Blank Check with Griffin & David - Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One with Marie Bardi

Episode Date: July 23, 2023

It’s 2023. An all-powerful AI program named “the Entity” is sewing chaos and threatening the fragile equilibrium of the world as we know it. It is also throwing sick parties. Meanwhile, over at Blank Check HQ, the BENTITY has a few tricks up his sleeve to surprise Griffin, David, and Marie with a mission of their own as they break down Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie’s latest big-screen extravaganza. Special thanks to IMF team members Teo Rapp-Olsson and Patrick Willems. Support their work! Patrick Willems: https://www.youtube.com/@patrickhwillems Teo Rapp-Olsson: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6231691/ Mission: Impoddible theme composed by Alex Barron This episode is sponsored by: Bombas (bombas.com/check CODE: CHECK) Babbel (babbel.com/check) Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check

Podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, podcast, I guess we've never done one of these main feed before. We never had to do that. No. What's the, what's the big line from this room? You have to make a podcast. Pick up, pick up,

pick up podcast. I got, you know, Ethan, you're trying to play 40 chess with a podcast. You have to podcast aside.'s the Shewig on line? He has his own version of the manifest He's the living manifestation of destiny

What was it? I'll look it up I asked Bilga to tell me He's a mind reader capable of shape-shifting the incarnation of chaos when he's like briefing his men I by the way would be like can we get a new boss you seem to have already lost your mind

this guy's right free in your head we haven't even started chasing him I like how the movies now increasingly have become like he just breaks people's brains his existence I don't even want to talk about him i uh right because it used to be like when people gave the briefing on what

his deal was they had a sense of control yeah and shea wiggum is just like i'm not even fucking his boss i'm like a middle manager now sent after him here's the thing i miss is angela bassett now the president in the universe of this movie yes i think that's her photo is up in the back yeah which doesn't make because she was the head of the cia correct yes we don't usually elect heads of the central intelligence agency to be president no that's the job it's just you can't really run you'll be like well i did a great job at the ca what'd you do well i can't tell you i can't really run it. You'd be like, well, I did a great job at the CA. What'd you do? Well, I can't tell you. I can't tell you. Classified. Actually, maybe that's a good brick wall thing during a debate. My opponent won't

even... It's classified. It's out of my hands. I kept Ethan Hunt under control. Who's Ethan Hunt? Exactly. Should have said that name. You didn't know. I would elect Angela Bassett. Obviously. And I would love to see her in movie eight.

Maybe she'll pop up. I have heard she is in it. I don't know. I think that's public knowledge. I don't know. She was very much a COVID thing. I get it as well. Put the picture up and you're just sort of like,

don't worry, we haven't forgot about Angie. She'll show up. Which I think this franchise is pretty good at doing it, like not generally writing people off and being like, we don't bring someone back. It doesn't mean they're gone. Case in point, Kidrich. Yes, exactly. I mean, the big question is, is Renner.

I mean, I hope he's dead. He's not dead. The thing McQuarrie has always said was like, he didn't want to come back for Fallout. And there was sort of the choice of like, do we kill him off? Right. In some interesting way. Right, and he was like, I would rather keep him alive,

and if he ever wants to come back, then I'll use him to the degree that he wants to be used. I don't want to just like kill him off because he's not available. Yeah, but I mean, there is the unspoken thing of like, but he will have to, except being the fifth fiddle, like, or whatever,

if he wants to come back, which clearly he didn't like being. I thought he was so good in Rogue Nation, so well used. He's so good in both of them. Yes. and now there's this retroactive kind of like yeah it's sort of annoying to see renner i'm like no no we're not gonna pretend renner didn't have juice no you oh yeah you were defending him on twitter someone's doing like isn't it weird that like everyone offered everything to this guy when renner was he was coming off of two fucking Oscar nominations the guy was straight fire

well no so the Hurt Locker won best picture yes and that movie is 50% in his performance yes he should he should have won the Oscar that year

who did he lose to that was the that was the fucking Jeff Bridges year right oh right and we had to give it to Bridges because we hadn't

you know we fucked up prior situations who won supporting actor the year that he was nominated for the town that because I love that 10 which car are we taking You know, we fucked up prior situations. Who won Supporting Actor the year that he was nominated for The Town? That, because I love that performance. Which car are we taking?

2010, The Town. Who wins that year? Jeffrey Rush is nominated. But the winner is... The Social Network King's Speech. I'll tell you in one second. Black Swan. Christian Bale in The Fighter. A pseudo-lead performance. Very transformative

from an actor who was sort of ready for his Oscar. But I would take that back. I would actually give it to any of the other nominated performances before Bale. Really? I think Bale's very good. I think he's good in The Fighter. But I think it felt like it was a we need to give him

an Oscar. A little bit of that and also just the oh he lost weight again. He looks like you know he looks like shit. Yeah. I would give I mean Jeffrey Rush is probably the one maybe I'd be like wow. Forget Jeffrey Rush. He is not. He was like the steepest competition. He's good in it. I mean he's good in that movie but Jeremy Renner, John Hawks and

Wintersbone which is an amazing performance. Yeah. And Ruffalo and the Kids Are Alright which is like really good. Kind of the engine of that movie. Like, quietly. Too quiet. Too quiet? For the Oscars. Oh, sure. I thought you were saying for you. Oh, no. Well, then he fucking yelled

in spotlight and they didn't give him an Oscar either. They should have. They knew! And they let it happen! To kids! Anyway. Anyway, Renner is not in this movie but a lot and neither is bassett we're talking about two people who aren't in this film who else is not in this movie who is left in the mi verse not dead yeah i still want scooped back paula patton to come back yeah what's she doing not much she's not remarrying robin thick Which is a great choice Another great choice would be rejoining the Mission Impossible franchise

Is Redgrave dead? Well I guess Vanessa Redgrave the actress is dead No she's not She's the one of the family No but I think she's dead I think they say she's dead in this movie Was it this movie Or was it another movie

Where Max is introduced And she talks about her mother? In both of them. Not Max, sorry. The White Widow. Yes. But like... Kit Rich talks about, I think he says, your late mother or whatever.

Yes. No, she's talked about in both of them. Yeah. Then Dewey Newton? Can we bring her in? Yeah, bring everyone back. I'm literally trying to think of who... Like, Jonathan Rhys-Myers maggie q are canonically still alive correct

like they could come back yeah like what if maggie q showed up i like the idea of the next film having a team of everyone he's worked with in previous movies i mean you know there's a point at which i guess you're turning into rise of skywalker i am all the jedi but i i'm trying to write who else anil kapoor could he come back he doesn't die in Ghost Protocol. It'd be weird for him to come back. I'm still horny. Yes. I do think. Leia said you fell out a window.

Michelle Monaghan's still alive. She was bid goodbye. Yes. That loop was closed. But we should bring Wes Bentley back. Yeah. And Leland's like, how's your wife? And he's like, why do you know so much about her?

What if they bring back Aaron Paul? Bring him back? He's in three. He plays the brother. He plays Michelle Monaghan's brother in three. Right, at the party. Okay. Or have him die at the start of eight.

Yeah. And Ethan's so sad. And the audience is like, who is he? Yeah. Bring Ricky Gervais back. Tom Hollander? You weren't in these. And he was like, I almost was.

Oh, Tom Hollander, yeah. Right. Hollander's the prime minister in five. Wolf Blitzer? Wolf Blitzer. I mean, he's... My favorite IMF member. He's coming back.

He's like, I was bringing Wolf back. Yeah. I'm field agent now. I got promoted. I guess that's it. Look, this is Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm field agent now I got promoted I guess that's it Look this is Blank Check with Griffin and David I'm Griffin You're not even saying and I'm

I'm David It's a podcast about filmographies 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 bounce. Baby.

Now we're in a miniseries, in the middle of a miniseries right now, on Park Chan-wook, our March Madness winner. We're taking a little break to next week's talk about Oppenheimer.

True. Christopher Nolan film. And this week, we talk about Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning, part one. A film,

I feel like people are still a little unclear on what the punctuation is on this movie. Mission colon impossible. Which has always made the subtitles hard on these films. Because you're like, the colon's in the middle of the proper title. Right. Is it a double colon franchise? And it's always been Mission colon impossible dash subtitle.

Right. But then this is adding the part one. Right. So is that just a run on sentence? In your Atlantic review, dead reckoning part one is all one phrase. There's no punctuation. There's no punctuation.

It's mission colon impossible M dash dead reckoning part one. You can't, I mean, the only other thing, a comma would be grammatically, I suppose, accurate. Dead reckoning part one. What about parentheses? Parentheses part one. That would be grammatically, I suppose, accurate. Dead reckoning, part one. What about parentheses? Parentheses, part one.

That would be very silly. Someone's knocking on the door. I can't tell if this is a bit or not. Ben just went to the bathroom and now someone's knocking on the door. I'm going to get the door. Don't love it. No.

Go look out the peephole. Looks like delivery. Pipe. No bits. Okay. Say pro smith. Pro smiths. Cars two makes cars three. Look like cars won?

Blanket. Thank you. Oh my god, I just had a heart attack. That guy was handsome. That guy was really handsome. That guy had the juice. Okay, can I... I want to explain what just happened. Ben went to the bathroom the door is closed there's a knock at the front door of the office

we sit here we're like what's going on is this by mistake i tentatively rise the door you heard all of this we're recording on this i rest the door go right just explain it all please this very has run to the bathroom during all this yes he's not on this. I rise to the door. Go right. Just explain it all, please. Ben has run to the bathroom during all this. He's not here. This very handsome man wearing a bicycle helmet and a reflective vest, like a messenger, just looks at me very intensely and says, no bits.

Stone-faced. And I just look at him trying to figure out where this is going. And then, David, you say pro smits. Yep. Like, oh, this is some fucking. I understood, I suppose, the game of like, you know, the. It's a Mission Impossible style. Right, well.

You have to complete the sentence. But it opens with a DoorDash guy. It does. The new one opens with a DoorDash guy. So he says, no bits, I say ProSmits. Yeah. He says Cars 2 makes Cars 3 look like, and I said Cars 1. And then he said Blanket, and I said Thank It.

And he handed me a manila envelope. And now I'm going to open this. Ben is grinning ear to ear like a treasure cat. And inside here, I cannot believe this it says beneath the party it's just one piece of paper is that me? wait a second

beneath the party is it under the desk? or is it under the chair? is it under the chair Marie? Marie is there something under the chair? Marie Barty Party Barty is here along with producer Ben who is orchestrating some kind of so dark the kind of man.

No, you're almost there. Just look under the chair. Under the legs of the chair? Oh, oh, wait. Oh boy, okay. Okay, so now there's another. There's a tape recorder. Oh my God, wait.

There must be something on that. And I don't know anyone in this room who likes to do bits with tape recorders. No, and certainly Norm Macdonald died, so that leaves a big void in the world of tape recorder comedy. Should I press play? I guess.

I mean, we should find out what it is. Let's see what this is. I had no idea this was happening. Good morning, Mr. Newman and Mr. Sims. In 2016, on a mission known as Pod Reacher Never Go Cast, you first encountered the writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, Ilyas McHugh. In the years since, you have recorded Patreon-exclusive episodes

covering the three other McHugh-directed films, The Way of the Gun and The Mission's Impossible Rogue Nation and Fallout, in what some have dubbed the Stealth McQuarrie miniseries. Correct. I agree with this. Is this Patrick Willems? Is that? Eight days ago at the AMC Empire 25 in Times Square, you both attended a screening of their latest film, Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning. Is this Patrick Willems? Is that? Yeah, okay. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to record a two-plus hour discussion about the film and thereafter release that recording to the public. We have already dispatched a team selected from your usual group.

Marie Barty, codenamed Barty Party, will handle social media and help produce the show. Are you cool with that? And Ben Hosley, also known by various aliases, will produce, peep, and detect farts. As always, should you or any member of the BCP force be caught or killed, Apple

Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, will disavow all knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds. Oh my god! so marie threw the tape recorder on the ground it is now without a battery cover or its battery Yeah Oh my god but that's not all It's been me the whole time And a mask that looks exactly like my face Okay so Ben just ripped off a Ben Hosley

Mask to reveal that he is in fact Ben Hosley I will also say recording this podcast can be annoying It can be a bit of a stressor It's not impossible I would say it's impossible And it sounds like we're doing a pretty regular task for us One would argue I was already... That has the dumbest grin.

I was already making, like, fairly good progress in setting up the basic idea that then this series of messages assigned me as if it was going to be a challenge. Well, I think it would have been an impossible task if, you know, if we had to record the episode within a 30 minute. That's true. I'm glad they gave us the freedom. Two and a half hours seems very doable. It feels doable. Yes, as that message very clearly outlined, Macquarie has been a stealth miniseries. Earlier in the days of the show, sometimes David and I would just get hyped up about a new release movie and be like,

fuck it, we're doing an episode on this. Right. Which now, there are enough directors we've covered in the past who have new films coming out that we rarely slot in a new release film outside of the ones we are, like, obligated to do because

who's got the time? Ah, so many pods to do. Right. So many casts. Even if we like something, like something we're like well maybe we'll cover later in some other form yes no phrase sends a chill up my spine more than emergency episode not happening right yeah but we did uh we love look the first jack reacher we do look when we did that way of the gun episode that was us agreeing in a sort of like silent handshake of like, we will now, McQuarrie is now officially on our list. If he does a new movie.

Yes. We're agreed. and back ever again and then signing up for another one uh and this two-parter had been pitched as like the grand finale and now he's sort of walking that back in the press but it does feel like he's always talking about his post-mission projects that are very intriguing to me but he's never gonna do them well maybe one day i don't know well he's gotta do eight now yes and then i bet you he fucking suckered into doing nine. I know. He's already started talking about it.

Well, this is in the end. Can I throw out a theory? And this is a Griffin Newman on the record. No inside sources on this. This is just something I think. Okay. Okay? They announced that they were doing seven and eight back to back.

That was an announcement, right? After McQuarrie was like, good luck to the next guy. I wouldn't know how to top myself. But we knew he was lying. And then, of course, the surprise announcement, oh, not only is he back, he's doing two, right? And everyone was like, two? They're shooting two back to back? And the attitude was sort of like,

they probably want to get as much stunt stuff while the getting's good. Cruz is on the brink of 60, right? And then a global pandemic and change later. Their plans got so stretched out. And over the time they had originally allotted to make both movies together, they only got the first one done. Right. And this whole thing has stretched out much longer than anyone expected.

Yes. But the whole announcement was like they're coming back for two final films to close it up. Aquarian crews are going to just wrap the whole thing up. That had always been the line. Now that he's promoting part one, he's like, who said we never said we never said we never said I this is my Griffin Newman on the record prediction. I feel like he's gotta die in the next one. And if they were advertising it as such, in the way that Avengers Endgame, everyone was like, Downey Jr.'s contract's up. They're definitely gonna kill off Iron Man. We know his contract's up. This thing of the public being too wise to the machinations

of the planning of these movies that it ruins plot points. If he's like, no, we're talking ideas for nine, that still adds some tension. You think he's throwing you off the scent? That's my guess. Why does he have to die? I can't see Ethan Hunt dying.

No. I can see him doing a Dark Knight Rises sort of ending where he is killed off. It's finally time for Ethan to be done. You can see that. But I kind of think it's like... I just wouldn't buy it. I wouldn't buy him being dead or him retiring.

I'm like, nah, he's just always going to be waiting for the next possible mission. But that's why I think he needs to die. I'm just like, this guy isn't going to be freed until he's in the ground. I'm very anti-death. In general? Or just with Ethan Hunt? No, in general. As a plot

device, as you know, whatever, a sort of stakes raising thing. Uh-huh. But then again, this movie does a death that I didn't mind. Interesting. So I'm eating my own words. Yeah. We're talking Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1. That's for all the Miss Phony acts out there.

A film that we all saw a week ago at the time of this recording. That's right. And it comes out later this week. Yes. No, it comes out next week. Oh, you're right. It comes out a week from today. It comes out next week.

