Reflecting on the Jackass Legacy

I'maobb. and And this is the Big Picture A Conversation Sh about two new movies, both signifying the end of something beautiful and painful. The first is Supergirl, the first superhero comic book movie. in nearly a calendar year and the second feature from James Gunn's DC stududios, the second Is Jackass best and last? It is allegedly the final installment in the decadade spanning five film self harm extravaganza which Chris Ryan's going to join us to discuss thankfully. But first, let's get into some movie news right after this. We've been pre taping some episodes.. so a lot of news has been transpiring. Do you feel ready to breakd down each and every component of this news Most of it, yes. Okay. let's start with the debut This is one of the only movies that we did not mention when we had our little side text chain about potential Oscar contenders. R last week We didn't know the title of the movie We didn't know when it was going to come out But it has been on the to sleep for A twenty four for a long time. It's Jesse Eisenberg's new movie as writer director He has also written the Wds and music to this alleged musical, sort of a musical Um It stars Julianne Mre and Pul Giamati We have a trailer You know, as I recall, Jesse's previous film, not your favoritevie of that year.ot fair I liked it And I even liked Kirin Colkin's performance. Oscar winning. And once we decided in like July that he was going to be the Oscar winner. I think it was actually a teleride, but it was at least six months in advance and he steamrolled through the season I just I didn't think it reached that level. and I was also annoyed with the lack of interrogation of that decision. But I like Jessse Eisenberg. I liked the movie. cool. I like everyone involved with this movie, Julianne Moore, Paul Giomati nervous about singing. You know, that's a blanket situation for me. Okay. I don't like it when people sing. You know, Pachy Mononey doesn't have an Oscar That's true because you and I denied him one for the holdovers. It was us personally. That was that wasn't I claimed no responsibility for that. You know, I do like Jesse's last movie quite a bit. This movie looks interesting. You know, there's a very famous episode of the Simpsons in which Marge joins a local theater production of I believe a street car named Desire. I think the name of the episode is a street carar named Marge And uh, This movie's plot looks eerily similar to that episode of the show. Well, which in which Julianne Moore plays a middle aged woman who discovers her soul and creativity in a local theatrical Playhouse And That's funny, because you know, obsession was also inspired by a Simpsons episode. and I feel like this is going to keep happening. The Simpsons the well runs deep. We have all come of age. People who grew up with the Simpsons both like interpreting and regurgitating old culture and then inspiring new culture are now being given like small to medium sized budgets Yeah. Yeah so this looks like a nicely mounted fil Yeah Yeah, so I'm looking forward to that. It's coming this fall and I suspect we'll be Some of the film festivals, this feels like a telly Ride movie to me, does it not Absolutely. Okay. That's just a guess. That's exciting for you in the mountains, some musical singing. Julianne Moore hanging out. Julianne Moore seated like fourth row Third way. At the Nicks games? Yeah, a long time Ks fan. Exactly. But once again, there were there were certain individuals who will not be named Wh displaced her to the third or fourth row, But she was there with dignity. Yeah and with purpose. But what we really respect about her is in twenty seventeen when things were bad, bad, bad. She was in the front first row. Yeah with her husband in like game forty eight against the Hornets you know, she was showing out. So she she earned this title. I'm a little mad that she didn't get courtside for the moments of actual glory, but you know, let's get her courtside at the Academy Awards. That's what I say. Okay, nexte thing, artificial status, status check This is a film It does not have a distributor. It has a director, it has a cast, it has a completed scenario Right a movie about Sam Altman. we talked about it last week As of june twenty first, Netflix A twenty four and Focus reportedly passed Mubi is reportedly pursuing and Non is also possibly circling. Is this movie going to come out? Gut check Yes. a very confident. Yeah respond. I mean, they're releasing the the Looney Tunons movie now, right? Yes, they are Cyote versus Ame. But they never released Batgirl, right? They never Batgirl,es, was deleted from the hard drive. So I'm trying to think of other recent instances. Now those were both Tax justification, quQote unquote, tax justification. I believe that's the case. For Warner Brothers of that it was cheaper to do a write off given their various debt restructuring. Who can even know what's going on at Warner Brrosers, whichich is something we will discuss later. That's right episode B it So this is different because this is this is content. And as we discussed I don't remember at this point when that episode was last week. Several years ag. It's really about who doesn't who is not compromised enough by big tech money to take this on. And we went through the list and we knew that, you know, Netflix, Disney Warter Brothers, Paramount, whatever's going on there, We're never going to compete. We didn't think that Universal would be in the mix because they don't take on this type of controversy Age twenty four, we had some Wobbl about then would you like to move to the next amazingly timed information that Google invested seventy five million dollars into A twenty four and it's to develop AI powered filmmaking tools. Now this they went to G Paines to communicate that this was separate and distinct from their film library and their film content and this would not be a generative AI filmmaking structure. However Um You know, there's optics here about that and people seem a little bit mad. Right Anyt timee AI is associated with the film business or any creative arts, people are going to get mad. and this kind of association In addition to right. you know, thrive capital get a major investor exactly in AI And also in A twenty four. Yeah like they it was twenty twenty four, I believe. Yes. So, you know, all of those relationships, I think make all that a little bit dicey. And so yeah, I mean he might just find himself without a chair in this game of musical chairs. It's possible. this does happen. Sometimes these movies just go away. And you know it does, but it does also seem like such an opportunity for some upstart or someone. I mean you have Luca, you have Andrew Garfield Those are big names. You have that this is a very negative movie about Sam Altman at AI at a time where there are many people who seem ready to receive that. Yeah. And now you have the controversy of, as we said, the movie they don't want you to see. Yeah. So the question is if there is anyone left related to the movies or anyone left in a distribution capacity who is untouched by N just AI really, but really tech at this point because big tech has put so much of its money into like making AI happen. And yes, that was a mean girls fetch reference. I don't know. I mean, like it would be really fun if someone gets creative. It does feel a little bit like we're gonna make, you know someone live stream it like Rob Mahoney on his Instagram. But I don't know. I would crowdf for that. It's tricky because it's obviously an expensive movie. It's a big budget Hollywood drama. you know, it's not a small indie T ten or fifteen years ago this sort of thing, when this sort of thing would happen, movies could more quickly find homes because in addition to the fact that I think some of the kind of like shingles inside of the majors were more adventurous in terms of the kind of movies that they would put out, there were more small companies, small distributors that would able to take on a movie like this, Ketchup enttertainment is taking on Coyote versus Acne. You know that it's a very thin pool. Even a bunch of the new studios, you know, Roqu, Black Bear, a bunch of the distributors who kind of emerged in the last twelve months, proved a little challenging for them to really gain a foothold. and so taking on a Tens of millions of dollars investment in a movie like this. I mean, I'm sure Amazon will. Some of the production cost give a movie away. I don't really know how all of that necessarily works, but it does remind me a little bit of The state of the Mets roster where we've just got a lot of guys who are making a lot of money and we just need other teams to just take those guys away from us forever. and so I don't have to think about them anymore. And one of the only ways you can get people to do that is to pay down some of the of the salaries and this might be a similar situation where to get this movie off the books Right. You might just have to pay down some of that that budget. That seems incredibly likely. I assume that anyone who does take this movie will get a discount. as Matt Belleny put it on his episode. I've just been Googling the various investors in MUBI and Non ure famously seequoia capital Exactly, which is a major investor or not a major investor. No one sent me the, you know, deal sheets in AI in open AI specifically, so that's tricky.. And then I'm looking because Non recently got an infusion They did that was that was through depart well reportedly through department M., which is a production company. But where their money is rooted is is unknown specifically. And that's the thing. like you said, all of these places are compromised in one way or another. You know, if