Early Oscar Contenders and Predictions

This is an IiHart podcast Guaranteed human. Hi, it's Colin Coward from the Colin Card podcast. Every goal starts with insist. As official partners of U.S soccer, this team is ready to deliver Sensidine, dentist recommended defense of your sent of teeth. Sentrum fueling your day with science back nutrients. Advil Of course, powerful inflammation fighting pain relief. Vularin arthritis gel. helps us penetrate deep. keepes the joints moving and tums Ready to counterattack with fast heartburn relief. Learn how Halon can assist your game day goals at Halon assist dot com slash com This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. I'm going to be honest with you. I am online way more than I probably should be. And between me and everyone else at my house, we've got a zillion screens going on at any given moment. So when my internet slows down, it is a full crisis. That's why having fast, reliable internet that can keep up really matters and why you need optimum famously Fast Fiber Internet Optimum fiber blows flaky five G out of the water and keeps it cool with the fastest and most reliable speeds that don't slow when things heat up. And right now, they have the deal of the summer, just thirty dollars a month for five years. So don't wait, callall eight eight eight for optimum. Visit optimum dot com or stop by your local optimum store today Famously Fast Fiber for thirty dollars a month for five years. You can't beat it Terms apply, see optimum dot com for details. Welcome to Sharper Square, presented by Hard Rock Bat. We are part of the volume. Podcast Network. This is the betting show that makes the squares. Sharper and makes the wise guys pay attention. I am Chad Millman I am Joining As always, by my cohost, my BFF, my companion, my Cagere professional better, Simon Hunter Hello, Simon Yeah, what what another weekend of sports brother? It just never stops. I keep thinking I get a little break here, but I guess with the World Cup, the NBA trade news It's never ending. It just keeps on going It's too much, Simon It's too much to keep up with. There is no resting in sports, which is why Simon instead of talking about sports, We're continuing Hollywood Wee because they're sports And then there are podcast BFFs. And this week, we're gonna talk about underrated gambling movies and getting some answers to burning Hollywood questions, including right now, If you wanted to make some early bets for Oscar contenders in the next year Gess what we're bringing back Our good buddy My lunch buddy When I like to lunch in Hollywood, What I do is I call this guy and I say, let's power it up Let's do pure Power laun, he is the ultimate Hollywood Insider. here is our Academy Awards expert talent. manager to the stars at Mosaic. In Los Angeles, California. Welcome back to the show, Michael Asas Guys, what an honor to be here. By the way, I thought that I guess because the World Cup and yeah, the NBA trade stuff, isn't this this is like the quiet It'sosed be the quiet part of the sumer post the NBA finals, but yeah, it's like there's no rest for the weary now. Also like, you know When this airs, we will have come out of the NVA draft There will be free agency coming up. There is obviously the World Cup. There is baseball excitement happening. I mean, in theory, ESPN always Did the SP is in the middle of July because that's the dead zone in sports And now of course, that'll be when the World Cup finals are happening. in New York, New Jersey, which is where the SP is going to be this year And then all of a sudden you turn around and that week NFL training camps are opening. So Laskar Were like Hollywood You know, there you never got. You never stop. I mean, I literally I talked to u I was talking to an agent this morning who has a client who has a movie coming out of Christmas And she was like, she's very bullish on the film, and she was like, but I wonder if my Christmas will be ruined becausecause what you're thinking as the rep is like and I've been in the situation where you have a clients who you open over the break and it doesn't do well And then you're on the phone with the client, you're on the phone with the studio. You know, I mean there's good and bad There's also moments where movies can do amazing over Christmas because they do tend to do well in that Christmas corridor. That's an old there's a marketing term. teach your audience here called them seeven Days of Saturdays. And that's the week between like Christmas and New Year's. And because the idea is that every kid is out of school Most adults, not I mean, whatever, but adults by and large probably have time off And all you're doing is going to the movies. And that's why if you go back and look at a lot of the Christmas corridors There's a lot of really weird for you guys being into numbers There's a lot of really weird aberrations where the multiple gets much, much higher So like I actually remember there was a year there was a good movie, not a classic, but this movie Sisters came out with Amy Pooler and Tina Feay, It was a comedy that came out from like Universal at Christmas time And like, I think the movie opened to like twelve something and it made like ninety million dollars. you know, that's a huge multiple You know,, and you get that over Christmas. It now of course it happened last year with housemates The housemaid opened pretty well and then became a juggernaut. It happens years earlier alsoso a Sidney swwingy with anything but you Then mo we be opened to like eight million bucks and we made like two hundred forty million dollars or something in America. So U Christmas can be very, very good because everyone just wants to go to the movies. you You know, it's like rising tides, lift all boats. That's like betting during March Madness, betting on the Super Bowl and our business, like it just get it compounds and gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger The little surprising thing you just said Sisters made ninety million dollars? Yeah Yeah, look it up, made it's like ninety million bucks. That's ridiculous. Listen, there was a time when comedies, you know you know, they worked better than they do now, unfortunately. But you know, Hollywood is in a very upbeat mood right now. B People are v movies coming out of nowhere, movies made for nothing, making hundreds of millions of dollars, B movies doing well. So we'll get into all that. I know I'm not try to host your show for you. I know you have. No no no. Act I got questions and like we can blow up the script a little bit because when we knew you were coming on, Simon had a very specific question. There has been news around this studio this week, which you can speak to. Simon Just ask your question now instead of the order of the script because it's incredibly relevant for what's happening in this world today Yeah, I've been a big movie guy. I love movies and I am one of those people that thought. We were in a dead age of movies, right? We kind of hit this period of Netflix, all these subscription programs and these Marvel movies. I could feel it killing What