Blank Check with Griffin & David - Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids

Episode Date: March 19, 2020

B-b-b-bonus Jonas, David and Griffin do a Jonathan Demme wrap-up with his last full-length music documentary. What is David's extensive background with Timberlake concerts? How much does Griffin dislike Timberlake? Is he actually funny or is that all Andy Samberg? And how do musicians keep from exhausting themselves on stage?

blank check with griffin and david blank check with griffin and david don't know what to say or to expect all you need to know is that the name of the show is blank check gonna have your podcast by the end of this song gonna have you naked by the end of this podcast. I'm going to have you naked by the end of this podcast. You don't feel committed to that. Have you ever been to a Justin Timberlake show? I have not. I have.

Here's where this comes to a head. Not a big fan. What's your problem with Justin? We'll get into it. I'm sure we have a lot to talk about for the next 45 minutes. For a period of time where I was like, maybe I want to audition for SNL. I should have impressions

So you tried at Justin? I thought I had a pretty good one at the time Do it again? Well that was me singing let me do talking Hey I'm Justin Timberlake Yeah that's it you nailed it Yeah sure that's exactly what he's like Hey Lauren I'm in town this weekend if you want me to come on the show

But do him in the social network A million dollars isn't cool you know what's cool? what he's like. Hey, Lauren, I'm in town this weekend. If you want me to come on the show? But do him in the social network. A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? No. Is there something? He is a good actor. He does voices. Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes. Here's the Justin Timberlake pattern. He is a very good actor whenever he is working with

a great director. Which he smartly often does. Yes. That's a weird thing. I think I generally overall am not a fan of his as an actor. Which he smartly often does. Yes. Yeah. That's a weird thing. I think I generally overall am not a fan of his as an actor. And he has given maybe four performances that I cannot deny in any way in movies I love. He's also, as I pointed out, I think online at one point, he was in two of maybe the best five movies of the decade. Llewyn Davis and Social Network? Yeah.

Right, because Love Guru was the decade before that. And three if you count Bob Star. Right, because Love Guru was the... And three if you count Popstar. Right, right. But see, his cameo in Popstar is a perfect example about... Where you're kind of like, okay. This is where I'm like, Justin... But four if you count In Time. In Time also falls into the category of like, I saw In Time.

Of course I saw In Time. I saw it in theaters, opening weekend. They were out of time. What do we think of Friends with Benefits? Now I'm just looking at Justin. Here's my take on Friends with Benefits. Neil Kunis rules. Justin's a problem.

Someone needs to rate him in. And he sings a song, maybe? Does he sing a song in that one? He sings Closing Time. Oh, yeah. Closing Time. What about? I'm in Justin Timberlake.

Southland Tales, very compelling scene where he lip syncs to the killers i think that's kind of a good performance yeah what about um wonder wheel for god he was in that one wow well you know that's my favorite director and i want to talk about it for a very long time what about uh the love guru he's been in a lot of movies i made that joke he's been in so many movies yes he has you made that joke what that's been in so many movies. Yes, he has. You made that joke what? That the Love Guru exists? No, I made it and everyone laughed

and they gave me an Obie and you moved on. You said he's been in two of the five best movies in the last decade and I went right because Love Guru was the decade previous.

Oh, I'm sorry, I talked over you. Well, it was very funny and I got the awards I deserved. What about... I'm a big, big special boy. I'm going down here. Shrek the Third. Yeah, yeah, he's? Shrek the Third. Yeah, yeah.

He's in Shrek the Third. Which March Madness be damned. Apparently he's in Yogi Bear. Was he Bam Bam? He's Boo Boo. I mean Boo Boo. Put some respect on that name, David. Bam Bam's the Flintstones.

Correct. This is another example of me going like, does Justin Timberlake need to be Boo Boo? Like, come on. Who do you want to be boo-boo? I don't know. Griffin Newman? Well, I mean, look, not a bad take. Maybe it's time for a reboot.

Dark and Gritty Yogi. No, but I— Rachel, do you know about the Yogi Bear poster? No. Come here. Rachel, you must see this. Yogi Bear has the worst poster tagline combination of all time. Oh, you told me about this.

Of course, the tagline combination of all time. Of course the tagline is great things come in bears which barely tracks as a joke but to make it worse the poster is Yogi standing directly behind Boo Boo towering over him almost as if your mind could wander to the idea. Let's just leave it there.

But yeah it's just great. It's just great. He's having sex with Boo Boo from behind. It's just funny because then they pivoted to like life's a picnic and then they were like oh, it's just great. It's just great. He's having sex with Booboo from behind. It's just funny because then they pivoted to like, life's a picnic. Then they were like, oh right, it's Yogi Bear. There's plenty of other things we can do. Here's what I find most offensive about that poster tagline combination. You're implying that Yogi is a great thing?

Sure, he's alright, isn't he? Because he inarguably is coming in a bear. There's no question. Quiet! Quiet? What about runner-runner? I mean, another example of just like, Justin, what are we doing here? Affleck's in that. Yeah. And

Gemma Archerton. Who I feel like never got. She kind of got, she made a couple bad, you know, choices. Yeah. And like almost got, like, she was almost the Noomi Rapace role in Prometheus. She was almost the Scarlett Johansson role in Under the Skin. Wow. That'd be interesting.

She was the choice. Okay. And they told Jonathan Glazer that he couldn't get the financing. Get a bigger actor. Sure. Right. And I think she was in talks for Prometheus, and then Girl with the Dragon

Tattoo came out and New Year Peace became the new hot thing and they like slotted her in there. And then the ones she did take were like Runner Runner.

Prince of Persia. Clash of the Titans. Right. You're like she was in the big movies. Isn't there a pirate radio? It has two titles.

The Boat that Rocked is the British title I believe and Pirate Radio was the American title. I don't know why they thought the Boat That Rocked is the British title, I believe, and Pirate Radio was the American title. I don't know why they felt The Boat That Rocked would baffle American audiences. They're both such gripping titles. It was kind of like they were damned if you do, damned if you don't, because either title is going to have audiences tearing down the doors to get into that theater. So Timberlake, So Timberlake, Justin Timberlake, we're talking about his

acting career. But why are we talking about that? That's not what's really on the docket today. Well, we're going to talk a little about both because this is a podcast about mic check, mic check filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their careers are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy

passion products they want. Sometimes those checks clear, and sometimes they bounce baby. And this has been a miniseries on the films of the great Jonathan Demme. And we are closing it out. This miniseries titled Stop Making Podcasts with what is his final feature-length directing credit. Sad. He did a couple TV episodes after this. Right.

But he passed. Did he really? I mean, he only died like TV episodes after this. Right. But he passed. Did he really? I mean, he only died like a year after this movie came out. I know. I think he has two or three TV episodes that at least air after this. I think you're right. I think you're right. He was pretty prolific at the end of his career, despite the fact that there was a little bit

of a slowdown on narrative films. Sure. But he was always very prolific. He did a lot of documentaries in his last final years, a lot of TV, and he even did an off-Broadway show. Sure. His first time directing theater. He was a guy who was constantly experimenting until the very end,

and it was very sad that we've lost him. Yes. His birthday was pretty recent. There was sort of a— February 22nd. There was like a swell of Twitter again of what would have been his 76th, I believe, birthday. That sounds right. 76th or 77th, yeah.

But he really was a one-of-a-kind special guy. And I'm very happy we've talked about him. And we'll get emotional at the end of this episode when we wrap up our thoughts. But we're using Justin Timberlake plus symbol the Tennessee kids as an excuse to get our final thoughts out there and to also sort of acknowledge some of the other work he did because in this miniseries we've done, we only covered two of his documentary films proper. Yeah. Stop Making Sense main feed, Swim to Cambodia Patreon.

