Blank Check with Griffin & David - Flight with Olivia Craighead

Episode Date: December 20, 2020

After twelve years since releasing a live action film, Zemeckis comes back to the living with 2012's addiction drama, Flight. Olivia Craighead (Iconography podcast) joins #thetwofriends to discuss the misleading trailer and marketing, consider Melissa Leo, and help answer technical questions like how to roll a plane. Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! Buy some real nerdy merch @ shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com

I'm podcasting right now. Because I'm a potaholic. Are you happy? You said that was the only choice, David. You told me that was the only choice. I wanted to do his whole spiel to Brian Garrity, where he's like, we're going to trim it nose down. We're going to roll it. And I was going to replace roll it with podcast it,

but they don't have the roll it part. That's weird. And by they, you mean the random people who write quotes onto IMDb.com, right? Yeah. I feel like after this, I have to go into IMDb and add the whole speech before I'm drunk right now. Just like for future reference. Man. So, David, you had never seen this before. I had not. I had not right now. Just like for future reference. Man. So David, you had never seen this before. I had not.

I had not seen Flight. Here's what I knew about Flight. Had a plane crash. Denzel, obviously. I knew that John Goodman was in it and looked crazy. And I knew that he says, I'm drunk right now to a committee because that was the Oscar clip.

And I remember people laughing because it's like, you know, for the last 10 minutes of the movie. Do you, did you know that he was going to roll it? I didn't know that he was going to roll it. I didn't know that like Kelly Riley was in it. Like that whole right at the start, that whole sequence at the start where it's cross-cutting. I was like, what's this? Kelly Riley. We're going to have to talk about that oh boy are we oh man i mean i just knew that he was like a drunk or you know i knew

he was playing a a character with substance problems that's that's that yeah it was an interesting rewatch for me because i was so fucking amped when this movie was coming out. I think A, just amped like Bobby Z is back. He put down the mocap. He stepped out of the volume. He's making a movie with human flesh in it. And it's like a fucking adult drama like that had me amped. And the trailer was so fucking good for this movie and was so snappy that it was just like, oh, he's back in the groove. And then I felt like I was totally unprepared for this movie to largely be an addiction drama. Right, and not snappy.

To be like a two-hour, 15-minute addiction, you know, rock-bottom AA-type movie. Also, not, I don't mean this as any sort of joke, it's truly the best word i could come up with a pretty soberly made film right not too flashy unless someone's doing coke but when someone's doing coke it's like rolling stones wait wait wait wait are the rolling stones needle dropped in this film is there a song by them like i just like maybe once or twice or maybe even three times that's interesting because they don't really translate to cinema much i you never hear them

in the movies the rolling stones i'll say also like you know this is coming off of three mocap movies which weren't very you know successful let's say creatively have not aged particularly well so you worry watching this like are are his tools dulled at all? Is Zemeckis going to understand as a filmmaker how to convey his ideas to us? And then you see every time Whip Whitaker grabs a drink or lays some narcotics out on the table, I would get worried. I would go, I don't know if I can trust that Zemeckis will be able to tell us how this character is feeling after he takes these things but in fact the movie makes it quite clear to us that he's feeling all right wow you really walked us there you really took the walk you took the walk but

you landed the plane i rolled it i rolled it rolled it. You rolled it. And this is a podcast about filmographies. It's called Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. And it's, you know, about directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects

they want, and sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they roll it, baby. This is a miniseries on the films ofbert zemeckis uh the infamous bobby z uh and today we're talking about flight his uh return to the land of the living it is it's just like i feel like it cannot be overstated how much people were just like i guess we've lost zemeckis i guess he's just up this butt with his mocap no i remember and he's never up this butt with his mocap stuff. No, I remember. And he's never going to make a live action movie ever again.

Well, what was between this and Castaway? Like, what was that? Three mocap movies. That's it. So it was like Beowulf. Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol. Oh, Christmas Carol. Olivia, it's 12 years?

Is this 11 or 12? This is 12. This is 12. There are 12 years between Castaway and this where he only makes three mocap movies and then produces two additional mocap movies. And he publicly was like, this is my medium.

I'm doing this for the rest of my life. And then he makes Flight. Right. So not only was it just like, oh my God, Zemeckis is out of that fucking pocket, but also that it was like, wow, this is an interesting choice for him to come back with. This does not feel like an obvious safe pick. You know, working with Denzel, obviously a major star, but first time he'd worked with him.

Yeah. R-rated for the first time since used cars. So, 32 years. Yeah. It's a $30 million adult drama. Right. It's much like, you know, The Walk and stuff coming up. Like, made pretty cheaply.

Denzel, like, waving his fee. You know, like, being like, let's well we'll make a real ass movie like i you know you're you're a legend and zemeckis waving his fee as well i mean both of them were just like we like this script this is a hot spec script we want to get it made which is kind of like crazy to me because like i can't really see on the page this this movie being, like, the dialogue itself is like, no, no, no. Like, this movie is good because of Robert Zemeckis and Denzel Washington. It's very, trying to make sense of this script

and the existence of this script and the journey of this script to the screen is very bizarre, especially when the X Factor is one of the most successful living filmmakers decides to return to live action with this. He likes the script, the script by John Gatton's Oscar nominated script. I was trying to contextualize how weird John Gatton's career is. John Gatton's was like a sort of like pretty boy actor who never totally connected, but worked regularly,

like pretty boy actor who never totally connected, but worked regularly, then worked with Tolan Robbins on something. And then he was like, you should write a script for me. So he wrote Summer Catch and he wrote Hardball. When like Brian Robbins made that turn from like Nickelodeon movies into doing like sports, light sports dramas, he was writing them. And he was just sort of very much like

a hollywood kind of journeyman screenwriter and then this was like i think four sports movies because he also did coach carter he did real steel which of course is a sports he directed dreamer he and he directed dreamer and wrote it yes dreamer with the fucking horse yeah to quote the line from hamlet to best line in that movie uh although it's referencing the original dreamer with the fucking horse yeah to quote the line from hamlet 2 best line in that movie although it's referencing the original dreamer but he's like working as an actor during all of this like you know to marginal success taking like small roles and shit and then becomes this weird like sports studio drama guy at a time when that was still a thing where like every year there's got to be three sports studio dramas that come out in the winter months and do pretty well he like rode that to success and then this was his personal script yeah right

he took like a decade he was like i'm gonna write this for like 10 years and it's like do you think do you see like 10 years of work in this script no is it about him yes did he have substance okay okay so he's pouring himself into it so this is like i think to some degree he was very much alike especially in that way of i feel like a lot of pretty boy actors who then become screenwriters i won't even say pretty boy actors but they're even just like a lot of sort of people who move to hollywood to make it big and then end up being screenwriters. They're very mathematical about like, this is what sells because I don't come from a background of trying to be a writer. I don't have that pretension. What's my niche? What's my thing? And he very much feels like he was a guy who was always just like,

what's there a market for? I'll write that. And then this was, I've been fighting with substance issues my entire life. I'm going to purge this all into a screenplay, which was coupled with, it's not based on Sully, which I feel like there was the common perception because of when this movie came out relative to that story. Oh, this must be him like taking a flight of fancy

based on what, you know, how big a news story Sully was. It's based on a different flight where no one survived, but they did roll the plane. That's what it's based on how big a news story Sully was. It's based on a different flight where no one survived, but they did roll the plane. That's what it's based on. They did briefly roll a plane. Look, we're going to talk about aviation accidents in a second.

Introduce our guest. Sure. And I have one other John Gatton's credit I want to talk about. It's a main series called Podcast Away. Today we're talking about flight. Our guest returns to the show for the second time,

first time solo. She's going to roll it from Iconography, one of my favorite podcasts, Olivia Craighead. I am so happy to be on. David asked me, David and I were texting

months ago, maybe April, and he was like, I was like, you're not going to like flight because it is a scary movie about a plane crash yeah true and he said do you like flight and i said i think i like flight and he said we can't find anyone to do flight and so now i'm here i don't know if i put it that way that makes it

sound like you i don't think you did i think you said flight is open the flight is now boarding is what he said he said the flight is boarding right yeah i just i just yeah just good energy good energy we're we're we're we're friends what i'll say also is denzel washington might be my favorite actor so i'm really excited very important in that prison my favorite movie star i often say although clooney whatever it's a it's a war you argued to me recently not that he's your favorite movie star but that he is the best movie star of the the generation right of that generation i think that is like spot on it's like who else like clooney maybe but clooney in recent years has just kind of like walked away to have a tequila company yes i mean it's it's good tequila but yes no the thing with clooney is you have to cut out the lows like the highs are very high

whereas with denzel it's like even the lows are fun like that's sort of part of the magic of denzel is like he could be in a movie that's just called like mr bullet and it's like what's it about it's like yeah it's like a guy in miami and he, you know, he's got to kill a drug dealer. And I'm like, this sounds great. I can't wait to watch this movie. That is absolutely the argument for Denzel because like the Clooney movies you have to erase are so often the passion projects

or the ones that he directed that he really willed into existence. His directorial career, yeah, it's tough. Denzel, the strongest argument for him being the best movie star is that through sheer force of will, he has turned every movie he's been in into at least a six. You know? Nothing has ever fully flopped because he finds some way to roll it. And comparing him to Clooney, Clooney is not a great director. And Denzel can really

pull one out. I was about to say this. That's the thing. He's even a good director, even though nobody really would... I think a lot of people would forget that he has directed, what, four movies, I think it is? Right. People don't think of him like they think of Ben Affleck

where they're like, oh, yes, actor and also director sometimes. But like Denzel like gets nominated for like his movies get nominated for Oscars. So do Ben's. But like it's also the wild that like George Clooney has made one movie that people liked and was viewed as a hit. Right. Good night. Good luck.

You mean directed? Yes. Directed. Which is which is a genuinely I really like that directed. I'm sorry. Which is genuinely, I really like that movie. I rewatched it and it stands up. Do you guys not like Leatherheads?

Are you guys not Leatherheads fans? This is my point. Like, I love Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. I like that movie, yes. But a flop, right? It was not well regarded when it came out.

No one went to see it. But that is a good movie, yes. I love that movie. Good night and good luck. Big arthouse hit. Big Oscar hits. That's his year where he's just fucking Mr. Academy. He wins supporting actor. He's nominated for director, producer, writer, all that sort of shit. And then he's still viewed as, to your point, Olivia, like, oh, that's one of our great sort of like actor directors. And he has not made one movie since then that has made any sort of impact.

It's not just that. I would say that it's, although he did insanely get an Oscar nomination for The Ides of March, which is another forgotten truth. The Ides of March is maybe one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life. So terrible. It's so awful. He has not only not made another hit

with critics or with audiences, although I think Monuments Men did okay. He has made two movies that are awful, like that are unwatchably bad, which is Ides of March and Suburbicon. To the extent that, like Leatherheads and Monuments Men, you're like, okay, they're all right.

Those are romps. By comparison, those are like absolute romps. Yeah, exactly. They're like fives, you know, and you're like, oh, well, I mean, they're not ones. But also like that was the best thing that came out of the Sony leaks was all his emails to A. Pascal being like, what can I say? I really fucked this one up. This thing's unsalvageable. I'm sorry.

Sometimes it happens. I tried my hardest. Let's just try to make it a hit but like that's like on paper lay up that cast that premise i know you were just like sounds fucking unbelievable ides of march that play was so beloved that cast he got on board you were like lay up so many times he's had a layup on paper the best part of ides of march is the poster where it's ryan gosling holding the time magazine of george clooney it's like that that tells you all you

need to know he's the man behind george clooney there's like problems whatever the rest of the movie is dog shit should have stopped at the poster don't make the movie the thing with the ides of march is the play is unforgivably bad but everyone was kind of dazzled by it and then beau wilmon who wrote it goes on to make house of cards which is also unforgivably bad but everyone was kind of dazzled by it and then beau wilmon who wrote it goes on to make house of cards which is also unforgivably bad but people act like it isn't it drives me crazy it's a national delusion people love to like take a bad play and be like we love it and turn it into a movie and it's like oh like and i'd support it's stacked gosling philip seymour hoffman giamatti like everyone's like Kind of raging in that movie

And everyone's just sort of like Is Evan Rachel Woods The woman in that movie? Correct Yeah She had an abortion There's some scandal That's being covered up

Right right And she commits suicide Right? Isn't that a big part of it? I think she I think she kills herself Yes I think that's what happens

Yeah And Gosling at the end is like I feel like politics Is not the idealistic enterprise I signed up for After all this Like that's what happens yeah and gosling at the end is like i feel like politics is not the idealistic enterprise i signed up for after all this like that's the lesson of the eyes of march he's got this movie he has a film coming out this year an apocalyptic space drama called the midnight sky not one person knows this is happening who does gosling ge George Clooney. He wrote, directed, and started it. It's coming out at Christmas.

And like if you, any person on earth, if you ask them like what's George Clooney up to, they would say, ah, tequila, I guess. Like no one knows of this existence. I know that this exists because I know the novelist who wrote the book that it's based on a little bit. And I just keep on going like, I hope he fucking makes a good movie this time. Like, I just like, every time he announces something, I genuinely feel like, oh, it'd be great if this one's good.

He always gets good people on board. He always sort of gets good material to one degree or another. So it's a space movie? It's a post-apocalyptic winter movie. Oh, okay. It's like post-global warming. It's not space, but it's sci-fi.

Okay, that still seems like there's like too much, there's like too much going on for him to deal with. Like all his movies are very much like we are on Earth and these are just about like people talking to each other and to add like genre into it. But he did like a fucking period screwball comedy and he did like a World period screwball comedy and he did like a world war ii like heist movie and he did a coen brothers movie and like a fucking talky play like none of them are as wild

as genre swings but it's like he does really try shit yes i think he's always trying to write to do a kind of a movie that he loves right right? And like Leatherhead's right. It's like, this should work. Great. Yes. Clooney wants to do like a Preston Sturgis movie. It's like zingy and like, that sounds great. And it's boring.