we're being really honest Yeah, every movie studio forever has been compromised by where their money comes from. know the great wealth that engenders artistic opportunity very rarely comes from, you know charitable organizations that fair amount of Gulf in Western companies, we all know. Yeah, this one is extremely challenging because it' The subject matter of the film is rooted. in the The origins of the money. And so, you know, it's just it's a fascinating story, a fascinating test case. in addition to the fact that it's, you know, director who we really like. and so we really want to see the movie. And so And who needs to win? He doesn't I mean the really challengers was like two years ago, but if you're only as good as your last. Yeah, wellar and after the hunt, neither went over super well We'll see what happens. We'll keep checking in on this. Sense and sensibility. The new retelling of the famed novel. It's it's not a retelling. Its the latest adaptation. Latest adaptation. Reboot. Yeah. It's a reboot It's a prequel It's just like Austin is like Shakespeare. People are just doing interpretations of the core text over and over again trarailer came out Yeah, you say what? Well, this we saw in in Vegas at Cinemac Con I just have to claim like a personal What's it called in golf where you take a penalty or you take a a mulligan? A mulligan. Okay. Yeah. You have to take a mulligan on the film Yeah, or I don't know, I don't know if that's the right sports comparison, but I'm too close. I'm too close to the ninety five version, Which is not to say that anyone can't do this. Let's use Chris Ryan's golf game as a way to portal into this metaphor. What one was hoping for when we talked about a Jane Austen atation lines himself up on the first T of the golf course. Yes He pulls out dririver He looks down the fairway Yeah. He gets his mind clear. He bees the ball Big o wack. Yes, first swing of the day shanks it far right right into a tree. Okay hits the tree, bounces well all the way back at him In the Parlance of Glf, you take a mulligan, that first shot doesn't count It takes a second shot pipes one right down the farairway and he's off and running and he's going to have the game of his life, the round of his life. Okay So is that what you're saying you're going to do in my opinion probably shouldn't count I like I think that I What a joy to hear that out loud. I am just put in this one case, And maybe you could learn from me as we talk about all the rest of the world of cinema, which is catered to your interests. No thanks. But this one's catered to mine. And I'm too close. I am too close to the Emma Thompson in nineteen ninety five. I've seen it too many times. have like it's my comfort film. I put it on when we had to stay up until had to. But the cann ticketing system was such that I'm With time zones, we needed to stay up until midnight a lot of nights in order to be able to get tickets, which for me at my phase of life is difficult Put on sense of sensibility one night, just to to hang out. So And that was the nineteen ninety five version respond to this I can't respond to this. I would say that Daisy Edgar Jones does not bring the same things to cinema that Emma Thompson does to me Ema Thompson's version was an adaptation. So I'm not trying to keep people away from this. I just have one truth and that truth is Angleee's nineteen ninety five sense and Sensibility. Okay. Thank you This new version is directed by George Oakley, as you mentioned, Disy Egar Jones, George Mcy, Katrina Bau, Frank Delaine. Good cast We'll say What if I love it a lot more than the Angleave version than what happens We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Okay. Timothy Chhalam and Selena Gomez are gonna star in an animated alien movie. Okay Cool. Always, the Timothy Chalamet has been getting checks in the last three months I have fewer problems with this. We need to get some of the Timothy Chalam money to Mitchell Robinson to keep the Kicks together next season. Okay Do you think we can make that happen. So that's att tension That's a that's that's an issue. Yeah ye Yeah. he's a free agent. And mitch back And who is the who's the problem there? Is it Dolan? The problem is the collective bargaining agreement of the National Bketball Association. Okay, which if you exceed The second apron Eterer the second apron financially. there's dramatic penalties involved and we're trying to avoid that. Okay trying to maintain flexibility on our keepami Um, you're going to the dunk tank, o No, you're disallowed for making certain. did a dunk take? No, no. I have thrown a ball at a target and put someone in a dunk tank, but I've never sat in the chair. We should figure out a way to bring a dunk tank into the big picture in twenty twenty seven. That's one of my goals. you s Sure. Okay. I like water. Let's put a pin in that. This movie iss coming from illumination. Okay Timmy, It's coming in april twenty twenty seven. Okay, whichich is very soon Yes. and This will come on the heels of his Oscar win for Dune Par three. No Right Totally. One month later. Who is Best Actor right now? It is It's June. Is it June right now? Are we recording for June or July? Where am I? we don't know. No This is the june twenty sixth episode. It's June. So we're that at that six month mark. who's best I mean it's Ran Gossling and Project Hll Mary I mean, nomination. yes. Is there anyone else on the board? And it's Sebastian Stan from Fjord. that's that's. That's that's's in play. Possible sot notot a lot else that we've seen out there. Do we think that Jeremy Strong is going to run in Best actor or supporting. Fe feels like supporting. feeles like the A story is Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison and social reckoning. Okay. And then obviously, of course, Jeremy Allen White is the large hut Yeah, roe to the hut. Yeah Yeah, Rot of the hut, Rot of the He stinky. Stinky. Yeahah. Well he but you know, also jacked. Did you see the bear season four yet It's out. Yeah, it came out yesterday in full. No, and also they made a new seeason of the aggency starring Michael Fastbetter? Yes. and they dumped that all in one shot as well, just like the bear. I don't know, I haven't seen any TV in six months, but I'm gonna get into it. All right, turn it back around. Let's come back to binging streaming TV because that's related to what some of what I want to talk about Supergirl Do you know who Best actor is Sure. it's yeah, here we go. It's Tom Cruise. That's right. We seguate ourself Digger footage was released this week as was a clip reel of some highlights from Tom Cruise's career, which was then I'm sure very organically shared by several dozen notable people on social media, including our boy Glenn Powell, JJ Abrams, Michael Mann noted how excited he is about the film Digger online. Okay. Obviously just watching Tom Cruise be entertaining and e cllip realal, That's just something I like. I can't pretend I don't want to just watch highlights of ome maniacally smiling and delivering dialogue. I love that Um There's very little digger. in this compilation that was circulated. So three a half minute video is maybe twenty seconds of digger You think they're hiding this For some reason Digger footage? Yeah. because the film's coming out in three months. I don't know if hidk is what I would use. I'm sure that they have a very carefully calibrated release schedule of when they think they want to put this stuff out and because as we know from the poster Digger is a comedy It includes some of the jokes. We've seen, we've seen footage from be. They did show it to us it's an big extended trailer we Yeah So with a trailer for a comedy, you end up putting a lot of the jokes and the setup in the comedy. so Maybe they think they can just sell Tom Cruise instead of having to sell this movie. I mean, I think that's probably they're doing. Yeah. So do they mean to put it out that soon. I don't think so. It's really interesting because You know, I liked what we saw. and I'm not as you know, not the biggest In Ritu fan been really cold on him for the last fifteen years. I do think that there's a lot of like straining in the marketing and everything around it I love a strange Lvian over the top satire that has big scale and a big performance. Like I'm kind of I'm into that. I'm into the idea of this movie. and they're not really, as you say, selling the movie There's plenty of time. A trailer can come out in three days and you know, we can dispense with this conversation. But I found it interesting that they were basically like Also, there's a movie coming out. Like you love Tom Cruise and that's the most important part of this marketing campaign. Well, I mean, I think it's savvy because of the footage we saw what I responded to most was Tom Cruise doing Tom Cruise stuff Yeah. And I'm a little more nervous about the innery two of it all even in what we saw because sure in concept, you know a big concept, big is budget. Yeah apocalyptic comedy. I'm Interested you know, Wh's who's doing it But the other half of it is who is doing it as Tom Cruise. And yeah, I you know lit up as soon as he was on the screen because he has a movie starus. So they they guess marketing wise, they know what they're doing. It's so funny because you know, in that clip reel too. plenty of movies that don't really have a lot of cultural weight, you know, like Rock of Ages is featured in that clip reel. Like thats not that's a movie anybody really cares about and is not one that's, you know, he gives an amusing performance in that movie, but it's a blip in his career. So it's interesting the way that they kind of pick and chose how to highlight his magnetism as a movie star. you know obviously we'll