Right. In total, he made 12 or 15 feature-length documentaries. I'll watch him sometime. I'm busy. I watch I'm Carolyn Parker and Storefront Hitchcock. Some of them

are very hard to find. Yes. Cousin Bobby, which is one of the ones that's supposed to be incredible. The one that I'm really fascinated to watch. Yes.

And I couldn't even find it through cough-cough illegal channels. I tried. And I ambitiously thought at the beginning of this miniseries because it's been so long that I would somehow find the time to watch all of the docs. All sorts of things.

Even if they were off subject but I didn't. I watched I'm Carolyn Parker which is about a woman displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which is a wonderful film and I watched Doorfront Hitchcock which is another amazing concert film. 150 bucks for a VHS at Cousin Bobby. This is the thing.

It's like that's the only way to access it. And another $20 for the VHS player. Yeah, right, exactly. Excuse me, Rachel. I have a VHS player because I own too many things. Jesus, I do not have a VHS player. Because my apartment is a nightmare. Of course I have a VHS player.

I own too many pieces of garbage, like a VHS player. I own too many pieces of garbage. Like a VHS player. Sure, yeah. You don't need a VHS player. I know. You know, because the other problem is that that encourages you to have VHSs, which is another space taker-upper. I have not bought one in a while. I will say 10 years ago

there was a set of under 10 films that were amongst my favorites that had never been released on DVD or any digital market I think there is now zero films I have on VHS that I don't I think pretty much especially with the ones you can just rent on Apple or whatever

the ones you don't rent on Amazon because they're a bad company that's done everything wrong but yes, Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kid, his final film and feels very much like Justin Timberlake and the tennessee kid his final film and feels very much like justin timberlake being like i love stop making sense yeah i'm doing this tour right would you like to film it i would love now that i am justin timberlake and i can kind of do whatever i want to have jonathan demi make my concert film which he'd never really done a concert film before

i'm sure he's had film concerts. Yeah. No, yeah. I mean, yeah. No. He hadn't. I mean, this is only the 2020s are like his third and fourth albums. It's not like he

there must be an NSYNC movie. That's what I'm saying. There must be some VHS. I mean, a reason to keep your VCR. There must be some like No Strings Attached Well, I'm not talking

about On the Line, the romantic comedy starring Lance Bass and Joey Fatone from 2001. Right, which many view as canon within the NSYNC universe. Which he is not. But NSYNC bigger than live. Right. There you go.

But I imagine that's a pretty straightforward kind of just like, here's a concert you can watch at home. Yeah. Yeah. Get a chance to see NSYNC perform on your television screen in their own concert film. That's the plot description of NSYNC Bigger Than Live. Now, what we were sort of talking about

at the beginning of this episode, it feels like the 2010s were Justin Timberlake trying to fight against being a musician by and large. The 2010s. Right? You think so?

Fight against being a musician? I think he just wanted to become a movie star exactly i don't think that counted as fighting against his music not fight against i think he very much wanted to background his music career so that he could really focus on the movie star thing because i think he wanted to be someone who was seen equally as both he i'd love to chart exactly how it all worked for him, but definitely the combo of SNL, him becoming such a popular

whatever, drop-in guy. I think he does a fine job on SNL. And then he shows up and people act like he's Steve Martin. People talk about athlete funny, right? Where it's like, you know, athletes, it's like, those guys are so funny. And it's like, no, they're like, okay.

And they can handle themselves. But you're like, LeBron is incredibly athlete funny. LeBron would be at the absolute highest, right? But then, you know, when SNL's hosted by like J.J. Watt, and you're like, yeah, this guy's like, you know, he's okay. He's charming enough. You get a good try award. Right.

Yeah. And Timberlake has a little bit of that energy sure despite the fact that he is like a stage kid child performer like he's been performing his entire life his entire life and that is crazy his entire life i was when i was watching this last night with yeah like we were i was just like right he's literally only been a musician like acting was a new job for him. That was like, maybe he was just like, I'd like another job. Except his starting point was the Mickey Mouse Club, where he was doing both. That's acting.

He was doing both. I mean, he was doing little skits, and he was doing songs and dances. But even before then, he was like, look, he was raised by musicians, you know, and he was like a little kid singing like gospel music in church and singing country music on Star Search and all that stuff. Like that's his entire life. Yes. Right. But yes, he was doing acting stuff and he was, you know, being in a band like NSYNC involves a lot of acting. You know, it's not like a normal band

with normal concerts. There's intense choreography, and you're doing music videos that have dialogue scenes in them. You know, and they're doing so many, like, appearances on other things. Yeah, it's like post-Future Sex Love Sounds, his sort of, his big second solo album. What's the first one called again?

Um, Jesus Christ. Justified. Right, of course. oh jesus christ justified right of course of course of course of course um where everyone went like huh justin solo who knew he was kind of had the potential to be like an usher well just because the the the legacy of the boy band right guy going solo is right right so he he kind of you know he knew what to do he worked with timbaland he worked with the nip like he knew who to do. He worked with Timbaland. He worked with The Nip. Like, he knew who to work with. Right. Right? Like, he was always, like, very smart about, like, how to evolve his career.

He comes out of the boyzone thing. He makes singles that people actually like. Like, becomes a solo act that's actually, like, musically impressive. He kind of takes the lane of, I'm going to do Blue-Eyed Soul. Sure. But with kind of R&B yeah and then future sex love sounds is him being like I'm gonna be like Prince you know or whatever and like that's bold and people mostly went for it yes uh that album's good yeah yes yes I like that album I do congratulations I thank you that means the world to me um yeah but yes I think the other part of it is the thing that he sort of

most successfully transitioned to is he went from being teen heartthrob to adult sexy. And the fact that he did that largely through making albums that are mostly overtly sexual. And shaving his head.

Yes. Which was just a huge decision. The old hair was so goofy. I would just, like, you know, I was in the NSYNC age, right? Yeah. I was more of a Backstreet Boys kid. Of course.

Right, so in a Jets and Sharks way, I was like, fucking NSYNC. There are a couple songs I couldn't deny, but I was like, not a fan. But I would go over to girls' apartments, Humblebrag, for playdates. Humblebrag. After school supervised by parents. Humblebrag. After school supervised by parents. Humblebrag. And they'd have the Justin posters on their wall, and I'd be like,

this fucking guy, look at his dumb hair. Like, I could never get over the, like, bleached ringlets. Yeah. It's very specific. And then he shaved his head and, like, put on a suit jacket, and I was like, god damn it.

This guy's handsome. This guy's got a fucking vest on now. The site looks great. Fuck, it looks like a snack time. Post that, he kind of, you're right, he's sort of like, you know what, you know, going on a bit of a hiatus. He had done, in the year after, he does a lot of collaborations, and he's like, I'm going to do some acting.

And Future Sex Love Sounds is 2007? Yeah. And 2008 is Shrek the, Love Guru. I'm sorry. I believe that's nine. Let me look it up. It might be eight. I can't remember.

I think Love Guru is eight and Shrek the Third is seven. And it was this thing where like he's doing these two Mike Myers movies and then they were doing a lot of like talk shows together. And then Mike Myers was doing this like promo tour of like Justin Timberlake's a real actor. Justin Timberlake's a real actor. Justin Timberlake's a real actor. He's great. He's going to be a real actor. And both of those movies kind of don't do anything for him. He is very annoying in Shrek the Third.

Do you remember this? Which is the worst of the Shrek films. A movie that does not exist. With Jeff Bridges? Like a road trip movie? Father, Son. The Open Road. Road trip dramedy starring.

