Blank Check with Griffin & David - Avatar

Episode Date: November 27, 2016

This week the BC crew discusses 2009’s 3D sci-fi epic Avatar. But are trees nature’s internet? Is this the ultimate cultural appropriation movie? Does the public need four more Avatar movies? Together they examine the performances of the cast including Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Giovanni Ribisi, breaking box office records, review the winners of the Academy Award for Best Cinematography over the last few years and argue about Coraline. Plus, another merchandise spotlight and announce the next new mini-series!

I podcast you. I podcast you. Hey! Hey! I love that. Hey podcast you. Hey! Hey! I love that. Hey, everybody. My name is Griffin Newman. My name is David Sims.

Welcome to Blank Check with Griffin and David. We are hashtag the two friends. This is a podcast where we go through filmographies of directors who have early success and then get a series of blank checks to make whatever kind of projects they want cinematically. And sometimes those checks clear and sometimes they bounce, baby. Good job. Thank you. Rapid time.

This is a miniseries that we're doing on the films of the wettest filmmaker in America, James Cameron. He's so wet. He's soaking wet. This movie is not that wet. No, but wet moments. A couple wet moments. Waterfall. Yeah.

Miniseries is called Podinator Judgment Cast. And it's over. I mean, we have a bonus episode next week, but we're- This is the last film. We're at the end for now. This is the last film, so I mean, you know, emotions are high. His last feature. This is his last feature.

To date. To date. He's still with us, Jimmy C. He is very much still with us in our hearts and our minds and also in his home where he lives. Well, he's not with us in his home. Today, we're talking his biggest film ever. Yeah. And the biggest film ever.

Yeah. It's a 2009 release nominated for, I think, seven Academy Awards. No, more than that, I think. Really? I can look it up. Well, it didn't get screenplay. Maybe eight Academy Awards. Highest grossing film in history.

Domestically, it's been toppled. Not adjusted for inflation. Right. Adjusted for inflation, it's the fifth highest grossing film in history. It was a hit. Big hit. Solid triple. You know what's going on today.

We're talking tar. Ladies and gentlemen, we're talking tar. It's the Avatar. Nine Oscar nominations. Hey, wow, that's a lot. Talking Avatar. Talking tar. This is tar talk.

Tar talk. I would do a car talk joke, but I don't actually know how to do one. I know they were named Click and Clack, and I know one of them is dead. No. R.I.P. I only know that because of the Disney Pixar Cars franchise, in which they appear as characters. And then I am on Pixar message boards where they posted when one of them died. Okay.

Okay. Avatar. Talkin' Tar. We're gonna talk Tar. I mean, you can't avoid it. Well, we're trying to. Clearly. We're going straight into it headfirst. Avatar. Influential movie. Yeah. 3D.

Sure. So here's the thing with this movie. Mocap. This. 3D. Sure. So here's the thing with this movie. Mo-cap. This movie's in three dimensions. A lot of movies in two. Yeah. Especially before this. And then after this, people were like, why didn't you give me the D?

And they weren't talking about Deschanel. They were talking about adding a third dimension onto their movie. Why don't you give me the DDD? They said, give me another D. Then went Caleb, and then went, no, not Caleb. Wow, this is a bad callback. Zoe Bones? I don't like this callback. You don't like giving them the D?

It's all right. I don't know. You did a little too much on one of the episodes. It's been a couple episodes. We've let it rest. All right, Avatar. Three dimensions. He's worked in three dimensions before,

as you heard in our fascinating, captivating recap of his two documentaries, Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. We might have made a mistake by releasing this the week after, Ghosts of the Abyss and Aliens of the Deep. Because people are just too excited? Yeah, and they need some time to recover. I mean, you've got to let...

People have to listen to that episode four or five times for it to really sink in. Well, yeah, and also you have to listen backwards. I hope you guys listen backwards because there's tons of clues. Right. Clues and hints about blank check mystery box

that is, you know, we are constantly putting things into, right? Which, of course, is that Ben is dead. Oh, no. If you listen backwards. It's fine.

He's a ghost so we can talk to him. Hey, Ghost Ben. Oh. Good, good, good improv. Wait, Ghost Ben? Yeah, Ghost Ben. The Ghost Deucer? Yeah. Go-Doer Ben? Uh-huh. Wait, Ghost Ben? Yeah, Ghost Ben. The Ghost-o-ser?

Yeah. Go-do-er Ben? Uh-huh. The Ghost Laureate? Yep. Mr. Ghostative? Okay. The Ghost?

All right. The Ghost Breaker? Okay. Birthday Ghostie? Sure. Professor Ghost? Ghost Day Benny. Ghost Day Benny?

The Spirit Master? The Spirit Master The Spirit Master The Ghost Master Zool Gozer Gozer the Gozerian Slimer Yeah that's right

It's Ben The Taxicab Ghost It's Ben Alright enough He's graduated to certain titles Over the course of different miniseries Okay This is Kylo Ben

Producer Ben Canove Ben Say Ben Night Shyamalan And Say Benny Thing And we're gonna need A new one for him. Oh, we've got to come up with that by the end of today. By the end of today. Well, no, no, no.

We need it. We need the new one for him by the start of the next miniseries. He graduates at the end of the miniseries. That's true. That is how it's been in the past miniseries. Okay, fair enough. And I don't even think we need it on the Ben's Choice episode. But it'd be nice to do it there. That's true. That'd be a nice moment. It'd be nice to anoint him.

It's his choice. Yeah, with holy oils. It's his big day. It's his big day. I mean, we haven't even talked what we're going to watch, but stay tuned. And I'll say this, you know, Professor Crispy maybe just got an ally. Oh, no. That's why you left that?

Ugh. Oh, my God. Yeah. Actually, I... Oh, there. That's why you left that? Ugh. Oh, my God. Yeah. Actually, I... Oh, there it is. He was eating Cheerios, guys. All right. You can call me Dr. Crunchy.

That's a nice little intro. Five minutes. Let's talk about Avatar. You can call me Dr. Crunchy. Avatar. Crisp and Crunch. A sci-fi original. Coming to Fox this fall.

Real quick, can I just say, Griffin, that intro was very crunchy. Thank you. But not crispy. No. Because you are not Ghost Professor Crispy. I'm not. I'm not. No one is.

I'm Dr. Crunchy. Sure. Avatar. Yeah, okay, talking Tar. So you got James Cameron. He's riding high. Right. He made Titanic.

Titanic. Titanic. It's riding high. Right. He made Titanic. Titanic. Titanic. It's a very spooky episode. Titanic. It made a few million bucks. Yeah, a couple. It was seen as a hit. It made a billion or two.

And so the studio, Fox, the studio wrote him another blank check. Yeah, they said, you can do whatever you want. It's the premise of our show. Right, and he said, I'll take 12 years and then make a Sam Worthington movie. I'll take 12 years and make, like, a, you know, Last of the Mohicans meets Ferngully meets, like, Aliens, you know, 3D, three-hour epic for you guys. You into that?

So I saw this movie. Who's the star, Sam Worthington? I don't know who he is. Don't worry. We've got Zoe Saldana, too. Do you think every day when they were watching, because I guess they didn't have conventional dailies on this movie because most of it's mo-cap.

They must have had something, though. Do you think when Fox was watching footage, they were like, I mean, we don't get Sam Worthington, but I guess he must be on to something? Especially since he popped Leo, you know? Yeah. I think everyone just deferred to him. No, but they were hot for Sam, right? Hollywood was hot for Sam. like popped Leo, you know? Yeah. I mean, I think everyone just deferred to him. No, but they were hot for Sam, right?

Hollywood was hot for Sam. But Hollywood wasn't hot for Sam until Cameron hired him. No, I understand that. The story is that Sam Worthington was living in his car when he got Avatar. I know, I know. And then after that, everyone was like, I guess he must see something. I think everyone hired him just off the strength of Cameron picking him. We're not going to start with Sam. We're going to start with Avatar. We'll get to Sam. I think Sam

is great in this movie. Tell me about seeing the movie for the first time. Oh, Avatar. Yeah, talking to her. Well, so there's been some hype. I don't know. There's been a little bit of chatter about James Cameron making another movie. Yeah. He debuted that footage at Comic Con. Yeah. And I'd seen some of that and I was like, you know. Yeah. I think my expectations

were kind of low-ish, right? Weren't yours? It was one of those things. I don't know. We can talk about you in a second. I had a whole rollercoaster, which is I love James Cameron. Oh, he's with the rollercoasters. Was waiting.

They call me Kingda Ka because I'm a rollercoaster, babe. They do not do that. They call me Kingda Ka. Everyone calls me Kingda Ka. All right. Go on. Wanted a new James Cameron movie. Something fierce.

Yeah. As did everyone. And it was always rumbling. Oh, 3D. Oh, Alien War. Well, I had seen Coraline in 3D. I'd maybe seen another thing. I'd seen a couple things with this new 3D technology with the Realty glasses,

the sort of easy little frames that we all have to wear all the time now. Coraline's the same year as Avatar. I believe it's earlier in that year. And I remember I wasn't like, oh, I love this and I want 3D and everything. But I was at least impressed with the 3D in Coraline. It was cool. It gave the movie a weird sort of tactile vibe.

It wasn't coming out at you obnoxiously you could just be in the world a little more uh cool coralline i still think is the best uh use of 3d in a narrative feature no avatar is the best use coralline 100 percent no 100 percent ride or die jd amada will back me up on this you guys are dumb animation freaks being losers it's avatar cool animation it's avatar and then you wait 10,000 years and then it's Coraline. And Coraline's great. Coraline's number one with a bullet. It's the only one that uses the 3D

thematically for the movie. That is wrong. It is Avatar, which uses the 3D thematically incredibly well. You're so wrong about that. Coraline, baby. You can watch Coraline right now in 2D and it's still like 98% a great movie. Not so with Avatar.

I disagree on both counts. I was a freak for 3D, loved it. When they started re-releasing things in 3D. You're so wrong on this. I'm really mad at you. About 3D or Coraline? About Coraline. You're so wrong about this.

No, I'm not. You're so wrong about this. You're 100% wrong. No, I'm not. Ben, what's your take on Coraline? About Coraline. You're so wrong about this. No, I'm not. You're so wrong about this. You're 100% wrong. No, I'm not. Ben, what's your take on Coraline? I don't know anything about Coraline. Hells yeah. So, they're both good.

Oh, yeah, and you didn't see Avatar in theaters. No, I saw Avatar last night. You just watched it for the first time at home. Yeah. time at home yeah um my takeaway was this is a movie that i would i liked because it's got all the things that i like about movies this is a real ben this is a big time ben movie this one i love 3d okay when they start releasing stuff in 3d disney was sort of at the forefront when else have there been okay so they would be doing these very limited releases of like chicken little played in 3d a little bit. Chicken Little?

And I went and saw Chicken Little because I was like, new 3D? Well, there was the Rodriguez brought it back, right? Rodriguez did Spy Kids 3D and Sharkboy and Lava Girl. Right, but was Spy Kids 3D with the real game? Red and Blue. It was the Red and Blue, right. I did not see Spy Kids 3D. 3D was really good in that, but it's with the

dumb colors and everything, right? So I really liked the 3D in Spy Kids 3D and I was like, I like this, the idea of everyone bringing 3D back, and then Rodriguez does Sharkbone and Lavagirl, and then Disney was starting to dip their toes, because Disney's usually on the forefront of new technological advancements. So they released Chicken Little in 3D a little bit. They started re-releasing Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. I remember that.

I remember that. That started 2006, was like, I believe, or 2005 was the 3D re-release of Nightmare. And like Meet the Robins. All these fucking... All right, all right. Enough. I would go see any movie that was released in 3D because I like 3D so much. Okay.

And at that point in time, there was only like one movie in 3D per year. And they were almost always animated. Yeah. Yeah. And they were good. And then when I heard about Avatar's actually happening. Like, no false starts. He's actually making another movie.

He's been working on this and the Battle Angel movie, right? And so I would always get the two mixed up in my head as to, like, what exactly. And it's one of those things, like, Star Trek came out a year earlier or the same year? Same year. And, you know, you would see interviews with Zoe Saldana, like, and they'd be like, you're in Avatar, too. And she's like, yeah, I am. am I mean I filmed that a while ago but yeah I mean I don't know like it sort of baffled as baffled as us well that's the big thing 2009 comic-con July was the first time they showed anything from the movie there was nothing it was a huge mystery box and all you just knew was

James Cameron 3D Alien War I remember that was all you'd hear. Sure, sure. Right? And then 2009, it was like, for the first time, we're showing images. We're showing footage. We're bringing the cast up. Like everything. All right.

And I remember the initial boom being like, that seems a little disappointing. Yeah, people thought it looked dorky. I have to say, yeah, I was so turned off by the 3D aspect of the film. I was like, I don't want to, that seems cheap and stupid. Well, because people think of, you know, the paper glasses and the red and the blue, right? You know, they think of cheap, dorky 3D from going to the museums. Exactly.