This week, it's all about that red door. Yes. Creak. What's behind it? Patrick Wilson's debut as a filmmaker? Five or six. Five. Oh, I forgot he was directing this.

That's where I'm just there like making another Insidious movie. I'm like, guys, come on. Patrick Wilson's directing it. I'm like, I'm a little intrigued. What's his take? What's his take on the movie? Yeah. No, one of those like quietly fucking durable franchises.

Where I just think, oh, Insidious, those dropped off after a while, and you're like four open to 40? The advantage of Insidious is, unlike, say, Saw or Paranormal, it has no particular canon that it needs to maintain. It doesn't feel caught up in its lore. There's a spirit world that has demons in it. Right. Sometimes, you know, they start messing with you. I have never seen any of these movies i've just seen the the like still of patrick wilson and then like a red man with a little red man behind him smiling like a maniac he's no good he's no good now imagine

patrick wilson behind the camera right looking in the viewfinder the little red man yeah there's a little red man behind you. Yeah. No, you'd like them. They're very campy. It's that James Wan thing. Very sincere. I've never seen any of them. They're good.

And I love Wan. I love Wan and Wanel. Yeah. Anyway, Mission Impossible. We saw it a week ago. We have tickets to see it again a week from now in IMAX. So we're recording this in the middle of. We took the train home, Murray, after the film,

and you were just like, am I going to be able to remember all of this a week from now? Because it is a plot-heavy movie. I think more than the last couple, David, you and I have been sharing some takes over the text. Quiet, quiet.

Trying to burn them. Exactly. But there are a lot of interesting things I think this movie is doing. We're recording this in the space before the public at large gets to see it. Most of the reviews come out. I think the embargo just lifted

right before we started recording. It did feel like, no one's like angry about this movie, but I am sensing that some people are a little disappointed. I think it's just because Fallout was like ultimate adrenaline rush don't want to name names it'd be rude

well you know at least a couple people yeah well Ehrlich kind of came around to it has he yeah he gave it a B plus and wrote some glowing things about it he can go to hell yeah I give him an A triple plus this movie that's what I give it um I love you David I already berated you in text

you and I have the same stance on this and I unapologetically love this movie. It got me amped as fuck. It was exactly what I wanted in a summer where I have really been struggling with most of the blockbusters. But that, we both felt like this movie is a strategic

zag. Yes, I think so. The movies have been escalating on a specific line and it was like going to be impossible for it to keep on outdoing itself. And it also feels to me like this movie is very pointedly starting to like go back to point one, which is where I like believe that they are

consciously trying to wrap this thing up. I think you're right. But did you pay that guy to say all that stuff? Yeah, what was the point of making this? Who was that guy? I was worried it was a fan of the show i found our address yeah griff was actually nervous he played it so straight that i almost thought he was a like a psychopath is he like a telegram type of thing no he just hit his marks you know i mean he's a friend oh he is okay. He is a friend. Okay. He is an actor. Okay. His name is Tao Olson.

Okay. I mean, he's a great guy. Great performance. We have to say. I think he did a fantastic job. He did really well. Knew his lines. Yeah.

Griff was talking about the series. I'm like, uh-huh. Wait, wait. What was that again? What happened there? I didn't realize the noise was coming from the front door. I thought it was Ben knocking on the door of the bathroom and you were having some sort of bathroom emergency. Ben shit to go to the bathroom during that.

So we were just left scrambling. I couldn't help myself. Okay. No, it was funny. It was really good. 10 comedy points. Nice. Yeah.

And shout out to Teo. Teo as well as Patrick Willems. Yes. Yeah. And shout out to Tao. Tao as well as Patrick Willems. Yes. Great performances. I wish I got a picture of the guy. Is he still here?

We were so like it's hard to convey how disorienting this was. It was good though. It was well executed. It was great. Yeah.

But the first Mission Impossible when it came out, the original Brian De Palma film, which we've covered on Patreon, everyone's thing was like, this movie's impossible to follow, right? That was the beat on it.

You read all the reviews at the time, and they're like, this movie is incomprehensible. That's wild. Wild. Wild. Because it feels just like, that movie feels simplistic,

almost by the standards of how labrinthian most franchise plotting has become it's true it's really just like it was john void all along and you're like okay right it has a twisty turny plot i can't you know it's that thing where it's like there's a lot of jargon but the jargon doesn't really matter yeah which i think people were just kind of not used to of like either this is Tom Clancy and this is like well researched even if it's pulpy. Sure. Or it's Star Wars and nothing matters and they're like this movie is taking place in

the real world and everything they're saying sounds silly to me. This movie feels like it's very tonally kind of back to that De Palma zone. I felt like some of the references were intentional. Yeah, of course.

I'm bringing in Henry's Ernie is, you know, the final, uh, the final action sequence on a train, like very much an homage, but there's also this early sequence where, um,

there's the briefing that Kittredge is doing with Carrie Elwes on the entity who we'll talk about a lot. And I think has some really interesting ideas. I think he's got some interesting ideas. Griffin is Entity Pilled. I'm kind of into The Entity. I think he's cool. I think he's charismatic.

And he's got some good points. For his good parties. But Ben was saying, like, it was weird, like, the way they were talking, it was like, everyone was, like, completing each other's sentences.

You have this, this like boardroom of like Rob Delaney and Mark Gattis. Indira Varma. Yes. And they're all finishing each other's sandwiches. Yes. Charles Parnell. Charles Parnell. Warlock

himself. Yes. Do you think Charles Parnell, and also it wasn't Greg Tarzan Davis. He's the junior member of Shave Like Guns. Do you think Charles Parnell, and also it wasn't Greg Tarzan Davis as the maverick guy? He's the junior member of Shave My Guns. Do you think it was like he makes Top Gun and is like, I want to bring my two friends on this movie? It was like,

I think Tarzan Davis has talked about on set. Cruise was like, would you want to do this? We're thinking maybe we could write something for you. Very nice of him. We like you. Your mission, should you choose to do this? We're thinking maybe we could write something for you. Very nice of him. We like you. Your mission, should you choose to accept it. Yeah. But like that scene

is sort of like very stilted on purpose, as you're saying. It's like very theatrical. It's people like monologuing about like the intensity of the situation. In this way that I do think is like a vibe adjustment um i but there's something else about that scene that's very important which is it's like them all being like can we once and

for all get down on paper what is the imf yes what is his position in the u.s intelligence community what do they call it on for like what is their specific remit right what why do they exist yes to what extent does the president know they exist now in the way it's described in this movie i think does kind of go against how it's been presented in other movies like in three they have an office this does not suggest they have an office right if that makes sense yes you know in four tom wilkinson is that classic thing from the tv show the secretary for the imf right which they haven't had secretary in a couple exactly then baldwin gets that role i guess you know but like right that seems to have gone away i guess

baldwin just dies in the last one there's no secretary in this one right but now it's just sort of become like no they're like a traveling troop of entertainers yes and if you you know put a note in an apple and throw it into you know the fucking ocean then ethan hunt will get word i do think it's funny that this movie starts to make the imf seem a little bit more like the triple x program where it's like we get the most dangerous people in the world right the ability off the grid they're adding they added some backstory for ethan hunt which feels maybe like it was a very much a new thing that is not present all the way i want to re-watch the diploma which i've seen many times since we did the commentary

like three weeks it's fucking owned yeah but like that movie references his parents and that movie very much is like he's an agent He's like a good government boy. Like he's, you know, he's shiny 90s Tom Cruise. That positions him like he's one of the other guys in the interview room in Men in Black. That it's like, you're the best of the best of the best. He was a top something. What I thought was interesting is, you know, we all talk about Ethan Hunt

as the living manifestation of destiny, an agent of chaos. He is a singular figure. The way he's introduced in in one it's just like lots of two shots of him and emilio or like all of the the crew around a table it does not identify tom well it's like they're trying to also kind of shock you shock you with oh everyone's gonna die but still it looks like he's like a member of a team he's just one peg yes he's not

the guy yeah but that's always been i i think the thing that mccurry did that was really smart as like the first three movies in particular first two it's like who is this guy he's a cipher right three comes in the moment where cruz is starting to like go off the tracks and they're like we're gonna super ground him we're gonna show you that he like has a home life and a wife and he's trying to balance normal he has the most normal sex it's boring right and then the movies since then have basically framed that as like he tried he could not do it right he is just this and the movie since then he has just become an insane man. Right. Who just gathers people like he's, you know,

a Rolling Stone or whatever. Addicted to saving the world and his only, like, his vice, his greatest weakness is the idea of a single person dying. A thing he cannot handle. He cannot abide it.

One death. But like in Ghost Protocol, right, it's like there's another team, the Josh Holloway, Paula Patton team, right? There's still the concept, oh, Benji got promoted by, right, it's like there's another team, the Josh Holloway, Paula Patton team, right? There's still the concept, oh, Benji got promoted by like a boss. Right. And then like the more we go on, the more it's like, no, the IMF are like this clown show that the CIA quasi-tolerates.

Can I ask another question? I don't know if there is an answer to it within the lore. Okay. The IMF is not strictly American, correct? It says who? I think it is. I think it is. Okay. The IMF is not strictly American, correct? It says who? I think it is. I think it is. Yeah.

It is strictly American. Yeah. Is it? It's proud to be American. We're recording this on the 5th of July. Right. But then... July 4th plus one.

Yeah, because they talk about... America's second favorite day. Ilsa as being former British intelligence. But she's not in the IMF. She's never been a part of the IMF officially. Okay. Benji is always working for the IMF. Yes.

He is English. But he's English. Yes. And here's what happened there. They cast Simon Pegg in the role. Yeah. And worked backwards from there. Okay.

Yes. I just, no, I mean, it is ostensibly an American agency. Okay. So the first movie Emmanuel Bayard is French Sure, yes Yeah, no, the first movie, they're very international Yeah

Kristen Scott Thomas Right As we all know, you know, Emilio Estevez is Venezuelan I don't know, he's American But, no, these are all fine questions There's never been answers to any of these questions No, to any of these Now, I'm not a viewer of the TV show He's American. But no, these are all fine questions. There's never been answers to any of these questions. No, to any of these. Now, I'm not a viewer of the TV show.

Neither am I. I don't know if the TV show, which is obviously separate, has more on this. But they're here to handle America's Impossible Missions. Yes. And they do that with a palm. Yes. But this movie is very much like yeah we they're sort of like almost like contractors for the weirdest stuff right and he's the weirdest of all of them the point i was

building up to here is that like it was a franchise for a while that was unique in the fact that it like wasn't really about its lead character it was about the movie star and it was a vehicle for the styles of directors and you were like can you define who Ethan Hunt is at all? And you're like, he's a guy that Tom Cruise plays. And then I think it starts in Ghost Protocol when McQuarrie comes in as a writer, and then really gets raised to the next level when he starts directing the films of like, oh, no, the key is that like, Ethan Hunt is Tom Cruise, that you like take everything that is simultaneously captivating and like a little bit unnerving about this guy and his like single-minded devotion and the movies have now become basically about tom cruise's like absurd pathological commitment to the idea of like keeping an idea of movies alive yes and an idea of movie stardom and all this, you know? As, of course, was Top Gun Maverick. As it seems to just all Tom Cruise movies. That's what all is more. Yes.

And I think Macquarie had sort of like tapped into is like, oh, the TV show was always a team. The first movie, the team dies at the beginning, and that's sort of the fake out, right? And then he's like, I don't have a team. I work alone. It's just Ving Rhames in two. In three, he's got a team that doesn't stick. In four, they assign him a team, and he's like, I don't have a team. I work alone. It's just Ving Rhames in two. In three, he's got a team that doesn't stick.

In four, they assign him a team. And he's like, by the way, just know you are not my team. Like he keeps on saying you're not my team. He's got like team guilt at that point. Totally. It's like this guy has never gotten over letting that team die. Right. In the first movie.

Not letting them die, but not being able to save them. And so he's just like, well, I can can't i cannot get involved with a team ever again and then the last couple movies this team has built around him and now you've added this sort of like original like sin of his life which is he like in his days of being like aladdin yeah he was aladdin he was like a pickpocket one step ahead yeah I don't know what he was, but he was, sure, he was in violation of the law in some way. I mean, I have a note in my notes saying, Ethan Hawke scumbum?

Ethan Hawke? Not Ethan Hawke, Ethan Hunt. Scumbum? Yeah. Question mark? Greasy long hair. That I don't buy. Yeah, you had some pushback on the hairstyle.

The hair didn't feel right to me. Well, what year do we think that would be? If the first movie's 96. I don't know, 91? 91, so by the time we, he's only in the IMF for five years. By the time we get to. How old is he in Mission Impossible? Yeah, I guess he's like 34.

Yeah. He's in his grunge era. How long do you want the man to be? Yeah. Yeah, he would be, yeah, he'd be 30 years old in 1992. So let's even say the late 80s. Yeah, right. Born on the 4th of July. He had long hair and that. He wasn't born on the 4th of July. No,

Tom Cruise was famously born on the 5th of July. I'm not joking. The second most patriotic day. Wait, today? Isn't that right? Are we recording this on Tom Cruise's birthday? I take it back. The 3rd of July. Fuck! I knew it was one day off. I just didn't remember which direction. America's third most patriotic day. Happy birthday, Tom.

Yeah. Oh, right. He made like a whole thing about like how happy he was to celebrate his birthday with Mission Impossible fans around the world. Nothing he loves more. Nothing he loves more. This whole movie though is about like, he's like, I have finally accepted that I care about my team and they are

my team. And now it drives me insane that like all I care about is trying and they are my team right and now it drives me insane that like all i care about is trying to keep them alive uh right the sense of selflessness that is almost like pathological uh within him but um uh christian ricard does these great empire magazine hours long podcast interviews whenever a new mission possible movie comes out break out the whole thing right thing, right? And he talked a lot about when Fallout came out, where you have the extended sequence where it feels like they don't stop the explosion from going. And you're like, oh, God.

The world is being nuked. Right. Like, they blew it. The cold opening of this movie is they fucked up. Like, how can you start a movie this way? And Macquarie's like, I want to play with the audience thinking, are they fucking, like, are they the filmmakers fucking up? Right. Are they

ruining this movie? Right. Are they breaking this franchise? And then you have the reversal. Oh, it was Wolf Blitzer. It was staged. They got the pass codes. They stopped the thing from happening. They fake the news footage. All that stuff is great. This movie starts with this submarine sequence with no characters you recognize.

Speaking in Russian, right? It feels very Hunt for Red October, not just because of its setting, but even just its style. I think this whole movie feels very McTiernan in its style. A little bit. Well, I mean, the man made a great submarine movie. He did.

You have this voiceover explaining this, like, sort of this thing they have on board that looks like a bomb, but seems hooked up to a computer. The only way you can unlock it is with two keys put together. Yeah.

It's also kind of a throwback to the knock list. Yep. In the first movie, where there are two. Yes. You gotta find both. I like it. I do love a, yeah, a fun, fancy key, though. But this is, like, very, this love a fun, fancy key, though. But this is very straightforward,

very earnest, very dramatic, right? And they're looking at their radar screen and there seems to be a missile coming at them. Captain, torpedoes coming towards us! Right, and then it doesn't hit and they're like, what's going on? And I'm sitting there waiting for the moment where it turns out what they thought was a missile

was Ethan Hunt and he rips the door off with his bare hands right or the submarine captain rips his mask off and it was him and he was faking it or whatever and instead no a missile hits them the thing blows up they sink to the bottom of the ocean and you're like well this is a deliberate choice to start out the movie with none of the characters we know something actually going wrong and it sets like a pallor over the film immediately in a way that I thought was like, well, this is interesting because he went out of his way to subvert the expectation that maybe he was doing that in the last movie. And now he's like, no, I am doing this.