Hey, Mara. Yeah. Like, what is this movie? I don't know. So then it feels like he, like, backs off again and has, like, gotta re-strategize the movie career thing. I don't think that's true because then he does Social Network. I think he just stuck

with it. I was gonna say, I think Social Network is him re-strategizing to, the goal isn't to be in the biggest movies. The goal is I gotta get in the right movies. And I shouldn't worry about being a star. I should just work with good directors. I will play the third lead in this film rather than being the guy

everyone likes him so I think he's one of those guys who's just like he's professional he shows up he's very enthusiastic he'll take direction like he

you know I don't think he's a very ego-y actor which is why he has such a good reputation and why like the Finchers of the world will work with him well there's the story about when Fincher hired him

and he went look I know you're a big star and you're used to doing music and stuff. You're not used to acting. So I'm not going to hold you to the same standard as the other actors and make you do 100 takes. Right. With the Fincher thing, it makes you do 100 takes. And then Justin Timberlake was like, are you kidding me? I was in a boy band.

I'm used to doing everything 500 times. Right, right, right. You have no idea how hard we had to work out the choreography for our live shows. I'm a machine. I can do this ad infinium. And Fincher was like, this is my fucking guy. Not that he ever worked with him again. Well, he only made one more movie. But it was another thing

too. It's another thing where then Fincher goes to people like, I'm very impressed with Justin Timberlake doing the press. He's like, this guy's a real actor. And that's the one where people start to take him a little seriously. I think he's totally good in, as you say, movies that are the one where people start to take him a little seriously. I think he's totally good in, as you say, movies that are made by,

you know, good movies that are made by good filmmakers. I will also say that, like, I've seen Bad Teacher. I forgot he was in it. Who's he in that?

He plays the nerdy guy. Great. I've seen, like, I never saw, you know, I've seen... He's like the second lead in that movie.

I mean, she ends up with, or she's trying to get him to leave his wife. Siegel is the coach. Right mean, she ends up with, or she's trying to get him to leave his wife. Right. Right. And she's after Timberlake. Yeah.

Siegel's the guy who's sort of just like chilling. Yeah. And you're like, well, there she's going to end up with Siegel, even though Siegel's like four times the size of Cameron Diaz. But he's ostensibly the second lead of that film. And then Siegel and Cameron Diaz did another movie together.

So weird. Do you think they're like pals? I guess. And then Siegel and Cameron Diaz did another movie together. Do you think they're like pals? I guess. And then Siegel and Cameron Diaz both kind of retired from being in movies. Siegel was just on a Simmons's podcast and he is a fascinating person. He's not pretentious at all. He's just like, I was an idiot. I thought being on How I Met Your Mother was bad.

Like I would complain about it at the time being like, oh, I could be doing it. And I'm like, that was a lovely show. All the people were nice. I was making so much money. Like, what's my fucking problem? And he has been very open about the fact that he had very serious drinking problems and I think sex tape was the end of the road for him where he was like, what

am I doing being in big stupid movies and backed away and has only appeared in a handful of indies since 2012? Yeah. Right? And we're not here to talk about Jason. We're not here to talk about it. We're talking about Justin Timberlake. But all of this movie star career stuff is important. Because then you get things like Runner Runner, where he's like, I can do my own serious adult

thriller. And everyone's like, hard pass, don't need it. Right? Friends with Benefits, which ends up sort of being Bridesmaid 2, No Strings Attached. Yeah. of being bridesmaid to No Strings Attached. Yeah, the only thing I would say that we're not counting is that earlier, when he's a movie, when he's a pop star run of like Edison,

Alpha Dog, Southland Tales, Black Snake Moon, when he is fine in all those movies, fine to good, playing supporting roles. So he actually always has been pretty good about like, I'm pretty egoless, like I don't need to be, you know. But to be fair, the energy around those performances felt closer to like when Beyonce is in a movie. Sure. Where it's like whether or not she's good.

It's like isn't it crazy that this international music star is in a movie. Right. From 2007 on, he's like I want to be seen as equally an actor and a musician. And a comedian. And a comedian. And a comedian, right. He's so funny because he shows up and he says a joke. What's the funniest thing he ever did on SNL?

Thank you. I don't even dislike him on SNL. I just don't... I can tell you what I think. I think he's fine on it. I resent him only because everyone overrates his performances. I resent him only because everyone overrates his performances. I resent how much credit he gets. And I also think

the more credit he's gotten for SNL hosting, the more his SNL hosting and pop-up appearances and other comedy things become, wink wink, look at the audience, isn't it funny that I'm Justin Timberlake in this? He did kind of stop, though. I feel like he hasn't done a lot of SNL in the years.

The sort of Fallon thing has faded in general. But his pop star appearance is like the one bit in that movie that irks me. I don't remember it. It's all like, yeah, people say I could never be a pop star, so I'm here in the kitchen. Like, it's all meta jokes about I don't have what it takes. He plays his chef or something. And there was a sketch that was like all the immigrants on the boat heading to Ellis Island. And everyone's talking about what they dream their ancestors could accomplish in America.

And he's saying, I want my grandson to be a pop star. He'll be in a boy band and then he'll do this. It's all jokes about him. He hasn't been on SNL in seven years. I give him credit for that. I think he really did call it quits. I mean, he did the 40th special. Of course.

Who cares? Yeah, I guess it's that. You know? Post-Sandberg. But the 40th special opens with him and Fallon doing a medley of all the SNL songs. Yeah, and the last two times, the last time he appeared was when Fallon hosted,

and he was the musical guest. Makes sense. Right. Those are his two guys. It's Sandberg and Fallon are his two ends. Right. It makes sense he's not coming back if they're not. And I would argue that Fallon, whatever, and Sandberg has a better idea of how to make him funny. Correct. Fallon, in a way,

what am I going to say? It's funny. This is so great. Oh my god, this guy is right here. He's Justin Timberlake. Fallon's got a lot of the same problems as Timberlake. Yeah. What are you talking about? We're having a great time. They maybe bring out the worst in each other.

Worst? There's only good in the world. Sandberg brings out the best in Timberlake, usually. He frames it very well. He makes him a fool, as he loves to make himself a fool, and that's fun. I have my answer for you. Okay. Here's what I think the funniest thing Justin

Tipper Lake's ever done on SNL is. Sure. Barry Gibb talk show. Yeah, that's That's his best comedic performance. Yeah, right, right. That's funny. Yeah, he's very good there. But then it got a little boring. Sure. But that's, I mean, they did it 18 times. But he is always consistently very good in that. But when this is rolling around,

2016, he releases the 2020 Experience albums, which I would say are bloated and mixed. Very, very sort of mediocre. They've got some bangers, but they've got a lot of chaff. Here's a very important thing that I want to point out. Because this is my whole thesis about him sort of background and his music career. He signed a three-record deal for the 2010s. Yeah, and he really had to like.

And 2016 came around and they're like, you're zero albums. No, no, no, no. He released those in 2013 and 2014. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. But you're right that the second one, it's like, he's like, this is my fourth studio album. You're like, this is like a remix album. Totally.

Right. Right. So there was that stretching and then he slips in. I know it's not. It's like a B-sides album. Right. But he was like, no, this is a real album. It's a real album.

Contractually, it's a real album. And then what's it called? Man of the Woods is very much him like gun to the back of his head. I never even listened to that. I saw the music video. It's wild that. Where he looks like Donald Trump Jr. on the tree stump. And I saw the name of it and I said, I never need to engage with this. No one engaged with it. What were you going to say? It's like Donald Trump Jr. on the tree stump. And I saw the name of it and I said, I never need to engage with this.

No one engaged with it. What were you going to say? It's wild that. Just like a guy who is arguably like the biggest pop star of my teenage years. Yeah. Like released an album and people weren't even mad. They're just like, no, that's all right. We're not going to pay you attention.

The headline was, look, it's a contractual thing. He's got to get something out. He made this album in like three months. The story was that they like came to him and they were like, you need to start working now. And he made that whole album very quickly. We once ate at his restaurant. It's actually pretty good.

It's not bad. We ate there after seeing Jack Reacher, Never Go Back. See, that I could not remember. I remember it was after seeing a movie. I have really good memory only when it's in relation to times and places I saw movies.

Southern Hospitality, I believe it's called. I think it might be gone. I can't remember. Is it still there? I think it's a little chain. I think it exists in multiple places. I believe it's still there in Hell's Kitchen. Gone.