Like, I don't know what's happening. I don't know what. But that's almost. Why are we talking about George Clooney? Well, I just, I'll say, I remember when Michael Clayton was coming out and he was like, yeah, I read the script and I loved it. I want to direct it. But the writer was so like stubborn about that. He wanted to direct it himself. And I remember hearing like, that sounds like a bad sign.

Why is this writer insisting that he make his directing debut on this? And then you look at it and you're like, you almost in your mind course correct it and give Clooney directing credit for that movie. It's not that I ever forget that Tony Gilroy made it, but it's that that's the perfect George Clooney movie. It is. Yeah. But like, but if George Clooney had directed Michael Clayton, that movie would not be as good.

Exactly. Right. It just feels like fundamentally. Now here's the bridge I'm going to build. John Gatton's for years was like, Flight is the movie I'm going to direct. I did Dreamon's for years was like, flight is the movie I'm going to direct. I did Dreamer. I proved my bona fides as a Hollywood screenwriter.

This is my personal project. This is a script I want to direct. I want to make it a smaller scale. I don't think it was ever a blacklist script, but it was very much like a buzzy sort of like, oh, this is a good script, but it's tough. It's not very commercial. How do you make it?

And then when Disney shut down Image Movers, there was like, I mean, we covered this our last episode, but Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms come out within three months of each other and lose Disney probably $300 million combined. He was like, I got no place for these mocap movies. And by all accounts, he kind of goes to his agents and he goes like, I guess I'm open for business. Send me every script. So there was this period then where it was like a feeding frenzy of just Zemeckis is weighing like 20 things. He's considering this. He's considering that. This book that's never been adapted. This spec script that's existed for a while.

It was just like everything was being thrown to Zemeckis. There's a book called Replay. Okay. a while. It was just like everything was being thrown to Zemeckis. There's a book called Replay that's about a guy who keeps on having to relive his life over and over again. He dies and then it resets to like his 20s and then he has to keep on reliving up to the point where he dies over and over again. That was written before Groundhog Day and Peggy Sue Got Married and a lot of the movies that have similar premises. So there was some excitement over like, oh, this is like kind of the urtext. And Zemeckis, who made the great time travel movie, is going to make this thing. And it was between this and Flight. And Flight was kind of the spoiler.

They were like, but he also likes this weird drama about a drunk pilot. He wants Denzel to do it. Denzel's on board. The thing that could trip it up is how much those two guys cost. And then that was, like, the big move was Denzel and Zemeckis saying, like, we'll waive our quotes. We want to make

this. And then the film is, like, off to the races. Starts filming. Gattons is like, look, if you got Denzel and you're Robert Zemeckis, fine, I'll give up. I don't have to direct this fucking thing. Yeah. And you know what John Gatton's went on and did? He wrote Power Rangers, which is a good movie.

And he should be proud of himself. Olivia, have you seen the reboot of Power Rangers? I haven't. Is that the one that has Elizabeth Banks in it? Of course it is. And Olivia, one day, this war's going to end. And you're going to come over and I'm going to like make nachos or something and we're going to watch Power Rangers brackets 2017 directed by someone

called Dean Israelite. That sounds like a perfect evening. It's going to be so good. I think the official title is Saban's Power Rangers 2015 2015 it's one of those it was at least marketed as saban's power rangers yes saban was really trying to uh to juice the brand there it's it is truly a delightful film and actually a very good screenplay i remember people being like the power rangers is good and i was like that i love that for them. And then I just didn't see it. Becky G. Becky G, the singer? The singer. Singing in the shower? Singing in the shower

plays, I want to say Yellow Ranger? I think so. Yeah. She's great. She's great. We love everybody in it. It's great. Everyone's good in it. Naomi Scott, who would later play Princess Jasmine and sing the great song about how she will never be speechless. Never.

She plays Pink Ranger. Earl from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the Blue Ranger. It's a good movie. It's a good script. I have many regrets having done this podcast for five years of things I've said on mic or things I held my tongue about that I should have said. for five years of things I've said on mic or things I held my tongue about that I should have said. And one of them, right out near the top, I should have had the courage to give Bryan Cranston

a Best Supporting Actor nomination that year. He plays Zordon. Oh, incredible. He's good. He's so good. Of course he's good. He's so good. Yeah, he's good.

Because he played Zordon because he was in a lot of the original Power Rangers episodes back when he was a nobody. Oh, that's fun. So he felt he owed the power. Look, Power Rangers is a great movie. And John Gatton's probably should have gotten Oscar nomination for that instead of Flight, which I think is a turgid and overwritten movie.

But whatever. Bizarre. But it's also like Gatton's after this just goes back to being a higher profile. Yeah. Like script dude. Like he just does Power Rangers and he does Need for Speed. He doesn't seem to have another personal project in him. Maybe we just have to wait another 10 years.

Maybe he can just turn out these ones that he gets hired for just like it's no big deal. But the personal ones, those take time. Well, to do a plane crash movie, sure. I feel like there's Fearless, there take time Well, to do like a plane crash movie Sure, like those are I feel like there's like Fearless There's Sully, obviously There's a few of those To base it on a plane crash where everybody died

And to say I'm basing it on this You know, loosely But like have your pilot successfully deal with it As opposed to what happened in reality. It feels a little gauche. It's a little weird. It's like that. It's fine.

I think to like maybe keep that to yourself. Like, I don't know. There's just like I don't like the screenplay at all, but I like the movie. That's the thing. I do like the movie. I do like the movie. movie that's the thing i do like the movie i do like the movie to an odd degree he is very lucky that people just assumed he was inspired by sully yeah right sure because it's like if you just go oh it's a movie based on a pilot doing something radical that somehow saved everyone's life

in 2012 you go i guess it's sully i guess it's inspired by sully and said he's like no i just saw this plane upside down in 2000 before crash and everyone died that's what i was gonna say that's right i for you know so i watch a lot of those videos where it's like an expert on plane crashes watches movies with plane crashes in them right you know those kinds of videos that like bandy fair gq does or whatever and flight so i've seen one of those and And when Flight comes up, the guy is just like, oh, no, none of this. You know, like, he's just like, well, no, that doesn't make any sense. Flight is the one that just gets a zero for him. He's just like, I don't really understand why the plane's upside down.

I don't really know why that would have helped. I don't know. I don't get any of this, but okay. Well, obviously, the answer to that question is cocaine. Yeah. He was feeling all right. This movie is about how you're better at flying a plane if you do cocaine. Hi there.

My name is Alameen Abdel-Mahmoud. I am the host of the CBC Podcast Commotion. That's a show where we talk about all things pop culture. We talk about what people are watching, what people are listening to. We get into everything from celebrity beefs to TikTok trends. And look, we're not afraid to get a little controversial. We're talking about things like the Oscar snubs or is Drake really a hip hop artist? Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, this is my weird thing with the movie.

So I amped for the trailer. Trailer was so good. And what it looked like to me was, oh, this is a movie about like in a weird way, like process, right? like process right it's about like here's a guy who is inexcusably fucked up and did something radical that ended up saving everyone's life is the fact that he was fucked up the only reason he thought to do that and it made it seem like most of the movie was just like the investigation the looming specter of mel Leo and this question of like, does that negate him being a hero? Or is he lucky that him being wasted didn't kill everyone's life?

Melissa Leo does loom large in all of our lives. She is the specter we will all confront one day. It is crazy that you don't like see her beforehand. And so in the last like five minutes of the movie, you're like, oh, that's Melissa Leo. Everyone's like, Ellen Block. She's terrifying. And it's like they's Melissa Leo. Everyone's like, Ellen Block. Oh, yellow gown. She's terrifying.

And it's like they got Melissa Leo. She is kind of scary. But that's the power of Melissa Leo. She bought those ads in Variety asking us to consider. And people went, oh, she wants them to consider to vote for her for the Oscar. No, she was asking you to consider her at all moments, in all walks of life. Just always consider what would happen if she were to enter a film in the last five minutes. And we all listened to her and we were all considering Melissa Leo all the time.

It worked. I thank her. I'm a more considerate person for having seen those acts and having seen that fur coat. But I thought like that's the movie it was going to be was like, oh, this is interesting. This is like Zemeckis in some weird moral gray area shit. And I rewatched the trailer before recording this. There is literally one shot in like a gimme shelter, super fast cut montage at the end of the trailer is everything's hitting a boiling point and you're seeing crash footage,

you're seeing hearing footage, you're hearing quippy one-liners, you're seeing fucking Goodman dancing or whatever and then there's one shot of Kelly Riley's eyes

opening wide like this. Like after she does drugs or whatever. And that's the only glimpse of her in the trailer. I remember seeing that she was like high build in a credit block that was all fucking A-listers. And I was a fan of Kelly Rowley. I was like, interesting.

Don't see where she could fit into the movie. She's notably absent from the trailer, save for this one shot. I wonder what her role in this film is. And I do remember an almost immediate deflation as they front load the first 30 minutes of the movie so much with intercutting her just going like I don't get what they're doing here is this fundamentally trying to tell a different story than the one I ostensibly just paid $15 to say but it's also like it feels kind of like you could cut her out of the movie entirely and still tell the addiction story. Yes.

She is not. It's just like, and then it's a shorter movie. It's just like, I don't really. She doesn't really. And she just disappears from the last like 20, 30 minutes of it. She's like, I'm going to go. And then she shows up in the picture and we're like, I guess they still see each other?

I guess they figured it out, right. They blarp her pretty hard. They do blarp. They blarp the fuck out of her. But you could do... By the way, Olivia, blarp is a term we use based, of course, on the Lost in Space movie where the three female characters disappear

for the last act chasing blarp. Oh, okay, cool. So that's any time a prominent female character has nothing to do in the final act of a film. They've been Blarped. Jenny Slate in Venom. Blarped. Okay.

Right. They don't die. There's no explanation. They're just sort of Blarping. They're Blarping off in a cave. I mean, they literally have to go help Blarp and they actually shot a whole Blarp scene and then they cut it.

Here's Blarp. And the point is, in the movie, they don't even take the time to explain where they are. They don't. They don't do anything. But you could, my take is, and I don't even, this is not even a hot take, you can do everything Kelly Riley is doing

with the scene that already exists in the movie with James Badge Day. Oh my God. Like, that scene's already there. And like, that does so much. And Kelly Riley's hanging out in that scene. And then we pick her up, up like and I like Kelly Riley. I think she's trying her best.

Like I think she's pretty good in this movie. I think she's good in this. I think it's not her fault. No, she's like she and like Don Cheadle, I feel like are both like doing the best with like very little. Cheadle is kind of magnificent in this movie. Cheadle has a moment at the end where he makes... Who is the guy who plays Charlie?

Is it Treat Williams? Bruce Greenwood. Bruce Greenwood. Not Treat Williams. Treat Williams sort of knocked it out of the park. Bruce Greenwood also knocking it out of the park. But he hands Bruce Greenwood the money to pay John Goodman, and he refuses to pay John Goodman.

Like, that's incredible. Cheadle's got that like character actor version of the Denzel thing where it's just like there is no movie that has not been improved by Don Cheadle being in it. If Don Cheadle's in a movie, at the very least, Cheadle's very good in it. I agree with that. Kelly Reilly. it's like this, it's the, which is it, the second season of True Detective? Yeah. You know, she really was just handed all these shit roles on a platter and, like, did her best. She's in both Sherlock Holmes movies.

I forgot about that. Like, she is the fiance of Watson, who Sherlock Holmes keeps acting like forgot about that. She is the fiance of Watson who Sherlock Holmes keeps acting like a dick to. And this is all from small roles in Pride and Prejudice and a bigger role in Mrs. Henderson Presents. Right. That's where she

popped. That was the big one. That was the big one. She does that French trilogy, the La Berge Espagnole, Russian Dolls, and I'm forgetting what the third one's called. But those were big movies internationally. And then Mrs. Henderson Presents, where I feel like she was tapped as like, oh, she might be a supporting actress play when people thought that movie was going to be an overall Oscar play. And then, of course, it just got the one perfunctory Judi Dench stamp.

Yes, right. And then after that, right, she starts working a lot. I was watching this. I was like, I feel bad for her. I think she's always good in everything. And I feel like she's disappeared. And then I looked at her Wikipedia. And, of course, I just didn't realize she's the second lead of Yellowstone, the most popular show on cable.

She's on Yellowstone, baby! The hottest show! Yes! Yeah. And it's like that's the highest rated show ever, I guess. Everyone loves Yellowstone. Everyone loves the like wilderness of Wyoming.

I guess she makes $4 million an episode. Like, I guess she's doing great. It's like Yellowstone episode one, Yellowstone episode two, Super Bowl 40. You know, like if you're just going down the ratings,

like all time ratings. Finale of MASH. Right. Roots. Right. Obama announcing that they got bin laden isn't yellowstone on like a weird channel it's on the paramount network which used to be spike yes only rebranded to paramount network within the last two years did they like focus group it and they were like tv for men doesn't doesn't work anymore

so we're pivoting well it, it was that weird, too. Like, Viacom and CBS had split, and then they got back together. No, but they pivoted from TV for 35-year-old men to TV for 55-year-old men. It was a mild pivot. So they were just, like, aging up with their demographic. Yeah, it shows for uncles. You no longer want monster energy. You want a light beer.

I don't know what older men drink. What do older men drink? Light beer. That's a good call. Yeah, good specific. But they like three months ago announced we're rebranding again. We're now the Paramount Movie Network. We don't want to be making original series.