And they also have a weird computer on board that goes like, yes, every time it does something bad. Yeah, it looks cool. Does it? Do you think it looks cool? Yeah. Looks like a screensaver. It does look like it's like a does something bad. Yeah, it looks cool. Does it? Do you think it looks cool? Yeah. Looks like a screensaver. It does look like a screensaver.

It's like a big thingy. Yeah. They hit themselves with their own missile. Yeah. Torpedo. Right. Yeah, the computer was an act of self-preservation, right? This thing, the NND, was not even hinted at in any of the trailers i feel

like i did not know going in there's only one hint which is the logo of the film itself is the entity right circular sort of interface but that is it i did not know this was an ai film no that started coming out after the premiere people were like so the villain's like ai and i was like well what do you mean by that and they were like it's like an ai and i was like, well, what do you mean by that? And they were like, it's like an AI. And I was like, I thought it was like Isai Morales. And they were like, sure,

but it's really an AI. He's kind of the AI's henchman. Yeah. He's the AI's like, avatar. Yeah. You know? Um,

and so that was surprising. Um, but the trailers were obviously all just like, you have to make a choice. Yeah. You know, this is the craziest thing

that's ever happened. Pick a side. Pick a side. All that shit. You know, it was a fucking Mad Men promo. But we go from that to another a choice. Yeah. This is the craziest thing that's ever happened. Pick a side. All that shit. You know, it's a fucking Mad Men promo. But we go from that to another. Shut the door. Open the door.

Shut the door. Ethan Hunt living in some weird, barren, abandoned space. Yeah. And ordering DoorDash. Yes. In Amsterdam. It's right. But it's not DoorDash.

It's like, eat run or whatever. Yeah. You know, like, food now. Right. But in fact, it is this guy delivering his message. Yeah. He's an agent in run or whatever. You know, like, food now. Right. But in fact, it is this guy delivering his message. Yeah, and he's an agent in training or whatever. And he's giving him the tips of how to

get started. And then we have our mission, which is Elsa, Elsa Faust, our friend Rebecca Ferguson, has now acquired one half of this key. You don't know why you have to get it back from her.

There are a bunch of people who want her dead. You can get it back from her alive or dead. What you do with her is up to you. And then we cut to this big barnstorming desert thing where Ethan's getting her and she's being chased by all the bad guys. She's got a little eye patch

at one point that's so cute. She does look pretty badass. No hat. I mean, come on. It's Rose. It's Rose the Hat. Oh, but that's only when she's in character as Rose the Hat, I guess. She puts a hat on. I like to consider her canon as Rose anywhere I see her.

So what do you want? Like a Dr. Seuss hat in this one? You want like a cat in a hat? Yeah, and I want her to suck some damn steam. Yeah. There was a moment where they're like looking for Ethan, I guess. I don't know. Everyone's out to get her, right? And the camera like pans over and you see that Ethan is hiding behind like a sandbank with his horse who is lying flat.

And he's stroking like the side of the horse. And then when the other men clear. He's a friend to animals. In like one fluid motion, the horse just gets up with him on top of it. Right. And you gasp, David. Yes. I mean, I'm just very impressed by the physics of horses all the time.

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yes. Friend to animals. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yes. Friends of animals. Yeah. Yeah. He's, you know, he's sort of like a thoroughbred himself, Ethan Hunt.

He understands. Yeah. But you see him. What? I mean, I guess you see him get to her. Then it cuts out of there. No, no. It's seen.

They do a fake out. It looks like she's dead or something. You're like, oh, my God. Then he cut back to a bunch. The whole Henry Zerny. Right. Journey. Journey.

How do you say it? Journey. Zerny. Zerny. Zerny. Zerny. Zerny. Zerny.

Yeah. Really good in Ready or Not. Is that what it was called? Yeah. I think fucking unbelievable in this movie. He is great in this. He's great. Just the incredible, just sort of like staring at someone

growling Yeah. He's a great what do you want to call him? Sort of you know, stick in the mud. Crankpot. Right. He's got so much anger in this in a way

that's interesting. Right. This movie is very skeptical of the U.S. sort of intelligence apparatus, which I would say the last few movies have all kind of nodded at. This is a little more concrete about it. I think this movie is very skeptical of everything. Everything? I do. Friendship?

I think that's one of the only things it holds dear as an absolute truth in this world. No, there's a lot of people saying, like, we're trying to make this movie more of like a 70s political thriller, right? But I feel like often it's kind of a performative thing, and it ends up being like, oh, like one organization is bad, but you can believe in all other organizations or whatever it is, right? Right. And this is a movie that is kind of like, reality feels like it's sort of falling apart

at the seams. This is like a destabilizing time to be alive. And everyone is just kind of confused and worried and skeptical. And I do think

we're seeing a lot of things try to write about AI right now. And I think the thing this movie gets right that makes it like one of the more interesting dramatic explorations of AI for me

is just the feeling of unease of like, it's not even that we should definitely be afraid of this thing. It's that we don't, we know we don't understand it. Unpredictable.

And we don't understand the speed at which it's going. And the moment where we figure out what it is, it's going to be too late in one way or another. Like it will settle on itself before we realize what it's settled on. And I do think that just adds to this air of everything of like, we've created this

thing. This thing has been created. It's existing out there. We have lost control of it. We just don't know what anything is anymore. And they view Ethan with that sort of skepticism as well, where they're like, we've trained this guy in this program. And now every

single fucking movie he goes rogue he goes rogue and he does some crazy thing that we don't understand he pulls it off but no one really wants to like be held accountable for what he's doing um but I also just think it's sort of that you know the US government has decided it wants this

uh AI thing not because they know what they can do with it, but just because everyone else wants it too. So we better get it first. Yes. Because it'll make us best. Right. And everyone,

it's sort of like, it's like an Indiana Jones artifact, right? Right. It's a thingy. It's a thingy, but it's also the thing where they're just like, this thing is so fucking powerful. Right.

You don't understand. And everyone thinks like, well, everyone has the thing where they're just like, this thing is so fucking powerful. You don't understand. And everyone thinks like, well, everyone has the Ben attitude of like, well, if I got it, I would know how to work it and I would figure everything out. Yeah. And everything would be the best. Right. Whereas I think most Mission Impossible movies, they're like, this guy has a bomb and he will set off the bomb unless you give him a lot of money. And he's a psychopath. Let me think about this.

There's no reason why he's doing it, really. In the first one, it's the knock list, which is basically like a list of all the CIA agents, right? That's the MacGuffin. That's really what they're after the whole time, right? Sure. The second one, it's a virus. Right.

You know, deadly virus. Chimera. The chimera, bad. Yes. The third one, it's total bullshit. It's the rabbit's foot. We never even know what it is doesn't matter that it doesn't matter classic right you know the fourth one back to more

straightforward this guy wants to set up nuclear bombs because he thinks that'd be good yes right that's you're saying he's like it would be good for that to happen right to the world yes fifth one well i guess now we're in the you know fucking sean harris character yes what's his name solomon lane solomon lane you know and it's what do they want they kind of want to disrupt the world order right wasn't the him and john larkin sixth is that the the one where rogue agents yeah the rogue the agents we thought were dead are alive and they're forming their own counter a rogue nation if you correct okay fascinating Correct. Okay. Fascinating. Right.

So there's like, you know, that's what I'm saying. It's sort of creeping in. This sort of like undercurrent of like whatever it is, the current world order. Yeah. We're skeptical. We want to do the opposite. But it's also, it's like radicals who come in and either want power or want to like disrupt the status quo, you know, the natural order of things or whatever it is. And this movie,

yes. The call is coming from inside the house. Yes. And it's also like, we thought S.A. Morales was going to be the main villain. And instead you're like, he's no, he's like the muscle man for this villain that no one understands.

That is this like unknown. Yeah. The power is the thing itself. I was feeling very paranoid immediately from the submarine scene, which I think is the intent of the movie, so that when a mysterious person enters the CIA briefing,

and the camera keeps cutting to them. A very severe looking man with like spiky hair. He looks awesome. He looks fucking rad. In the trailer, I thought it was Shea Whiggan. With the glasses on, he kind of looks like sure yeah it doesn't matter i said to david i was like this feels like an x-files thing i literally thought that man was like the the

entity had figured out how to like have a human shell yes so it's it ends up being tom cruise with a face mask yeah and erlich has not stopped making fun of me ever since we saw the movie. Marie didn't realize it was Tom Cruise. We didn't realize it was Tom Cruise. I'm like, you know what? He's annoying. That guy also got like such a key shot in the trailer because his little glasses and his little face mask look cool when he sets off the bombs. That I was I was with you.

I was like, it has the entity already taken human form. Yeah. Which it does not in this movie, but it's just this feeling of like, it is everywhere. And I think this is the other big thing with this movie is like, these movies have like not been

super invested in continuity, right? And McQuarrie talks a lot about like, I hate fan service. I hate Easter eggs. I don't think that like really lasts those are like kind of cheap pops sure that don't linger you don't want to do it for no reason right yeah and then this movie is like tying back into one more bringing up max more putting kittredge in it hitting that tonally invoking the train chase from the end of the first one there is this feeling

that like you're watching a movie that is being written by the entity right like end of the first one there is this feeling that like you're watching a movie that is being written by the entity right like one of the things that is interesting about this movie is like they're all operating not totally knowing if what they're trying to do is correct because the entity is like fucking with the fabric of reality so much sure what does that mean well like how does it do that is it influencing people in the sense of through social media right and getting people in real time to change their opinion or their minds about a person or a thing how are they changing reality in the physical world well there's like shit like what the first main mission they have is what this thing where it's like we need to give a fake key to the guy who's bought the other half the key so we can scan it and figure out this thing where the guy's going to get in a plane and they go to the airport and Dubai. They want to follow the guy with one half of the key to wherever he's going.

Because they still don't know what the key opens. They think they're doing a relatively simple mission. But it's a classic Mission Impossible. I have glasses that will scan the key and they'll find it in his pocket and they'll create a dummy and then we'll place the key on him and do this and do that.

Yeah. A very classic kind of clever, like, here are the steps. I'm going to wear a nice suit. They're not... What? I'm trying to remember if they're making a dummy or not because like their whole thing is like we can't actually do that we need to follow the key right right so they actually have

like they're pretending they're going to do that maybe but but yes he has glasses and there's this very cool effect look that whole sequence is great the airplanes the airport sequence in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or wherever it is great Mission Yes. The airport sequence in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or wherever it is. Great Mission Impossible stuff. You've got Tom doing this one thing.

Yeah. People are chasing Tom. That's element two. Yes. And then you've got, you know, Luther and Benji on the computers. And then Benji has to go off to do mission three, which is there's a bomb in a bag. I got to defuse the bomb. And then, of course, there's Hayley Atwell showing up.

Yes, as a pickpocket. Who's this new person? She's an unstable element. She's also after the key, but maybe for different reasons. All this stuff is happening. And I think you're trying to... It turns out there's no bomb. Yes. There's no key. There's no buyer. It's all vapor. Right. It's all in the cloud or whatever.

Because at the beginning, they're doing the shit, right? There's this bit where Shaya Wiggum and Tarzan Davis are trying to find Ethan Hunt and cut him off at the pass. And they're using, like, the security monitors to track where he is and which quarter of the airport. And they think they found him. And when they go up to the guy, it's a guy with an entirely different face. And it's like, oh, Benji and Luther have done some clever thing where they've hacked the security system. And they've, like, fucking deepfaked his face onto the wrong people and a wrong face onto him so they can't find him. And then like

the entity starts doing shit like that. Like it erases Esai Morales in real time. Esai, I'm sorry. Esai Morales in real time from the security footage where they can't find him. It is like setting targets that are false. It's funny that the entity is kind of like a troll. Yes.

He's just like wreaking havoc for the lols. It's like that the entity is kind of like a troll. Yes. He's just like wreaking havoc for the lols. It's like identifying this bomb. Right. That they go and find that Benji finds that's asking him riddles that are weirdly personal that he has to solve. It makes him say the thing he cares most about are his friends. My friends. Right.

Which these movies have started to weaponize friend as an idea in the same way that Fast and Furious weaponizes family. But it's also it's just right. If this algorithm doesn't care about any of that, obviously. Right. These movies have started to weaponize friend as an idea in the same way The Fast and Furious weaponizes family. But it's also, it's just, right, this algorithm doesn't care about any of that, obviously. Right. It's a soulless algorithm. Mocking him. Mocking him, but also identifying that as the weakness. Yeah. And that's what the subsequent action is about, right?

He's like, I know this is the thing that will throw you off balance, right? Right. Going after your friends. Because the bomb opens up and there's nothing inside. There's nothing inside. And it's like, oh, the trick was, ha ha, I got you to admit that you care about people. But also it was capturing his voice. Correct.

And all that. And all of his personal data. Which it then uses later to like, right. Tom Cruise is following the model of how Mission Impossible movie works. Benji's in his ear and he tells him where to go. Now Maria. And suddenly the entity is writing fake dialogue and sending him in the wrong directions. Maria, I thought

I was sitting next to you when we saw this film. I feel like you thought Simon Pegg was maybe going to bite it in this scene, right? There is that sort of element where you're kind of like,

we're so many movies in. Someone's going to die in this one. Is that going to happen? Is there going to be some kind of early tone-setting, surprising death to just sort of keep, you know, things know the stakes high exactly

i thought as soon as he said that he loved his friends right then i was like oh well he's dead that's when i pulled back that's when i was like it's too obvious i think i think benji will be okay and also benji is too soft to target yeah that's that's my main thing like that was just waiting his trick always was going you know the softest target but i think it's too easy to kill the cuddliest least threatening right so like and then very shortly after tom cruise hugged rebecca ferguson on a balcony i don't know how you guys felt and we are spoiling the movie but i was like she's dead fuck dead yeah immediately yeah and it wasn't because just because that moment is sort of lingered on but i was also just like he cannot fuck in these movies right i'm sorry to be crass yeah no we can't yes their relationship is coming

to a point where it's like what is this yes if not romantic yes right like they have a connection that's a little bit beyond everyone else's connection right yeah and fallout kind of ended with that moment of it feeling like michelle monaghan being like okay he's yours now right right and there is just this feeling well ethan's not actually allowed to like be in love again no one else is the same way like they're both not actually capable of being in a normal person i don't think it's like a i don't think it's an emotional thing i think it's like a dr strange love like they need to protect their precious bodily fluids sort of thing it might be part of it it's too much for ethan to exert himself right uh but like no fap existence but like i'm not someone who thinks very hard about like the casting or promotion or like where i'm trying to figure out like what will the plot points be but the second i saw that i was like oh i think fergie might be done for also adding and then i

start to think like oh right they've added in hayley atwell oh i'm starting to think about sort of the balance of this all together yes yes um and then i'm starting to think like well also maybe is rebecca ferguson maybe the one actor who in the press stores is kind of like, this is a very stressful thing to make. It's kind of a lot. It's funny. They always talk about, like, because she's like the first person to enter into these movies and kind of be Tom Cruise's equal. And then they talk about and she talks about, like, she is so different than Tom Cruise. We don't have similar styles.

No, it's like they can both hit the same effect, but she's a very thoughtful, internal, sensitive. She does not have endless stamina. She does not love doing stunt training. She's pregnant making Fallout, right? Yes. Maybe she was kind of like... I don't know. I'm sure Macquarie will talk about it.

She dislikes these, but she's like, I find acting hard. It's not like a thing I get a lot of adrenaline from. She seems to be more stressed out. That's all. I love her. I her i love her too and the more stressed out she talks about being the more i love her um god bless she's making dune in between these as well it's like not like those are silo in an apple series called silo don't you don't go no leave you can't leave you can't leave that's all i know about silos you can't leave the silo you can't leave is You can't leave. That's all I know about silos. You can't leave the silo. You can't leave the silo. Is it like a grain silo? No, they like live in a silo. I don't know.

