my new diet trick. Yeah rocks stuck on rocks. I kept I mean, everyone in this movie' shedding the pounds. That's true. Yeah. they're looking true ' be funny if like off Starord kept getting fatter. I'm like, how are you doing this? Like there's one guy on there. Got a stash of fluffer He's like sandwiches right Yeah I actually found a cotton candy machine I hadn't told you guys. That's always a good bit. D didid you overall like this movie. I think this movie' pretty good. Yes. I said like I was basically like dreading watching it a little bit And certainly there are parts of it that are that are sad And I was sad when people died and so on and so forth this sort of procedural I just felt like it wasn't too heavy on the like revenant style. This was so punishing. You must be punished as they were ping. I this thought many times while watching the film. Like I definitely prefer this to the revenant because it's not doing that. It's not like shoving your face into the dog shit. Yeah. And like and many a true story type movie. do that Don't you understand like how bad this was and I'm like, yes I'm maybe it's because I but I never thought this movie was that because it was at a time where that wasn't really in vogue of like The point of this movie is a miserable well experience. But my other fear of course was there's going to be kind of trakly of this sort of like, oh the human spirit endures, which doesn doesn't that at all. It's not that at all. I think the end is truly like see you guys. Inead it has like lovely little moments that I like of dialogue and like' such there's so much stuff in the middle of the movie where like just his eye is so great some of this like this is a guy Peter wear. You know he's making people wait around to get a ten second shot at sunset. Totally. You know he's making everyone stand in one place for forty five minutes until the sun is perfect for a shot that serves no narrative purose. And the shot is worth it. It doesn't feel like it's indulgence, right? It doesn't feel like it's sort of him self stylizing. Ned Harris is there like shadow boxing being like, this is what we're here for. Yeah just wait in the Setting I feel like everyone's on board a that way, right? Like's like this is what I want to be doing.ertain They like the focus, they like the discipline of. Do you like Survival That's what I was gonna ask movie you're talking about the Revenant, which doesn' occur to me at all. I'm watching this thinking like Papillon, runaay train. I'm thinking of like people who break out of jail and the movie is like if you don't keep moving, you will get caught and you will die. 'cause you guys famously or outdoorsy people love hiking? so I was wondering how you related to that aspect of. I mean, I simply would not do this. That was what I ask Would you survive? I'm in the movie way back At minute five I eat a bowl of bullets. I just swallow them. I did I'm in the gula I just like a forky like I think by this point I'm dead. byy this point, I'm definitely dead. like dead here, dead here. Yeah. I think Griffin would do well in the Gulag. I don't think you' w want to leave. Yeah That's actually not as guy as being like, hey, I drew like a naked lady on a piece of paper. You know, Th three cigarettes pleaseay hots in a cot? I don't think they got a lot of hots or cot. Okay, it was pretty rough there. One cold in a floor. Yeah, It's kind of more than one and a half colds in a floor. I do like a mattress, so that's maybe where I'd be struggling. But I do think I'd make friends. I'm imagineing you showing up to the Gulag and they're like What's your name and you're like, Jif why I do like a mattress I feel like Griffin's ro put that in my file. his role in the wayay backack is kind of Rob Schneider and Judge Drered, where you're just walking across the wasteland. everyone's like, this guy is still talking. That's the meanest thing you've ever said to me. If you were in the way backack, N notot in real life, think if it was life or death, I think that would be the vibe you bring. I think I'd be at the midpoint between that and Marchstrong. Right where it's like this guy doesn't really want to escape R. I like that finds a way to care You that guy Right. It's like hesry That's the Mark strrong. Right. He talks about his sing as a way to kind of Or you'd be like mister Burns when is the fighting hell or the flying hellfish flashback and he wakes up on the cotton and they're like, hey, you're not dead. Yes. I would just s to your like Papillon's a movie I find smid's a bitid of a slog. It's got cool stuff Runaway train I like because one, it's on a train. Well that's true. And two, that movie is bananas. Cld. like It is cold. but I mean, like that's something where John Voyight was like, bigger and the director was like,h and Jeffoy was like, what if I went even bigger? The director was like, uh And that just kept going and going. Yeah. And Erk Roberts, he's insane in that movie. Have youway T trained? Yeah Th movies are more like to me This is a World War two movie, but not really This is very, not barely at all. But it fits into our at home syllabus of World War two But even re watchatching it, it's interesting because the Russian The Russian experience of World WarI is entirely inscrutable to Americans. You're never taught it It's not part of history I mean, it is, but it's not part of the history. you learn. And the average person couldn't describe Even vaguely what Russia was doing during World War two, because they're both like average American The average of well, yes, not the average human on Earth, but like it is very hard to understand in this movie is that But it also sort of. I mean, well I mean, literally partially, but you know, it's aorld War II movie in the spirit But it has no combat. It's not about these none. And these are all enemies of the Soviet Union. Yeah which is why they're in the gulog But you know, who else was enemies of the Soviet Union? Adolf Hitler. Yeah, see, that's why people get confused about this. They sure do. It's like, way, if if if they were fighting against the Nazis, whyy are they imprisoning people who seem okay? And it becomes very confusing. And as Anna wanted me to point out Russia was just basically in the middle of purging their entire population. Anyway. Right. And they were using this as a flyine opportunity to continue their essentially reign of terror. And I like the set up, I mean, it's just I guess historically accurate, but that the gulags at this point in time are like half criminals, half political criminals.. So you got guys like Colin Ferrell alongside guys like Ed Harris, who's just like an engineer who moved to Russia for work and is now right ' subversive and so he's, you know, and like Um, Yanish Jim Sturgis Polish, and of course, the Soviets conquered Poland when they were allied with Hitler his wife sells him out at the beginning of the movie. I mean, assumingong she will coerced into right. Yeah. Right. And then she thinks he will break Yes. in interrogation. I mean I agree with you guys that this movie is good, right? Like I I's like pretty good I mean, I did not think it was a masterpiece. I was a like I was sort of a little you knowwelmed, but I had fairly low expectations. so I was like, right, no, this is a well made movie and he's a good director. and what was I thinking? I just don't think he could Even with even with half the resources he wants, his eye, his instincts like, I hate this phrase. I hate when people are like, this director always knows exactly where to put the camera. So' everybody in front of the actors Like this is an insane sentence. But his instincts of like visual storytelling are so muscular even in a drama, even in deead pooet society. He can't ever frame things in a way that you're not like This is cool looking This place feels real. These actors are in the moment and he's in complete control and this movie tootally solid. L I'm not saying it's even you know, it could only not be in the top five of his because his highs are untouchable I mean, the response to it or the new market dumping of it, its's non existence is T tootally undeservable. It's a really strong representation of this exact moment in film history where things are just kind of like falling apart and no one knows, you know, like is there a way to make these movies anymore? That's why I found it fascinating and called it months ago. Yeah. just because it is that to me. And he's totally just, you know, I mean, he would have been the top of anyone. I'm sure there was a time where he was ahead of Ridley Scott on people's lists. Yeah I also I think like but I never made What's it like, you know, he didn't have a mov. He had a really terrible nineties. I mean like in between Thb and Louis and Gadator Ridy makes movies Gadat. Why would you rather watch White squaller or master and commander Master committ. Okay. It's a top up You're saying that's a toss up? Oh yeah Both of these guys took to the sea Sure Right. But I think the largely similar result. I think the better the better comparison is if Gladiator had performed Or rather, if Master and Commander had performed the way the Gadiator did Both financially and at the Oscars do the next fifteen to twenty years of Peter Ber look. And I also feel like versus that was like the second way that like gets to the next twenty five years of release shot being unstoppable. Peter Weir could have made Gladiator R Scott could not have made master and commander. I think really Scott could have made mastering Mers just wouldn't have been as good over of course he could have made it and he but it would have not been Gladiator and Peter Weirars hands is, I think, an equally great movie. Yeah This is my struggle with this film. and I think I put it at the bottom of my rear rankings. a lot of a lot of look, I think the guy' never made a bad film. So I'm just raining I'm definitely printting it the bottom Things three and above. You don't like this you don't like war. I don't like war. You're a real four F. Absolutely. I'm flat footed as shit I got bone spurs in my arms Iike got a first person in my brain face. Yeah. Yeah, carry on, carry on thinkink what I was struggling with and it's frustrating because I'm like It is because Peter Rear has so much integrity has such like control of the dial and it's like not compromising this story to meet the sort of like commercial demands of the moment I felt like I was struggling to find a handle on it. I think this film is like impeccably made. I think basically everyone in the cast is like good to great U like Sturgis is probably the worst and he's solid. He just doesn't really register and everyone above him is like shades of excellent all the sort of stuff that could be seen as like vad we're going to go out here and struggle. I'm going to fight to get like a ten second shot just to prove that I'm like this serious of an artist. L all of that is on screen. None of that is like performative chest thumpy shit being like Do I need this movie to have ten percent of some Hollywood bullshit in some area. Do I wish this had like ten percent more