We want to be making TV movies and playing movies from the Paramount back catalog. So what's going to happen to Yellowstone? Well, they're like, but of course we're keeping Yellowstone. I don't understand how Yellowstone can be this successful and Paramount can be like, we're rebranding to move away from everything like Yellowstone other than Yellowstone. Also, Paramount Network made fucking Emily in Paris and then sold it to Netflix. That's crazy. They've sold off every other TV

show they made because they're like, we're out of the TV business other than the number one show on cable. Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Kelly Riley, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser. Come on! This thing is... Wes Bentley is hanging out on Yellowstone? Wes Bentley of course plays Jamie Dutton One of the great Dutton family members

Of course My bad, my mistake So silly of you, Olivia So stupid of me You know, when you see the poster for Yellowstone It's like Luke Grimes I think is like country son And Wes Bentley is city son Because Wes Bentley always has like a suit on

Oh, of course You can't If you put like Wes Bentley in a pair of Wrang Wes Bentley always has like a suit on. Oh, of course. You can't, if you put like Wes Bentley in a pair of Wranglers, I'd be like, you're lying to me. That's not true. Am I wrong in thinking that Kelly Riley is like the villain of the piece? That she's like Kevin Costner's foil?

That she's the matriarch of the rival landowning family? They're all Duttons. So I think she's his wife or something. But it's possible that she is the matriarch of the rival landowning family they're all duttons so i think she's his wife or something but it's possible that she is you know like uh robin wright in house of cards or what right you know that there's like some strife i have no lady macbeth yeah she's the lady she's lady yellowstone um so so that's what kelly riley's been a bit no yeah okay so kelly riley slumming it here, I guess. I don't know. Like there's a world where she gets enough.

There's a world where this movie gets like eight Oscar nominations, right? Where picture, director, actor, you get Goodman in there. You get Kelly Reilly in there. You know, like it's weird that it didn't. But it wasn't quite big enough. Maybe. I don't know. It's almost weird, though, that it wasn't like it wasn't a best

picture nomination because this year is so weird for the oscars this year is the trash for the oscars kind of like good bad year in that like it's not like they didn't nominate some good movies but they end up settling on argo i think partly just out of like yeah it's like argo and it's like alan arkin gets nominated for Best Supporting Actor for saying like one fun line 10 times. I know. Best Supporting Joke. Argo, fuck yourself. Argo, fuck yourself.

I'd like to award both of you Oscar nominations. David's laughing. It is a good line. The first time you hear it, you're like, that is so funny. That is absolutely a Best Support line reading performance like i i just anyone who put alan arkin at the top of their ballot that year i want to ask him can you name one other thing he did in that movie goodman is in argo as well isn't he yeah he's good in that it's our arkin and goodman hanging out that's the duo it's so awful that john goodman has zero oscar nominations he

turned in two great performances in 2012, ignored again. He was not on the list. The National Board of Review gave him a special award in 2010 for Flight, Argo, Trouble with the Curve, and Paranorman. Good, good. That's good. Yes, I like that. Good man.

Good man. I think my hot take also is that if James Badgedale were like a slightly more famous person giving the same exact performance he would have gotten nominated for a supporting actor absolutely that's like one of those scenes where it just like it's very very good and like he comes in comes out changes the course of the movie and even like in that scene they're like wasn't that crazy wasn't that crazy what he just did? Yeah, it's good that in a scene you can plausibly have the actors react to it as like, Jesus, that was awesome.

But there was also like. Good job by that guy. I remember there being a ton of buzz around that performance. I remember him doing a lot of like for your consideration press. It did feel like they were testing the waters about him getting like a one scene nomination. I do think it led to like his next wave of jobs after that. Like this was a thing that really kind of elevated him. But but I don't know, it's bizarre. It's like one of those things where like we're talking about the weird Oscar story of this movie and that it feels like it both

overperformed and underperperformed. Like, Denzel getting an actor nomination, slam dunk. What's weird is for it to get screenplay and then get nothing else. Like, no visual effects, no director. Really weird. So bizarre. I mean, the director nominees,

this is the thing, Beasts of the Southern Wild is the one where you're like, okay. But at the time, you know, is the one where you're like, okay. But at the time, you know, that was just that weird, like, mini phenomenon. I mean, it feels like we all kind of went crazy for Beasts of the Southern Wild. We had Southern Wild fever. That movie is 92% the score. That is my argument. The score is incredible.

I still listen. When I have to, like, do something, when I have to I have to work, I just put that score on repeat and just bang something out. They should have nominated that score for Best Director. That's what they should have done. Well, he freaking did the score too. That was the whole thing. It was him and this guy. Him and Dan Romer. Oh, Dan Romer.

Yeah, sorry. But Ben Zeitlin did the score with him. It's true. And his score for Wendy, his much delayed follow-up is also really good, even though Wendy is not very good in my opinion but angley michael haneke right uh ben zeitlin steven spielberg david o russell like it is a fairly muscular i mean that's that's affleck is snubbed like the story is no affleck and katherine bigelow snubbed and quentin tarantino is snubbed like there's a lot of big shots in there who didn't make it. So it is.

Yeah. I feel like the snubbings were the headline that year. And Ang Lee kind of weirdly wins by default because Affleck isn't nominated. Spielberg, you know, has already won. David R. Russell. It's like, whoa, not there yet. Let's over nominate his next two movies as well. The whole thing's so bizarre.

But the one thing we're not acknowledging here was that this movie was a big fucking hit. Yeah. That this movie did incredibly well. It over-performed beyond most Denzel movies. Like, that's the weird thing, is I feel like at this time in particular, Denzel movies,

especially if we're talking about, like, thrillers and action movies and whatever, would open to $20 million, end up somewhere between like 60 and 80 he rarely would cross over 100 million dollars unless he was like co-starring with someone who's also big like pelican brief like uh fucking uh what was the safe house when ryan reynolds had like all the heat in the world at that one moment. But usually he would make like opens to 20, ends up at 70. And then this movie like opened close to 30 and made like 90, right? Was this like a Christmas movie? Was it around that? It was early November. Early November. It was like a sort of a Thanksgiving movie. Yes.

But it didn't even benefit from like a holiday weekend. It came out on a random weekend in November, opened really high, multiplied well. I think it literally just had an incredible trailer. The trailer's unbelievable. And that trailer was, like, on all the time. That's what I remember from this movie, is, like, seeing the trailer all the time, not seeing it in theaters,

and then, like, seeing that Denzel got an Oscar nomination and being like, oh, is that movie good? I don't know. And then I didn't know for like six more years. The premise, how the trailer presents it feels very engaging. Like as an audience member, you're like, fuck, I want to see how this plays out.

That is true. I'd be curious to see like the cinema score on this because I would like to know like what people thought going in and how they felt coming out and if they were like loved it. Let's see if it has a cinema score.

It does not. I mean, I saw it opening weekend with my buddy Perlin who is like my number one movie going companion I would say over the years and we tend to see Denzel movies together. We were so amped for this. We saw this like fucking AMC 25 afternoon, Saturday it came out, the audience felt

amped, and it was definitely kind of muted afterwards. And I feel like we walked out and we're like, it's not bad, but I was expecting to love that. And I'm surprised it's that much about him not admitting he's an alcoholic. Like, I'm surprised that the main dramatic crux of the movie is just his denial over the investigation. Right. Because you think it's going to be kind of like Sully, where the whole thing is like, we got this NTSB trial or hearing or whatever. Like, the press is everywhere, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it could have been that movie. it just it's a completely different thing it it sully which of course is a wonderful perfect movie uh in which 155 souls were saved more souls than on the flight flight

there are 102 souls on the flight flight and the flight flight flight's on a smaller plane, a very bad plane. And if you ever see yourself on an MD-80, get off the plane. But that's neither here nor there. Sully is about him dealing with the trauma of the flight, right? And so it's a perfect structure where it's like he's recalling elements of it. It's being questioned.

It's being investigated. We don't see the entire thing in full until right at the end it's brilliant sully is the anti-flight yes flight is we see the flight we see the crash happen you know exactly what happened you saw him before the flight there's no gray area he wakes up and he's like yeah well i nailed that anyway i have a lot of other shit to deal with two hours and you're like yeah is he i mean that was a relatively intense is he all right and it's like the plane crash yeah no no that's not he's not worried about that he treats that like he totaled his car like it's annoying you know he's like ah my fucking toyota like the carburetor like but at no point is he reckoning

with this horrifying thing that happened to him except by hitting rock bottom as an alcoholic i guess that's the way it's happening i don't think it makes sense like we're going back to bashing the screenplay but i don't think it ties those two things together right and it also feels like it takes a while for to get to that moment where you realize he's in deep shit where like he and cheetle are like you were drug tested fyi yeah and he's like he's like when's that gonna happen and you can like see the change in his eyes like again this movie is good because denzel is good because you can see in that moment he's piecing everything together and he's like oh shit i'm royally fucked here he is so good in this movie

and it is the most boring observation in the world that denzel washington is a good actor but this is him being like i have another thing you haven't seen yet a little you know what i mean like you've never seen me this busted well it's also interesting like i feel in the last eight years since this movie came out denzel has finally started to age i feel like you know there was the like body like arnold face like denzel thing where like for so many decades it was like oh this is like one of the most perfect looking men in hollywood this is like an annoyingly handsome person who also radiates intensity and integrity on screen. And then, you know, he just like never aged. He was still like fucking 60 with a gun chasing people in cop movies.

And you were like, yup, still buy it. Dude's a leading man. And I feel like he's crossed like a fences threshold where now Denzel is like wearing his age. Like he's not a pretty boy anymore he's like uncle denzel yeah yeah he's very handsome still like that's also what totally like so much credibility to this role where you're like yeah of course this guy is like just fucking people like left and right like oh yeah but but this is kind of the first movie where he was like really roughing himself up as much as he still is handsome, making himself look shitty.

And now he's just that wearing that age. But this it's like when you see the shift between the scenes where he's dead drunk and the scenes where he's supposed to be cleaned up, you do see the difference. I will say there is that little phase in the early 2000s with like Man on Fire and the Manchurchurian candidate where he's playing guys who are a little messed up and he's maybe a little bulkier and he's like wearing it and like you know it's it's those he's good in both of those movies but this is a whole other it's the paunch it's the weird kind of bags under his eyes and just the kind of like vacant look sweat he's always clammy yeah and it and it's like the way he, like, holds his mouth is always sort of, like, hanging to the side.

I mean, it's like you said, David, like, boring. How do you even talk about, oh, Denzel's good at acting? But he is so good at playing drunk in this movie. I think when I saw it in theaters, I was so disappointed that the movie was so focused on that,

that I wasn't giving enough credit to how skillful it is. And you see him at so many different stages of drunkenness. But it is just like it's obviously one of those things that actors fucking love But but yet he can walk into any scene and you understand just from how he's carrying himself before he says a word how many drinks he's had at that point. I think like that underplaying thing you can really see when he like goes to see his son and his ex-wife where it's like, is he drunk? And then you're like, oh, he's like loaded. And then he goes out and like gives the speech to the press or whatever. And he like pulls it together really quick. And then it's like it just is that like minute of the movie is such a whirlwind that is all on him. whirlwind that is all on him that fine line stuff right where like that which i feel like it's hard to play drunk because you can play it too much right you can overdo it right and that that sinking feeling you have if you have anyone in your life you've known as an alcoholic where you're like it takes a minute for you you're like just like it's like a horror story thing where you're like, oh, is it, is he right now? Like, and then how charming he can be.

Like, when he's either sober or whatever, he's pulled it together. Like, when they're bringing him into the hotel near the end of the movie. And he's like, oh, you know, like, he's just bouncing along. And you're just like, oh, God, he's gonna do it again. Like, I know he's gonna do it again. Like, I know he's going to do it again. It's the thing that smart actors say, which is the pitfall of playing drunk is that you want to play drunk because that seems fun. And the error there is that drunk people are always trying to convince you that they're sober.

So you have to play someone trying to play sober, which is in and of itself more difficult to do because you have to play two contradictory things at the same time. You have to act like you're drunk and then on top of that act like you're not trying to show that you're drunk. He's an actor where it's it feels too low that he has two Oscars. Yeah. He should have more. He should have four. Well, okay, what do you think

the four are? Well, the thing is, I don't I might take Glory away from him. He's good the thing is i don't i might take glory away from him he's good in glory um but i don't he doesn't need that oscar if you know the career that's coming like obviously that helps him get the career that's coming you could have given andre brower his same oscar that's andre brower's great in glory but i mean that's the year of martin landau and crimes misdemeanors daniel you know everyone can do the right thing, honestly. Danny A, you know, there's a lot of good nominees. Like, the ones he needs are Malcolm X, Training Day, and then, like, Pickham of, like, Flight and Fences and Roman J,

you know, his later... Roman J, Israel, Esquire. He's so good at Roman J, Israel. You guys are rejecting or neglecting to mention Unstoppable, another movie where he's in charge of a big machine that's going awry. That comes out like two years earlier. Olivia, you joke, I think

Unstoppable has come up three times in this miniseries. Really? I forget how, but I know we've talked about it on recent episodes. It has come up. I watched that movie at some point during quarantine and I was like, this movie is just perfect it's like yeah so good he's so good in it chris pine is so good in it pine is incredible in it washington's

incredible in it their chemistry is their chemistry is nuclear it's so good and like the action is so good it's and it's all what's crazy about the action is that it's just like this train has to turn a corner and you're like it's the most riveting thing in the world it's all what's crazy about the action is that it's just like this train has to turn a corner and you're like, it's the most riveting thing in the world. It's on rails. Yeah. It's like the train is on tracks moving in one direction. We have to do Tony Scott. The scene and when we do it, Olivia has to be on the episode.

But the scene where he's Pine is finally confessing like, you know, that he confronted his wife. Are we right? Remember that? Yeah. And Denzel's like, oh, boy wife or we right remember that yeah it's like oh boy and what'd you do and he's like well i had a gun and denzel just goes whoa like that like it's so good no one else would dare he's like oh hello like he knows exactly when to like put mustard on it and then you're seeing a movie like this it's i don't know if i call this a subtle performance this is not a subtle movie but he's not overdoing it ever which even though this movie overdoes everything i mean have you seen john goodman in this film did you notice that he's in

it olivia's pointing to her virtual background uh Olivia, are you a community fan? I am a community fan. I've been watching community in quarantine because you can kind of just like watch any episode, much like The Simpsons, which I have also been watching, because you can just like go wherever and be like, I get what's happening here. I'm here for some jokes.