And you're like, what is this? And you look and it stars like five Pulitzer Prize winners. I'm looking to show. That's where they've all been? Silo. Jimmy Carter's in the main cast of Silo? I know he won the Nobel Prize. In a ruined and toxic future, a community exists in a giant underground silo

that plunges hundreds of stories deep. There, people live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them. Doesn't it have crazy people in the supporting cast? It's kind of a pretty stacked cast. Tim Robbins, Harriet Walter, David Oyelowo, Common. But Haley Atwell's introduction. Love him.

He's seeing that there is a pickpocket who pulled the key from the target that he's scanning with his glasses and rather than like viewers arrival he's like game recognize game. Let me go to her. Let me draw her in. I wrote this down.

I was really happy to see Ethan Hawk do street or not Ethan Hawke Jesus fucking Christ Ethan Hunt do street magic again he's back to fucking David Blaine shit he's doing like close up sleight of hand yes he does that whole sequence is so good

but he's still in this thing where he's like I'm Ethan Hunt I can make anything work right yeah definitely the movie starts to break him down as it goes on a little bit but yeah i was re-watching you know all the mission impossibles in preparation of missions impossible missions impossible uh and i think he does street magic in two does he he's got the big bit in one is it in one i thought he did it in two he definitely does it in one i just does it with the mic the the floppy disk or whatever.

Oh, you're right. That's what I'm thinking of. I remember the least about two. I've seen it multiple times. It's just the one that doesn't stick in my head as much. Other than Sandgun. Sandgun, of course. We respect Sandgun.

I like all the sexy stuff when they're in the bathtub. I like that, but I want it to be better and more of it. Yeah. I like the idea of him being horny. Yeah. But it feels like the movie's sort of like, should we float this? And then quickly with Ethan Hunt,

they're like, no, don't worry about that. I think too is like interesting as the midlife crisis movie where it's like this guy's whole team died in front of him. How is he doing? Great. I'm doing great. What are you talking about? I drew my hair out.

I got sunglasses. I fuck a bunch of women. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm fucking, I've never been happier. I like being free. Griffin, that's such a good reading of women. I'm doing great. I'm doing great. I'm never been happier. I like being free. Griffin, that's such a good reading of it. Right. And he's like, look how cool I am. I run in slow motion.

I'm fine. I'm doing unbelievable. I'm still friends with Ving Rhames. We still talk. We still talk. I've flown back to Australia. I see him. I talk to him all the time. I'm doing great. I just think Rhames is the only person who can be on his... Everyone else is dead. Yes. It's just that he doesn't retain anyone from 2. There's no friends getting carried over from two i'll say this i thought i thought ving was going to be the one to die in this movie

that just seems too mean that's like killing hagrid that's why i thought they were gonna do it because i was like this is the move that would be so staggering this is the one guy who's been continuity throughout all these movies there's a moment moment in Fallout where he's in danger. And you sort of wonder. They do a fake out. Well, maybe instead of killing Ethan in the final movie, it's they kill Luther. That's just sad.

Yeah. No, I want Luther. Because Luther could live a normal life. Luther could retire. Right? But I think Ving is so fucking locked in in this movie. He is. He's really good. Where it feels like he has to be,

and a thing he started to do increasingly over the sequels, be the emotional translator for Ethan. Where Ethan will come in and say the super intense shit. He gets him the best. And he'll leave the room, and then he'll be like, you need to understand. Benji is still a little bit like,

well, I don't know. And then Ilsa obviously doesn't, she's not really an emotional person. Luther's like, I've been with him for so long. That's Ethan's way of saying X. He's also most crucial in this because this movie is sort of introducing the idea that IMF agents

are all people who were once on the run and in their most desperate moment were identified by our government and recruited. Which, by the way, was how we were introduced to Luther. That's what I'm saying. He makes the most sense. It's like where we were like, well, we've actually seen that play out with him. Yes. Now, with Benji, it

more feels like Benji, you know, took a few tests. Right. You know, it got recruited. Was he like a hacker? No, no. Immediately while I'm watching this movie, I start doing that internal revision of like, makes sense to me. He hacked into something he shouldn't have hacked into. But it doesn't feel like

all of them are necessarily like insane, like high risk criminals, but that all of them were just like on the wrong side of the law and they go like, we can either arrest you or you can use your skills for us. Right.

And that's, then I start thinking about like, okay, so in the office, you know, the janitors, is it like someone who is such a good janitor? Then he got in over his head. He was janitoring for the wrong guys. The government was like, we got a great janitor position for you.

I was thinking about that with Luther's hats. What was their backstory? Were they bad hats? Well, if you notice, the hats are never straight. They're always at an angle. It doesn't matter what hat you wear. So they're kind of rebellious. Did you guys see my pitch on Twitter for Young Luther?

I don't look at Twitter anymore. Okay, sorry. I should have put it on blue sky. It's really good right now. It's really finally entered its final form. Yeah, I think it's kind of... Twitter is now just like this mutant goblin that's like, let me die. Every account is like a fucking Ripley clone from Resurrection.

What was your pitch for a young Luther? I think I did see this. I just think that, you know, if you want to expand the franchise, because clearly we have to end with Tom. Like he physically is not going to be able to. But if we want to like mine more IP ip i want to see an 80s urban techno thriller starring young luther look i'm all for that although i am sort of i'm skeptical of young things yeah because you got to recast but david what if you did that works really well every time imagine if they de-aged bing rams but he still moved like 2020s bing rams no offense to 2020

i'm in the prime of his life i'm in the prime of his life. I'm in the prime of my life, but I kind of feel like sitting down right now. It's a lot of scenes where he just chooses to sit down. Right. Yeah. That's the other thing. I'm all for it. I'm all for 80s freaker vibes, you know.

Yeah. pH freaker. Yeah. Yeah. No, but just the fact that Ving Rhames does not move as well anymore, and he basically just always has to be in a chair behind a computer in every scene. Well, not just that, but there's the scene in this movie where the final act is revving up where Luther's like, Ethan, I gotta go.

I'm gonna look into some of this stuff. I won't be in the rest of the film, but there's a reason for it. Goodbye. It might as well just be Ving being like, you're gonna be running around. I just, you know know i'm pretty sleepy like his weariness they have owned and i think have made it this thing where he's like because you have all these scenes he's running around in fallout and you're like is can someone just check on this one they're very consciously like luther's gonna go yeah i love i love the part where he's just like so exasperated by the fact that like he says something crazy like i have to hack into it like offline and i'm like

thinking like what does that mean it's going to like take a like like a circuit breaker paper clip into the side of a laptop he actually knows clippy yeah so he's gonna actually get to know him i went to school with Clippy. I got to talk to a friend of mine. Clippy bounces out from behind an alley. My friend is Clippy. Okay, so wait. So can we talk about let's talk about Gabriel.

Yes. Okay. So this is what I was going to say. So he's doing the close-up sleight of hand with Hallie Atwell trying to like charm her into like and you can help us and we'll pay you twice as much and whatever. I know you're a good pickpocket but are you a good putt pocket? And he's doing the close-up sleight of hand with Hallie Atwell trying to, like, charm her into, like, and you can help us and we'll pay you twice as much and whatever. I know you're a good pickpocket, but are you a good putt pocket? And he's fucking master of the universe, like, king shitting her. And then he just skis out of the corner of his eye, this guy's fucking face. And is that, have we already seen the flashback?

I think we have, haven't we? I think, yes. They do those very early. They do it early on. These little DH flashH. flashbacks, very brief, very sepia-toned. Not D.H. It's just sort of like silhouette. You're not seeing clearly. Well, you see young

East Side Morales. Yeah, but I thought that effect looked good. I think that was. But Cruise is notably not D.H., which I think is the incredible decision to be like, cast him in shadow. And you see that he was... We need to discuss this. We'll talk about it. Not about the hair. About the woman.

Oh, sure. Well, who's the woman? Marie. Marie. Barty. Party. Barty. Is the character's name.

The character's name is Marie. The character's name is Marie. Ethan lost a woman named Marie. We don't know anything else about her, right? But that is what, you know, caused him to enter the IMF. And at the hands of Gabriel, who is a bad person. Yes. That's really all we know. I was just really excited.

Yeah. I'm sorry, it's Mariela Garriga plays Marie. Looks like she's done some television. But another of the Ethan Hunt brunettes, right? Sure. Which is another part of like

Yes, this is in this movie. Which is another part of, like... Yes, this is in this movie. They're kind of like, you know, you can only orbit him for a couple years before, you know, someone's going to displace you or whatever. Right, but also the, like... Is the entity kind of writing this movie?

I'm not saying in a meta way, right? But, like, is the entity orchestrating events specifically to get to Ethan Hunt? Because the root of this movie is so many people want the entity orchestrating events specifically to get to Ethan Hunt? Because the root of this movie is so many people want the entity because they think if they use it, they can be kingship. In charge of everything. Right. They'll know how to handle it. The entity, what its endgame is, is unclear at this point.

But it's self-aware and the idea that anyone can control it is kind of ludicrous. Except, I guess, if you have this magic key, then maybe you can. You could at the very least shut it down, which is its greatest fear, right? And it basically believes anyone who comes into my orbit will be so intoxicated by the idea of the power I control that I can take over them. Except for one person.

There's one person in the universe I have analyzed. So ludicrous. Yes. Yes. Who is the one person who is selflessly committed to this idea of keeping humanity on the straight and narrow but i think it's beyond that it is yes it's identified ethan's good character yeah it's also identified like reality warps around this man in ways that are beyond algorithmic understanding yeah right he he will make the impossible possible

right he doesn't he has to memorize the nuclear codes he just does it but there's a point where like where luther says to him like what's your end game ethan he says something like making sure that no one ever dies and luther's like that's impossible right right exactly and later he tries to make this promise to hailey atwell where he's just like i will make make sure you never die. And they're like, Ethan, you can't promise that. And he adjusts it to something like, I promise you, I will always prioritize your life above my own. And it's this sense of in this like the weird figure that Tom Cruise has turned into where it's like this guy just is just so committed to this idea of movies have to stay intact. You need to do things for real

in front of a camera, the old-fashioned way. I don't care about anything else, right? Where the entity is like, this guy actually doesn't do anything for himself. So there's no way to appeal to him on that level. So what I need to do is hit all of his pressure points.

Right. You need to put a new brunette in front of him. You need to put a new brunette in front of him. That's part of it. You need to put an old brunette at risk. I've noticed the pattern and I'm now like playing the story beats of what the story cycles of this man are. Yeah. And like you say,

right, Ethan can't deny, people have died. Yeah. With Ethan. And he hates it. He doesn't like it, but it has happened.

But he can, yes, promise he'll put you above himself. Yeah. And there's that moment late in the film when he asks Grace how she is. And her face, you know, reacts to it. And it's beautiful. We both looked at each other and were like, fuck.

Good. Yeah. I love Hayley Atwell. Yeah, I'm very pro. We've always been a pro Hayley Atwell podcast. And it just feels like she's one of those people where it's like, no one is quite figuring out how to use her to the best of her ability on a regular basis.

She's been stuck mostly in you know, Marvelville. But her character being in the past, getting killed off so early, she's often these little tiny pop-ins and stuff. Yeah, I mean, you know, I should had killed off so early. She's often these little tiny pop-ins and stuff. Yeah. I mean, you know, I should watch that

Howard's End miniseries that Kenneth Lonergan did. Weird that I haven't seen that. I bet she was good in that. There's probably great in it. But, uh, fun character in this, and you do start to realize

halfway through the movie, like, oh, that's what we're seeing. We're seeing how someone becomes an IMF agent. Yes. Right? And the thing she plays so well is what you're talking about where it's like she goes from this cocksure like i'm the fun color

character myself like yeah i'm always gonna nick what's in your pocket and run away what helena shaw is trying to be helena shaw sorry dial of destiny oh sure i'm just like i think those characters in conception Well Helena Shaw The Fleabag Yes Granddaughter Fleabag Have you seen Goddaughter Fleabag

Indiana Jones Goddaughter Fleabag Yeah Yeah she's definitely like She keeps saying like Ah fortune and glory I'm only in it for myself And I'm like

I don't buy it No she doesn't really do it though And I'm like But she says it Of course She keeps saying it In this way where you're like Okay okay

Hilliard was actually It's like classic show Don't tell stuff Where like her actions, you're like, oh, I can't keep this woman straight. And then the thing that's so great is once she starts getting like roped into this world and put on the crazy missions, you see what you're talking about, the moments where it's just like, oh, this is like an entire like reality shifter. I'm existing in a different plane of existence now and this is like a terrifying world and there's no turning back which is what they say to her like immediately but also what are your choices and they're like either we turn you in or you do this for the rest of your life right and you have no friends you have no family right you're like you don't exist you're dirty circus folk for the rest of your life on these like globetrotting missions but we do have each other yes and that's fun right and yeah and also as luther sort of says he's like what is your current

life your current life is basically this anyway you're always on the run this is the stuff that ving is like killing he's really good at it and it is true you're right they actually give him he's good doing nothing but they do give him something they give him a lot of emotional weight and he's saying like i know i was I was you. We all were you previously. We get what you're existing in reaction to. But this is not sustainable. Do you think Tom Cruise has friends? I mean, this is the whole thing.

No. No. He has his group of people that he trusts that he works with. He travels around the world with. Who he collaborates with and they have like conversations i think his closest friends are literally the people he works on mission impossible with and the relationship is exactly the same as it is with the characters i think that's true there was that story going around about how he didn't want to leave simon

pegg like uh during oh wait'm going to look it up. I think Simon Pegg is, like, his fifth best friend in the world. And I think they know each other as well as these two characters know each other. Which is, like, yeah, he is my friend. Yes. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He gives people the cake, though, every year. He does.

He gives everyone the cake. He gives everyone the cake. Yeah. And I would love that cake, obviously. How do we get on that damn list? Well, we can just order it. It's on Goldbelly. No, but I want it from fucking Tom.

If anyone is close to Tom Cruise, who listens to this podcast, let us know. Yeah. Put us on the list. This was, look, a lot of it's just like the recency of having dug into this so deeply. And there's obviously the huge kind of homage at the end. But watching this, I just kept on thinking, like,

Ethan Hunt as a character is so much the way Buster Keaton was described as a person. Not the Buster Keaton screen persona. But when you read about him as much as we were and, like, dig into him, where everyone's like, I don't quite understand what drives this guy. Right. Outside of the fact that he was seemingly just built to do this thing. And there are like some demons that haunt him. But he's not like this sort of like self-obsessed artiste.

And he's not a tortured artist. And he's not whatever. He's just sort of like, well, I just have to do this. I have to do this. And you have to just like go bigger and harder. And they're like, that's dangerous. And he's like, well, we'll figure it out. Well, Buster did find peace in his personal life at the end took a long time it took a long time

yeah you had to basically lose everything right everyone's sort of like he's kind of unknowable i don't know if that is possible for tom cruise well i cannot speculate on tom cruise's personal life no i can i'm sorry go right ahead um no he's a a strange man And you know the more you delve There probably the less fun You're gonna have That's sort of the rule we all have to have with Tom Cruise These days right I don't even mean in terms of Nefarious shit I more just mean like

Just kind of a bummer But like we were talking about this in the Steamboat Bill Episode that that's the movie where Some people have the read that like he was Suicidal his marriage was collapsing His drinking was at it's worst boat bill episode that that's the movie where some people have the read that like he was suicidal his marriage was collapsing his drinking was at its worst his independent film run was ending is that movie the one where he has the death wish and the stunts are so crazy because he was like i don't fucking care if i die doing this and i was pushing back on that like i think that's a fundamentally

wrong read i think if he was that depressed he would not care about putting that much work into the movie. I think it's more that he's just like, this is the one thing that keeps me alive, and I'm so committed to the idea of trying to get it right, that the risk of dying is a necessary risk, which is what drives Ethan Hunt. Yes. Right?

He's like, I don't want to die, but also, if that's the only way to do this, then I'm going to not worry about it. And I certainly will, you know, put myself in the most danger. Yes. Even though Ethan is getting older. He is.