adventure. Because basically from the moment they escape, it's just, we have a really long way to walk.. The conflict is Are we going to die before we finish this walk But unlike the sort of prison escape movies you're talking about, there's not the kind of like, we're being chase shit. I don't want Tommy Lee Jumes on their back. From the moment they escape and the escape is not that much of a movie. No, right. Then you're just sort of in likeescape Is this a funerial march, right? How many guys are going to die? How long is this going to go on for? The other thing is you keep thinking like, well, for example, will' Colin Ferrell turn on people. He's obviously the wild card, right? He can't be trusted. We'll Siraron and she's introduced where it's like, what's this girl's deal? She's lying about her background. And the answer is like She lies because like she wants to have a more sympathetic sounding background. My parents were political distanced. Yeah. like no more lies. Asanna quoted. Right, but like it keeps not doing the more dramatic swirl thing of like they fight with each other. which I'm respecting betray each other, which I respect I'm respecting that it's not doing the endurance of the human spirit.' they don't fucking come across like a bear that like tries to eat them. I That might have been fun though There's no The wolves are settled really quickly. Anytim it Everyone is very respectful to her. Yes. There's not like a creepy sexual element with her character. Her dynamic with that Harris is probably my favorite part of the movie, but as you said, these are all like really small graceful character brush strokes. Even the beautiful moments. You're right like this one's a snake attack. He's actually following the snake too thena said, whyy does that look good to me when they're eating the snake Because when hungry people are eating in a movie, its they make it look good. But it basicallys Al those wolves look great. I mean, what that scene happened is like even in twenty ten, you're like, shhit, he got real wolves. It's like Peter is not fucking around with CG wolves. Like It basicallysing the actors like keep your hands. Yes. keep your hands where the wolves can see them Totally. They're not trained. It refuses to like turn any of these things into like Roll and Emmeric set pieces, right? It refuses to like create like artificial interpersonal drama between the people There are moments and there are attentions and whatever. And I just kind of kept being like, I'm having a hard time staying with this because it just feels like, yeah, this sucks I agree this sucks And it continues to suck. And I don't mean this backhandedly, but I kept thinking while watching this movie and then watching this fucking special feature of all of them talking about how difficult it was. And I'm like, that's not in vain. All of that is on screen. But I like flash back to being in an acting class in my twenties with the great Elizabeth Camp RIP, who is the best acting teacher I ever worked with And there was a guy who wanted to do long day's journey into tonight And in this class, rather than just like do the text of the scene, she'd be like work on the character and then present to us like a moment. If it's a private moment or an improvised thing. But I don't want you thinking about how to say the dialogue right. I want you to try to explore your take on the character, right And so the guy just leans into playing the sickness. And he's just sort of like curled up in a ball, sort of like an alcohol withdrawal, like shaking and crying. And we just watch this for like seven minutes and And I'm sitting there being like, God, this guy's a good fucking actor. This is crazy. I don't have this kind of like physical control and like emotional like, you know recall and whatever And then she goes like, are you Are you done? Do you feel like you've done everything you wanted to show us? And he's like, yeah, I guess so. And she goes Okay, so now we know you can do that What had you probably told this story before? What What did you bring into this session That's a good question. You roll into a ball seven eight minutes I feel like I was doing Tom and glass menagerie But then I also remember you weren't allowed to like bring in, you know, like a monologue from the usual suspects or something. Yeah I think you could have. Okay. In fact, I probably did at some point bring in some movie character, but I also ended up getting thrown into other people's scenes a lot whereere it's like that part of it is like Well this woman's working on proof. Can you be the Jake Gyllenhall part? And I'd be like, great, I'm really good at improvising math So what did you think who did you think was, okay, so now that we know you can do that in this movie? Weir or? I think the whole movie has a little bit of that vibe where it was like, it's not that this is showy, it's not that this is you know hollow. This is like incredibly skillful and is like rooted in something really honest and like powerful, but then she said, like, we know you can do that, Now let's work on how can you actually tell a story And it's not that I feel like this movie isn't telling a story, but I kept feeling like Unlike the revenant, which I feel like, as I said, is pushing your face in the dog shit and saying like, can you believe how hard this is and trying to make you suffer along with the characters I think this movie is maintaining a distance and is showing you the suffering that is mirroring what everyone was going through while working on the film And I'm sitting there a little bit and going like I agree. this is like Very impressive that they did this This is objectively insane to consider any human beings going through this. I don't quite understand what I'm supposed to take away from this. I'm not looking for like a GI Joe PSA at the end. Do you like castaway I love Castaway. Okay which is very smallalzy, but It's very Smalzy, and I'm not begging this movie to be a Smalzy, but I do feel like Castaway has the kind of like Hollywood, building a block. He needed a Wilson. Yeah. had the knife. the kn the Wilson of the movie. Yeah Wilon And truly like did they send out promotional knives for this movie? No. Did you get a promotional for this movie? Yeah, Newmarket was famous for their swag. Mento had some that's most of. But I was like if this has an electric young leading man, does the does it carry me through the whole thing? Yeah, I mean, I know I know Surgis is really taking some hits from us today, but I do feel like bad in it. but just not kind of just he's fine. but he's I think if you stacked up every weird movie and you rank lead performances, he's the bott No question. Only because that is literally Mount Rushmore. Right. He's a rare guy that really did not pop in the hands of Weirer. I mean, even he launched the career of Napoleon in Fucking Billam Ted's excellent adventure you know You know it might maybe helped? What? And this is a part of the book that was not included They're yeti like creatures in the Himalayas that they mention spotting a pair of Yeti. It would be funny if like one hour and fifty five minutes into the movie. they're like, Oh by the way, we fucking saw the abominable snowman. Anyway moving on back to India, you know, like what if the snowman takes them inside his lair and they're tied up and they have to escape. That's what happens in Tinton and Tibet not to spoil it. Wow. But Griffin, in like in the hopeless survival narratives, like the moment where they come to the gates of where they've been going. And there's like Stalin on the gates. and they're like, oh, this is communist too. We have to just turn around. Yeah. Does that not satisfy the urge of like tragic ironic story beat. Eactly. That beat is very interesting, but it's played very quietly. I really like that beat because I like them being like It's everywhere and we are enemies of this particular ideology. so we can't go Like we can't settle here or That's where I am just personally struggling with the film and not making a larger indictment, right? I mean I love calling being like, I like Stalin too much to go here. I I care I love it as well. but I'm like this is a fascinating scene in of itself. I'm really engaged in this scene The scenes aren't like building upon each other for me and it's just the nature of what the narrative is where the fact that it's like, o, they get here and there's this like dramatic irony of, oh, now we have to like find another way. but also five minutes earlier, the movie lost Colin Ferrell, the most interesting character because he was like, I don't want to get to that ideological threshold And now I'm like, okay, so now the movieies like hit a cul de sac And also we lost Colin Ferrell, whose character bowed out of the movie because he thought this checkpoint was going to go differently But now Seri Ronin kind of is stepping up to be like the third lead when he's gone. Which I think she's great The two kind of Giffin beats are when he suggested tattoo should be on his butt. Yeah. That's your that'd be your move there. then of fallen on his asshole. He'll be you know, threatened with a knife the And the guy who just can't see and freezes to death. Well, that's who I would play. Yeah. What happened to Griffin? is, I don' know, he has bad eyesight. Oh there he is, he's frozen. be what happened to Griffin? He slept in, he missed the escape He couldn't hit his like alarm, which is just like a bunch of sticks because it's He hit it, but he hit the fucking snooze stick eighty times. It is nice to see Gustuff star Scarsgard. an actor I always enjoy obviously is largely, you know mostly to Swedish movies. But yeah, he's really good. He's really good black backag Yeah, She's good Oppenheimer. Good And ye, and it's good in in Westworld actually to speak of E Harrison's favorite role. So Griffin, you feel like the movie goes off a cliff when Farrell stays in Russia? I think it goes off a cliff it slowed down a little loses a lot of juice. Certia Dying is a really like well done scene. It's beautifully done actually. It. I was beautifully acted and done. Yeah. But I am like Yeah,m I'm a little deaden into to the movie. I think Ferrell is the spark plug. I think Ferrell is the equivalent of adding you into the news and deals group chat. Like you need him there to create the like innate tension of like Where's this guy going to go? Yeah. And I'm expecting yes, that is that I'll take that. Right. And I'm expecting that like As much as I'm going to be sorry to see him leave the movie early, it will come to like a head in a very dramatic fashion. There's nothing like that. But the elements are like that. The sandstorm is that. The mosquitoes are that. Yeah when when she takes all I like the mosquitoes the way they deal with is, they ask one guy like, how do weal with this? And he's like, easy, put this shit around your neck. J some guy wandering wandering around Mongolia When Siri Ronan takes off her shoes and her feet are all fat on it just goes I remember this part so well favorite part. It's like, why? it is kind of striking because they're like Oh yeah. And