I think all of us love which is the mid tiers, right? The goodwill huntings of the world Do out Original movie scripts biggest budgets, right? The medium budget. so they still get Maybe one or two great actors in it For the most part, it's some unknown talent and it makes you feel something That's what we want, right? And you go in the movies you want to feel something like we had lost that in I told Chad, I feel like a twenty four is this dark horse sleeper that has saved the movie theater industry. They're not talked about this way, but It someone that loves original films. I'll never forget the first time I saw this movie called Witch. which Chad probably hasn't heard of it. It's literally about these pilgrims that are in these woods of the like, I don't know if it is the Pogrims, but it's set at that time period O the original Americans live in the middle of the wood terrified being alone in the woods sed by animals and noises and what they thought was a witch I saw this movie and it scared me so bad, I looked up the studio. I was eight twenty four And I was like From that point forward, I've been all in on A twenty four ever since then And now all these years later I just think about how great they've done and I would love to hear your take on it where We have the, like you just said, we have the backrooms, We have these small movies I mean, obsession. I don't know if Chad seen it. That movie also scared the shit out of it. Yeah really. I would love to know your view of it. is this Are we in this new golden age of movies? Is this going to be this new age of these these these studios taking risks now A twenty four' takaking so many big risks. They've hit all these home runs Well, I think it's a great question and you have to break it down for a couple of different angles. I mean, first of all, the answer is emphatically yes A twenty four, which I'm sure I've said here before It's the modern day version of Mirramax Um, you know, that's what Mirror Max in the nineties and two thousands and even into the two thousand tenens when it was became the winein company That's what they were doing. They were making adult dramas you go back and like I always think back to this one in particular, God, I'm lking on the name, but it's the Steve Cuan, Judy Danch movie where Judy Danch is a nun who was forced to give up a child she had back like when she was, you know, twenty and Cooan's a journalist and he's taking her, you know, much later in her life to like her roots I can't I think maybe the kid, you know, was died early I knowt I'm blinking on the name and we'll look it up in a second, but that movie made like one hundred and forty million dollars and you know worldwide, and only Mirramax could do that. Um G gotta look up this movie. this is a rare miss for me, but Judy Deny S the film. But my point is they were making all those movies. without a doubt. I mean, and what H twenty four has done it is interesting to bring up the witch because they decided a very long time ago They were going to make elevated horror films as well because they felt like that was a big part of the audience that would come out that wanted to be scared, but also wanted to be, you know stimulated And the best horror films, they didn't make Get Out, but the best horror films like Get Out are really about social issues. I think with obsession, which I loved obsession. I thought it was brilliant is that you know, what it's really about I don't know if I'd say it's toxic masculinity, but it's definitely about men not having the ability to say what they want, not having the ability to actually like you know, you know, kind of be emotionally resonant on you know, how they feel about something And because this guy this like cock I can't just say to this girl like, yeah, I like you. Can I take you on a date? It unleashes this chain of events that ruins everybody's lives forever. And I thought it was so well done and I think going into it, you think, oh, it's an indictment of women because it's about like women going crazy. L, no, it's an indictment of men The woman is the victim in the movie U And and so yes, I think and H twenty four didn't make that. That movie was made independently for a million bucks seven hundred fifty thousand dollars and picked up by Foccus A hundred four made backrooms. and But yeah, the answer is A twenty four without a doubt has led the way to say, we want to make the elevated adult film Um Their movies at times have not been as like the Mermachax film is going back like Goodwill hunting and Inider House rules things like that. they were like a little more in ways down the middle, a little more syrupy, not in a bad way, but like yeah, they give you the feels. H twenty four doesn't typically make like their version of that is Marty Supreme And that's a movie that does give you the feels. A lot of people, I know we covered it here during Oscar season. someome people liked it, some people didn't. But the people that loved it, it gave them the feels at the end of the movie with the big kind of reveal of how it ends But that movie is much grimier and much dirtier and much more like kind of in the sewer than some of those like Mirramax films, you know, back in the day A twenty four has done it. They've definitely taken some of the landscape and the runway. from the major studios who are doing it less. We can get into that in a second Um, There's other companies doing it, this company Non, you know, they made the movie Parasite. They've won the Pomdor at the Can Film Festal seven years in a row. You know, there you know, they made Eora, you know, And I don't know why I don't know why Eora wasn't in an a twenty four film. I don't know what happened when that movie was being shopped and whatnot. But these are all films that you would put at these companies that are making these elevated films for adults where they feel like they can actually get them to real box office. Although ironically, Eonora didn't actually make that much money. I mean, it' obviously hung his head and it won all these Oscars. A twenty four has had a better run to taking these mid siz movies all and of suden you're like, oh my Godd, that we made like fifty million bucks, They out of nowhere. They had a really good movie last year. called hereeretic with you, Grant, about the two Mormon girls that show up to the guy's house to talk to him about joining the religion And turns out he's like entrapped all these people. And movie made like fifty million dollars, like very quietly. It was a really, really good movie really good Hugh Grand performance. So I think that A R four is a huge part of what's helping our business for sure. Backrooms has been a smash. You know that movie was um, You know, the way that movie originated is there were all these a couple of different producers, James Wand's compomany James onene made the Conjing films and then Sean Levy's company, Seaan Levy know is more of a mainstream comedy, elevated, you know, F Bader director like u Deadpool versus Wolverine and he made like the night of the museums Two executives, Michael Clear and Dan Cohen at