And Cruise reads old in this movie, not like ancient. But this movie was... But there's lines on his face. He's got kind of his, you know, he's older. Especially when Top Gun was his last film. It's his biggest film ever.

It's also shot four years ago. Top Gun was in the can for a while because of COVID. and then this movie was shot over several years because of covid stops and starts sure where you're just like he's looking a lot older than the last time we saw him on screen and he ages like over the course of the movie as well yeah in a way i find interesting i do too i mean peg looks pretty haggard in this movie. He's been very upfront about the stuff he's dealing with. Again, it kind of works. What is he doing? Serious alcoholism.

Oh. Which he's, I think, you know, dealing with. He's talking about it. That's good. What was the story you were trying to pull up? I couldn't find it. It was something of basically, basically like he would not abandon Peg at some press thing. I can't remember

what it was though. And like if you just Google Simon Peg Tom Cruise, you get, you know, it's too hard to find it. Yeah. But, you know, I think that kind of works too. Like Benji being like a little fresh-faced boy in three and kind of feeling like a grizzled old vet at this point.

Someone tweeted this the other day. It also looks immaculate. She hasn't changed at all. Yes. Marie, do you know who the original choice was for the Benji role in Mission Impossible 3 who it was explicitly written for? You already referenced this. In today's episode?

Yeah, you referenced it. Oh, Ricky Gervais. Well, he was hot stuff of course the office that was when people were like if we could be the first one to harness that in a movie and that was like the excitement could you imagine i can't imagine him running no well i mean look in the third movie obviously he's just behind the desk is be like funny but they might he they might not have reused it probably like peg. Like Peg pops better in that movie. Yes. And Peg's career also is heading in the right direction

because after MI3, you get Shaun of the Dead and all that stuff that there by... Well, Shaun of the Dead's before. Right. But I guess you get Hot Fuzz, right? Hot Fuzz is after. That's 2007.

But yeah, he's already demonstrated he can do action comedy. Like some sort of physical element. I think the other part of it too is like, Gervais might have been very funny in that moment, at that point in that role, David squinting. He might have worked comedically. Peg has always just had a little more soul to him.

Ricky Gervais is not a good actor. Simon Pegg's a pretty good actor. And Pegg plays well in that third movie, the feeling of like, this is genuinely stressful for this guy in a way that makes you feel for him rather than just be a butt of a joke. That you could see Cruise being like,

we could give this guy more to do, and he would hold it. I think so. And I think if you're Tom Cruise and a year after MI3, you watch Hot Fuzz. Yes. Because Throne of the Dead, Pegg's good.

Yeah. But in Hot Fuzz, he's diving and shooting guns and he's playing an action hero. Edgar Wright was one of the final peg's good yeah but in hot fuzz he's diving and shooting guns and he's playing an action hero edgar wright was one of the finalists to direct ghost protocol along with brad bird he's clearly a huge edgar wright fan yeah like yeah it makes total sense i think he's right like yeah we've got to bring peg back but yes i i do think it works for these movies that you're like benji's like changed a lot and not in a way that feels like the franchise is like making him into a different character than he was originally but you're just like you feel the passage of time on these people

you feel the weight of the amount of missions I do feel like even if Rebecca Ferguson looks unchanged you do feel her getting like colder and harder and across the three movies right like in the first movie she's playing more like mysterious femme feel her getting like colder and harder and across the three movies. Right. Right. Like in the first movie,

she's playing more like mysterious femme fatale. And by this one, you're just sort of like, she is like kind of a brutal weapon. So they, okay. They have the whole thing happen. Then they all unite.

They do have the whole thing. The whole thing. The whole airport. Before we move on from the airport, I just want to single out one shot that I thought was great where you see Tom running on the roof of the airport in the background.

Yes. That was a very funny shot. Incredibly funny. That whole sequence is just a delight. It's great. And it's just great.

Like, it's not like an action sequence per se, but it's great. It's great Mission Impossible business. Tension racketing. Who's zooming who?

Six different people looking at different It's throwing all these balls in the air and then we're gonna have to catch a bunch of them later but it's like right everything's going wrong she ends up on a plane with the key without him right he eludes shay wiggum but he still they need to track hayley atwell who's a whole new figure added into the solution and also now they're just like this entity thing which they're kind of keeping secret from ethan when the bomb shit's going on, they're not looping him in on until the final riddle. And you have that scene where he's like, why are you not fucking telling me this? He doesn't say fuck.

If he tried to say fuck, his brain would explode. Okay, so we go from there to Rome. Yeah, that's where he also shows up, right? Yes. Because you flash back at some point to reveal that he put her on the horse in Santa Claus. Is she in Rome or is she in Venice? Because when they go to Rome is where... She is in Venice.

She's in Venice. Yes. Rome is where the car chase sequence, which is so good. So the car chase sequence, I think, again, you know, this franchise has had a lot of car chases. And the fallout motorcycle chase in Paris is so good, where it's like he's weaving through everything like magic. And to do the opposite of it, where they keep fucking up,

the car is weird, they handcuff each other in the wrong direction, so she has to drive. They're flipped over. All this, you know, like, all this stuff is so clever, that they're in the tiny car and Pom Klementieff is in the giant car

it absolutely did and they're driving in the loop in the third card yes the castle of Cagliostro Luigi from the Pixar universe but yes, no, it feels the construction of these things

and these are the only movies that are still made the way that Keaton used to make movies where it's like, what would be fun to do in a movie? And what's the logic of that? And like building things one step at a time and then building story around that. This sequence is just like good beat after good beat. And it's not just cool shit happening. And I just have so many questions about the logistics of how they shot it because it looks like it looks like everything is being done for real. And it looks like the camera is everything is being done for real and it looks like the camera is attached to the car.

So like, you know, that's insane. Yes. And Pom Clientiff is playing a character in Paris. Okay. Yeah. We have not talked about Pom yet.

Who dresses like a Cirque du Soleil member. She's like a mime matador. Right. And she loves destruction. Yes. She loves destruction but also doing a pouty face. She's so hot. She's so hot.

She's so hot. She's like fucking incredible in this. When she's driving that like tank. Yes. The like the manic glee on her face when she's like driving over smaller cars and like destroying things. She's almost exactly my age. She's a week younger than me. Oh, wow.

Jesus. I was born and then a week later A cooler person A much cooler person One of the coolest people alive She's probably a pretty cool baby too Like when she was born Yeah The doctor was like

Sunglasses Fucking cool baby Jesus Yeah she's awesome She's in league with the entity I guess as well But maybe not as Like Isai Morales' character Seems to be sort of like

devoted to the entity and later we see him sleeping in a computer coffin that's like you know being love ai into his head right where she's basically just like listening to like 10 episodes of the joe rogan experience and i'm right like oh layered on top of each other yeah um uh yes no she's she's like a henchman's henchman basically yeah she's really good for hire yeah but she seems more for hire but but you do get the sense important enough that she gets to like be in the meeting yeah with uh carrie ellis later yeah but i also think this choice of like she fucking loves this right she does this for the high octane right exactly yeah and she doesn't really talk no um she talks a little later but

largely she's sort of silent assassin vibes and she is kind of like dark very subtle yes very subtle dark mirror image of the grace character i guess a little bit right you know because there are two characters here who are potentially like recruitable in a way and she and i do think paris will end up being a good guy in the next i hope so yeah well she makes the it's the movie that keeps talking about how it's about choices right and she makes a choice right which uh but also the entity tells her to make that choice yeah the entity predict no well the chicken predicts it predicts it predicts it the entity wants her dead because it thinks she will be won over by the fact that

ethan didn't kill her which is correct about right but i do they show us her hand moving at the end right she's still alive no no she's definitely still alive i'm just saying like the entity predicting that maybe it's like forcing her hand well this is how the entity messes with you griffin i think she genuinely wants to jump over But is that what the entity also wants to have happen for some reason? That's what I'm saying. That's how they get in your head. That's what I like. Okay.

So Rome is the car chase. That was really cool. Which is, this is the same fucking, the staircase. Oh, isn't it James Bond? And Fast X? The Spanish Steps. It's the Spanish Steps, guys. I haven't been to Italy.

Okay. Well, it's really nice there. And the other Keats house is there. That's where Keats died, as I talk about very movingly in our Bright Star episode. And this film is obviously calling back to our Bright Star episode.

Not even calling back to Bright Star, calling back to our episode. Yeah, exactly. Well, because Bright Star doesn't go there, but our episode did. But yeah, it's the Spanish Steps. And yes, Fast X did have a whole run,

because that's where the big bomb ball is rolling around. In my opinion, a dog shit sequence. And then, Fast X did have a whole row because that's where the big bomb ball is rolling around. In my opinion, a dog shit sequence. And then you're watching this like beautifully constructed. I think this is much better. I think it's so much better that I was just like, God, this is like what I want. But not enough Scott Eastwood.

I could have done with him. I want him cutting in. Hey guys, what's up? On a walkie talkie. I'm here too. I'm still alive. And then Jason Momoa going like, lol, I can has cheeseburger

People are like brilliant Good performance Smart That feels like a performance constructed by the entity I think that's mean to the entity I feel like the entity Is like more perceptive. People like that performance.

It's so mind-boggling to me, but I want to acknowledge that some people really like it. I think choices are being made. And I think in an era in which very often things feel kind of very safe, there's an appreciation for the fact that he's taking swings. And I'm like, shouldn't there be any cohesive center to what you're playing? Well, if I can once again call back to Indiana Jones, he chose poorly. He chose poorly.

Like Nicolas Cage, when people turn him into like fucking just memes, right? And go like, oh, it's so weird. He like does this. You could interview him at any moment on any film and he would explain to you every single thought and even if it's insane there's an inner logic to it and momo is just like oh what if i did like nicholas cage shit i don't like the performance um i do like the spanish step sequence and the general chemistry the kind of like tom having to put it all together with hayley atwell and she's like i don't do whatever this is yes where he's like come on drive you know we'll figure it and

she's like i don't drive minis yeah through alleyways like with a plum like you do aspect of him teaching her pocket that's what i pick pockets is what i do. I am rewatching three, which I have more of an appreciation for than I did before. Good movie. Good movie. I really liked the ending shootout where he is technically dead. And Michelle Monaghan has to. He's like, now do this. Right.

With a gun. Yeah. Has to follow his tutelage and shoot people. But this is also the sequence that starts with him pretending to be her lawyer, correct? Or does that come later? I think that's when... The next scene. No, no, no.

That's before. He breaks her out of prison and then this whole chase ensues. And he, like, directly kind of pegs her whole story, right? Where he's just like, you grew up very poor. You lusted for the finer things in life, or at least the illusion of the finer things in life you're always on the run like he just gets her completely reads her correctly and me too yeah basically reading me correctly yes creates this uneasy balance of just like to a certain degree she's starting to surrender to him a little bit more right you also find out that Morales,

what's his character's name? Gabriel. Like, told her about Tom Cruise. Told her about Ethan Hunt. Told who about him? That the scene where you think like, oh, he's winning her over

with this magic proposal. She was like, I got your like face on a printout in an envelope. Oh, yeah, sure. The entity or whoever. And that everyone who was hired,

right, she didn't speak to Gabriel, right, but everyone who was hired by the entity was just like, oh, I never heard a voice. It was always text communication. Yes. Yes. Gabriel also, you know, it's a biblical reference, right? He's like the voice of God, basically.

Yeah. He's the archangel. Yeah. Okay. So we go from Rome to Venice. And what happens in Venice is that the entity throws a baller party. Right, but this is where Ilsa shows up. Yeah.

Tom hugs her. They've both, like, never been to Venice before. Yeah. That seems hard to believe. It does seem hard to believe, but whatever. Never went to the festival? I know. Come on.

Okay, so I had a lot of questions about this party. What was the theme? The theme was the entity. Okay, because there were a lot of questions about this party. What was the theme? The theme was the entity. Okay, because there were a lot of puffy shirts. That's kind of the entities thing. Yeah, he's got real David Copperfield vibes. He's throwing it back. Okay.

I don't know why I'm making him a he, but it's... So, like, Vegas magician? They. Let's say they. Yeah. Yeah, that's part of it. Okay. And there were some, like, Cirque de soleil-esque dancers yeah big time entity

shit well look entity hired the paris directly or indirectly right it's a part of the mood board the entity's got interesting taste oh yeah i like i once again i like the entity i think they have interesting points why do you like the enemy entity is so bad no they're cool the entity also it's like against everything you stand for Why do you like the entity? The entity is so bad. No, they're cool. The entity, it's against everything you stand for. What do I like? Like craftsmanship. I do love that, yeah. You're very anti-AI, I feel.

I know, but there's something about the entity that kind of wins me over. There's a warm touch. Okay, I finally found a picture of Pom Clemente as a kid. Okay. She has like a picture of Pam Clemente as a kid. She has like a really... She's cute! I just scrolled through like five years of her fucking Instagram.

She seems like she has a tragic childhood. Incredibly tragic. That's very sad. I don't even know what it is, but I'm already sad. We're not going to get into it. You can read it. Okay, so party in Venice. First, it's a fake out because you think um but uh yeah okay so party in venice and at first it's a fake out because you think the party is being thrown by the white widow yes um right uh vanessa

kirby who's back uh and is doing her home a naughty girl on time world's greatest some weapons right to all you and then world's fan sort of insinuates that she fucked ethan hunt and i'm like that's come on. Get out of here. It feels like it's a mutually beneficial lie for both of them to pretend that it maybe happened. We had sex, didn't we? And he's like, uh, sure. Big time. Yeah, there's no way. Oh yeah. In and out.

That's how it goes, right? Sometimes side to side. No? Yes? That's very... Sort of bumping against her like this. Counterclockwise? Yeah. Vanessa Kirby,

post-Oscar nom, feeling herself I feel like, right? A lot of fun. Yeah, she's fun. Excited to see her as Josephine in the Napoleon movie. Cannot wait for that movie. Ethan starts to put it all together.

This is the entity. The entity has become like fully empowered. Is reaching out to everyone. Is the one who's pulling all the strings on all of this. And the entity is present at the party. All around them. Yeah. Yes.

They're partying inside of the entity, basically. And I think this is why this movie maybe hasn't it is a lot of these circular conversations a bunch of people in a room going kind of like well what you want is this and they're saying well yeah but the entity wants this and it's a lot of like guesswork and very alliance making it is talking in a way that i am very nostalgic for where i was just like watching this several times i was like jamel is gonna love this movie so fucking much because his podcast clear and unpresent danger is basically about like reliving this era of movies that no one

makes anymore we were like these films that were often categorized as like action movies or thrillers and were 95% tense conversations in office rooms where people have these circular conversations where they're like, do you understand the implications

of what you're proposing right now? Right. And just like great character actors throwing heat against movie stars. Right.

And this has that and also unbelievable action. Fewer action sequences than the last couple of Mission movies. I guess. But on a scale where you're just like, we're really going to complain about this being skimpy yeah this movie shows

you like five of the greatest things you've ever seen it's a longer movie yes and so i guess the action might feel also more spaced out because of that yeah and i do think it's like the haunted quality to this film is like because even fallout's like starting to go like, Ethan, is this shit catching up with you? Right? And feels a little darker, more ominous than the previous films. This movie in particular, I think, is arguing your whole time might be over.

Everything you've ever fought for might be just irrelevant in five minutes. Sure. Right. You know? It's similar to Top Gun as well. Yeah. We don't need people anymore. Right. Right. You know? It's similar to Top Gun as well. Yeah. We don't need people anymore. Right. Right. This is all going to get handled by computers now.

