Blank Check with Griffin & David - The Incredibles with Rebecca Drysdale

Episode Date: May 20, 2018

Writer and comedian Rebecca Drysdale (Key and Peele, High Maintenance) joins Griffin and David for a conversation on the animated superhero family adventure, The Incredibles. But what is Syndrome’s villainous motivations? Is Rebecca the Pixar of people? And, seriously, where is Frozone’s super suit? Together they discuss their favorite Pixar films, earning tears, turtlenecks and summer camp. This episode is sponsored by ZipRecruiter (ziprecruiter.com/blank), WeTransfer and the Starkey Hearing Foundation (listenincampaign.org). Music by Kevin MacLeod “Parisian” (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

The supers are not gone, Mr. Incredible. You're still here. You can still do great things. Or you can listen to podcasts. Your choice. What did she actually say? Police scanners. Oh, yeah, you're right.

Right. It's perfect. 24 hours to respond. Listen. 24 hours to respond. Okay. Then it blows up. Sets off the sprinklers.

Oh, I just did it. I mean, it's. Oh, is that it? Yeah. I mean, do you want to give me notes? I can do it. No, I thought you were practicing. No, we don't practice on this podcast.

A lot to my performance. No, no, no. I thought you were like, what about this one? I'm not paying attention to what's going on. We, at one point recently, were asked if we wanted to do a second take of something, and I reacted with complete surprise. Second take? Remember that?

We were like, second take? What are you talking about? That's not a thing, is it? Yeah. I think people think that we act like we edit this podcast less than we do, when in fact we just don't edit this podcast. No, Ben just takes out the most egregious shit and, you know, digression. Which is literally five things that have ever happened.

Well, no, he does more work than that. I don't even know if we're rolling right now. We're rolling. We're rolling right now. We're rolling. We're rolling. Oh, we're rolling. That's kind of the magic. Do you know what I'm saying? Is this like, are we even rolling?

And would it matter if we weren't? To be clear, we are rolling. Yeah. Okay, great. And to be clear, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Hello, everybody. My name is Downtown Griffin Holmes.

Great. I'm David Sims. And this is a podcast called Blank Check with Griffin and David. Yes. We talk about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their career are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. Sometimes the check's clear, and sometimes they bounce baby jack-jack.

Baby jack-jack. Baby jack-jack. Sometimes they bounce baby jack-jack. I love that babysitter character. Oh, yeah. Every single little character in this movie. Yeah, hot take, perfect movie. Hot take, literally no mistakes in this entire film.

Well, we'll see. Wow. Wow. This is hard because The Incredible, to me, are we talking about it yet? The Incredible, to me, is damn near perfect. It's not only one of my favorite Pixar movies, but one of my favorite movies, period, in the world. Damn near perfect. It's not only one of my favorite Pixar movies,

but one of my favorite movies, period, in the world. It is, if I had to sum up what I'm looking for in a movie, it's that, it's the funniest movie, it's the best, I love it. There's a reason I immediately thought to ask you, because we have spent so many years talking about this. There are some things in my old age that I'm like, well, wait a minute. I think that's fair. I think that's fair.

And it's hard for me, because I also am an unconditional fan of it. And I forgive all of the things that, like, I love The Incredible so much. I think it's perfect. But there are some things that I'm like, okay, but if I had to be a wiener and be like, in the name of, like, trying to make myself smarter, I'll take, I'll look at perfect things and be like, okay, but if I had to find a problem. I mean, we'll do a wiener corner. We'll set up a wiener circle. Don't be a wiener circle.

We should introduce that this is a Brad Bird podcast. Yeah, it's a main series about the films of Brad Bird. He's one of my biggest heroes. Okay. Were you going to say Man Crush? What? Were you going to say Man Crush? That too.

But I can't say my biggest because there's like, you know, Jim Henson and things like that. Maybe one of your biggest living heroes. Absolutely.

He's, yeah, next loves. This miniseries is called The Podcastables. That's right. And today, we're talking about

the titular movie and it's the guarantor, as we like to say, on this show. It's the one that gives him the check. It's called The Incredibles.

And our guest spoke before she was introduced which is three point shot. So sorry. No, that's what we like. That's the test of character. We see if people

innately do it. And if they do they're good. If not If they do they're probably going to be a little more into how this podcast works.

Otherwise we throw them right out the studio. No, otherwise we have just a slightly more into how this podcast works. Otherwise we throw him right out the studio. Otherwise we have just a slightly more awkward episode. Yeah, correct. I'm looking up I'm just IMDBing to keep myself up to date. I should have done that before but there's some less exciting moments. What?

I didn't know that. What are you looking up exactly? I'm looking at what he's written and what he's directed. Oh, sure. The Life of Brad Bird. Yes. Batteries Not Included, is that the one that got you? Yeah. And of course. That was his first sort of big paying gig.

Because that was supposed to be an episode of Amazing Stories. Right. And then they expanded it. He worked on that. He wrote a couple of them and then he directed Family Dog, which was incubated by Tim Burton. That's another weird thing we haven't talked about. Right. Family Dog was like Tim Burton designs that they hired Brad Bird to direct.

And then it was so successful, they put it in front of a movie. Right. And then they turned it into a primetime TV show, but kicked Bird and Burton off of it. The Incredibles. Can you introduce our guests? Yes. Sorry. No, no, I'm talking to it. The Incredibles. Can you introduce our guest? Yes. Sorry. No, no. I'm talking to Griffin. I know that, but I keep being like, and the other

thing. But here's the thing. When I mess up, our guest apologizes because she's responsible. Yeah. Right, right. I am in some way. It's all her fault. It's my failure as a camp counselor. Griffin has not introduced me. I'm not housebroken yet. He really isn't. Every week it comes in here and poops on the floor.

Well, so, I mean, we got the biggest credit out of the way. My former summer camp counselor. It is my biggest credit. Yeah. But also an amazing comedian and writer for Key & Peele, for Baskets, for High Maintenance, for, can we say the show you're currently working on? Or is that? What show am I currently working on?

I thought you were working on a show. I'm working on 18 things that don't exist yet. Like most writers, I'm playing house in the world of creating television. Becky Drysdale is our guest today. Hello. It's so nice to have me here.

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Yes, I like to take credit for creating Griffin. Yeah, in a lab. Then you should be dragged before the highest tribunal. I know. But then also, also anytime I do anything wrong,

then she kind of uses like the Stitch argument of like, he escaped before I had a chance to work on all the campers. It's been years. Anything you like is me. I will say though that your generation of campers have all gone on to be like giant stars. It's absolutely insane. Let's do a little run-up. Who we got?

The Flash himself, Ezra Miller. We got Lola and Elle King and Hannah Dunn. Lola Kirk. Everyone's on Mozart and the Jungle. Right. Literally every single person. Elle King, five-time Grammy Award nominee. It's insane.

I don't know Al King. Not to mention, most of us were on that one improv team that you coached in my parents' living room. Like Hannah, Ellie,

Ezra, and I were all in Uncle Dad. Right. Which was the name of our high school improv troupe where we couldn't

get any shows because they were all at bars and we were 15. Right. It happens. Yeah. It's really awesome to see. we were 15. It happens. Yeah. It's really awesome to see.

It's really awesome to watch. But then there's some other people. People who weren't clown kids which is what they called the comedy section of the camp where all of us were doing stuff. Lola not as much. Everyone else. Lola didn't do it all. Hannah, Ellie, Ezra, myself.

We gotta have Lola and Ezra on this show Yeah Lola will be on at some point It's just about lining up schedules I have not spoken to her in a very long time I would love to see her Who else is doing what?

Sadie Dupuis is a big former head of music is a big indie rock star. Right. Oh, well, there's stars. Of Speedy Ortiz. Of Speedy Ortiz. Wasn't Matt McGorry a Bucks writer?

Right, Matt McGorry from How to Get Away with Murder. Of course, yeah. And Orange is the New Black. And the Orange program. He's famously woke. He is famously woke. Quite woke, man. Not afraid to shed a tear.

Right, he sheds a tear. He has a safety pin in a t-shirt Ezra from other Ezra from Vampire Weekend right oh um caning

yeah we kind of ran the table on Ezra's seriously in the 2000s yeah is there any other you know I would like to get Ezra Miller on the show pound

Ezra pound we had Ezra pound I'd like to get Ezra Miller on the show problem is he's too dang fast I can't keep him in the studio no

he's too dang fast this kid can't keep him in the studio. He's too dang fast. Problem is, he turned into a... Everything down so that he is in super slow motion. An emo cloud. He did. Yes, he's an emo cloud. He turned into a cloud of emo. The Harry Potter movie where Ezra plays an evil cloud.

He's sort of a sad boy for a while and then he's a good cloud. I went to see that movie not knowing he was in it and I was in the audience and audibly said, what is happening? Yeah. I mean, he's sort of a sad boy for a while, and then he's a good clown. And then he's a very sad clown. I went to see that movie not knowing he was in it, and I was in the audience and audibly said, what is happening? I mean, I audibly said that too, and I knew he was in it. Yeah. It's very, yeah.

It had the little platypus that ate gold, though. That was cute. That movie was totally bananas. Sorry, Ezra. We went to this, you know, Becky was a camper and then became a counselor and then was like the counselor to us. And then we went on to become counselors ourselves. There's this very cyclical thing at this camp. And it's a camp where like everyone's like the one weirdest kid from every school goes to this camp and is like, I have arrived.

This sounds insufferable. And I was that kid too. Fair enough. And then eventually you get smoothed out a little bit. You go through your arc. There's the clown head thing we talk about where like you come the one summer and think you're like fucking. Isn't it the big fish little pond

thing where it's like yeah right you're not just the one weird kid anymore. It's time to learn how to work with others. I will say that the clown shop like you know you know as much as we all as teenagers got a totally disproportionate ego. Yeah. Because we had all been previously destroyed for all of the same things that then made us popular. Right, and suddenly you're doing like sketch and long form improv and people are like fawning over you.

I know, and you're like a big star. But I will say that so many people have legit gone on to do actually that for their living. have legit gone on to do actually that for their living. When I was a teenager, I worked with Dave Iserson, who then went on to work on SNL and Mr. Robot. He just wrote a movie with Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis. He's still a very good friend of mine. David Minor was one of your counselors, right?

No, he was before me, but David Minor was a clown guy, and he produces literally every television show on TV. Right. Thurry Rock and Kimmy Schmidt. He represents TFA and so forth. So people, it wasn't, there was something built in that didn't make people only obnoxious. Like there was also this element of like, no, but I'm really going to do this. Right. But you need a job at the end of all this. Yeah. And there was an element, I mean, and granted a lot of these people, myself, Griffin, everyone we know included, came from pretty supportive families with money and were given the opportunity and support to do those things.

But I'm not going to pretend that it was crazy uphill battle to be supported in our endeavors. But there was an element of like, no, I understand that this is a real job that is very hard and has a limited success rate. And the place taught a weird amount of work ethic because it's a very unstructured camp, so you weren't going to succeed unless you actually did the work because there's not any hand-holding.

And we did, in two months, we did two fully original sketch shows with like 60 kids who were all in various places on the autism spectrum. Right, right. And it was hard. And it was we basically had 12 days to put together an entire sketch show. So it really did kind of I've never worked harder in my life than I did being the head of that shop ever. Oh yeah. It's the hardest job and it's the most underpaid job. When you actually break down the numbers, you're being paid like a cent an hour. Like truly. But it's also the most fulfilling job. It's the best job I've ever had. But it is one of those things where like when

you're a camper and you're like, I'm weird. I've never had a place where I fit in. And then someone suddenly like shapes you and puts you in a context. Connoisseur context. And then you like make sense and people are laughing with you for the first time. It like changes your life and then you get to the other side of the wall and then the job is like oh here are all these fucking kids that don't make

sense how do I make them funny? I know I have to make them make sense. And that becomes the job like how do you make everyone look like their Bill Hader? Well it's also like what's so fulfilling about it is this idea of like someone did this for me and so my investment now is right to pass that on it's not for the money it's not like you're deeply deeply invested in passing on the experience that you had to this new generation of kids and so like the idea of someone leaving camp and not being like oh I couldn't live without this is your failure

right Becky like has a tattoo of the camp logo I'm going to make such a good transition you have no idea it's important I know I just don't want to do an ad read without even mentioning the incredible she has a tattoo of the camp logo and when she would see kids like crying she would go up to them and be like I remember being this

sad and I now have this tattooed on my body. I'm going to do anything I can to make you enjoy this. Even if you don't want to do sketch comedy. It's relevant because Andrew Stanton's nephew went to Buckshot. Really? That's right. Well, here's the transition I was going to make.

Oh, yeah, mine wasn't great. That was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. It was good. This was like a thematic story that also ends in me being an idiot, which I know you love

and our listeners love. Sarah Rubin, who's now like big deal at BuzzFeed. Oh, that's right. Sarah is so great. Yeah. Yeah. Has five billion Twitter followers. Has to get on this podcast.

She's another West Coast person. I know. I know. I know. I know. But she came to like, the auditions for these shows are like all the kids get in the lawn and you just try to do group improv games with them

to see who kind of pops a little bit. And Sarah was one of these people who like couldn't make eye contact. She looked exactly like Violet Incredible. Right. She had straightened hair in front of her face. She'd stare at the ground. She was tough for animators to work on.

Totally. Right. Yeah, a lot of technical complications. She disappeared a lot. Right. She was like hiding from like the world and she was super for animators to work on totally right yeah a lot of technical complications she disappeared a lot right she was she was like hiding from like the world and she was super flopsy she had a side career as like an NPR person who read these great stories like weirdly knowledgeable about Lincoln

yeah yeah yeah exactly but she was like throwing out these amazing jokes and it was one of these kids where I'd see like Becky every once in a while going like I'm in love with her like that's my kid like I see the like diamond there and while going like, I'm in love with her. That's my kid. I see the diamond there and I gotta get it out of her. And when the doors closed and we were all trying to assign sketches, because you try to even

out talent, you used the metaphor. You were like, Sarah Rubin is Violet Incredible and I need to get that hair out of her face so she has the power to fight Omnidroids. Did I say that? You said that. I don't remember a goddamn thing I've ever said is what I'm learning. You said that.

So then we were like, Sarah Rubin was like our pet project. We were like, we're going to, at the end of the summer, make this girl know that she's awesome, you know? Which I think we did. Yeah. I hope so. But there was like a workshop you did where you put Incredibles on a TV so you could do some other work for two hours and then came out at the end and explained why it was good.

Interesting. And it was good. Interesting. And Sarah was there and then when it ended we found this piece of paper with a really good drawing of Violet Incredible and we all went like, oh fuck, Sarah Rubin drew that? She knows that she's our Violet? Like this is perfect. We're gonna fucking get the hair out of her face. I totally

blew my cool and went to her and was like Sarah, we saw that drawing you left behind that's so funny and she was like I have no idea what you're talking about and so this kid

Dennis Moran left it there and she got no promise no promise no I'm just kidding oh wow I just

I love the idea of like I love the idea of like and it was this other kid who we hated right I'm so glad you remember all this stuff

because I don't remember anything. But like we did, there was like that summer, like symbolically, like we got her hair out of her face and then she became the funniest person

in the world. Yeah. The Incredibles. The Incredibles. And now, The Incredibles. And now, The Incredibles.

The Incredibles. 2004. Right. So, great year. Sure. One of the best. One of the best. One of the top 2004 moves. John Kerry lost the election

mere weeks later. What else has happened in 2004? Lost. I went to college. Lost begins. I go to college. Me. I know.