those companies, they found back rooms. They were trying to get it set up. It wasn't getting Hollywood was passing They then went to an executive named Coreory Addelson who runs kind of a smaller division of Peter Churnnin's company. Chad knows Peter Turnnin very well. And they had a deal with A twenty four, which was designed to take bets on challenging movies where the Churnin side and the H twenty four side would split the budget evenly So that's what they did. They marched it in day twenty four who had seen an earlier iteration of it And now they said, we'll pay for half of it So it was a thirteen milline dollars movie Shernon writes a check for six and half million, A twenty four, six and half million Then they split the marketing costs. I don't know what those were and the rest is history And, you know, this also is connecting to You know, a lot of people are like, is YouTube the new IP? And I don't think saying it's IP is the right way of putting it. I think it's just more like YouTube is a breeding ground for all of these directors to start building their fan base. I mean, it's no different than like a band that like, you know, we're a little older than you, Simon, but like There was a lot of people in like Seattle that like had seen Pearl Jam before like the world knew what PelJam was. And then all of a sudden their stuffs getting more play on radio stations And they're having iconic songs like ten. or Jeremy, which was on the album ten was turned into this amazing music video. and then they get bigger and bigger, but the people in Seattle knew who they were like five years earlier. I think that's what YouTube is doing on a much more massive scale So Kane Parsons, who made backrooms, you, already had a fan base. S same with Curry Barker who made obsessions. So It's u It's great. I mean, we need them taking chances like this. The thing I was going to say that I was thinking about when you guys asked me to come on I think another reason that we have lost this mid budget adult drama is because of television because There's so many movies there's so many TV shows and limits today that would have been movies in the nineties. And again, Chad and I are older you You know, in the nineties, like the big boom was like the John Grisham, Michael Crton that era, all those books were getting made into movies left and right, The firm, Pelin Brie, Jrassic Park, Disclosure, stuff like that. And also all the think about like this All the Stephen King books were always made into movies, not TV shows with the exception of the St The St was this big minieries on ABC because it's a really huge sprawling book and people thought it had to be done for television, not for movies. But everything else was turned into a movie. And then the early two thousands Now the audience has been trained differently post Oz, the Spranos and the Wire and HBO. and then even things like on FX like Rescue Me and the Shield and they're watching TV differently and they want stuff that develops takes longer to develop, is deeper, is taking these chances and is more serialized. So now you have all these books that have been written or getting written in two thousands And whereas they might have always been a movie, some of them becoming TV shows because, hey, why would I do it as a two and a half hour movie? that only like William Goldman can adapt when we have all these brilliant people that could take make it an eight hour movie or a ten hour movie. U I thought it was always an interesting litus test, which will connect back to sports What's Frid Night Lights? Fridayight Lights gets written in the nineties, Brilliant book by Buzz Bissinger And you know, it's about this small town in Odes and about how football rules the town and I read it in college and I thought, oh, this is a TV show, not a movie Well, they ended up doing both They made a brilliant movie with Willamob Thoron, and then they made a brilliant TV show Kyle Chandler. And so I think now you're seeing like, you know, u It was announced, you know, Netflix is finally going to make the corrections And HBO was trying to make this twelve years ago. This is a very famous Jonathan Fransen film Jonathon Franson book that came out in the two thousands. So you just see that more and more. A client of mine, Lee Eisenberg had made this limited for Apple a couple of years ago, calledolesons in Chemistry. that That would have been a two and half hour movie in like two thousand. I watched that in nineteen ninety seven. Yeah, with Brie Larson. It was really good. It was really good. But I think what's happened is better example even like big little lies, right? whichich they've made two seasons of. This hasn't been announced offici that they're going make a third season on breaking news on your podcast And Big Little Ales would have been a really good movie in the nineties. that would have starred Nicle Kitman and Sandat Bullock and Julie Roberts and Ryl Street and all of people that arere in it today minus Julia Roberts. And so Um Now, I think, you know, the culture and the industry looks at the whole board And and you nailed it Simon, it goes back to like the marvel stuff Hollywood just got we got too addicted to, oh my God, we can make these movies that can make a billion dollars every time out. And Hollywood's kind of paying for that right now. I mean, look at what happened last month You know, Lucas made a Star Wars film that you know, it' from a TV show. I think the fan base felt like this is just a TV show at the movies. They didn't want that. And in the meantime, they went and saw backrooms, they went and saw obsession. They wanted to see something that is new. I talking to producer on Sunday Wh was playing golf on a trip and He had a caddy. He had like a young caddy. This producer was in his forties cad. Everything about this sounds like a fucking cliche, Alaskar.' talking to a producer, He's playing golf. He's got some caddy. I know, it's like it's like I'm talking Joel Silver or something. This guy is not Joel Silver. And then he killed the caddy because the Caddy gave him a bad advice and he wrapped his club around his head. But he said to me Th he said to the Caddy Do you watch, do you go to the mov?'s like, what are you watching? And Caddy was like back rooms I saw obsession, I saw this I saw that, and what the Caddy said, and I have always believed this is that Yeah, me and my friends, we are obsessed with movies. and we go to the movies all the time We need more movies to go see And this is what Hollywood has been relearning post COVID is that you have to flood the zone. You know, when people go to the movie theater, they need to see all these movie posters on the wall. It makes them want to go back you know, you can't u you can't spread it out. And I think There were some real naysayers during COVID that thought, well, the only thing it's going be back in the movieies is going to be top gun. You know, like it'll be the big big movies. This's not true. People want a communal experience. They do it in every other walk of their life. They go to concerts, they go to standu shows. All that stuff is