But even the design of the characters and the level of the effects, I mean, I remember when they, because all you'd hear was just, James Cameron's work on something that's going to revolutionize everything. And people would say, I've seen a little bit of Avatar. It's groundbreaking. It's this and that.

And then people saw it and they were like it just looks like some cg movie with blue aliens maybe i don't know there was some serious i remember there was a little dip after comic-con yeah but it was more like i think most of the people who were at comic-con would tell you and i know a few people who were like that was amazing but then there was backlash from the wider internet well that's what i'd say i'd say the people who were there at comic-con wider internet but who cares about the people well because'd say. I'd say the people who were there at Comic-Con. The wider internet, but who cares about it? Well, because I was kind of with them. The people who were there

at Comic-Con said the presentation blew them away. But then as the stuff started getting online, it was like the trailers were kind of underwhelming. I remember there being a little bit of a stink

of like, is he going to miss a little bit? Yeah, there was. And the hype was more like, I got to give him benefit of the doubt, but he can pull it off.

But then he did it again. No, no, I'm saying he did the same thing he did with Titanic where everyone was like, I don't know, this one costs a lot, looks like it's going to bomb. I don't know why he's doing this kind of a story with this kind of technology.

Like, eh. And then it comes out, opens fine, in both cases. Strong, yeah. And people are like, oh, well, it's going to have to multiply a lot. Yeah, if you put a usual multiplier on that, this is a huge disappointment, and then of course in both cases

breaks the mold I went to see it opening night at the IMAX 3D sure I saw it with a bunch of friends I remember right before

the movie ended tweeting like James Cameron please don't let me down like I had that feeling of like just let me like this movie yeah

and I did and I saw it two more times in theaters yeah I bought the 3DIS DVD the Blu-ray and I have not watched it since I saw it two more times in theaters I bought the 3Dist DVD the Blu-ray and I have not watched it since I saw it three times in 2009

and then you hadn't watched it since I hadn't watched it again since last night so last night was the first time I watched it at home first time I watched it in 2D alright we'll get to you

all of that we'll get to you that's all I'm saying alright we'll get to your DVD experience wait DVD or Blu Blu

gotta go Blu it's a good Blu yeah it's a good Blu he doesn't want to fuck up the blue. The three disc. Yeah, the one that's in this sort of little box, and it's got like this sort of folders that you pull the disc in. Yeah, I like it.

It's nice. I like it. So you saw it opening night. Saw it opening night with my girlfriend at the time, I think, and my brother. My brother and my brother. Yeah, it's a little bit like I have a brother. And I remember my brother, who is a bit of a snarky little boy,

and I shouldn't call him a little boy. Joey C. Sims. Very patronizing, yeah, Joey C. Sims. My brother, especially at that time, a little snarky, a little like, was kind of like, eh. I was just like, yep, that was amazing. That was the best. That's exactly what I wanted.

The action especially. Like, you know, that last hour of Avatar. Yeah. It was fucking fantastic. I saw it a couple more times in theaters. I flew to London in like April of the next year. So like a few months later, Avatar was on the plane. I watched it both ways.

That's cool. I bought the DVD, like the crappy DVD when it came out. No, my brother got it for me, actually. I think it's a sort of jokey present. And I'd watch that maybe once or twice. And then, yeah, I got the Blu-ray, the big one. And I've watched that. I've seen it like eight or nine times. I love it. I had seen it since 09, but

was a big defender of it. I mean, I don't know if it, like... I was trying to think back to if it would have made my top ten for that year. Like, I liked it a lot, but I was really into seeing it theatrically, and I was like, you know, when there was sort of an immediate backlash, the movie was always operating on two levels.

It was such a swing toward, you know, it was like, and there were like multiple backlashes at once. What were the backlashes? Well, you said it's dumb. Yeah, it's dumb. People were like, it's dumb. Why does everyone like this? It's dumb. And's dumb people were like it's dumb why does everyone like this

it's dumb and then everyone doesn't quite make my top 10 for that year but that is an extremely good year for movies that's what I was

going to say that was a really good year fuck look at this this is a great like 20 you got Coraline Coraline yeah

that's above it for me yeah love that movie especially because they used the 3D Ponyo came out that year

which is one of my favorite movies ever made Serious Man Inglourious Bastards came out that year, which is one of my favorite movies ever made. Serious Man. Inglourious Bastards came out that year. I think Inglourious Bastards was my two. Sugar was my number one, maybe. Sugar's in my top 20.

Sugar, yeah. Star Trek, which I adore. Bright Star, which is my number one of that year. Oh, right. One of the greatest movies. House of the Dead, which is such a cool movie. Summer Hours, the SIS. Oh, I've never seen that one.

Oh, I should see it. Oh, it's In the Loop? Yeah, see, you know, I never... Public Enemies? Public Enemies, I love it. Fantastic. You don't like In the Loop? You're an idiot.

I know, I never really got it. And like a lot of cool littler movies like Fish Tank, Moon. Yeah, I like a lot of these. Good year. But yeah, it just sort of immediately came out did well the first weekend but not crazy well the second weekend had no drop and then it was so clear but i'm saying it was so clear that it was going to be another titanic it was and then it came out a few weeks it came out late enough in december that there was no like oscar campaign

it was like the second it was released everyone was like okay it's gonna get nominated for nine oscars and then it got nominated like three weeks later you know because like, the second it was released, everyone was like, okay, it's going to get nominated for nine Oscars. And then it got nominated like three weeks later, you know? Because it was the end of the year. Yeah. And no one had seen it like before it came out.

It briefly looked like a winner. I think at the time of the nominations, everyone thought it was going to win. They at least thought, like, it was one of these things where it was against the Hurt Locker,

which had not made a ton of money but was so universally acclaimed. And it was, yeah, it was like, oh, hmm, maybe this will knock it off. And the fact that they were exes was such a good narrative.

It was a cool narrative and then it swung back around to Hurt Locker as the sort of, you know, people got a little sick of all Avatar. Yeah,

I mean, the Hurt Locker PR team did an amazing job the second after the nominations came out being like, I mean, who do you want to vote for, David or Goliath?

Right. You know, and making it seem like, what does this movie need? And also he had an Oscar and like a woman had never won Best Director. That was a huge...

Biggest movie of all time. This movie doesn't need Oscars. I think a lot of people thought maybe Avatar would win Picture. Yeah. Big load would win Director. Anyway.

Yeah. Oscars aside. But the backlash was sort of like is this movie overhyped and then some people were coming in going like this movie's underhyped and it was this weird movie

that was always a fight when in the end of the day it was just like good solid movie. And also I think a lot of... Yeah. Yeah. Wait, I had... At the end of the day... I can just like, good, solid movie. And also, I think a lot of- It's like a movie. Yeah. Yeah. Wait, I had-

At the end of the day, overhyped, underhyped, good, solid movie. It's okay. Professor Crunchy. Dr. Crunchy. Don't call me Professor Crunchy. And now, of course, he's working on these sequels. Right. Which, once again, much like the creation of Avatar, you're like, well, that seems like

the wrong decision. That seems totally well that seems like the wrong decision that seems totally stupid yeah don't do that i guess you know maybe it'll work out again like i mean that's how what else can you say as you always say i mean if james cameron tells me i want five avatar movies then i want five avatar movies your favorite quote of mine let's go through the story of the film and then get to at the end like sort of sequel talk because i have a lot of thoughts on about what the sequels could be and how I feel about them. Okay so this movie starts out. You watched the

theatrical version right? I did. I've seen the extended versions. I think they're both very bad. I think all the additions save maybe one scene are really bad and I think he made the right call with the theatrical cut. I didn't watch the theatrical. I watched the extended. I know you did. Yeah. You're saying you thought he made the right call with the theatrical cut. I didn't watch theatrical. I watched the extended. I know you did. Yeah. You're saying you thought

he made the right call. Jimmy, I thought you said I made the right call. I made the wrong call. The theatrical cut is the correct cut of the film. I think all the mentions of the schooler

added weight to the film. I think the rest of the stuff doesn't really matter, but I also think... I think the rest of the stuff is harmful. That's the problem. It's not good.

I also, because I hadn't seen it in like seven years, I was having a hard time remembering what was or wasn't in the theatrical. I'm sure you can. And that's why I'm setting this up. Because I think it is important to cover the stuff he adds, even if not in depth.

Certainly not in depth. The theatrical version opens with him opening his eyes and being like pulled out of like a chamber, weightless in a space thing, and through a lot of clunky, very fast, expositional voiceover, just being like... It is clunky. It's very clunky. But it's fast.

The first 15 minutes of this movie are clunky. Yeah, but he gets you into the avatar pretty quickly for a movie that has to explain a lot. That's what I was going to say, because even in the extended version, which has a full five minutes on Earth, like present, set in real time scenes before it even gets to the opening of what the theatrical version opens with uh-huh that

version still gets him in the avatar within 15 minutes right right right which means the theatrical gets him in within 10 i think you're right because it's just like he wakes up on the space station you have those brief flashbacks to his twin brother being dead and and then and he's like here's Prometheus

I mean not Prometheus Pandora right and there's like the five minutes of like Sigourney Weaver negging him

Sigourney she negs him Sigourney negs she comes out of the pod being like where's my god damn cigarette this is cool she's great

oh I love that part greatness movie I love lab smoking. She's real hammy and just what the movie needs, I think. Yeah, she's perfectly pitch. Everyone who's hemming it up

is doing a good job. Yeah, I think this is a weird instance where I think the performances that don't work in this movie are people who are underacting. Yeah, trying to be more natural.

Yeah. Although, actually, I don't think any performances, I think all the performances are solid in this movie. Worthington? Yeah, trying to be more natural. Yeah. Although, actually, I don't think any performance does. I think all the performances are solid in this movie. Worthington? Yeah, totally. I'm going to disagree with you hard on this as we get further into it. I think he's great in this movie, and it's one of those things where he has not delivered on any promise that he showed in this.

Or in Terminary Salvation, which he's also okay in. I think this is the same performance he gives in every movie. I think the performance plays better because the movie around him is better. Sure. I think this movie would be a Stone Cold masterpiece with a better performance in the center. It's hard. That's a hard thing to say because I'd have to see it. I think he's very winning.

He's very understated and he lets like the better things, you know, do their shit. I think he's too understated. I think it's. I think he's great in the mocap. Oh, see, that's where I disagree 100%. We just disagree. That's where I disagree because I think the mocap is, the technology wasn't at a point.

He's so small and he's so subtle that so often it feels like he's just kind of on neutral because he has to push through the mocap. We disagree. Whereas Saldana is giving a much more expressive theatrical performance, which translates through the animation. But she's supposed to be like that. She's supposed to be a natural member of the world

whereas he's supposed to be defensive and on guard and it works. But I think I compare it to Weaver in the mocap or any of that stuff. I think he's... Weaver's performance in the mocap is so weird because the avatar looks so much like her that you're a little freaked out.

Which is the only one they do that with. Yeah, it's so Uncanny Valley. They break the rules of the Naveed design for Weaver because everyone else has the really flat nose bridge. And with her, they do the little Sigourney Weaver nose because they clearly wanted the audiences to feel comfortable with her. What's the tall, skinny guy called? Norm Spellman. No,

the actor. Joel David Moore. Yeah, his looks kind of like him. His looks like him. I mean, but it's more, yes. But it still abides by the rules of the design. Okay, we're moving on. But yes, you're right. Siguruni is just a blue Siguruni. They don't translate her facial features.

They just paint her blue. Yeah. So they have more. She has a shirt on her. Yeah. She's got the Stanford shirt. Yeah, she's got the Stanford shirt. Yeah, it would have been fun to see them make like a Stephen Lang avatar, right?

Yeah. Maybe for the second one. Avatoo. Two-vatar. Dalip Rao or Michelle Rodriguez, whatever. Good little ensemble. I like the whole cast. I hope all the characters who die in this movie come back as Naveen.

I'd really like Michelle Rodriguez to come back. Me too. Because I feel like the movie doesn't do her dirty. She's great. But I mean, you know, it's a small part. They don't do her dirty, but they also don't really let her do anything until like the last 40 minutes but i mean she and she earns she owns it she's great when she those few little things but the movie's banking a lot on you being like oh mishara you guys i know her i know the type of character she plays

which is we're gonna hit the ground running right they don't really characterize her at all within the action of the movie no you just You just have to know the type of... Well, also, you just need a human or two to not be the worst. And so it's nice to have her. I just think this movie doesn't do as good of a job sort of fleshing out the other humans as Cameron usually does.

I mean, I agree with you if you're thinking aliens, but I don't know if I agree with you on every other... Even the abyss, I would say. No, we're out. And even like the. Even the Abyss, I would say. No, we're out. And even like the... Not the Abyss. I think so. I think the Abyss does a better job. I think... Give me... Alright.

I think Mouse Guy is more fleshed out than Trudy Shaqan. Mouse Guy's not. He just has a mouse. So you're like, hey, he's got a mouse. That's a thing. That's the guy with the mouse. He's got a thing. It's a mouse thing. What's his character? Likes his mouse. Anything else? That mouse, though.