Huge news. I go to college. Me. Humblebrag. I know. Huge. Huge news. You went to college. I began college. Good lord. You're all 10. I'm fucking older than him. David's the only person here who actually made it through college.

The three of us all dropped out. I have a bachelor's degree. Thank you very much. I went back and finished. I took some time off. Okay. Me too. I'm still technically

on a year abroad. Yeah, I'm on a 10-year leave of absence. Actually, in order to drop out, I had to convince my parents that I was taking a year abroad, doing a work study or whatever. I put together this whole curriculum that I was going to do in Chicago,

which I knew I was just dropping out and going to Chicago. I was like, no, I'm going to spend in Chicago, which I knew I was just dropping out and going to Chicago. But I was like, no, I'm going to spend a year in Chicago and study. And I put together this whole curriculum. It got approved by the school. And so I went to Chicago, grabbed Jordan. Three-time Academy Award nominee Jordan Peele. He might be a winner at this point.

He might be a winner at this point. I fucking hope so. Better be. But yeah, grabbed Jordan, went to Chicago. I knew I wasn't going back. But according to the Jordan, went to Chicago. I knew I wasn't going back. But according to the school, according to Sarah Lawrence, I was doing this year abroad. So the next year, I won the housing lottery. I got number one in the housing lottery.

And I wasn't there. I could have picked anywhere I wanted to live. And there are some amazing places. There's a tower. There's a castle tower I could have lived in. And three months later, started getting these notices that were like, are you coming back to school? Can you pick?

And I was like, no, I'm long gone. I'm a superstar now. I'm not just three months late. I love that your friend who you grabbed hands with locked eyes and said like, let's do this. Let's drop out together and like make it is Jordan Peele. And my friend I did that with became a drug dealer. Literally like three years later, I was like, let's catch up. And I went on a crack selling run with him.

I didn't realize. Yeah. He wasn't even like a sort of expensive drug dealer. It was crack and crack. And cocaine. Crack and crack cocaine. It was a high-end crack. But I was like, let's catch up.

And I showed up and he had a gun. And I was like doing crack drop-offs with him. That's a story I don't often tell. Anyway. I mean, I don't know what Jordan's doing on his off time. No, Jordan was, I was like, hey, man, I think I'm going to go to Chicago and just like do this Second City thing and just like commit to this improv thing. Yeah. And I was like like do you want to come and his answer was something something along the lines of like yeah let me get my stuff like there was no he's the most he's so laid back he still is but like at the time it wasn't like well I gotta weigh the it was just like yeah let me

grab my chest my weed and let's go yeah I you give me 10? Yeah, I mean, it was so not a conversation. So this movie, when it comes out, you and I are both dyed-in-the-wool Pixar people. I am too. Come on. I mean, I see them. Becky and I go harder on Pixar than you do. For sure.

I have the right to say this because sometimes you say dismissive things. Sometimes I call you a child. I did at some point have to become conditional about it. this because sometimes you say dismissive things. Sometimes I call you a child. I did at some point have to become conditional about it. For a while I was unconditional and then I was like, okay. The first ten years were unconditional.

Even I am still pretty unconditional. Really? I would love to have some conversations about those things. I also think there are a couple that David haven't seen. Wait, what? I think there are a couple that David haven't seen. Wait, what? I think there are a couple that you haven't seen.

Which ones do you think I haven't seen? Have you not seen Cars 3? I haven't seen Cars 3. I have not seen Cars 3. Yeah, I've seen Cars 3. Both very conditional movies. Yeah, I'm very conditional about it.

I haven't seen Monsters University. I said you haven't seen sequels. I stand for it hard. Yeah. You stand for it hard? I stand for it hard I stand for it hard I like Monsters University and I love

one of the things I love about Monsters University is the score the music which was done by the March 4th marching band which is one of my favorite marching bands I'm a big marching band fan Monsters University worked

I also think it's the only smart prequel I have ever seen. I wasn't actually trying to start Monsters University. Well, you fucking did. Yeah. I think it's the only prequel where it uses the inevitability of the previous movie for narrative tension in an interesting way. Yes. I have seen everything else. Good Dinosaur?

Yeah. It's more like the okay dinosaur. More like the bad dinosaur. More like the trippy acid trip in the middle for no reason for 10 seconds. That's crazy. More like the corn farming movie. More like. Reptiles farming corn.

Reptiles don't eat corn. Do they? Do you know? What do they do? Not according to my game arc survival. Do you folks know that The Good Dinosaur, they did one of those classic Pixar, hey, director, we're pushing you off the project,

and then didn't hire a new director for a year and a half? And people in like, So there's that part of the movie where the dinosaurs are just looking around, not knowing where to stand. Is this my mark still? No, but literally, like, they would do interviews, other Pixar people, and they'd be like, so who's directing The Good Dinosaur now?

And they'd be like, you know, it's kind of just everyone's doing their stuff, and for the time being, it feels okay. It was strange. I mean, it was very much, it was more a kid's movie than, you know. I didn't hate it, but it was very strange. It's The Mad Dinosaur. It looked nice, and it had one great scene. It was like a children's book.

Yeah. That was sort of how I felt about The Good Dinosaur. The tripping scene? The sticks, where the little boy makes the sticks to describe the loss of his family. I was like, oh, we're getting somewhere here. And then it's like, eh, forget it. But you know what I'm talking about,

that crazy... It's so insane. And it's fast enough that you're like, wait, what? What just happened? But at this point, it's been Toy Story. It's a miracle. Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. Those are the only Pixar movies that have been made.

So far, we're batting 1,000. Right. 100%. Two years from now is Cars. So that's the first. But almost exclusively, every film has outgrossed the previous. Right. It's like Bugs Life, I think, is a little down from Toy Story. Toy Story 2 outgrossed the previous. It's like A Bug's Life, I think, is a little down from Toy Story.

Toy Story 2 outgrosses. And I will say very firmly that I think A Bug's Life is the most underrated Pixar movie. Right. I mean, at this point, I feel like people were... That's by a long shot. I think that's the key to us retaining our friendship is that we will always go hard for A Bug's Life.

If it's getting in, and you're arguing you go as hard for Pixar as we do. No, I'm saying at this point I do. Sure. Bugs Life is, to me, in terms of storytelling and theme, the tightest marriage of a setting and characters

to the themes and morals of the movie. It is the tightest and cleanest. I've learned more about storytelling from A Bug's Life than almost any other thing. The other thing I've heard you monologue a lot about is how

well the designs of every character in A Bug's Life support their characters. It's bananas. A Bug's Life is like run, don't walk see it again for the first time i think and it's and it's also speaking of rules the tightest uh set of rules that is the most uh aggressively followed set of rules in in a in a in a universe well so yeah and it's a it's just a it's like a it's like a a a perfect quest And it's just a it's like a

perfect quest story. It's like a total you know, line for line Joseph Campbell Star Wars. It's like this weird inside Frank Capra movie. Like it's very like hard on its sleeve. It's good. The first

very first shot of A Bug's Life when they go into the tree and all the ants are walking in a straight line and the twig falls and they all panic and they have to make a plan to get around this leaf or something is the most incredible setup for the thematic ideas of the movie and it's just, I just, I'm very much a I fight hard for Bugs Life because I think it's very underrated and forgotten. That's all fair. I think at this time everyone's like, Pixar's

perfect, Bugs Life, like that would be the take, right, at the time. There was still shine on it. It still did well. It's still so beautiful. It's gorgeous. It was the first use of that kind of light and the translucency through the leaves. You know, Ant's the movie that kind of stomped

Bugs Life a little bit at the time. It didn't stomp it. Bugs Life outgrossed it like three to one. Yeah, Ant was like poor man's Bugs Life. I'm not talking about box office. I'm talking about critical reception, which I think is a real thing. People dismiss Bugs Life as a kid's movie

and Ant's was this, oh, it's clever and Woody Allen's in it. They also have Bee Movie, which I think is a real thing. People dismiss Bugs Life as a kid's movie and Ants was this, oh, it's clever and Woody Allen's in it. They have Bee Movie, which does not show. I just wanted to make a... It's like being insane for an hour and a half. It is.

I do not understand. Bee Movie is a good dinosaur like times 10 in terms of how fucking bizarre it is. Bee Movie is, if I'm not mistaken, a romantic comedy between a bee and a woman.

Yes, but also it's a reparation story about bees trying to get their honey back. The last act becomes a legal thriller. It's insane. A legal thriller. They're suing Lee Leota. I wasn't talking about Bee Movie. I just wanted to say something about Ants. Good job, Ben.

Fucking hell. He says one thing and you caused a war. Good job, producers, Ben. Oh, no. Ants is a disaster. Thanks a lot, Ben Doosan. Ant, he's doing this thing. He's doing his thing. Poet laureate. Oh, this is a bit Thanks a lot Ben Deuce He's doing this thing Poet laureate Tiebreaker He's giving me like a million nicknames

Finest film critic Thanks a lot fuckmaster Good job Keeping us on track Meat lover Fart detective Peeper Birthday Benny White hot Benny On track, meat lover. Okay. Fart detective. Peeper.

I'm just doing my job. White hot Benny. Ben's indicating the thing I haven't done that I should be doing at this point. Screw my job. We haven't even talked about the movie. David, we'll get there. He's Ben today as a peen. I just wanted to say about Ant. Too busy graduating to different titles such as Producer Ben Kenobi, Kylo Ben,

Ben Knight Shyamalan, Ben Say Ben-ything dot dot dot, Ailey Ben's with a dollar sign, Warhaz. Do we still not have one? Fuck. So here's one that Dan Daddario suggested. Yeah. Haz do you know? Yeah, Haz do you know?

That's insane. B19 the Fennel Maker. Do you have Hagen-Haz? Hagen do you know? That's insane. B19, the fennel maker. Yeah. Do you have a hog and haws? Hog and haws? Now we do. Now we do. Hog and haws?

Hog and haws. He's a real vanilla bean. He's a real vanilla bean. I think ants is, it's so visually homogenous, which I know is sort of the point. It looks terrible. That movie.

It looks pretty bad. That movie looks like four buttholes now. It's trying. It really does. It's trying to be more real about, well, ants look the same and they have the right number of legs.

It's so grim to look at it. It's a weird movie. It's not the worst movie ever made. It's a weird movie. It's not the worst movie ever made. It's the praise it deserves. But here's the big thing we're talking around also how dare you

how dare you that's where I was what did I do no not how dare you there's this whole period where Dreamworks was just because they make

shit on Pixar's lawn yeah yeah they make movies faster because they don't care about right what Pixar did at the time

the legend is that it was like it was like Nemo Shark's Tale, Bugs Life, Ants. Shrek was supposed to be an answer to Monsters, Inc. I can't even talk about Shrek. We're not going to talk about Shrek.

A movie that Griffin saw three times on opening weekend. Shrek made me want to kill myself. Another movie that looks like four bottles. It looks so bad. I don't even care what it looks like. Let me just say this about Shrek quickly. At the beginning of Shrek where it was like, what me just say this about Shrek quickly. Sure. Go ahead.

At the beginning of Shrek where it was like, what if, oh my God, I'm so mad. What if all the fairy tales took place in the same fairy tale kingdom and all the characters from all your favorite fairy tales coexisted in this space? Great. I love it. I'm in. Three minutes into the movie, they take all of the characters, put them on trucks and ship them out of the movie. And then introduce characters you don't know and tell the story about them.

The kids love Lord Farquaad. I mean, Lord Farquaad is kind of the best thing about Shrek. But, like, it was like literally you took the thing that was interesting about this movie and put it on Holocaust buses and shipped them out. Holocaust buses? You know, the famous Holocaust buses? I didn't mean that. But like they were like

we'll take the thing that sold this movie idea and drive it out of the movie. And then the only good things about the movie are the characters

you do know. Like the gingerbread man puss in boots all that stuff. I think Farquaad's okay. I'm cool with Farquaad. I think we all agree that movie's ogre rated more like nightmare works but i did love how to train your dragon more like nightmare

works is gonna get uh underrated because griffin just said ogre rated but that was also really good i do i did love how to train your dragon i will say that's a nice movie i mean but that's the movie i think they put more time into. I think investment of time matters as well. But yes, right. Real artists. Absolutely beautiful.

They, Pixar was on this fucking miracle run but I think they were worried because with every success of film they had the expectations became greater and greater.

Yeah, that's how I feel about my work. That's how I feel about this podcast. Literally every episode has been better and more successful.

One day I'm really going to screw this bitch. This is after, by the way, airing after an episode where we consistently declared it was the worst episode we'd ever done.

But our biggest hit. True, exactly. Now that people have seen my two episodes of High Maintenance, the pressure is... Such good episodes. I mean,

I saw the first one at least. I haven't seen the second one. Right, I only saw the first one but it was great. I'm just assuming the second one was pretty good. What I'm saying is I don't have the first one at least I haven't seen the second one I only saw the first one but it was great I'm just assuming the second one was pretty good What I'm saying is I don't have the kind of pressure on me Oh sure

Fair enough But they keep citing you in interviews as like Drysdale held us to a higher standard with storytelling this season I've seen them say that at least twice in interviews That's extremely flattering They're such great storytellers It's that she's the Pixar of people

It also doesn't make sense So I knew you made it up interviews. That's extremely flattering. They're very good storytellers. She's the Pixar of people. I made that up. It also doesn't make sense, so I knew you made it up. We had writers... It really doesn't make any sense. It was clearly nonsense. Because there were writers in that room who were incredible playwrights and people who...

not from the TV world, who are actual storytellers with real skills. So that's very surprising to me, but extremely flattering. It was an incredible room to work in. Hot take, and I used to write about television for many years. Now that Halt and Catch Fire is done, that's the best show on TV. High maintenance. It is.

It's the only show on TV that every week surprises me. I love it so much. It was so interesting. It was also right after the election during the Muslim ban, so was a really interesting like going to work every day and being like how do we right how do you talk about this when we know the show is going to come out in a year sure and how do we capture this moment that's unprecedented and we have no idea what is going to be going on in a year will be right right will be. Right, right. So that was really interesting. It was a really nice place to go to work every day and feel like there was a lot of crying and like it was a very safe space and like people, it was nice to be able to go somewhere

every day and be like, what the fuck's going on? I love it. And process that. I love the show. So the legend is that Pixar was in that kind of zone. Yeah, they were. Yeah, they were yeah they were they were unbeatable but they were steve jobs who still was you know running the company as a company and

was giving sort of advice to the creative heads and going like here's the lessons i want to impart to you as to how to not make an apple 2 yeah exactly you know right make a newton right and he kept on saying like you guys can't get comfortable. You have to keep yourselves on. You keep thinking the Apple II was the bomb. The Apple II was the success. It was the Macintosh that was the bomb. It doesn't matter. The Apple II was... That was the money maker. Yeah. It's the one that Jobs thinks is like hacky.

Are you saying the Honeydew is the money melon? Exactly. Honeydew is the money melon. So they decided... The story they tell is they saw Monsters, monsters inc which opened huge great reviews doctor also amazing but they were like pete doctor's the genius of create the infrastructure of the imaginary the rules of the world incredible world builder absolutely um they go we just had another hit it's another buddy picture right we got nemo on deck sure that's another buddy picture. Right. We got Nemo on deck. Sure. That's another buddy picture.

Right. We need to shake it up in some way. Right. And they knew that Brad Bird was a classmate of most of them. And also all of them had their bite at the apple. The 113 guy. Yeah, right. All of the original sort of like top tier brain trust guys had their own project at this point. They weren't doing all hands on deck movies anymore.

So they needed another guy in the hopper. They thought he would shake things up. And they brought him in. They essentially had the blank check to do whatever they wanted and they said, we want to gift it to someone else.