she's like, I mean, you know, I've been walking a lot and everyone's like, You're used to the blistering It're supposed to look like this. L you're gonna be fine. I'm used to the blistering sores of feet and stuff like this. You're not used to this weird kind of puffiness. then someone else has it later. Yeah. Very, very well earned makeup nom. L ye was incredible and it is so subtly done that you have to keep reminding yourself that it is makeup ' mosquito bites to the dehydration. You just feel like you're watching a documentary. It lost O of course to the Wolf Man ' that has a wolf. Well, the wolfman swept that year. I feel like that was kind of the return of the kid show the director Baker supporting Wolf to goat always disliked the look of that character in that. We've talked about this, right? He's not a big fan of the Baker job. And that's sort of like one of his big like later jobs of Swan song to a certain extent. I think it's his last Oscar win. and he basically talked about the process of making that movie drove him so insane that he was he had his own kind of Peter weir like I guess I'm not aligned with this industry anymore moment. Yeah right. Like heiled men in Black three. He like I fulfilled a couple of legacy jobs, but he basically starts pulling back after Wolfman. Yeah. And he views it as like that was the last time I got away with doing what I wanted to do. And I've just never Maleficent is the other one he did But he didn't win for that or he did. No he didn't even get nominated And he just he just worked on the yeah, I don't get that design. So once the movie progresses, because it's, you know, it's such a simple literal movie. There's like, yes, you know,'s ' very little like, oh, what about this part? it's basically like What about the mosquitoes about it? they find the water well and they all start drinking water. So removing the schmaltz from the equation. What about the Mongols give them a sack of water? L and they say they're too poor for horses. and they're just like, okay, well We have no questions about why you people are wandering around out here. I like all of these moments. Castaway I' am a sappa contrarian a goofball. Do you like Jerry Yes. Oh the Fren sandw. Yeah That's the best. That movie Yeah rock. I put this movie closer to Jerry than the Revenant But Jerry is like abstracting everything That's to a millionry which is so cool. I mean, Jerry Rcks. So the categing brring back Jerry. Jerry too. Jerry's. Cast awayay compares. Is Vancean still on the still on the board? Well, he's going up against your favorite filmmaker of all time, Chris Gomis right now on capal rightident here Cast a vote against Columbus, the structure of problem solving which is what I think I like in this type of movie when I connect to thistally film. Yeah, yeah yeah. And which is the fun of Ascent help even like any Totally. Well also I mean, this is insane. Chris Columbus is winning. Who the fuck wants this over a psycho remake episode? I would love very much love to discuss the psycho remake a movie I love. But the other like to us like in of the movies we like watching at home, there's like the two kinds of this kind of movie you're describing is something like the Martian, which has an kind of identical problem solving. Yeah structure. And then there's the kind of Like seafaring adventure shipwreck in the heart of the seea where it's just like another thing of like can these people survive? But in the heart of the seea is one that nobody likes because that one's a Not nobody Famer. Yeah. I think a lot of people like that movie I think a lot of people find that to be like a really worthy A loty Faring adventure people. Yeah. Definitely. I think a' very popular a whale is writing that right now. I think a lot of people like that movie wanted to come back. Even like All is Lost, which is not my favorite movie and is similarly like very st. It's not your very st. It's not in fact my number one favorite movie of all time. Sight and Sound Ple. Nber one All is lost. I know people number two you I know these are unranked, but just to be clear, all is lost is number one All four slots on my letterbox four. Yeah It's not some is lost. No, it's all is. You have to respect the all. I always thought that was your favorite movie This is why I'm trying to correct the squirreless rumor Dav in all is lust, which is not your favorite movie, please finish your thought. And it's so stripped down and obviously like most talking Wdless and whatever has that kind of like, okay, here's this one problem. He's got to solve this where I feel it stacking up And I think this movie, I rewatched Day after tomorrow recent a movie that fucking rules that David's wrong about. Not a movie I like. But that is a movie where I'm always fascinated by its Hollywood junkiness where it's like. We can keep escalating the type of natural disasters that happen. and then you feel two thirds into the movie, then go, fuck. There is no way to resolve this film They can't undo the weather. No and there's nothing for them to conquer. There's no way for them to score a win. Randy Quid can't fly a bin into those. And then they're I guess they have to fight wolves. I guess like Dennis Quaid has to come to him. I always forget how late in the movie right way the end, right? Even starts his journey. It's over an hour before he's like fucking I'm walking I'm going to do my own long walk and then that's pretty expediated. And I feel this movie being like, Peter we're pitching this to studios, Studios being like, cool. So can every fifteen minutes something insane happen The guys have to try to kill each other. There have to be like big kind of like conflicts that they can like score wins over. And he's like, no, that's not the kind of movie I'm making And he has like saying he's castanzeing it. Yes. And then he's overc nothing happens So far into the well, if I'm not making it with the studio, then I'm making it exactly the way I want. and I'm not going for any Hollywood bullshit artifice. And I'm like, I could use like five to ten percent more kind of like not wins. Well I mean, what you're describing is the way mosquito coast is structured. Yes, which is like a series of builds and activities and ice transports and little things that arise andort endless obstacles that he's facing. It's so focused in its bleakness. It's not like selling out the message of the movie and the integrity of like, you know the character study and all of that does have that kind of build that I think I was just kind of You're struggling to hold onto here. Every scene would happen. I'd be like this is a good scene and then the next scene would start And I'd be like, okay, this scene has to win me over again from Zero. Where do you guys? when once we hit the monks is when I'm like, I'm parking my ass here. This is great. I want to hang out with you guys. L this is great. I don't want to go to keep walking. They leave at Harris there and I'm like, whyy are you not staying ' That is like, I gotta get home. Hna was very. Gta get home to my fucking wife. Hna's comment at the end of me down the river. A rewatch was Like I did not know that the point of this movie was like this eternal love that he has to return to. I feel like they debut that notion pretty late. know it isene in the movie It's first scen in the movie and then you have a couple times where raised sort of the vision of the door, which I like Yeah. stuff. I mean weirre's just good at that stuff. He's good at that stuff But they so much of that in Truman show again because this movie doesn't have like over labored kind of monologues of like guys being like, Yeahah, that's my wife. I love her so much. You know, like the photos and the helmet. Right. It does take a while for him to be like, oh, no, by the way, like we got across the Himalayas right fucking now, even though like clearly the wisest man you've ever seen was like not a good idea. It's the winter. Like wait until spring Y there be. This was another thing I thought while watch That was the that was the missed That's the missed opportunity for me. The other thing I thought was Would this movie benefit from starting one week earlier rather than starting in the interrogation room. Giving you like Sturgis in Poland being rounded up. Well, let's also say maybe maybe it's a guy with a little more juice than Sturgis, right? Who is that? I mean, I don't w want to go down this rabbit at this point. it's like a really good twenty ten. att this moment, it's tough. We can keep pointing this is also when like male actors startedress hunted for sport Who is new then is that more interesting Or is do we shoot higher? Do we get like Matt Damon? You know, do we get like like a very established actor? It's tough because it's like if it's two thousand The options are overflow Yeah, but then you could end up with like Aooby McGuire, where you're like, I don't know what that looks like, you know? I don't know why I'm going to him, but ye, he did occur to me. He sturges esque and his gentleness I just think I realized too late in this movie, much like it sounds oned did, oh, right, the thing that's driving him is wanting to see his wife again Mhm which this movie and I mean, not auc James Frank Like who made a survival thriller this year. Now we're talking. Yeah, although like that's the better survival thriller for him to be in. It is. I'm not, you know. But you mean like a guy who's just kind of innately charismatic can be, although sometimes Franco, you're kind of like, didid you forget to plug into? he like But I think him at that time would put himself in the hands of a master like were and he would he would rise to the assign. One would this at this time. I do think he wants a certain emotionality in this role though, right? Like he wants a certain But he also but the script doesn't support that because there isn't any of those moments of like Yeah. What are you going to do? What's the first thing you're going to do when you get back? Right? kiss my wife. What about you? Hug my mth? Like there' none I'm like does it need to start a week earlier so that there's some status quo of their relationship rather than it starting with him in the interrogation and her like setting him up And him falling on the sword. you know? It doesn't make sense too, because And I guess the characters at that time don't know this The war will eventually end, but even beyond the war The oppation f exact he won't be able to go as we see, right right right. So it's like the chance of him being able to go back see his wife, it doesn't seem like it could happen like within his lifeifest. The post scripts that like follow the fall of communism are very it's like, wow, this is really consolidating decades of history into a series of title cards with footsteps over them because it's like, o, right, he hasn't gotten to the end of his problem. Walk continues. I think a lot of prison movies too, like you got to see some amount of their life on the outside before they go in to understand what they've lost. I don't think with without exception But I felt like I didn't have enough of a grounding