But the implications in this movie aren't like the military is going to change. It's like the entire face of the earth might change. Um, you know, I'd rather that everyone chill out and read a book. That's what I would like. Let me clarify. I don't actually like The Entity, but

I am going to defend to the ends of the earth The Entity as a villain for this movie. Oh, sure. Who I find so thoroughly terrifying. Oh, for sure. In its nebulous form without ever feeling nonspecific to me. For how many fucking stupid blockbuster films

we've seen where the villain at the end is some giant evil cloud, right? And you're like, what is this? That's true. There's bad versions of this thing, yeah. The entity, and what I think this movie does very well, is like, sometimes it is visualized. Sometimes you are very clearly aware of like, oh fuck,

it's the entity copying Benji's voice. Right? But then other times in other scenes, in banal scenes, I'll just sit there and I'll be like, fuck, it's the entity copying Benji's voice. Right? But then other times in other scenes, in banal scenes, I'll just sit there and I'll be like, fuck, the entity's probably listening to this, right? Well, yeah. Like, I think this movie is...

That sequence where, is it Luther or is it Simon Pegg who puts the car on auto drive? Yeah. And then you got freaked out. I freaked out. You can't do that. I was like, he's going to crash,

the entity's going to crash the car. It's so successful in the construction of this movie is it just sells you that fear so thoroughly that you just start to question everything in every scene yeah and you understand the characters questioning and when they're not questioning you get worried sometimes you're worrying about something it's not a problem but maybe it is i thought the uh the scene where tom is running through the corridors of ven Venice's back alleys and getting lost because it's fake Benji giving him

directions was very effective. And they're like tricking him into doing one of the scenes that he knows how to do and they're like no it's a fucking dead end. At the party. We're distracting you. Gabriel is very much like it is Gabriel speaking for the entity like one of these girls is going to have to die yeah that's your choice

that's your choice I know your whole deal you don't like people dying and as he's running through the you know alleys of Venice Lauren Balfe's excellent score is swelling swelling yes which let's also say this movie uses its score

a lot less than the franchise has I think the car chase in particular mostly plays with just the sound. The sound effects. Which I love. It's like very gripping that you're not being pushed along emotionally. You're just hearing. Can we confirm or deny

that the theatrical experience we had, were we in rumble seats? We were in rumble seats. Yeah, we were in Dolby Prime and their seats would rumble with the sound That was insane It's not full 4EX like choreography But the seats I loved it I thought it was so cool

And it was especially loud during the train Unsurprisingly Yes But no he's running around And first Gabriel is fighting Grace. Yes. But then he sort of knocks Grace out. He's got these cool knives.

He does. He's got these two flick knives. Yeah. Did you like that, Ben? You're a switchblade boy. Wait, what knives? I don't remember this. He has the two knives.

He's knife fighting them on top of the bridge. Yeah, that's how Rebecca Ferguson died. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. And then, yes, Ilsa's fighting him The score's going nuts Doesn't Palm have a really long sword too She has a long sword and a cane And Palm's distracting Ethan for a while

Gets rid of her Doesn't kill her He lead pipes next to her And then she candlesticks So he gets out the rope And then she gets out The revolver I remember all the weapons from Clue

But How do you feel Griffin You especially The biggest Ilsa fan I think in the room One of my favorite characters She is murdered by knife It was Gabriel on the bridge With the knife

In Venice Professor Pl plum nowhere to be seen yeah how do you feel about she's dead dead in the ground i think i look i want as much ilsa as i can get i'm immediately saddened when she dies and not just like emotionally at the loss of the character within the reality of the film the loss of beccaford i'm just like oh she's not in the second half of the movie she's not gonna be in the next one that's a bummer but i also do think it's like uh i do think it's impactful and i do think as much as i agree with you david and like very often death can be used as a cheap narrative crutch and I also think there's

a weird thing especially in like big tentpoli movies where people associate death with stakes period and if people don't die then there are no stakes and people do die then the thing is important or serious right and that's not always the case but I do think it's so baked into this character that like he has to lose someone for something to matter to him and i like the gambit of right like that that's what the entity has realized like the only way to provoke this man is to kill his friend which also makes the entity more terrifying more terrifying than solomon lane this is the thing it's like the the entity is constructing his hell yes yes yeah solomon lane

obviously i feel like he's almost a swing at this kind of a because like solomon lane has no personality right basically just exists to be like evil and chaotic like wants to torment ethan hunt yeah but at the end of the day it's sean harris and you can like put him in a box yeah and the entity is like that removed right the entity is also kind of like filmmaking by committee literally put sean harris yes right that's that's what's scary about the entity is you're just like well there's like no reason no the metaphor is fun right and it's also it's just done the math i have to assume it's worked out every possible like branching option of how you react in any situation it's anticipated look i'm looking forward to the mcquarry you know six hour exegesis of you know how i blah blah but like

i imagine they began with this ai concept right like the sort of like trying to hit on like what's the next threat that's plausible in the sort of espionage right you know like ai they they did a good job because now everyone won't shut the fuck up about ai ever and this movie's coming out right as that's all they were ahead of the curve but like erlich walking out of the movie said like so cruz hates streaming so much he made a movie where the algorithm is the villain yes right and but it just works it's great it does but it does feel like that's part of what it's going against is like it's pushing these sort of narrative beats that he doesn't want. You know? Right. Right.

Yeah. But she does die. She's dead. She's dead. Rip. Right. And then this is the scene where they basically recruit Haley. Right after. Yeah. They're all sort of grieving. They're all grieving and that's what they pivot to and I think that's so clever. Yes.

That sort of look i mean some people probably will roll their eyes like oh one lady's gone so now the lady slots open look if i have an overarching uh criticism of this franchise is that it will not allow more than one woman to exist on the team at any given point in time it is just constantly like well then you're if you're gone then you can come in sort of shit it's not like this is only starting in this film yes yeah so the we already talked about all that but yeah i just like the idea of like that's what amf agents are i am if agents are and she'll be a great one yes what is her next mission though are you after this is when they start working on the

train right yeah it's immediately pitching the train and you see what you think is the start of the mission and then she stops it and she's like wait this is what are you talking about right that is really cool and then they start to pull back on the amount of tech they use which they do in ghost protocol they pull the same

trick that they do in ghost protocol of like ah fuck the mask machine broke yes which is always fun. But in this one, you're also adding the element of like, can they trust any of the technology? Sure. They're using a lot of analog. Right. They start cracking their laptops over their knees.

They start using a Cold War weather satellite. Yeah. I like the, you see the CIA have moved to some bunker where it's all CRT. Yeah. Oh my god. Yes. All that VFX. So good. I like the, you see the CIA have moved to some bunker where it's all CRT. Oh my God, yes. All that VFX. So good.

Ariel was, by the way, has the smoothest face I've ever seen in this movie. He's the CIA director now? No. Zerny is now the CIA director in this movie. Of course, he's the IMF secretary in the first one. Elvis, I don't really know. He's another high up. Secretary of Defense, maybe they say he is. He's some IMF secretary in the first one. Elvis, I don't really know. He's another high up. Secretary of Defense, maybe they say he is. He's some high up person.

And he, on the train, seems to be sort of in league with the AI. Or at least he's sort of like, I'm the only person who knows what that thing opens. I know about this sub. It's a fucking Ark of the Covenant. It's like, I would fucking, if I had this, I could control it and I would rule the universe.

But the entity kills him. Yes. For knowing too much, essentially. Rather than ally with him. Yes. So, it's the Orient Express, correct? Chugga-chugga-chugga. Going through the mountains.

It's an actual steam Or coal engine train It's a steam train It's a tender engine technically What does that mean? You probably heard of The tank engine But the tender engine Is what you think of as the classic steam train

Where it has a gigantic tender Is what it's called full of coal It's own fuel They call it a tender? is what it's called full of coal, its own fuel. They call it a tender? Yes. Is that like the pit where the coal goes where you shovel the coal? No, it's the big container of coal that's like on it. So like if you ride the Orient Express now.

I think it is a steam train. Isn't that the idea? Like dudes, they're shoveling coal into it the whole time. Yeah. Like, like here's a train. It's just like a ton of murder. Here's a train, right? This is the tender.

This is the back bit that holds all the coal. And like a tank engine doesn't have that. Then they can't go as far. Okay, it's the car that holds the coal. Because you can't keep... Yeah. I mean, tiring. It's like an auto feeder.

So their plan on the Orient Express is Haley Atwell is going to transform into Vanessa Kirby. Right. Oh, because we forgot to mention, there's that moment in the entity party where Tom Cruise is just like, you don't understand the decision that is being placed before you. This is not about whether or not you can get rich or who's like zooming who or whatever. This is like the fate of humanity. Don't fucking turn the tide this way. Don't they allude to that also she has these family secrets that she doesn't want to get out?

Like there's some leverage over her in some way. Yeah, but she's also one of these people where it's like she's like the world's fanciest fence, right? And she's just like, I don't cast judgments. It's highest bidder, you know? I'm not doing anything. I just connect people. I just like, you know.

So, a question I had. I'm looking up the Orient Express. Because Vanessa Kirby, the way that they distinguish the two Vanessa Kirbys is Hayley Atwell has brown eyes. Right. And Vanessa Kirby has very

intense blue eyes. And I was just wondering, have they done that in any other movie where the eyes are a tell? Usually they are putting in contact lenses. Yeah, I've never noticed it. I think they're mostly doing it as a cinematic convention of like, just so you know who's who.

But do we need that? I don't know that we did, but I kind of like the effect. I did too. You have to buy that Henry Zerny doesn't remember what color her eyes are, but I buy that. I know what her eyes look like because I watch the movies. Yes. He doesn't watch these movies.

No, he's not a Vanessa Kirby fan. What about her little henchman? She has like her dudes. They would know. Isn't one of them her brother? Does Sigourney Weaver realize that Dave has a different penis when she sees him in the shower? Or has she just not fucked him in so long that she doesn't remember? Honestly, I could talk about this for hours.

It's the scene in Dave that drives me the craziest, but I love it as well. No, and I think that scene actually leans into the ambiguity in a way that's interesting. What if their penises just look similar? Maybe their penises look similar. But she has a reaction. She has a reaction. There's so much variety. There's a beat.

We're not saying there's a thing that isn't acknowledged by the movie. There's some variety. He turns around in the shower and she looks at it. She looks at it. And she has a beat and you can't quite tell what she's thinking and then he plays is she thinking that my penis looks different right but then i take it as her being like this dick looks better than i remember yeah but am i forgetting that i used to be attracted to this man and this is sort of stirring something here yeah or is she like well that guy's got a fucking different dick

this is not my husband you know like you know like it could be a? Or is she like, well, that guy's got a fucking different dick. This is not my husband. You know, like, it could be a million things. Or is it like, did my husband add foreskin? Like, was there a fundamental... That's the truly unspoken thing, if there's a fundamental change. They don't mention it again. They don't. But it's a great moment. In a five-star movie. That's too drastic.

You don't know. There's a lot of options. Five-star movie. It's why that movie is good It's why it's good And Ving throwing heat In that movie Yes that's true In the Ving canon

Should I have watched Dave for 4th of July There's nothing wrong with watching Dave You should watch Dave every day Exactly No real downside there. Yeah. So... Why doesn't the henchman realize it? I don't know.

I kind of like that they're all, like, just inattentive enough. They're not detail-oriented people, right? But their plan was supposed to be that Atwell and Cruise would go undercover as White Widow and henchman. But the mask machine breaks down after White Widow, so Cruz can't get on the train. They all

know what he looks like. She can go undercover. He's got to find another way onto the train. A thing I think Kirby plays unbelievably well is Atwell not... And she's with Piranha Plant, who's not even like, it's kind of like a weaker gimmick.

No, I'm sorry. on Go on what does Vanessa Curry Play well Atwell not being very good at the impression She's pretty mediocre Because every other time in one of these movies we have seen someone Do the mask routine The implication is well they fucking mastered this They're a master of disguise

They're a regular pistachio disguise They can pull off anyone right Haley Atwell's like I don't do I don't fucking impersonate people I don't wear masks what are you talking about she's just sort of being like yes I am no team yes can you sign this specific thing saying that Haley Atwell is innocent forever yes

that's my wonder man yes so that's going on Atwell sort of learning how to own the nitty gritty of being an IMF at Walt's sort of learning how to own the nitty-gritty of being an IMF agent, all the sort of weird theatrics of it, while Cruise is trying to figure out how to get onto the train. So how the hell is he

going to get onto the train? Well, there's only one way to do it, which is, what do they call it? Speed kiting or something? Yes. Fuck, what do they call it? Ben, do you remember this? Ah, fucking hell. No, I don't. I thought the kites

were to get him off the train. Both. Okay. Yes. Right, right, right. Because there's the kite off the... What he ends up doing, a friend of the show,

a participant in this episode, Patrick Willems, pointed out, I think, very wisely, he ends up basically having to drive a motorcycle off the Paramount mountain. In the same summer where Indiana Jones can no longer do the transition from the Paramount logo to the first image.

It does feel kind of telling that Cruz is sort of like going like, how do I get off this fucking mountain? And the only way is right up to the top and off it in a move. That's sort of him saying like, Hey, I just want you to remember, I'm the king of Paramount for all time. Remember when Sumner Redstone

tried to end our fucking overall deal? He's dead and I'm the biggest movie star in the world. Right. Yes. But yes, then he does this kiting thing, which I watched some video, one of these behind the stunts videos. Where they're like,

it's much more dangerous than skydiving, speed diving. It's a very particular dangerous sport. What the fuck are you talking about? You can't just do a thing and call it a sport. You're like, it's not skydiving. It's like being close to the ground with a bigger. You're looping around, I guess.

Yeah. Stuff. You're on this like. So, sorry to interrupt, but I just remembered a. Please interrupt. A thing that Ben told me. What's that? When we saw this movie

there is something that ben has in common with ethan hunt interesting go on ben's looking like he has no idea what i'm talking about you've gone skydiving yeah that's true we've talked about this i think yes you've gone skydiving you've never done this thing whatever the fuck this is whatever the fuck this is no definitely not yeah because this is like short range right like um what are they like what's the like the other more common example of jumping base jumping right right no i would never fuck with that right i feel like i would not be able to get off the motorcycle cleanly no no look i would not be able to do any of these i would describe the whole sequence of events as impressive. I'd be good at the mask wearing stuff.

I would call them impossible. Impossible missions. This train sequence is I think all the action sequences in this movie are good. Doing an action sequence of Mission Impossible has become a fairly high stakes thing in my opinion, right? Tough to top

the best, the Burj khalifa the opera house right the ones that people re-watch and remember yes um but i do think this is a crowning achievement uh this whole train sequence for them i would agree it's just it's it's uh it's really good stakes setting like beyond the stunts themselves it's just he's always really good stakes setting. Like, beyond the stunts themselves, it's just, he's always really good at the kind of thing that, like,

Spielberg was always best at of just, like, setting up seven obstacles and keeping you super aware of all of them. You're constantly just,

like, you know where everyone is in relation to everyone else and what the objectives are and what needs to be done and what could go wrong and what could go right. And there's, like,

the thing where you're just, like, I know what's gonna fucking happen. hayley atwell's gonna be in danger and cruz is gonna fly through the window at the absolute perfect moment like of course he's struggling to get on the train of course he's gonna land perfectly in a way that solves three problems at once and still when it happens it's the most satisfying shit in the world. The audience applauded. Because it's what they wanted. They applauded because something they wanted. They've been waiting for it. It's been shown to them. Yes.

Another thing, I think this. You guys keep talking. I am not doing a bit. And no one's going to knock on the door. I simply have to pee. Okay. I promise. Okay.

Okay. And I promise if someone knocks on the door when he's in the bathroom, I quit the show. Forever. So does this happen on the train that Gabriel comes out of a coffin? Yeah. We start. Yes. Right.

His computer coffin. Yeah. But he's also connected to some sort of like gas mask. He's like, he's a mainlining entity. Yeah. So, I mean, it's interesting i want to know more about this if i feel like or at my interpretation is he's absorbing the world's information correct because he's obsessed with truth right and this idea of knowing the ultimate

absolute truth right and so i think he's for what the human mind can can take right taking it all in but he's sucking it in like he's getting extra oxygen right and like he's just yeah like taking in just all the world's information here's what i like about the mission impossible movies right like stuff like this or what was ethan hunt's past and like if the next movie explains them to me further i trust that the way they would do it would be interesting to me. But also, if they never dig into this further,

the implication of it is interesting enough for me. Where I'm like, I'd be happy to know the answers. I'd also be happy to be like, remember he, like, sleeps in a computer coffin? Whoa, whoa.