Like, I'd love to see it. David and I both rewatched All of Community early in quarantine. I feel like a lot of people have been watching it now, especially because now it's available on every streaming service. It remains one of my favorite jokes in any television series ever, where they set up Goodman at the beginning of that season with the air conditioning repair school. He's gone for like eight episodes and then when they finally get around to like oh we gotta deal with that subplot and bring him back he started filming flight and he looks like this and he just enters a scene donald glover says like what happened and he says it's been a weird few months it's so good and it's like it's so clear that it was just like

hey goodman you're still down to be on the show? Yeah, you should know. I look like a fucking maniac right now. And they're like, don't worry. We'll write one joke about it. Which also means that they like, because he's not in like a ton of this movie. It just means that they happen to like intersect at the exact moment that he would have looked like this. Is it two scenes or three scenes?

It's not more than three because he's like the hospital driving him as well yeah he drives him and then he comes back to the hotel yeah it's three scenes but he he apparently spent nine months growing out that ponytail the ponytail is fun also because it's like from the front you're like that's just john goodman and then he'll like turn around like and it's like a braid almost it's like he's yeah he's got like a long thick navi braid it looks like he would use it to connect to a dragon i would connect to john goodman's weird braid yes of course awo awo would hear some things as much as we've been clowning on the screenplay a little bit, and let's get into the plot anyway.

You know, we have the plane crash. We'll talk about the plane crash now. But the fact that right after that, pretty much the first thing is a scene of Jon Kabed barging into a hospital room. And you're just like, I don't know who this is.

I don't understand what's going on. I do appreciate that. That's fun. Like, there's the mystery he brings. But first, yes. No, I'm sorry. We open on titties, boobs and cocaine. Yes.

First shot is just a boob. And you're like, what? A boob in a hotel room. Horny. First of all. I'm sorry. I took I took notes. There's one shot of an airport runway.

Oh, okay. It's like flight. Titles, flight, airport runway. Second shot is tits. Okay. Second shot is literally tits rise into frame. Because in my memory, I remember tits being the first shot. So I was trying to really take note of this, but it is especially odd for two guys who have been watching Zemeckis movies for the last five months, where Zemeckis is usually very horny, but in a kind of like restrained family friendly way. There are always these weird glimpses of horniness, but he doesn't really show sex. If it does, it's in like a very Jessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit cartoonish way. It's a lot of like coded jokes and shit, especially coming from three mocap movies in the world.

Although Beowulf is really fucking horny. It's the horniest movie ever made. It is alarming to watch this movie start with tits. Right. And then they start smoking weed. And it's like, it's like immediately you're like, I guess this is what we're doing. And then he like does coke and he's in the suit and he's like walking down the hallway. It's like most of that scene in the hotel is like a big one-er, like an establishing one-er of the hotel room where he's in bed bullshitting on the phone.

And you just watch this fully naked woman walk around the corners of the frame slowly put clothing played by nadine velasquez who was catalina and my name is earl like an actress i like she's funny she gets to be naked in this movie and then dead like that's really if she talks i don't remember it um but yeah yeah no it's it's it's it's very much Zemeckis being like, I'm making an R-rated movie, guys. Do you see? But then there's something subtle that I don't know if you folks picked up on, which is when he hangs up the phone, he does a line of Coke,

and then the song that plays is feeling all right. But beyond that, also, when he does the line of Coke, the camera zooms into his face as well. And it's like, it's that real, like, sound effect thing of the, also, when he does the line of Coke, the camera zooms into his face as well. It's that real sound effect thing of the like, it really hits it, too. Everything about it is just like bold, italicized underline. And then he gets on a plane. Uh-oh. Oh, no.

And his co-pilot is Brian Garrity, who't seem to be as feeling quite as all right as denzel a little more of a square one might feel unless all right right i love the moment when denzel like like brian garrity has obviously realized that this dude is fucked up but denzel like checks the oxygen or whatever and then like offers him a hit he's like good or something which is like of course he knew you were drunk like you got two aspirin and a coffee and then took a giant hit off the oxygen tank we should point out that like the airline pilots union was like this is the most offensive movie ever made in the history of our industry we are so mad and i feel like they were like we have done decades of work to convince you

that pilots are not drunks who bang stewardesses at hotel rooms and this movie is wiping it all away it's not their fault that flying a plane is cool as shit and so is like fucking women i guess well you said the thing about like the vanityity Fair, like a real flight expert reviews playing crashes shit. And it's like this movie has the confidence of like a Denzel is so good at playing experts on screen. Right. You trust whatever he's saying. Right. Yeah, absolutely.

And B, there's so much lingo in this whole opening like flight that I'm just like oh shit this movie must be really accurate like every time he says like we're gonna trim the nose i'm just like fuck that's a phrase i haven't heard before i guess this movie did its research they're talking about like the elevator doesn't work i'm like i have no idea where an elevator fits into like a plane but like i i guess it's bad if it doesn't work elevator Elevator is the thing that makes the plane do this, basically. I think Melissa Leo explains that at the end. So I learned. I think the technical language is basically on point.

I don't know if you know this about David, Olivia, but he hates planes. They freak him out. He doesn't like flying. And yet, as a way to sort of try to conquer the fear, he obsessively tries to learn as much about planes as he can and watches videos of successful flight landings to put himself to sleep at night. And takeoffs.

I think that, well, okay, as I don't love flying either and takeoff and landing is the worst part. Of course. When I was a kid, I used to get really sick on planes. I was the kid who would like throw up on a plane. Wow. And I was like, so now i get like so nervous when i fly especially if there's like a slight hiccup on the way down i'm like this is over this is i i am a little calmer about landing unless it's really bumpy because then it's like at least this is

soon going to end like that's the only relief that's coming with landing takeoff is i the worst i cannot stand it the anticipation the fact that you're at an angle the the fact that the plane banks you know that you'd like that you know you like oh i hate it i hate flying you hate it when they trim the nose i do so but uh all that to say the plane crash the whole flight sequence which is probably what 20 25 minutes right is great he says we're gonna trim it nose down that's the term right right because it because there's yeah because it's like doing this but no the flight's incredible and i feel like that was one of these things with this movie where either people were like i gotta go see this i hear the fucking

flight sequence is insane or people like you were like i will never watch that movie in my life it scares me too much because also it's like the flight starts with that crazy thing where they have to get out of the storm and that itself is like so stressful that is my true nightmare that's right it's a good psych out i mean i really was white knuckling it and forky was like do you want me to watch this movie with you like I was like this movie has a plane crashing in and she was like okay well let's watch the movie together I picture her cradling you throughout this entire movie

literally holding you in her arms it's not like that although that's what it's like on a plane that's I mean not cradling but she has to manage me but uh because the problem is that on a plane I might yell that's not right or something like that like i might i might do something that's not appropriate you planes plane no i don't no no i

like that i might say aloud something that is a fear in my head like the plane will go like and i'm like that's not good and like you shouldn't be yelling that on a plane and under any circuit i don't i do i don't do that to be clear i do my best to okay you know be calm but it's the combo of it seems really scary he's weirdly calm about it but then garrity is kind of looking at him like all right you know like that was risky yeah yeah it's really you know that's great and that's just him being a cowboy he's just like ah fuck it we can get through this turbulence there's a little pocket over there right he's like he's like we're not doing autopilot today or whatever he's like i'm gonna fly it and it's like so dangerous obviously

like right immediately you're like this guy is bonkers he is well this is like this is the movie that i want to watch that i get most excited by the glimpses of, which is like, does this crazy move, finds the pocket of clear air, pulls it off. The entire flight applauds him, right? This guy's a fucking hero. They can tell that things are scary. He did something radical and it worked. This guy's just like a fucking incredible at being a pilot. Then he steps out out does the shit

with the fucking bottles of vodka into the orange juice and while he's doing that with one hand he's over the pa with the other hand doing like fucking stand-up doing his like letterman five right and he's killing he's not just like talking to them like he's good like fucking near miss of what just happened he's like winning them over like everyone's good like fucking near miss of what just happened he's like winning them over like everyone's loving it and i'm like this is what i find interesting in this premise is not like a i don't even know how to describe this properly because it's not like a like oh how do you separate the art from the artist thing but it's almost like a how do you separate people's strengths from their weaknesses, right? This idea of like, if someone does something incredibly good, that's at the same time that

they're doing something incredibly irresponsible, is it possible to extract one from the other? You know, like, that's all interesting to me. And to watch him, like, this whole sequence where you're kind of watching everything through Garrity's eyes, where it's like, okay, he's a movie star. He's cool. He's charming. He's nailing this. But also, he's literally, like, sleeping at the wheel with, like, a piece of paper. The napkin or whatever.

Right. Right. Like, all this shit. You're like, this shouldn't fucking work but i know what movie i bought a ticket to he's gonna roll it he is gonna roll it he does roll it when they are in the air suddenly essentially what happens what happened to alaska 261 which is the flight this is based on is like the fucking tail broke the rudder broke you know the thing that like makes everything make sense just exploded because they hadn't been maintaining it blah blah blah you know like

it was just like years of neglect and the plane like just you know just starts misbehaving and well it doesn't just start misbehaving it fully just like goes down it like right it goes nose down right yeah nose down like so that is so scary to me the idea that you could just be in the air and suddenly be like nose down like well god i'm getting anxious just thinking about it whenever they cut to the cabin i like can't i like can't watch it it freaks me out too much Like I can handle anything with flying That is not in a passenger jet You know what I mean like Because then I'm just like okay yeah whatever

This is just science fiction to me anyway Like military planes space right Any of that but right but when we're cutting to People in cloth seats You know and their drinks are rattling I'm like no no I can't watch this This is too horrifying to me uh we don't really see the plane much right like we're really just in the cockpit and the

cabin right i was just gonna say that's like zemeckis's like big trick here is that he's like you're not gonna see the outside of the plane you are going to be in it the whole time and it's gonna stress you out the whole the only time you really see it is there's, there's the CGI shot they do from underneath where you just see that thing flapping. That's not like working properly, but that's really the only part of the outside you see like during the action. But,

but it's also like, this is Zemeckis making his first live action. We since cast away, cast away another movie where everyone's like, fuck, this crash isemeckis making his first live-action movie since Cast Away. Cast Away, another movie where everyone's like, oh, fuck, this crash is going to be bad. I know the crash is going to be bad. People cite it as, like, a famously terrifying crash. So you have to know that he's coming to the tail being like,

I got to one-up myself. Right. Like, I got to do something different. I've set a standard for myself. But also, the movie's based around the premise that, like, this miracle shit happens in this absurdly unlucky circumstance. Every time he like sets up another piece because Zemeckis is such a like breadcrumb storyteller of just like, I put this here. Remember this.

This is going to come back into play later. When you see the overhead compartment open, you're just like, fuck me. Zemeckis is going to do some shit with this. This is going to come back into play later. When you see the overhead compartment open, you're just like, fuck me. Zemeckis is going to do some shit with this. Someone is going to end up fucked up because of that. You know? And then you see the flight attendant, like, unbuckle herself. She, I can't, with her,

when she's, like, when she's knocked her head and they roll it, and then she's, no. That makes me so upset. upset like so viscerally upset he's just he's such an exacting filmmaker that anytime you see anything happen in the cabin it happens with such a sense of dread because you're like that is to set up something worse that is going to happen in two minutes right and even the like even the like vodka bottles and the orange juice like those come back later because they're like, what are those?

Like everything is kind of pieced together and it comes together in some kind of bow, which is maybe the screenplay, but is also feels very Zemeckis. It's very Zemeckis. I mean, that's a through line of literally every movie he's made. So either that's why he liked the screenplay or that's something that he mandated in the rewrite because he never like there's always that like i'm going to make a shot based around spotlighting the vodka going into the orange juice as much as possible so that that image sticks in your mind so we can recall it an hour and 20 minutes later and it's not out of nowhere there's and then there's just two things really one just the fact just how good denzel is in the scene just you know how that thing where you just spring into crisis mode and

you're suddenly locked in right which is a real phenomenon i've felt that way like and then just i mean the best idea and moment in the movie which is that when he tells tamera tooney to say she loves her son and she's like what and he? And he's like, black box, black box. And then locks back into flying the plane. And I'm just like sitting here, like in like an ocean of devastation, just thinking about that thought process. It's like this brilliant moment of clarity for him.

And it's also, he doesn't say it to his son. He's like, you got to say this to your son. Because he knows she's got, you know, like it's just, it's also, he doesn't say it to his son. He's like, you gotta say this to your son. Because he knows she's got, you know, like, it's just, it's flooring. It's such good writing. It's like the moment that I love. She is really good in this movie. Incredibly good in this movie. I love her.

She's a terrific actress. She gets like three or so scenes, maybe even just two. But she like absolutely knocks it out of the park. You know, she played Calpurnia when he did Julius Caesar caesar on broadway like i feel like he knows like whatever they've known each other for years or whatever you know like she's such a pro i i mean obviously everyone i feel like knows her best from like sbu and stuff like that but like she's she's the she's a pro it is though like when you describe it in ways like that, it sounds like exactly the kind of screenplay I love. Right.

Like I love a movie with this kind of sort of like murky moral premise just sort of winding its characters up. I love a movie that allows actors to come in and just kill two scenes. The screenplay has the generosity to have this many good small roles in it for ringers to come in, both like established stars and people who are sort of undervalued or less known. Like, I like all of that in theory. And yes, as you said, David, that moment is incredible and it's like well played. But that moment is there in the script. Like you have to give credit. And there are times where the script is working on that level, but it's the fact that the guy is so matter-of-fact

about it, that it's like, he's trying to convince everyone in there, as unemotionally as possible, that he's gonna pull this off, right? Like, the terror is not sinking into the guy. He's in literal fight-or-flight mode. It's like, I'm gonna fucking fix this. But also

he's like, but I can fucking fix this. But also he's like, but I can't be sentimental about this. I might fail. And if I fail, she should say goodbye to her son. The fact that it's just

like checklist, you know? Totally. Blows my mind. It's so good. The plane crash is crazy. Well, wait a second. I'm trying to remember.