in this guy to have him be the one driving the movie I guess because we watch like thirty World War two films a year kind of in a row. Yeah. I'm like, I know what he was doing last week. I know what happened to Sland. Sure I do knowen Schler's list You what happened to Poland I have. yeah Do you like those movies I love. You like the Spielberg treatment of a World War two. Well, he's only seen Satan Prevera one time. Gave me a fucking panic attack. I had to stop doing. but I do own the Steel book I own the four K. Thank God. A commitment to rewatching it at someomeday. You fuck with fury Fury okay. I'm sorry. Hna said last night after this so excited to rewatch it Then she goes,, what a great movie Really comforting. I could see watching this once a year And I said, Really once a year. She goes, Yeahah, I mean, it's not like Like really intense and something that's hard to watch, like fury. And I said, you watch fury all the time. She was, okay, well not fury, but like something that will be more intense than fury. Like two months ago, I texted you, ARp, I want to make a pitch. What if we put you on? And I named a bigger Well you'll probably have announced that In the next mace we'll announce at the end of this episode. Okay, great Uh forget now it' in the middle so that people have to listen And then you were like, why why would I not be doing the wayay backack? And I was like, well, I assumed you only put your finger down on wayay backack because of the like most irrelevant movie in a filmmaker's career. And you were like, you're forgetting that I like W season You don't know about worse is. you do know fucking I knew. Can you share with the listener? Yeah. Basically like fifteen years ago We were driving up to Vermont for the weekend and we bought some DVD's at a gas station, as one did at the time. One of those DVDs was Edswick's Defiance. a film we had not yet seen. We go to a snowy cab and we watch deffiance, Turns out it's a masterpiece Jsust fucking incredible. I mean, that's a movie like this also. justust like the Edswick movie. Yeah, it's incredible. Defiance for me is a perfect example of Oscar nomination mourning, Defiance gets zero noms. I go, what a relief I never have to watch that Drag to res in. It is better If that movie came out last year, not last year, but two years ago, it would be like, well, this is the best movie of the year. If it came out last year, would he put it above or below number? Above. Okay. Defiance is an excellent film that is really well made with three incredible performances from Craig, Schreiber and Jamie Bell. It is such a good is what you are saying you want from this movie? Maybe it is endless slog of hopeless survival set against inhospitable elements with that Hollywood sheen and the melodrama layered over it with romance. So we watched that and we were like, this fucking rules, deffiance is great. We go home, ourur neighbors ask us to cat sit We're feeding their cat, we look on their DVD shelf two things there that we're interested in Schindler's list andhoa take them upstairs and we wash them in the week. They're gone. Sounds like a fun week. So now we're thinking this is Holocaust season So then we spend like five years clear my head is in my hands. We spend like five years in the dead of winter. Then can we commission a shirt that says and now we're thinking it's Holocaust season? Now wait a minute. putut the cartoon in a bar sort of sort of the prologue because then we're a slayer. So for like five years every February March, when it's just the worst out. gray cold culture and you've been in winter for months. Every year we're like, okay so let's do like, you know five ten Holocaust films. Yeah, The Holocaust of seeasons. eventually we run out of Holocaust films or at least, you know, the ones that you need to see or revisit So then we say now it's worse season We've expanded this. This is now an entire season devoted to World War two in cinema. now there's We could do this for the rest of our lives. We wouldn't run out of a movie. There are a lot of World War two And we do this every year I take it very seriously. I put together a sort of dossier. not check JJsyle.ot but one sheet that I make our list on every year. Right. And is it always fresh films every year? No, no, theres stuff has been on there forever. Like there's stuff that it's like, we just watched Merry Christmas mis. Lawrence. Gute. And I was like, this has been on the list since before I started printing them. Oh, like I have handwritten pieces of paper. I, arere they all blind watches or no throwing and reatch? no, we always rewatches are a very important part of it, such as the way backack On his birthday it was a few weeks ago. It said, it's your night of your birthday. Anything you want, what do you want to do? And she goes, Schindlererss list. I was like It' fuc great So we watched it, we watched half of it the next night, we finish up And I was like, you know, The finishing night was like an hour. Yeah. We watched like two hours and I was like, what do you want what do you want to do? It's only. It's still a little bit early. And she goes F feel like weish should watched episode the Pacific. I was like, this is unbelievable. Her commitment to it exceeds mine by a thousand percent. Yeah. But Anna loves nothing more than World War two. I would say it's very much World War twoo that Yeah. Like the thing I always say is this was on like an SNL where I think it was like a five timerers Club sketch where Tom Hanks was talking to Andy Sandberg He goes, you know what I love, Andy And he just goes, World War two. That's pretty good. Yeah. That is that is on a to a T. and we curate W likeike I start working on the list like in the summer or I'm like, oh, there's this new movie, like or whatever. I'll be like at a film festival and I send her a picture of some poster for a Norwegian film with a swastiic on it and I'm like adding it to the list Like it's it's got to go on the list and we end up putting together like a really diverse collection of war films that tell the totality of the story from the easastern frront. South America after the war, this and like like what do we just watch Music boox, the Costa Gffers film. Oh, sure, which I'd never heard of. and I think either came up when I was reading something about it was just an accident or it came up on like a cinematrix with What's her name Jessica Lang? And I was like, what is this movie? It has a swastica on the post. I also feel like Wesley Morris brought this up. Maybe that' Maybe p. Maybe that like this is the exact kind of movie we don't make anymore or that used to be important to today. M it in my brain somewhere. Now, obviously it wasn't my printed list because I printed that list in January. Yeah. So but we were able to squeeze it in any way. Is that her dad is a Nazi? Yeah Or is being accused of having been a commandant? Yeah. Have you seen number twenty four? Um, wait, is that the n is that the a weeang Yeah, we watched that last year. That was like What made you watch that I don't know actually. otherther than I was lookingoo for something to watch on a flight? Yeah, is that That about the formula for heavy water Is that right? This is about a guy who was part of the resistance in Nor. Oh, the resistance fighter. Oh, yeah, and then it's like drama and there's like scenes of him talking to students in it. Yes. Yeah. cutting between that and his like various experence. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Something I find very interesting and unheralded in like the endless morass of Netflix slop is that every year Netflix will drop like him international films about World War twoo that I've never heard of and you watch them and they're all like solid. And it was great. You look it up, and it's like, oh this was this country submission for the Oscars. didn't get released. N neverever heard of it. David Sims never saw it. Basically all quite on the Western frront was Monday one of those that punped Yeah. But they put they put up they have like ten of those a year. T Yeah There's one you know a Will, there's one called like Blood and gold. There's one the photographer of Math Hausen that was like a Spanish concentration camp movie Occasionally we still get a good New Hol didid you see David, um, It was a Tiff movie, Ireina's Vow? No, I've at least heard of that one, but that's highlight of this year's War season. Fair enough. total like classy surprise of like really really good movie Have you seen I wrote a piece about Stalin S Gkarsgard and I've never seen this film, Good evening, mister Wallllenberg? No. This was a Stalin Skarsgard brereakout movie. It's a big movie in Sweden where he plays a famous Swedish figure, a diplomat who was instrumental in saving the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. Never seen it, but it looks like the kind of sort of handsome Oscar submission that was big in its country, but not really big outside of it. So many of those, even still Anyway, that's all Yeah. This is a very important part of our viewing. so we were I think we initially watched this movie as part of that And as just Peter Were fans. But man, we love warar season. It's almost over, but we're in it. we're still anything else, any other watch this year. I mean, yeah, we've been doing it for months at this point Are we almost pulling out of wor season? Yeah yeah, it's getting a little too warm. Yeah. But then when it gets warm, you can watch things that are, you know, like that take place in the jungle You can kind of migrate to the Pacific. Do you pin the end of war season on a calendar date or is itorial day? Okay We can we can drag it out to Memorial Day, but not consistently. Yeah. We can like, I think one year we saved midway Memorial Day. We were so excited when Midway was coming down. Yeah I was so excited that I waited like two years to watch it at home on Memorial Day But I feel like in those two years, you were constantly texting. That movie is I guarantee you an eight out of ten of the world. And it was It was a very, very solid movie. Is that the one with Glenn Powell or was that different? That's devotion. Yes, right. which started Midway and weird the second act the title has disappeared. Oh, who was that? Jonathan Majors. Oh dear. Midway was was Patrick Wilson Dennis Quade. Yeahis It is a roll in Eirate. Oh yeah yeah. Dennis Quade is name Macrthur I couldn't tell you. he's Yeah. Yeahes, anyway, we watch hundreds of war films Yeah. And I can throw this on and be like, well, of course this guy was rounded up in the communist purge and He's being accused of being an enemy of the state And we're off to the races. and it's kind of fun to continue the conversation of expanding the conflict of the war and never needing to like pause or take a break from it because you can kind of just jump into whatever and know Because the thing you're the thing that you're missing in this movie that is like really what makes good warar films great is that great W films can distill the essence of the entire war into a single moment Yes, that's a good call. Often either the beginning or the end of