Really? Too bad. There used to be one on the Upper East Side. Is that gone? Looks like they're all gone. Oh, apparently Justin has set the record straight. I don't know what this is about. All right, whatever.

It doesn't matter. Holding hands with that lady? Is that what it's about? He was holding hands with a lady? He was spotted holding hands with a lady in New Orleans. And the problem is that lady was not Jessica Biel. But who was it? A lady who was in a movie that he's starring in that's like...

He's doing like a modern Oliver Twist movie where he's playing the Artful Dodger. Jesus Christ. It's like a. Alicia Wainwright? Is she a Wainwright? I don't think so, but he was holding that hand. Oh, Jesus. The son needs my consent now.

Come on. Let me find a less offensive website. Hey, what? Let's try page six. You don't give me. Do not give me your consent. He was holding that hand. She's younger than him.

They're not holding hands. She has her hand on his knee. Oh, wait a second. Maybe there's a second picture. Oh. They zoomed in. You found it. Oh, no.

Yep. Sorry. They zoomed him. I drank way too much that night and I regret my behavior. Wow. That's a judgment. Jeez. Justin.

Yeah. This is another thing I don't like about justin timberlake he's got a kid you know they had a son forky was asking me about um like because she's watching this with me and she's like she's like what is 18 months of this like yeah do you see your family does anyone else like you know and i'm showing her like the dates and she's like it's like every two days like how does this work and then i look up and her his son is born three months after this show which is the last one you know they they got pregnant in the middle of this tour so i guess she's hanging out maybe she's in and out right clearly he had some off time the busy work what

don't you like about him here's another thing I don't like about him. Three times is a pattern, okay? He has at least three times, if not more, gotten in hot water and kind of thrown the woman involved under the bus. Yeah, well, he totally threw Janet Jackson under the bus. That's the one I remember. I would argue he threw Britney under the bus. I guess so.

That was, right. That's such a past era of tabloids. Yeah. But I think he manipulated a very sexist media at the time when he was trying to make himself serious and push himself out of that. He always was cashing in on I'm the victim. He has a little bit of that Teflon thing. Yeah. And he kind of does here. Yeah.

And this show, I find this movie to be kind of excellent. Yeah. I think it's very well directed, unsur here. Yeah. And this show, I find this movie to be kind of excellent. Yeah. I think it's very well directed, unsurprisingly. Yes. And I think that he's a very polished performer who is, you know, mostly charming or whatever. But there is that sort of polished thing. I mean, look, if you compare this to Stop Making Sense, it's a terrible comparison. Horrible.

But you shouldn't do that. No, you shouldn't. That's a ridiculous comparison. But the problem is, this podcast forces us to compare the two of that. No, you shouldn't. That's a ridiculous comparison. But the problem is, this podcast forces us to compare the two of them. This is the golden cage we've made for ourselves. But that's not only a stop making sense, just a totally different kind of show, different kind of performer, but also, like, that's the best concert movie ever made. Right.

But you hire the guy who made the best one. But I would hire him. Of course. Who would you hire? Jonathan Demme. Exactly. I'd pull out the Necronomicon. I I would hire him. Of course. Who would you hire? Jonathan Demme. Exactly. I'd pull out the Necronomicon. I'd figure it out. The point is

I'm not saying he made the wrong choice by hiring Jonathan Demme and I'm not saying it was an act of hubris to try to topple Stop Making Sense. But also them being by the same guy forces us to look at the two of them, right? And forces you to compare his stage show to Talking Head's stage show, which is not a comparison you should make. But if we just get into personal preference, I'm not a huge fan of Polish.

That's just my taste. See, I don't like Polish. What do you mean? You don't like Polish? I don't love the taste of Polish. Should I keep doing my Fallon? Yeah, do your Fallon. And I'll do my Justin.

This is crazy. I went to this show. Jimmy, that's great. That's great. That's so funny, Jimmy. Oh this show. Jimmy, that's great. That's great. That's so funny, Jimmy. Oh, man, Jimmy, that's funny. I think this is interesting to think about the evolution of these kinds of shows. When the Talking Heads are doing that show in the early 80s, there's no such thing as a stadium tour, really.

And certainly there is not the production value even available to you to have like a catwalk that moves up and down the arena. I guess arena rock is starting around that time. It's around then. It's like the U2s of the world, but even they, I think it's sort of like, I mean, stadium shows exist, of course, but it's pretty stripped down.

It's like they come out, they play their loud music. Motley Crue and Kiss are starting to do like weird shit. Yeah, I guess there's those guys where it's a bigger production. Right. And it's like we're going to put Tommy Lee on a platform. We're going to have explosions. But it's still at the end of the day like a rock band. Yes.

And then I don't know when the like I guess it's in the 90s that the pop tour that will have a lot of, you know, like a pop star. Which at that point it's like it also needs to sort of function as theater. Yeah. Like you have multiple costume changes and scenes. And it's so much dancing. I mean, it must be so exhausting. That's another thing. I just kind of get stressed out watching this movie.

I'm impressed. To sing and dance at the same time. And you see him sweating so much. Yeah. Which is a nice relief. Every time he cuts into a close-up, you see him sweating. And I'm like, cool, he is a human. He's not an automaton.

But also, I'm like, why are we making anyone do this? Why is he making himself do this? He's making so much money. This thing fucking makes money hand over fist. I know, he makes so much money. I saw him when I was a teenager. And it would have been for his first album. Okay, for Justified.

Yeah. Talking 03, O3. Yeah, and he was on this crane that like you know would like move around and he would like beatbox remember he was really into beatboxing it's not like a fucking kook arm like the harry potter yeah like he was cherry picking you know like rescue some cats from the rafters um but i just remember at the time being like very impressed with just just the the enormity of his effort was so obvious, which is how I also felt when I went to concerts when I was 13 or 14.

No, but no, come on. I was going to, I went to a lot of rock shows. Like I mostly went to rock shows and like, that's like, like the strokes would come out and they'd be like,

we don't do any fucking encores. And then they would like play for half an hour. It's so stoned. It's such a waste of everyone's money. I think we went to a lot of the same concerts in those years. We were all the same age and similar sensibilities. We were talking New York City. We were both going to like Roseland Ballroom.

I was in London, my friend. I was going to the Brixton Academy. Going to the Forum. Why would you fly all the way to London to see bands that were playing in New York where you live? I saw JT at Wembley Stadium. But I don't understand. He did New York dates.

Why didn't you go to the New York dates? Because I lived in London. What? Oh, my God. Sorry that you were not prepared for that. I'm sorry. I backed away from the mic. Producer and trainer working aboard.

I backed away. Eastern trainer working the board. I backed away. My point is, I think we were seeing a lot of the same acts because of our tastes in music and the time, right? Sure. And I preferred musically groups like The Strokes. But yes, there was no sort of commitment to stagecraft there. No, not at all. And I saw like oasis or whatever where like liam

gallagher was just actively hostile would sit down yeah like if he had nothing to do and just kind of stare into space throw water at people like you would see me like i paid money like this is an uncomfortable experience for me i remember going to to a Vines concert. Oh, God. He had some issues. He was an ill man. God, he went to a Vines? I went to a Vines show. Yeah, we probably went to the same one. No, mine was at the Brickson Academy, you maniac!

So I went to a Vines show. That's what I'm saying. I think we probably went to a lot of the same tours. We were in a similar generation. Yes, in the same city. And the Vines guy was drinking on stage. Craig Gillespie? No, that's the director of I, Tonya. It was Craig something.

What if it turned out that the director of I, Tonya used to be the lead singer? Craig Nichols. Craig Nichols. I was a big Vines fan. But he was drinking on stage and then just in the middle of a song turned his head and glared off stage. And then a roadie sheepishly came on stage with a different guitar. And then he would just look at him and hold up his arms like a toddler who wanted his mom to take off his shirt. And would make them remove the other guitar.