Yes, that mouse, though. But also, when you look at Trudy, the Michelle Rodriguez character, you go like, I'm assuming I answer questions. Does she like mice? Does she have one? You don't know anything about her. She likes tank tops and sunglasses. She was in, like, four of the Fast and Furious movies.

Go to the improv. Go to the improv. The steak. Steak improv. Yeah. A little improv. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, that's called improv.

Hey, fun fact about Michelle Rodriguez. Never on a Lloyd team. Yep. I'm sorry I beat you to that joke. I'm going to give you the 10 comedy points. Oh, thank you. Okay, so Avatar gets into a fast. Do you like the additional scenes at the beginning?

No, I was going to say, I think the Earth scenes are terrible. I think they're the worst addition. Get out of that. Just get out of it as quick as possible. He made the right call just being like, yes, you need this clunky voiceover, but we just got to get through this real fast. It's a very utilitarian movie in a certain utilitarian movie in a way because basic storytelling rules would tell you,

you need to ground the audience in the real person, in the real world, before you get to the crazy stuff. And you need to have some characterization before he's thrown into it so we know who he is before the circumstances. But I hate that hacky crap. First off, the first five minutes are just really poorly directed.

They're really ham-fisted. I think they feel tonally off. They look shitty. The future Earth isn't as well realized as any of the other stuff he has visually. Oh, you're saying in the added scenes. In the added scenes. It's not very well executed. He cut this shit for a reason. Right. It's bad

and then also it is, you have so much stuff to set up where it's like, okay, so if you were going to go through the channels of, here's Jake Sully on Earth and this is what it's like on the spaceship before he gets into the Navi body body, and then the Na'vi body. And none of the other stuff matters. The only thing that matters is Pandora and the Avatar.

Get him in the fucking Na'vi. Get him in the Na'vi. The two things you need to get are what is Pandora, and you get Stephen Lang obviously giving, again, a clunky, very clunky, but cute-ish, you know, sort of like, I'm the military man, and here's Pandora for you. He's getting through it. I mean, it's almost like- He's getting through it. And then the Avatar shit, you know, sort of like, I'm the military man and here's Pandora for you. He's getting through it. I mean, it's almost like. He's getting through it. And then the avatar shit, you know. Yeah.

This is an avatar. It's you and your brother's twin brother's genome, whatever. So you can go in it. The first hour of this movie is like orientation week. It's like we just need to set up where everything is. Well, it's like multiple orientations. You got that orientation and then you have like scientist orientation, and then you have Navi, like, you know, or, yeah.

That's why I said orientation week, because when you go to college, it's like, oh, today you're going to focus on this sort of thing. In England, you call it fresher week. Oh, okay. So it's like fresher week. Yes. Are you happy? Yes.

Okay. So Tarkintar gets up there. They go, oh, your brother, he was a hero. He died. Paper in his pocket. We had all this money invested in him. Sure. Pays good.

We made this tar in his likeness. It's really expensive. You're the only one who can operate the tar because you're a twin. Guess what? You don't have legs. You got crippled legs, right? Crippled legs. Right.

He's got these skinny little legs and he's in a wheelchair and they're like we could give you this opportunity. You go up to space. You get to walk again. Long blue legs. He's like, okay, sign me up. Although I do like that the movie doesn't make it really clear that part of the appeal might be that he gets

to walk around in this avatar until he's in the avatar and then they're like, oh yeah. They don't oversell it. It'd be great for him. They don't oversell it. Gets him into space. Everyone's like, who the fuck is this guy? We've all trained for years. We're moving past it. They put him in the tar. He starts walking. He's freaking out.

He immediately is good at it or whatever. He's a good driver of this alien body that they've made for him. He's the chosen one? Yeah. For real. And you know why? Because little fluffies made for him. He's the chosen one? Yeah. Uh-huh. For real. And you know why?

Because little fluff ball, little fluffies land on him. Little fluffies. Little fluffs. Little fluffs. Little tufts of fluff. Little tufts of fluff. Tough, tough, tough. Spoof and a goof. Just tough.

Thank you. I appreciate it. We're the two friends. So you got, immediately, what I do like about it is it lays out alright you have a military element here that's what I was gonna say yeah you know and they're civilian

I mean they're private contractors so they're especially fucked up people right the RDA yeah they're just people who want to

shoot things they want on titanium then you've got the yeah the business interest which they want this you know Giovanni Rubisi who I think is

having a blast I think probably the best performance he's just a lot of fun he's just a lot of fun I think Saldana is easily the best but I think he's great but Rabisi rules I mean like especially because he's got maybe the stupidest

thing to do which is to explain to Sigourney Weaver something that obviously her character would be fully aware of which is that they are mining unobtainium. He has to say unobtainium. He has to take her over to his weird little desk and pick it up. But he makes this great character choice, which is

he's the one who's saddled with so much clunky exposition and sort of plot building stuff, and he makes the character choice of this guy is tired of explaining this stuff. Yes. Oh, God. Which makes it funny because all the exposition, he's like, look, you know, we have to go to this planet and get unobtainium. He's got that high voice. We gotta go

and get the unobtainium. We're only half a want. Oh, no, of course. We've talked about it before. The bit where he's like, all right, come on, scroll, scroll, scroll. You know, he's trying to make the camera move on his computer. Mike, can you do that? No, not Mike. Too far, too far. Jesus Christ. I love tech not quite working. Yeah, it's great. But, yeah, can you do that? No, not Mike. Too far, too far. Jesus Christ. I love tech not quite working.

Yeah, it's great. But yeah, the three factions are he wants unobtainium, right? Which everyone always slams Cameron for like, that's so clunky. It's a real scientific term. Yeah. It's a weird example of like real life being written like a James Cameron movie and seeming to on the nose. But unobtainium is like an actual thing.

It's a scientific sort of joke. Name for elements that they can't define. Or like some sort of like, if you wanted one day to power a warp drive, maybe you could do that with unobtainium, this magic element that would somehow possess this property. I don't know, whatever. They never say what the value of it is.

No, they don't, which I like. I kind of like too. But that's what he wants, whatever. They never say what the value of it is. No, they don't, which I like. I kind of like, too. But that's what he wants, right? They hire this military group to try to... Oh, wait, I have a question. So in music, when you sell a bunch of albums, it's like past platinum, you go unobtainium? I'm now looking up unobtainium on the Avatar wiki

to see what it actually does. Thriller went unobtainium on the Avatar wiki to see what it actually does. Thriller. Thriller went Unobtainium. It did. It was just floating and Giovanni Ribisi was just hitting it. They need, I mean, as you can kind of pick up from the movie, it's necessary in Earth because Earth has become such a kind of crappy, like, over-mined, over-factory world. It looks really shitty. That, like, Unobtainium is this,

I don't know, it's this thing. It's something we need. It floats. It floats, who gives a shit? But the idea is that, I mean, as Rabisi says, it's the carrot or the stick. They want the unobtainium. They've hired two different companies

to try different approaches to getting it. So one is Weaver, who's gonna be nice, you know. Yes, Bernie Weaver's character, whose name is... Dr. Grace Augustine. Yes. And her interest... You know, diplomacy, you know. Right.

Sort of the idea of whatever, like bring, like westernization, right? Yes. It's also a flawed idea. Sure. Which I like that the movie... And she has her own vested interest in it, which is that she's a scientist and she's interested in exploring this other culture and their fauna and their flora and all of this sort of shit. She's a cosmic botanist.

Right. She wants to teach them so that she can be the one on the forefront. She's the Jane Goodall of Naviz, what she's trying to be. Gorilla's in the mist. Tar's in the mist. But she's been trying to go about it the friendly way. Yeah. Diplomacy. Build a bridge.

Get them to give us some unattainium. For what? That's what they can't figure out. And if you don't want anything. Right. Do you want money? They go fuck money. No.

They're cool. Paper in your pocket. Fuck that. You want a vet? Vet gets you what? They go no. We've seen true lies. That guy's a piece of shit.

Well and like there's. Yeah sure. There's this ongoing idea that the world, the moon of Pandora that they live on is in this nice, balanced, harmonic state. Everything kind of works as it should. If it ain't fixed, don't break it.

They respect that. They don't want to mess with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If it ain't fixed, don't break it. If it ain't tar, don't have it. The humans are messing with that. They don't need computers they've got trees they plug into that's right they do

trees nature's internet so then and then so then you've got the military guys the stick well just you know

I mean be ready because we might need to fight them and what they're vested interest in this is they love fighting shit sure they like to

point and shoot they're big big gun war people. And so they'd love to have a good gun war. You know, they have power suits. They have like mechs. Yeah, they got power loaders, but they're called amps in this. They're mechs. It's a mech. Looks like a power loader. But it doesn't load. It's a mech.

They're the ones in the background at the loading dock that are like doing loading and shit. It's kind of like a power loader. Except it's for fighting too. You can carry a big knife in one. But that's, I mean Ripley was sort of the original amp

because she was like I can load, I'll load a fight onto your ass. You know what I'm saying? Like she took that power loader made into a fight. No but I'm just fighting robot.

I like aliens more than I like Avatar. Controversial opinion because the tech in aliens is more grounded, realistic, practical. The tech in Avatar is not. That's fine. It's more cartoonish.

And it's more... I mean, you've seen it. It's not just... Aliens didn't invent the idea of humans in a power suit. That's in like every anime. Come on. It's kind of him playing the hits. It's kind of him playing the hits. I don't think so. I think it's him being like, you get this, I don't have to explain it.

Great. He's playing the hits. I like that the mechs have, like, not a gun attached to their arm, but they pick up a giant gun. Right. I like that, too. I like that, too.

I think it's great. I like that a lot. Okay, that's the central setup. Grace Augustine doesn't like Jigsaw. She's like, why am I saddled with this guy? But you know what? What the fuck? Ribisi and Lang, though, Stephen Lang plays Colonel Quatrick.

Because Sully used to be a Marine. He's a jarhead, as he self-identifies a bunch of times. And Lang is like, I can get through to this guy. Sure, this guy can be helpful. I can activate that military gene in his body. So Lang wants, you know, Quatrick. He says to Jake, look, you can do what she wants you to do you can drive your avatar

but get in with them and like get me info I want intel on how to take these guys down you can help me out like their big home tree that they live in

is on the unobtainium deposit and we're gonna go get it yes so he goes in and you have some adventures on Pandora right okay

so he goes with them very quickly immediately again smart don't fucking waste time on this yeah on him being like some adventures on Pandora. Right, okay. So he goes with them very quickly. Immediately, again, smart. Don't fucking waste time on this. Yeah. On him being like, oh, how to be an avatar. Ooh, how to pick up the plant.

Within like two minutes of him in the tar body on Pandora with Grace and Norm, he like comes face to face with, is the first creature they see the Thanator? The big rhino. Oh, right, yes.

I don't know what that one's called. And he like sort of sort of chases... He engages with it, and then it chases him. He jumps over a waterfall. He gets stranded from the rest of the group. No, no. It's the rhino. He beats the rhino, or he thinks he's, like, had it submit, but then the Thanator shows up, attacks the rhino, attacks him. Yeah, he

jumps over a waterfall. Then it's nighttime. He's gonna get eaten by a bunch of little... And the big thing is that... So they're, like like circling around with Trudy in the helicopter. She's like, they won't let us out past dark. We just got to leave and hope that he's going to be okay. Yeah, totally. So they all go and he's just alone on the moon of Pandora. Mm-hmm.

And he's- Fights the viper wolves. He's wet. Yeah, he's going to fight. He's a little wet. And also, this is Cameron showing off, right? Yeah. He's built this big glowy world.

And it's cool. It's really cool. This is where the 3D is important. Can I throw out something too? Because it makes the world seem real. Lighting wise, for whatever reason, because it's all digital, for whatever reason, anytime there's... This is all mocap, guys. At this point

the movie is 90% animated. Right. Which is really weird that it's never considered as such. And Cameron fights that label. This was animated? Well, this movie has a lot of live action stuff. It does. Can I throw a counterpoint out to you? I mean,

yeah. Okay. What's your counterpoint? It doesn't? I don't know what you're saying. Every year, the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies qualify for the best animated feature at Oscars. They're qualified to be a nominee because there's enough animation for it to constitute being an animated movie. Okay. And those movies are a couple animated characters in a live-action world. But isn't this a submission thing?

Like, Fox would have to submit it as an animated movie. A hundred percent. But I'm saying this is more of an animated movie than Alvin the Chum. But what kind of an argument is that? That doesn't mean anything. It means everything. No it doesn't. It doesn't mean anything at all. It's about the sky. Come on. Listen. God. David's really loving me today.

I'm coming here to stir up some shit. I'm being a little stinker today. You really are. They for whatever reason I think the Navi look really good when they're lit by fire. They do. They're like a bunch of scenes in this movie where fire happens for one reason or another. Good entrance.

Good introduction to the world, right? Yeah. Like having that scene at night very early on. But I think their skin, the actual texture of the skin for whatever reason, when the firelight's reflecting off of them, they look more realistic. I just like all the fire scenes. I think that everything looks pretty realistic, considering how cartoonish it is.