the movie, R Schindler's list does this, the opening sa in Private Ryot It distills the essence of World War two into a scene. R. And this movie the soldiers meeting in the middle of the battlefield from opposite sides both tending to a war horse. And this movie well sure. And this movie doesn't have that scene. It doesn't have the moment That is a good call that stands in for like and that is what it was about in Russia during Yeah, I also think everyone in this movie you meet is so thoroughly broken already that I just me, with this not being my chosen genre, I think I usually need the emotional in of here's what they lost And what is hanging over the movie emotionally is them trying to get something back. Do you like old becausecause to us, like the history, I mean, obviously they started making World Warwo films, like before the waruring Wld War I. Yeah The kind of first wave the Men on a mission movies, which are just pure action films. Yeah. I like those movies and all prefer that. I feel like this is something I can't picture you watching because you're not like a dad in the seventies. Yeah I mean, I watch them. That is not my favorite kind of war movie because those do tend to have a little bit of a formula to them, but they're fun. Like I mean, do you ye this is the tough guy. This guy's kind of the smart guy. like kind of great escape. Do you like I like those two movies? Yeah, but I'm like heroes of Tlemark and I'm I' in my head like what's my favorite war movie? And I'm like, oh, my answer is like best years of their lives, which is Post W romance is very important part of War ser liives is an incredible. An incredible film. But I think is obvious. Gallipoli like truly has shot way up on my all time war list just watching it the first That's War one. Son and Walter R with Peter, We're in attendent. Yeah. We just another W season one this year was the Gernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society,peaking of Clenn Powell That is a movie that is You know, it got brought up.. You're like, oh, this will be really chilling. it's like, it's better fing the not. Yeah. But but it's it's actually quite fraught. But it's important to have for us like you don't want to watch this movie every night. You don't want to watch like an actionure Oriented movie mix it up. So to have the occasional wartime romance, which are often, you know, quite nice Then like, did you see Beast of warar, the like Australian shark World War twoI POW moving? No It just came out. It's like a shutter original that came out. It was maybe at festivals last year. It's a true story. It's like basically a bunch of Australian fighter pilots were just on a plane and then it goes down roughly fifteen minutes and it bit of a Wikipedia No. I was surprised didn't aikipedia page. It's like a legit movie W. And you know, it's like it's like this, but on a boat, but with a shark I would always say this looks a little less tony than I. Oh. So that was like that was like a Saturday night were tired W movie. Sure. Sometimes you need something that's like Horror action Yeah. no. see this is why you're like this is When you come on the podcast, we want to make it count And if the schedule lines up where we can have you a couple of times in one year, then that's it. But I'm like, I'm sitting here and I'm just like, thank God. We got you on this one What a fucking wayay backack episode, which is just us otherwise being like,, I mean, this is well made and handsome. It didn't really resonate with' cold know what's a you know it's a you know, it's the same But canan we get Bombus to sponsor this one? This feels like one to really Oh my God, you're s right. Bombus gave up on us. Really? Come back, Bombus. u Yeah, it's been a minute.. What if for every one ad read we do for them? We do an ad read for a shittar business. They should have they should have done a promo for this. You know it's a bad we got a the that you guys might do someday. although seems not likely with the way voting goes is miracle at Stain. Anna L a Spike movie no one has seen. I've seen. I've never seen. I've seen that.. It is. Oh, I mean, Defy Bloods is like one of my tenfuls I mean, Well, Vietnam is a whole other thing. Right right. No, but that movie is a failure. I I haven't seen it. and I like Spikey, but it's one of his most like misshaped movies. That' interesting stuff. Yeah. It's not like without merit, but it's odd. nearly without merit Yeah, it's not very good. I can't really defend. We were motivated to watch it years ago. because you're like, how could this be that bad? Like this must be interesting. It must be something. Yeah. Yeah Yeah But you know, stuff like that can still get made at least at this time And as a real even that's two thousand That's him cash inside man'ide man's like nine or ten, but yeah the difference between's when he got in fight Clinenese foot You like also sh that sure the shift of like he's one of the last guys who a Like inside Man is enough of a blank check to get to make that and B, they let you make that under any conditions. you like the two Clint movies he's making that response to I really, really disliked flags of ourur fathers. It's a good movie. And Iwogim is a guy like respected. Iogjim is an incred surprise surprise is good. I don't enjoy. What it surprise you for me to say that I really like Flagsbar our fathers and think Iwojima is a very bad movie. Wow, It would surprise me a little bit just the second part. Flagsb is a b movie. Letters from Iwojima. Yes. I think The worst looking movie I have ever seen that is made with any budget. Well it did not have much of a budget. No, but I'm talking like, yes, you could show me a two thousand dollars movie that looks worse. Whatever digital technology was being put in front of him at that time It is the worst looking movie that I think has been like made by a major Hollywood studio with a major director. Comes in late, you know, you're like, Ises Alex out of hot takes? and he's like But more. It's strange because it was made concurrently with a movie that looks entirely different I remember you're feel a little hard any. I also I remember feeling that way about fllags of our Fathers. I remember seeing them theaters and being like, I hate the way this fucking looks. This movie is like so blunt over the head restating every thematic point six times. I thought like across the board, most of the cast is bad. Like I felt like it was basically wall to wall bad performance. It has a little bit of the Clint cast faces problem where it's like they' ye, not all the actors are that good. and the script is so unsubtle that it would need massaging to bring the performances down to something specific. And instead, you got Ryan Philie like kind of walking through it. They kind of got real. Yeah, a little p guys got got real. very solid sm But I I have it mid to low on my clint list. Yeah I mean, I'm just realizing in this conversation that every war film that I would say I love is a movie that basically by narrative design obfuscates the war to some degree. But you like Do I like all Vietnam movies? all of them. Yes, you're right. I like all Vietnam movies. We all know that my favorite movie of all time is All Is Lost, and I like all Vietnam films. It's too bad you'll never cover any of them on this show Thanks to people voting down. I mean, obviously the follow Rver Stone We would be covering half of all Vietnam movies. I don't love Vietnam movies. That is one of my less favorite war genres, but there are some great Vietnam movies. I think there's it is likely we cover Spike eventually. I'm trying to think who else has a Vietnam movie we haven't cored. I mean, do we do F G the great. to Michael Chamino. Do Far G. Yes doing for our gump again. We could do gumps No, but his movies as a director. Yeah. Oh yeah, of course. The interesting thing about a lot of these World War I tropes is like They stopped making World War twoo movies during Vietnam largely because the idea of making like celebratoryies weren' in the moon.mission movies went away. Coppola I've heard him Dapalma is in P Yeah. Yeah. But Dapala he's another one of these guys like weir are that the ignominous end of his distribution and his opportunities is just such a bummer. Yeah. It was tough. I mean, supposedly he's working on something now. be good. I don't know. Like how can how can he go from It's her miss impossible to like not able to get a movie. It's hard to end a series on the war You know, it is a thing try to avoid. I think this is as good of a final film as my vague recollection of every final film you've covered if you're saying definitively final ones Yeah Yeah, and like a guy sort of choosing to it No one's going to stand up for this movie and be like, actually that's Peter Weirre's secret masterpiece you know, the basement on final movies in the minieries is quite low Operation Dumbo Drop. I'm looking through a list.'s we do need to cover that And Wh who directed that was that Orson Wells? It was Orson Wells. No, of course it was Simon Winsor. Oh yeah. Operation Dumbo Drop. Yeah never seen it. This is the best thing I G got to drop an elephant. Ben's choice that Ben hasn't seen is like my that's mini series, perhaps, like a patre. We have Grphy, will remind you. This came up when it revealed of Ben had never seen Bhwax. We've covered a winsor. We've covered one winsor. Yes Crocodll Dunde in Los Angeles. D you go to Los Angeles. When there's movie is we might cover the Phantom one day. So tor made for Ben and he just for some reason missed it. It is bizarre that' see Bushh. How' you miss Dumbo drop Dumbble Drop is good. I don't know. Do you know do you w to know what Dumbble Drop is the big three? We're gonna play the bar. Danny Glover Dennis Leary and Ray Loda And their job is to get an elephant across I've never seen it. don't look at me. It's I have seen it. I I the way back with an elephant. They're like walking the elephant by foot And then at a certain point they're like, this is taking too long. We got to get the elephant in a plane and then drop the elephant parachute into its final landing. Yeah, it's where is it? It's probably one of it best movies ever in. The recent Vietnam movie that I didn't see was the the Fe one the greatest beer. Oh,. I'm surprised you haven'ten. Don't Really Uh Yeah, don't be surprised I ha'ten.y would I see that you like war movies? you watch That movie was about W You just said that you watch war movies No World War movies. I am not encyclopedia. You don'tc on I do, but we certainly don't favor those movies. There's way less variety in the I agree. There's so much less variety. They tend to be one to two kinds of movies. Yes,. And the sort of but you know, similar to World War two One of the better genres of the Vietnam movie is the Soldier afterfter Vietnam. Wh which is what you like no, but I'm really like. Yes, Yes, it's exactly what you're saying. I'm looking through the Vietnam list here and it is like I like PTSD movies. because that's an emotional story in the wake of war. Yeah. Even if it starts withive. It's like my favorite war movie I don't know. I