be Digger forward. in the month of October, so we'll circle back. Film Academy Ampus invited five hundred and twenty nine new members. Okay, including Some of your goats, Jacob Al Lordi, for example. the saaffties My bys at Creger whose barbarian was announced on four p steel book Congratulations. did it. We Disney somehow decided that this would be a good idea. Thank you to them Um Sianna Taylor invited Jenna Ortega Josha O Connor, John Bernthal. I' going to say Joh Bernthal. Many other people invited, you know, yet another year in which hundreds more people are joining the accademy and we're getting, I think we're over eleven thousand now And a lot of young people added to the mix here. Some names that I was surprised were not previously in the mix Um And so we'll see how that affects voting for Tom Cruz in nine months. I'm excited Josh O'Connor Chun I would love Hey, hey, That's mean. I agree that people didn't were not as kind to him as they should have been It was the role. He was wasn't supported. Yeah. He wasn't supported And he was wonderful on the press War. So Love to know how much of his time I'd love to see his voting process. They should they should open up his ballot and just follow him around. And then he's gardening and then being like, I guess I'll watch this short film. He strikes me as a man with very good taste Amazing taste, but also like maybe not fluent with this like this streaming interface Oh, interesting. You think of him as like kind of an older gentleman. He doesn't know what TikTok is or he didn't for many years. But neither do I? I mean, what does that mean? Right, No, but I think he literally like didn't know what TikTok was. Someone asked him, will you do a TikTok with me? And he said, I don't know what that is. It must be such a great way to be alive I completely agree And he's got great clothes and a little earring.'m gonna starting about that. Okay, one last piece of news. The Blair Witch movie reboot lands a twenty twenty seven release. now. Okay. This new movie which features producers and stars from the original film and will be associated with the original film in some ways, but has a completely new filmmaker. I know it's been in the works for a long time. but it feels very responsive sureure to the moment in horror that we are having with a young filmmaker with a lot of YouTube experience and using leveraging some history to make something new. And also trying to recreate a generational phenomenon in the horror genre. You know, Watching backrooms, I think many of us thought, okay, so this is Blair Witch for young people. Yes And Blair Witch was Blair Witch for me and it was very powerful. You cannot reheat a souffle, but. you know, try and make some money. It's a tall order because You know, they've tried with this this movie before. Adam Wingard had a remake or sort of like a reboot Cira twenty seventeen, I think. Obviously Blair Witch two Book of Shadows went down in the annals of Terrible movie sequels. The original Bare which, there' something special, and there's still a chemical association with a feeling. of that movie. So I look forward to seeing what they do with it. That is coming out U nexte fall I want to say. Speaking of chemical associations Would like talk about superirl I'd love to. Can I please foreground this conversation? Okay, a blanket statement. Wonderful, yes,.'s not direct to you. it'sirect to the listeners at home. Sure. The sweeping declarations that I am perhaps too fond of making Um We're gonna to come with like context. I know. Spider Man movie comes out in one month. And I know that Avengers Doomsday comes out in December, and that in all likelihood those movies will be very big I look forward to both of them Spiderm Man more than Avengers but I honestly look forward to the Avengers movies do think that this conversation that we're about to have though, is in part about something ending It doesn't mean it's the end of superhero movies or comic book movies era in which they basically dominated our adult lives. It feels like it's wrapped And it doesn't mean that something new can't start. It doesn't mean that there won't be movies like this.g, there will be. There'll a lot of movies like this, because movies like this make a lot of money, especially if they're done. I felt like a a certainty, like a calm, actually. Okay. when this movie ended where I was like, all right The ability to do this specific thing which we will get into In one second, I promise you does feel now ended I'm trying to be sort of measured and dramatic at the same time when I say this because I've spent a lot of time talking about these movies for the last ten years And you've watched me twist myself in knots about their relevance, their power, their loss of power, you know, what they mean to the box office, what they mean to creativity how movie stars were sidelined for years playing with these projects, what it meant for generations of filmmakers who got shuttled into these stories You've heard it all from me. You know, you've mostly sat patiently. sometometimes you've winged about it. Simes sometimes you've enjoyed it. I've seen all the movies. Y. I've been sort of on the other half of that conversation U and I I think that I care or not even that I mean I do care less, but I'm less interested in the subject matter, which gives me more distance, I think than you have to talk about it, which just makes me you know, a different perspective than yours. But I agree with you., you know, it It honestly, it just feels like I have to spend less time on this. And that makes me happy But there was a time when doing this job, it was so central T the culture of movies and to the culture around movies which are symbiotic, but different things that I just had to consume it and know about it. and At this point and with this movie, we went to the screening We had a drink Then we went home We're going to podast about it and then we never have to talk about it again That. They live within their container, which think is a healthy way to consume entertainment. And to me, this is a little bit of the undoing of superhero fan culture or the mainstreaming of that, the throttle that that has on the way we consume and talk about entertainment.. And and and to be totally fair To be totally clear I have always objected way more to the fandom ofification of movies and our universe. than I have to the movies themselves. Some of them are not very good and some of them enjoyed. Like I can turn my brain off and be stupid and watch people fly around So Yes, I'm happy and I'm happy to hear you say that, but this isn't like a victory dance. and I canar you anticipating all of the discourse and the people yelling. And many of those so called fans that sharing their opinions. and you guys can do that? Well, they've been in a defensive crouch for two two or three years because they feel it's slipping through their fingers. And they're going and I think they will very understandably say, well, there've always been bad comic book movies. It's not this isn't really suuper girls fault It's more just a moment of kind of finality and Let's use it to get into the movie because then we can kind of circle back to some of the grand eloquent theorizing around it. This movie is directed by Craig Gillespie, who has directed many movies over the last twenty years, including Dumb Money Truella with Emma Stone The Oscar winning Iana Lars in The Real Girl. It stars Millie Alcock probablyably best known forouse House of the Dragon as Supergirl, Matia Schonarts, Eve Ridley Emily Beeacham, David Krumholdz, David Cornsweat, returning as Superman and Jason Momoa, who returns to the DC universe, not as Aquaman, but as Lobo, who is a character that you now know about. No, I've known about him for some time because you and Chris have said Lobo for about a year and a half. And so when he showed up on the screen, I had a real once upon a Time in Hollywood moment just being like, Lobo. Lobo. Lobo is in the movie. Here's the story. Karas Kara Zorl AKA Supergirl joins forces with an unlikely companion on an interstellar journey of vengeance and justice when an unexpected adversary strikes too close to home If that sounds vague, it's because the movie is very vague Um, this is attempt by the James Gun DC Universe to just add a layer to the superman story that he started last year with his version of that film. on Build a bench, you know, to tell more stories with new characters in this world And it's a very old fashioned version of that. It feels like a Marvel movie from twenty fourteen where you've got a new character who maybe was teased in a previous film, but we didn't really learn much about them And we to send them on an adventure And in the course of that adventure We will learn a lot about what happened to them and why they are the way that they are and why they are on a mission to ultimately become heroic. They are reluctant at first But they will eventually get on board with. And we will physically get them back to the main stage and the main characters so that they can join the team. Yes. This is a very tropey adventure story structure And It's very unsuccessful. It's unsuccessful for a variety of reasons Lets let's identify some of them I can give you fire away Well I mean, I think there are two problems. and one you've identified that it is so tropey and formulaic. and while also unspecific. and so the The places, the villains, the side heroes who are actually secret really the main heroes comeome out of nowhere, have no backstory, have no development. and so you're just not invested in in either Supergirl or in any of these people. It's it's It just doesn't do the fundamental thing of making you invested in the story or it