Except for, weirdly, the Thanator. When I was re-watching, I was like, maybe it's that it's jet black. For some reason, it just kind of looks a little fakey. Oh, see, I like the Thanator. Oh my god, you disagree with me on every fucking minor point! But I think some, see, I like the Tantor. Oh, my God. You disagree with me on every fucking minor point. But I think some of

it, I was surprised by how much of the film I thought had started to already age a little bit. Yeah, well, we really disagree on everything.

Just because I think technology has moved so fast that we're already like. What's a movie now that looks better than this? I mean, I think the

ape work in the Planet of the Apes movies is like. Wow, we're really just opposite ends here. I totally disagree. David's playing the opposite of fo Apes movies is like... Wow. We're really just opposite ends here. I totally disagree. David's playing the opposite of footsie under the table with me. He's kicking me in the shins. I think

the ape work in the Rise and the Dawn movies is excellent, but that's a cartoon. Now, obviously that has the problem that it's a real thing. I like the neutron. I love the neutron, my friend. Love that neutron.

Love it. There were just some moments in this where I see, not even in terms of realism of texture or whatever, but just the limitations of mocap data collection where some of the movements feel a little bit incomplete to me. They weren't able to pick up on all the subtleties of everything. I just don't think there's a lot of movies now that look as good as this movie.

There really aren't. I mean, obviously, the money helps. This was a big budget movie. They paid a lot of money. This movie was, in a lot of ways, a testing ground for technology stuff. Hey, couldn't you argue, though, that some of the video games that have come out

in the last few years look better than this movie? Someone who plays a lot of video games. Ben, did you hear that David doesn't like the moons of Jupiter? No, we're not doing that again. Don't get me started. He doesn't even... He's trying to say he likes avatars. This is a moon.

You got to keep that in mind, by the way. It's a moon. It's a moon. It's like a moon of Jupiter. The gas giant, it's sort of like a blue Jupiter. Yeah. mind, by the way. It's a moon. It's a moon. It's like a moon of Jupiter. It's a moon of Jupiter. The gas giant, it's sort of like a blue Jupiter. Yeah. So I'm just going to move us forward quickly.

Well, I was going to say, he gets stranded. He's in survival mode. He very quickly comes across Neytiri. Meets Neytiri. Who rules. Who's a great, great character. Zoe Saldana. She's super cool.

She's one of my best friends. Well, I think you're acquaintances. I know. We're pretty close. We hang out a lot. We don't see each other a lot, but when we do see each other, we hang out really hard. Do you know what I'm saying? I know. We're pretty close. We hang out like a lot. We don't see each other a lot but when we do see each other we hang out like really hard. Do you know what I'm saying? I do. Zoe Saldana plays her

and she's gonna shoot him with an arrow because she thinks he's a big dork who sucks. Which she kind of is. That's what you do to dorks. But then a Fluffy Fluff lands on her bow and is like watch out Fluff Fluff. And so she's like alright and helps him instead. And then a bunch of fluffy fluffs land on him.

He's got a pure heart, but he's stupid. You know, again, this is some obvious fucking bullshit. Yeah. I cannot deny that there's a bunch of fluffs that land on him. And that means that everyone has to be chill with him. But the movie's just fucking, it's trucking it. It's just like, yeah, whatever, man. It's like, let's just get to it.

You got a problem? Yeah. Fuck you. I mean, it is, it's very Last of the Mohicans which is about like a white man who is raised you know in the Mohican tribe and like so you know right it's like the outsider who learns their ways

and is then like one of the people It's a cultural appropriation movie because he literally gets in the body of the other people. And the movie explores that tension to some extent. And then eventually decides to drop it because it's got action to get to. And this is a three-act movie with, you know, the typical, like, they reject him and then they accept him again.

And it turns out this white outsider is better at everything than they are. And isn't he the one that essentially ruins the day for them because he's, like, their inside man? Nah, I mean, he ruins it, but was gonna happen anyway he doesn't really ruin it yeah honestly one of my biggest problems with the movies that moment where they're all like you betrayed us it's like well no like it's not like he went and told them like you know what you should do is blow up the home tree they were gonna do that anyway yeah he didn't really do anything at all they were all about that on obtainium that's the thing i mean they were gonna get there by hook or by crook. He gave them a map to the inside of the tree, but how useful is that?

They just blow up the tree. Quaritch is constantly like, give me good intel. But then you watch the intel and he's like, their people are interesting. Intel's like, they live in a tree and I ride horses and I have a flying thing that I fly around on. I think that one's cute.

I date the chieftain's daughter and she's nice to me. Good intel. Apparently the chieftain's daughter is single. We got everything we need to go in now. So you know so like obviously James Cameron is quote unquote

getting away with everything. The themes we're talking about because this is about blue people. So it doesn't have to be about one particular culture that is being invaded. But it's also, you see a lot of similarities between. But of course, it's all of them. There are a lot of similarities between sort of tribal cultures across our world throughout history.

I mean, he's using a lot of iconography. He's hitting a lot of just different eras of colonialism. Correct. But this is also a movie about colonialism's ills you know and obviously this is a film where humanity is a great evil that needs to be destroyed yeah and it's to me very much a film about the iraq war i think it incredibly obviously and like was made in the shadow of the iraq war and like i think the imagery is like very powerful in that regard i agree you know some of the other stuff is yeah

it's broad and goofy uh the there's there's forest people who sleep in hammocks and they respect the earth and nature but the hammocks hug them yeah nice little hammocks and it's and then of course he being james cameron he can't resist having their religion not be some vagomorphous goddess Nice little hammocks. And then, of course, being James Cameron, you can't resist having their religion not be some vague amorphous goddess or whatever, but this idea that, yeah, hey, nature's internet, baby. All the trees are linked to each other, so you just plug into that tree. I mean, it's a good selling point because other religions are like, hey, you just got to believe. And this one's like, oh, you haven't met God?

She's over there. She's that tree. Just plug your hair into her. You should go hair fuck God. Yeah, yeah. You want to do that right now? If a religion was promising me on Earth that I could fuck God, I would become the most religious person in the world.

I think everyone would. I mean, this is not a movie where you see people who are like, you know, I don't really believe in AWA. You know, my parents believed in it. So I go to AWA high high holidays but i'm not really an awa believer i hope that avatar 4 is about navi atheist maybe maybe avatar 2 is gonna be about them having kids and the kids are like it was overrated like avatar satanist they fuck rocks instead there's no there's no like satan no there's no like bad. No. There's no like bad. I mean, white man. Well, yeah. White man's devil.

Great Satan. Right. Giovanni Ribisi. Giovanni Ribisi, Stephen Lang, baby. One, two, punch of evil white guys. So the middle, or, well, no, this is a pretty long movie. So I'd say like the middle first, I don't know, the sort of long extended first act. Everything we've talked about is just the first act of five, I would say.

I'd say there are five acts in this movie. Well, there's like intro. I would say this is more like a high school essay. You got intro, paragraphs one, two, and three, conclusion. I love that. It's five acts. But like the I'm saying the acts on the side are pretty small. Sure.

Because like the real first act of the movie, you could watch this movie and put an intermission probably. This is like a two intermission movie if you really want it to be. Put an intermission right when he flies. When he quote unquote becomes one of the people. All the training shit. The sex chunk of the movie is that. She brings him back to her people and they're like, what the fuck is this?

He's a sky person. Fluffs. Sky person. He's a devil. And they're like, what's your deal? What tribe are you from? She's got a mean. Oh yeah, he says. He's a devil. And they're like, what's your deal? What tribe are you from? She's got a mean. Oh, yeah.

He says he's in the Jarhead tribe. You like that? But he said, no, it's that he says he's a warrior. And they're like, interesting. They've never sent us a warrior. But also the Fluffs. But also the Fluffs. But the Fluffs.

But it's those two things together. Right. They're like, that's bizarre because they've only ever sent these doctors, these teachers. Which we're not going to teach them how to ride the horses and the birdies and all that Right. These seemingly peaceful people. There's a new approach here. So like, we got to get close and keep our friends close. Enemy's closer. Which we're not going to teach them how to ride the horses and the furries and all that stuff. Right, these seemingly peaceful people. There's a new approach here. So, like, we've got to get close

and keep our friends close, enemies close, and figure out what's going on. The Fluffs, we can't argue with the Fluffs. Fluffs are big. He's got a crush on Neytiri. She's got a, she's betrothed to Tsutsi. Tsutsi? Yeah, Tsutsi.

Who is played by Lorenzo. Laza Zano. Wait, is it? Laza Lonzo. It's not Lorenzo Tate. It's Laza Lonzo.azzalonzo. It's not Lorenz Tate. It's Lazzalonzo. You're right. It's not Lorenz Tate.

I get those names confused. Me too. Lazzalonzo, who, he's in like, is he in the fourth Fast and Furious? Yeah, he's in one. He's in stuff. He's a guy. He's a guy. He's pretty good.

He's a good actor. I like suit fit. I think he's good in this. I think because I think he's pushing through the mocap. He's doing a good job. Let's see. Yes, he's in the fourth one. So, and oh, you meet the.

Oh, he was in 38 episodes of Mysteries of Lore. That's the thing I was thinking. Right. He's actually very cute in that. You got CCH Pounder plays Moat, the sort of, I don't know, the shaman, the village elder. She's good. She's terrific. I mean, CCH Pounder is an amazing, amazing actress.

Do we know what the CCH stands for? Carol Christine Hilaria. That's cool. Love CCH Pounder, seriously. One of the greatest TV actresses ever. She's awesome. Not in as many movies as she maybe could be or should be, but she's in so many cool TV shows.

She's on NCIS. That's not really what I would lead with, NCIS New Orleans. I mean, the ER and The Shield. Those are two definitive TV performances for me. And then Wes Studdy. Yes. Who's a Native American actor. Yes.

He's in so many movies. He's in The Last of the Mohicans. Mystery Man. He's in The Last of the Mohicans. Mystery Man, he's in The Last of the Mohicans. He's in The New World. I think he's often brought on for those movies especially also as like a bit of a consultant. Sure.

And in Avatar 2, he is Navi. He's A2 Khan. He's the clan leader or whatever. Yeah. He's a great actor. Meet all these folks, but I mean the main thing is learn how to ride a horse, learn how to use your hair plug. Right. You plug your hair into shit. The parents these folks. But, I mean, the main thing is learn how to ride a horse. Learn how to use your hair plug. Right.

You plug your hair into shit. The parents are like, look, you know what? Fine. He can stay. Let's get him close. Figure out what's going on. He can learn our culture. Natiri, that's your job.

And she's like, Mom! Right. Dad! Right. I gotta hang out with this guy. And he's like, wink, wink, wink, wink, wink, wink, wink. And then they start hanging out. She's giving him

the lessons, the ropes. Sute's a little mean to him. Takes like 50 minutes. I mean, like 50 minutes of the movie are just sort of like him. Yeah, but I think this is brilliant.

Well, it's all visually stunning stuff. No, but I also think you need it because you need to feel how bad it is when, you know, the attack happens.

100%. You need to be in the world. The whole key of the movie is to get you in this world and it's also to explain all the rules of everything now so at the last hour you can have almost no dialogue

and just go breathlessly through everything with shorthand already in your back pocket. Totally. So good. It's well done stuff. You know,

maybe leans a little bit too much on voiceover. A lot of voiceover. Which the device, of course, is that he's talking to the camera for his science log. Oh, come on. Guys, who doesn't love a good confessional? Me too. I like it.

I'm into it. I wish he got more gossip. He's good at gossip. I'm surprised we haven't talked about the most prominent element of this film and the one I expect you to react most strongly to. What's that? The Navi are big, baby.

Oh, yes. You're right. They're like 10 feet tall. I did notice that. They are very hard to kill. There's humans. Then there's Navi. They're bigger.

Yeah. Big and skinny. Like a person but bigger. You know, you see their hands By our heads And what's cool about that You're seeing it on the big screen I didn't get to see it on the big screen But you're seeing it on the big screen

And you're like Damn those hands are huge I'm like This movie was designed For dummies like me This is basically It's just like Oh they're blue

It's 3D They're big Alright Let's do it Kids So Quaritch comes To Jake Sully Kids Yeah They're blue, it's 3D, they're big. All right, let's do it, kids. So, Quaritch comes to Jake Sully. Kids, bring the kids. We got a big old blue movie.

Jake's in love with all the Navi culture. He's getting in deep, right? And he's falling head over heels with Natiri. And Grace is like, yo, watch out. You gotta keep a separation between work and play. She's not really like that. Church and state. In the extended version, there's the scene they have where she then talks about she ran the school for the Navi trying to teach them.

And it resulted in a massacre that killed Nateri's sister. I think it was a very good scene that Sigourney crushes. Sigourney does a good job. Thank God they cut it, in my opinion. I think it's a good scene scene that Sigourney crushes. Sigourney does a good job. Thank God they cut it, in my opinion. I think it's a good scene. I would have kept that in. I think it's too much info tilting Neytiri against the ultimate decision she's going to make. I think they did a good job.