And apparently, Disney was like super against almost everything. Interesting. Were there other people or was it just... They were like Brad Bird's

Difficult. Oh, sure. He pitched it to them. Well, and also, the Iron Giant had lost money. Had lost a lot of money. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But he had a reputation. He had gotten fired off a bunch of things because they were like, this guy's exacting. Did they remember that they also fired John Lasseter? Right, right. But also, the story they tell, like, I watched this movie twice in preparation for this episode once with the commentary because I realized I'd never heard the commentary. Excellent commentary. Excellent commentary.

I don't know if I've done that. Isn't the commentary the one that begins with Bradbury being like, this is not an animated film, it's a film. Like he's aggressive like from second one.

He does that about halfway through. He says the next time someone calls animation a genre, I'm going to punch him in the face. And you're like,

I think you will, Brad. I think it's outside of the animated genre as well. Same with WALL-E. It's also, it's recorded the morning after either Frank or ollie has died his two mentors yeah yeah yeah um but we're at the end there right before the movies come out

before the movies come out so they keep on making jokes about like oh fuck i hope this isn't pixar's first flop they don't say fuck but they like keep on joking about like yeah but they said and it's clearly it sounds like it's about uh e Eisner that they went in and pitched it. And Eisner, whoever it was, these top Disney executives were like, this is not an animated movie. Right. And proceed to explain to Brad Bird what is or isn't an animated movie. And they were like, you can't do animated films about humans.

This is an action movie. They're better in live action. It doesn't have talking animals. Right. Yeah. Right. They were just like, this is not what does well in animation.

It's not a musical. And Brad Bird just sat there silently and his producer, John Walker, who he had brought in, had been his, like, I'm a giant guy, was like, I was genuinely afraid that Brad was going to lose his mind and get fired in his response. Postal at Mike Eisner.

Right. And in the greatest moment of restraint I've ever seen him use, he just turned to Lasseter and went, John? Because he kind of knew he had the Lasseter bubble at that point. Pixar was so proven. Which is insane because they said the same thing to Lasseter

when he was like, you can do a feature-length computer-generated movie. And they were like, he's mad! Kick him out on the street. But now four years later, they were like, we had to keep on fighting for fucking everything on this movie. And I think they were all a little worried about it.

And the marketing was like very goofy. Like very pun-based, very fat superhero-based. Well, they released that little teaser that isn't actually in the movie. They do that a lot in Pixar because they're not done with the movie. I remember that teaser, watching that in a packed house, and it was like fucking Showtime at the Apocalypse. They were screaming. It went over well.

It's amazing. It did. But then I remember when they cut the trailer together. And was it their first, I'm sorry, was it their, it was the first human movie. Yes, yes. First human Pixar movie. 100%. First movie with humans, yes. First human Pixar movie. 100%.

First movie with humans, full stop, ever. Well, there are humans in the other movies, but they're not the mean. Yes. Right, and they tend to be creepy, plastic-looking people. And they even talk about, like, that was a big thing. Like, humans were always really tough to do in CGI. And also a very tough. Humans and hair.

Humans and hair. Once they nailed hair. That's the craziest thing. It's like, this is this huge action movie with all these stakes and on the commentary they keep on talking about like the most difficult things

in this movie were hair feathers fabric oh the fabric is water I could go two hours on the fabric in that movie

like the scene where they're in the water nobody wants me to but I could wet hair when they land after the plane crashes and their suits are wet

you can see what a pain in the ass that was. Well when they're after that happens and then they're zipping through like Elastigirl turns into a boat

and Dash is paddling that his wet hair is blowing in the wind and it's insane. It's amazing. They keep on talking about how like there were all these shots

where they were like Brad if we just don't show this we'll save like a month and like $50,000 and he was like no it has to be in there because he was I think he knew this was like his last big shot

and he had come with this premise under his arm because he'd been trying to make this movie as a 2D movie for years at different studios I did not I don't know anything about this was like not going to bend on this. He was developing this in the 90s, early 90s at Turner Animation

and stuff. Ding dong! Someone's at the door. Just let him in, Griffin. Oh, Ben's going for it. Wow, everyone's opening the door at the same time. Hey, what's up?

Looking for stars. The cable channel? I'm sure that might be a good start. It's on your dial. Yeah. Look, I got a skill, okay? I find the next big stars. Like the cable channel?

Megas! No! I mean, yes, although I did discover them. You mean Hollywood stars. Big Hollywood talent. Big Hollywood talent. Big Hollywood talent, okay? All right. I'm looking for talent.

I've lost some of the more impressive members of my roster. Uh-oh. Who are you? Cy Weinstein. It doesn't matter. Weinstein probably was a bad choice of a name. Don't blame me for it. I mean, no relation.

Hey, what's your name? Cy Weinstein. He's doubling down on it. Great. Okay. No relation what's your name sy weinstein he's doubling down in it great okay no relation i don't have a choice that's a lineage what's your name sy hershkowitz all right there we go there we go and i resent having to be whitewashed in this way uh all right so you're looking on you're on the lookout for stars right where where'd your other stars go uh most of them have died oh okay okay i mean you're you're an older gentleman yeah i don't mean yeah i mean i i had some of the biggest uh stars of the 90s uh moose uh the from rucky bulwinkle no uh the dog from uh Oh, from Frasier. Eddie. Oh, I thought you meant from... You can't do that on television.

No, couldn't get him. Couldn't get him. He actually poured in on your territory in some ways. Yeah. No, you mean Moose from, like, The Artist. Or no, that was Uggy. Moose was the first dog. I had Uggy as well, unfortunately.

Dearly departed Uggy. Yeah, no, RIP, RIP. I had, you know, Balto. He was a cartoon, wasn't he? Yeah, but I mean, who do you think's doing the voice? You? No, Balto. Wasn't it Kevin Bacon?

Well, that's what they tell you. They boost up the box office grosses. Which it certainly did. Right, who do you think did all the barking? My guy, Mark Balto. Look, I'm Hollywood's number one dog talent agent, but the point is, you work, you develop a talent for five years,

and then they kick the bucket, and the dog talent agent. Okay. The second they hit cruising altitude, fucking out the door dead. So you're telling me you need some kind of a platform, maybe. Yes. Where you could find

the right job candidates fast and en masse every business needs great people and a better way to find them something better than just posting your job online and just praying for the right people to see it i mean sounds good keep on going they learn what you're looking for which sounds like is uh mostly dog talent particularly now i want a dog who's good at wearing glasses. Great. Well, they identify them with people or dogs with the right experience such as glasses wearing. And they invite you to

they invite these dogs to apply. Now, here's a fun fact. 80% of employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site, but just in one day. So you could get a glasses-wearing dog in 24 hours. Well, because

pilot season, hot project going around right now. They're rebooting Bones, but with dogs. So you need a dog to play Bones, Dr. Bones? Yeah, I need a dog who's good at some sort of will-they-won't-they chemistry. With a bone. Here's the thing, the right candidates are out out there because they're testing tomorrow i need someone

so and zip recruiter is how you're gonna find them that sounds great to me all right well right now blank check listeners can try zip recruiter for free that's right for free for free that's right just go to zip recruiter.com slash blank thatipRecruiter.com slash blank. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash blank. They're not even taking a commission? It's ZipRecruiter.com slash blank. Well, that's all I need to hear. I'll leave the promo code blank. Just remember this.

No, no, no. Just remember this. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. Ben's really dragging her out. As I said, what I'm looking for is a smart dog, or at least a dog that appears to be smart By balancing glasses on the bridge of its mouth Try ZipRecruiter out for free

At ZipRecruiter.com slash blank Alright get out of here Sigh Hey Griffin You don't know that guy? I feel like you know everyone in the industry He used to represent me Then he dropped you his only human client

um well we did that we did that god becky it would be so embarrassing if we had to do some dumb improv thing in front of you on this show thank god that is not a circumstance we have clearly been highly coached uh i thought it was great. Thank you. All compliments to Cy Hershkowitz. Abelman. I really had to. I rarely will shut down one of your bits, but that had to go. So, The

Incredible. The Incredible. So he makes the pitch to, or is it Lasseter recruits him? I mean, I know he had this pitch. Lasseter brings him in, but they still have the pitch to, or is it Lasseter recruits him? I mean, I know he had this pitch. Lasseter brings him in, but they still have to pitch to Disney what the film's going to be. Disney doesn't believe it's a good idea. I mean, they're accepting this pitch at a point like when only X-Men has come out.

Right, because it's like 2000, right? Yeah, you know, and they just fought really hard for this movie. So the country doesn't even know what superheroes are. They've never heard of them. Yeah, right, totally foreign concept. The other thing that is interesting is this is like the first Pixar movie that's not written by like a room. Right. Like Brad Bird wrote the movie. Right, like he came in with his script and a lot of it was reworked.

But he essentially like entered with a spec. A spec that he had been shopping around Hollywood for like 10 years. Whereas every other Pixar movie had sort of been incubated in a collaborative way and then someone goes off and tries to make the bones of it mostly themselves. Which I hear is one of the hottest pilots

this pilot season. Dog bones? You gotta get a talented dog for that. You gotta get a talented dog for that. You've got to get a talented dog for that in less than 24 hours. But he makes this movie. It's fascinating because in the commentary he keeps on talking about like,

yeah, you know what I don't like in superhero movies. And it's like there have been four at this point. He's complaining about the cliches of the genre. And there's so few examples. But he was already upending things that we hadn't even gotten tired the genre. Right. And there's so few examples, but he was already upending things that we hadn't even gotten tired of yet. Right. But I mean, you know,

there's a long history of superhero, you know, everything else before this generation of superhero movies. It has this Fantastic Four kind of pitch of like, oh, we're going to take the American family, reflect it in these characters. It's still the one good Fantastic Four movie agreed do you know the Miyazaki

story no Miyazaki visited Pixar at this time when he was making Spirited Away I believe like obviously you know Pixar and Ghibli had you know Lasseter and Ghibli had this relationship at that point Lasseter helped Spirited Away I feel like it must have been the movie after that well I don't know

I thought Spirited Away was before that too Spirited Away. I feel like it must have been the movie after that. Well, I don't know. I thought Spirited Away was before that, too. Yeah, Spirited Away is 2002. Domestically. All right, fine. So maybe it's... Domestically. Jesus Christ. I mean, well, maybe he's working on the American release of Spirited Away,

which had a dub. You know, had like a very... Like, Lasseter supervised the American release of that movie. Two-year dubbing process? I don't know. Maybe it's Hell's Movie. Well, no, it's more... Didn't this movie have like a four-year production process?

Let's just assume... Oh, it's 2001, too, so... Oh, it's more didn't this movie have like a four-year production process let's just assume oh it's 2001 too so oh it is fuck you're right actually it is no no it no it was 2001 in japan right right yeah okay um he visits yeah and bird was like sweating bricks because he respects this guy yeah and he shows him some reels and he says like what do you think like is this just American nonsense? And Miyazaki was like, you're doing a very adventurous thing in an American film. Like, you know,

sort of like, was like, I'm very impressed with this and like probably wandered off onto a cloud and vanished or something. They also like, it was turned into a giant baby head

and rolled away. He jibbleyed on out of there. Exactly. Yes. Everyone became a river yeah it was Pixar's first PG movie which was more of a leap than people thought it was and it like almost opens

with machine gun fire yeah it's true and a suicide yeah this movie's brutal like directly the suicide is like whoa like

that's a lot of parents having to turn to their kids and be like, we'll talk about it later. And he directly says, you foiled my suicide attempt. He didn't want to be saved. Right. But you have adults who clearly have a sex life. There are all these complicated things in this movie.

Well, it's a movie about parenting. I mean, it's a movie about parents. It's a movie about parenting. I mean, it's a movie about parents. It's a movie about midlife. It's a movie about losing your sense of self. I mean, this is not a kid's movie in any way. It's also not paying lip service. It actually delves into all these things

and has long animated discussions with middle-aged people weighing legacy and stuff. Early middle age. Give them credit. But there's all that stuff with um Wallace Shawn yeah

like it's like we're talking about the corporate you know system right and like being stuffed into a career too

but it also has Holly Hunter my point who just like it's just too grown up to be in a G-rated movie I think

I agree Holly Hunter's too like mature and interesting too sexy exactly I'm also gonna throw out a hot take,

and I don't say this lightly. I think this is the best vocal performance in any Pixar movie. I think Holly Hunter's unreal. It's unreal. She's amazing. Who would be the competitor? I think Amy in Inside Out is pretty phenomenal.

I think that's phenomenal and a deceptively difficult performance. Absolutely. And I think Albert Brooks is phenomenal. I agree. And subtle. That's phenomenal and a deceptively difficult performer. Absolutely. And I think Albert Brooks is phenomenal. I agree. And subtle. That's even more difficult, too. Yeah.

Because he has to do a lot of whining. Right. Yeah. And I obviously love. I mean, he's Albert Brooks. I mean, he's good at it. Yeah. I mean, I love that Pixar, at least for a while, was casting people who were.

In broadcast news. Very much the. Exactly. Yeah. Very much the right person for the role and not the sexy star Craig T. Nelson which like DreamWorks was

the Will Smith of course and the fish looks like Will Smith Martin Scorsese and the fish looks like Martin Scorsese I can't even but like Disney

at this point Disney at this point hot to the youngsters yeah right but that was literally DreamWorks' model was like take a celebrity

whose persona we all know design a character to look like them and just play into their bit and Disney' model was like, take a celebrity whose persona we all know, design a character to look like them, and just play into their bit. Right. And Pixar was like, hey, Disney, do you want to give us over $100 million to make a movie starring Coach? Right. That was...

You know who was also great was Rip Torn. He was a great Pixar voice. And Richard Kine. I mean, there were a lot of great ones. Which one? Why am I blanking on Rip Torn? Wasn't Rip Torn the guy in Monsters, Inc. who was the... James Coburn.

That's James Coburn. Wait, who was... Rip Torn was someone. I think you're right. But Coburn is Waternoose in Monsters, Inc. Rip Torn is one of those guys, every time I Google him, I'm like, he's not dead. Right. I know he's not dead.

I've had my Rip Torn death tweet saved on my phone for literally nine years now. Oh, maybe he... Wow, I've never been so very wrong. Guess what he is in? B-movie. Hercules. Oh, yes, he's in Hercules. Hercules, my boy.

He's so great. That's my riptorn impression. I thought he was in Swerver. I thought too. Coburn is the crab man. Right. Bad crab boss. I think his. Coburn is the crab man. Right. Bad crab boss. I think his official name is Mr. Bad Crab Boss.

I may also be having like brain association with Albert Brooks and Rip Torn because of Defending Your Life, which often happens in my brain. But so I'm glad I was wrong about that. I thought, you know, I thought Amy Poehler's performance in Inside Out was truly one of, I think, her best performances. I think it's a terrific performance. Yeah, I think there's some incredible voice moments for a lot of people. Hunter is just doing such a thoroughly adult performance in this movie. movie. Like, A, I think she's one of those actors who finds an unconventional way around

every single line reading without sounding like that's the purposeful challenge. She's not doing like a Christopher Walken thing where it's like, let me find a weird tempo. And it was just a really smart choice. Right. And she's also

one of those people who like, always reads with a lot of integrity. Like, even if it's just a voice on screen, she has so much authority, integrity, gumption. But she's also sexy. And I think that the big thing for both of these characters was they have to be parents. Right. And she's trying to be a good mother. And I believe Holly Hunter in that role. And they have to be grown

ups. They can't be cartoon versions of parents. They have to be like they're the main characters. We have to believe them as complicated adults. So the movie opens with this documentary opening which he said he did because he wanted to

purposely play against expectations of, like, you always open with the biggest action sequence to, like, start it off. And instead, you start off with, like, grainy. A documentary. Like, put it.