He does something weird. What does he do with the plane? Does he bop it? Does he twist it? Twist it! He doesn't pull it. No, David, what does he do?

He rolls it. He rolls it. Oh, right, right, right. He turns the plane upside down so it is inverted. The way he says it, too, he's like, we're going to roll it. He's really like, we're going to roll it roll it i love it it's one of my favorite line ratings and i guess the implication is that somehow he can like the stabilizer works like you know when it's upside down or something and that's what he's doing is that he's that means he can

bring the plane down more slowly because everything's backwards yeah i think the big complaint that most uh of the like these videos i'm talking about is like if you did that the wings would probably just snap off as much as they are designed to resist incredible pressure like if you literally just like turned the plane upside down like that it like anyway he does it and then he turns it he rolls it again again. You can't deny that part. A full roll, a 360 roll. It's a double roll, right. And, you know, the moment where it's suddenly quiet,

the engines are dead, you know, Garrity's freaking out and praying to Jesus, and he's like, we gliding? We're gliding. Like, you know, that's good, too. That's pretty great. So good. Yeah.

And then the fucking, you know, steering column hits him in the face and we're off to the races. Two hours to go. Well, but also, it's like during that whole chunk, like the way we've been talking about it, you would think that was the only thing

that happened in this movie. But we have also met Kelly Riley and she has also like gone to her porn friend and picked up heroin and overdosed on it to Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Another really subtle, beautiful needle drop in this movie. Like, yes, you might not get it the way we're we're talking about it. Like all makes sense. Like that would have been a tighter like first 20 minutes of this movie. Right. But instead, those 20 minutes are intercut with Kelly Riley going about her day trying

to get a fix. Yeah. Almost getting kicked out of her apartment, getting evicted. And once again, if you're going to see this movie off of the trailer, you're just like, this is Denzel's face. Denzel Washington flight. Why is this much of the first 15 minutes spent on a woman trying to get heroin? Right.

And the movie doesn't really answer that question either. No. But especially in the beginning, you're like, what does this have to do with anything else that I'm seeing on screen? Right. So they crash. He blacks out. He's in the hospital.

He's all fucked up. But he's okay. He has no serious injuries. Bruce Greenwood is there playing the representative from the Pilots Union, his old buddy Charlie. One of those actors who just is like a great tree, you know? He's an oak. Just like his face is like he's seen the world.

He's like been around the block. So handsome, too. And his voice. His voice. The way he says anything, you're just like, this guy's telling me the truth. I think that the first time, obviously he's in a ton of movies, but the first time I really clocked him was when he

played Kennedy in 13 Days, the Cosco movie, which he's great in. And I remember just thinking like, oh my god, this guy just must be like a Kennedy lookalike that they found. And then it's like, no, he's just a good actor who just kind of has that attitude.

Like he just kind of seems kind of like a presidential guy. And he just rules. I mean, he's incredible in Star Trek, which is, I think, just a three or four scene performance as well that I think about all the time. He's wonderful in it. Oh, he's the husband in Double Jeopardy. He is?

Yes. He's a good villain, too. He absolutely can play a creep. But that's like, you look at the first ten years of his career, and it's like First Blood, Wild Orchid, Passenger 57, Disturbing Behavior, Double Jeopardy. He's very much in this kind of trashy

but successful thriller zone. Rules of Engagement. disturbing behavior, double jeopardy. Like, he's very much in this kind of trashy, you know, but successful thriller zone. Rules of engagement. And then, yeah, and then, like, 13 Days is kind of the turning point. He's also in, of course, John from Cincinnati. He's the lead of that. One day we'll do it on the Patreon or something. God, what, 10 incredible episodes.

He's president of the United States, a national treasure book of secrets. One of my favorites. He's played the president more than once And then the next morning Who shows up but Johnny G Johnny G shows up Tells the nurse I'm on the list

He shows up with like a camcorder That never really comes back into play He's like filming the nurse The camcorder bit is crazy He films his butt oh right full butt from denzel we love we do love but yeah the nurse is just like oh you and it's like do you know him this guy is the worst look i don't i don't want to say anything incriminating and i will clarify that it is not one-to-one but the the John Goodman character in this movie reminds me of my godfather to an uncomfortable degree.

The second he enters, I'm just like, that's Howard. It's like the kind of guy who just says, like, rock and roll is punctuation and, like, actually has printed pornography with him. Like, he's like, yeah. Stroke mags. Stroke mags. And they're all called, like, hot. Stroke mags. Stroke mags. Yeah, he wanted to stroke it. And they're all called like hot milfs or whatever.

But just to use the term stroke mag in 2012 Year of Our Lord. Well, he also is like, he like knows all the names for the pills. And they're like, he's like, they're giving you the generic shit. We want the blue label American. So it's like, he's smart in his own way. Like he knows all this stuff. And certainly, I mean, when he comes in at the end of the movie, he fucking does his job well. He does successfully sober the guy up.

Yeah, anyway. And he's like loyal. He is loyal. He's a good guy. Denzel is like, go to my house, get the bag labeled veal out of the fridge and bring it back and then drive me to this farm. Which is like a lot to ask of someone but john goodman does it all if you're gonna be an addict this is the best guy to have as your friend right he yes he feels like a cousin of his big lebowski character who is

weirdly more cheerful but also more criminal like but it's that same vibe right where you're like yeah was this guy maybe a nom like has he kind of seen it all like you know you know what i mean do you guys feel like whip we haven't even mentioned that denzel's character is named whip whittaker whip whittaker but do you guys think whip and john goodman were like like how do they meet is they did they meet because he's a drug dealer and then he just became a friend organically or is it like an old friend who became a drug dealer like this is the actual this is like a story i would want to see would be like yeah a buddy comedy about them through the years right prequel my my guess

is it was transactional first became a friendship that's how i always read it and it's sort of like an indictment of the character that this is his best friend in the world is a guy who he presumably bought shit from but they do seem like genuinely close like totally well because it's like they've seen each other right in the most vulnerable circumstance so right i also think it was a transactional relationship like 30 years ago right yeah they've now been friends for longer than they were just uh uh buying and selling um but he's so good it's one of those things too where you're like disappointed that he's not in more of the movie even though i don't really know how the movie could have used him more and there's a power to like using him sparingly but unlike james badge dale where you're like that's an incredible one scene that's designed to be one scene in and out.

Don't need to see that guy ever again. Just the fucking look. You just want Zemeckis to keep on doing needle drops and letting John Goodman storm into a room. I mean, it's like perfect. It's like I'm leaning over because my background is John Goodman. But like the cargo shorts, the bowling shirt, the sunglasses, and then the Jamaican thread bag is such a perfect touch to the whole thing. What I love about the bowling shirt to shorts thing,

it's like his bowling shirt covers 60% of his body. The shorts cover like 15. There's still a lot of skin left over. It's like such a choice where he's like honestly i could lose the shorts and basically the same amount of my body would be covered yeah the sunglasses the the apple headphones he he's magnificent in this movie he's a magnificent sight it's a great performance uh he should have been oscar nominated there was some buzz and then it kind of died off i think he kind of hurt himself by being an argo it's just it's just too small it's a little

small it's like if he had one more scene in the movie i think he probably would have gotten nominated right but like to your point it's like this this movie is so great because he's not in more of it almost it's like he like shows up at the beginning and he's like gone. And then when whip needs him again, there he is. Like, it's like, it would have,

it would have maybe like diminished the like last bit if we had, if he had like kept popping up and we were like, here's whips like loyal friend. And it's like, no, he comes back and it's like a treat and we're all excited. Cause we're like, Oh,

he's about to do cocaine. That haven't been said the the trailer spotlights him so much that you're ready to watch a fucking buddy movie of this dude enabling denzel right i think it's you know i'm looking because like the other thing with the oscar nomination is just because he's he's bizarrely unnominated anytime he's pops in a movie there is that talk of like okay are they finally gonna you know tip the hat and you know it's not like he doesn't work but he really hasn't he's mostly been doing tv i feel like that's where his energies have been concentrated recently because of the connors because of the righteous gemstones like his only performance in the last

almost decade apart from the you know that i really loved was 10 Cloverfield Lane, which he's so good in. He should have gotten nominated for that. He's incredible in that. And I want to say, obviously, as America's number one The Conners stand, he is doing incredible work on a weekly basis on The Conners. He's incredible on that show. He's great on Gemstones, too. He's so good on Righteous Gemstones. He rules, to be clear.

It's just that he has, you know, Emmys or whatever. Like, I just, I need him to have an Oscar. But anyway, whatever. That's my cry. I just want to offer a couple quick corrections to what you're saying, though, David. Yes, go ahead. One, you're forgetting the committed work

he's been putting in as Autobot Hound in the last two Transformers movies. Look, he's good as Hound. Hound is the Transformer, if I remember correctly, that has a robotic cigar that he smokes. Correct. Thank you. I want to make sure Olivia knew that. I did not. I'm going to look it up real quick. Yeah. Hound is a robot who smokes a robot cigar. Does smoke come out of it? Uh, sure. is a robot who uh smokes a robot cigar does smoke come out of it uh sure no i don't think so it seems like it's maybe just ornamental but he definitely chews on it it might be like a vape

pen right you know like it's sort of i don't know yeah i also i agree that uh ten chlorophyll lane is the best one but if i could just spotlight a couple other things. He is good in Patriot's Day. Yes, he is. I haven't seen Patriot's Day. It's a small role. Very good in The Gambler, which obviously does not come together as a movie. Never saw The Gambler. He's really good in that, and that's another Goodman

movie where you're just like, this fucking look. He is completely shaved bald in that movie. And he spends most of his scenes in a sauna Inside Llewyn Davis I feel like is the other one He's so fucking funny The year after this where people were like First Coen Brothers movie in a decade

Is this finally going to be his nomination? Isn't that another one where he's only in it for like a scene he's just like in the back of the car being like weird to oscar eisenstein like yeah this like one extended sort of spotlight chunk of the movie but he's incredible in it like incredible and i believe insanely like third build like i guess just because he's john goodman he's so funny and inside lewin davis i love that performance there are few things i find funnier maybe as someone who misspeaks and mispronounces things all the time that when actors deliberately mispronounce words as a character choice and inside lewin davis when he's trying to slam folk music and he says playing three chords

on an ukulele. Ukulele. I should rewatch. I don't know. Apparently he's in Atomic Blonde. I don't remember that. He's like debriefing maybe. Is that what he's doing? Yeah.

God. Yeah. Anyway, he's in that movie Captive State that I saw that like is not great, but he's all over that one. The alien found footage. Oh, yeah. He's actually good in that. That movie doesn't exist, though. He's good in it.

But let's say another thing about Goodman, OK? Goodman very publicly has talked about his addiction issues throughout his entire life. He's had a major, major drinking problem and major drug addiction as well. And I feel like the last 15 years, he's talked a lot about trying to like really sober up. It seems like it's really taken this time he had a couple sort of false starts but like the the 2010s were him trying to actually get his act together and i feel like to some degree he has been moving towards tv and away from movies because he's like it helps me stay sober if i'm working all the time and i'm super

stable it's it's like such a schedule that it's like I go to work every day for like this amount of time. That makes perfect sense to me. He's talked about it really openly. And he's also like, he looks better than he's ever looked. He's in like really good shape now on the Conners. Right, he lost weight. He's more, yeah, it's crazy. The thing about John Goodman is that he's always like

you look at John Goodman for a second and you're like, that's not a man that looks good. And then you like look at John Goodman and you second and you're like that's not a man that looks good and then you like look at John Goodman and you're like oh that's kind of that he's a looker like and it's so much charm and like he's so big like he's so tall I just want him to like pick me up I don't know if you watch the Connors I don't watch but it's a big running thread I mean I never watched Roseanne I have no affinity for Roseanne. I watched the first episode of The Conners. I'm not saying I dislike Roseanne.

It was never a show I was into. I was just sort of so fascinated by, oh, they're doing the show without her. I have to watch this episode and see how they deal with it. It's my favorite show on TV. He's so good in it. And one of the things I think is great about it is it's a show about John Goodman being weirdly

sexy. It's like now John Goodman as a widower and all these women being like, fuck, I want to date you. And he's like, I don't know my wife. I'm still thinking about my wife. She had a lot to say about Israel. I imagine he's also good because he's just like, like, I feel like John Goodman is so good for that like multi cam sitcom thing. Like he's just so funny and so quick that it would just like it just seems like he must be so good at landing like that type of joke yeah absolutely but he also really plays the pathos of the show like it's really about him as sort of like a broken patriarch now um all this to say it is interesting that this was that

period where suddenly, like, Goodman was in two Best Picture winners in a row, right? He's in The Artist and Argo. He's doing, like, six movies a year.

I forgot he's in The Artist. Oh, yeah. He's in The Artist, all right. Every year, people are like, can we finally nominate him this year? And then it's like,

oh, no, that performance is actually a little small. This one doesn't connect as much. I'm going to roll it. I'm going to roll it. I'm trying to be, what's his pants? With pleasure.

Jean Dujardin. With pleasure. You know, Jean Dujardin, one of the 10 best actors of the last decade. Yeah, he's the most famous actor in the world, right? He won best actor. Of course. Yeah, he gave one of the 10 best performances. But this is also the period of time where he's like in retrospect talked about how much he was struggling

with addiction and arguably his two best performances are flight and inside lewin davis where he plays like drug fucking train wrecks of men yeah yeah felt like him trying to sort of purge this energy but anyway now we spent 20 minutes talking about the four minutes john goodman's in which are kind of the most notable in the movie outside of the crash this is the thing there's a lot of movie but most of it i feel like is dismissible not that it's like unwatchable gets very repetitive it's very repetitive it's which i understand it's trying to get you into the mind of an addict who's not admitting to himself, you know, that there's the problem. Right. And so, right.