I think it helps her character a lot. I disagree. We just were disagreeing on everything. I thought you were saying she gave him the talk. You know, like the talk about the Turoks and the floating tree things. No, no, no. But no, the other thing is, we should say, in the extended edition, the sex scene is way longer. Yeah.

And they join their hair together and they go like. Yeah, there's a moment where she goes. Yeah, which is, again, very wisely cut. No, it should have been even longer. That's gross. I slowed it down when I watched it. Oh, boy. She has this little relationship, because she starts out hating him,

and she has this little beat with him where she's like, well, I know what's happening. I remember, too, when I first started tarring, and it's pretty addictive, but you've understand, like, this is just a thing. This is a part of life. You gotta have some time for yourself. You can't get too deep into this. Right.

I don't like that. I like it. I don't, because, again, I feel like that's not what the movie's about. The movie is not about, like, the dangers of him getting lost in his avatar. We know that him getting lost in the avatar is the right thing for him to do, and we're totally on board with him, with him leaving his dumb flesh body behind, because it sucks. It's a stupid body.

Eat your eggs, drink some coffee. Definitely eat your eggs and drink some coffee. And take a shower, take care of yourself. Do you think they can poop in the chamber, in the coffins, the sarcophagi? You know what, they didn't deal with that at all. They didn't deal with it.

They don't do a lot of that, too, where it's like... It'd be funny if they open it and they're like okay go ahead well they don't establish like the kind of matrix rules of like if you die in the matrix you die here kind of stuff you don't if you die in the in the avatar you do wake up and you don't feel great when she's saying that like you know he he um which one losing weight and he's like i just ate a big feast there and she's like gotta take care of this body. Sure. Cause it's like that food doesn't translate.

Right. Do you think if he takes a shit, like if he feels like he needs to take a shit and he takes a shit and then a V world and he's like, good, got that off my deck. And then he wakes up and he's got like a full load. He has to, I think he has to go take care of that. Hey, you know what? Tweet at us guys. Yeah.

Tweet at us. Definitely. Avatar. Hashtag avatar dump. Just do it. Right? Yeah. Right.

Poop-a-tar? Avatar. Tweet avatar at us. All right. So. What I like about that thing that is set up in the Grace Augustine scene

is that it does show that is the difference with him where everyone else it is just a job and this is the life he's going to take. The fact that she's like

you got to keep a distance between work and life. You can't get too deep into this stuff. He's the one guy who actually has nothing going for him in his outside life. He's ready to go all in on this shit. Sure. Absolutely.

I like her giving him the warning because then it makes it clear that it's like, you know, he's the exception. Okay, fine. Different, different, difference of opinion. You like bagels? Love bagels. Cool, cool.

We're friends again. We're always friends. We're always friends. God damn it. Best friends. We're the two friends. Fucking hell. Fucking hell we're the two friends. All right, so she flies.

That's a big deal. Yeah. He gets his little pterodon or whatever. Yeah, they call them banshees, but that's like sort of the colloquial name for outcards or something. It's like Leopteryx. Yeah.

I looked up Leopteryx is like a specific, is one of them. There's another name but they call them Banshees colloquially is what they call the dragons. Leonopteryx.

And then they she talks about Turok foreshadowing. She shows him the Turok skull. Yeah there's one scene

of foreshadowing just so you get who that is. Right. And you also are then able to understand Turok the First Flight. Well, of course, they needed to set up Turok the First Flight, which would eventually hit

arenas seven years later. They needed to set that up. Turok Taa, this is the guy who's the last shadow, he's the biggest one, my great-grandfather. God forbid that show do any heavy lifting with this storytelling. My grandfather, he was the first Turukta. There have only been like four or five since then. If you do that, unite the tribes.

It's Turukmakto. Turukmakto. Why do I keep on saying Turukta? I don't know. Rider of the Last Shadow. Turukmakto. Makto. Right, Makto.

Okay, so all that's- He gets his own. She's like, look, this is no easy thing. Unlike riding a dire horse, if you're linking up with a band sheet, it's for life. Permanent connection. So he has to go and kind of like- He wrestles one. I think that scene is fantastic.

Good. The whole scene where, and then the flight he takes, and again in the 3D. Cameron, like few directors, gets like 3D works best with negative space. It works best to give a sense of being in the air. Yeah. Lots of zoomed out shots. I mean, him and Michael Bay, they're the only ones who know, to give a sense of being in the air. Lots of like, yeah, zoomed out shots.

I mean, him and Michael Bay, they're the only ones who get how to use 3D. Spatial geography. Cameron's got a killer sense of spatial geography. It's the best. You need that for 3D. Yep.

Okay, so that's where you say like the intermission would happen. That's intermission one. Intermission two. And then they fuck after that? Yeah, because she's like, okay,

so you're one of the people now, like he, because Stephen Lang's, Quatrick's giving him the like, we're's like, okay, so you're one of the people now. Because Steven Lang, Quatrick's giving him the like, we're moving in, we're moving in. Does that happen before or after the fucking? No, it's before. He says, we're moving in,

and Jake Sully's like, well, I have my one last investiture, my bar mitzvah, essentially. He's like, I got real legs for you. You can go back to Earth, be able to walk again. Why don't you get on that flight, leave now.

And he's like, I really have my bar mitzvah to get to. He has his bar mitzvah. And he's like, if I get the bar mitzvah, I'll be able to convince him to do anything. At least let me stay for that. So he does the bar mitzvah, and then Eteri's like, now you can pick a mate.

Blah is the best singer, which I think is pretty cute. First he has to assign the candles. My first candle goes to my father for always supporting me in all of my interests. Dad, you're the best. Like to bring up to the stage, Robert Sully. Okay. Da-da-da-da-da.

Da-da-da-da-da. Feeling hot, hot, hot. And then Robert Sully walks up, does a little dance, lights the candle. What? Doesn't Sam Worthington watch? He played a Jew in The Debt or whatever that movie was called. Yeah, he did. There's that crazy casting in that movie where he's supposed to grow into Kieran Hines. Look, maybe he just really, really laid into the booze and the fatty foods.

Those are two very different faces. And the 60 cigarettes a day. Kieran Hines has a lot of face. Kieran Hines has a 60 cigarette a day face. Yeah. Right? Yeah, but not like he's just Like he's kind of a cigarette

And not just that he's smoking out of the mouth But like he's sticking cigarettes in his eye holes And his nostrils Like he's smoking out of the full face I love Kieran Hines He's a great actor Uh anyway He becomes one of the people

Yeah Bulldozers roll in After he has sex with Neytiri Right Well let's not gloss over that Yeah let's get gloss over that. Yeah, let's get into it. They fuck each other's braids out.

But how? Oh. Boo. No, come on. I'm going to say three comedy points. Thank you. Thank you. The bulldozers come in. Yeah.

This is the most Ferngully scene. Yeah. And he smashes the camera, which I think is cool. Now let's point something out about the bulldozers. Pretty cool. Boy. Go on. We're not even tired.

Go on. They're huge. You know what I liked about those bulldozers? Pretty cool. No, they're so big. Yeah, they're big. I mean, a lot of big things in this. Speak on that, Ben.

All right. Well, it reminded me sort of of like Mario Brothers, the third one. You know, that last level. Super Mario Brothers 3? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Where it's like the big ass ship. I love those ships.

Reminded me of a huge ship. That's what I got. Great. Thank you, Ben. I agree. So I like all this stuff in the movie. Yeah, me too. But I love. Great. Thank you, man. I agree. So I like all this stuff in the movie. Yeah, me too. But I love everything post.

I love everything post-Bulldozer, when things get real. That's where I think the movie cashes in its blank. Yeah, I agree. The movie spends an hour and a half investing you. It makes you put a bunch of coins in the slot machine so that it can pay out in the last hour and a half. And it does. You're spending a lot of money, and they're asking you to invest a lot of faith in them. It's not dissimilar to Titanic, which does a lot of legwork and sometimes can be a little

corny, but then it works because it pays off so well. Inception does a similar thing where it's like, stick with us for the first chunk, and then the last half is pure play. We're going to give you all the fun. Love Inception. Great movie. Great movie. Let's do Christopher Nolan right now. In the middle of this episode. Intermission.

Following. Nine episodes. 1998's following. Nine films? Does he have nine films now? It sounds about right. That's a good number. Then they realize, they watch the video footage they realize it's him

turning on them they pull the plug they freak him out put him in jail yeah they plug him back in for a second because he's like

I'm the only one who can help you that scene is a little unnecessary let's give Michelle Rodriguez her due she breaks him out of jail no no no

that hasn't happened yet they plug him back in because he tries to negotiate with them at the home tree that's when they like tie him up and tie Grace up yeah

and then they unplug him up and tie Grace up. And then they unplug him again, put him in jail. They unplug and plug like four times in the last hour and a half. They do a lot of that, which is funny because they're like, no, you can't do that. It doesn't seem to have any effect. But it keeps on happening where the military is like, we're going to unplug him. Get him out of here.

And they're like, don't unplug him, don't unplug him. They unplug him. He's like, what's going on? They're like, you're unplugged. He's like, wait a second, plug him back in? I love that it's all about PR too. It's just like, because we'll look like bad you're unplugged. And he's like, wait a second. Plug him back in, though. I love that it's all about PR, too. It's just like, because we'll look like bad guys if we slaughter a race of people. Me, too.

I like that, too. That there is some kind of, like, that's what they're worried about. But they keep unplugging him back in and going, like, wait, he's doing the opposite of what he was going to do. God damn it. Unplug him. Get him out of there. You can't do that.

You can't do it. They unplug him. And he's like, sorry, sorry, sorry. Plug me in. Plug me in, though. No, okay, so they lock him up. And then the home tree destruction happens. Yeah, probably i mean the best sequence in the film i agree absolutely incredible gaspar in a way said he cried he sobbed during the sequence i'm with you gaspar yeah with your fucking i sobbed when you jizzed in my eye

during love yeah very similar scene that's a real movie That was another use of 3D. Yeah. The jizz flying in my eye. Yeah. You heard of this movie, Ben? I'm familiar with that director. He did that movie about ayahuasca. Yeah. That's cool as fuck. Enter the Void.

But I haven't seen the sleazy sex movie, no. Hey, it's not sleazy. It's beautiful. Oh. It's called Love 3D. It's probably a six out of ten. Oh, the movie with 3D cum flying is classy yeah that's what we're talking about

oh so sorry so the home tree sequence that's where I really I mean obviously a lot of people point to the 9-11 imagery of like the big tree collapsing and all that

and that's for sure but also it really the shock and awe shit like it really did feel like war movie stuff to me well and here's the other thing

that happens at this sequence of the movie I mean there's a lot of Iraq war because like Michelle freaking daisy cutters. Yeah. I wish I could do her perfectly. She'd be such a funny Freaking daisy cutters. Freaking daisy

cutters. Freaking daisy cutters. There's also at this point in the film, there's been a little foreshadowing get a little bit of sprinkling, but this is where a major element of the film comes into full bloom for the first time. What?

You know what it is. I don't. Dun-a-na. So good. Dun-a-na-na. Dun. Ah, it's the best. Because up until then, it's been like.

Horner's been teasing you. He's been teasing you. And sometimes you get a little like. Yeah, a little bit. Maybe a hint. Sometimes you get a dun-a. But yeah, it's true. He really waits to deploy his big theme. A lot of this score is rep repurpose from the New World.

It has very similar themes. With a little bit of Titanic thrown in there. A hundred percent. Yeah. Until you get to the war stuff, and then the dun-na-na-na overwhelms, and the dun-na-na-na fucking rules. His New World score, by the way, is one of his best. I love that score so much.

That's my number one get out of a panic attack. Totally good. It's good to relax i love it yeah and he hates the movie and thinks that malik fucked it up because he wrote the score for different sections of the movie and malik was like but what if like he chose different cues for different parts and then re-edit the whole corner's an ornery bastard though he got in a huge fight with jim cameron i know he's dead in rip love you jim's he was an ornery bastard he gets in a big fight with everybody.

He was very precious about his work, and then you listen to it, and it's like, oh, this is the same score he did a couple times. He was one of the many composers out there who, yeah, sometimes reuses people a little bit. Got some themes he reuses. A little bit of Tom Newman. But he comes up with this very simple, very effective Avatar thing that makes you, and it simultaneously feels ominous and kind of scary and triumphant. So all the times, whether it's the humans getting an upper hand on the N'vi,

and you're like, oh, shit. And it's like, da-na-na-na. And it's like, jazzy. And then the times when the N'vi are coming up, it's like, da-na-na-na. And you feel like, yeah, fuck the N'vi. Fuck yeah, N'vi. I love the battle scene so much. So you know, after this, it's all war.

It's all war. It's all-out war, baby. Michelle Rodriguez frees them from so I mean after this it's all war. It's all war. It's all out war baby. Michelle Rodriguez frees them from prison, takes them back to the floating mountains. Yeah she's cool she makes it clear that she's a friend. She has that great bit where she points the gun at him and she's like yeah you know what that is. It's a great little. It's a gun. Great little. I'm Michelle Rodriguez. You know me.