And he gets some power from it? Rebecca Ferguson just walked in. Jesus Christ. Hello. Do you have thoughts on this, David? What is Gabriel doing when he's sucking in the entity in a coffin? I don't know.

I mean, I think the simplest explanation is, you know, he's getting his instructions, right? You know, and that's fine. I would just love to live in a future where I can mainline information like that. I wouldn't. I want to know less. I'm going to be a no one. I am with you. Yeah, know less. I'm going to be a no one. I am with you.

I just want to like read a book in like five minutes. So you're only like the matrix where it's like, and then you're like, I can fly a helicopter. You want to know. Instead of sitting up all night, just going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, I could just be like, okay,

now I know everything about that random war. Yeah. This was, no, my first move would be, let's take all websites down. I don't trust myself to have them. So you want a new Dark Age. Correct.

I'm just like... I'm not opposed. If they're there, I'm going to go to them. I'm going to look up dumb things. I'm just going to waste my fucking time. We'd all be out of jobs. Eh, whatever. What would we do to make money?

Analog. Analog. Let's do a podcast analog. Send out cassette tapes. Sounds kind of cool. Send out cassette tapes in the mail be fucking underground that'd be cool it does feel like we make of like a should we press a fucking record of us talking yeah it seems like an insult to the material that is vinyl to scratch our voices into it. It's just cruel. All of our best of moments. The vinyl is like, what is this?

You should do a vinyl as just the ad reads. No. Yeah. Oh, sales. I'm seeing here. Oh, sales. Oh. Do an ad read for it.

Pump up sales. It just excites me that I feel like the next movie is setting up them having to go even further in a direction where it's like we are completely off the grid. We are afraid of technology. We need to figure out alternate ways around everything. Right. They were using a wood computer. That is my dream. A wood computer?

Yeah. Fucking courier pigeons. I just like that just i made this computer out of a tree yeah what if they start doing like the like a like tele telegram like yeah good morse code morse code yeah i hope there's a ton of knocking in the next movie even smoke signals paramount executives hold head in hand the entire movie is Morse code a very cool like low tech bit that they do in this

movie is when Tom is in the desert and he signals to Ilsa by like doesn't he like flash like a knife or some like a mirror at the light or at the sun and she yeah that was cool more of that stuff I just want Luther saying like we're gonna go off the grid I'm sitting on a tree stump now yeah no metal chairs for me ethan

riding bicycles in the next movie uh yeah cool stuff um oh and then the train so a up. Yeah, which is just the shot from the general. Feels like an overt homage. Both of them have talked about how much inspiration they take from Buster. And then being like, what are the things we haven't gotten to do yet? Blow up a train. And this one shot of the bridge collapsing feels like the shot from the general. And then it turns into the sequence from Lost World Jurassic Park times five.

One by one, the cars are tipping over and they're slowly trying to get their way out of them. It's a dream. It's so good. And yeah, the fun of every time they get out of one car, it falls to the ground calamitously and loudly and your nerves are all jangled. And then it's like, okay, we got to do it again. Like, you know, keep getting cars. You feel it. You really feel it. And then it's like, okay, we got to do it again. Right. Yes. Because the physics, you feel it. You really feel it in every car. You know, and this sequence uses more CGI than a lot of the movie does because it's impossible to pull off.

But even still, they're just like, they're selling the physics of it really well. They're building the tension really well. When they get into the next car and you're like, fuck, it's the kitchen car. I just thought everyone was going to get burned by oil. Yes. And there's the moment where he's having to convince her

to jump and save Pom's life, but it's like him saying the, like, I know this seems impossible. But we can do it together. Right. Basically. You have to trust me

versus the thing that feels like the safe thing to do. You need to do the insane thing. You need to do the insane thing and you need to believe in me versus, you know, believing only in yourself or whatever. Right. Not trusting anyone.

But this is when they save Pom as well. They save Pom. They pull her up. Shay Wiggum is back and he's there. So we haven't talked about him. I have in my notes that you just, you yelped when he showed up on screen. You clapped.

I clapped. I love him. I think I'm not the only person on earth who's a Shea fan, right? I'll say this. He puts in the work. When he started, I feel like early 2000s when I started seeing him pop up and stuff, he was one of those guys where I was like, this guy is doing too much. And he is a guy where it's like it almost felt like when he was younger he was trying to play grizzled and he has aged into it so well so what

didn't you like and what what's uh what are you thinking of you know the one i think of and the first thing i really noticed him in was boardwalk empire i know he'd been around but yeah um a movie that i i don't even blame him for that much because I don't think the thing is good. And I think his part is particularly bad. But Wrist Cutters, a love story. Well, that's a bad one. Wow, I forgot about that movie. Where he's essentially playing the guy from Gogo Bordello.

That whole thing is a nightmare. Just words I don't want to hear. No, absolutely. But I just remember being that one where I'm like, this guy's doing a lot of shit. Yeah. He's really good in all the real girls. That's the early one. He's incredible. Oh, yeah uh he's really good in all the real girls that's the early one he's incredible oh yeah he is really good in that i forgot he's in that right so i thought he was great in that but like yeah fucking his career goes back to tiger land yeah then all the real girls he's great in and then it's like this run of right

lords of dogtown is dogtown pride and glory you know he could play a cop he could play kind of a bartender he's in Fast and Furious 4 he is and then they bring him back in 9 6 and 9 as like a FBI guy Port of Call New Orleans he just starts to become one of those guys where I'm always happy to see him he just ages into the exact guy he wanted to be

Kong Skull Island which is not a movie I like but I think he's having fun in that he's excellent in Wolf of Wall Street. Now he's very natural. He sells this stuff really kind of honestly. Eben Moss-Bachrach, I was talking about this with my brother, is another guy who was just like, when he was younger, it felt like he couldn't

wait to seem a little more world-weary. Yes. Are we talking girls or pre-girls? Pre-girls. I don't know him from anything before girls. He's in like the Royal Tenenbaums. He's been around forever. He's about to happen in the Royal Tenenbaums. He's like mid-girls? Pre-girls. I don't know him from anything before girls. He's in like the Royal Tenenbaums. He's been around forever. He's about to hop in the Royal Tenenbaums. He's like mid-40s?

Yeah, 46. Yeah. That's the thing. Girls was the first moment where it was like, this guy now looks the way he's always wanted to look. He's finally gotten a little bit of edge on him. He was like a little too pretty. He's just one of those guys.

Lola Versus? Is he in Lola Versola versus am i right about that remember lola versus i mean i don't want to but i do um he's just one of those guys where i'm like as much of him as you want to give me yeah yeah um but uh she's mona lisa smile yeah this is the thing he played mona lisa in it he has a beguiling smile he is in lola versus he was just kind of like handsome indie boy for a while you could tell how much he didn't like it yeah he because he's he's he is pretty but right he more wanted to play stressed out weirdo dirtbags and now he's same with shai wickham where it's just like all this

guy wants to play is stressed out and i do think as opposed to a lot of the guys who like come up against ethan hunt who have like a little bit of their juice themselves right someone like baldwin really being able to like cook and simmer a monologue shit wickham's like i just want to get this fucking over with this guy's so fucking annoying to me and you have greg tarzan davis in this scene i really like that some people might think is a little too on the nose where they're like in the bar car of the train and he's like can you explain to me why we don't like this guy so that's what i love are we set it seems like we're setting him up to also join the squad i would think so yeah yes um

so the whole thing is alec baldwin in in uh i guess it's in five really Renner in 4 this is the common thing of the guy who's starting out being like I'm not in for Ethan Hunt I play things by the book over here and by the end of the movie they're like he's kind of won me over I think this guy is kind of for real and Shay is putting me

put in that part because everyone comes in and thinks like this guy's just fucking showboating yes and so he's like but I feel like it's even more part because everyone comes in and thinks like this guy's just fucking showboating yes um i and so he's like but i feel like it's even more explicit in this one because the intelligence community is really sick of the imf and ethan hunt that he by the end of the movie is like i think this guy might be for real and i think you kittredge yeah might be kind of full of shit what are you doing on this exactly yes and Yes. And because Shea Whigham

just feels like a salt-of-the-earth guy and kind of feels like a sort of by-the-book guy in this, he plays that so perfectly where he's sort of like, man, fuck. You know, like, grudging, you know. And I just love that moment at the end.

And Tarzan Davis just being a guy who's just trying to move his way up in the company. And he's like, look, I'm not trying to like rock the boat, but I genuinely just am asking questions. He's genuinely asking questions. Is there a

chance this guy's just for real? That he actually is just acting in everyone's best interest and maybe we shouldn't trust the people who are telling us that he isn't? Right. Yeah. I'm sure he'll be an 8-2, right? Yes. Yeah. Basically everyone in this movie Is back in it

Other than Becky Ferg Maybe she'll do a flashback Twin sister Bring back her character Elsa It might be international 3M lady with the zigzag hair So

The movie basically ends there, because, right, at this point, it's basically just, alright, we've succeeded. Gabriel and Ethan have a fight on top of the train. That's the sequence that kind of echoes the big end set piece from the first Mission Impossible.

And also references Under Siege 2 and the Wolverine. They do go into dark territory. They are in dark territory. Right. Yeah, they are in dark territory. Right. But, um. Should also shout out Dead Reckoning, obviously, is, you know, sort of like the manual analog

means of navigation that existed before. You could calculate longitude and stuff. I did not know what that meant. The submarine says in the first scene, like, we're navigating by dead reckoning right now. That's cool. And that's, you know, if you want to get away from the AI. We should mention Gabriel also has a watch that's like a countdown clock that basically when time's up, And, you know, if you want to get away from the AI. We should mention, Gabriel also has a watch that's like a countdown clock

that basically when time's up, he's just like, I should jump. Yeah, he does that, but it's also sometimes like, and he's like, time to neg someone, right?

You know, like, it's telling him everything. It's giving him his next move. Right. Right. It's like Grand Theft Auto like assigning him the next mission.

But, yeah, they're like fighting and Cruz basically has has him and there's been this whole thing where luther gives him this whole speech another moment that fucking ving kills where he's like you cannot kill this guy you cannot kill this guy i know you want to i understand why you're going to want to and i think it is going to overtake you in the moment it is betting on you doing that right i know you think you'll be beating it and winning something,

but we like really have to think about what it expects out of you. It's sort of a Summer of George thing where he's saying like, you need to do the opposite of what Ethan would do in every situation because it's anticipating you doing the thing. So he gets to the moment

where he's got his knife up to Gabriel's throat and like blood is showing. Yeah, he gets, he does draw blood. Right. You think he actually might do it. Wiggum and Tarzan Davis come with guns

and even still are like, Ethan, just don't, fucking don't do Ethan shit. And he's just like, guys, do not fuck this up. Please listen to me. I'm Ethan Hunt. I'm the star of these movies. Seven, we're already deep in production on eight i'm telling you i know how these work you

just entered into the franchise and then watch goes off he jumps into the back of a truck he gets away he doesn't get the key thank god ethan has close-up magic to the key away from him which you only find out at the very end right But he has gotten away to live to make another Mission Impossible film. Right. But I do think it's like, I've been seeing complaints about the part oneness and I'm kind of like, these movies always end with there's another mission.

There's not finality to Mission Impossible movies. Look, I could not be more sick of the two-part sequel thing. And I'm fine with movies leaving things open-ended for the next one or whatever. I think it's more just in the planning of these things when you have to come up with two movies at once. And you're dividing across two films versus each film being treated as, let's throw everything we have at this one. And then we'll come back to the table when this is done.

And in a lot of the cases, that's what ends up happening. Like in spider-verse they're like the story got too big so we broke it into two and we thought we were gonna do them back to back and instead we really did the first one and then we had to do the second one a lot later and i'm like what then what's even the point yeah i mean it's always a fool's errand is there any the closest is lord of the rings yes to like this working you know what i mean i think people but like even that they had to reshoot it a zillion The closest is Lord of the Rings to this working. You know what I mean? I think people... But even that, they had to reshoot it a zillion times and all that. It's like, this doesn't work.

It works better, perhaps, when you were dividing a book and you're just like, well, there is a starter text we were working with. Rather, if you're starting with a blank page, it's like, then come up with enough for the one movie you're making right now and then save some stuff for later. But much like Across the Spider-Verse,

which similarly has a fucking Shea Whigham throwing heat performance as Captain Gwen Stacy, and he has the scene where he sort of closes the loop on her arc that at least makes that movie feel... She has an arc. If not self-contained, you're like, there's

a complete emotional journey that happens with her that makes it feel like a full meal, at least through a prism. I think the same final scene between him and Hayley Atwell in this movie serves the same function where they basically keep on pitching to her that there's going to be the moment where you have to

say to him, I was told to make a choice and I'm choosing yes. And no matter what you've done to that moment, no matter how much they want to arrest you and throw you in the Hague, if you say that to them and say, Ethan told me to say this, they're like, fuck,

we have to let you be an agent. You're on the good side of the law now, right? Right, right, right, right. And this sequence has been so clearly traumatizing for her.

That moment that you said that Haley Atwell kills where it's like, her face is so good. She goes through like 87 emotions in five seconds of like I can't believe he's actually asking me that I think he means it yeah how do I feel and she says I'm so stressed out right you you kind of expect the version of the scene where she like comedically goes like fine and instead she's like no I'm not okay and And he's like, yeah, I get it. I've been there. I remember what it was like, right? So you're almost thinking she's gonna push back in this moment or she's gonna turn

away and go rogue on her own or just be too overwhelmed by the whole situation. And the moment where she's like, I can let Ethan get away, which I need to do. There's only room for one, right? That's the thing. They only have the one escape parachute. And I'm going to make the choice.

And when she makes the choice, it doesn't feel like she's saying that out of like a strategic move. In that moment, you suddenly see her go like, I think this is actually what I want to do. And everyone has to accept it. And I found that to be a pretty thrilling conclusion as an emotional arc for this character across this movie understanding how someone could start out the film in one place and actually by the end of it sign up for this insane fucking life right i loved it it made me so happy i'm so glad you loved it i did

because i've been so bummed out by movies this year yeah you gotta you gotta gotta love the good yeah well movies need to be better. Is this your number one of the year so far? No, my number one of the year is Blackberry. Okay, I still need to see it. Movie I think is incredible. I mean, I love Blackberry. You know I love Blackberry.

I know you love Blackberry. You know who else loves Blackberry? Who? My daughter. But not the movie. The fruit. Well, then pluralize it, my friend. She's obsessed. Weird for you to make it singular.

Here's the thing. What? Only one? Well, no no she'll eat lots of them she said backberry okay backberry backberry are you sure she isn't asking you to rent the movie because it's available pvod if she's saying it like that maybe she wants you to take her to ifc center rental it's still playing every day yeah no it rules that's my number one uh a full-time the french movie i think it's still my number two of the year

wait what's... Oh, yeah, I really need to see that. Fucking love. Well, you know what? Yeah. Why didn't you bring me to see it then if you love it so much? This might be my number three. I'm sorry.

Okay. I'm very sorry. That's a good question. Where do I put this? Did I rank it after I saw it? I mean, look, I'm excited to see it again, but it was just like... It was such a movie movie for me. It gave me, like, all the thrills I want out of the thrills.

But also just like this money up on screen. Right. Like absolute movie star wattage. I do think there's this thing where it was like Rebecca Ferguson has felt like such a discovery in this franchise. Right. Where you're like she was not on short list for these movies. They plucked her out of like a Showtime series.

Yeah, she'd done a thing. A White Queen or something. Right, a White Queen. And then has become like one of her best, right? And then like Hayley Atwell and Pam Clemente are both people

who have been like stuck in the Marvel thing. That's like this incredible platform, but then it sometimes ends up being a dead end for a lot of actors where it's like, well, what do you do now?