He's doing the same bad behavior. He's like, you know, lying to people. But it's pretty fucking repetitive. Right. It's like the rest of this movie is like we get the stairwell scene with James Bedge Dale. He goes to the farm like throws away his alcohol and then he like learns he's in trouble and then he starts drinking again and then he stops drinking and then he starts drinking and then it's like that's kind of it

he just encounters like different people and like learns new information along the way yeah and the weird Kelly Riley relationship where you're like, is this gonna be some weird movie, like overly perfect, two broken people fix each other things? And then it just becomes like she kind of gives up because she's also gotten her shit together

and she doesn't need to be dragged down by him. That's like the best thing that her character does the whole time is just like get out of dodge she's just like i can't like when she comes home and he's like drunk watching those home movies is like devastating oh boy i'd say like as much as the kelly riley stuff is odd in the movie like she does have three of the best scenes like that, that scene's pretty incredible. The AA scene, I think, is pretty good. And the best scene of that whole arc,

the only thing that really kind of justifies investing that much time in this relationship in the movie is the scene where he kind of turns on her when he's fixing the plane and he's pitching the Jamaica trip. And then where he just, like, turns on a dime the second she calls out his alcoholism. I get, like, as much as it's not the movie I want to see, and that is only the fault of this movie having a more interesting premise and setup, I do understand, like, John Gatton's

working 10 years on this screenplay feels like him trying to exercise this very particular thing of I feel like how the show business deals with high-functioning addicts. You know, this kind of thing of like if you're good at your job and you get stuff done and the final product is good, if you land the plane, then we'll excuse anything. Right. Like all these stories you hear about until like, you know, people have their mass and bottoming out where you're just like, this guy like was like, you know, only could act one hour a day or this director would leave set or like, you know, would direct from bed or had to have their lines fed to them through an earpiece. Like you hear all these stories of just like, how the fuck are people still hiring this person? And also how the fuck are those performances

still good? And it's that thing where people are just like, it's maddening. It's maddening. You watch him on set. He's a fucking nightmare. And then you get in the editing room and somehow it's there and because of that people just keep on indulging and people keep on enabling and might even call in a john goodman to give him more if it helps get him you know the energy he needs to get on set i understand that as like a personal story and there's something kind of there to making a movie about like a guy who needs to come to his own right admission of his addiction yeah i got no beef with an addiction even though he could technically get away with it like a he's still so good at everything he does in terms of his job and b he's always able to just kind of save his ass at the last second what i would like like i i completely agree with all of that.

I think that there's, like, this very interesting tension within the movie where it's like, if anyone other than Denzel had been flying that plane, everyone would be dead. And they, like, really hammer that home. And it's very interesting. Where, like, I start to start, like, maybe having questions about things.

I would like to know if john gattons is like a religious man like if he used because the god stuff just like pops in and out and like james badgedale's speech is like god chose me to have cancer like they hit the church there's that whole religious group act of god thing the act of god clause. It pops up in these sneaky ways that I'm always kind of like, huh, that feels not like an accident. And then the Garrity scene is so weird because it almost feels like it's played for comedy. The bit of his wife butting in over and over again

just feels so over the top that you're like, is that badly judged drama or is he going for satire here? I think the wife kind of ruins that scene. Cause I like that scene in theory, right? The Garrity is like, I'm mad at you. I also recognize that you saved my life.

I won't spill the beans on you, but it's kind of because the only way I can process the awful thing that happened to me is that this is all in God's plan Like that's the only way I can reckon with this Because otherwise I'll go crazy basically I like that But then the wife just starts chiming in with like Jesus!

I'm like alright, alright I get it from you I also just can't get over that he has the same exact look As Eckhart and Sully To the point that With the mustache? Yeah, I texted you guys about it Yes, the push through mustache over that he has the same exact look as eckhart and sully to the point that i just yeah i texted you guys about yes the pushroom mustache just that it's like that's what a co-pilot is he's just always sitting there he's like i'm here in case you need me like but then also his character

is so similar to his hurt locker character as well as like oh this is like the totally naive wet behind the ears guy in over his head with like a fucking cowboy badass who does his job his way in terms of the addiction drama stuff in the arc of this movie i like the central conflict that he not only needs to like you know kind of skirt around the fact that he was straight you know he knows it wasn't his fault right but he knows obviously he shouldn't have been drunk but like i like that he He needs to lie about This person who died right And like that's

That emotional Dilemma It's a great set up And I like the way the movie ends I like it as a rock bottom narrative I just struggle with it after this Absolutely Incredibly Tight tightly you know directed

thrilling plane crash sequence like that we just are in that in the addiction drug like i just never get i already said this they just don't totally hang together for me i would say that there's like another sequence that's like incredibly tight which is when he's at the hotel we're in the hotel room at the end of the movie and the door like that there's that light knocking noise and he's trying to figure out what it is and then it's the connecting hotel like that plus the score during that section is like thriller music you're like this is going to end so poorly but that's just fucking Zemeckis visual storytelling. And even the wind up on that, watching his like sober night and how bored he is eating the steak when he's in bed doing the shit with his hands.

He watches SpongeBob, of course. Right. Like all that shit is is so good and so potent. so good and so potent and then obviously like everything from that point on in the movie is pretty much good even though maybe the last like scene deflates a little bit but it is

odd like I think Kelly Reilly is doing a good job in this movie I think she is doing this better than most actors could and especially for such a big movie with such a big star and a big director to give it to someone who's established but not hyper famous, you know?

It's like you're hiring someone just for acting talent and not for star power. I think she does a good job. That having been said, it just feels like this character is so thinly sketched down to just like, you know, Denzel, there's so much shit of like the shadow of his father and the ruins of his marriage and his son that I think to the movie's credit, they don't spell out too much. They don't ever have the big scene of like, this is why I drink.

I love the scene where he chases her away, where he's like, no, I choose to drink. I choose to drink. I'm not like you. You're an addict. I choose to drink. I'm not like you. You're an addict. I choose to drink. I'm not fucked up. But he kind of mocks her with the like, what's your problem? Your mom died. Everyone's mom dies.

You're weak, you know? And it's like, that's a really cruel thing for him to say, except the movie has not really given her any characterization beyond the fact that her mom died. I would say that like... There's nothing else there. Do you think he's pointing out how poorly written she is? No, sorry. Go ahead.

I was just going to say, all the women, like, if you think about who the women are in this movie, there's like, uh, Katerina, she of the boobs. She has boobs, yes. And she dies. And then there's Tamara Tooney, who is like a mom. And that's her whole thing thing is that she's a mom noble mom we have kelly riley who is an addict and that is like her whole deal and like then we also have his ex-wife who shows up for like a single scene she's she scolds garcelle bouvet

right and so all these women are just like sketches of like ideas. And the fact that like Tamara Tooney and Kelly O'Reilly are good at all is just like a hundred percent testament to them. Yes, absolutely. This screenplay is just like women, they get one kind of characteristic and then they can figure it out the rest of it. You forgot Melissa Leo. Oh, of course. Melissa Leo, a bitch. Who waits for us all at the end of our days. Don Cheadle does his best to prepare. What if this movie was about dying and there's another one next year and it's like, when you die, Don Cheadle is there and he's going to try and get you past Melissa Leo. It's going to be hard. Listen, defending your life, but it's like Don Cheadle is my lawyer and Melissa Leo is judging me. That sounds cool.

That's the other thing. I mean, I know you want to talk about Cheadle. I'm lobbing this up. Every male character in this movie is so fascinatingly complex. And not underwritten, but... Well, under-explained. But they all have interesting relationships they all have like interesting relationships

to Denzel Washington that are like filled with nuance and complexities and all these women are just kind of like passing through. Good dramatic writing.

Yeah. Every character has a different relationship to every other character and behaves differently depending on who they're talking to as opposed to the women

in the movie who are like one straight line. And yeah, I agree, David. I think it's like unexplained in a way that's actually kind of interesting. And that's the fundamental difference is like most of these guys in the movie, their backstory is not explained. We can spend time trying to debate

over how Goodman and Denzel know each other and how long they've known each other. But at least the movie raises those questions. It makes you curious versus Kelly Riley, where it's just like, I don't know, it's her mom died or something. Like, it doesn't feel like they're unexplained. It feels like they just are uninterested. Cheadle's character. Yeah, I agree with all. Cheadle's character, which, you know, he has no monologue where he's like, so my deal is this. Like, you know, here's why I do this kind of work.

Or here's what I'm getting out of this. No. No. is this like you know here's why i do this kind of work or here's what i'm getting out of this no no no here's a guy who is exceptional at a job that you're like this is kind of a bad shitty way of life right when he like kills the tox report you're like oh boy the way he just so casually is like i'm just looking for permission can i kill the tox report he doesn't explain how he's gonna do it he's just, I'm a fucking paid assassin. Right. That's the other interesting thing where he's like,

it's just gone now. Don't worry about it. It's gone. I'll explain it 45 minutes now in a different boardroom. The thing we referenced where he passes the money to Bruce Greenwood

to give to John Goodman. My favorite moment when he is in the boardroom with the airline owner and the airline owner is like, you know, like someone says like, well, six people died. And he's he's like no four people died that the crew members don't count and then he has to like take the beat yeah and he's like i mean i you know i mean i just mean

like from a liability standpoint right sorry that sounds wrong right that's crazy i love all that i just i like how much is you know as little as he has to explain about himself or whatever I like how much, as little as he has to explain about himself or whatever, just the triple balance of he's incredible at this, he's exasperated with Whip Whitaker, obviously, because this guy is a terrible client, and he's definitely a little dead inside and the only way he deals with it is by being a pro or whatever. And Cheadle's just got so much going on.

He's so good. I love him in this movie. I also, is this the only Robert Zemeckis movie where like two, let's say, top-ish bill black people talk to each other? Has to be. Has to be. I assume so.

Yeah. That's like the thing that I find almost like most interesting about this movie is that like Robert Zemeckis does not make movies about black people except for maybe Octavia Spencer and the witches. But like Octavia Spencer and Chris Rock haven't seen it yet. I wonder how that's going to go. We're waiting. But like this movie is so oh, there's a big siren passing by.

Let's see. It's a witch's alert on high alert for talk of witches. But like it is it is interesting that he primarily like makes white movies and it feels like Denzel got brought on board and they were like, we got to we got to fill this movie with some color. I did a little further research while we've been talking. Denzel is the one who acquired the script. OK. Denzel acquired it early with his producing partner to make it and star in it and it never got off the ground presumably with gattons attached to direct it all that time

and then i think at some point he went can we offer this to other directors i still want to get this made so he's the one who sort of like it was pitched as a mecca says denzel wants to do this which makes me think that Denzel also probably said I would like Cheadle to play this part. Because they're so good and devil with a blue dress together. One of the most incredible supporting performances. He probably was like, that's a guy

I'd love to work with again. There's the added element of the Cheadle thing that's so incredible. And I think you're right, Olivia, that I feel like Flight and The Witches are the only two Zemeckis movies with a black actor above the title. Like, I don't think he has another film with an African-American actor in a role even close to this large. I mean, even when he was talking to Tamara Tooney, I was like, oh, this is like two black people talking to each other. Tamara Tooney, I was like, oh, this is like two black people talking to each other.

The black man and a black woman talking to each other about something completely unrelated to the fact that it's a man and a woman and they're both black. And it's a movie, it pointedly never talks about race at all. In a way that's kind of fascinating, especially from such a white director. He's a very white

director. Wait, so Beowulf didn't have any black people in it? Are you guys sure about that wait i need to double check i gotta scrub through that movie it's got a lot of gold people in it um yes i feel like it's something that zemeckis feels like he can't handle i i write like that he's just like well i don't know you know like there is that trepidation in his career even more so than some of his big shot peers i'd say it's almost like like nice that that trepidation was there where he like cast the movie and he was like no we're not gonna do is rewrite anything to make reference

to the fact that there are black people here like this is just the way the world works which is true but there's there's that double-edged sword to him where you're just like, you cannot imagine a circumstance in which Zemeckis makes the color purple. Like, to compare him to Spielberg, which we often have to, and you're like, on one hand, you just imagine the guy would be like, why should I make that? I'm white. I'm not the person to direct that. But on the other hand, his films tend to have a very narrow viewpoint. Like what he have done, like if he had made a race movie, would it have been more Amistad than Color Purple? Like that's that's the question. Right. Right. And and yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's it's interesting. I mean, and it is like I wonder how much of this movie was sort of like Denzel saying I'd like to work with these people, especially since it's a lot of people that he's worked with before. You know, he's worked with Goodman before. Like, I wonder

how much of it was him being like, these are people I like to act against. Can I say the other Cheadle moment that I think is incredible? Because as you said, David, like he he's constantly sort of like processing what a disaster this guy is as a client. Right. That he's so good at his job. And like Whip Whitaker has this like Trump like ability to absolutely sabotage every situation and make like everything legally more precarious for himself every time he opens his mouth. When they're having the conversation outside the wreckage of the plane after they've had the talk about the vodka bottles and whatever. And Cheadle talks about like the simulation they ran and how every other pilot killed every other person on board. The thing he says where he's like, I knew from them when I met you that you were an arrogant scumbag. And it's such a fascinating thing that like this guy is essentially like very well paid to excuse his own moral compass and let shitty

people get through loopholes in the law. Right. And yet he's like, I find you reprehensible. Like, not only are you a nightmare client for me in terms of me doing my job successfully but i dislike your character the way he flips when they finally like knock on the door and then open the door and he's you know uh he's uh he's like holy shit or whatever he's like is he dead is he dead just tell me if he's dead he's not even like oh my god what happened he's just like out for crying out loud wait did you guys think that the blood on the toilet kind of looks like wilson from castaway wow call back i like saw it and i was like wait and then you get closer and it doesn't but from like that first shot it has like two eyes and like a face a a mouth. But that whole scene, like all of them are really shining in

that scene. Yes. I think David's earbuds died. He's walked away. We're just looking at Blarp on his virtual background. I don't like it. It looks like the way the way it's set up is like Blarp is talking into a microphone. It's like Blarp has something to say. David does this accidentally a lot. He'll pick a Zoom background where then when he walks away from the microphone, it looks like the character is podcasting. This has happened like four or five times and I never do this. This one is I'm going to take a screenshot because it is like really it looks like he's doing like a man on the street interview about something like someone is like, did you see the scaffolding fall? He's interrogating Heather Graham. Your background is John Goodman. As we said,

I should mention that my background is planes, fire and rescue. What was it before you changed it? It was a different plane from planes. Yeah, it was Sidley the spy jet from Cars 2, which a thing I don't know. Have you been podcasting a lot during this i know you banked up a ton of uh iconography right before we we have been on a break but we have so we haven't we were in like the beginning of quarantine and now we're trying to like figure out our next come back come back come back one of the best podcasts um but a thing that David and I have learned through months of just recording too many podcasts over Zoom is, like, how to spot a good Zoom background. Because so much of it is, like, the positioning relative to knowing your setup, whether you sit high or low in the frame.