I love it so much. I love it, too. And, you know, the square presentation. And the newsreel. Right, right. Well, so then, you go from that

to Mr. Incredible, like, at his glory day. Mm-hmm. Trying to save as many people as he can before he gets to his wedding. Right. And then the newsreel. Right. Which like already there's one moment in this movie that activates a certain kind of like this is what I want to see out of a superhero movie joy for me.

That's still in the what 14 years since this came out I have not seen done again in any of the 40 million superhero films that have been released it's when Mr. Incredible is like on the rooftop and he sees Frozone all the way in the distance like sw, swishing by, and they just have this, like, long distance conversation. Shouldn't you be getting ready? Or whatever, you know.

I got time. Right, especially in this, like, interconnected superhero universe landscape that we're in. None of the superhero movies

have gotten across that vibe of just, like, casually, like, this is just a world where superheroes are just doing shit all the time.

Like, one superhero's saving someone over here, another superhero's 20 blocks away saving someone else you know yeah like this is just an ecosystem yeah it's just my only question is what's happening after they're all gone you know i'm just running rampant well like like crime running rampant is one thing but like are there like mole people drilling like you know who deals with the the sort of the more outsized issues sure okay okay fair enough yeah i mean it's not a thing they delve into but uh drilling. Who deals with the more outsized issues? Sure. Okay. Fair enough.

I mean, it's not a thing they delve into. But, yeah. So, you know, there is this suicide thing. I think a thing that Brad Bird is incredibly, incredibly good at, and it translates to his live-action movie as well, is knowing how color can change the mood of a

scene. Because this is a movie where like every time period You're talking about Tomorrowland? Tomorrowland I think it's probably the strongest aspect of Tomorrowland is like the color shifts between the environments but this is a movie where like when he's going through time periods or different environments like he's so good

at like this is fun and this is light and then establishing a new scene where immediately it's like ominous and sort of foreboding and there's which is also true of batteries not included because you have these very sort of dark or darker more grim sort of depressing yeah backdrops and then these this these moments of color he said that like his thing that he's obsessed with and that he really wanted to capture in this movie is like the the fantastic mundane like he likes that contrast of

and he was like when I went into Pixar and I pitched it I included a couple specific jokes and usually those pitches you're doing just a larger story arc pitch

but I mentioned the joke of like Mrs. Incredible looking at her butt in the mirror like some of those things because I had to hammer home to Disney. No, but the idea is you keep on

getting back to how human these characters are in these insane circumstances. And he's really good at those drab shifts where this Glory Days section of Mr. Incredible is super bright, super saturated, hero theme. But the moment it goes into that building with

Bon Voyage Monsieur Incredible the best character in the history of cinema Bon Voyage he was gonna be called Bon Perignon makes me still

after seeing The Incredibles 150 times I laugh it's so funny so hard the accordion on the soundtrack yes the music

I can't like like a like a giggling baby his body language is so... Yeah. I love Bon Voyage so much, I can't even... But that's, like, the other thing this movie gets to,

is you feel like, oh, this is just a world where at any given time there are, like, 80 shitty villains like that running around. Right. Whereas, like, every superhero movie now is, like, focused on one. Like, there's one plot. There are no, sort of like supplemental threats

that we're not even considering, you know? And you're like, Bomb Voyage is like robbing a bank every night probably, you know? You're forgetting about Suicide Squad. Twisted. We're doing that on purpose. Well, yeah, you keep bringing up David Ayer movies.

You keep pitching bright on us. Keep pushing bright. Yeah, before weyer movies. You keep pitching bright on us. Keep pushing bright. Yeah, before we recorded, Ben kept on pitching bright to us as if we had to explain to him that bright's already been made. But what if it's brighter? All right, Griffin, can I talk to you for a second? You can always talk to me. That's the format of this show.

Well, I'm glad that our relationship has a real back and forth. Yeah, open boundaries. I would say that our relationship is a sort of easy and free kind of discourse. It's a constant transfer of ideas and thoughts and words. Exactly. It's sort of like the WeTransfer, simple, easy, free uploading and share process. There's no sign-in.

There's no onboarding. There's no complicated file system. You never make me onboard. I never do. I think that we don't talk about that enough that's a competitive advantage actually um it's you know we transfer they're just they they make the creative process easier for everybody okay but but i'm probably gonna have to i don't know withstand some ugly wallpapers right while i'm on their site excuse me their

wallpapers are beautiful 30 of them are devoted to showcasing the best art photography music and more from around the world. So they kind of get back to the community. They donate that space to artists, you know, to promote their work. Yeah. Anyway, so WeTransfer is great. You can share big files around the world for free. No sign-in, no offer codes, no password to forget.

You just upload, you send, and you get back to making what you make. Okay. I mean, sounds good. I'll get back to making it. I mean i mean what we probably have like 30 seconds left on this let's just skip the rest of this ad and get right back into the podcast it's wetransfer.com you make we transfer okay done so then we have this like shift where suddenly like uh buddy shows up who's mr incredible's number one fan uh he he's uh voiced by jason lee right brilliantly incredible

brilliantly great voice I'm incredible does a really good job playing the two ages you know what really yes he does you know what really

gets to me about Buddy especially that the teeth his teeth are all weird and it freaks me out I think it's intentionally he has like kid teeth well he also intentionally was

modeled after Brad Bird well but how intentionally right because i thought brad bird only realized that later right wasn't that something they were kind of sneaking by him yeah it was intentional on the part of the designers i'm aware right he didn't realize it was him but they were also terrified of him because he's like so exacting the documentary about like the big making of like begins with them being like there's a 700 pound gorilla in the room and it's brad bird right like that's how they describe him and he's just like sitting there

being like yeah that's me you know like there's a clip in that documentary where he's like and ladies and gentlemen here's our new director brad bird like they're bringing him just to meet all of pixar and he's like i know you guys are sitting back and you're like huh yeah we're pixar we're pretty good four hits in a row but like i'm here I'm here to tell you. Like, he was Arlie Ermey. Like, before he even got his, like, staff, I think. He was also very, like, you have forgotten what 2D animation is, and I need to remind you. Like, he was really, really religious about that.

And he didn't want to go to Pixar because he didn't want to do CGI. He didn't want to do CGI. So then when he got in, he was like, I want to do everything I would like to do in 2D that I'm told I can't do in CGI in CGI. Right, right, right. Because you're Pixar. If, like, you're on this much of a hot streak, you can support me in doing whatever I want.

Yeah. But then you hear him talk about it afterwards, and he was like, yeah, I was terrified. I thought I was, like, ruining the entire thing. Yeah, he deals with his anxiety in one way. Right. So people deal with it another way. But I think a thing I really like in this movie

is that like Mr. Incredible is a dick to Buddy. Like he is overly harsh and dismissive in a way that it's not just like this is

some annoying kid. He gets what's coming for him. But like Mr. Incredible could have stopped this if he were a little more diplomatic.

Well that's like what happens when you're the camp counselor who dismisses the kid with the hair in front of her face. I work alone. Right, exactly. And then they end up going crazy.

Yes. But this is where some of my problems start happening. Okay, okay, all right. Is with the villain. So I think what makes my favorite Pixar movies, especially as a person who's like learning from these things and have, has, has learned so much from these things. And, and, and actually, um, a great example is in Finding Nemo, um, where at some point

early on in the movie, someone just says what the movie is about out loud in a sentence. Right. And in Finding Nemo, that is when Marlon says, I promised him nothing would happen to him. And Dory says, why would you promise him that? If nothing ever happens to him, then nothing will ever happen to him. And it's like every single thing in the movie supports that idea thumbs up isn't that insane it's amazing and in the same way in a bug's life the theme is so tight you know we're gonna explore the idea of marching to your beat

the beat of your own drummer in a world where everyone walks in a straight line so pixar movies the good ones i feel like are very i keep saying tight because it's the best way I can explain it, but I feel like the best Pixar movies are so clean with the theme versus setting. There is nothing that doesn't feed into the theme. Right. From a design standpoint, a story, dialogue, action. And to me, when I write things, I use that lesson of like,

if this isn't supporting that statement, it goes. Yeah. Because jokes are easy you can come up with a million jokes but if this thing is taking me away from that larger mission statement I can lose it so it becomes a really good editing tool so my

issue with the Incredibles is I don't know if it's about if everybody's super then no one will be or if it's about everyone is special. You know what I'm saying? Like, if everyone is super, then no one will be is not what the movie's about. And I don't understand it as Syndrome's motivation.

You know what I mean? His motivation is not to make no one super. His motivation is to create a villain that only he can defeat and thereby make himself the greatest superhero ever. He also says at some point in the movie that his idea is that with his technology,

anyone could be a superhero. It's not even just selfishly him wanting to be as powerful. It's him wanting to take the power away from those who were given it from birth yes but then you have dash who on the other side of that coin says um something i'm going to misquote this and i hate myself for it but something about like you know if if if everybody's special then no one is is that what he says? She says everyone's special, Dash, and he says,

which is another way of saying that no one is. And Syndrome says that in a triumphant way. Right. If everyone's special, then no one will be. Yeah, I guess there's something for me, and I'm very, very happy to say that it's, I'm very happy to admit if it's just that I'm not smart enough, because I believe very strongly that the people making these movies

are significantly smarter than I am. But there is something about those thematic statements that didn't sew together for me with what the movie ended up being about. Well, this is like a movie... Especially because what it was so much about for me was these middle-aged people trying to recapture their youth and find meaning.

Yeah. You know, it didn't, I had an issue with sort of sewing together this idea of everyone is special, then nobody is, as either a motivation. It didn't get, it didn't feel answered to me. This is a movie that people fight over a lot. People fight over the motivation of syndrome.

And what the ideology of the film is. And the political implications. Because he gets thrown this accusation of being this kind of Ayn Randian, like, objectivist guy. This is the movie that is the beginning of that argument, and it is the most, it is the clearest argument. Because I want to say, that being said, it is still like, like, I will stand in front of an army of armed men to protect this man.

I think it's genius and brilliant, whatever. That's my only thing that I'm like, I don't quite understand. Because it's said twice. Because it's clearly like this thematic statement that I don't see it supported in the way that I do with other Pixar movies. Well, the other thing with the movie not to like draw too neat a line, but that I think the main thing this

movie comes out of, especially when he's like writing it in the 90s and he can't get like arrested in Hollywood, right? Right. There's this long period where he's burned so many bridges as being that guy's too difficult, he's too exacting. Is that true? I don't know anything about that part of it. We talked about it a lot on the last episode.

He got like fired from Disney. He was like the wunderkind. And he got fired from Disney. And they, because he kept on going into superiors and going like, we should make this better. We should do this the way they used to do in the 40s. And they'd go like, we don't give a shit. So they fired him. Getting fired from Disney is a great way of them becoming in charge of Disney.

Right. Right. I think, well, okay. Because we went over a lot of that last week. No, it's fine. I just don't need Griffin to rematch it. But to tie it into this, I think the main thing this movie is coming out of is his frustration with, I'm constantly being told that I shouldn't

play to the best of my abilities. Yes. He kept on going into environments in which... It's that of a frustrated artist, right? That's the argument against him being a Randian. And they would keep on saying, you don't have to aim for a 10, just do a 2. But what I think Becky is bringing up is, what's Syndrome? Right. So that's where it gets murky. Because what

Syndrome is, is a genius. Right. He's undeniably talented. Yeah. He's absolutely prepared to be a superhero. Like, you know, once he's a grown-up. Yeah. Maybe not when he's a kid, right? Mm-hmm. He has the zero-point energy thing.

Like, he's, he could be a super, right? Yeah. He could do this shit. So what's his motivation for doing all of this past go-home buddy, I work alone? At first, it's, you know, like, there's this, there's this, that's why I'm saying there's these kind of two ideas that I can't reconcile. One is, I'm going to create this unbeatable, I'm going to create a villain that only I can beat, and then I will be super. That's one thing. Sure, yeah.

That even Mr. Incredible can't beat. Right. And then I'll be even better than Mr. Incredible. On the other side, his goal is I'm going to make a situation where everyone can be a superhero. And then no one will be. Yeah, and then that kind of makes me feel like is his motivation to make everyone be able to be a superhero? Or is his motivation...

Because there is a moment where he walks away very in a very villainous way and and says then no one will be so is his motivation to make everyone super or to eliminate the idea of superhero altogether that is the thing that trips people up with this movie and i think it's fair he wants homogeny and what does that mean and why is it picky i mean again yeah i guess it is My read is that it's both of those things. Like, it gets into, I feel like a lot of Brad Bird movies are him externalizing arguments that he has with himself. Sure. But I also think that those storylines lead me to feel like, oh, this to be about a movie about what makes something someone

super is it being a born superhero or is it making gadgets and stuff that allow you to you know behave the way a superhero like what truly makes someone super but that's not what the movie's about either no no i know but it's so easy to get into that because they're all born with their powers right and the villain is someone who like worked hard right right but it's so easy to get into that because they're all born with their powers. Right. And the villain is someone who like worked hard. Right. It's fucking weird. And there's, there's a whole thing of like,

I make gadgets and stuff so everyone can be a superhero. Right. And that makes me think that the movie is trying to be about something that the movie is not about. So I, I had a little bit of a hard time with, and, and I'm very,

um, obsessed with villains and what motivates villains. And so. Oh, so you must love Suicide Squad. He's got like 10 villains. I actually made the wise choice to not go see Suicide Squad. So that's my sort of like nitpicky thematic issue with it that I hate having because I love The Incredibles so much. Yeah. I think it's fair.

But I think especially because he was a scorned child that whatever his motivation is should stem from that, which it sort of supposedly does. But then it's like his goal, his mission doesn't quite sew together with the origin story of why he started doing this. It's like a have and have nots thing where it's like this seed of resentment is placed in him

because he's told in no uncertain terms, you will never be a superhero because you were not born a superhero. It doesn't matter how hard you work, how much you care, there is sort of just like a Rio Grande line here that you can't cross. It's kind of like a star thing. It's like you either got it or you don't, kid.

You don't got it. So then what he wants to do is essentially just tear the entire thing down. Wipe out all the superheroes. He wants to become a superhero in a performative way to prove that anyone can be a superhero so that no one will ever be a superhero again. I guess. It's a little convoluted and it also makes me feel like

it should then be you know if Mr. Incredible is like, you'll never be a superhero superheroes are born then to me that invites a story of Mr. Incredible learning his lesson and Buddy's redemption as opposed to Buddy falls down into a lava pit or whatever he ends up, however he ends up dying.

No, he gets fucking shredded by a jet engine. Oh, yeah, that's right. Oh, my God. There definitely isn't a redemption arc for Buddy. He remains awful until until the very last moment which he dies like a loser and an idiot and uh and mr incredible he opted for the cape yeah i mean he's also like a psychopath he's like willing to murder children for reasons that are sort of only vaguely understandable i also think he's a great villain i love how playful he he is. He's a good villain. He's very well played. Right. Yeah, I love how joyful and playful and maniacal he is. He's a fan.