didn't do that for me.be maybe some people will, but you know I'm coming in As a blank slate, don't know a lot about Supergirl. I think I turned to you about twenty minutes in and I said, what's her damage And I think for these movies to be successful as movies, they do have to separate themselves from the homework and the lore and be able to create like a basic on ramp for you to be invested in the stakes And this just doesn't really do that. It's not that interesting And then It is also just on a practical technical filmmaking level, hot garbage. Yeah. it's really w. Yeah, like looks very bad, very grony script. There was a music queue where I almost, you know sllid under my seat And but also like a music cue that is supposed to communicate to you a sense of triumph and all the themes of the movie So I would say it's both Creatively and technically. It's the brownest movie of the year. It takes place on a series of nond descript desertish planets We don't really have a sense of the geography of the story. we know it's intergalactic in some way, but we don't really feel like we know how far from Earth Aura is or why you know it's her birthday week. The film takes place during her b birthday week.ight. You know, I think she probably acts the way that you act during your weing, just getting shit housed, going to bars. And we know it's her birthday week because of the elegant expositional storytelling of David Cordswet as Superman Faciming her or Zoom calling her. I'm not really sure what the technology is on unnamed planet. Video phone. Sure, video phoning Hestly, they didn't even, they just they put him on like a Sears photo drop to videohone her. They didn't even like make it at his home It waserally I'm so confused. I mean, maybe he has Zoom backgrounds on his version of Skype, but it's just like, hey, it's your birthday. Happy birthday. Yes. Calell is Cara's cousin. and So I guess they're close? Cara was some years behind Supermission in her arrival Eth They weren't classmates in arriving to Earth to realize their superpowers together. And she's, you know, she is a little bit less interested in following the kind of sincere but very powerful mission that Superman has. And R. One of the problems with the movie is that I think James Gunn really got Superman Superman is like a hyper sincere Boycout. and I think that that could be a very powerful tool and telling a story. And what's not that interesting to me is a character who's like, oh, so over it Burnt out and, you know, like sarcastic like gen Xy Oh Godd, okay guys, I guess I'll go kick your ass now. And we've seen that many times in superhero movies before And this is just like, I just feel and the thing is is like, it's not, again, not super girls fault Like this is kind of based on Woman of Tomorrow, a Tom King series about Supergirl. it's somewhat in keeping with that characterization. It's just And people rave about that series. I haven't read it It's just like it's a movie we've seen. know, we've seen this over and over again and done better And so It looking the way that it looks and at having this really rickety foundation where it feels like the movie's been kind of chopped up and you can feel the places where The edits are moving quick and we're trying to get to the next stage of the story because we don't have enough material to make this stage of the story coherent enough and You know, you could just kind of feel people in in the in the screening squirming in their chairs a little bit. and that was notable for us at our screening because That was a captive audience that we saw the movie with. It was one part press screening, one part fan screening. I would say one part press screening, two parts press screening with also a two parts fan screening. Yeah, two parts fan screening with plus a baby. Yes, Who was not interested in the movie No. The baby needed to be walked around in the stroller during the screening. That was a choice. goingoing back and forth Listen Sometimes parents do need this. It's hard to see movies when you have a baby. I don't blame the parents for that. I do have some questions for Harner Bothers. And and I got yelled at by a trivia person. but anyway, there was trivia. A lot of people wearing supergirl t shirts. Yeah. So was it was a home crowd. And it was pretty much silent There was no laughter and definitely no cheering at moments of triumph Psibly because there aren't really any moments of triumph There are battle sequences in which Supergirl and Lobo and Ruthie emerge victorious, Ruthie Ridley's character, who is the who plays a young woman who has witnessed her parents be murdered by Crem, who is the Mata Shanart's villain figure. We have also witnessed that. We witness it as well in a flashback and her brother and her brother. and she is seeking revenge on him. Simultaneously Crem has also shot a poison dart Supergirl's dog's neck threatening his life. Yeah. And so while Ruthie seeks Vengeance for her family's death Supergirl is seeking an antidote poison dart I guess that's a plot of a movie You know, it's just a real thin gruel relative to eating Superman, which I thought was real good. L I really enjoyed it. I was very charmed by it. And so you She chose to go to the bathroom in an in opppportune moment.ad whichich is and listen, Life happens. But you went to the bathroom during the five minutes of the film when David Corin swat meets Supergirl and shows up as Superman and he's there in person. It is Supergirl Cara arriving onn Earth and that kind of like ice winter palace that We saw in Superman. The Ftress of Song And because she has just come from Kryptonite. Krypton. Krypton. Right. Kryptonite is the element Since she has just come from Krypton, she does not spepeak English. And this scene actually just does really give her the only character development that I responded to, which is that, you know, unlike Superman, she was born somewhere else. she had a life somewhere else. So she's been put at this place. She can't communicate. She doesn't know anyone as opposed to Superman C has grown up and is is an all Americanoy as much as he is you know, an alien with so many powers. So But anyway, so she's there silent and it's David Corn swweat. and speaking to her in English and talking to her and welcoming her and doing all his Superman stuff and the movie just comes alive. He's really good as Superman And it's really unfortunate that the best scene in the movie Supergirl is a movie in which Supergirl does not speak Yeah, and I don't think that it's really the fault of Millie Alcock and I do understand why she was cast in this part as a kind of subversion of Theyough like you know Galgadot like six foot tall Amazonian, like beautiful, long sweeping hair. there's clearly a decision to kind of upend that expectation of what a female superhero should be Um And her performance style is like K kindind of interesting and does feel a little bit unpolished where she is doing she has kind of like Gsh It's almost like all the characters from Heathers became one person You know, and where it's like a little biting, but then a little soft Yeah. and you can never really figure out when when she's going to decide to be one or the other. U I just don't think that the script serves her very well. No. I don' think the way the film shot serves her very well. I think that she is she is checked out from the movie, which is probably eighty percent a performance choice and in the script, but also thus hard to. Um pull off because you are trying to communicate this sarcastic, spiky, unlikable person, Also, you have to be the hero of the movie. Yeah. So I don't think this script serves her. And then I did sort of wonder if Maybe she became aware of the mess that was swirling around her at all time. Also presumably she's just on a green screen for large swaths of this. Yeah. The other thing is like this is a Craig Gillespie movie for better or worse. and I think it's more usually for worse and he's got a lot of stylistic habits they feel borrowed from better filmmakers and especially trying to deploy them In a movie like this is very obvious and uninteresting Um, James Gunn is somebody who uses Nato Droobps really effectively. He has kind of made one of his signature components as a filmmaker. is having these kind of counteracting needle dropss. He didn't invent that A lot of filmakers have been doing for really long time. Marnin Scorsese probably does it better than anybody Craig G Lespiey also apes a lot of stuff for Marn S Corsese He tends to use slow motion, He tends to use these really diagrammatic camera movements where there's a real like, oh wow quality you're supposed to have while watching them, but they feel they're very rarely rooted in intention They're just moves. Like if you watch Crueella, it's the same thing. There's a lot of flashy stuff going on in Crueella, but it never really psychologizes the characters. It never really puts us in a place where we feel like a deeper sense of understanding of what the world is And in a world like this which is just like junk trader. Mad Max Fury Road, but like low, low, low grade Fury Road Um It's not elevating anything. It's not making us feel differently about the story that he's trying to tell And so You know, you can see why somebody like this gets this job. Right? He's like a safe pair of hands. He's run a lot of big movie productions in the past And so you know, in theory, he'll be able to handle this hundred million dollars superhero movie, but it's just boring. One, This is a lame complaint, but like not finding a woman to direct Spergirl is just weird. L it's just it's twenty six. Like I mean, I wanted to talk about this because You, you know, invoked Gagadat and and Wonder Woman But I