Sometimes I'll find one, but the image is too, like, weighted into the middle, so then I'll readjust myself. Right. You have to find images where the middle of the image is pretty clear. David, it looks like you are their third. I would be. Well, this is a spoiler for our next episode, but this is the one I had yesterday, Olivia. It's a fun selfie of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Charlotte Le Bon on the set of The Walk. I don't... I can't believe you guys have to...

Looks like I'm their third. Is The Walk good? No. Okay, cool. And then what's next? Is it Allied? Yes, which I love. I saw Allied. I remember very vividly seeing Allied with my mom in the wake of the 2016 election.

And just like, I think my brain was the 2016 election. And just like, I think my brain was so empty that I was just like, that's, that's a movie. That was my experience seeing allied. So Dave, that's David's take two. And I love ally and I've always stand for,

and I'm hoping that he's going to change his mind. That's the big narrative I'm trying to set up. That, that I saw allied. And I saw, I saw the accountant the day after the 2016 election, which was, what if there was an accountant? Here's another background.

Griffin, what is it now? What's happening here? It's Jim Carrey and Robert Zemeckis at a press event for Christmas Carol. And Jim Carrey is pretending to vomit up red and green tinsel. And Zemeckis is having a hearty laugh. Yeah, he's loving it. He thinks it's so funny. I also think it's so funny

so uh my mom and i wanted to go see the accountant after the election and we got sold out so we went to see uh dr strange instead and my mom had seen no marvel movies and it was incredible both just like the times that she turned to me and was like is that something and i'd be like yeah don't worry about it and also at the end of it she was like these marvel movies are all the same aren't they it's the same thing over and over again you've seen two out of 20 now also doctor strange is a weird one to say that about because that one's kind of all over the place in a fun way i love that movie i think that movie is like a kooky fun time. What if there was a strange doctor?

Yeah, what if? Let's land this plane. Let's even roll it, perhaps. Gets the screenplay nomination. Gets the Denzel actor nomination. It's his first nomination in over 10 years. This was his first time

being nominated since he won for Training Day. He kind of has a fallow period after that. I mean, he directs two movies himself, but they don't become big Oscar hits. And he makes a lot of Tony Scott movies and a lot of Anton Fuqua movies. But he doesn't really do another highbrow movie for a while. He doesn't.

Like, Inside Man is the closest, which he's... Oh, my God. Inside Man, one of my favorite movies of all time just like absolutely perfect but i feel like what if what i remember from this like oscar moment for him was almost roman j israel-esque where people were like oh like we're all we're not not like this is not best picture this is not getting anything else but we are just gonna nominate denzel like yeah yeah and it just felt like he was back in the territory of like oh right i guess he's good not best picture. This is not getting anything else, but we are just going to nominate Denzel. Yeah, yeah. And it just felt like he was back in the territory of like,

oh, right, I guess he's good in everything. We'll just sort of give him an automatic nomination every couple of years. Because he's been nominated two more times since this? Or three? Yeah, for Fences and then for Roman J. Israel. Roman J., right. And then, you know, 2022,

when Macbeth comes out. Olivia, supposedly 2021. I believe that movie is in the can. I believe that movie is done. Are you sure? I feel like I had heard that they didn't finish it, which scared me. Well, I mean, it's possible they had to stop or whatever. But I think, well, anyway, people have seen stuff from that movie and slid into my DMs and told me about it.

Did they say it was good? Well, I can't, man, whatever. But, you know, I'm very excited for that. I'm very excited for him doing a Coen movie. You know, I mean, it's only Joel. And, like, even who knows if they're going to keep the, like, Shakespearean dialogue. But he can do that, too. We've all seen Much Ado About Nothing where he is incredible.

Like Peacock for me is like that movie. Oh, he's unbelievably hot in that movie. That's him at his absolute sexiest. I mean. And even that pose on the poster where he's like this where he's sort of doing the like pizza box like... That's a movie also where like everyone

is so hot in it that it's just like perfect. Keaton. So hot in that movie. Keaton. Reeves. Let's keep it going.

I mean, he's... And he also... He did Julius Caesar on Broadway and he was also great. Obviously, he's done

August Wilson and he did uh reason in the sun he did the iceman come if he can do anything i love that he's also like now you know doing this thing where he produces these filmed versions of the august wilson plays like and he wants to get all the whole pittsburgh cycle filmed which I think is a great idea. Like, I am enjoying this period of his career that, you know, that he's sort of like, OK, I'll probably scale it back on the, you know, Antoine Foucault type action movie. So he did do Equalizer 2. He did, which also made $100 million. I know.

I need to catch that one. But it does feel like I mean, it's it's a thing I feel like we often talk about on this show of just like, man, I'd love to see like Tom Cruise let go and just become like elder statesman actor. Well, that is never going to happen. That's the thing. It's like some of these guys can't fucking let go of being like the cool guy with the gun who gets the girl at the center of the poster. cool guy with the gun who gets the girl at the center of the poster. And Denzel, even though he comes from this classical theater background and started out as this guy who was like, movies, I don't know about this. It was a justified worry that he would maybe never let go of that grip. But it feels like he's entering a really interesting sort of zone and understanding of

how he plays in his 60s and is going to challenge himself more as an actor. And Tom Cruise is probably going to die doing stunts, right? Oh, my God. Wait, I just realized another Clooney parallel, which is that they were both on medical dramas for a long ass time. Of course. He started out on St. Elsewhere. Yes. They are so intertwined. Also, Tom Cruise is going to die in space and they're going to keep it in the movie and we're going to have to like watch it. I just I cannot believe they are letting Doug Lyman direct the space movie. It just it boggles the mind. It's a Cruise is making a space movie. Elon Musk, of course. Perfect. Makes sense that that is feels like a safe and sane decision for the people involved. Doug Liman's directing it.

What are you doing? That's like bringing the outbreak monkey onto a fucking spaceship. His whole directing style is he's like, I don't know. I just throw shit at the wall and like reshoot everything 12 times and like drive actors to the point of insanity. I mean, it should be Chris McCrory, obviously, because they work so well together and he has such a good handle on it. Or Joseph Kinski.

Any of his other guys who are these very calm, like, mathematic... Even Brad Bird. That would be perfect. Put Brad Bird in space. Put Brad Bird on a spaceship. Right. Doug Liman describes his own process as Limania.

When people, like, revel in being, like, a nightmare at their job, it's like, no, that's a red flag, sweetie. He's a Whip Whitaker. He is a bit of a Whip Whitaker. And yet, you know, Edge of Tomorrow is a masterpiece. And American Made ain't half bad. American Made is kind of fun. Yeah, American Made's pretty good.

Caleb Landry Jones is good in that movie. Oh, the laundry bag himself. Please, Caleb Laundry Bag. Put some respect on his name. We love him. What's Laundry Bag up to? Is he playing another scary white boy in something? That's his beautiful niche.

You're kidding. He's never done anything like that. Am I wrong in thinking he did, like, a straight-to- video Lyman military action movie? It's a Rod Lurie, but you're talking about the outpost Eastwood, Scott Eastwood,

laundry, Orlando bloom. But then there's an Aaron Taylor, Johnson, Taylor kitsch, Doug Lyman. I get those two movies confused. Anya,

Taylor, Johnson, Taylor kitsch. Yes, exactly. Too many tailors. Yes, exactly. Too many Taylors. Wait, are you talking about the movie that Doug Liman made that came out like the same year as fucking the movie?

It's called The Wall, I believe. The Wall. Correct. Right. That's Aaron Taylor Johnson, John Cena. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course. Right.

That's the one I was. I get that confused. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. Do you know Doug Liman is also making a pandemic heist movie now? Yeah, I'm in it, actually. Olivia is too.

We've been shooting it for weeks. We're actually like on, that's why we have our Zoom backgrounds on, is because we don't want you to see that we're in the same hotel room. We're next to each other. And like, I don't want to spoil anything, but get ready for Limania. That's all I want to say. This just feels like a drinking game where you're like okay okay come up with the movie that audiences will least be in the mood to see a year from now and they're like i got it it's called lockdown a

quarreling couple makes peace in order to take advantage of the covet 19 pandemic and pull off a jewelry heist at the harrods department store it's just like we're gonna get so much bad pandemic art before we get any good pandemic art and it's just gonna be did you guys see that trailer for that kj oppa movie that's like i refuse no i refuse to watch it i will not i will not dignify it infuriatingly bad songbird yeah yeah and it's like it it's just like clearly got turned around in like six months and like is. But also the belief that anyone wants to see those movies. Like, first of all, everyone is looking for escapist entertainment now. Right.

Yeah. Second of all, people the last thing anyone's going to want to think about is this pandemic once the pandemic's over. Right. Like I have a hard enough time now watching regular movies where people are like. Yes. Close up. And I'm like, you can't do that. Like, even if the movie was made in, like, 1970, I'm like, you guys are too close together. And, like, the idea that I'd want to watch my actual reality in, like, six months? No. No, thanks. hyman said congratulations to both of you on being cast in lockdown i should mention the rest of the cast ann hathaway chewatel edgy of four ben stiller stephen merchant duly hill mindy kaling ben kingsley one of those people is a bitch but we won't tell you which one it's not who you think let me let me just tell you his name rhymes with a boule bill. You thought you could never get enough tap dancing? David and I have gotten enough tap dancing.

With David Sims and Olivia Craighead. That's the credit block on that movie. I got the and David got the with. We have very good agents. Right, right. Exactly. My agent is Olivia Craighead. very good agents right right exactly um my agent is olivia craket um flight ends with him giving a emotional testimony it's a great scene he says he's drunk right now i don't think we have anything

to contribute more to contribute by the way we're done talking about flight right i i wish the hearing were like 40 minutes but okay also the movie should end there the movie continues to go on and sort of reveals itself to be a memory play almost because he's like talking about this whole situation in prison and then his son comes to visit and his son is like i have to write this essay for college about like the most interesting person I've never met. And it just, that really like kind of sucks the air out of it for me. Absolutely. It feels like the monologue that Hanks has at the end of Cast Away. It's another like, I need to unpack the movie as explicitly as possible. It feels very like pedagogic, whatever.

Yeah, it's a bummer. It's a bummer. Both those scenes are a bummer. And it also feels like the son has not been the number one character you want to see him make good with throughout the movie. It's like, if anything, it's like Kelly Riley should be there at the end. Like the movie, there's like that picture of them celebrating the one year of his sobriety. Like, the movie, there's, like, that picture of them celebrating the one year of his sobriety. And it's like, that should be the scene, maybe, instead of, like, his son coming. And also, just the cheesiness of, like, who are you?

And he's like, that's a good question. And it's like, all right. Fuck off. That really kind of bugged me. I don't care. But it's stupid. Yeah, the ending's a bummer, and the hearing is so good,

and I think Melissa Leo's so good, especially because you built up, like, get ready, she's a fucking buzzsaw, she's gonna tear you a new one. And then she comes in, and her approach is to be almost overly empathetic. Right, where she's like,

we're almost done here, and then she, like, hits him with the zinger. It's like, oh, like, that's almost done here. And then she hits him with the zinger. It's like, oh, that's cool and smart. But she does it real careful. Like, in a real sensitive... Right, she's like, oh, is that true? I'm

willing to believe you, but is that true? Like, everything's in that kind of pushing tone. Yeah, I just wish this movie, the last 40 minutes were just doing that hearing at length. I want to just see the two of them go at it for longer. And then it should just end.

Like, that should be his. He should have his speech. And then, like, it should have a Sully ending is what I'm saying. It's like it should. Oh, could you imagine if this movie ended with Denzel saying, I was drunk and I'm drunk right now because I'm an alcoholic cut to black. I thought you were going to say if Denzel ended it by being like, I'm an alcoholic and I would have done it in July. He should have done it in July.

That was his biggest mistake. I wasn't even thinking of Sully. But of course, the greatest ending of all time versus Flight. That was his biggest mistake. I wasn't even thinking of Sully, but of course, the greatest ending of all time versus Flight, a not very good ending. Guys, the box office game for this movie

is the one we've already done before. Do you know why, Griffin? Well, this movie opens number two behind a family film. Number two behind a family film that we covered? Yes.

It's a family film that we covered, uh it's a family film that we covered but it's is it hotel transylvania one no it is not but that is number seven whoa whoa but this is a family film that we covered it's not a spielberg it's animated is it happy Happy Feet 2? No. I was going to say it's not a Brad Bird. No, it's not a Brad Bird. It's not a director we covered. Oh. It was a choice of sorts was made. There was a choosing.