He's like a fan of all this. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, and this is maybe the answer to your question. He was originally supposed to be the villain. There was supposed to be a cold open of the movie, different than the one we have, where he was the villain invading the family, trying to get revenge on Mr. Incredible while they were in like witness protection anonymous hiding in the suburbs and they had another villain who was more corporate I guess there there's an element where I feel like

there's kind of two movies happening yeah I also think it's a movie it differs from the other Pixar films certainly up until this point where where they had been very cohesive and straightforward on, as you said, everything supporting one theme. Whereas this movie is sort of more of an essay, exploring questions from a lot of different angles. It has complete thoughts in terms of character arcs. In terms of themes, it's kind of wrestling with a lot of things and not trying to really settle on any one thing at the end. Or I'm wrong. Or I'm not getting it. But also, no one's ever

been able to totally crack this movie in terms of what he's trying to say. There's a reason people keep on coming back to it and going like, are we supporting this weird Atlas Shruggy thing? Which I don't think it's that clear cut, but it also is like, you can never find any read of the movie that totally lines up the thing that

the thing that always sticks in my craw the most is the running at the end the running at the end? yeah Dash is winning the race oh sure he doesn't he comes in second no I think he wins no they pull him back I mean I know he pulls him back but I thought it was like

not too close he comes in second where it's like he shouldn't be allowed to run against those people i always get so mad about it yeah he's got super speed and the argument but he doesn't win that's the point is like he just that makes no sense the argument of the movie seems to be like oh but he's finally embracing his gifts he's like one he's not right and two it's not fair and i think the movie is like well that's life you know what i mean and like that's where i always yeah the one thing about the incredibles that bugs me sure i can't dismiss it whereas like with ratatouille and tomorrowland his other quote-unquote like little slightly randy and movies i'm more like that i think he's moving away from that i think he's challenging it i think you

know like this is the one where I'm like, what am I supposed to take away from him running in that fucking race? I mean, to me, it's just sort of like, you know, a bow on Dash's story and we can kind of be like, oh, that's the happy ending. And the bow on Violet's story is, like, so emotionally

fulfilling. You know, the bow and everything, but with Dash, I'm like, what? He can't race? That's crazy. I wonder. Violet ends up dating my friend John Trowbridge at the end of the show. Tony Ridenger does look like him. Friend of the podcast. Friend of the podcast and former guest John Trowbridge.

He looks like John Trowbridge. He does look like John Trowbridge. Hey. He's so awkward, that guy. That name is so good. Tony Ridenger. Tony Ridenger. You're talking about.

No, I'm talking about the character. Yeah, I know. You're talking about one of our best friends you're talking about. No, I'm talking about the character. Yeah, I know. You're talking about one of our best friends. Another turtleneck, by the way, Ben. We were talking about a turtleneck. Well, and this is where I want to segue into something that, if I may, that blows my goddamn mind about The Incredibles. The last time I watched The Incredibles,

and this might be just something we all have, you've talked about a million times, and I'm like, my mind is blown, that The Incredibles, I was watching, the last time I was watching The Incredibles, I was like, wait a minute. Does this take place in the 60s?

Yeah. Have you read about this? No, what do you mean? So The Incredibles like takes place in like an undefined right kind of retro retro-y

place right but Unisaburg right but beyond that so the newsreel the newsreel

with the suicide whatever you think is like 40 you know that could be anywhere from the 40s to the 50s even the early 60s

I always took it as 50s, maybe late 40s. The story takes place 15 years after that. So the latest this could happen is the 70s or whatever. The newspaper he's reading has the date 1962 on it. Interesting. All of their furniture is mid-century modern furniture. Yeah. All of the gadgets and mid-century modern furniture. Yeah. Every, all of the

like gadgets and stuff are very 1960s. A lot of the vehicles are as well. Yeah, and like the whole look of the communities and the office. Yeah, like the cop uniforms are like the two button, you know, whatever. And other than supervillain technology, there's no Right. And there was that supervillain

technology in the 60s superhero movies anyway. But my brain exploded. And then I started reading about it. And there's like all of these like tons and tons of articles about when the Incredibles took place. Debating when it takes place, yeah. Because the, again, even just that newsreel, the timeline with the newsreel and knowing that this is 15 years later like it's the mid 60s

yeah yeah 100% and it's really interesting and then I watched it again through those eyes also the island is very like Bond villain very Dr. No and stylistically it's like oh yeah that makes like

throwing back to that imagery and that visual language. I totally understand. And that's very Pixar. But literally. Literally. It's in this like it's not just like throwback genre stuff. It's like actually takes place. Yeah.

Then. And it's it's and then and there you have your turtlenecks. Yeah. Which also. Turtlenecks. Yeah. But you know what I mean? An Iron Giant from the 50s.

The car that they're... Iron Giant's in the 50s. Yeah, the car that they're sitting in when they're listening to the cop, the cop scanner. Yeah. Like, it's... It just...

I had a moment of, like, the world changed shape. Sure. But even when you're looking at, like, Bob's office, where he has all the sort of, like, Mr. Incredible heyday memorabilia, the, like, format of the Time Magazine cover.

Oh, yeah. It's all the early 60s. It's very much like the Woody collection in Toy Story 2 where they've like so studied what merchandise looked like from that time period, what press looked like from that time period, all the sort of graphic design styles and everything. Well, and the quality of the film, great in quality of the interview. It's the newsreel that places it, really. That's 47, essentially.

When you see all the men walking in their hats, that incredible shot, that's one of my favorite things in the movie, is that out-of-focus rack shot. Which they say is one of the five most complicated shots I'm sure. I'm obsessed with pulling focus in animated movies. I can't wrap my

head around it. It blows my mind. And that shot which is I can't even wrap my head around but because of the clothes that they're wearing and because of the way it was shot it's just like that's when

the movie takes place. It blows my mind. That The Incredibles watch it again. The movie takes place in the 60s or the 50s. It's like unclear. 1962 is the perfect read to me. But then there are things that are outside of that live outside. There are technologies

that are a little outside of that and stuff but it's very interesting. I'd like to nerd out about something for a second. This is something I had not heard before. Now let's nerd out. If I can open this nerd box here. A big difference with CGI versus hand-drawn animation

is there is essentially a simulated camera within the computer. It's like you have your little set and you have your characters and all your props, but then there's another part of the program that is this digital computer that is able to pull focus and such,

but also rather than just drawing it from the angle that you want the shot to be at, you stage it in a sort of proscenium way and then you kind of find where you're going to place the camera and set up your shots and your coverage within that animation, right? Yep. Also, can't you do that after the fact, too? Yes.

Right, but that's the point. It's like you pretty much, like, you animate it straight to some degree, and then he'll go in like a director would after seeing a blocking rehearsal with, like, his camera team, where there's literally, like, the team the team that's like the digital camera team and he's like could we shoot it on this kind of lens and the computer pretends that that lens is on it whatever

all this crazy stuff but so a big thing they did with this movie because this movie has like a thousand different sets and most of the Pixar films have been pretty contained up until this point they have a couple central environments and they'll reuse a lot of the same like Monsters Inc has'll reuse a lot of the same, like, Monsters, Inc. has, takes place a lot

within that office building. You know? And then there's, like, his apartment. Right, right. And Toy Story takes place in essentially, like, four rooms.

You know, Bugs Life all takes place in, like, the backyard. They had so many sets for this, and each of those sets, you have to take the time to design it

and also construct it in the computer and construct every object, you know? Like, if there's a coffee mug. Which is why they make sequels. those sets you have to take the time to design it and also construct it in the computer and construct every object, you know? Which is why they make sequels. Right, you have to render the coffee mug. They save a lot of time if they make a sequel and money. Well, they have rigs. You know about rigs? Yes. Oh baby, do I know about rigs?

So the thing that blew my mind was... Tim Riggins? Do you know about Tim Riggins? Of course. Do I know about Tim Riggins? Yeah. King of the Riggers? Easy. A thing they did in this movie that is incredible, no pun intended, is in order to save money, they partially built digital sets and then placed the camera in places where you couldn't see

that the rest of the set hadn't been built like it was a live-action movie. So they actually did it like a live action movie. Right. Right. So like if Syndrome's lair is like this big or that one transitional room

with like the volcano door is this big and it would take that much time and energy to do the whole thing they're like can we shoot it from this angle

so you never have to see this corner of like Edna Mode's house. Yeah. Which is insane and ingenious. It's amazing. Yeah. Which is insane and ingenious. It's amazing. Right.

I mean, they do, and this movie is, needs to have that globetrotting Bond feel. Right. Has the score. Right. You know, like in the Edna Mode, right? Like, so you gotta,

I guess you gotta do that. And because people are more discerning with human characters in like the whole kind of uncanny valley way, like A Bug's Life, they had like four ant templates and they essentially kept on copy pasting them for all the like crowd scenes.'s Life, they had, like, four ant templates and they essentially kept on copy-pasting them for all the, like,

crowd scenes. For this, they had to develop a whole new technology to be able to, like, mass-produce variations on a couple human types so that they could have, like,

in that scene of all the businessmen walking, like, 40 characters that look somewhat distinct but you don't have to spend time designing each one separately. There are all these cheats they came up with which are, are like very bootstrappy live action

type things in order to like pinch pennies because he kept on being like, no, I need the shot of the finger going through the hole on the costume, which they were like, that will take us nine months to do. Yeah. With the fabric. Yeah. Have you ever seen those, um, the um the um those like hair algorithm tests for for monsters yeah it's unreal it's insane we're like sully he'll be jumping over

sully he'll like jump over a barrel and his hair will be left behind him and he's like turn into a koosh ball right if he touches the wrong object right um, so we get to... Yeah, let's talk about the movie. Aborted Suicide. We have been talking about the movie. No, no, no. It's just you don't understand how long this fucking podcast goes. We don't have to do

the equivalent amount of time to what we've set out, the pace we've set out right now. Well, but that's always the problem. We spent an hour and 20 minutes on five minutes. We're talking themes, baby. Yeah, I know.

I know. But then the thing is you then want to talk about 10 more things. You don't have to go through the plot. It's also partially. I know. But then the thing is you then want to talk about ten more things. You don't have to go through the plot. It's also partially my fault because I'm like, here's what I want to talk about.

So you can just, when I leave, you can blame me. Yeah, but we always end up doing that. We could do a dash. This is what I'm saying. Hey, let's do a dash run through the plot.

Yeah, but the problem is there are, I swear to God, 50 things in this movie you want to talk about for five minutes, right? I guess it's a six-parter. I don't know what to tell you.

This is what I'm saying. It's like you can say we can rush through it, but we always end up like, oh, well, actually, that is interesting, though, you know? I'm counting at least five minutes of talking about how long it's taken. This is what the fans demand, people. Can we talk about my favorite character? Yes. Violet?

Yeah. All of our favorite characters? I don't know I have to wait on that for a second I just haven't decided The thing they do so well with Violet Very unusual character for a movie like this

Would you say? Not something Disney has done a lot of No, but it also feels like they're not And then they also did it a little bit in Inside Out. Yes. Yes, years later. A teenager.

A convincing teenage girl. Right. They made the whole movie about that, about building that character. But there's something so specific to her level of self-consciousness and when it's cut with anger. There's the scene when she starts freaking out at dash making fun of her for tony riding sure at the dinner table where she gets like a little bit too angry like her emotions just get a little out of whack and there's one shot where she looks

maniacal talk to me a little insect right right like she looks like evil yeah right right um well she's got the one eye too right. Right. Which is a little demonic. Right. And it's also just like, talk about writing to theme, the beauty of this girl who doesn't want to be seen can literally turn invisible and still feel self-conscious. She can hide out from the entire world and still she feels uncomfortable. She also pulls a weird move of just dissolving her head. So she's a headless body. That's not her choice.

It's established later on. She can't change the clothes. Her clothes don't change until Edna designs the special suit. But that's like, God, what fucking good economic storytelling to like beautiful 60s upbeat like Giacchino, Q,

Tony Ridinger, John Trowbridge. It's his first score, right? This is his first film score right? For a film. This is his first film score. He'd done Lost and he had done video games. I mean, Lost is coming out this year.

Right. So even Lost, he's new. I don't even know how they found him. Had he worked on Alias maybe? He must have like, been on someone's radar. Such a great score. But he just like,

kills this thing. He does. They said, this was the first time that they allowed someone to use a different musical cue over the disney pixar logos oh yeah sure sure it had always been the classical like when you wish upon a star yeah yeah and bradford was like i need like right yeah but but the opening cue is like very kind of somber and like sort of what's the word I'm looking for? I don't.

I know the word you're looking for, but I don't know. I know what you're talking about. It's ominous, I guess. Like, and the short before this. Yeah, they do it all the time. Right. What did I just see? Oh, Coco.

Yeah. I don't know if you folks remember, but the short before this was Boundin. Yeah. Which was like the folktale of the animals. My wife was Boundin. Yeah. Which was like the poke tail of the animals. My wife loves Boundin. It's a cute one. Humblebrag that I married. Yeah.

Yes, that's your humblebrag. She loves Boundin. Boundin is the inside of my wife's brain. Like if you crack her open. Her inside out is just Boundin for two hours. It is. If you had to ask me to explain my wife, I'd be like,

watch Boundin. Yeah. Wrap skin around it. The, the, and then everyone would be like, ew.

So, Boundin, the director, the director Boundin who just passed at the time that we're recording this, Humblebrag,

Ben knows, your wife. Ben knows my wife, Humblebrag. Yeah. The director Boundin who just passed away, but was also the narrator in Boundin,

plays Rick Decker in this. Wait, who's Rick Decker? Rick Decker is the witness relocation. Oh, he's the nice, the helpful man. They're like, come on, Bob, I can't do this again. And in the sequel, he's going to be played by... Jonathan Banks, because I guess Bud Lucky's health was declining.

Right. But Brad Bird said that he pitched to Disney when they realized they were going to put the short before the movie, that the intro to Boundin was Rick Decker sitting at a desk and pointing himself a glass of whiskey and being like, can I tell you a story? Because then he's like 40 minutes later when he shows up in The Incredibles, you're like, well, this guy's got an act of imagination. He really pitched that? That's a crazy pitch.

He actually pitched that? He was like, yeah, I guess I get why they didn't want to go. I can see disney being like that sounds very confusing for a small child so the jackalope he's he's a part of this somehow like is he another superhero i always i'm always like very and i always am very like studious about how you know the short but but before a Pixar movie is usually like, we're working out the kinks of some kind of technology for the next Pixar movie. So like,

what was it? Bird on a wire. For the birds. For the birds. That is like, okay, we're looking at feathers and then monsters and came out or whatever, or like light source or fur or whatever.

So when bound and came out i was like what the hell is the next pixar movie gonna be antlers we gotta figure out we gotta figure out our antlers and our jumping yeah right uh i i really i know that bounden is an outlier but i really love it it's so crazy yeah did you have some point to make about Boundin apart from the no just I wanted that crazy notion to make it Rick Decker's daydream it lost the

Academy Award two Harvey Crumpet oh Harvey Crumpet's really good I remember that it's like Polish or something

it's the guy who did Mary and Max that yeah claymation movie about Asperger's yeah which was sort of a pixar sized hit right yeah yeah it was the incredibles of asperger's right and short right philip seymour

hoffman plays a morbidly obese orthodox aspergian man who's afraid to leave his home um so made 300 million domestic so we did that we did the front of this movie i love the office stuff in this movie i love that his cubicle has a giant pillar in it that always makes me laugh every time it's like the boiler sticking into his support beam isn't is his thing i just love the visual of him it's one i think it's one of the best hard cuts of all time is like them it's all white right right but them kissing at the wedding to then hard cut like it's one of the best hard cuts of all time is like them. It's all white. Right. Right.

But them kissing at the wedding to then hard cut like. It's great. And her being like, you're going to need to be a, you know. And he said, and a loss of color.

It's also a huge loss of color. which is part of this movie's weird homogeny take. But yes. Yeah. But he also said like. Everyone needs to be like a cog. You know.