was thinking through all of the standalone movies woman superhero. And across both Marvel and DC with the exception of the First Wonder Woman, which I was really delighted by, even though one movie. and looks good and at least until the end in all of the slap. and is definitely helped by the Chris Pimes supporting performance, but Fizzy All of the Stalone girl movies are are not good and not well handled. and that's a real bummer. And I think that says something larger about the machines and also ye.s it's depressing. think think Black Widow was not bad. I think it has some things about it that are cool. I didn't see it on a big screen, and so's a little it's harder to judge that one particularly. The movie that this movie reminded me a lot of is Captain Marvel. The original Captain Marvel movie with Brie Larson I can almost feel them Millie Alcoalk and Bri Larson giving somewhat similar performances where they almost don't know what movie they're in and You know, that movie was directed by two filmmakers, one of whom was a woman is a woman, but I think I'm not trying to some like progressive saber rattling about how like women need to direct more of these movies. It's more just like For the perspective of the story, Yeah It's like a middle aged British guy directing this movie. It's very strange. I mean and that was not like my argument either that only a woman could have made those good. It's just that that this is an entire, not even subculture of movies now, but an like the dominant culture of movies and they just have not figured out to make successful women characters both Yeah both by male or female directors, you know,'s it's an industry issue, not any individual This episode is brought to you by State Farm, upsizing to a large popcorn, Smart Move. Staying for the post credit sequence, Smart Move. Finding ways to be financially savvy? Very smart Mve. Maybe the smartest, especially when you choose to bundle home and auto with help from one of State Farm's nineteen thousand local agents, bundling just another way to save with a personal price plan Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. cooverage options are selected by the customer, availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state I think There's also you can see other components. A woman Ena O'Guera did write the screenplay for this movie, but like there's a moment in the movie where Cara has been felled by Crem with Kryptonite And the only way that she's saved before he cuts her head off is that Lobo shows up out of nowhere. and it's a real like We're in the Supergirl movie. we can't we shouldn't having just having Lobo save her at the climactic moment of the movie just feels like real retrograde stuff that I felt like we were passed. and I feel like James Gun, especially like knows better than He's really smart about this stuff. Part of the reason why the Guardians movies are so good is because they feel kind of new They feel like iterative of something from the past, but they feel like an elevation of that thing So You know, when when I'm making these proclamations at the top of the episode and trying to put context around them, it's because Movies like this keep happening You know, we keep getting Captain America Brave New World. We keep getting lousy movies And this is a lousy movie. It's not good. And It's supposed to be a big summer tent pole And we've we're coming off this wonderful Telve weeks, Right of movie stuff going on and the prorojections for this movie are going down and down and down. The word of mouth is very bad. There's been some very funny posts of reviews from influencers who are like, even I cannot tell you that this is good. And they hit them with an inception six out of ten, you know, from an influener, that's that's that's tough. Yeah you know, I've been trying to process and think about what all this was I wrote about it in the newspter this morning I'm curious what you think it means. I have been drawing the comparisons to the bigig budget musicals and to the Westerns you know, mid twentieth century a lot, where those were really in the dominant forms dominant genre forms in the movies A thirty years, thirty five years And they kind of expired. and when they expired, the New Hollywood filled the vacuum, where they broke it and they filled the vacuum Yeah. And I do see this in a somewhat similar context. I don't know if you think about it in that same way But sure in terms of it is a a genre that like came to prominence at one point in time and we've just been making tons of them and interpolating other genres into the genre. and it's really a framework. So yeah, and certainly it's been dominant. To me the influencers The influencers leaving you is kind of is very important because for a while superheroes and the superhero genre were too big to fail but that required a participation of everyone of the studios throwing all of the money at it and then The fans also doing their work to keep it up. and you know, it like it was a group effort and fascinating from like a bothoth an economic and cultural perspective And I think what has like weirded me out so much about fandom culture is just Im How much like a gross capitalistic exchange, right? you know, and all of these people were just doing the work for for these companies and accepting less And now that pact is broken, which, you know, I'm happy about, but it does seem like what happened is they lost the fans or they lost that magic agreement of we're all We're going towards the same cause and we're all going to pretend that this is working And It's cyclical. It's not working. It will be back Spy Rrand comes out. like it's going to come back. And it will absolutely be there for Avengers because we were there in the room at Cinemacon, which Many long timee Cinema C attendees said just like that was that was very strange. It feels like they brought a lot of fans into the room Cinemacon didn't used to be like this, but they had to, you know, fan, you know, fanification of the industry event. Um so it'll it'll definitely be think There's a very naughty conversation to be had too about sort of like what is the media and what is the responsibility of somebody who has a platform to talk about things and it so on and so forth We don't have to unpack all of those things. And also like it's not an accident that we, the press were also at an influencer in fan screening because who Warner Brothers or who any studio decides to show their movie to ahead of time. And for what reason, it's their right to decide, but it is more valuable for them at this point. to show it to people who are going to post positive things. No doubt about it. The fact that it didn't seemingly didn't work on this one is fascinating. But you know this was true. I saw Masters of the Universe last month and it was the same thing. know I was at a fan screening. M and Rob Mahoney and Steve Alman were at a fan screening And That That is how it goes now. that that is because that is Effectively all that is left in that space. Now, here's the thing, like I agree with what you said that there was a very transactional quality to the rise of fandom influencer culture But I do think that it was born out of sincerity. I do think and I think that As negative as I have been about this stuff for the last six years, if you listen to the show before twenty twenty, you'll hear a person who's frequently like, this is so fun And I loved this. And I was never in that like cohort of fandom influencer, but I understand if you're twenty seven right now and you were You know, nine when Iron Man came out grew up loving those movies and you watched The Dark Knight happen, you watched the Raimy Spider Man tririlogy, you watched how James Mayle Gold kind of screwed up Wolverine and then fixed it with Logan. You know, you watched U, movies like evenven Superman last year. like I think a lot of the fandom is sincere and hard earned did eventually become this thing about access and lore and it became a really kind of like, u overheated engine. And and and ownership also because there is this the very Strict version of fandom and sticking to the canon and what can or cannot be included that always gets ted. But no, I think you're totally right. You know, this is why It wasn't all bad and it was both a very smart, creative and certainly financial decision to take something that like a lot of people love and are really passionate about And then giveive them what they want And for the most part, do it well. Yeah. And like, you know because we live in capitalism, that can't exist on its own, then it just has to keep getting bigger and bigger and more people have to like be brought along for the ride because we always have to keep growing forever. That's right. It's smart, and it's also influenced you know, many other movie companies. Like we have we've got Nolan Bros now, we've got A twenty four Bros, we have Barbenheimer, we have like the eventization and the as you call it, the hyper niche you know, ifification of pop culture where what you do is you find a passionate fan base and then you try to surve things Cing Hoover, same thing. And that's not new, but this superhero era provedved that it can make you like a lot of money The problem is that like no money's ever enough. Yeah, and I think until the right trajectory of all this stuff obviously ultimately soiled. it always kind of ruins all genre exploitation from the studio side. I think somethingomething that you that I've heard frequently from people who do like these movies but know what's been going on for the last five years which was brought on by COVID, streaming, but most specifically they that Marvel in particular had this twelve year project. R to get a story told