like up tenfold, especially stand upps. And so They will go to the movies, give them a reason. And I think with obsession Um You know, that movie obviously resonated because if you're under like twenty five And you know, you're basically in the beginning part of your life of like, I like a girl, I like a guy that I want to like get to know. Like that movie was made for you. It's like an anthem for what it, you know, you have that first shitty job You know uh, you know, you like the girl. I're not sure if she likes you back It spoke to so many things that are, you know, kind of going on. in our soy and I actually think I mean, backrooms is also fantastic, but I think in where way of obsession is like more relatable U, you know, backrooms has some really big ideas in it that people are obviously very interested in, but I don't know where which one stands, but I think Obsession maybe has passed a little bit and there's something about Obsession of just like that date movie, it's a friend movie.'s you know, it's got kind of everything. So I was very impressed by it. Laskar, number one. Yeah. The Judy Dench Steve Coogan movie Yes. Philamina Philamina, Oh my God, Pilimina. Yeah. Thank you. credit to producer Matt Mitchell Uh two, you mentioned Stephen King books becoming movies, now becoming series Isn't Widows Bay? which is now one of the biggest shows on Apple and one of the best shows of the past two months. Isn't that a Stephen King book turned series I won't even like I'm watching that. Simon, I'm not going to any horror movies. I get afraid to take my dog into our front yard at ten thirty at night because there's so many bears and you know, coyotes in our neighborhood. are like, I'm just afraid I'm going to have to confront something. So there's no way I'm going to see a scary movie But I'm glad like Laskar This conversation is exactly about the movies we want to discuss. because When you talk about gambling movies, whether it's sports betting or otherwise These are the mid lane movies. No one's making a three hundred million dollars Budget. Gambling movie They're always going to be the movies that are made by age twenty four, right? They're always going to be the rounders. They're always going to be uncut gems I think well'll get. That was age twenty four.cight. Uncut gems. likeike all of these Those are the most fun movies And I feel like there's a real discrepancy between Casino gambling movies, poker gambling movies, sort of sideide hustle underground gambling movies Yeah in sports betting movies. And uncut gems is one of the only like sexy, exciting sports betting movies Every other movie that's about betting is even that movie, even that movie makes you feel bad about yourself. I'll come back to that We're going toress Widows Bay because you're going to laugh So Willow Bay was created by my very good friend, Katie Dipppold She will be so honored that you think it's based off Stephen King novel. No her idea But they're no channeling Stephen King. They're channeling everything. I mean, did you finish the series No I haven't and Give for my compliments Matthew Reese is ridiculous. He's amazing. He's a national treasure. And Katie is a die hard horror offician auto and so so good. It's so good. I love it. Everybody in Hollywood loves it. I think people in the all over the world love it. I'm so happy for her and she's worked so hard on it for so long Um, she loves horror and and and general and When I watch a show because I've known her for so long, we've been such good friends. I can see how in each like this is not a spoiler, but episode eight is kind of the homage to the sllasher movie to like Michael Myers And I can see in every episode where, oh, this is where Katie was like I've seen the Halloween movies ten thousand times. I have a very funny spin on like that type of character and because you look at the at the episodes and it's like, some are, you know You could argue is like a zombie episode and sounds like a slasher episode Yeah. Yeahah sounds like a possession episode. By the way, back to obsession, what I liked, you know, also, it was just such a fresh take on like basically demon mo. becauseuse that's really what it was. But she'll be very that I know we would have think when you might think about it. why that Stephen King is that think I don't know this for sure. I've read about this. I think the font that they used for for the words Widows Bay is a very Stephen King font. I think that was I think that might have been intentional But Stehen King is tweeted about the show. he loves the show. Maybe that's why I thought it was just because maybe I read it or someone said like Stephen King Widows Bay, and that's where you're thinking of Chad is Welcome to Dairy. which That is that D. That's right. A lot of people might have watched it That's another show that's like This is why I love the Age ring because that's Brilliant show Son, you're right. You're totally into it And again, like if anyone's seen the movie it, it's about little kids surviving, right? defeating this evil clown The TV show is brilliant because the first five minutes the kill the main characters of these kids So again, I'm watching this with a friend who we're going and thinkking, Ohh, we're going here are these kids We're gonna watch it for the next ten episodes The writers kill these kids in the first five minutes and that's why I like this new age ro in where keeping you on your toys. I know the boys This TV show as the name is didn't end the way people liked, right? These TV shows have had rough endings That's another show where Seth Roguean to be pitching the super anti superhero show ten years And no one would buy it. And then finally Prime took a chance on that show of The Bys. And it worked out. That's another show I think should have been a movie So I think we're in agreence now where it's like that, you know Breaking Bad or the Spranos, you can never make that into a movie, right? That needs to be a TV show. We need twelve, thirteen episodes of those type of characters But like you say, an obsession That never, I mean, it could have been a TV show, but it was so perfect as a movie. what it was in the theater, what I saw I'm so glad that became a movie because I feel like five years ago, Netflix would have bought it and made it into an eight part TV show And or just put it on Netflix where it doesn't have the same I love Netflix, obviously, and we have a lot of clients who work there, but Sometimes it feels like things resonate even more in the culture when they're seen in a movie theater And you can feel like the culture kind of like talking about it. I mean, there are certainly things on Netflix that resonate. Kpop Demon Hunters was like one of the biggest movies of last year. That was all Netflix. They took it over from Sony Animation I think going back to the gambling thing, you touched on some of the interesting chad. you know, which is that You guys had asked me about, you know talking about gambling movies and underseen movies and all that. and I was making lists and realizing that like There's like these different kind of