love warar movies so much Alex. And I like any movie that makes me Google shit. Yeah. Now, do I need every movie to be like that? No, but the way back where I can be like, And how many people do live in Mongolia? Like I love see this for me gets into what Ben would call a homework movie. But this is the interesting thing that we love splitting the difference on of curating Worst season is like There's movies that like Nuremberg that you're like This is one to one. This is a Hollywood eized version of everyone in this movie is a real person. And then there's stuff like this where it's like this is sort of based on a thing And what really went out of vogue post saving Private Ryan for a long time. even th know that movie is fictional was making these big ticket war movies of like No we just made this up. Yeah It became much more popular in the two thousands to really like Be like this is a true story based on tr. We're adapting a memoir. We're adapting something true. Whereas prior to that, Schindler's was almost like an outliire. whereere a lot of these movies, even music boxers I just watched are like, well, it's kind of inspired by this thing, but like mostly we're just trying to tell a good story And then it becomes I turn it because it was like the professor just W World War two movies before that for a long time at this level. They were being made in other countries and there's a lot of good foreign war films in the eighties and France was making a lot and they sort of tried to grapple with their horrible history. America Vietnam was in vogue for over a decade kind of until Schindler's list made World War two big business. But it's also the generation starts to shift and like booomers want to watch World War I movies because they' their parents served in World War, you know, like it's it's just that's how One day maybe we'll get more. We're probably like ten years away. more films about the Cone Wars now that cyclically, it's kind of coming back. Wells it's like anything. The distance between these things started getting really Yeah, I mean, I mean, that's not a joke. That's a great statement. Okay. V veryate. That's what I want. I want to profundity points. But to us, we do love David's Googling of like What is this movie based on? We do love David's Google line. Thank you because we enjoy like kind of comparing like, oh, so I looked it up. It turns out like Charlotte Gray, the Cpe Banchett movie likeike, you know, where it's like This is a true story. This is like some remarkable figure who needs a biopic versus the ones that tend to be like This is a kind of interpretation of life during wartime in Fill in the blank. And just to be clear, Charlotte Gray is not about a real person, but it is baseds not a novel. Wait, what's the other one? There's another one with a nearly identical title Veronica Gearin. Yes, That's the IRA movie. Yeah. Right, right. but she's a journalist. I'm getting those confused. Okay. What what am I talking about? My favorite war movie of all time is small Soldiers. Yes, of course.. And that's based on true story. The war of that kid's house. Alan Abernathy january twenty first, twenty eleven. These are going to be rough. This is a terrible t. That's why it's a fun box obvious game. The way back is january twenty eleven. Okay. Number one number fifteen on six hundred seventy eight screens to one point two million dollars. and it's going to that out Like that out two point seven million dollars. It's not a great show. a third of a black hat. It makes it a third of blackat. What a bllack hat six five? Yeah Yeah It makes twenty four point one worldwide, so it's a little better overseas. unsurprisingly countries has to But number one at the box office is kind of like that wasas that its widest? Did it go beyond six hundred? Is it like immediately down to? Beuse I feel like they're like, okay, we'll expand it. Like and then it's like, no we won't be expanding it. That was its widest. six hundred seventy eight screens theaters. H. So number one is I would say a film that's like kind of tonally very similar to the way backack and, you know, has the same kind of energy joking. I'm joking. It's a comedy. Okay. It's opening number one to nineteen point six million dollars. right at the start of January. America's like laady togh. We want to see some romance. It's not a Friedberg seelzer. No. It's a romanticassier than that. It's a romantic comedy for me, a very well known director. Is it Gary Marshall? No You know, it's sort of like an old hand s N not quite as old as Gary Marshall. But he only had one more film left in him after this one. He only had one more film left in him after this film. Tell me about the stars of this picture. Well, first, who's the distributor of this f f? Of course, it's from the Great Pople of Parama Pictures. Okay When when was this director most active the eighties An eighties director An eighties director who's only got one left in him and tell me about the stars of the picture? Well there's a Lovely lady And a handsome young man. Now the lovely lady is about to win an Academy Award. Okay. interest This threatenensed to be her Norbit. This is no strings attached That's right With Natalie Portman and Ashon Cutcher and Ivan Reitman of course, would then make Draft day and be so exhausted by the ego of one of the stars on that movie that he retired. That was his that was his way back. his way back. He was like, I can't deal withriffer Newman asking me endless intern questions. Yeah saying we have to stop for five minutes so I connect to the office. I had to take a long walk down that hallway and try not to spill coffee and I failed Congratulations on being able to differentiate no strings attached and Whatever the other one is the one benefits. That's the of the other one, but the reason is everyone sort of remembers everyone just thinks they're both called no strings attached. No strings attached the title people. It's a better title. It's also the better of those two films. It's a good movie. remind people. it's pretty fun. Yeah. pretty fun. Oh and I have presents to give Griffin before we wra up. Oh, no, don't worry about it I think I've forgotten about that. Number two at the box office is a film that came out a week earlier So truly at the top of January opened fairly well. It's an action superhero movie did okay What is therigin Is it a superhero? Is is it the green hornet? It's Greenorn. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So was a January release. L a January like second release. That was right. That was a big thing was it had a summer release date. Then they announced they were pushing it back six months in order to three D. post conversion three D on it and release it in January. and people were like, o, fucking dumping ground. Is this thing like It did pretty good. And then it did well Made a hundred million dollars. Would that be the wayit, did you didn't do pulp heroes yet? No, with that count but that's like TV, you know? Yeah. Pulp Heroes is like fucking radio and comic books. It's shhadow, Pantom, Dictory. I put Green Hornet in also we all remember directed Green Hornet.. Right. We're not doing his ass anytime. being broken into Macrob and gessoline. Thei in the eye, comeome on, David Pot in the cast Moood in to go These are Th these are heater episodes. I just want more like of the energy of Ben getting to do I the nineties comics and I listen to the Mortal combat episode That's just such a we're offering a lot of that en. Yeah. I would not worry. Yeah. Number three at the box office is another comedy. Okay U, star driven from a big director. Is it a holdover from December? It's a January release. It came out it came out u I guess A week before. Okay. It opened against Greenhorn. Yeah It's a big director. Yeah. It's a January comedy. Yeah Distributor Uh Universal. And this director usually works with the Universal. This director usually works with especially this h of this time. say so especially at this time. his production company was sort of Comedy director? Ball Tr? No, Well, he made a lot of comedies, no, but he's at this point Pristi direct. No, say no more. It's Ron Howard's the dilema. That's right, which was a bit of a flop It was a bit of a flop but it's a bad movie But Kevin James had hit so hard with Paul Blart in January that they were trying to make him the king of January. Yeah. And this was a hot project The cast of that movie is so bizarrely stacked. James E Warry You've got Jenifer Carnelly, Winona Ridder, Channing Tatt and, Queen Latifa How could it be bad? I think it's definitely bad as Sean Fennesssey would say, is in fact quite poor right for But and just one of those things where the poster is just like K James. Is my guy on theost? Does Von have his hand over his head? Both of his hands. Both of his hands over. He's like, I don't know what to do about this. This is a dma brewing that had an ad above my subway stop. Yeah Like that they just left up, but it's like Kevin Ders is just smiling like an idiot. Yes. Like Kevin James looks like he was born two seconds. I mean, do you guys remember what the San is like, Do do I have to tell? Yes, he sees his wife kissing He Vin Sp see Yes, Kevin James' wife kissing somebody. The entire T him Yes.. And like do I tell him or not? Kevin James is married to Winona Ryder Right Wona Ride is having an affair with Chaining Tatum Vinince Bwn witnesses it and the whole movie is him being like, do I tell my friend I not? It's going to make him feel bad And it's one of those things where you're just like Tell him this is't an interesting con. Stop talking about it. I want to Either way, co, whichich do you think is the better act as a friend? Decide that and stick to it. a What' a dilema. You'd do Howard It's so long.'s long. Yeah. let me pause just to keep the games, let me pause the games so people have a reason to keep listening. Yeah. So I am leaving these. this is going to be like a reverse a memento kind of story. I'm going to leave these blue rays for Tracy Letz. Oh yeah, of course. Right, right. right We're recording with Tracy will have This will have paid off. hopefully I'm leaving three sealed blue rays Two of which are reference quality of my own films to contribute to less because I think he'll watch these, but more like it's almost a badge of honor to have these in the archive. So this is Vinegar Syndrome, H smell and p Syndrome pavements. And then the British Eureka Masters of Cinema listen up Phillip, which is the only Blue ray release of it ever. And that's a Bl ray DVD combo pack. Oh yeah. dual format edition contains both Blue Ray and DVD editions and because of rights issues, this can't be issued on Blue Ray in America. You've been trying to work this out Yeah right Yeah. I' be done. Do you know what Ben has purchased Tacy Letz? No this. I think Ben might go three for three. Well he's I'm definitely going three for three. I'm going to write him aice note too. I'm going toss this goody bag to Griffin. Great. And this is you know what half of this is, but it'll still be fun lot for Tracy Aspirentatory pet detective. Steel book. Oh yeah. steel