You've seen me in like 10 movies. Even if you don't know my name, you know who I am. I was in season 2 of Lost. Yeah you watched fucking season 2 of Lost. Everyone was watching it that time. I don't know Lucia baby. I might be the reason he stopped watching but you were watching at I am. I was in season 2 of Lost. Yeah, you watched fucking season 2 of Lost. Everyone was watching it that time. Ana Lucia, baby. I might be the reason he stopped watching, but you were watching at that time. I was just a real bummer for too much of the show. Yeah. They didn't get me

to heal my character, basically. They did her dirty on that show. They did a little bit. Ultimately. Well... I don't think they ever paid her off. What? You mean the character? Ana Lucia, yeah. Yeah, I mean, character? Anna Lucia, yeah. Yeah, I mean they always wanted her to be a one season deal. I don't know. It's interesting. It's interesting

what they're, yeah, you're right. I think they did it a little bit. I think it shows what a bad job they did with Anna Lucia that when they kill her off, spoiler alert guys, they have to kill off another character because they realized no one was really going to care. Yeah.

No one would be really sad that Anna Lucia was dead. You know was really going to care. Like, no, it would be really sad that Anna Lucia was dead. You know, I never watched Lost. Should I get into it? David loves it. Should I just start from the top? No, I'd say start with the last episode and work backwards. Definitely. No, no, no, no, no. You know, last first. Penultimate second. You know, like that.

Just work from both ends. Like reading a hot dog from both ends. Like Cloud Atlas the novel. Great. Thanks, guys. Nesting dolls ends. Like Cloud Atlas the novel. Great. Thanks, guys. Nesting dolls. All right. So, yeah, all the war shit's just cool. Yeah, it just rules.

It's really well done, especially in 3D. It was just super immersive. I mean, this movie just took you into a place. Yeah, have you heard the story about Steven Spielberg? You know, Cameron showed Spielberg this movie before while he was still working on it. And the scene, I think it's the scene where we should say, you know, Jake plugs himself into A1 and says like, look, my world's really shitty and they're not nice people and they might come fuck up, you know. And she's like, wait a second, who the fuck told you you could do that? And he was like, literally everyone says you can fuck the tree.

And she's like, no, no, I know they said you can fuck the tree, but I mean like morally that you can do. You can't just go to Ewa and be like, hey, fight this war for me. Well, he does. He does. There's, you know, so as the big war is playing out, all the animals and the birds like suddenly immerse in the forest. When she's like hiding behind a tree and she's

got her arrow and you think she's fucked. Ewa has heard you. Yeah, which is a great moment. Apparently Spielberg like stood up in the cinema and was like, yeah! Like that. I love Steven Spielberg. I've heard so many stories about him being like that, like being a really active participant in movies. Yeah.

And also, you know, the paranormal activity story? Which one? Oh, where he made them take the film and put it in a garbage bag? No, he showed up with the film in a garbage bag and said, I don't want to watch this again. Like, take it away. Like, this scared me too much. But the thing with this movie is it's so fucking earnest.

Very earnest. And it's so fucking dorky. I forgot how dorky this movie is. It's quite dorky. You know, but that's the thing. It's just he's got no shame about it. It's like you're talking to your friend's dad, and he's like, well, you know, I write a little on the side. And it's like, you write? And he's like, yeah, I've been writing a little sci-fi novel. And it's like uh you're talking to your friend's dad and he's like oh you know i write a little on the side and it's like you write he's like yeah i've been writing a little sci-fi novel

it's like can i read it and he sends you the manuscript and you're like i can't believe he put all this time into developing this world yeah and it feels like james cameron is just like someone's dad who wrote this crazy sci-fi like novel it's it's a melding of like so many of his goofy interests yeah but then with stuff where you're like, oh, you like this too? This kind of goofy spiritual shit? Yeah. Like this is what you're into now? Yeah.

It's just like one of the least cynical movies ever made. It is. But that's what I love about it is that it does feel like he's like, yeah, kind of chilling out a little bit. Yeah. Becoming a little more of like a hippie dad. Yeah. He's like, he's sick of humans and like machines and all that stuff. And he's also just like, fuck you. This is cool. I don't care. And you're like, that's a little dork like a hippie dad. Yeah. He's like, he's sick of humans and like machines

and all that stuff, right? And he's also just like, fuck you, this is cool, I don't care. And you're like, that's a little dorky, Jim. And he's like, no, fuck you, it's cool.

He's like, fuck you, I spent $500 million and you're like, yeah, it was worth it. Yeah. I mean, what are some things in those final,

I mean, I love all the Quatrick stuff. We should, Stephen Lang's really good in the movie. Really good, yeah. And I feel like he's, well, he's really cool

in the movie Don't Breathe that just came out this year. I feel like, I was good. And I feel like he's, well, he's really cool in Don't Breathe that just came out this year. I feel like, I was gonna say, I feel like he hasn't gotten quite enough like splash, like spillover from this movie. But that feels like the first really substantial role he's had since then, which is a bummer because he's a really good actor.

Everyone always talks about him as Cable, as being, he looks like Cable. Yeah, he'd be a good Cable. He'd be fine. I don't know that he'd be good. I think he'd do a good job. I just don't care. Yeah, me neither. But I love all the scenes where he holds his breath. Yeah, he'd be a good Cable. He'd be fine. I don't know that he'd be good. I think he'd do a good job. I just don't care. Yeah, me neither. But I love all the scenes

where he holds his breath, does a thing, and then he's finally like, alright, and puts on the breathing mask. All this Cameron stuff. Where he's like, this is how the tech works. Do you get it? Then I'm going to play with it later. You're going to see people holding their breath and losing their breath.

You're going to see how they avatar like you come in and out of it. We'll do fun things with that. We didn't really talk about the lead military guy. That's who we're talking about right now. Oh, it is? I don't know people by names. I get confused.

He's fucking awesome. He's like a throwback-y. So good. Let's start over again. Okay. I podcast you. I podcast you. I don't know.

I just think he's, I think his performance works because at a certain point, when Jake says, like, look, you lost. This didn't work. He should just be like, yeah, fuck it. I mean, this isn't a war. Like, I don't care. Yeah. Like, why not just go home and make more money or keep you know and instead he's like no like i'm an asshole i just want to win i will say i mean i don't know if i'm jumping the gun here a little bit but like

the characters in this movie are writ large right they're broad they're broad sort of characterizations and the best performances in the film are the actors who realize that and just play big which is mostly the supporting actors like sigourney stephen lang right um the thing you know he's cameron started teasing out details of the sequels he's had like a writer's room set up like a tv show yeah he's four writers teams all of this is what makes me nervous they're writing four screenplays at the same time. Right. And he has like the broad strokes, the broad characters he wants to introduce. He has all

that sort of in his head. Right. And then you get these little teases and he's like, one of the movies is gonna be all about underwater stuff. And you're like, okay, what does that mean? Sounds like James Cameron. Right. And it's gonna be like Jake and the Terry's kids. And I'm like, okay, what does that mean? But I do feel like watching this movie now, people talk a lot about, there's this And I'm like, okay, why not? But I do feel like watching this movie now,

people talk a lot about, there's this dumb thing of like, Avatar made $2 billion and no one even talks about it today. It left no cultural impact. Right. And I was watching and I was like, well, it is. I mean, the fact that everyone keeps on talking. $7 billion. Yeah, which is insane. The fact that everyone keeps on talking

about the movie leaving no cultural impact proves that point wrong because everyone's constantly talking about the movie leaving no cultural impact proves that point wrong. Because everyone's constantly talking about the movie. I don't know about constantly. There's some argument to the fact that you'd think maybe it'd have a little more of a footprint. And it feels more like it was this huge wonder at the time that didn't linger quite as much. We'll talk about it next week. We did go to Turok the first flight.

Yes, 100%. The audience was not, I would say, hugely dialed in. But I want to tell you, I think I finally identified why that is, why it feels like it left less of a culture on print than other movies of its size. It's because this isn't a character-driven movie. The things that usually really elevate

and deepen a society's relationship to a work of art is when they become really invested in aspects of it. Right. So it's like you can fucking ship these two characters or make your fan art or buy the thing or whatever it is. Right. And this movie like is so total in terms of like it's a full experiential thing. But there aren't sort of like iconic scenes or lines or characters in the same kind of way, you know? Like people weren't like fucking crazy about Nateri. They were like, Zoe Saldana's really good in that. But Nateri didn't become like Rey, you know? No.

And there's no scene in the movie that became like, you know, the iconic thing. It's cool when she shoots him full arrows. Right, you can't really kind of separate this movie into pieces no it's just you sit in the theater in 3d and watch the whole thing and of course it was a great cinematic experience yeah and i think it does say something that when avatar hit dvd and stuff they were like 3d tvs everyone's gonna want a 3d tv nobody wants it was something but especially for a movie that long, you want to sit in a theater in silence in a dark room

with a lot of people and all feel the collective like awe of the thing. But I think, you know, I think you compare Avatar and Force Awakens and you can argue which is better

and which is worse or whatever. But like every, there's so many different aspects of Force Awakens that people really latched onto. You know? Mm-hmm. That like they like carried with them

and there were things that you could fucking gif and meme but things you could also write about. Force Awakens has, I mean, it has a lot going for it.

Star Wars. All of that. In general being one of them but of course, it does feel a little more correctly geared towards like, yeah,

then we'll have game and we'll have the toys and we'll have, you know, we'll have trading cards. I'm not saying one's better or one's worse and I kind of,

in a way, respect the fact that Avatar is so unconcerned with that and is just like, we're just making a movie. They're not saying one's better or one's worse, and I kind of, in a way, respect the fact that Avatar is so unconcerned with that and is just like, we're just making a movie. You should sit here and watch this movie. But also, they have totally different challenges. Avatar is trying to introduce you to something,

and Force Awakens is trying to get you back into something and trying to erase some of the prequels. I think a lot of movies of this size today are sort of pre-packaging fandoms, which this movie doesn't concern itself with doing. So it feels like Avatar hasn't left a cultural footprint because there's so much else we're having where it's like, well, this is made

to fucking make Cumberbatch fans happy or hint at that thing that these specific sect of fandom within this fandom of this one property, just like this one element or this one relationship or whatever it is. This movie's just like this one element, you know, or this one relationship or whatever it is.

This movie is just like, we're just telling a real straight middle-of-the-road dad novel story. Yeah. The characters are all... Lots of Mohicans. Yeah. One of the first, like, novels.

And most of the characters just serve a function. Like, the characters are sort of like narrative cogs, you know, rather than characters you're going to really, like, love. Where I get excited about the idea of Avatar sequels is him just making further stories in this world, spanning sort of legacies and years and what have you, rather than like the continuing adventures of Jake and the theory. Yeah, I can't. We're not going to get the continuing adventures of Jake and the theory. Are we?

Because maybe Avatar 2. Like, I love Zoe Saldana. If you're making five, you might have to give it to Avatar 2. I love Zoe Saldana, and I think she's phenomenal in this movie. I'm not really invested in Eteri that much. All right, so I'm going to cut you off here. Please, let's go back into the film. Well, we're almost done with the movie.

But just in terms of the sequel, obviously I always say, like, hey, if he wants to make Avatar sequels, he can make them, and I'm excited. I will say, having seen Turok the first flight I think the humans are a good thing to have in Avatar. I agree. And I do worry what will happen if maybe they're not in the new ones. Now maybe they will be. I have no idea. I don't know.

You hear Steven Lang is going to be in them so who knows. And Sigourney Weaver. Sigourney Weaver is always like but she's always like I'm in it baby and they're like how and she's like I don't know. I'm going to be in it. Don't you worry. She's like, Jim just tells me

that no one stays dead in sci-fi. But that kind of scares me. I mean, I agree you still need a human presence in this movie and you need the tension in some sort of way between the two forces.

But on the other hand, bringing back the two main characters who died in this movie makes the universe feel very small. And I think those are both really strong performances

but neither are like incredible characters where it's like you gotta bring back you know like that sequel talk we're gonna see what they do i know but i do i just feel like it's the human shit is almost underrated in this movie you need it as the balance and so but but for five avatar movies i want them to broaden the scope i want them to just go in different directions you saw toruk you saw it and when it's like the amidikaya clan and the other clan are arguing about how to make a dinosaur skeleton you're like oh i i'm this is in too deep this is like fan fiction but i say this in the turk episode and i'll say it again now what's the difference between toruk and the avatar sequel just to explain to you guys toruk is this fucking search of slay show that we saw months ago and recorded

an episode months ago and we're finally going to release it next week and you're going to listen that episode that was recorded before we had recorded any of the James Cameron episodes. Or before the election. Yeah, any of it. Yeah, before the election happened and we had to predict what happened on it. Jesus Christ. The difference is that James Cameron

didn't direct Tarot. No, I know. I know, I know. I'm just saying. Tell me stories in the Avatar universe. I don't know. I mean, saying, like, it just gave me a little... Tell me stories in the Avatar universe. I don't know. I mean, at this point, there's a full war. Suse dies. Ewa hears him.