lanes of like there's yeah, there's the casino movies, which could be anything from literally casino to the Oceanans eleven movies. And even though casino by an hour in is like We're just gonna all feel bad, you know for two hours. likeike everything's gonna to go down ill It still has a lot of like wish fulfillment and fun stuff of like them showing you the behind the scenes of a casino and how they cheat and how they catch the cheaters and all that stuff The Ocean' eleven movies, obviously are much lighter and much more wish fulfillment of like, how could you actually like take a casino down and this and that? And those movies are really conman movies, more so than betting movies But then I think there is a wholen angle. which is on Ki Gems and many others that I' get a list for you that are just like and this is why I think B to the origin point, which is like, Why is a casino movie more fun than a betting movie becausecause most of the betting movies are designed to make you feel bad. because they are almost inevitably about addicts. who can't get out of their own way. And we'll give your audience some of those examples in a second And so although I do have a great betting movie, which I think I brought up on here before that I'm going to bring up again that I do think is a really fun kind of like uplifting betting movie. But in almost every situation there you're following somebody who is making mistake after mistake. and can't get out of their own way And you're usually like left with nothing. And most of the movies end with like someone's life like completely like ruined The rare one would be rounders, right? Because at the end of rounders, he wins il other alert moves now for thirty years He wins And he's going to go to the world, you know, the world, you know, the the world series poker. Now, you don't know what's going to happen after that U But that's a movie where like That movie has an interesting parabola to it because You know, unless you revel in what's fun about poker and betting And then as it then it kind of takes you into the shit with the Edward Organ character and you realize how seedy it is And you know, all the debts you owe and things like that. And then it kind of comes back up at the end ' it's just really a sports movie. you know, it's really like roocky. You know, and I mean, I will just every now and again I'll just go on YouTube and watch that final scene When he beats Malkovch. it's so fucking good and that's such a fun movie. And you know, obviously, your audience knows It weirdly like proceeded the poker boom. The poker Bom is like two thousand three. Yeah we came out in nineteen ninety eight. The pooker Boom is when Chris Moneymaker wins out of nowhere. you know, and you're like, Oh my God, this like random dude want all this money. and beat out guys like Johnny Chan and Phil Hllmuth. I actually remember It's not Phil helmo. It's another one of the Phills. No no, no, it's I think it's Mike Madisau I was like In the mid two thousands, I was watching so much poker at night on ESPN two And they did they would do these like little mini like five minute docks on these guys' lives and they were doing one on Mike Madisu and basically it was like Yeah, he could win one hundred fifty thousand dollars on a Monday and on Tuesday, he couldn' pay his phone bill because all these guys are fucking degenerates, you know, Of course any of them if they're listening. But well, it's my f one of my favorite stories from When I did a cover story and an E sixty piece about Phil Ivy U Heading into the World sereries of poker, I think it was two thousand nine or ten U I sat with him and Do You know, wein We had traveled all over the world gambling tour basasically, right? Like we started in Connecticut. he's in a private room.'s play craps. he wins about one hundred grand. We leave, we get on a plane, we go to Montreal, he gets another private room and he's got his own private crroupier and there's a table and a suite where with a conference room attached where we have brunch. Again, there's like five people in the room. He draws a million dollars of his own money from an account that's at the casino plays, I lose him seven hundred and fifty grand in craps. He wins it all back, ends up walking away We get to walkking away up seven hundred and fifty grand We get to the next stop and he's won eight hundred and fifty grand over the course of forty eight hours at two different casinos And I said to him, like What amount of money makes you nervous He's like, I don't know, five, ten. I go Five or ten, what? he goes million likeike that That's like where the stakes changed for him in one of these cash games Laskar, I want you to tell us the movies. Let me take a quick break. from our friends at Hard Rock, will'll come back Tell us the movies you were thinking about Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Floridas The world's biggest soccer tournament is here. everyveryone is watching. National Pride is on the line, suuperstars chasing immortality And for the next month Every match feels like a final If you haven't tried Hard Rock Bet yet, there's no better time to get in the game. 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If it wins, you also score one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets, a winning bet plus an extra one hundred and fifty dollars to bet with Now that's how you get this summer's party started Download the hard Rock Bat app today, Ro with us, go with us, hardard Rck Bat Babble. cash offer offered by the semino tribe of Florida in Florida, offffered by semino Hard Rck Digital LLC in all other states must be twenty one or over and physically present in Arizona, Colado Florida Illinois, Indiana Michigan,ew Jersey, Ohio, Tennsee, Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply concerned about gambling in Florida called one eight three three Playwise in Indiana, if you or some you know as a gambling problem C one eight hundred nine with it Arizona, Ohio and Virginia called one eight hundred My Reset Gambling problem, callall one eight hundred gambler. in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey Tnessee Lasker List us Well movies. We'll start with we'll go like light to dark. So a movie that I I promise you your audience has not seen. but is a really fun betting movie that is not doesn't make you want to kill yourself is this Michael Richie film from nineteen ninety two called Dig Town and Dig sound stars James Woods and Lewis Gossa Jr And what it's about is James Woods is a con man who's just gotten out of prison And he goes to this small town that is basically run by Bruce Sttern And Bruce Dern is corrupt and owns the police and basically like owns the whole town. And there's a kind of a backstory on how Bruce Dern kind of you know, maliciously got control of the town. and Basically James Woods lures Bruce Etern into a bet where he basically says, because the town is like really big into boxing. and he says I will bring any fighter I can find that can beat any ten of your fighters in a twenty four hour period So I'm going to find one guy And