book a recent release. Spawn. Nice Arow four K. Sort then that's been like sharing his culture with for sure. And then of course, naturally trash humumpers. Nice. Which maybe Tracy has that one? It's the one I feels like he open contempt for the work of Harmony Korean. I might imagine it's not his. When you give him spawn, make sure he's looking at I will I'll have it Yeah, they'll add it to the display will hopefully not have paid off in like shame and confusion. Yeah. this bit that I'm now contributing to is one of my favorite Rousings of Seaan is in the Like YouTube clip of picture when Tracy was like What's the name of the director with three names and shum without. Pasing just goes Paul Thomas Anderson And he goes, no, no, the one who's on your show David, do you think you're gonna to have a chance to buy discs? That's my plan. Okay. Why do you wantan to just leave it toen I't know I'm trying to sneak no. I was trying to go yesterday, but then I realized they're closed on Monday. Where would you going? Night owl. rightsburg. I. But yes, even to contribute to the archive of his would be honor. I'm still getting getting to lay a commemorative brick. I mean I can also dig around in my collection because I have a fair amount of dupe, but I'm like, I wish be sealed think it has to be truly. I think it has to be sealed. If you send me on my way home today, I can stop by But I was just I was hoping I invine. think you got to go. This is like one of my all time worst bits which is the bit that king size candy is an offering to the king from his subjects I you know like that's kind of what we're doing here, this offering to be true emperor physical media. Y. And you make an offering. You can't give him your used coll. just to finish just to finish. And then then Griffin can open this. I mean, to be fair Tracy shows up with like his dupes and throws them at Chris. It's okay for him to do it. Of course he's. I think're not him they're sealed. Yeah. Yeah, theseese are sealed I imagine. These are offerings from other subjects that he has no need for The king can throw his scraps speaking of the king before at the box office wins best picture in a couple of month. The King' speech That's right. And number five, what's it up to at this point fifty seven And it's going to make it to one hundred and thirty. one hundred and thirty five. Has Epstein gotten his DVD of it yet. By this point, do we when was that email sent? Number five of the box o. I think he has not gotten it yet. It is crazy to consider that it's still in January used to have a thing. That was eighty million away from its eventual box office total because of a best p.'t to whichever I've seen. I was about to pick up my stop sign. Number New York financier? Yeah. Number five of the box office is a film from Alex's favorite directors, who he said such lovely things about on this episode, their biggest hit ever. Also a twenty ten bestest picture nominee Uh, there Tue Git. I gave it away. I think maybe my favorite Coh Brothers' movie. Incredible. I love this movie. Yeah. You've also got Back Swan mentioned. So Natalie's got two I'm excited for people to respond to that take of mine. I love True Gret is your favorite. No no, just the earlier thoughts. Yeah. Theyough both really, really even handed Just that I think Fargo is like good N What is Black Swan up to at this point. Black Swananss up to eighty three. so we' also got some run to go. Yeah. little the little Fockers are on their way out of town. those troublemakers. So much comedy. N not much comedy much so much comedy. undeniably not Hollywood's best comedies. none of this. When you're like, I wonder why Hollywood stop making comedies and you're like the dilemma, Little Farkers, like L. Little Falkers makes it to a soft one hundred domestic. Yeah. I don know, Little Falers made one hundred forty eight dimestic. That's insane. Yeah Friends with Benefits makes it to like eighty or ninety domestic. Are you talking about no strings attached? Fuck Yes. I got it write the first. That made it to seventy domestic. Okay. one hundred fifty worldldwide. Okay Yeah. so like, okay. Yeah And the dilemma, which Dilemma was a bomb made forty eight Domestic. Yeah. So that's flop territory, but where would have killed it for that? Yes in this film. Yeah ye. Also like most studio comedies would kill forty eight Domestic now and that was seen as a disaster. I mean it I'm sure. I can't believe how little money the way back made It's crazy. Num eight is the fighter. I can. nobody want to see that shit. And I like it Number eight's the fighter. Number nine is Yogi bear. What's fighter at Fighter is at seventy two. bear want to eighty eight F fighter stay at ninety. ninety three. ninety three. And number ten is, of course, the comedy of twenty ten, number one Tron Legacy I love that movie. B digital jazzman. That's right. You want displace in the the rankings if you good point. I'll tell you where we're going to sply some in right here. Here are rankings for Peter Weir Okay, this is the pickup on our ranking now that I've rewatched Master and Commander. And we have recorded all the episodes, David, Yes Do you want to go first This is a very hard one. I don't know if you found that Griffin. incredibly difficult Because it's a lot of great movies, a lot of movies I admire for different reasons. And like centimeters in between these positions. Yeah, one hundred percent. It's basically interchangeable. Did you include the plumber or not? I included the plumber Um, so My list is and really it's tough. Yeah because But Yeahah, a lot of these are fighting. N one mastering commander, that was not tough. Sure. You're going from top down one to top one to down Number two, the Truman Sh, number three Witness, number four, Picnic and Hanging Rock. Those three are all movies I just think are sublime, and they all felt a little interchangeable. Number five fearless, number six green card, number seven mosquito Cast Number eight last wave Number nine Year of Living Dangerously, number ten Gallipoli. Those are all movies, I think are pretty interesting and tremendous. Yeah. I'm sure yours list is different from mine. It is. although you know what's interesting? I mean, Master and Commander is unsurprisingly lower for me, but then our rankings are the same. for the next couple. That's interesting. Okay I have Truman at number one, witness at number two, picnic hangrock number three. agree with that block you just established. Then I have fearless at number four, which is the same as you minus master and commommander at the top of that list, right? do you have master and commander I have Gallipoli at five. Jesus, this is so fucked up and insane. Mosquito coast at six, master and commommander at seven Last wave at eight, green card at nine. you're living dangerously at ten. And then I have my last four are way back at eleven Clumber at twelve Cars that Aate Paris at thirteen, De Poote Society at fourteen. Wild. So yeah, I have a totally different order there. I have cars at eleven, Cars two at twelve. No, I have Cararsated Paris at eleven, deead poets at twelve Plummer at thirteen, way back at fourteen. I would say the top ten are all degrees of excellent for me And Cars theyay Paris Dad Poets and Plumber are all very good And the only movie of his I like don't enjoy is the wayay back, but I also don't think it's a bad film. I don't think he ever made a bad That's it. Yeah. that's it Now we cut you back to that episode I can't believe it the way number one accross the board. we really changed our mind. Debuting in theaters this week is also the compompany men, The John Wells film. A film I hate. What if the bosses had It's actually one of my least favorite movies U don't remember what that is It's about a bunch of like middle managers and whatever other exactly And how much they struggle in the recession. These guys used to have who is who are the exactutes? Sostner. Affleck. Commie Lee Jones. These are some guys.. This sounds watchable. Yes. This sounds very watchable. Kevin Costner is not exec. This sounds very watchable. Costner is a Joe the plumber who hates Ben Affleck, his brother in law who's never worked a real day in his life These guys used to play golf terri movie's directed written directed by John Wells. That's right. I believe Y Jog associage counter later. Yes. Like is that. And then he gets burnt. Well, you know who can answer that question for you Now of course, he's back on the pit, right? Yeah. thank God, he's off our movie screens. Yeah, making good TV for us again. He was like my least favorite middle brrow director. I mean, it's interesting because I also actually associate him with ER's decline and then I associate him with the West Wing' decline as he took over the West wing, but like he obviously was important to ER, but he becomes too powerful later in ER and he starts to infected with too many specialpisodes. It's fine. It's fine. but the pit's good. And he's great, I guess. he's my best friend So next week on the podcast, of course, we're going to talk about disisclosure Day Ah because that's going to be pretty new. Yeah, brand new, I think. That's coming out on the twelfth U But then, Griffin, what are we going to do? Then We're going Under theceas. Yes. We will be looking for someone. Who could we be looking for? We'll be trying to find Nemo, an episode we offer to Arp. I was offered finding Nemo. You said something to the effect of I don't really have any relationship to finding Nemo. I've seen it twice. Finding Dory, I've obviously seen twenty five times. prefere is finding Dory. your daughter by a wide mar. Al also my daughter. Why is that? Because Doryie's so cute at the beginning with her big little I guess so, but I mean, the whole most of is in an aquarium. My daughter also well, but daughter aquarium because she I do the seepptopus. Yeah. well I like the Buga whale with the vibrating great whale. 