Oh, he wouldn't even remove his own guitar. And then put the new one on him. Wow. And he wouldn't say anything. That's some real like I'm 23 and suddenly I'm the boss of everyone energy or whatever. So when I would go see a pop concert where there were pyrotechnics and choreography and that sort of stuff, I would be very impressed. I'd be like, wow, they're doing a lot of work. I went to a Libertine show where, like, Carl and Pete fought on stage.

They started punching each other. Anyway. You know what I'm saying. When also, like, this is a show where, like like you need to be concerned for your performer's safety. Yes. Like this is like you say. It's theater. But also we're both fans of theater.

So even though we like rock music and to some degree we're buying into the bullshit of these people's behaviors, right, if we're going to these shows. Sure. right if we're going to these shows sure there's also just uh an appreciation that you and i have for that kind of stagecraft the preparation the work the rehearsal that clearly goes into something like this that haven't been said as i've gotten older it has just become not my tempo well you're not gonna go to one yeah i mean we're old we're old fogies oh god do you know like i'm now more in the zone where i'm like Paul McCartney's doing another farewell tour maybe I'll go

or whatever I think the last concert I went to I don't know why I lifted my mug like it's just an old person I guess it was good physical comedy

you were committing to the bit old people have mugs it's a new stereotype I was gonna say I think the last concert I went to of my own volition outside of

friends of mine like I will outside of Friends of Mine. Like I will go see Friends of Mine play and I will go see them play at the smallest venue that they're playing at, right? The last one I think I went to of my own volition was Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Sure. Which I went to with Romley when she was still in high school. So this was a handful of years ago. was a handful of years ago. And I spent the entire concert trying to justify to her

why being in the seats rather than in the standing area was the better thing to appreciate the music. Let her go to the standing area. You stay in the seats. That was the point. I realized at that moment

I am not of the mindset to be going to these concerts anymore. I am making this experience lame for her. She is 17. She should be having fun. And I'm like, well, I just, you know, you don't want to stand.

Your knees hurt. Romley, this is a really good choice I made. Wow. Fair enough. And then, of course, the people sitting in front of us stood up, and then my point was negated. We were just far away from the scene. At the minute, they come out, right? Yeah.

I'm a moron, and I'm an old man, and it's literally I'm the oldest person alive. But you could go to this kind of a show. This is an arena, and you could, you know, you could sit in a seat somewhere. There's one thing I've gone to more recently, which was Pilot and I went to see Janelle Monae, which was fucking amazing and was kind of the halfway point between these two things. Was it like the Barclays Center or something? It was at the Hulu Theater

of Madison Square Garden. It was the Hulu Theater. You gotta stream it at the Hulu Theater. That bright green theater. Well, this show... That show has a lot of video elements. It has a lot of costume changes, but also feels Janelle as much as she is a very physical performer

she's a little closer to James Brown than Justin Timberlake where it's like she's being moved by the thing and she's constantly moving and it's very physical

but it feels a little more organic but this show yes which we're watching a production I believe the MGM theater right

or whatever it's called in Vegas it's his last show MGM In Vegas. It's his last show of this tour. MGM Grand Garden Arena. It's his last show on a gigantic, basically two-year tour. Yeah. And Demi doesn't do the same shit he did with Stop Making Sense at all. No.

The first ten minutes of it are this kind of lovely, he's introducing you to every member of the band. And they say where they're from, and they say something about themselves. Yes, and most of them are from Tennessee. Not most, but a lot. A lot of them. Well, you know, he's a Tennessee kid. That's my point. He's a Memphis boy.

Right. And he is truly a southern gentleman, but I feel like popular culture tends to smooth people out and make everyone kind of mid-Atlantic. And the last 10 years, he's tried to reclaim a lot more of his southern heritage. Yeah, he owns a stake in the Memphis Grizzlies. It's a basketball team. Great. Congratulations. And apparently he has a partnership with Sousa Liquor.

I'm just reading his very name. They all do. These celebrities. But I do think because a show like this tends to be so much a sort of tribute to the greatness of the one performer at the center spotlight. And it's not what he's doing. It's a very Demi touch to be like, I want to underline how many people it takes to make this show. Yes. And that these people are also on the road with him for a year and a half.

And their lives are all in on this and they're a family. Right. This tour was actually, it was called the JT 2020 experience or whatever. And they were like four years early. That's true. But the movie is called Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids. Classic Demi reframing. Yes.

But I mean. Generosity. The show is very it does spotlight the other performers a lot and he lets them sort of, you know they have verses sometimes and they have little performances and stuff like that. But even in terms of the lighting setup.

Well, I mean, look, it's just a different show. That's my point. Right, right. So unlike Talking Heads where their show already has that narrative structure that spotlights everyone really individually, right? Every performer on stage really gets moments. Demi has to throw in a little bit of narrative

refocusing before the concert itself starts. By letting you spend time with all these people, which is very nice and my favorite part of the movie. I do like that. I like the whole thing though. I find it very comforting and easy to watch. I've seen it before. It's a very easy watch. It's easy to watch. I like the whole thing, though. I find it very comforting and easy to watch. I've seen it before. It's a very easy watch.

It's easy to watch. I was not expecting and was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it is a concert that covers his whole career and isn't just him doing 2020 experience stuff. Yeah, sure. He doesn't do NSYNC stuff, but he has covers and he has songs from all of his first four albums. Yeah. I like that. Sure. That having been said, it is that weird thing now where it's like after the years of I'm not a boy band guy.

I'm like a sexual dude. I'm like in this. He's bringing sexy back. He's bringing sexy back. And now it's a very theatrical, very high concept sort of like, I'm like a 1920s big band sort of aesthetic. I'm wearing the full three-piece suit, which looks so hot. Tom Ford designed.

But I was going to say, it looks physically very warm to be wearing on that stage while dancing in that way with those lights on you. Oh my God. I got stressed out looking at him not removing items of clothing. I want, I was like, Justin, unbutton. Do you think he wears something underneath? Like some kind of like sweat wicking?

Maybe. Clothes? There are those things too, which we use on the tip, but not nearly enough, which they always use for like superhero things. The fans, like the internal fans. Well, that's the crazy level.

Like a cooling system. They built that into Peter's costume for season two. But no, the thing they do is they have these things that are like astronaut shirts that are like very tight. There's like a shirt version of it and there's like a full spandex bodysuit version of it. And there are plastic tubes sewn into it. And someone can, there's like a little tube port and your back and someone can

unzip you and plug into that and then they run cool water through the tube i would like one of those just for day-to-day use david it is the number one greatest sensation i have ever felt i love water i do too i want one of those like of those toilets that shoots water at you. I want water everywhere in my life. People say this and they usually don't mean it. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. It feels better than sex this thing. And I did it. I had someone flick

the switch and I went, this must be why people like doing heroin. This one moment where suddenly this amazing relief comes. But Justin Timberlake could not be doing that because he's on stage the entire time. No. I don't know how he does it. I don't know how he doesn't think. I think he just sweats it out, dude. I think he's just sweaty.

And then he like takes a shower. Yeah. Right? What a shower. It must feel good. Yeah, exactly. That must be a fun shower. Yeah. Maybe he has an ice bath like he's a basketball player. That is something that basketball players do that I also am like, I'm sure they're exhausted. I'm sure they are

you know, their muscles are seizing up and all that. But like, it seems really nice to walk off the court after like two and a half hours of hard exercise. If you're doing something that intense. And get in an ice bath and be like, ah, you know, like do that. You do a nice Noom routine, free plug. You know, Amari Stoudemire

used to bat bath in wine what wine and ice i'll show it to you i mean it was that was what he was like it's great and it's and everyone else is like he's making it's like this is not there is no medical he tried to argue it was actually better for his muscles rather than just being a way to big dog everybody. You're right. Oh, man. He loves bathing in wine. Was it like good wine or was he like bathing in like Franzia?