he can beat ten of your guys. That's the bet And they bad like, you know, five hundred a grand And so then the twist is what you find out is that James Woods' old like con man partner is Lewis Gossa Junr. who at the time in the movie is was probably in his like late fifties. He still looked really good and was relatively fit. And he is a boxer So James Woods goes Louis G junior and is like, we're going to take this guy down. Like we're going we're going to beat all ten of his guys. And what you realize is that Everybody is hiding something from the other person And as the fight starts, where it's this twenty four hour period, they keep upping the ante and keep upping the vet. And James Woods has all these tricks up his sleeve, but so does Bruce Dern. and it just goes and goes. it just go and you know, it's like Boxer six, boxer seven, you know, boxer eight and has all these really fun twists at the end of the movie. I willn't spoil it It's a really fun movie that does not make you leave with like a bad taste in your mouth. And so it's both a conman movie and a bet movie because the whole movie is a giant bet that keeps escalating as the twenty four hours goes on through the boxing match. It's a really good movie. Michael Richie really talented director. He's not alive anymore He directed Fletch He directfted the Bad news Bears he directed downownhill racer with Robert Redford. He directed the candidate with Robert Redfrey.'s a really talented director that's been a little bit forgotten by the newer generations. like if you're forty five and over, you definitely know who Michael Rich. if you're under, you probably have never heard of him That's a really good movie Can I interject for one second? please? Allright I once got pitched to write a book about Bruce Ster Number one Number two, I remember the Dixstown movie poster. The way and I never went to see it. because I had no interest in seeing what looked like a boxing movie with James Woods and Lewis Ga Jr. Now the way you've described it, I would go to see it. But they did a terrible job marketing that movie because I thought it was a boxing movie with an old Louis Gossa Jr. one hundred percent. I mean, I just remember like seeing the trailer and I was thirteen years old and I went to every movie possible. and my buddy and I went and we were like blown away by how much we liked it. It's still like, that's another movie I'll pop that ending on, you know, on YouTube. Watch the last five minutes. It's it's on Yeah, you won't. You will not regret it. I I'm in full summer movie mode with my kid as you Lask My kid and I u There were five movies we felt like we had to watch, a couple of which he hadn't seen He hadn't seen Singers. masterpiece. Yeah, he hadn't seen out of sight with Clooney and Jen. Masterpiece written by my good friend Scott Frank. El moreore Letter novel. He adapted it So incredible movie. I'll read any Elmmer Leonner novel. I'm reading one right now actually and outut of sight is one of my three favorite movies of all time. I think it is incredible. I think it is brilliant That scene with J Lo and George Clooney in the bar in Detroit is Like Coolest, sexiest scene maybe in movie history. I think Jayo as an actress is amazing. and I feel like I wish she never did any of the music because Every movie she's in, She's so good. It's fucking brilli It's a brilliant mov We did three Kings Also one of my favorite movies Um And then we did u Uh, Money ball And the last one is Super bad, which we've both seen a million times, but it's part of our quQintette We interrupted it with Top Gun Maverick for Father's Day just because sure. We both like to, you know, we cry a little bit. It's exciting. You can'not cry at the end of topop Gun Maverick when when Miles Teller and Tom Cruise are on the boat together inana You When he says, I did what your father would have done. Yeah. You just can't, it's unb's puddle Absolly Freakaking puddle. But out of snight Kudos to your buddy because it' brilliant Well, Scott Frank is a brilliant So, you know, Scott Frank has been around for a long time. He's been writing since he was right out of college He wrote this brilliantilm called Dead Again in the early nineties that Kenneth Brona made. Yeah, ye. That was an homage to Hitchcock films And then the first thing you ever wrote actually was a movie called Little Man Tate which was a movie Jodie Foster made her directorial debut on But Scott became a huge screenwiter he still is, but speaking of sports The thing he's most known for in the last ten years is he did the Queen's Gambit limited for Netflix. Oh you won that reward under the sun and he has, right now he has a show on Netflix called Department Q which they're doing. He's making the second season right now Really good mystery that they shoot in Scotland He did He did this show goless, this big Western with Jeff Daniels. He's a brilliant writer and he's been a big adapter and he like he grew up on Elmore Leonard. And out of sight. I mean, you know, the other thing about out of sight for your audience And again, the audience say like doesn't know as much about Stehven Soderberg, but like Steven Sootenberg makes sex liized and videootape in nineteen eighty nine. That like changes the movie industry. That's an early Maramax film Simon that like that's an early adult movie about sex that like takes everybody by storm Then he makes two movies King of the Hill and the Underneath Um excuse me, Kafka and King of the Hill. Don't do well. thenen he makes a movie called the underneath doesn't do well. He's literally in director jail And then he makes out of sight And out of sight does not make a lot of money, but it's incredibly critically well received, Nominated for two Oscars, adapted sccreenplay for Scott and editing for Anne V Coates And then from there, Sodag goes on a run that has never been replicated. which is he makes the Lye in nineteen ninety nine with Terrence Stamp, Re really good movie. G movie. And then in two thousand, he makes Traffic and Aaron Brokovich. He's nominated for Best Director twice in the same year. He wins the Oscar for traffic. in two thousand one he makes oceans a elevel. I mean, the fucking mic drop of all my drops. That is the that is the Allen Lbe of two thousand say ten to twenty twelve run of directing very true. What's the what is the I think some of the other movies like, you know, that are not, you know, obviously, you know you guys have discussed twenty one written by Alan Loe. great movie. I'm sure you guys discussed it last time. he was on super fun movie, which I think is just the ultimate wish fulfillment of like You know, there's two wish fulfillments in that movie, which is one What if as kids, you could be the system? And then also weirdly because Kevin Spacey plays the teacher. What if your teacher was cool? You know, even though he ends up not being cool later, but like What if he's a cool yourour teacher like helped you like make money, which is kind of fun. That's a movie that you know people love Um, you know, it's less, it's not so much of a betting movie. It's a comment movie, but it