And much in the way that I think he, like, used Cavill better than anyone has used Cavill, he finds these people where it's like, they're not really getting, like, the bespoke fitted outfit movie star role for them. Even if it's

part of the ensemble. The thing that's purely just them selling it through sheer will and craft. And wattage. And watto. And it just throws me, and I think this movie has like actual... Does it hold you? Does it kiss you? It held me, it kissed me. Did it kill you?

It did. No, I think it's like dealing with... I think it's got provocative ideas. I think it is one of the only things I've seen talk about AI in a way that feels emotional rather than this sort of like speculative hand-wringing,

you know, or trying to like game out where do we go from here, where it really is like, what does it feel like to live in a world where you just don't really know if anything's real anymore?

And we've already been in like an aggressive misinformation age and AI has just made all of that faster and it's just speeding up at a rate that's like, I don't know, my cousin works in AI. I saw him in January when I was out in San Francisco. He's there and like the fucking... AI is good, Griffin.

He was not doing that. And I think he had a really interesting take on everything where he was very even-handed about it and he was like, I think the good applications of AI are this. I think people trying to do this are wrong, right? Sure.

And it's like, I wonder if that's going to stick. If it does, it'd be to the detriment of that. Like, had a very even-handed view

of all of it. But I think about that conversation, which was seven months ago and, like, everything he said to me has changed 87 times since then.

And I don't know if it's for better or worse. I don't know where any of this ends up. But this movie, like, speaks to that in that way that, like golden age of like 70s paranoid thrillers. We're really like tapping into a moment of like grave uncertainty and distrust. And it didn't feel like it was, I don't know, a posture.

Griffin, my question to you. Sure. Where do you put it in your mission impossible ranking so we were just talking about this we're talking about with the doughboys yes uh because weiger basically like defaults to fallout maybe being his favorite movie yeah i mean i think fallout at this point i'm i have to tip the cap yeah my I, I love Ghost Protocol and have that number two. Right. And those two are

unassailable for me until further notice. My question was whether I put this above or below Rogue Nation, which is my third favorite. Right.

I think Rogue Nation is my solid number two. You always, you always loved. For a long time, I liked it more than Fallout, even after Fallout's release. A lot of it is just that it's,

Fallout's just, at this point, you're just kind of like, Fallout runs the world. Right. Right just love uh rogue nation being the elsa movie um maybe her twin sister's named anna maybe they do elsa and anna uh yes that's what it is yeah she has ice power i think the mccoy trilogy are my three favorites. And I think I put this at third and Ghost Prode at number four. But I think those four movies are kind of like fucking undeniable. I think that's a fine thing to think.

Yeah. And it's like you could say like, well, so then this is a disappointment if you're coming off of like five was better than four and four was better than three and six was better than five. And I'm like, no, because I just like that. They're trying different shit. I like that. They are not trying to outdo themselves, that they are like pivoting into interesting directions. Marie, uh,

do you have a ranking? I don't know yet. That's fine. I will say, do you have a favorite mission impossible movie? I might, I might have Rogue Nation as my number one That's fine

I know Fallout's great I like Cavill in that Mustache Pumping the arms Yeah it was cool I am a defender of two I think it's okay to acknowledge I am a defender of two.

I think it's okay to acknowledge that it is not as good as the other movies in the past. Sure. Yeah, I think two exactly. Yeah, fine. But anyone who's like, oh, God, that movie's unwatchable. I'm like, what are you talking about? But two lives at the bottom of the list. Right, but I think all of the Mission Impossible movies are good'm like, what are you talking about? But two lives at the bottom of the list. Right, but I think all of the Mission Impossible

movies are good. Yeah, I agree. I think I basically, I think two is a very flawed movie. I like watching all of them, though. There's things I like

in all of them. Yeah. Ben, do you have a favorite? Do you care? Do you want to go to sleep? It's kind of hot in this room. It's kind of hot in this room. Kind of hot in this room.

I don't know if I, you know, have a favorite. But what's coming to mind right now is I have watched some of these kind of recently, and I think Rogue Nation really hit for me.

Hey, it's a grower. Much like Kevin Kline's penis in Dave, we'll never know. He got it up faster than he used to. I thought this was a grower. He's got a shower. He's got a shower in the shower oh my god that setup is also very weird that presidential bathroom it's very weird shower yeah it's designed only for someone to see your penis like and wonder is that the penis i've always remembered take a bullet for you, Dave. It's a great movie.

It's a great movie. Right in the second best? Behind Ghostbusters? Yeah. Draft Day. Behind Draft Day? I think it's one of those things where I'm like,

I think that is his greatest accomplishment as a filmmaker, if that makes sense. Really? Over Ghostbusters? I'm like, that's the movie I give him

the most credit for as a director, whereas like Ghostbusters is I'm like, that's the movie I give him the most credit for as a director whereas like Ghostbusters is just kind of like everyone in the right place at the right time and he made great decisions as like a traffic cop. I don't say to like

diminish his role. Sure. But it's like he's balancing all these different voices and Dave is just him like finding a Gary Ross script and being like, I'm going to make

my fucking Frank Capra movie and every performance is perfect. Yeah. Grodin, Kings every performance is perfect. Yeah. Grodin, Kingsley, Linney. Right. Just across the board. Langella. Yeah.

Kevin Dunn. I'm ready to announce that our next Patreon series will be Dave. Just watching Dave. And then meet Dave. Oh, God. That's a real come down. Are there any other Dave movies? Good question. Probably. Right?

Do you include Davids or just Dave? No, it's got to be Dave. Okay. We watch all of FX's Dave. No, I really don't want to do this. I am Dave. Mike and Dave need wedding dates? That sort of falls into alien versus predator category.

It's like we do a Mike series. Dave Chappelle like block party yeah it's built specifically as dave it could be part of the daves there's a movie from 2023 called bank of dave bank of dave yeah well now i've heard starring rory kinnear okay we're done we're done this is the kind of behavior that happens when we're done What's up Ben? Final thoughts The gas masks

The mini gas masks Very cool The gas bomb That he like throws theatrically into the air And it goes like And it's like a green gaseous cloud Like Chip Smith's ex-wife. That's true.

Chip Smith, the entity has a lot of Chip Smith energy, I feel. The entity, yes, absolutely. Yes. I think that's going to be a takeaway from a lot of people. Yeah.

Where you're like, what's the NND's deal? Pass. Right. And I just wanted to say, I'm glad you accepted the mission. Thank God, Ben. Thank God you... How did we do

timeline-wise? Is this two and a half hours? Two and a half. With ads, yeah. Or at least close. Doc's office, it'll be this. Sort of tracking around 90, 100. Sort of the highest ever mission. I heard it was like 87 for the five day,

which is... That's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. No. Nothing tracks at 87. Things track in round numbers. I don't know. I was listening to the latest episode of The Town. Okay.

And he did his little call sheet at the end. I know David just made a face. Yeah. But... I did not make a face. I respect everybody out there. People could hear the eye roll. They could hear his eyeballs going...

Yeah. Well, I mean, Hollywood Reporter had it tracking at 90. Okay. Which would be the highest. It's not a franchise that opens high. No. It's a franchise that holds quite well. That was surprising to me when Top Gun Maverick was Cruise's biggest ever.

He never had $100 million open. He's not an opener in that sense. I do think this is going to open over. $100 is my prediction just because the summer has been a little bit underwhelming and it feels like this movie has more genuine excitement behind it. Yeah, it's funny, but yes, yes. The box office is actually not really down at all, but it's partly because the spring was kind of hot.

Yeah. And then the summer has been a little cool. Mostly because most of the movies released were not good. That's the thing. of hot. Yeah. And then the summer has been a little cool. I also just think... Mostly because most of the movies released were not good. That's the thing. Huge issue. Yeah. Right.

As much as everyone wants to wring their hands, like, Hollywood, you gotta make movies people want to see. The grosses haven't been terrible. I just think there's been a little bit of a lack in enthusiasm. Right. All right.

It's okay. Well, no. The Tomatometer, 89 reviews, and 98%. Dead Reckoning? Yeah. I'm just like, who? Who didn't like it?

And that was calculated through Dead Reckoning, the tomato meter. They were like dead reckoning those tomatoes. Yes. And looking here, the entity gave it 10 out of 10. That's what it wants you to think it gave it. Yeah. This is also a good time to announce we're really excited to be joining the Entity Entertainment Network, the EEN. Streaming everywhere on every screen that exists in society.

Yes. Next week, Oppenheimer. Correct. Are we doing a Barbie episode? No, because we haven't covered her. She's an example of someone we'd wait to cover someday. No, we'll do an emergency episode on Insidious the Red Door, of course. Patrick Wilson series begins here.

We've made this very clear. We're not doing emergency episodes anymore, unless the door is about to be open, in which case, we must be there to step through it. I don't know if you guys agree with me. We kind of already knew about the Narnia news. Like, this isn't new news, right? You've gotten floated and you were like,

is this some dumb Netflix rumor? Like, a Twitter rumor? And now it seems... I just don't know why Greta Gerwig would think she can make an adaptation of a beloved young reader's book. No, I...

I just don't know what she's... She's never had any success in that sphere. Funny, David, but... I don't think she thought that was funny. Narnia... Her eyebrows are pointing down.

To me, that feels like a very British text. What is her take? I don't know. I don't know. I'll say this. Like, two things in a row where you were like,

do we need another Little Women? And she was like, I got a real take. And they're like, do we need a Barbie movie? And she's like, I got a real take. Well, we don't know

if the Barbie movie's good. No, but she's kind of at things with real takes. Right. So I'm just curious. I'm like, what is your... I'm assuming Narnia, she has some take and I don't know what it is.'s good. No, but she's kind of at things with real takes. Right. So I'm just curious. I'm like, what is your... I'm assuming Narnia, she has some take, and I don't know what it is.

What if she's like chronic what? What if she does that? I forgot about that. How could you forget? Lazy Monday. Lazy Monday. No, I'm saying that would be her. Late afternoon.

Lazy Sunday was the original, and she's like, I'm going to take it to Monday. I'm going to start the whole week off lazy. Lazy Sunday. Yeah. Remember when that was like the biggest video ever Basically created YouTube Next week Oppenheimer Week after that back to park Which one will we be up to at that point

Lady Vengeance We'll have done Lady Vengeance So we're going to have I'm a cyborg, but that's okay. Right after Offenheimer. A nice episode. A nice episode. A real fun one. Yeah. But

I hope you all enjoy Dead Reckoning. And if you have your own thoughts, don't share them with us. Griffin. Share it with BlankCheckPod at Twitter.com. Or on Blue Sky. The internet exists. Share them. I gave you that invite.com. Or on Blue Sky. You can share. The internet exists.

Share them. I gave you that invite. Yeah. Thank you, David. You're welcome. The internet exists. You can share. You can put your thoughts out there.

I'm saying don't just come at me and be like, well, I disagree. All right. I thought the entity had bad points. He's made that clear. Thank you all for listening. Please remember to rate, review, and subscribe. Thank you to Marie Barty. Party.

Party. And it's an entity party this time. Thank you to Ben. I want to go to a bentity party. That's good. Nickname now. Yeah. I should host a party where you're in.

The bentity party. That I design. And I just watch people or something from a different room. Ben's birthday party was piercing themed, by the way. He had magnetic piercing so everyone could give themselves their own bad boy 2.0 era.

It was really surprising to see some people with, you know, like their septum pierced. I thought Nellie had done it for real. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I actually, I fucked up a bit, we should just say. Yeah.

Marie was trying to set up a bit where she was going to convince David that Griffin got his ear pierced at my party. Okay. A bunch of things about this. If you want to have this on air. That it was a piercing party and that there was a piercing on this. Marie sent, now have you guys seen the other two episodes where he's trying to send a selfie and then the live picture reveals his asshole. Such a good episode. Okay. And so Marie sent

a picture that was live, you know, how Apple, and in the live picture you can essentially see Griffin affixing an earring. Which is sort of hurt her case a little bit. Marie's doing the whole, he pierces his ear? Nellie did it at the party. I'm like, sure, sounds like a bad party.

Apple. A bunch of 30-somethings piercing each other's ears. And so then I'm just sort of doing the thing with Marie where I'm like, yeah, okay, yeah, you got his ear pierced? And you're like, mm-hmm. And I'm like, great. My friends are lying to me in text message form. And then Ben on another thread is like, yeah, we have magnetic piercings.

Blowing the bit anyway. But let's also acknowledge that you went off into a separate text with Marie and confirmed for me that this is not. I was like, what is this? Because I was annoyed. I was like, why are you lying to me? I hate lies. I hate being lied to. I thought, I mean, it was a little surprising to me, but I thought you looked good with an earring.

Well, I never disputed that. I got a lot of compliments. You got a lot of compliments. We were hanging out with some fancy people. And this was day two, by the way. Oh, okay. This was, um, should we blow up? I mean, yes, you were here.

This is not at Ben's party. Not that Ben's party didn't have fancy people. I'm sure it did, but you were. I was at Ben's party and very many fancy people responded positively to my fake magnetic earring. The next day, we were hanging out with very fancy people. We were hanging out withonded positively to my fake magnetic earring the next day. We were hanging out with very fancy people. We were hanging out with, dare we say it, several movie stars. Yes. And there was a sheet of

gem stickers going around. And people were putting them on their face and I went, the ear was working for me yesterday. Let me try it. And people kept on saying, I thought, I forgot they were stickers. Yeah. And you're kind of selling the look. It looked good. Several movie stars.

You have my blessing. Thank you. But maybe don't do it at a party. Maybe have a professional piercer. Why would I have a professional piercer? Why do it? Why not just do it as sweaty drunken. But I do think of like everyone we know, I think Nellie would do

a good job. Yes, you would. I'm not trying to say think nelly would do a good job yeah i'm not trying to say nelly would do a bad job but i think nelly has the kind of you know uh head on her shoulders that she would be like maybe i shouldn't pierce ears while drunk at a party she was begging me she had a needle she said get that ear over here get it over here uh You can go to blankcheckpod.com for links to some real nerdy shit. Thank you to Joe Bowen, Pat Reynolds for our artwork, Lane Montgomery and the Grand American Novel for our theme song, J.J. Birch,

A.J. McKeon for our editing, and... No, I fucked it up. Alex Barron and A.J. McKeon for editing. J.J. Birch didn't do shit this week. Enjoy your fucking vacation. And your free shout-out. Yeah. shout out yeah jerk yeah we'll invoice you for that shout out later uh uh we gotta thank of course our delivery or our career teo olsen great performance patrick williams we have to, yeah, thanks, Patrick Willems, who and Marie owes you money for a broken tape recorder.

I don't think it's broken. I know, I'm joking. But I did get... It's just funny that you threw it. It was about to self-destruct. Did you have to, like, deliver a microcassette to him to record upon? No, I just had him record with his own equipment. And then you recorded off the computer

speaker? Yeah. Pretty sneaky. Yeah. That was good. That was fun. That was great. I mean, it would have been cooler if it was a pair of Oakley glasses that you had to put on. I looked into it and they exploded the second you took them off your face. I do want to share, though, just because it didn't

end up delivering in time. I did, in fact, I did, in fact another pen I did in fact buy invisible ink and a little blacklight what was the plan there the message would have been written and glow in the dark

what does it say again beneath the party I have an invisible ink pen and blacklight to check my wedding invitations when people don't write in their names when they RSVP. It's written in invisible ink who each person is and I've had to use it a couple of times. So I'm just saying. I mean, I have so many questions. We could have made this work, Ben.

But I didn't. I was thrilled to be surprised. I've also, I should mention, I've already suggested to Murray that she change the theme of her wedding to the entity. I think it's an easy pivot. And I think your parents will be on board with it. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, thank you all for listening.

And as always, I am genuinely worried to see what bits Ben has prepared for the Oppenheimer episode. I'm going to go.