the Infinity saga. It wasn't always as perfectly mapped out as it might have seemed at times. It changed a lot. You should read John Robinson's great book about the MCU, which details some of the stops and starts along the way. But they finished a story. They did a thing that had never really been done before, a serialization of movie goingo wildly commercially successful, sometimes artistically successful and no doubt generation defining And they did it And it worked. and even Irony poisoned dicks like me.' like, Ohh my Godd, this is so funy. And then they kept going And you know why they kept going? They've got shareholder interests and they're part of a massive corporation and they've got their livelihood. like I don't blame them for keeping going. But if they'd stopped. I mean, the thing that I hear from the people is if you'd stopped You would have been Irving Falberg. It would have been like, this is one of the greatest achievements in American Commerercial artistic history. Yeah. And now we're like, well, fuck these movies. But more, more and more. You know? I mean, and that's what it is. That's the problem with TV as a medium. Yeah. It's a problem with many things and not just artistic endeavors, which is, you know, no one ever knows when to stop or market forces will not allow you to stop. It's true, but you know, But you're right that that run, even though someone had some by someone, I mean, Chris Ryan had to explain to me why people were cheering when Captain America got the hammer. It's like, that just looks like a hammer U It is just a hammer. But it's not powerful. Of course it's powerful. What's it made of? It's a North mythological tool called Molnir. What is it made of? Which elements? Cadum I was no, I was trying to remember what's the what Non? No, no, no, no, no, what's the wolverine one? Adamantium.? It's not made of Adamantium. He's from Asgard, but you got aanium is a earthbound that you know true Yeah, fair. Have you been to Askgard? No ha Do they have mines there? Like what's going on? A woful question. Yeah. I feel like we should get you in the in the writing rooms of some of these films, because you're asking those salient questions Anyway, It didn't mean to me what it meant to a lot of people who were on that project and who were from that original fanbase and not even from that original fanbase because you've talked a lot about how your little sister. She's like she really, really grew up with those movies and that is a defining movie going event for her. stretch through endgame did create a whole world and did bring a lot of people to the movies and train them to watch movies in a very specific way. That's right. And they were thrilled and they were jazzed. and it worked And then they kept going You know, these movies shifting They're not ending. I'm gonna to repeat this like Fantastic for first steps, which I did not think was successful. still made five hundred million dollars. you know Spider Man will clear a billion. Doomsday will clear a billion There'll be other stuff next year. I'm not even sure what it is that is coming after this, but yeah. this stuff's going to keep happening and doing well They're making way for Minecraft You know, they're making way for another kind of movie that is going to start doing this. And obsession in Backrooms is kind of baked into this as well. this sort of like demand for something new. that is originating from something that feel like that younger people feel like they have more ownership of. And now what has happened is, you know, twenty five years in These are not the movies that belong to Jen Alpha This is this is like my thing and maybe Jen Z's thing But it's not for ten year olds anymore And so There's something kind of fascinating about Doomsday coming around and being this I compared it in the newsletter to how the West was won, the nineteen sixty two kind of mega Western that featured lots of very familiar but aging Western stars in this film that is directed by three different people in this beautiful format, but it's like a slow rickety old western Dooms they might end up looking like that You know, Robert Downey Jr. is in his sixties? like I mean, these guys are getting old. But he's got a lot of tinctures and stuff. I mean looks amazing.'sic Dom Malibo. He's a beautiful man and I love. You're saying that Infinity Vision is gonna be the most beautiful format we've ever seen There's nothing very trrump coded about infinity Vision. It first. Yeah. V very like Trump coin, crypto. ye, the whole thing. I I'm really, really interested in this stuff. notot just because of my adolescent interest in comic books, but because it does hit that meeting point of how I think The movie business more than any other artistic business is a very public thing It's a very analyzable thing And you can look at what's inside of the movies and see what was going on in the real world I wrote about how I genuinely think that the rise of superhero movie culture was tuned to a post nine eleven world where we had good guys and we had bad guys. We had terrorists and we had the American way. And movies about superheroes could be dichotomouss in that way. Like I really believe that there's something to that That wasn't going to last We've cycled through multiplees political presidential administrations over time. We've seen the rise of totally different political movements. One of the reasons why I think this has stopped being as relevant as it is is that people every day Online? truth justice in the American way, and we don't need avatars to do that. And like whether they're on the left or the right or in the middle. Yeah, they are the ones who are like today I stand athwart history and I say No mas, you know, and so there's all the I find all this stuff in the stew to be really fascinating, but that's all It's all external. it's all being in the ideological minefields. It's not really like it doesn't change the fact Supergirl is just bland, forgettable superhero movie. Yeah It's not good That's the other problem. It's just not good. They didn't do it well. And the well. There have been a series of five T years, what was the last very good superhero movie? I liked Thunderbolts. It was yes. I guess it cleared the bar of If you You had a good time watching it. It wasn't bad. Yeah. I likeked that. I lied the Batman Um don't remember that? Yeah. I liked you know, some things about Dr. Strange in the multiverse of badness. We're getting into that like There's stuff I enjoyed about it Right. But what' what has happened is that there's more stuff like on Like a sword God of loveo and Thunder, where you're like, well, this just stinks. Like this is just terrible. there are more and more movies that are like this that are like Spergirl, You know that are like craving the Hunter where you're like, this just stinks. Right. Like it's just terrible and it's going to be forgotten instantaneously. And there's been a much higher preponderance of those. Yeah. overlook that. they just like when things are quite bad, people check out. You're right And when there's nothing to hang on to, then you don't. And you find new audiences. Let me ask you an unanswerable question Okay in the parlance of the rewatchables If COVID didn't happen if the only way to really get Marvel storytelling was through streaming shows When happened Oh, it didn't happen. L there was it was like if you didn't have COVID, then why would you need to stream it at all? They did did they did they were going to make the streaming shows regardless, but they became primacy of Marvel for like eighteen months because ack Wow went straight to VOD and The other movies basically had to take a pause And they couldn't launch new heroes like XhangqQi. They failed to kind of effectively wr that in the imagination of fans So if the pandemic doesn't happen, is any of this different Does this have a longer shelf life? Are you Divesting creative and technological and filmmaking resources to the streaming show, still You are then that's the no because I do honestly think That there was always going to be a downslope because you finish end game and you know when you find an ending, stick to your ending, and of course they weren't going to do that And also just, you know, as you said, there are cycles, peopleeople get interested in new things, people grow up. your your sister's a grown up now. you know, it's You know, life moves on. I should ask her if she's gonna see this movie. But I do think that some of it is just like they're all quite bad. and it is because they're using less resource material, they're more the effects and the number of people who can work on the effects and how much they're being paid. and it's just, there's a resource constraint going on now, yeah, for sure So I think that as long as that continues And also if the streaming shows exist, then in this web that they've created Eone all the shows and the movies and everything still have to speak to each other and you become it's always sunny guy, you know That was that was a big, big problem for them. Yeah. They clearly made some major mistakes by putting too much of the necessary understanding in the streaming series, which people just clearly were not engaging with at a certain point. And it's a numbers thing, right? Just if the more you try to do, the more that can go wrong. I mean, I always think of the Matt Damon Bill Simmonss podcast has been being like making a movie is really hard and everything can go wrong at any time. And so you multiply that and you add in all these streaming shows and all of these things, I just The numbers are against them, which is fine because they have billions of dollars from the other stuff, so they could have just retired. But I