has all these bets inside it The Sting. if you've never seen the Sting and the Sting is on Netflix, I think still, which is a famous film that won Best Picture in nineteen seventy three starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman It it's con men But the method of conning people is to luring them into bets that are fake. So it has a a little bit of betting. U So you got the sting dicks down twenty one. We covered rounders Then I think you get more into like, okay, these are the betting movies that make you want to kill yourself U Uncut Gems is a little bit of that. I mean, I love uncut Gems I think it's a masterpiece, but like That is a movie that I think The point of it at the end is like gambling is bad. Sorry, Simon. you know, gambling can undo your life you know, because he wins and he loses, right? He wins the parlay, but they shoot him in the head because he's fucked them over so much Um There's a movie that's really good that you guys probably have not seen. called Mississippi Grind that it was made by this husband and wife team, Anna Fleack and Ryan Boden They actually made like, Miss Marvel or Captain Marvel, the Brie Larson Marvel film they made like a billion dollars, but they're really indie directors. And Mississippi Grind is Ryan Reynolds kind of before he became really famous And then this really brilliant Australian actor Ben Mendelson And they're just gambling addicts. And they're just like kind of going They go in like river boats in the Mississippi a area and they're just like can't get out of their own way. And it's just kind of a little sweet story. about these, you know, gambling addicts. Um That's a good movie. One of the more famous gambling films that I guarantee your audience has not seen is California Split with Elliot Gould. That's a famous Rot Albman film in the seventies. You've seen it. I've seen it because when I wrote the Odds, the main character in the Odds, this guy Alan Boston was a seventy movies seventies movies freak So we watched everything from like California split with Elliot Gould to what was that movie with Gene Hackman I think it was Franis Ford Copel. conversation. The conversation. Yeah. like we watched all of those. Yeah., California Splin is a really great movie. Again, it's a movie that like A lot of these movies, you know, this' not a gamling film, but like I always enjoy the structure of Boogie Nights because Boogie Nights is ninety minutes of good times and then fifty minutes of bad times, right? After William H. Macy kills himself on New Ye's Eve, then the movie's like now we're going now we're going to feel bad for the next hour And this is what a lot of these gambling films are. It's like you get to kind of revel in people that are like making money and then you see how self destructive they are. Really good movie. It's Lllie Gold and George Siegel. They're just like low life gamblers, can't get their own way And then there's we talked about these movies on here before, but it's both gamblers. There's the original gambler in the seventies with James Cahan. and then they remade it with Mark Wahlberg. the Mark Wahlberg remake is like not bad It's kind of interesting But the James Con gambler is basically a masterpiece and it's It is filled with so much dread. There's a famous scene in the movie where James Cohn's in the bath And he has this is like, you know, in the seventies and so he has like One of those like little mini pieces of wood across the bathtub that you can put something on that you could put a meal on. and he has a radio And he's listening to like the Ks or something and he's clearly bet on the game. And you can tell in real time he's losing And the whole scene the way it plays is, oh my God He's going to knock the radio into the bathroom. He's going to electrcute himself. likeike he's going to kill himself in this moment. He doesn't That's like in the middle of the movie. It's a really interesting look at a guy that like basically is just gambling to gamble. Like he doesn't derive any pleasure from winning. He just cannot stop betting Um So I sure knew that that was the u Laker Sonics game he was betting on And I gott to sayrolll do that a little bit too quickly. Well, I will say this, Jad, what I feel like what he's talking about here when you When they want to make a movie about sports betting Felix Hollywood, which I get They wanted to end not happy, right? You didn't mention it. the only movie I feel like gets even close to what I do. two for the one which is yeah You know We can make fun of it all the time because it is based on I think it's St Fer, right? L Yeah ye. That whole scumbag movement of these call guys where you call up a number to give you picks. Yeah, they were thieves. I think we all know that now, but you know, the seventies, eighties, nineties You didn't know any better. That was your only option was some guy popping on your radio station saying on ten to know this. recall this number. I'll give you winners. I love 's you for the money, the stress of it as someone that does is for a living When you're hot And you have guys above you you work for and they're betting your hot you're hot and they're beding it with you You are a go to them. You literally They'll let you sleep with their wives. Like I'm telling you, these guys love you As soon as that stops trickling off, you can feel that heat, that pressure And now that you fear for your life But there is some of that in this line of business. And I love that whole description of it of like You know That feeling of Makane has and too for the money of this guy is kind of been lying to him and kind of misleading him and now's putting all this pressure on him and is losing his mind because of it There's there's real parts of that. That's why I think of all the movies you've talked about The closest to my life and my world is surprisingly that movie because I like the guys I work for We do have an office space that's filled with desks like that. There are TV's everywhere of sports twenty fourty seven and people on the phone making calls, working things. Now it's died down, obviously since the mid two thousands, but when I talk to people fromrom the early two thousands to the nineties. That movie, that's what really what it was like, right? It was fun. I think that is a good movie. I mean, that movie gets a little maligned because it's like It was made at a time when like Puccino was just like making every movie possible to like take the paycheck and just like, I'll come in and scream And Mcane had not had his like Monnanaissance yet. And so they're both like really big in the movie, but it's like a perfectly fine movie. And I have no doubt that it connects to, you know, what you're talking about in some of your existence. I mean, it's I think it's a good movie actually Another, you know, one thing we haven't covered U And there's not a ton of them and this is a really obscure movie There's a movie from in the nineties called Let it Ride, which is a horse betting movie with Richard Dreyfus. and that's a really good movie too that's also just like, you know, analyzing, you