And then he gets into... Just the scenes, the action's so crisp. Great. It's so understandable, like, what's going on. I think the creature design's really good in this. The creature design's great. All the monsters are cool. But, like, all the stuff of Jake, like, flying, jumping off,

throwing a grenade, jumping back on. Yeah, that's good. Blowing up the ship. You see what the ship does. Yeah, that shit's good. When Suse gets in the fight. The physics of him swinging on the Turok is so cool. Yeah.

It's so well done. Suse's death I like a lot because it's like, we've gotten very few scenes, sorry, of humans next to Navi. And it's one of the few times where you see the scale and it's like, we've gotten very few scenes, sorry, of humans next to Navi. And it's one of the few times where you see the scale and it's like, oh, he just looks so clunky. I mean, it's like watching Manu Bull play basketball where it's like his limbs are too long.

He doesn't know how to do shit. But it is, and they do a good job integrating the two of them. Really good job. Him and the humans together. He gets into a robot knife fight with Quarash. I would say, by the way, the extended edition adds that scene with Sute where you see him

later. Not a good scene. Really bad scene. And really bad in the flow of the movie as well. Really interrupts the flow of the movie. Yeah, because it happens right before. There's a scene in the extended edition where Suse is dying and he tells Jake that he has to take over the clan. Jake's like, I don't know. And he's like, also, please kill me. Yeah, and you're just

like, you know, we got all of that. We got that Jake's passing the torch, you know, thing. It sucks. But, yeah. The battle's just so good. I know it's, like, the best part of the movie, and we're almost skimming over it, but go watch it. You can't describe it. That's the whole point.

It's a visceral experience. There's no way for us to talk about it. And it's even hard to watch in 2D, you know? So, God forbid the two of us try to talk about it here in our 1D podcast. We're the 2D friends. We're the two-dimensional friends. The first dimension is audio. The second dimension is friendship.

So they have a knife fight in the robot suit, and I like that Natiri is the one who kills Korosh, that she's the one who saves the day. You know that most of the fight happens between Jake, and then he rips open the pod so Jake is like fucking out of it and he's like suffocating and then a theory with the arrows shoots three cool arrows into his chest and a theory. Great.

Great. Great. That's in school that she gets to do it too. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. I like that. Yeah. Avatar.

And then you know they plug him and we should say Grace dies and they try to plug her into a war and she says I'm with her but then she dies. But I think she's she's in that tree. And they plug him, and we should say Grace dies, and they try to plug her into Ewa, and she says, I'm with her, but then she dies, but I think she's in that tree. They also make her some plant underwear. They do. She's naked, but they put plants over her naughty parts. I would say this is maybe those scenes where they try and plug them into Ewa tree,

and all the avatars are, I mean, sorry, all the Navi are around, there's like glowing, pulsing ground. Feels a little Taruki. Well, I just think, sorry, all that Navi around. There's like glowing, pulsing ground. Feels a little too rookie. Well, I just think, yeah, that's probably where some people are like, yo, fuck this shit. Like, this is stupid. I forgot my favorite line or line reading in the movie is the scene where Suse realizes that Natiri slept with Jake Sully. And he puts her on blast in front of her parents

and then just cuts to Sigourney's avatar and she just goes oh shit are you fucking kidding me you had hair sex with the princess I think it's great she's really funny you're right it's really funny

she's got her plant bra she dies they try to connect her to the tree Natiri shoots Quiritch. And they're trying to connect her to her avatar. They're trying to download her brain into her avatar.

I think the implication is that she's in the tree but not in the avatar. I think it's how she's going to come back in the next movie. I think she's going to be in the tree.

You can get her out of that tree. I'm hoping she plays the tree in the next movie. That's my hope is that they don't put her back in the body. That sounds like

some Pocahontas shit. That's what I like. Grandmother Willow tree, baby. Just around the river bend. Yeah, like Grandmother Willow Tree, baby. Just around the river bend. Yeah, like Grandmother Willow Tree. Come out of the tree. One of the worst Disney films ever made. River bend.

I like Pocahontas a lot. I think the first 30 minutes of Pocahontas are immaculate. I think it's a gorgeous looking movie for sure. And I do think the beginning is pretty strong. I think the first 30 minutes are narratively really strong. That's a fairly objectionable film. I think the first 30 minutes rule and the songs are good throughout. Oh, no, I hate the songs. I think the first 30 minutes are narratively really strong. That's a fairly objectionable film. I think the first 30 minutes rule and the songs are good throughout. Oh, no, I hate the songs.

I think the songs are good. No, that was when the songs started to get bad. Will I marry Coco Worm? Yeah, there you go. Savages? Let's not talk about Savages. All right, so Avatar. Mine!

At the end, no, no. We're doing well, but at the end, they put him in the Jake Bobby. The Jake Avatar. Mine. Mine. At the end, no, no. We're doing well, but at the end, they put him in the Jake Bobby. Jake Avatar. Right? Yeah. Right. Eyes open. Avatar.

They get the humans out of there, and then Rabisa gives a little shitty thing. It wins some, you lose some. And then they hook him up, and he's Avatar. Now, when I walked out of the film, I went, that's a nice, perfect, closed-off story. That's the tale. He becomes the Avatar. He finds a new lease on life they shouldn't make sequels watching it now seven years later with all the sort of uh you know unfulfilled promises of the avatar sequels i'm actually like you know what i'm done with this way i just want to see the other ones like i'm like i now like knowing where he's that he's got such big plans for it now i look at this movie as like table setting in a way you know i want to see him just fucking I now like knowing that he's got such big plans for it.

Now I look at this movie as table setting in a way. I want to see him just fucking live in this universe. Totally. Now that we know all the rules. I'm into that too. I mean, as long as the movie's good. I saw Turok the first flight. To bring back all the human characters.

I wanted to go in weird directions. I wanted to tell tales. Who knows? I want a new planet. I want a new avatar. Well knows? I want a new planet. I want a new Avatar. Well, he's talked about that too. I would love. You'll visit some of the other planets in the Prometheus system or whatever. I would love that so much.

So that's the motion picture Avatar. Merchandise spotlight. Oh. Yes. So this movie had some of the worst selling merchandise for a blockbuster film in history. Yeah, because like you say, nobody... No one cares about the characters, so they didn't do it. Even the creatures in the vehicles didn't sell well.

But it did produce what, in my opinion, is one of the funniest action figures ever made, which is the Parker Selfridge action figure. Let me see. So you talk about a film where, I mean, no one even wants to buy like a fucking Grace Augustine, right? That's not sticking in the craw. And the avatars even, the Navis didn't even do well. Parker Selfridge is just Giovanni Ribisi, dressed up business casual, coming with a golf club.

Love it. Because his first scene in the movie, he plays golf into a mug. This doesn't look like him at all. It looks nothing like him. Oh my God. There's no appeal in that thing existing. Even if you're like me and you love Giovanni Ribisi

and Avatar, it's just a dude in slacks, a shirt and a striped tie, and he's got a golf putter. That's all it is. It's a great action figure, and by great I mean terrible. The film won three Oscars. Wait, wait, also slots. Man, come on.

Oh, and now they're making slot machines. They're expanding the brand with Turok and slot machines. They're too big. That's how you know a movie's a hit, when you make a slot machine. Okay. That's a merchandise spotlight. It all sold really badly. You can probably buy it on eBay for like two cents. Film won three Oscars.

Spotlight. Click. Turned off. Great. Can you name the three Oscars it won? Yes. It won Production Design. Yes. Robert Stromberg. Is that his name? And Rick Carter. Right. Who won Art Direction they call it. Right. And then he also directed Maleficent which is a bad movie. Stromberg

did. Yes. Art directors don't direct well. Often, no. You're thinking of Bo Welch. Yeah, who was a great art director and made The Catanac. Sometimes, I don't know. Carry on. But yes.

Catherine Hardwick was an art director, too, I think. Anyway, she turned out well. I can't remember. I believe she started as an art director. Anyway, it also won a Best Cinematography, which is odd. Mauro Fiore. Well, that was, I think, the general Oscar voting pool being like, what a good looking movie. Yeah.

But indeed, it's not the cinematography that's good. It's the animation and the visual effects and the work they put into lighting. I mean, there's some, I don't know. Especially watching it in 2D at home, the fully live action scenes look a little flat to me. Sometimes. But they look flat because you can tell they're composed to pop in 3D and they're very brightly and plainly lit because the images need to come through.

Right. I mean, I just saw Billy Lynn's Halftime Walk and it's got that problem. Yeah. Right. I saw it in 2D. But this was the beginning of, this was the first digital film to win Best Cinematography.

Mm-hmm. And then after this, four out of the five next Best Cinematography winners are 3D movies that are mostly CGI. Most of those winners are really bad winners. It becomes Hugo, Life of Pi, and Gravity. Yeah, Life of Pi. Right. Four out of the five

are those. So it's a very weird precedent that's now set where they're digital 3D movies that are mostly computer generated. It's because stupid Oscar voters just think Best Cinematography means, yeah, what's the movie that looked good? Right. Because there's digital 3D movies that are mostly computer generated. It's because stupid Oscar voters just think best cinematography means, yeah, what's the movie that looked good? Right. Because there's no 3D award. The only good cinematography win that they've given

out recently was Inception in 2010, which was actually kind of a surprising win. But, I mean, those two Chivo wins, I don't know. I love Chivo. Chivo's good. I don't know. I don't know if Birdman. Whatever. It doesn't matter. My boy Wally Fester, though.

Rapping it hard. Love Wally. So, box office, though. Yeah. First, we'll play the game. Well, actually, no. First, let me just give you. Yeah.

It's just to recount. It was an incredible narrative. Opens to 77. Yeah. Next weekend, 75. 1.8 drop. Okay. Next weekend, 68.

50, 42, 54. And then it starts. That's Martin Luther King 50 42 54 and then it starts that's Martin Luther King weekend 54 there's a bump for a four day weekend yeah and then it starts to go down you know 34

31 22 23 but then back 31 is week what 31 is week 7 yeah that's insane yeah it is pretty insane

that is insane I mean at that point the movie had made and also we should note these are weekends I'm giving you. The other thing was every day the movie was making tons of money. Huge weekday numbers. Not only just the first couple weeks during the holidays, but even after that.

It was making like $20 million a day on a weekday. My brother and my dad. By week seven, it's made $600 million, which is pretty much number one. My brother and my dad, when Barry like the barry bonds not barry the sammy sosa mark mcguire thing was going on and it was like oh home run record it's coming and every day in the newspaper there'd be like another one another one they're getting closer they're getting closer who's gonna win right i remember that like excitement over that was like oh man i wish there was a thing like this that i gave a shit about right the way my father and i we were so invested in tracking this movie on a week-to-week basis,

being like, it's going to do it. Right, right. Because it had been like 12 years since Titanic, and it was like, is it going to crap out? All it needs is one big drop off weekend, and it won't catch Titanic. But it never had the big drop. Yeah, right. The drops were always so small that it had the legs to do it. And it beat Titanic by like $150 million, domestic.

Okay, so the second weekend was the weekend where it really proved its saying power. And that was the biggest weekend in box office history. There's never been a higher grossing weekend.

That's Christmas weekend and Sherlock Holmes and Alvin the Chipmunks the squeak will open. Oh, okay. So I remember that. I'm trying to reverse engineer from there what opens.

We're talking December? I know, the first weekend. Okay, December 18th, 2009, Avatar opens to $77 million in 3,400 screens. Now, a good opening for an original film, but at the time,

they were like... They were like, well, yeah. Again, it was sort of the thing of, well, if this holds Titanic style, then sure, it's gonna do great. But what are the chances of something holding

Titanic style? Number two was a Disney animated film. Princess and the Frog? Yes. Cool. Which is okay. I think it's fine.

It's fine. I don't really care about it. Me neither. $12 million and it's fourth week. Okay. Pretty good. Pretty good. And up at $100.

That's right. Still ends up killing traditional animation forever. Pretty much. Number three is a film that I despised that was one of the biggest box office sensations of the year. I got two Oscar nominations. One win? One win, yes.

Yeah, I believe it's my least favorite film of 2009. It's called The Blind Side. Really terrible movie. Yep. Although effective. I can't deny when you watch it, it's effective in the same way that a human interest story on the news is kind of effective.

Sure. You're rooting for people. Sandra Bullock, I think, is incredible in the film. Oh, see, I think she's bad in it. Yeah, well, you're dead wrong. I think that's a bad performance. No, the whole movie only works because of her. I think the movie doesn't work and she's not good in it.

That's crazy. That movie is, do you want to give me the runtime? The runtime on that film? It's just long. Yeah, what, that movie's two and a half? No, it's not two and a half it's like 250 that movie did 250 domestic right uh the movie eventually makes 255 million dollars domestic that is insane for that one like a 28 million dollar budget yeah huge it's all because the rookie made 43 million people were like that's a huge hit great movie little inspirational sports movie. Okay. Number four is a piece of shit comedy starring two kind of washed up comedy actors.