I hope it wasn't good wine. I just want to imagine an intern dumping Franzia into a tin bathtub. Yeah. Well, according to a vinotherapy studio in a Tuscadero, the acids in the wine grape strengthen microcirculation. So fuck me for even daring to. But also he's fucking up the wine with the ice cubes. That's a fair.

I'm not seeing any ice cubes here. It might be just wine. Then he's a purist and he's a good fan and he's got a sensitive palate. Yeah. Anyway. Have we ever discussed this insane thing? Five second anecdote that my father every night drinks a coffee mug of red wine with ice cubes in it. My father, who is currently awaiting trial for war crimes for that habit.

His veins are probably awaiting trial for war crimes. They are. Why does he do, why ice cubes? I don't know. It's the world's dirtiest coffee mug that he fills to the brim. Is it always the same one? Is there like a wine mug? He's got like, I'd say he's got four really dirty mugs in

rotation. They're the same ones he's been using since 1994. Fair enough. He has other mugs, but I feel like the wine is almost Does he drink wine with dinner as well? Or is this like, this is his wine for the night? This is post-dinner. But he might have had some wine already. I'd say often not unless he's going out.

Yeah. In which case he probably wouldn't do it, you know? Yeah. But if he's like, having a little dinner by himself, eating at home or whatever, then afterwards he strips down to just his boxer shorts, lies down on the couch, he strips down to just his boxer shorts, lies down on the couch, puts on a 24-hour news channel,

and drinks a mug of red wine with ice cubes. Oh, boy. Pass to future guests. Peter Newman. All right. So, I don't know. The show, the movie. I mean, look.

The guy... It's pretty cool. I like when he dances around I said this thing in the stop making sense episode where I'm like this movie's so undeniable I can't see the way that anyone would have any complaint against it unless they just didn't like the talking heads music which I I also can't even really imagine right sure and watching this it's not that I hate Justin Timberlake. I'm conflicted on him. There are a lot of things about him that irritate me. There are a lot of things that I think are undeniable about him.

But watching this, I was like, I would never of my own volition watch a 90-minute Justin Timberlake concert documentary if not directed by Jonathan Demme. I might watch it, but you're right that the Demme sheen sort of... Right. I like...

I'm just saying my personal preference. I just think it's this fascinating thing of like how corporate, But you're right that the Demi Sheen sort of. I'm just saying my personal preference. I just think it's this fascinating thing of like how corporate. And I don't even mean that entirely negatively. Sure. It's more. It's also just kind of how things have gone. Yes.

But how corporate this kind of event feels. That's kind of the thing that bums me out. But it's not like Justin Timberlake is responsible. I'm not holding that against him. And it's also just the thing of like, if you're going to do something on this kind of a scale, it has to feel like almost like a business operation. Yes.

It's unavoidable. And I think Jonathan Demme. And he's trying to find these little touches of humanity everywhere. Totally. And I do love. He wants to find these small moments of interaction between the people on stage. My favorite thing about this movie that I love is that the show ends. It was a great show. Everyone's cheering.

And there's 10 minutes of breaking down the set. Love the next day. Love that. And there's that kind of casual reveal that Timberlake is there. Sipping a coffee. Looking normal. Yeah. And I'm like, he doesn't have to be there for this shortly.

He doesn't have to be there for the like, you't have to be there for the like you know whatever they take the catwalk down or whatever but he's just hanging out too and it's just kind of like right because this is all part of it i'm gonna say something you might fundamentally disagree with okay part of me wishes this movie were structured more like the last waltz where rather than it being like 10 minutes of you know or eight minutes or whatever of interviewing the people who are part of the tour at the beginning and the breakdown at the end and otherwise it's just show i would like it if in between numbers there were some of those i said i knew you were gonna disagree angry with you i know you're not angry i think then then you have yeah i do love you very

much then you have a tour show on your hands which that's my which is a different thing it's my taste well that's interesting in and of itself but I do feel I'm not faulting the movie

for not doing that obviously my problem with a tour show is that those things are so cliched and it's impossible to avoid cliches with them

except Never Say Never which is a really good movie I've never seen Never Say Never but you know what I mean like you know but it is you know

the aesthetics of them are sort of locked. That is a different film. And the other thing I wish, and once again, not holding against this movie that it's not these two other things. I think this movie is about as good as it could possibly be for what it is trying to do. And I don't mean that as

faint praise. I think this is objectively an impressively put together show. And Jonathan Demme knows how to shoot musicians better than anyone who's ever done it. He totally does and there are things that I feel like you don't see in these things where he zooms out and tries to take in the insane

visuals and not in a way where he's like drink it in but where he's like where the light patterns are just kind of dancing across the camera and it's just sort of like overwhelming and like and i feel like he wants you to just feel overwhelmed he doesn't want you to feel like odd exactly but just kind of like jesus yeah uh love that i was gonna say the other thing and this is just me thinking about a movie that i would prefer to see not criticizing this movie for not being that but something like storefront

hitchcock which is so creative where it's like, well, rather than just do a Robin Hitchcock concert film, why don't we put Robin Hitchcock in a storefront and have him just play there and anyone who's walking by in the street might happen to see this concert. Sure. Which is such a cool kind of Jonathan Demme idea.

That's a great idea. Yes. This film is much closer to the Neil Young documentaries that he's made. It's a concert movie. Which are the same kind of thing where you're just like, this is a nice guy

making a really, really intelligent concert film. Yeah. Of a good professional. Seven out of ten. Yeah, I guess so. I mean,

It's good. I probably put it as a six, but I take a notch off just for liking Timberlake one point less than you do. That's not Demi's fault. But I don't even like him that much. I know, and I like him one point less than you do.

But I like him all right. Right, exactly. Here's where I am with him. Yeah. He has not made any music of interest to me in many years, and I don't care. Right. But if he did decide to make music that was of interest to me again, I'd be like, oh, that's nice. I am not resistant to giving him praise when I think he has

earned it. And I think he has earned it a great number of times. And what goes around comes around. I fucking love and I listen to that all the time. That's probably my favorite performance in this. Not only because it is my favorite song of his, but I also like that it is a very different interpretation of that song. I like when he did Poison.

Yes. The covers are good. What are the other covers he did? Even the Jack Sparrow does Human Nature by Martin Garrix. Oh, right. Of course. Which, of course, when you see that, it's interesting because it's like, you're like, of course, this is his number one musical influence. Right.

Both in terms of, you know, his age, like, you know, he grew up with that music. Yes. And just like the way he, but like, it is fascinating to consider all the implications of that. I know. And it is. It is good. It's a good, you know, it's a good cover.

It's a good production of it. It's a good cover. But it's also one of those things where you're like, wow, 2016 feels a long time ago. When he goes like, and of course, I'm throwing it out to my number one. Because he had just died. No, he hadn't just died. That was years ago. He died in 2011, 2012.

Yeah, yeah. No, he died earlier. He died in 2008. Stop screaming at me. He died. I think he died in 2011, 2012? Yeah, yeah. No, he died earlier. He died in 2008. Stop screaming at me. He died, I think he died in 2008. Nine, 2009. 2009, okay. This was in that period where-

In that lull post-death period where people were like, well, you know what, you know, a lot of pluses and minuses, but in the end of the day, the music, right? Like people were sort of just like, you know what, at the end of the day, the music's good. It is a crazy thing so you're the one who's now yelling into the microphone i never yelled in my life and well i love you it's a crazy thing that podcast the riot has covered extensively but that like uh when the

first wave of allegations came out against michael jackson they immediately pulled michael jackson out of disney world which was the most expensive attraction of all time, Captain EO. Yeah. And then when he died, they were like, oh, it's back. And it was back for seven years. And then they pulled it again. When... After Finding Neverland or whatever it's called.

I think, yes. Or when it was on the horizon, Leaving Neverland. Leaving Neverland. Yeah. Do we want to do our demi-rankings? Do we have anything left to say about this movie? My ranking list is kind of crazy.