Yeah. All the pieces fit together. That scene I watched, yes. The last time I watched The Incredibles, I watched that scene like 16 times. I'm obsessed with it. The character design of that character, of Wallace Shawn's character, is so funny.

He's like three quarters jaw. I know. While he's walking across the desk, his head is just bobbing along like three inches above him. He's got very short arms. Unbelievable. Because if they're so afraid of a movie about humans, right? Like isn't part of the fun.

It's like, no, don't worry. Every human is going to have this. Right, right. Exactly. Like crazy design to it. Because it's a world where literally the variation height can be between like one foot five and seven foot 15. Right. Yeah, yeah.

Totally. Seven foot 15. Yeah, yeah, totally. 7 foot 15. Classic height. Yeah. But he said that like the... Cooperative cogs. It's like the way his hands met. I know. His stubby little fingers. Yeah, he had like...

He animated the office and then on the camera digitally zoomed in. Like did a digital zoom lens rather than putting the camera closer. Oh, weird. So that it looks even more flattened out. Like he used all these insane techniques that you don't need to do and cost a lot more money. But he was like, I want to really solve this stuff.

And I love that he has OCD. That character is lining the pencils up on the calendar. But even I remember seeing this in theaters and Bob looking out the window and seeing the guy be brutally beaten felt very heavy for a PG Disney film. But also, there's this insurance agent who's like, insurance is a scam.

And the stockholders are who matter. I hope we don't represent him. It's a lot to lead with. Right. It's very grown up. He puts the guy in traction. Also, that shot of him letting go of the doorknob and it's just all crumpled up. Yeah.

It's very, yeah, it's grown up. These are grown up issues. Yes. He feels inadequate. And I think it actually started. It's very, yeah, it's grown up. These are grown up issues. He feels inadequate. And I think it actually started a run of Pixar movies that were very much not its movies. Up, Not Long After,

Ratatouille. I cannot get into Up. We have the same takes on Up. Let's not get into Up. I think we actually, it sounds like we all agree on Up. Yeah. Down. More like down.

Oh, boy. Oh, my God. Becky, do you want to cut that out? Because you know this is going out publicly, right? If that's too hot, we can cut that out. Becky is coming for you. I know that I think Up is a giant bag of dicks. I'm fine with it.

You can't blind me with pretty and make me forget that there's no story going on it does sound like you love the other Doctor movies though you love Monsters Inc and Inside Out

I love P-Doctor I love Inside Out I love Monsters Inc the guy knows how to design the internal workings of an idea more than better than anyone else

it feels like they just didn't do the work like on the story they were just like this is cute enough right i have a friend who gets very pissed off that the um i'll remember it has something to do with like the rule bending of like the dogs need collars to talk right but like other things don't they can fly planes oh right yes the dogs fly i haven't seen it seems just like a crazy well again we're not talking about it we're not here to talk about but i have feelings about it i heard the doctor say that like the christopher plumber character the bad guy the idea the reason why kevin the bird was the m MacGuffin was because his eggs gave you immortality.

And he was like, and then we realized early on we didn't need that. And it's like, no, you kind of needed something like that. Yeah, I mean, and I will say, I liked the end of it. I liked the end of Up. The beginning of Up, I think, was the greatest manipulation of the last 20 years. Yeah, I agree.

Insane. Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to be manipulated sometimes. It works, but it's... But earn my tears. I agree. I mean, I agree. When I'm crying in Toy Story 3... Yeah.

And 2. And 1. And 1. I mean, those tears are earned. I care about these characters. I've lived and grown up with these characters. I'm invested in what happens to these characters. I get that opposed to just like when you wish upon a star and then abortion or whatever a miscarriage yeah miscarriage right hysterectomy i also crazy i think i think toy

story 3 is really manipulative too though that's my that's my but at that point i have an investment in those characters right we're easier to manipulate. Reach for the sky. A decade plus. Anyway, Incredibles. We have to. Do not make a point about a different movie. Are you about to?

I'm going to make my one Pete Docter point. Have we talked about Last Jedi yet? We'll talk about that. I'm just kidding. When people put up there with the best Pixar movies, it reminds me of that. It makes me crazy and want to kill everybody. It reminds me of the scene in Freaks and Geeks where they're arguing over the best Bill Murray movie and someone suggests Stripes

and he just goes, no one can tell me what happens in the third act of Stripes. You bring this up all the time. You've mentioned this on like four podcasts. It's the fucking best, but when everyone talks about Up they remember the ending and the first 30 minutes and that's it. That's true. Okay, Up's not bad. And also no one can tell you what happens in the third act of Stripes. We're talking about Up in the context of The Incredibles. And also, no one can tell you what happens in the third act. We're talking about Up in the context

of The Incredibles. And now let me talk about Stripes story problems. The Incredibles. You know, both in Stripes and in The Incredibles, there's a Winnebago. That is true. That is true. We can't ignore that.

This is one of those movies where there is not a single detail that doesn't somehow pay off later. They set all the pieces out on the board so well. Are you talking about Incredibles? Incredibles. Not Stripes. Stripes leaves a lot of stuff on the table. But Incredibles, there are so many things where that's such a good

example of, okay, so how do they get back to the city from Syndrome's island? Well, we've established the visual language of what his rocket looks like, how it has the space for the Omnidrone. We can have them exploit that with her.

I agree. The only exception to that, again, I think is, I think almost every promise is kept in The Incredibles. Everything that's set up is paid off. Everything that's paid off is set up, except for this villain motivation thing. And I think because I'm so sensitive about... I get that.

Because I look for that so strongly, like bad guys who are just like, I'm a bad guy. I'm like, I don't care. I need to know why you're a bad guy. So that's the only thing to me that didn't feel tied together. I do love that they pretty much keep him out of the first hour of the movie.

Like the first hour is a lot of like, you know, setting up the Golden Days, setting up the homogeny of like the present day. The present day, the family, how the dynamic is calcified. Well, to me, that's definitely the other thing too, is that the villain in this movie to me is a fear of aging. Of course. It's a fear of losing your spirit. A fear of irrelevancy aging. Of course. A fear of losing your spirit. A fear of irrelevancy. Yeah, yeah.

A fear of invisibility, a fear of losing the thing that makes you you. Right. And that's a much more interesting villain. So I kind of wish that Syndrome supported that. Well, he does in a way because he wants to take away what makes you you. I guess. You know, then that's how Syndrome works. Like he wants to rob you

of, you know, what's special about you. Right. It's just then that, that's how syndrome works. Like he wants to rob you of, you know, your what's special about you. Right. It's just, I think also he's buddy and they've planted that seed there. And maybe, maybe that doesn't resonate. Right. For people.

Yeah. The weird, like 30 second exchange about participation trophies. Well, that's right. That's. And like, that's obviously maybe it's a Brad bird thing.

It's a classic sixties dad thing where it's like, God, they don't let kids like compete anymore. Graduating from eighth grade to ninth grade. Yeah, right. It's like the most hacky like dad complaint there is, right?

Like what am I doing attending a kindergarten graduation ceremony, right? Like. But it's like, I almost, I. And it's Craig T. Nelson. I mean, he's a dad. And he's a coach.

Yeah. I don't know if this is an overly simplistic read. He is. He is. And he's a coach. He's a coach. I don't know if this is an overly simplistic read he is he is and he's a coach he's a coach I don't know if this is

an overly simplistic read but I feel like the main thing Brad Bird is trying to argue for with this movie is like standards

uh sure you know like he's like we should have a world in which standards exist again that sounds like a dad it does sound like yeah it sounds like a dad standards but a world in which standards exist. Again, that sounds like a dad. It does sound like, yeah, it sounds like a dad.

Standards. But the movie, I mean, yeah. Standards are slipping. The thing I love most about, I mean, I don't even know if that's true, but one of the things I love so much about this movie is that it is about, you know, growing up at every stage. Yeah. And the things you're able to do when you, you know, like there's this feeling of loss that I'm growing up.

And then there's also, yeah, but then there's all these superpowers you get when you grow up. And realizing how much better they are now than they were in their glory days because of how much more experienced, intelligent. And in this movie, after he gets fired, when he starts doing these superhero missions again yeah just fighting a weird ball droid but whatever but also he's like

killing it and they have this jazzy like and he's flirting with Elizabeth Pena so good in this great in this movie I mean Baraj

but like then we see he's reinvigorated and he's you know more sexually virile and he's I love how they keep on

showing him like pulling him back into the bedroom. That whole montage is amazing. With that life's incredible again, it's the greatest music cue of all time. And then, like what you were saying before about these very adult themes, that there's this sniff of an affair.

Which is really interesting. Well, she finds Mirage's hair on his coat. She does. I mean, it's the classic i mean and in in doing so she discovers that her husband has become a secret agent superhero fighting a baldroid but like it's it's the same iconography right the reason but but the the it's also the same motivation if i want to feel young again i want to feel alive again and that's why people have affairs and or become superheroes right there is

a moment that I like viewed in a new way this time which is when he gets the first message from Mirage and it slips out of like the manila envelope and at the time it was like oh my god it's a flat video screen and now any kid watching would be like

yeah she sent me an iPad with this expensive gift but like it doesn't feel like... And then I would come in and be like, it was the 60s. It's high tech. You have to explain two prongs. A, it came out in 2004. B, it said 40 years before that. I do love the business card printing out.

My headphones are dead, so I don't know if I'm blowing up anymore. They're dead? Yeah, they're not working at all. It went from one ear... No, it's plugged in. It was like in both ears and then one ear and then now nothing. It was like a lenticular image. Oh wait, no, the card was

the lenticular. No, both. The screen is lenticular and the card is lenticular. That's insane too. They said that was another one of those shots that took like eight months. Two guys just worked on that. Yeah, like how do you shoot in CGI? Unhappy. Okay. do you shoot in CGI? Am I blowing up? Unhappy.

Okay. How do you in CGI make a lenticular image? With difficulty? I don't know. It's crazy. I can't answer those questions. Griffin's getting new headphones. Caught up in this thing.

He's living the life. So he can stop screaming and blowing everyone's ears up. Right. He starts doing the Omnidroid mission. They're fun. So fun. There's also that scene where he and Frozone do the police scanner in the front, you know, which is okay. I love, no, I love that scene because, no, no, I love that scene.

I mean, for one, he's wearing a great purple, I mean, great powder blue turtleneck, so that's a great part of it. One of the great turtleneck movies in American history. It's a fantastic turtleneck. But also, I love, like, Frozone being like, come on, man. Just move on. What do you think Frozone's doing? When? Like, what's his job now?

He's got a good apartment. He's got a fabulous apartment. He seems nice to have reacclimated to a black man in 1962. He has a hell of an apartment. And he's killing it in Municiburg. And the rents are high in Municiburg. He's got a high-rise, a lot of light, big windows. This was Miniseberg. And the rents are high in Miniseberg. He's got like a high rise, a lot of light, big windows.

for black guys who are not superheroes. No. It also, I pointed this out when I was watching it. There's two, like,

this character's designed to look like Samuel L. Jackson. Just like the comic book Ultimate Fury was designed to look like Samuel. Like, how many actors are that where it's like,

let's just make him look like Samuel L. Jackson and everyone's gonna get it? Yeah. I mean, Sparrow Zone doesn't look that much like Samuel L. Jackson. He looks like Sammy Jackson wishes. He looks like Samuel L. Jackson. You guys are crazy.

You know what's crazy is Gazerbeam looks exactly like Stephen Colbert. Pull up an image of Gazerbeam. I was like, Colbert? It's so weird. Which, by the way, one of the great superhero names. Yeah, Gazerbeam. Because they like, Colbert? It's so weird. Which, by the way, one of the great superhero names. Because they had to come up with so many... He does look like Stephen Colbert. So many... Right. Because they

go through that slideshow of all the names. And some of them are fine. I think Gazerbeam is... Thunderhead's good. The one I love is Atomic Jack. That's good. Not because of the name. There he is. Yeah, right? Yeah. He looks just like Stephen Colbert. Isn't that crazy? Atomic Jack has this swoop of blonde hair and he is Yeah right Yeah He looks just like Stephen Colbert Isn't that crazy Atomic Jack has this like Swoop of blonde hair

And he just looks a little disgruntled You know You guys don't like Gazerbeam I know he's supposed to be like I love Gazerbeam He's a great guy He's supposed to be like Cyclops Well I don't know

He didn't do a great job Against that Omnidroid Okay no one did Well Nobody did Mr. Incredible did Yeah but the whole point is They escalated until it can finally be

Mr. Incredible is better at hiding Here's another question Mr. Incredible So that's When he the whole point is they escalated until it can finally be. Mr. Incredible is better at hiding. Here's another question. Mr. Incredible, so that's when he goes down and he sees Gazerbeam and sees the Kronos thing. And that little scanner comes in and scans the room. He hides behind bones. He hides behind bones. I know. That's a bad scan.

That's a terrible scanner. The scanner really let syndrome down. There's no question. I think about it all the time. He hid behind bones. Although I love that scanner because I like the little chirpy noise it makes. No, we all love the scanner.

We all love the scanner. I assume Incredibles 2 is like 50% about the scanner, right? Yes, I believe so. I just, that has always bothered me where I'm like, you would have picked up the... Yes.

Like, the scanner is not a vaudevillian keystone cop. He'd be like, well, I guess he's not here. Right.

He's hiding behind that lamppost. The scanner wasn't drunk that day. I mean, right, because he's, Mr. Incredible's

very large. Big guy. And, and Gazerbeam is all bones. Yeah. What would he be pointing a Ben for?

Ben, what do you think about Mr. Incredible's physical size? That's a great question. Is it? Well, here's my thing, Becky. I like stuff big. Uh-huh. And you cannot lie. I like big stuff and I cannot lie.

That's so stupid. Ben gets angry when things are small in movies and gets excited when things are big in movies. Can I have an example of something that's small in a movie that bothers you? The Ewoks. He hates Yoda. What? Yeah.

I also love that you look like a monitor with arms because I can't see your head at all. You look like a TV, like a Pee-wee's Playhouse TV monitor with arms. Magic screen. I love that. I don't like the Ewoks because I feel like the lesson they're trying to be like is, look, don't underestimate the small thing. I don't like that. He loves Chewbacca. You want

to overestimate the big thing. Yes. Exactly. I want you to see a big thing and be like, that thing's big. I'm scared. Okay, so but Mr. Incredible. What about compies? Big? What are compies? They're little dinosaurs that are scary as hell. The little... They're in the lost world.

They eat Camilla Bell. See, here's another thing, Becky. A lot of little things are just as scary as one big thing. There's an Ellen joke about that. Yeah, no, I like a lot of things. A multitude of things. Because you'll remember in the second Matrix, there's the key man. He's got a ton of keys.

It's so good. How did he get all those keys? So you like a lot of little things or a big thing. He likes size. And also it has to be wet. Be it quantity or record. That's true too. You know there are a lot of Ewoks, right? It's a wet movie. If they were in the rain, he would be happy.

He likes a good slick flip. Never rains. If you had a bunch of wet Ewoks on a key ring, you'd be happy. Yes, 100%. When's your birthday? It's June 24th. So I have some time to with that together.

This episode dropping. I'm going to make this happen for you. I would honestly love that. An encased little Ewok on a key chain in water? Do you think he's big or is he bigger? He's huge. He's a good size.