Not even comedy actors. Just, I don't know. Just shit people. It's a piece of shit comedy starring two pieces of shit. We don't need to talk about this. The title is a question. The title is a question. So it's not what's the worst that can happen.

It opened to $6 million. It made $29 on a $60 million budget. Ooh. This isn't its opening weekend, is it? This is its opening weekend. This is its opening weekend. I have no idea why they were opening. I guess it was counter-programming to Avatar

because it's like a rom-com, kind of. It's a rom-com. But it also was one of those movies that came out right after the recession that was about how evil rich people were. I know exactly what film this is. I saw it in theaters. It's called Did You Hear About the Morgan? Why did you see that in theaters? Because Romley wanted to see it.

Romley loved Hugh Grant. That was her favorite actor. Even for Hugh Grant that's a real low that one. That movie is tough. Wilford Brimley, Mary Steenburgen this guy's a tax supporting cast and it's one of the hardest watches I've had to sit there. You know, I recently watched The China Syndrome on TCM,

which I'd never seen before, which is Wilford Brimley's first performance, which is pretty funny because he's like a bald, fat old man in it, but he's great. Well, he's like 42 in Cocoon. I know. Well, he's one of those guys who just always looked old. Yeah.

All right. Number five is the second in an incredibly popular franchise of films that has already been forgotten. The second in an incredibly popular franchise of films that has already been forgotten. The second in an incredibly popular... How many were there in total? Five. There were five in total. This one has made, in its fifth week, it makes $4 million and $275 million total so far.

It eventually grosses $297 million. Twilight in the Moon? Yes. Okay. The worst of the Twilight Saga. Easily. I Moon? yes okay the worst of the Twilight stories easily I think Eclipse is the worst

no Eclipse is the best actually Eclipse I find very boring no Eclipse is fun it's like a dumb action movie

well that's why I think Breaking Dawn Part 2 is kind of good Breaking Dawn also is fun but New Moon is the one that's the most

ponderous it's just like do I like Jacob or Edward nothing happens nothing happens in the film I would go that's the most ponderous. It's just like, do I like Jacob or Edward? Nothing happens. Nothing happens in the film. I would go Breaking Dawn Part 2,

then Twilight, then... Twilight 1 is not a good movie. No, but it's at least fun. It's swinging for the fences. The first Twilight's crazy. I don't think any of them are good. No, they're all bad. I think Twilight 1, though,

at least it's got some pep in its steps. Some other movies. Invictus. You think it's already been forgotten? A little bit. I mean, I think its actors are sticking around, and that's fine. Case do best in the biz. I don't know that that movie has really lingered in the cultural consciousness.

I think the idea of the movie has a little bit, but I don't think people are out here. People out here still being like, this is my favorite Harry Potter movie. That's yours. I think Hunger Games came back in so quickly. Hunger Games was really like, before Twilight was even done already, like taking the bloom off the rose.

Running laps around it. And then also, there's been like a second wave Harry Potter thing now. There were even like this second wave. Because Harry Potter is like still popular. It's sticking around. And people are like, wait, is Harry Potter still this second wave. Because Harry Potter is like still popular. It's sticking around. And people are like, wait, is Harry Potter still the best? Well, kids read it.

Like Twilight. It's popping again. It's taking over new generations. Okay. Some other movies. Yeah, Invictus. Which sucks. It's a bad movie.

Quite a bad movie. Clint Eastwood biopic. Morgan Freeman. Nelson Mandela. Christmas Carol. The Jim Carrey Christmas Carol. Never saw it. Yeah.

It's, I mean, I don't like this. I don't either. I'm supposed to talk to him soon. I want to do that. Ask him if we should cover him on the podcast. Ask him if he'd be a guest. You should ask him if he'd be a guest. Sure. Bobby Z. Bobby Z. Up in the Air, which was of course one of the big

hits of the year. Yeah, and it's definitely a movie. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. It's kind of well acted. Clooney's good. Really good actor. Good Clooney. I think for me it goes great. I would have given her the Oscar that year. No I would have given Kendrick the Oscar that year. So good in that movie.

Who wins in 09? It's Monique isn't it? Oh yeah. Actually I would have given yeah. But Kendrick's I just like Kendrick too. I would have given it

to Formiga. Brothers. Oh yeah that movie is fine. That's the Jim Sheridan remake. Remake yeah. With Natalie Portman.

Toby's good. Old Dogs. Hey! Your favorite's sticking around there. Yeah. It's a great movie. What was the final domestic on Old Dogs? 57?

49. Really? Not so good. No. Even worse than I thought. Although it beat its budget. 35 budget. Yeah.

It also sat on the shelf for two years. Yeah. Yeah, 2012. Kind of a weird weird year because like a lot of good movies not a lot of good hit movies no there is Star Trek which is

great District 9 was a hit I don't like District 9 I don't love up although up so I think I like both those movies up is lesser Pixar for me District 9 I don't love it I think is solid District 9 just one

of those things where I'm into it for 45 minutes and then when the action kicks off I'm out like you know which is where, you know, Avatar's the opposite. Transformers Around to the Fallen is a nightmare. Yeah, that was that year too. Right, that's, that

was the number one film of the year until Avatar came in at the last second, swooped it up. So, sequel ideas. Let's wrap this up, but you know, we talked about the sequels. Ben, you got any sequel ideas for Avatar? I mean, this is it. Like, we're now looking ahead. Yeah. Cameron keeps getting a blank check. He got another one from this I mean, this is it. Like, we're now looking ahead. Yeah.

Cameron keeps getting a blank check. He got another one from this. Well, this is what I... And his blank check this time was four blank checks, or five, or however many fucking sequels he's going to make. This is my final thought that I want to throw out there. Okay. And this might be controversial, and I've already incurred your wrath

too many times in this episode. So much wrath. Watching this movie last night, a thought that kept on coming to me was, I wish this movie had flopped. Go on. I'm interested. I mean, I don't agree yet.

Well, because the film's the film regardless. We have it either way. I like this movie, right? But I would be more interested to see what would have happened to James Cameron if this movie had if not even completely flopped but disappointed where his next steps would be yeah I mean that's interesting virtual fiction or whatever I don't know I think this film plays to his strengths but it's also kind of safe I think uh he said a lot like you know I um every story I

have left that I want to tell as a filmmaker, I can tell in the Avatar universe, which I like Avatar. I'm interested in where he goes with it. I'm not that invested in the Avatar universe, certainly not in the characters. I'd love to see him generating new different stuff. And I also think anytime he's had a little bit of a setback,

he usually comes back with strong work. There's only, what do you mean? There's only Abyss T2. And, you know, True Lies, which was not as well received as the previous ones, leads into Titanic. And Piranhas turns into First Terminator. That doesn't count.

That does not count. I'd like to see him on the back of his heels a little bit. And I, you know. That's an interesting argument. My worry, I I guess would partly be that he'd be like alright fine I'm just gonna dive

under the water for the rest of my life that's the fear you know that he'd be like you know what take your shitty movies what I like about him

is he's like no let's push this tech he's giving interviews where he's like I want 3D where you can't even put on we don't even need

to put on glasses like he wants to mess around I don't know let him mess around with Avatar there was the talk of him doing the Cleopatra movie

with Angelina Jolie which is like no I wanna see that absolutely not don't know let him mess around with avatar there was the talk of him doing the cleopatra movie with angelina jolie which is like no i want to see that absolutely don't make cleopatra movies that's not weird shit that's boring shit i like no that that's avatar two is more interesting to than cleopatra i would rather see cleopatra just because i want to see him do different stuff i think he would that would be terrible oh i'm sure it'd be terrible i want to see it though oh that would be so bad thank god sure it'd be terrible. I want to see it, though. No, that would be so bad. Thank God that never happened. She's too old for that now, right? She doesn't want to do that anymore.

I don't know. Here's the thing we have to do. You forgot the final segment we have to do. Burger Report? We have to rank the Cameron. It's tough. Oh, it's tough. Oh, I'm agonizing already.

Cameron ranking. Here we go. Number 10, Ghost of the Abyss. Number 9, Piranha 2, The Spawning. Number 8, Aliens of the Deep. Number 7, True Lies. Number 6 is Avatar. Right.

You think I... But no, that's okay. Go ahead. I thought you'd get angry about that. Number 5 is The Abyss. Sure. Number 4 is the Abyss. Sure. Number four is Titanic. Uh-huh.

Number three is the Terminator. Number two is Terminator 2 Judgment Day. Number one is Aliens. Okay. That's my Cameron 10. Right. Whereas for me, it would be 10 Piranha, 9 Aliens of the Deep, 8 Ghosts of the Abyss, 7 True Lies.

Six, The Abyss. Five, Avatar. Talking Tar. Talking Tar. Four, The Terminator. Okay. Three, Terminator 2. Wow.

Two, Aliens. One, Titanic. Wow. Yeah. Interesting list. Interesting list. That's Cameron. James Cameron. Aliens might be number one. I don't Titanic. Wow. Yeah. Interesting list. Interesting list. And that's Cameron. James Cameron.

Aliens might be number one. I don't know. It's tough. It's tough at the time. Aliens is my number one. A good filmmaker. We've had a good time with him. Yeah.

We've had a great time with him. He's been tough, though. He's been tough. A lot of good movies. A lot of good movies. Like, that's the problem with the good movie guys. Well, let's announce our next movie series. I think we've got to do it right now. Next week, we're going to have a Ben's Choice. Yeah, baby. Well,iseries i think we gotta do it right now next week we're gonna have a ben's choice yeah baby well no taruk oh all right i'm sorry

next week bonus episode taruk the first flight recorded before any of our cameron episodes then after that ben's choice we're doing it long promised man who knew too little bill murray is the man who knew too little it's crazy ah I'm so excited. And then we're excited to exclusively announce our next miniseries. Perhaps the biggest blank check. We thought over it.

Maybe this is the biggest blank check anyone's ever gotten in history. I think so. A filmmaker who already was decades into a career of just some of the biggest hits in history.

A lot of Oscar nominations but never a win. He finally wins Best Picture and after that takes a four-year break, at which point, he founds his own studio. Pretty cool.

Not production company, an entire studio. That's what they call a baller move. And he, in this baller move, loved it. You're getting really griffy now. That is scary. Yeah. He founded an entire studio

to bankroll his movies. As if he didn't already have enough powers, if he wasn't already an Oscar winner. He didn't have a big enough dick as it was. He put a bicycle pump in, that dick made it even bigger. Of course, we're talking about our first ever conditional miniseries, in which we're only covering a section of someone's career, but it's a long section. Still long.

Still a long section. Spielberg, The DreamWorks Years. Steven Spielberg. Are we just going to call it that? Maybe. Otherwise, it gets hard with the puns making it clear that it's only about that one period. But also, his movies do not lend themselves to puns. Not at all. His titles. We'll talk over the title, but it will be

Spielberg starting in 1997 with the doubleheader. With his most beloved film. The Lost World Jurassic Park and Amistad. And it will be going to 2016's The BFG. So it's 19 years of Spielberg, 17 films I believe.

17 films. Oh my god. It's 16 or 17. It's going to be our longest miniseries. It's a bit of a risk. It's a bit of a risk. But there's a lot of variety.

We got a lot of ups and downs. We're going to have a lot of good guests and we're going to be banking up episodes months in advance because I have to get ahead of filming on the tech. That's partly why we're doing it, guys.

Okay. So get ready for Spielberg, the DreamWorks years or whatever the fuck we call it. But before that, get ready for The Man Who Knew Too Little. But before that, get ready for Turok, The First Flight.

Padding it out. And before that, I got to do laundry. Yeah. Yeah. I think I'm getting close to it too. I got to do a laundry load today. I got to wash my Watto costume.

Oh, I'm going to mention that quickly. I'm just going to plug that very quickly. quickly. I'm just gonna plug that very quickly. I'm now... Looking for an emoji. The George Lucas talk show, which we talked about a lot in the past, the great Connor Ratliff. Had him on the show.

Yes. Hosts a talk show as George Lucas live at the UCB East Theater the first Friday of every month at midnight. And I am, for the foreseeable future going to be his sidekick, his Andy Richter, his Ed McMahon as Watto, who long-time listeners of the podcast will know

is my worst bit that I commit to the hardest. It's a great bit. My most offensive bit. So yeah, I am playing Watto first Friday of every month if you want to see it at any point in time. It's an open-ended plug. Just come check him out, guys.

Come check it out. I've got to wash my water suit. Great way to end the Cameron miniseries. Got to wash my water suit. But we do have the bonus episode next week. Yeah, true. That's fun. All right. Okay.

All right. Thanks for listening. Please rate, review, subscribe, all that nonsense. And as always. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. Da-na-na. and as always you know when they do that part when they're sort of like

the woman moaning when she's like alright I'm hungry bye She's like, aye, aye, aye, aye. All right. I'm hungry. Dun-dun-dun. Bye. Bye. This has been a UCB Comedy Production. Check out our other shows on the UCB Comedy Podcast Network.

We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.