know, the betting, you know on a horse track and just how, you know, up and down that can be Um, so, you know, I mean, there's there's lots of like subset bet movies, you could argue that like indeent proposal is like a betting movie, right? Because they're like they go, they win all this money playing craps they' trying to save their house, then they lose it all. and that's what induces them to like Robert for being like, I want to pay a million dollars to sleep with your wife I mean, there's so many different gradations of light casino culture, you know, and gambling culture and stuff But yeah, I mean, I think again, like I said, it's like, The casino movies in general are flashier and more entertaining 'causeuse usually it's like they're like process movies And then these hardcore gambling movies are, you know It's almost like they feel an obligation to let you know like this will end badly. You know, The house does always win. I mean, that's just a fact. I mean, maybe not if you got Simon betting for you But maybe in a way you are the house., But the house knows what it's doing, you know? I mean, it's like we talked about in the past. I mean, it's that funny thing in the being in casino where they're like, you know, Ace knows if, you know, the quarterback got laid the night before, you know, and like There's some new version of that today of like what you guys are figuring out as to like, will Alabama cover or, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know? U Laskar, before we let you get out of here What would you say are the early contenders as of now for the Oscars, whether it's best movie, or best picture, best director, actor, actress You know thing that people can go look for because because right now you can already bet on these things. It It's a great question. and I'm going to let you down. I've been having this conversation with many of my friends who, you know, love this st as so much as I do. This there is not u I'm not saying it's a light year. I'm sure it willll end up being fantastic movies But There's not that many of like, oh, these ten movies. so last year was one of those movies where like we're getting a new PTA. We're getting a new SafFie movie, like two saafie movies. Like last year, you know, there were so many movies ahead of time of like these are Oscar films. know, we've got the Brce Rreenstein movie coming. We've got the wrecking, you know the smashing machine coming Obviously the big one that people are already betting on, which would be an easy bet is the Odyssey, right? Is no one going to do it again? The trailers are incredible. Like you only it seems to me It's funny. There was this like weirdo Elon Musk. blowback about like, you know, why is everybody, you know, either white or not white in these certain roles? But the bigger blowback I've heard is people are now being like, why does everybody talk speak American? you know speakinglish, You know what I mean? Like Matt Damon just sounds like Matt Damon. Why didn't they try to make him sound Greek? But You know famous little story for you is that when they started shooting Gladiator Russell Crow was like, well, I'm a Spiard. Like I need to have like a Spanish accent. And really Scott was like, no, no, no, no Just sound how you sound. You sound fucking awesome. He's like no one gives a fuck J no one cares. We're not going for aity authenticity here. J just be cool Um, But the Odyssey, obviously, I mean, you know, there's this movie coming out this week next week called The Invite that Olivia Wilde directed with Seth Ropens. It's like a sexarce com. And people think that could be like a screenplay nominee. You know, there's people that are talking. I don't think it'll happen As of today People are already talking about obsession And about for Dune three. Well Dunon three could be amazing. I mean, look Dunon three You know, I think that I'll come back to June three in a second. O obsession, there's early chatter of like, could that actress be nominated for best actressors? Could the screenplay be nominated Do and three. couldould be great D't Evil News brilliant. they're all brilliant Don't think for a third movie it's been built, It's been building in a way frankly, the way Lord of the Rings build, where're like Those movies were so dominant. and yes, both dunes have been nominated for Best Picture, but it's a slightly different time because you have to remember what Lord of the Rings is That was three best Picture nominations in a row when it was five nominees. Now it's ten nominees. And I love Dune, I love all the people legendary I don't know if Doune two would have been in the five nominees You know, if there had been five a couple of years ago, but it was there were ten So People are hyper for doune. Xiao Me is brilliant No one really knows. I people know that it's like darker. They know that like the material is darker, even darker than the first two. but I don't really feel like there's a buzz yet of like, oh We're like ending we're like, you know, we're ending the final chapter of this story story that we've all been like glued to It's tough. I mean, it's tough for a third movie to get nominated. I mean, Avatar three didn't get nominated. the second one did. So I don't know. it's an interesting year where like There isn't just there aren't a ton of like, oh, this person is like odds on favor. Maybe I'm like forgetting something but what about Project Hail Mary Prodotail Mary I think will be nominated for B picture. Gwson could be nominated. It's tough. It's like Movies obviously can stay having come out in March Be. I think that people love that movie I'm not feeling in this moment right now that it has the exact staying power that I felt like sinners was having a year ago. And I think it's because I love Froject's Home Mary and love all those people involved It might not have enough of an issue inside it. I mean, it was, you know, and granted, Martian was nominated for Best Picture, but that was a that movie came out in October Um And so I don't know. I mean, I think' be nominated for best picture, but I'm not sure it's going to like sweep the Oscars yet I think it's one of those years where like we don't entirely know. There were a couple of films that popped at the Canne Film Festival that show their really good performances, movies you've not heard of that your audience will not care about today that will pop up into the fall award season But yeah, I mean, there's like not a big like Leo Mvie this year. There's no Sore Sesi film. ICPTA was last year U It's so funny, like I'm not exactly sure Off top of my head, like what would be like the full It's like it's early You know, I mean, obviously things have been dated. Um, but I'm just literally thinking of like Yeah, mean, Universal's big movie is the Odyssey. you know,, I mean, a lot of the big movies that have been dated for December are just like ten polls. You know, in December, you have Jumanji three D in three, you have Avengers five Um, you know, uh But these are those are not going to outside of maybe doing, those are not necessarily going to be her film, so