So what's your favorite big thing in a movie? Oh, shit. Are you a Pacific Rim guy? Yes. There's a new one coming out. I'm excited for it. I love Pacific Rim because to me the whole movie is just about bigness. Well, Ben's got, am I misspeaking here by saying your favorite movie character in recent

history? Well, you say the character. Wreck-It Ralph. Oh, yeah. Oh, he's big. Oh, he is big. Yeah, he's quite big. He's big. Ben watched Wreck-It Ralph at 3 a.m. four months ago, and now can't stop talking. Are you excited about Rampage? There's going to be a lot of big in that movie. Dwayne Johnson fights big animals. Oh, fights what? The arcade

game sort of? Yeah, it's the movie version of Rampage, the video game. Holy shit. Big gorilla, big wolf, big alligator. Also, wait, what about the Omnidroid? Wait, Ben, did you rewatch The Incredibles for this? Yeah. Yeah, so the Omnidroid, right, starts out big, only gets bigger. That's good, right?

I mean, that just makes sense. That makes it a better fighting device. Yeah. They're gonna make it smaller. I love big and small as like a preference quality just like big and dry and wet because like there's a movie with rain he loves it well because you could make a movie dry sure but so cloverfield yeah the original you love huge oh yeah absolutely very big and i think raining at some point i need to make it clear this is like not a bit at all i don't know i believe this is any film in which something is large and wet and especially if And I think raining at some point. I need to make it clear. This is like not a bit at all. Oh, no, I believe you.

This is any film in which something is large and wet, and especially if there are multiples of it, Ben immediately comes up. So you're like a whale guy. Yeah. A whale guy for sure. Ben hates Free Willy once he starts trying to escape. So there's this big shift like an hour in.

A big shift. Big shift an hour in after. Not a lot of little shifts. Like it's incredible an hour in. A big shift. Big shift an hour in. After... Not a lot of little shifts. Life's incredible again. Right. Syndrome reveals himself. Yep.

He's been systematically killing off, locating and killing off all the superheroes, using them as testing grounds for... There's the great gazer beam fuck up, like in which, as we discussed, the little probe doesn't see him. Right. I mean, it's fine.

I'm willing to let that go. No, I think it's good. I mean, nothing has to be perfect in this country. No, no. It's not. But I'm willing to be like, okay, that scanner, for whatever reason, can't see past bones. Syndrome's 90%. You know, his rocket boots aren't great.

I know. Stuff doesn't work very well. The cape was a bad choice. Yeah. It's a bad choice. Well, so that's the other thing that's going on. So we've been introduced to Edna at this point because the suit gets ripped. To repair the hobo suit.

Right. The hobo suit. Yeah. And she demands that she redo the entire thing. Played by Brad Bird. Amazing. He won the- Racist?

Question mark? Okay. Okay. So this is my question. Great question. I don't think so. I don't think so either. You're like, wait, is Edna Mode supposed to be Asian?

But she's not. She's Edith Head, isn't she? I think she's Edith Head. Commentary track. He directly says she's supposed to be half German, half Japanese. I always thought she was entirely European. I always took her as German. Exactly. She's supposed to be half and half.

And I think this was because Brad Bird and I may very much be wrong, it's that it's a character he did anyway. No, wasn't it a thing where it was like no one was getting what he wanted and he was like, I'll just do it? Because they do their scratch tracks where the Pixar animators voice all the characters for the story reels and he said said he played like seven of the characters.

He played Mr. Incredible. He played Dash. He played all the male characters in all those story reels. And they found other actors and he had such a specific idea of what this accent would sound like. And no one else could do it. I also don't think it's racist because it's so crazily muddled. But there are moments where I'm like, does everyone else think it's racist? That's my fear always.

Oh, Lily Tomlin. Brad Bird was like, here's what I want it to sound like. Did it for Lily Tomlin. Lily Tomlin was like, I think you got it. Like, I don't think you need me for this. Good for Lily Tomlin. Which is weird because Lily Tomlin could have been like, great, write a check. I'll do whatever that was.

Or she was like, I don't know what you're saying. Lily Tomlin would have been great. Would have write a check. I'll do whatever that was. Or she was like, I don't know what you're saying. Lily Tomlin would have been great. But Edna is so great. Edna rules. She's great. She makes suits. She has a fabulous apartment. Darling. She has a big automated gun. Unsurprisingly, one of Romley's favorite characters. That is literally my favorite part of the movie. I don't know why.

That's a real Becky joke. It's the timing. The timing of the gun folding out. The thing about Brad Bird that I love the most is that his timing is impeccable. And the comic timing, and I'm also always amazed at how you animate timing. It's insane to me. The timing in The Incredibles,

the comedic timing in The Incredibles is like textbook. I've shown it when I teach. I was just like, this is timing. But I think that that gun moment for some reason is just like it just tickles all of my parts. And also the fact

that... And guessed. She's so unfazed by it. She knows what's happening behind her. She's not acknowledging it and she's taking her time with the correction. And it's almost that she's annoyed that she installed it. Yeah. And guessed this thing is so annoying.

But so once Helen starts to become suspicious that Bob is having an affair. Sure. Notices the rip in the suit, calls up Edna, goes to visit her, and Edna reveals that she's made all these costumes for the whole family.

And Edna plays into this affair thing a little bit too because she's like, do you want to know where he is? I think she just loves drama. She just loves it. And I love this notion that she hates supermodels. She's so bored by that world, by the fashion world. She loves fashion, but she only wants to apply it to these people who are gods. Design for God.

Yeah. Uh, I love that justification. Yeah. I think it's so sweet. She walks on her kitchen counter. She does. And she has like a little incinerator on her kitchen that she tosses files into.

She's tiny, but she still lives in a normal sized house. Like she designed with like, she has to hop on the counter. We should talk about the fact that this movie is very similar in plot to Watchmen. Yes. It is both about like superhero act being passed that bans supers.

And it's also about someone killing off all the former supers. And she's like right at the middle of that, where she's like, you should be gods. Like, you know, like that's what you are. Anyway, let's let the exceptional people be exceptional who watches the incredibles uh we did in preparation for this correct um but but so there's like this beautiful uh he does this a lot

but in this sequence when he's cross-cutting in between Helen and Edna talking becoming suspicious and Bob has snuck into the computer lab now where he finds the whole program with all the files. Sees the rundown. Cerebro? Yes, he goes in Cerebro. Right. And you're cross-cutting Password Kronos. Password Kronos. Cross-cutting between

the two seemingly unrelated things and then when Edna hands him the tracking device. Which is very from the 60s. two seemingly unrelated things and then when Edna hands her the tracking device, it activates which is very from the 60s activates the thing, sets off the alarm and then we have the goo balls which is such a great

Pixar technology thing. Oh my god I am obsessed with that weapon. And I also love you see it and you're like I know exactly what these things smell like, I know what texture they have. Visually, one of the most incredible things in the movie and period in general. What's the one way you stop this guy? How do you fail Mr. Incredible?

You basically just put him in putty. I'm obsessed with the goo ball guns and the texture on those things. I'm so into it. Then there's my favorite sequence in the movie that makes me cry a million tears, which no one else does. I've tried to bring this up with other people, and they're like, oh, that's the sequence that gets you?

Because I know there's a sequence that makes Becky cry that's also one that doesn't. What? What are you going to say? The plane scene? Yes. I have watched you cry, spontaneously burst into tears

when Violet can't make the force field form. That's very upsetting. It's the whole mounting. And her little heart is broken. This is a great movie about parents, and it's the whole mounting thing of like, where she can't pretend to her kids anymore that it's not scary.

Well, that's the scene in the cave. No, no, that's later. I'm talking about on the plane. Because that's probably my favorite scene. Scene in the cave is phenomenal. Amazing scene. But no, this is talking about on the plane. Because that's probably my favorite scene. Scene in the cave is phenomenal. Amazing scene. But no, this is sort of setting that up where it's like at first she's like,

sit down, kids, strap in. And they're still playing around. You know what I mean? And like she's on the radio. Like the way he like builds everything up kind of slowly and then very quickly. And then she says there are children on board and you cut back to Syndrome

and Mirage's face like shifts. And you're like, whoa, what's he doing? This is insane. No Pixar movie's ever done anything like that again. Where there's the threat of children dying and it doesn't feel like a fake threat. It feels like they're about to die. But I will say in Toy Story 3

when they're headed towards the incinerator, that's a moment of like, what the actual hell is going on that is a moment that i refuse i think that is highly emotionally manipulative it's exactly what i don't like it's not trying to manipulate tears to me it's just like like i just don't think they're gonna die i and like for some reason in the incredibles i do that is a very complicated emotion like well let's join hands and die. The beauty of that scene

is them accepting death, not that the audience thinks they're actually going to kill off the toys in Toy Story. Well, when everyone said, when people said, I think the audience thinks it's going to happen slightly, right?

When people said that, when people said that they cried their eyes out in Toy Story and then I saw it, I thought that's what they were talking, three. Right. I thought that's what they were talking about. Three. Right. I thought that's what they were talking about.

But they were talking about the ending. But they were talking about, yeah. Right. And that moment was just like, I don't know how to feel right now. And that's a lot. We could have a whole debate about Toy Story 3. But in terms of like,

holy shit factor, that had it for me. Not to be dismissive, because I do love the toys from Toy Story 3. Yeah. But they're not children. They're not children. I don't mean to be mean.

How? But they're our best friends. Oh my God. Hey, hey. Hey, hey. Come on. Europa. And then there's the force field thing that you mentioned.

Can I tell a little side story? I know you're going to hate me for this, but can I tell a brief side story? Yes, but I just want to finish the sentence and then you can. No, you're right. It's what you're saying. The force field thing. It's like she's literally saying to her, you need to grow up right now. Right now. You know, like you need to, I know you're still like a girl, like a little girl in a lot of ways, but you like,

you need to make a force field around this whole thing. And you need to suddenly do something that I've never let you do. And now I need you to do it. You need to cut off and she's like, I've never, you know. The scary thing as a kid of seeing your parents like losing their cool. That's what I'm talking about. Don't know what's going on anymore. That's what I'm talking about. Where it's suddenly

the switch flips and the kids are like, mom is not being mean. She's panicking. It's when the flight attendant looks scared. Oh god. You just described my greatest fear which is i will look at a flight attendant one day and be like oh i can't read this one all the turbulence in the world i always check the flight they're always just like yeah whatever same shit different day but when a flight attendant like runs down the aisle i'm like

we're gonna die you literally just described a nightmare i have anyway uh very afraid of flying maybe that's also why the plane thing so let. This is vaguely related and also not related. So last year I went to Japan for the first time. Okay, cool. Congratulations. Thank you. Who did you go with? My friend Zach.

I was hoping you'd say your wife so you could say Humblebrag. Oh, Humblebrag. Humblebrag, I went with Zach. It was great. Japan's crazy. And we did not help ourselves by, in the middle of our trip, in a place called Hakone, which is kind of between Kyoto and Tokyo, which is where Fuji is. And it's very much like the Aspen of Japan. It's all like saunas and ryokans with spas and stuff like that.

It's lovely. So we were like, I have an idea. Let's eat so many that. It's lovely. So we were like, I have an idea. Let's eat so many mushrooms and go to this open air museum in Hakone, which is like an insane place that's on another planet. So we ate these mushrooms and we were like,

we don't have time to go to the open air museum. We're going to go to this botanical garden instead. And then, of course, once we had done the botanical garden, we were like, okay, we have time. We're going to go to the open-air museum. And we walked to the open-air museum in what was a not-on-earth location, like down a road that didn't have markings on it. All the lettering was in Japanese, if there was any, and we were in the mountains. So there was nothing while we were tripping our balls off to ground us to the fact that we were on the planet.

And I was having a very hard time. Because it wasn't like, oh, well, there's a school bus. You're describing another nightmare, honestly. That sounds crazy. You didn't have any anchors. There was no anchors to reality. There wasn't like, well, there's a sandwich, so I know what that is.

I was just on another planet. You just need a sandwich in your pocket so you can just take it away. Zach, I know. Zach was becoming totally unhinged like we were losing it and we were walking down this crazy path down the side of the mountain and anytime a car went by it was like a crazy weird cartoon car like we were losing our minds and then we were like kind of rounding the corner door in the open air museum and there was this little ramshackle hut called the woody cafe

and we were like you sent me pictures from there no right and so i was like the woody i was like i don't know what that is but it's like at least a building and i know what that is so we like headed towards the woody cafe i have pictures of it i can show you um and it was just this little hut and as we got closer we're like oh i guess it's like a little cafe like a restaurant like you can get tea or sandwich or whatever and then as we got closer realized we were like, oh, I guess it's like a little restaurant. You can get tea or a sandwich or whatever. And then as we got closer, we realized, oh, this is a full-on Toy Story-themed restaurant in the middle of a fucking mountain in Japan. I'm booking my flight.

And so we went from, I went from like, I don't even know what direction up is, to like, all my best friends are here. Your favorite deputy. And I was so, I've never been more comforted in my life. That like my friends from the Toy Story universe were there holding an ice cream cone. I've never felt safer. You had a friend in them. I had so many friends in them.

And that's what they were playing. They were just pumping Randy Newman out of this restaurant. Jesus Christ. And you could get like a hamburger or an ice cream, but then also crazy Japanese food. It was so weird. But you could get a sandwich so you could ground yourself back in reality. But there is nothing more when you're in a world of the unfamiliar. Like nothing is more comforting than turning a corner and seeing all the toys

from Toy Story holding food. It was the absolute best. I mean, I literally, I watch Pixar movies when I'm having panic attacks. Of course. It's the most comforting thing.

Sorry that was a side story, but vaguely relevant. Good story. So the plane crashes. Mom has to make this last second decision. Mom. Yeah.

To become a parachute. Right, Yeah. Helen has to make this. To become a parachute. Right, right. Realizing that she's asking more of Violet than Violet is capable of. And she didn't even want to bring them in the first place. She realizes they're roped into this whole thing. But then they find the suits. They realize the suits were made for them.

Right. Violet realizes she can finally go full invisible. Crash in the middle of the water. And when they're both like freaking out. And Helen is like, we do not have time for this. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

And then the fire, the cave scene where she's like, these people will want to murder you because they are evil. You sent me the photo. Sorry. You sent it to me when it happened. The Woody Cafe. It looks amazing. Here, you gotta check it out. We'll post it online.

Rondo, walk to the Woody Cafe. But that whole thing where she it out we'll post it online um Rondo walks to the Woody Cafe but that whole thing where she's like these are not like the characters it looks amazing right it does if you zoom in

you can see all the characters like Buzz is holding a big ice cream cone like actual action figures of them yeah there they are Woody appears to be

in front of a burger well those aren't actual those are the real Buzz Woody those are the stars I mean that's. Yeah. Those are the stars. I mean, that's the genius of Toy Story. The dog.

Anyone can own the cast. Yeah. What the heck is the name of the dog? Slinky Dog. Slinky Dog. What the fuck are you talking about? It's just called Slinky Dog.

I couldn't remember if it had like a human name. Slink. Slink. You turd. David's a real big turd. All right. So yes, the plane crashes.

It's very serious. She turns into a parachute. And then turns into a boat. And then a boat. Right. A speedboat with Dash, like, kicking his legs. Brad Bird says the one moment he regrets in this film, like, the one thing he watches and, like,

I wish I had done this at the time, is when they've landed back on the beach and Mrs. Incredible like compliments Dash. He was like, you did a good job there. You know, thank you so much for that. He says he wishes

he had one shot of Violet looking back at them and feeling the guilt over the fact that she couldn't rise on occasion. Which,

the arc still works. But then this speech in the cave, which I think is, it's the best written thing in the whole movie. It is. it's also again unusual like for a movie like this

like to just state directly like these are not the Saturday morning cartoons you grew up with these people do not care that your children they will kill you if they get the chance they have guns super weird that's weird yeah and then the movie is just like an incredible

Bond movie like slash superhero movie that rules but it's also like I mean then the movie is just like an incredible Bond movie like slash superhero movie that rules but it's also like I mean like the Mrs. Incredible like Elastigirl

she's not Mrs. Incredible I'm sorry Elastigirl the Elastigirl Helen but isn't that the question well she never uses that name

I also always call Violet Violet Incredible even though that's not technically her name I guess she's just Violet Parr will they have like names no they I hope this is Violet Incredible I though that's not technically her name. I guess she's just Violet Parr. Will they have like names? No, I hope it's just Violet Incredible.