Oh. Did Ralph wreck the box office this weekend? He did. He's wrecking it. He said he was going to wreck it, and he followed through. He made double flight. Yeah. Ben is feeling under the weather, so he's not on mic right now. Otherwise, Olivia, you would be subject to a long monologue.

About how large. Yes. Ralph is big, and Penelope is small, and they are good friends, and no one should ever say anything mean about them ever. That's the best kind of dynamic is when one person is big and the other person is small. Look,

if I, if I made one key choice in the creation of this podcast, it's finding myself a six foot three co-host. That was, that's, that's still paying off to this day. I'm saying we made a lot of other decisions After the fact but that set us off on the right foot

Absolutely Absolutely So Wreck-It Ralph Number one, Flight number two We've done this box office I want to do six to ten in this box office Because it's a real smorgasbord But I will tell you the top five

So Wreck-It Ralph, Flight Number three is Argo. Fuck yourself. Number four, and you might remember that this took you forever to guess the last time, is The Man with the Iron Fists. Oh, right. Yeah, geez. RZA movie.

The kung fu movie directed by the RZA. And number five is Taken 2. Sure. Fine. It's a fine top five. Number six, though, another movie we've covered on this podcast. A great movie. Undervalued.

Not a hit. Sprawling epic. Cloud Atlas. Cloud Atlas. Olivia, have you seen Cloud Atlas? I have not seen Cloud Atlas. Olivia! Olivia. Listen, I've seen Cloud Atlas? I have not seen Cloud Atlas. Olivia! Listen, I've seen Jupiter Ascending,

which feels like the better choice for me in my journey. You have to see them both. They're both good choices. I just remember that movie coming out and people being like, Hugh Grant does Yellow Face or something. Oh, they all do it it ain't just you i don't know if this is a defense but everyone in that movie does every

face like hallie berry does jew face i'm not i'm not even kidding no i believe you i fully those wachowskis they'll just go balls they're wild like what david you look like you're you're trying to solve a problem here what's going on there we go well i had to give myself a new background what is is that hallie berry yes that's hallie berry and when i said and when she walked into this scene i said that's hallie berry to forky and forky said no it isn't is she wearing a prosthetic nose is that what that is yes yes they wear all kinds of prosthetics she's playing a white jewish heiress in the film uh it's a wild movie you should watch it what is the ocean but a million drops so that's number six number seven at the box offices hotel

transylvania great movie olivia gotta check it right i like I like Hotel Transylvania that movie's fun I'm glad you love it I always love to meet someone else uh who's taken an extended stay at the hotel oh yeah I've checked in number eight it's a horror sequel it's a horror sequel is it a two or is it deeper deeper deeper and is this a franchise that has been rebooted? Or has it been one straight shot? It's been one straight shot. And I imagine a reboot must be coming. Now that you mention it.

So is this a Paranormal Activity? That's correct. Is it two? It must be three. It's not two. Or the masterpiece that is Paranormal Activity 3. Is it four? It's not two or the masterpiece that is Paramore Activity 3. Is it four? It's four.

They really turned those movies out. The one with the haunted Xbox. Right. And then they did the marked ones and then they did the other side and then they were done. This is the problem. They were going to make more but unfortunately the entire franchise vanished into the ghost dimension.

That's what it's called. I knew it had something dumb. Right, and that was the 3D one. Do you guys remember, like, what a big deal that first one was? It was like a wave that swept the nation. I remember people just, like, losing their mind. It's one of the most brilliantly marketed movies of all time.

It was also kind of incredible because it felt like fundamentally the Blair Witch phenomenon should not be replicatable, right? We all fell for this shit before. You shouldn't be able to pull that on us again. And there was something about the fact that like it sat on a shelf for so long. Then they made this whole thing where it's like,

we might not release it. We're only going to release it if people really want to see it i remember you had to like vote to have it come to your town you had to be like i want paranormal activity to come to washington dc right that's crazy you just unlocked a memory yeah that was the whole campaign after the fact people were like no they had like booked those screens in advance that was all a marketing tactic. They wanted people to feel invested in the release. And I did. It completely worked. It worked. Yes. It's a good

movie. It's kind of a magic movie. It's not like Oren Peli ever directed another good movie. But it's just kind of a magic thing. Three is the one where I'm like, that's a fantastic horror movie. That's just great. Two is just one where I'm like, that's a fantastic horror movie. That's just great. Two is just one, again, for, I remember it has the haunted Xbox. I have not seen the marked ones or the ghost dimension.

I've only seen one and three. I somehow just only saw the good ones. But I think they are rebooting it now. I feel like I read something lately. They have to be. It feels like they would just make that into a tv show based on people's like ring cameras now that's what it's gonna be it's gonna be some bullshit like that maybe like fucking maybe reboot it like fucking short form like maybe it's just like make paranormal activity

as a series of tiktoks or whatever i don't know i tried to launch paranormal equivity and it didn't work i i had to get that out fast. I will say sometimes I'll see a TikTok of someone who is like recording like a dance video and then like their closet door closes really suddenly. And they're like, did you guys see that? And I am like genuinely scared. So I do think. That's what I'm saying. I'm not even being cynical, like being like, oh, make it a TikTok.

I'm like, it probably would work well in that media maybe they ran the way they rung it dry at feature length make some spooky tiktoks i mean i am shocked this is me giving away a free idea to anyone but i am shocked that no one has put like scripted content that like natively lives on tiktok because it's a platform where people go and they're like, I have this crazy story that I'm going to take like 20 TikToks to tell you and you'll just like scroll through the whole thing. And that's what, 20 minutes? That's an episode of TV.

Like it's going to happen in the next year. It's definitely going to happen. Definitely going to happen. Olivia, I will pay you $10 billion in stock for that idea right now. Okay. Griffin, do you have an offer? No.

I feel like I'm on Shark Tank. Shit. Griffin's in the room. $20 billion in stock. Oh, God. Griffin's out negotiating me. That's my impression of everyone at Quibi. Olivia, I have like a dollar crumpled up on the floor.

So the offer is either... That feels maybe worth more than Quibi stock at this moment. This stock is going to shoot right back up. Once the pandemic is over, once the vaccine is out there, everyone's going to re-download Quibi. Once we're back on subways, because that's where Quibi went wrong, is that we weren't commuting anymore. And so suddenly we couldn't watch Quibi's. Much like Whip Whitaker in flight now that david is trying valiantly to defend quibby he is uh shedding a single blood tear number nine at the box office is a comedy a comedy with a comedy star is it a vince vaughn movie no you're in the zone. Is it like one person?

It's one person and he's doing an activity that you shouldn't. This guy doing that? Yeah. I've not seen this movie. I assume it's like that frat pack.

Is it a Wilson? Is it a Stiller? pack. Is it a Wilson? Is it a Stiller? Nope. Neither. Is it a Black? No, a little bit less than these guys. These guys are real big shots. This is a...

He's in the Sandlerverse. He's in the Sandlerverse. Is it a Kevin James, Here Comes the Boom? The Boom. It's Here Comes the Boom. A pretty much straight-up remake of Warrior a year after Warrior came out. But funny. Kevin James is funny.

He is funny. This is the thing. I hate to say it, but Kevin James is funny. He's fundamentally funny. Kevin James is very funny. I wouldn't say I'm a fan, but I can never deny the fact that he is inherently funny His vehicles tend to disinterest me

But I usually like him as like a supporting character I enjoyed him very much in Hubie Halloween recently Olivia, have you? When you said his vehicle The first thing that came to mind I thought you were talking about like his segue Yeah, I mean, I love him on a vehicle. I was like, I agree.

I think he's really fun on the segue. He's great. He's great in a vehicular mode. I think we all agree he should have won six Academy Awards for Hitch. Oh my god. He's good in Hitch. He's very good in Hitch. Hitch is great.

I rewatched Hitch during quarantine and I was like, this is great. I should check out Hitch. Will Smith, funny in Hitch? Oh my god. He's good in Hitch. He's very good in Hitch. Hitch is great. I rewatched Hitch during quarantine and I was like this is great. I should check out Hitch. Will Smith, funny in Hitch. Yeah. Number 10 at the box office is the horror sequel. A forgotten film. I know we're late

on run time but can I say a Kevin James thing really quickly just because I think it's juicy goss? I might have told you this off mic at one point. That Kevin James is such a religious fanatic who opposes the idea of evolution that I

think it was on Here Comes the Boom. Because that film takes place at a school. They were filming a scene in a library and he insisted that they remove all books that referenced evolution from the set before he filmed. Is that true? That is true. That is true.

I don't know if I like Kevin James anymore. I cannot cite my source, but that is true. What was he afraid of? Like, that they'd get, they'd see the title, they'd see, like, a Darwin book in the background and be like, guess it's real. Yeah. Oh, fuck. That book looks good.

Just from the spine. I'm not even listening to dialogue anymore. Look at that binding. Anyway, yeah, Kevin James, the funny guy. David, what's number 10 at the box office? It's a horror sequel. It's also a, well, I don't want to say, well, I have to,'s a horror sequel. It's also a... Well, I don't want to...

Well, I have to. And we're late. It's also a video game movie. Is it Silent Hill Redemption? Revelation, not Redemption. How dare you? I knew it was a re. Just this sort of funny thing where Silent Hill, the movie,

which I like, is mostly based on Silent Hill 1. And for some reason, Silent Hill 2 is based on Silent Hill 3. I don't know. Anyway, Pyramid Head. He was an up-and-coming star back then. He was sort of in that Kelly Riley zone, where you're like... God, yeah.

Goodman could have played Pyramid Head. He would have fucking nailed it. Anyway. Can I, is Pyramid Head a man who has a pyramid for a head? You nailed it! Yes, but also, you'll be so happy with the results It's everything you think it is and more

Pyramid Head genuinely scary, I will say, in the game But yeah, it's a guy with a big fucking pyramid on his head And a knife the size of a house that he drags around Oh, this is scarier than I thought it was going to be. Right? Silent Hill is scary. I was imagining, you know, like just a triangle that went to the shoulders,

but it really goes. It's a pointy pyramid. Yeah. And he's got the apron and the big cleaver. The knife is huge. I would love a knife this big. Yeah, it's good. It's a good knife.

Olivia Craighead, thank you for being on the show. Is there anything you'd like to plug aside from Pyramid Head? You know, me and David's movie is coming out in 2021 called Lockdown. Thank you for reminding me. Would you like to plug the fact that we saw The Way Back in theaters together a week before

fucking COVID hit? Yeah, David was literally one of the the last people I hung out with were like David and then me and my mom saw Jagged Little Pill on Broadway and then it was lockdown. What was the thing? There was some plan we had that we had to work around you hanging out with Olivia first. Oh, that was you were doing a power. You were doing the power hour. That's right. With Gabriel. Yeah, Olivia, you should have come to that.

That was wild. I know. That's when I was like really boy crazy about the person I'm currently dating. And I was like, I have to go back and see him. You were in a state that I was just absolutely very charming to behold. And you were clearly anxious, but it was great. I just like... No, sorry.

What were you going to sayivia oh no i was gonna talk about the way back which is a movie that got swallowed by quarantine but was pretty good good movie good movie affleck could sneak an oscar nom you never i was gonna say i was gonna say like on the record right now this episode coming out a couple weeks after we're recording and then nominations coming out many months after i think there's a chance Affleck sneaks in in this weird fucking year. There's a chance. And he seems to be campaigning pretty hard now. He is.

And he's never been nominated as an actor. And he's quite good in that movie. Who knows? You never know. He's also like one of the only celebrities who's kind of like kept his name on people's lips during quarantine because he's always getting coffee with Ana de Armas.

Wait, has there been footage of him? Wait, has he been wearing his mask funny or getting dunked or anything like that? He has been the single best content creator during quarantine, right? No one has been producing better content than Affleck living his life. He'd love to walk his dog and get dunkies

and smoke cigarettes and hang out with Ana de Armas. That gives me something to look forward to every week. Absolutely. Watch The Way Back. Look up Ben Affleck paparazzi photos and listen to Iconography if you haven't already. It's one of the best podcasts. If you haven't listened, it's fun.

David and Griffin both have episodes that are great. Thank you. And I had a great time. Thanks for having me on, guys. Oh, please. Always a pleasure. We'll have you back on again soon. I'm locking it in for Unstoppable right now.

You guys got to do Tony Scott. Yes, let me look at the spreadsheet. Tony Scott is happening 2027. So are you free? It would be like the second week of April, I think is when we're aiming to record that one, potentially. I might have something, but I can move it around. If folks haven't listened to Iconography,

just as further incentive, David and I each did an episode picking our favorite movie star. One of us picked Colin Farrell, and one of us picked Vin Diesel. I won't say who picked whom. You have to listen to find out. Of course. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, subscribe.

Thanks to Joe Bowen and Pat Rounds for our artwork. Lane Montgomery for our theme song. Go to blankies.reddit.com for some real nerdy shit. Go to our Shopify page where Talkin' the Walk 2020 t-shirts will be on sale.

Representing a bit that you have not heard yet. It's an experiment. It's a sociological experiment. Do people want the shirt before they've heard the bit or are they going to wait? Who knows? Who knows? Will they have the art by the time this drops? Yes.

They'll be able to see what the shirt is and they won't understand how it comes into play in the episode. I, okay, having seen the art, I feel like I feel like you could sort of put it together. The art gives away like at least the voice you guys are doing. I think you'll be surprised. Honestly, I think folks will be surprised.

But you've seen the art and you liked it. I love the art. It's one of my favorite jokes. It is. It's a great joke. It's so funny to just like say at any given moment. Yeah. So Gossip Man, our Gossip Man shirt is now on sale.

And yeah, tune in next week for The Walk, Talking The Walk with J.D. Amato. We're doing it. 2020. Just a very normal episode with no weird tricks up its sleeve. And as always, we're going to roll it.