guess they don't like the beach. No No, and people want to work because they feel a sense of purpose. I won't take that away from you. I don't either. To me, it's not about the individual people at Marvel or DC or even even the moovie studios per se, it's much more structural. Like there was no way they were ever going to be able to turn the faucet off. the same way that they didn't turn the faucet off on Um, Thoroughly modern Millie in nineteen sixty seven, even though it was like, ah, you know, and Thoroughly modern Millie, it made some money. It got some Oscar nominations, you know These things they're systemic. they're not individuated. and so It the same way I'm like supergirl. Yeahah they kind of fucked up. They they fucked it up. Well, you know, it happens, but it does, it will auger change in the business pretty meaningfully over the next ten years in a way that I find interesting. Hey, two things that I want to say to you one, appreciate you hanging with me on suuperhero movies for ten years on. you're so welcome. To I promise to not make the Spider Man episode This. And I promise to not really do this anymore about this genre because I feel a sense of finality. the same way that like all my box office freakouts in twenty three, twenty four twenty two. I kind put those I put those to bed And I'm putting this larger concern to bed. I feel like I've written through my idea too and I'm like I figured it out. I figured out how I feel about it. I need like, you know, some sort of like bell or, you know, saage like situation, like some sort of thing here, like a ceremony to like set you free. You know Yeah release the seing fourth. Congratulations. Thank you I feel whole again. Yeah. and now and now, you know, I can enjoy Dead Pool four You' not have to worry about it happening, you know?ike there'd be plenty of more stuff for me to like. Okay. Spiderverse movie, you know, thoseose are my favorite movies. Spiderverse movies? They're good. They're very good. Yeah I think and anything else you want to say As we close the book. It's been a great ride I loved every minute of it. I'm sure you did. Okay, let's bring in CR and talk now about the end of something else. Jack As best than last. Okay, CR has appeared magically hello. Hi. You showed up like like a bull I did in a ring to gore you guys. You're gonna you're going to take this out with your takes. We just spent an hour plus doing an emotional rending of superhero garments about Supergirl. What's Cara? She didn't I think you'll find it's Cara. Cara Cara. Yeah. She did not rise to the occasion, so to speak You will though, as we talk about Jackass bestest and List. Okay, weird movie. Yeah this movie easily one of the best times I've had at the movies this year I'm not sure that that makes it a movie. No No, it's definitely not a movie, but we had fun. We had a lot of fun. The three of us saw it together last night. This is the fifth installment in the Jackcast film series, although there have also been the bad grandpa, bad grandpa, dirty grandpa. Yeah, and then there was because a couple of them and I would put this in the category as many people have noted is this is a z five deree a clip show, some greatest hits some Some very poo forward stunts, which I think is probably where those guys have wound up where they're like in their fifties They're like, what we can do is experiment with poo, but we can't really get you know, thrown out of moving vehicles and that That's right. The movie, which is probably forty percent new stunts and gags and sixty percent retrospective celebration of some of their greatest works And where they're at now is that they have to downshift physically into what they're allowed to do able to do to survive, especially Knoxville, Steveo. Danger Aaron, Chris Pontius Dave Englland, the guys who' been around for the majority of these movies now I'm not sure if we've ever podcasted about the Jackass movies. Now Chris and I certainly have at least once a year even twice Um It was It was very fun to see the movie with you too because you were you dug it. You were having a brand old time. But it was funny to see when we laughed. And sometimes and I think I laughed at different things than the two of you did. And then I also laughed when you guys really lost it, but I wasn't laughing at the movie as much. I was laughing at you Yeah. U But we were talking on the way out that I guess we haven't podcasted about Jackass, but Jackass is very important. to my life because I live with three men. And I do feel like there are some things that I don't understand that's happening in my house and it like grows every day. and it does often remind me. of Jackass and I feel like it has been a skeleton key. to understanding the subimal urges and relationships of the people that I cohabitate with and also predictive of what's to come. But there is something, you know, this is a very poop forward movie as is my life on a day to day basis at home. So there's something cyclical about it in a way. And there was one I mean, there are many different types of that you see over the course of Jackass. That is the most scatological of the Jackass. Yeah and many of them saying something is. many of them are White gross But but there was one where I Some of them I was like judging the texture based on like what I dealt with, you know, earlier throughout the day and I was like, o, this seems fine. And then I was like, oh, I never thought about using crunchy peanut butter in that way, but ye Yeah, that's exactly right. Yeah, but see like you don't know also Zack's still only one arm. so I am changing all the dirty diapers in my house. Okay, let's try to break up the jacket experience into three distinct strrata, shine, whatever you want to call it. There is Pure pain. There is a giant hand smacks you in the face. There is you launch yourself to a rocket and you fly off. It saying that in this new film, a man has to walk on a balance beam while a shock cmer is attached to his penis So that to me falls in the second category Okay, which is Dick pain. Dick pain. okay a category of Jack Y. there is there is as low grade as a robot just hits you in theut or tap like lots of guys doing different. a lot of taps throughout the entirety of this franchise. And then the third is vomitous you know smell anxiety. Like this like word exposing you bodily orphice that will make you ill one way or another Now Number one is my favorite. Number the glee of watching another man get hit in the face And then his group of friends laughing at him. Yeah. That to me is when Jack S very best. I would like to add to like a subcategory of that where like a hit that sends someone flying into the air.. So it's really like when someone takes flight? I think you and I are Knoxville original. Yeah are I wan to see him strapped to the back of a rocket.. I want him see him with a buowll We are I don't think anybody's ever seen the footage that opens this movie. Is that right? That crazy. So insane which is so fucking nuts. I don't even wantan to spoil it. I am I go Knoxville and then probably like I would say Steve and Pontius, while I respect what they are capable of are like a little lower down the power ranking Yeah for me for like just pure nudity running up to guys and being like, here's my penis or Go for it. Yeah. N we've done. Things that I'm pulling out of or putting into my bum Yeah, that there was in terms of like penis and I I understand that testicles are different than penis.. But there was some ball listen. No, the bag ra like penises in one way, but also like I'm having to learn about them in new ways. Well, I mean, enumerate them. What are the ways in which you know about them? I'm not Mallory. So So I found Jackass instructive in that way as you also try to like I don't know how to teach to young kids about their petis. It's the exploration of the male body. Right. But you guys, I think lot laughed the most of anything, if I recall at the a stunt involving just like very, very elongated anatomy I like I don't want tona spoil anymore And that physically being on display, and that was when you were looking go and you're losing your mind. That was the most giggling that I saw. It had also the element of jackass that I think that they've probably lost as their celebrity has grown, which is their ability to go guerrilla filmmaking Yeah And I have to say, I mean, obviously Knoxville, in the course of this film has several emotional moments say realizing that he can no longer do this. You know, I think, not unlike Mission Impossible four, they never really truly turn the franchise over to a new generation. And YouTube sort of market corrected for a lot of the prank stuff. the guerriilla filmmaking side of this and the moment where I found myself getting very emotional is Towards the end of the film there's a multifaceted stunt that they do And they go to the control room in Spike Jones is there. And I was like I can't believe that this is one of our great filmmakers, likeike one of the greatest filmmakers of our lifetimes. And the thing that gives him the most joy is still the thing that gives me the most joy, which is seeing Dave kicked in the nuts fifty times. Yeah by a contraption that is a wheel of spinning shoes. Yeah. Yeah, there's I felt a little sad during that sequence seeing Spike. It's the only time Spike is really on screen and his voice a couple of times through some of the retrospective stuff You he hasn't made a movie over ten years and He was that was one of my guys. was, you know, going all the way back to the music videos and obviously he is a critical part of this because he comes out of the skate culture and skate videos that all these guys are born out of. And they all all these guys