's got good characs Yeah. I mean, it's a fine film. goodood character. I just don't know I just don't know why she gravitates towards. I think just becausecause it's like, it's the classic kid thing of like, well, Dory's the best character anyway. So like a movie with more Dory' just like more For me wasen She solved my issues. I just didn't think I would have that much insight It's a neurotic father Alex neurotic. It's not neurotic? There No, I no. We didnn't kill. This was the best episode we could have gotten you on. But yes, in two weeks we started our talking the walk. seecret side talking the walk. You did say this. this is kind of a talking the walk We'll replay this. so you're doing Andrew Stance. We're doing Andrew Stance. I don't want to cut off your actual promotion so people can be excited. His first three films are the cleanest isillation of a blank cheheck arc. We will cover Finding Nmo big hit. So he makes his like sort of like more ambitious animated film Wally and then uses that to make something crazy Action film people have tried to make for a hundred years in Hollywood B biggest scale imaginable. Does it have a cool title from the books? sounds good so far. A title John Carter ititle if Jhn Wells would come up with. Now, wait a minute, where's the rest of the title? The titleles over You won't learn where he's from. Basically the definit is what is Mars called Mars in the movie No, it's called Barumon. Arguably the definitive bounce of The last fifteen years, the last ten years. Most definitive It is like the shorth it has replaced Water World. It is the one of our era. And it destroyed Disney. a way it constolutely broke Disney. changed everything then he rebounds with finding Dory. he has this cushion that he can go back to his most successful film And then in the year twenty twenty six, He returns with two films in the blink of an eye, a Hulu original that came out mononths ago. Everyone knows this Yeah. We all know this And then what is guaranteed to be Another one of the highest grossing films of all time, Toy Story five coming out this summer. a thing I was loathhe to cover on Main feeed, but David twisted my arm and I conceded, maybe it is time to do Andrew Stanton. Oh yeah. ye, I really had to bully you into this one U I'm excited. I'm excited to talk about it. Thanks for having me on this one. Of course. Griffin has his gift bag. Okay, I'm gonna to open up myiftag. Let's see. It's a lot of st you know about. What's your number one Peter Reman If it's not master and commommander, it's mosquito Cast. It was definitely mosquito Cast for a long time, sure And then veryy Alex moving. rewatched Master and Commander when we did like a C series during the pandemic. And was I'd always liked the movie. I was like, o, this I forgot, this is like one of the fifty canonically greatest films ever made Period, like my hands, by human hands. I have a bumper sticker that says, please stop honking. I'm trying to watch the twenty twenty five major motion picture pavements. Much appreciated. Gotting a lot of merch here. It'd be funnier though if it was like Trumbo or something. Oh like These I've been asking you to to hold on know. Which I movie promotional stickers of my face from me. No. These are bags I got Are they the full band or these just No there's the full band, but Irought the ones that had you in the front. Thank you. I really appreciate it. I just want to shout out with the bumber sticker that today I pulled in right after ARP into the parking garage and I knew it was him because he had the pavement. P the st on my car. inherited the car from my grandmother and I covered up the Biden Harris bumper sticker that I couldn't take off with a pavement's bumper stick. Good call. Pavean's hat, Pavement's ball cap. versus Arthur VHS collection. Oh, it only has the one episode. It's a classic twenty one minute VHS. Yeah That's right. But you found this And I immediately realized this is quite a pricey VHS on the second handand market. Well, the tends to be going for over a hundred dollars. Is over a hundred dollars. Yeah. That was a dollar when I b It's crazy. Yoked up Arthur, carrying Carmelita, his love interest that we never got to in the live action. I've had that waiting for you for nine months. All of my love interests were not human on the show And then and then and then of course, the buddy Christ a scene in the hit film Dogm. You guys are benefiting from me getting all the stuff from my dad's storage locker. I really appreciate this. All these sealed toys I forgot about. And you know what? we're gonna take pictures and post it on social jokes. Yeah probably part of the carousel. But what was the other thing you said you wanted the carousel Eens Oh future spawn. Yeah Arp, Thankk you for being. Yeah, thanks. Hey, you had two movies last year Yeah both of which people should watch. So for this year the zero For now Um for the year, I'm calling my shot. You're calling your shot. Yeah, much like Peter Weir. This is no movie. I'd rather explore sunken World War Io submarines than Get out of bed at six AM to go be yelled at I believe you do get probably get out of bed at six A to be young Yeah, but not by like or a parent of a young child. Not by like an AD. Right. Yes Um, yeah Well video heaven's on Criterion channel. That's the only thing I care about people watching because I benefit directly from it., But payence is on movie. Pay's on movie, but I'm not gonna to see a dime there, but video heaven like my moving. Yeah right you own like the mo outright. Can you give the quick pitch to people who don't know because if you listen to this podcast, it it's true, real nerdy. You've made it to Cusp of Hour three in a podcast, you would probably enjoy a three hour essay film about the history of video tape as a medium and video stores told entirely through clips from movies and television depicting video stores as physical spaces I made this movie has one hundred and eighty film and TV show clips in it accompanied by a essay read by Mayahawk. And if you're hearing this and going, well, this sounds a little a little. I don't know if I can listen to three hours of playing. Cckking to watch a three hour movie. A little educational, little dry less you be concerned, the lastast Th Mut' features are just doing a drive by on like fifteen early two thousands independent films. It does feature Amy Hckerling's loser, it does I spent ten years on this movie, Griffin walked out of seeing it and said, What no freaky tailes? This is a running bit that I keep asking why Freaky Tailes didn't make the cut and I keep demanding that news and Dals respects the existence of freaky Tailes, just that it exists. M Tracy, let's a four K of freaky too. Fuck, I don't know if I can arrive in time becauseuse's lines getate limited. I don't know what their quickest shipping option is. He's caning here in like three days. Okay. I was looking at overnighting some Amazon stuff and my train ride wide from upstate, there's the Lionionss Gate stududios on the Hudson. I'm sure you guys have seen this David, it's like a near Yankee Stadium.ave you ever seen the Lionionss Gate stududios? It might be past Yankee Stadium. Probably. We had to actually send one of our hats to that location because they're the production company That's involved with the John Ham showhow. Did that ever come out? It's coming out soon. I I got a text from a friend today watching a screener being like, arere you guys aware? John Ham list to your show? on Is That's what we should plug. You're in an upcoming episode of our friends and neighbor. Forget about your friends and neighbor, Fashion fm that I've speent ten years on and love dearly. Watch this Apple show. I love video heaven. Yes. I love it too. and it's on the Criterion channel for the foreseeable future It's excellent. But people are really watching it on there. It's great. That's sitting out there like, what's popular these days? and it was always up there. It's high It's highly recommended. And I just want to clarify that fat cocked gentleman thieves in New York City are always listening to the Halloween episode. Blank Cck featuring Alex Ross Perry as depicted in the Apple Pus series Blank Cck fans can say they were there first. Yes. And yeah, people are always like, wow that mov it's two hours and fifty minutes. That's insanely long and And I'm like Guys, if you listen to B blank C check, if an episode of that one, remember when you told me you're like, it's gonna be about three hours and I was like, oh, it's long.'re like Iigure anyone who's watching this is cool with watching it for three hours. The blank check coms out this two hundred fifty people are like, I guess David had to be somewhere y This is a crazy amount of time to not spend marinating in the love of cinema. I wanted to point out to you that we are're about to hit three to hit three hours. So we are I also feel like we wrapped up half an hour ago. We We're kind of wrapping in an hour. I looked up it was two thirty. I felt tengrees. I felt the exact same way and now I feel less good. But I feel okay. I think we're doing great and I think everyone run's gonna be David, look on the ber side, there's more toys. There's more toys. J just what I love For sound insulation. So this is his new thing, by the way,'s justifying that. Oh just adding suffocates us then leaves the sound. It's absorbing sound. So tune in next week for Disclosure Day. Hope that rocks and then we're doing Ery Stint and then we're doing whoeverone March Man is, I assume Chris Columbpus Yeah, do you want to claim one of those episodes now? H Centennial Man If he wins, I will tell on Mike the story I'm about to tell you guys about why I find it so aggravating whenever you're like, and he's the nicest guy in Hollywood. I tell this story privately right now and then I promise if he wins, I will come on and make people feel bad about this victory. There's no chance he' going to win. No, I don't think so. Maybe he wins You've given me an idea here. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate review and subscribe. Tun in next week for Disclosure Day. Thank you all for writing the high sees of Peter Were with us. Absolutely. And ARP, I'm going to read you a deadline announcement that just happened. again, canan we bleep out the announcement and I just want to get ARP's reaction to it? Good, good. Okay So bleep out what I'm about to say and then get ARP's reaction. Breez to direct been off I mean, this is going to get the shit back on track. This is what the people want. real bummer. This is definitely what the public wants. I think I think these three faces. lookook at I mean I appreciate that all the progressive gains of the last decade have been erased by the current political climate, but this is a bridge too far We can't let people like this run Hollywood again end as always or that was that was the end as always. Yeah. that's that's it. At some point there'll be a lag and I can start unboxing this bag of presents. can't work excited Nothing for David, but what do you get for the man who has everything? A little bit. Yeahah. I mean having this I'm gonna turn forty in a month and everyone's like like this is it recently. The stop sign? Crect. And it's two sided Okay. This is Chuck Giffin up, I think, is the idea. Sometimes he feel like that from druction's going by too quickly. and the slow. Slow is definitely not something we really need to use Blank Cck with Griffin and David is hosted by Griffin Newman and David Sims Our executive producer is me, Ben Hosy Our creative producer is Marie Bardy Salinas, and our associate producer is AJ McKon This show is mixed and edited by AJ McKon and Alan Smithy reesesearch by JJ. Birch. The theme song is by Le Montgomery in the Great American novel, with additional music by Alex Mitchell. Artwork by Joe Bowen, Ollie Moss, and Pat Reynolds Our production assistant is Mink Special thanks to David Chow, Jordan Fish, and Nate Patterson for their production help Head over to blankchheckpod. com for links to all of the real nerdy shit Join our Patreon, Blank Check spepecial features for exclusive franchise commentaries and bonus episodes Follow us on social at Blank Check pod Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, checkbook on Substack podcast is created and produced by Blank Check Productions