What? Crazy? I have all these switched arrows, and I even think I might rethink a couple of these as I'm saying them. You're crazy. You go first. You want me to go first because yours is crazy? I'll go first.

Yeah, okay. I'll do bottom to top. Okay. I mean, I have 20 movies ranked here. It's the 20 movies we covered. Because it's a lot, it might be fun to go bottom to top. All right, fine. All right. So at number 20, a covered. Because it's a lot, it might be fun to go bottom to top. All right, fine. All right.

So at number 20, A Master Builder. What? I'm sorry. Correct. Come in. Come in. 19, Crazy Mama. Wow.

18, Swing Shift. Now, that's the release cut of the film, which is what I'm ranking. I'm not ranking the director's cut. I took a different one. I just, as much as I loved watching it, I have not seen that thing in anything but a fucking, you know, VHS bootleg with a time code. Hey, that's what makes you you and me me. Number 17. God, what's it even called?

Fighting Mad. Okay. 16, Citizens Band. Mm-hmm. 15, Last Embrace. Mm-hmm. 15, Last Embrace. Mm-hmm. 14, KGT. 13, Truth About Charlie.

Wow. Too high? Too low? It's making me rethink. Who knows? 12, Ricky and The Flash. Mm-hmm. 11, Beloved.

Mm-hmm. 10, Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids. Boy. 9, Manchurian Candidate. Okay. This one might make you mad. 8, Melvin and Howard. No, it doesn't make me mad.

Okay, fine. 7, Philadelphia. That makes me furious. 6, Married to the Mob. Okay. Now we're getting into like Masterpiece Zone. Yeah. 5, Swimming in Cambodia.

Yeah. 4, Something Wild. 3, Rachel Getting Married. 2, Stop Making Sense. Number 1, Silence of the Lambs. Yeah, I'm rethinking a bunch of these things. Okay, ready? Let me try this. Yeah, go'm rethinking a bunch of these things. Okay, ready? Let me try this.

Yeah, go ahead. Number 20. It might surprise you to hear. Wait, am I going to have to come in? David, I invite you to come in because our master filter is coming in on it. This poor movie. We just kicked the shit out of it. Never heard of Fly.

How has that somehow become now the new most bullied film on our show? Okay. From The Loveliest Man and... Just lovely people. Lovely people. But Jesus Christ, do I never want to watch that thing ever again. Number 19, Fighting Mad. Okay, sure.

Number 18, Ricky and the Flash. Sure. Pretty low. I wasn't ready for Ricky. At the end of the Flash. Sure. Pretty low. I wasn't ready for Ricky at the end of the day. You're like Ricky. She's all right. Number 17, Last Embrace. Okay.

Number 16, Justin Timberlake and the Tennessee Kids. Sure. It's not my tempo. Okay. It's not your tempo. And here's the thing you need to understand about the film. It's just not my tempo. Okay, it's not your tempo. And here's the thing you need to understand about the film. It's just not my tempo. Love it when you repeat a joke and it adds setup to it.

No, but I just, I'm making a reductive joke about it, but the reality is it's just not my tempo. Fucking asshole. God, you're lucky that my 2 o'clock canceled. Yeah, I am. You're right. God, you're lucky that my 2 o'clock canceled. Yeah, I am. You're right.

I was ready to behave so well, and then you told me you had a cancellation, and now, baby, I'm wild and wooly. Number 15 would be... Is this right? No, Timberlake was 15, right? No, I think it was 16. Timberlake is 16. Thank you. 15, Truth About Charlie.

Get Crazy Mama in here. here what that's going on that's 14 i'm cage heat sure same we agree on that one number 13 is crazy mom okay fine that's my favorite of the early ones i just that movie made no sense to me i got got it. Dare I say it? It was kind of my tempo. It was. I went ring-a-ding-ding. That's my tempo. Number 12, Beloved. Uh-huh. Sure. Number 11, Citizens Band. Sure. You like that one more than me. When it works, it really works. I agree with that. I might also give it

another shot someday. It's got some magic in it, and we watched it in a period where we were watching like five movies. We were watching it fast. I mean, I'm not like you. I try to schedule ahead of time, but yeah. But Crazy Mom and Citizen's Band for me are sloppy, but they have these real moments

appear. I don't dislike any of these movies except maybe a Master Builder. That's the only one. And just to be clear, I would give a Master Builder an Atomic Wedgie if I could. But this is overall standard level of quality. Like the basement is like a 6 out of 10 or whatever. And for how many films it is.

Like for being our longest miniseries, it's also weirdly maybe the most consistent. Yes, 100%. Or at least the highest median level. Yeah, because I even like the truth about Charlie, which is like the bomb. Right, right. Anyway. Number 10, Manchurian Candidate. Okay.

Number 9, Swim to Cambodia. Ooh, that's too low. Well, you know what? I did a little switchy here. All right, fine. Go on. So I got to acknowledge the switch. Number 9, Married to the Mob.

Number 8, Swim to Cambodia. Okay. Then I do number 7, Number eight, swim to Cambodia. Okay. Then I do number seven, swing shift director's cut. Okay. I mean, you know. That's me,

that's you. Yeah, yeah. Okay. It's a tempo thing. Philadelphia, number six. Yeah.

And now we get into masterpiece territory. I think there are pretty much five inarguable masterpieces this guy's made. Just five Hall of Famers outside the park. because for you,

Melvin is at that level. For me, it's a little below. So I go Something Wild, number five. Melvin Howard, number four. So we have the same top three. Yeah. Rachel Getting Married, number three. Sansa Lambs, number two.

So you have stopped. It's a squeaker. I mean, it's like, it's kind of a coin toss. I'm not going to argue with you. I'm not going to argue with you. And it literally just gets down to the fact that there is not one single thing I could criticize that stopped making sense. You know?

These are both two of the best films ever made by anybody in history. So the only advantage I'm giving to stop making sense is that you just, you can't, what can you criticize in that thing? It couldn't be better. Not long enough. Oh, fuck.

Maybe I have to move lower. Knock it down. Make it number 19. That's my list. Now, I want to say a little something here. Oh. Okay. Maybe I have to move lower. Make it number 19. That's my list. Now, I want to say a little something here. Oh, okay. And not to betray anyone's trust. Okay. But this is in a way that has not happened in the past doing this show. And I think part of this is the show has been going on for a long time.

We've gained listenership. Our audience has grown. The larger number of people who listen to it means the larger number of people who have crossed paths with the people that we've talked about. Right? I have no idea what you're about to say. Just say it. We have gotten a good number of messages. Private messages.

People who knew Jonathan Demme. DMs. People showing up on the Reddit. People who knew him well. People who worked with him. People who knew him socially. People who worked one day. Or my little brother was an extra on this group. People who knew him in a hat. People who knew him. I'm sorry. one day or my little brother was an extra.

People who knew him in a hat. People who knew him. I'm sorry. I was trying to do a Dr. Seuss. In a boat and in a moat, right? But people who really knew him at different times in his life. Yes. Different levels.

Absolutely. And that's nerve wracking. Sure. It is very nerve wracking because we do this show and sometimes we can be big stupid dummies, you know? Yes. And when you think about— I don't think anyone should listen. Agreed.

And I actually want to ban the show and that's my next initiative. Can we talk about not publishing the episodes? Yeah. We want to self-cancel Morgan Spurlock style. Jesus, no. Don't even bring him up. Anyway, you're saying something nice about Jonathan Demme. I'm saying something nice about Jonathan Demme, which is, especially when this is the first filmmaker we have covered who is no longer with us,

and it's the first time we, you know, are carrying some microscopic semblance of responsibility for the legacy by committing this much time to him. I get it, I get it, I get it. Every time one of these messages popped up, I would get a little bit nervous and go, oh, my God, this person's listening to this show. Excuse me. His favorite movie was A Master Builder. Right.