have this interesting thing now where Eespecially that first generation of jackasses. are skate and surf punks. and they're not like ideological punks. they're anarchy punks. And it's like it was a very particular flavor of dude that I certainly knew. they're very prevalent in California and the mischief and the sense of glee that I always felt like Knoxville and Steve O. And then the other component is Bam. And Bam Margera is featured in movie and he's had a lot of troubles over the last ten years and Ryan Dunn is featured in this movie. he's no longer with us. So there's like there's a little bit of a tear drop in the film too But they do actually kind of get the band back together for one specific stunt in the movie whichich is maybe like the funniest idea, if not the funniest execution about the dark room with the s. Yeah, whichich I enjoyed. and it was nice seeing Bam be very scared of snakes because actually as you noted on the twenty ten movie. incredible content. Yeah. I was surprised they didn't take us back to that moment. Me too. They describe it. But yeah, I mean, I really enjoy But The sequences where like jackass is happening out in the wild. There's one that I think has been pretty big on YouTube. so I'm not hoping I'm not spoiling anything, but Kit gets abducted outside of Pink's hot dogs. What era Brad Pitt is that That's that's one. It's like summer o one. so he has the rusty Oceans eleven haircut. Yeah and just post like fight club. That's so fucking' cool. Yeah. that was a great. But wasn' that stunt on the show? It was I see, you know, I knew about that. And that was sort of I mean That is how jackass comes into like Amana's pop cultural orbit and is more of a frame of mind than me having every single stunt memorized. But I remember them abducting Brad Pitt. Yeah, it was interesting to see how they picked and chose their most iconic moments or what were the launch pads for disiscussions between Knoxville And Jeff Tremaine, the longtime director and producer of the series and Steve O, and you know gofathers of the thing. and the I think the fairly uneasy integration of the new class of people, which I think they struggled with in JackS forever two, where it was like Cool to watch You know, Zach Holmes or Jasper do stuff. and I did watch I really enjoyed watching Jasper get rammed by a ram for twenty minutes in the movie Well that was one of my pavorite was one ofachel and nothing they' But Rachel doesn't do it. She doesn't have anything to do. I really. It wast just wandering around in the back. Yeah, Not ide. They don't even let her be in like the grocery cart. Yeah. Let have it rammed by Ram for Chr's sake. I just I like watching Doxvill get throttled. Like that's just a there's a primal qualityity to this series where when he like when he gets Gd, which we saw, you know, it's from a previous. But when he gets Gd and he gets he gets hit once and then they're like we got to do take two, that sequence of filmmaking was something is a alive And he gets knocked out and everybody is like, that's why he's knocks out. And that is the thing And he's put in the like literally an ambulance, doing like tricky dick figures. stretcher. He's like that Bllen like magic It's funny.'s like, obvly, if it's like if you had invented Facebook, you would have invented Facebook. likeike this was is been done like other Fank shows, there are other fear like Fear Factor, there are Th things on YouTube you can watch of people being like I'm jumping through a play cllass window, you know, whatever. These guys are kind of stars and it is really weird to be in my late forties a little bit younger than these guys having watched them for most of my life, like half of my life and Seeing a little bit of the toll it takes on them, I think that this is like an appropriate place to end it, you know? Yeah. Do you think it is the ending I mean, no, who can say? I did wonder, you know, this is a paramount film. paramount franchise, though conceived over previous owners, and you start to wonder how risk U Averse or not, the new ownership is going to be. So like will they be able to get away with all of this stuff? I don't know. It's a really interesting question and it dovetails with I think a lot of the Knoxville's emotionality around the movie. he's done interviews over the last couple of years where he's talked about how he's basically been told, like you cannot get another buowl oriented concussion. like your life will be in jeopardy if you keep doing this to yourself And he's really sad about it and he has this like complex relationship to being punished on screen. and knowing that it's kind of his calling. like it is his art. And the films have made this veryer smart association with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and the history of kind of physical conf. It opens with basically a dance a big dance number the film does. Yeah. so that is sort of Jamiric Ki inspired? Yeah The sliding rooms So it's weird to have like big feelings around Jackass that are not Polarity, but this was true when Chris and I did the Jackass forever conversation too There's no other movie that gets me just moving around as much in my seat You know, like reacting so profoundly pure cinema. It really in that way. It is pure cinema. It is like cover my eyes crying with laughter, like L wanting sequenceces to go on forever wanting sequences to be over in one second.. and I do love these. And I'm not joking. It captures something about The male ur Jud. Like that that I don't understand and don't have, but have never seen so clearly articulated. I'm grateful for the work. And then also I mean, this one One of the final stunts is the premise is based around colasopy prep. So we are all of an age, you know And that we're recognizing that and seeing it and so are the people on the screen and You know, life comes at you fast and is horrible. I hope this isn't a hip of violation. Yeah. Chris and I have both had colonoscopies this year And the prep's awful I to do it. I had to do it for a different surgery recently. like it's horrible. I'm traumatized by that drink. The drink is the worst thing I've ever had in my entire life. When you see them chugging it, you're like, oh my Godd, I can't this is And there's there's something so ingenious though at being at colonoscopy age, which many of those guys are being like, let's just do a gag built around this. You know, there's something Yeah, something very real and honest, even though the gag they do is let's put tw. like, you know, all the stuff that I love about early Jackess is why they can't make any more jackouts because this show airs I don't remember seeing the box before. I don' remember it either. And so they basically put Knoxville in a cardboard box and throw him down the stairs and he's like I herniated two discs and like, yeah, they said they couldn't sat on his wallet weirdly for like six months and had like crippling back pain. wasn throwing you down the stairs. But they said they weren't allowed to air it because it was too replicable. replicable. Yeah that people could figure out a box and tape yourself in it at home. But is like the origins of the show are so wonderfully adolesccent in that way where that is the kind of thing you would do when you're eleven years old's going to miss. He's going miss having a reason to get together with these guys and come up with stupid shit and get paid for it. I know. It's a wonderful thing. I think it should be celebrated. It is not really a movie and yet like it didn't really matter. I had a great time. It was ninety minutes long. I was happy to actually be watching The retrospective. Sure. and to be reminded of it is seeing in a room with a lot of other people laughing And it kind of, I feel like normally I'd be pretty cynical about this. I'd be like, this is a cash in or whatever, but I'm like, Th these guys might die. So if this is the best they could do, it's fine by me. It's also just like you know exactly what you're getting when you're going to these movies. So like there's nobody in the theater who's like, o, I can't believe I'm being subjected to this. It like you knew what it was, you know what it is. Yeah. ennjoy it or don't it. It was like a family reunion. Yeah. It was like this slide showow projected at a family reunion Well put. An any closing thoughts Do you want Jackass new blood Do you think Paramount will leave this alone? I don't think they' leave it alone because money is money, right? But whether it will ever get back to I know there's something specifically about when Knoxville like tasers somebody and then starts giggling when they're in extreme pain that like you cannot replicate. Like they there's never going be that specific feeling of anarchy and mania. have to have like a certain brat I mean, like they talk about how when they brought on the new people, they would talk about what they're scared of. and Tremaine's like I can't believe this guy's just telling me everything he's scared of. I'm definitely just gonna have him in all of these situations and he does, you know?. I don't know. we always have like the previous TV seasons in the movies. so. And also you can come to my house. I could come to here. Maybe that's wor be man happeningning around I the Dobins Barren household. Okay. our unfortunately you're sticking becauseuse you're doing another episode of us. Thanks to our producer, Jack Sanders for his work on this episode. Thanks to Lucas Kavanagh for his production, support next week I think we're going to have three episodes. And But you're not sure. This is the magic of podcasting. And I'm not going to even tease What it might be. It'll be a solo pod by me direct to camera. I stand with Supergirl See you then