And you guys need to check yourselves. Right. And I got me a cup of me a cup of. This is the thing. Actually, that episode hasn't aired yet. And all the people who've been so nice are going to turn on us when that comes out. Yeah. Maybe we won't need to self-cancel.

Yeah, exactly. Unfair bullying. Punching down on Master Belder. Get out! Sorry. I think we made the show against episode, but there will probably be more people who listen to that episode than have ever seen a Master Belder, right? And that's not a brag about our numbers. At all, absolutely not.

But the thing I was going to say is, the amount of people who have reached out to us, compelled to say, gonna say is the amount of people who have reached out to us compelled to say look i i wouldn't usually write in i don't know you but i blank blank jonathan demi knew him here worked with him there had this yes yes knew him on a boat knew him on a boat and have said he really was that special right i i'm really like touched it's not not, like, fake or inflated or whatever. His whole rep is, like, a genuinely great guy. The overall sentiment always seems to be, I want you guys to know that he is the person you want to believe he was. Right.

You know, as much as we come up with bits, and I feel like we kind of— Any filmmaker we cover, we make— Bits? I'm sorry. Let me check my notes here. Oh, no. No bits.

Let me underline that. No bits. I'm sorry let me check my notes here oh no no bits let me underline that no bits but as much as we sometimes turn our director that we're covering into like a character yeah right I feel like our bit with Demi has just been like this guy is so kind

sweet man right and everyone's like you're not being reductive you're not simplifying the thing this guy was as intellectually curious and empathetic and considerate and collaborative and everything you're sort of talking about. And it's been really nice that you guys have been giving him this much time and consideration across these many, many months in all of these films. Many months. And I feel similarly so thankful that uh he won this march madness competition what a great that we were forced to do him because i feel like we would have always felt

a little skittish about it's a lot of films and not all of them are super well known it's a lot of films and we almost didn't even put him on the bracket because we went 20s a lot we actually i remember had the debate where you were like what would we even and i'd be like you'd have to combine but then you can do it yeah but i think he was the last one we slotted in 100 and i feel so grateful i know i say that we've done this i i feel like it has been such a joy it has genuinely improved my mood my mental stability my outlook on the world um and it makes me really happy when I see on Twitter a lot more discussion stirring up or Letterboxd or wherever about demifilms. And I'm not giving us responsibility for that,

but it's a nice thing that like we can talk about these movies, our listeners can get into them, and then our listeners posting about watching those movies encourages other people to watch those movies because we're just sort of doing our little part to start the ball rolling and re-answering a lot of these things back into the conversation. To the extent that people's algorithms are now messed up. Yeah. And, like, you know, their TVs are telling them to watch The Truth About Charlie. Right.

And, look, apologies for that. But also, The Truth About Charlie is one of the best bad movies you're ever going to see. Oh, it's great. You know? And it's, Jonathan Demme movies do kind of make the world a better place. Yes, they do. I think they kind of make us better people. Yeah.

And he was a dude who felt a lot of responsibility to make sure that what he put in the movies was positive, that he was putting positive things out into the world, while also being honest, you know, and being tough. But I think he succeeded. And I also just feel like by the nature of what this show is and it being people who have gotten to this sort of quote-unquote auteur level, very often a lot of people we cover on the show do not have reputations for being particularly nice.

And we have never covered someone who we think to be a monster. But there are a lot of people where it's like, ooh. And they're difficult personalities. They're strong personalities. They're mean, maybe. And in the five years that we've been doing this show, at times, I feel a slight amount of uncomfort, discomfort. A slight amount of uncomfort, discomfort, in like, are we starting to deify people who are exacting artists to the point of being belligerent assholes?

Sure. Because that's the narrative. And it's a self-perpetuating narrative that then makes people feel like, if you're in a... The only way to get ahead in this business is to be mean. And also to tolerate meanness and to allow people to behave that way. But that's not what we're talking about. What I'm saying is, it has been so lovely to cover someone who didn't do any of that.

Who was always leading with his humanity first, both on screen and off screen. You know? In terms of the work and in terms of how he conducted his life and to have that many people who knew him reach out and reassert that to us. Yes, it's great. And it feels really good to say, you can do it. You can be a fucking mensch and you can make great movies and you can make big hits and you can win Oscars

and there's no excuse to be an ass. But it is interesting that we mostly spent this last episode talking about Justin Timberlake. Because I don't know. I mean, whatever. It's a Justin Timberlake episode. We were like, what was he thinking in time? Yeah, because I knew I was going to do this spiel at the end. Let's's a Justin Timberlake episode where we're like what was he thinking in time yeah because I knew I was going to do this spiel

at the end let's talk about the Timberlake career I'm just you got too sincere so I wanted to be funny it makes you so uncomfortable yeah no I feel so delighted

to have done him because I hadn't seen all these movies yeah and I hadn't I don't know it's always so great I will eventually work my way through their main documentary.

Me too. But it is an incredible feeling to, to be able to say, I have seen the entire Jonathan Demme narrative filmography, and I think I am a better person for it. Hell yeah. And you can be too. And you can be too.

I'm actually pointing at Griffin right now. Learn better habits. Either sign up for Noom or watch all the Jonathan Demme films. Have we announced who we're doing next? Yeah, but let's say it again. George Miller. George Miller!

Yeah. Mad Pod Furycast. Yeah. We're doing them, baby. Yeah, we're doing them. We're not doing Jackson. We're not doing May. We threw all your mother effers off our scent.

And March Madness. March Madness is happening right now. Oh, boy. We're in the middle of it right now. Yes. And, of course, as we know, has just been steamrolling. We don't need to do that.

You're right, this is me, and I'm not going to make Rachel do more work. As we know, someone is winning. Yeah, so George Miller coming up, we've done a lot of those already. That's very different from this. Fast.

Fast. Much like Sonic, George Miller has got to go fast. That's very different from this. Very different. Fast. Sure. Much like Sonic, George Miller has got to go fast. But it's been good, right? I think they've been good episodes. I like talking about Mad Max. It's a big, big radical swing into a different world in a different direction. And then we have someone else coming up after that.

And then we'll do March Madness. And then we'll do someone else. I'll say this, too. Three directors in a row have a reputation for being very nice. That's true. That's true. You know, three different filmographies, but I feel like all three of these people in a row are kind of known for being humane.

Right. So you guys should like pick Michael Bay to balance it out or whatever. Yeah. We should cover an asshole again. All right. Come on. We're done. Okay.

Pasta. Pasta? Yeah, it's Italian. You know the only other person who says that to me when I'm talking too much? My mother. My mother says it to me too. That's where I got it from. Oh boy, our mother should hang out.

Yeah, we should. Do a podcast. Yeah, great. Thank you all for listening. Blank check moms. Blank check mommies. No, not mommies. No, no, no.

Blank check mama. My mom is putting the heat on me for the fact. And every other family member's been on the show. Does she want to come on? Yes, she wants to come on. Really? Yeah. Oh, then she should come on.

She's also the only member of my family who listens to the show, which terrifies me. She listens to every episode? Pretty much now. Which kind of snuck up on me. That was not the case for a while. And I know her the least of all your family. I feel like I've only met her like one time. The quiet Newman.

The secret Newman. No, you also know her the least because she has never been on this podcast. Right. Exactly. So look forward to my mother being the guest on some episode future day. Thank you all for listening. Yes. Maybe my mom won't listen to this one because it's a Thursday bonus.

Please remember to rate, review, subscribe. Thanks to Andrew for Gouda for our social media, Lane Montgomery for our theme song, Joe Bone, Pat Rollins for our artwork. Thanks to producer Rachel Jacobs for our editing. Tune in next week for fifth anniversary.

Yeah. Tough to make the five, but we've done it. Yeah, tune in Sunday for that. We got a very special 5th anniversary episode coming up this Sunday. Yes. Go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit.

And as always, Master Builder is that kid who eats its own books.