I mean he's Dash. Dash is obviously that works. The scene where she's trying to break in and she's stretching through all the different closing doors is like fucking Raiders of the Lost Ark level just like beautifully constructed story beat action sequence.

Like the way her little hand, her regular sized hand, feels around for a second and finds his jaw. Which is another big thing about this movie. Again, that's the comic timing thing too. But this movie is almost two hours and the longest Pixar movie prior to this had been

an hour thirty-five. Right, the Pixar movies were always 90 minutes. They were always 90 minutes because they were really expensive to do. Once you get were always 90 minutes. Boundin was the longest one. Yeah, Boundin. Right, they were always 90 minutes because they were really expensive to do. Once you get those deleted scenes back in Boundin, four hours. I think the thing

that really pushes this movie over the edge is the time it takes for those comedic beats, things like the shot of Mr. Incredible wincing before he has to catch the train at the beginning.

Yeah. You know, all these little moments that just continually ground you back in the characters and what they're going through. Yeah. And then this just becomes like fucking like textbook, like film school in a box action filmmaking where it's like, here's how you set up stakes.

Here's how you like establish an environment. Know the rules. The movie is also so smart about like each of them having one power. So you know exactly what they can do and what they can't do. Because he said earlier draft, Mr. Incredible had laser eyes and he had like, they all flew.

No, I mean, he wants every power to reflect their psyche in some way, right? And also, they're not going to really be able to tackle this threat until they're all together and they can synthesize,

they can harmonize. Right. Which rules when he's running around and creates the dust. And also, I always have, you know, this is unrelated, but this is my problem with the last Spider-Man movie, is that I like the limitation of having one power forces you to use your imagination of what that power can do. Giving him the Iron Man suit.

Which I think X-Men is the absolute best example of that. Yeah. But then, yeah, you just made him Iron Man. Yeah. And I love what you get to see. Like, okay, Elastigirl can do these things, and then you get to see the full range of what she can do with that ability.

I prefer those so much to just the superheroes that can just kind of do anything. Agreed. One power at a time. But that's what bothered me about Homecoming, and nobody seems to agree with me about that. No, that's a point I fully agree with. I think I agree with that, too. I just assume that it will be done away with soon enough.

His next suit's going to be more high-tech. Yeah, but it's going to be done away with soon enough. I'm pretty sure. We're getting at least two consecutive movies where he's got some Tony Stark suit. Yeah, but Sony is not going to stand for that forever, if that makes sense. We got Infinity War coming up.

That'll obviously... We got Venom. I mean, that's going to change the entire cinematic landscape. Yeah. What if Venom is moving? I just think they again, like Shrek,

shipped out the thing that was interesting about having a superpower that is specific and limited and then seeing the unlimited power of that limited power. There's already a learning curve to Spider-Man figuring out how his own powers work. You don there's already a learning curve to Spider-Man figuring out how his own powers work.

You don't need also the learning curve of like his new IOS. Right. Yeah. That's right. That's what I don't like about Homecoming.

Too much of it's about like right how do I work the bullshit on the suit. Right. It's how do I work this other superpower instead of harness

and develop my own. Also Iron Man already. I know. Also high school sucks. High school fucking sucks. High school does suck. There's so many Spider-Man movies. Oh, I thought you were going to say high school is cool.

High school rules. Love high school. What a great time. Yeah, that's why Griffin and I escaped to our socialist Jewish rich kid summer camp. I didn't have a fucking socialist Jewish rich kid summer camp to escape to. Not many people do. We're very lucky. We're aware of our privilege.

Where did you... I didn't say anything. You're bringing this up. You're bringing it up. I mean, wait, but... Why didn't you just go to an American summer camp? You were in America. I was not. I grew up in England. Oh my god. My mother actually... If you want to hear a real...

Because you brought this shit up, so I'm not going to talk about it, you motherfucker. Because I grew up in England. Oh my God. My mother actually, if you want to hear a real, because you brought this shit up, so I'm not going to talk about it, you motherfucker. Because I grew up in a different country and I still went to camp. Really? Where'd you grow up? Canada. Humble brag. Great place.

Yeah. But I'm actually going to talk about this. My mother was like, well, you should go to summer camp. You are. We should talk about the Incredibles. No, no. He brought it up. He brought it up.

I get so mad when they make fun of me for talking about England. This podcast is so long. Yep. I told you. It is actually insanely long. But anyway, it doesn't matter. It's The Incredibles. Who cares?

Who cares? But my mom was like, well, you should go to summer camp because even though we've been raising you in this country, you're American and Americans go to summer camp. And she was going to send me to a summer camp. And in Britain, summer camp is basically like military school. Right. Because like no one goes. So it's like if you're sending your kid there, it's because your is like you're just like i can't look at this child and i almost got sent to

what probably would have been like the worst month of my life i imagine yeah and yeah i finally for our camp it was like we've got money and a weird kid do something with them to this to bucks rock where they'll learn how to weave and make batiks. Right, right. It's like Bucks Rock is like Professor Xavier's school, but for kids who are good at making pottery. Rather than mutants, you're just like a little creative. Take care of them.

Right. I imagine British summer camps looking like the boat that briefly saves them in Dunkirk. Where it's just a lot of kids crammed into a space huddled, toasting bread. No, not even toasted. It's just we put jam on a slice of bread. There's your lunch. And this may sink.

I imagine it as like the Kingsman. So I have a little bit of a higher. I have higher expectations. Does British summer camp take place at sea? Good. We're sending you to summer boat. I have higher expectations does British Summer Camp take place at sea? it could we're sending you to Summer Boat that sounds fun

I like boats I'm gonna pitch Summer Boat to fucking DreamWorks are you kidding me? I'm sure it'll happen is there anything else in this that we wanted to

because the end of the movie is the end of the movie is there anything before the direct ending? I'm gonna bring up a really specific thing that I always find very funny in this movie because this movie's loaded with thing that I always find very funny in this movie.

Right, yeah. Because this movie's loaded with those little details. Because the character designs in this movie are so extreme in terms of them having really big heads and really small limbs.

Right. So Mr. Incredible has these tiny hands and little baby feet. But also true to the design of superheroes. No, for sure. 100%.

It's so great. Right, but they just exaggerate them even more. They don't make an effort to make them look like people. Right. Violet is so, so skinny. She is.

Like she's like a couple toothpicks, but then this big cartoon head and these big cartoon eyes. Big eyes. Right, so when Helen hands her her like superhero mask, her mask is like seven times the size of her hands. There are two shots of her holding it in her hands. That is, yes. In which it literally looks like if I tried to hold a surfboard. There's the one where she puts it on her face. It's literally like lifting a surfboard onto her face, which I love.

But that moment where like they step outside of the fire and she's like, but mom, I seriously can't do this. And she's like, when the moment comes, you'll know what to do. And Violet has that like slow, like raise the mask to her face and learn to improve her posture. And the mom pushes the hair behind her ear. But then when she does the force field, that's amazing. It's a great moment of empowerment that makes me happy. And then the hamster wheel. The hamster wheel thing rules.

That's the great X-Men thing where it's like, how do the powers start to combine? How do they harmonize? Dash is like pure childish joy joy being able to run on water like learning to you could do things that you didn't think you could do keep testing the limits

the threat keeps on becoming more and more extreme it all just revs my engine it's just like it's the fucking business it's the best and then at the end then they go back

to Minnesburg and Frozen's gotta find a super suit that's a couple minutes can I just just a side thing that one of my favorite parts in that movie

and I think one of the most beautifully animated moments of that movie and I don't know why I think this is when Mr. Incredible comes home

and slams the door of his car and it's the second time and that kid on the tricycle sitting in the driveway and he goes what are you what are you looking

or what are you waiting for or something and he goes something amazing I guess something amazing and his guess. Something amazing. And his eyes do this puppy dog thing. I don't know why I am so obsessed with the way that they captured that facial expression on that kid.

I love that moment so much. It's the same thing as like Dash and Violet where it's like they could be very arch stock type kid characters. Like here's the hyperactive kid and here's the like introverted like awkward girl. No, they're so nuanced. And the performances on the animation, let alone like the vocal performances are so precise. The part where Dash runs and he's running on water and he realizes he's running on water and he has that little laugh,

that little like, yeah. Oh, so great. But that's where like the runtime comes in because I think Brad Bird just fought for like,

this movie needs to be 20 minutes longer than other Pixar movies because all those little moments which are going to add up are what's going to differentiate us from other types

of superhero stuff. What was the Pixar movie right after The Incredibles? Cars. Two years later. Wow. I mean, or more like 18 months later. This is a November movie and that's a...

That's a dip. And I remember... Cars made me want to kill all of my friends so that they didn't have to see it. Right after Cars, you and I were both trying to apologize for it more. I remember us having defensive conversations about cars that then when Ratatouille came out,

we were like, okay, we can get off the cars thing a little bit, right? Yeah, and I'm not unconditional about Ratatouille either. I love Ratatouille. It's okay. It's okay for us to differ on things. You don't like marionetting human beings through locks of hair? No, I just... I think visually Ratatouille is stunning.

I also, growing up in France, was very drawn. That's my humble brag. We need some sound. Yeah, we need like an accordion. Very, very drawn to that imagery and the lighting in that movie is incredible and the copper and the metallic stuff.

I think that it was, again, it was like another one for me that I just didn't have the allegorical connection. See, I think the theme is cleaner in that one. Than what? Than Incredibles. Well, I will say this. I have to see it again. You should watch it again.

But I also, I think I'm just very, I think I'm, I'm also losing my headphones a little bit here, but I don't seem to have a screaming problem. Wow, me either. Griffin does.

I think I really, really like the allegorical stuff. Sure. And, or the inside the world of stuff. Right. Which Brad Bird is less interested in? Well,

wait, in what? In both Ratatouille and Incredibles. He's got other things on his mind. But Incredibles to me is different because that's a world of thing and a universe building thing. And I like the Monsters, Inc. and Inside Out and the mechanics of a world. Ratatouille is putting a weird thing in an otherwise normal world. Exactly. Okay. I liked the France part of it.

Sure. But it is also not my favorite Pixar movie. Cars, oh my God. And you haven't seen two or three. I can't. I defend Cars 1 a little because... The rule breaking in Cars makes me absolutely insane. I mean, you know my joke.

What is your joke? Which one of your jokes are we talking about? The one. I've only made one joke ever. We've got to finish talking about this movie. All right, let's talk about it. Cars 2 is so bad it makes Cars 3 look like Cars 1. That joke got a runway.

That is the nerdiest thing and the gayest thing I've ever heard. Griffin put out the red carpet for that joke. My famous joke. My famous Cars joke. Everyone knows my famous joke about Cars 2. Here it comes. I got seven faves on Twitter. We know this joke.

Cars 2 makes Cars 3 look like Cars 1. There was a walk to that joke. Yeah. I took a stroll. It was a leisurely stroll. I feel like it would be like Cars 2 makes Cars 3 look like actual cars. Like functional actual cool cars.

Here's my problem with cars. Nutshell. Are we... This is our Inception episode. This is the one where we keep on going deeper. So the cars are the characters, but also the cars watch the characters, but also the cars are bugs? Correct.

Who's driving the cars? Nobody. But also the big man upstairs, G.O.D. And then the RVs are the ones that are going to watch the cars race? Yeah, man. But they also do it in human structures like stadiums. I know. The only thing I liked about cars was that the bugs flying around the fire were VW bugs.

Everything else about it, no thank you. I think cars is fucking weird. It's so weird. You guys are going to kill me, but I have to bring this up. Is it another one of your great jokes? Yeah. Your word salad jokes. The second best joke of all time.

No, Cars 2. I think it just got appendicitis while I was sitting here. It just got a horrible appendicitis-esque pain. The plot of Cars 2 is about trying to come up with a more eco-friendly fuel source. There is a scene in which they explain where gasoline comes from, that it's fossil fuel, and they show that it comes from the bones of dinosaurs, but they're not dinosaur cars. They're actual dinosaurs. Right.

Well, isn't Cars set within the same world and everyone's dead? That's the theory. Yeah, the Cars is set in the far future. We like turned into cars at some point. That movie I want to see. Whenever anyone asks John Lasseter in an interview, he goes, we don't like to talk about those things. Yeah, we don't either.

We also don't like to watch them. But I will say this. It was the movie that John Lasseter really, really wanted to make. And at that point, I think John Lasseter gets to do whatever he wants. At that point. Because he... He can certainly touch whoever he wants. I mean, I can't even get into that.

I can't get into that. But his story at Disney and his sort of history with Disney and then coming back and creating Pixar. At that point, he's like, if you want to make your dumb car movie, go ahead. Three was pushing it. So the end of The Incredibles, in which they fight the Omnidroid. don't even know if there's much as frozen yeah well where's the super suit where to be fair where is the super to be fair that is the central question did we just discuss the

just full fact that his superpower is speed skating yeah okay and his uniform reflects it in itself is the funniest thing in the entire world. And I love the business of the skates popping out of his boots and then the skis turning into the disc. Yeah. Yes. It's a little surfboard. It's a little snowboard. It's a little snowboard, but it's like circular.

Yeah, I love Frozone. I love that he's in this movie. You will not stop talking about Frozone. So sorry that I'm bringing up a character in The Incredibles. Someone's got a crush on Frozone. I mean, no question. David's Google history is just Frozone hentai. Frozone naked, question mark?

Yeah. No, I just wanted to say, I like Frozone. Bisexual? Frozone college phase? No, it's just he doesn't contribute a ton in the final battle. He's like, I'll build a snow wall. Like, that's his whole story. He's yelling out like, this isn't working.

Okay, Frozone, we got it. Where he's like, I'm stalling them. And I'm like, I don't think he's even really stalling anything. Well, it's about the family coming together. It's about the family coming together. Sometimes friends are family. I just hope Frozone gets to do some shit in Incredibles 2. Like date you?

Yeah, exactly. Hey guys, on this episode, Blank Check is partnering with the Starkey Hearing Foundation which is a human services charity that provides hearing aids and hearing-related healthcare to hearing-impaired people in poor communities around the world about five percent of the world's population that's like 432 million adults and 34 million children have disabling hearing loss with the greatest

prevalence in low and middle income populations and so the starkey hearing foundation provides hearing aids and hearing related healthcare to millions of patients in over 100 countries empowering them to achieve their full potential their public charity the donations to them are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by the law the rated four four stars by charity navigator which is the highest score you can get this month starkey hearing foundation andoom are launching the ListenIn campaign and they're asking Blank Check and our listeners to help them reach their $25,000 fundraising goal. So funds raised from ListenIn are going to support the next round of global outreach

and you can help them by donating to the ListenIn campaign today. Just trying to get to $25,000. To give the gift of hearing, go to listeningcampaign.org. That's listeningcampaign.org to give the gift of hearing go to listening campaign.org uh that's listening campaign.org to give the gift of hearing today no there's two other things we need to mention one the babysitter who wishes the Mozart had been played for her she's hilarious I love her braces and uh jack jack uh attack attack yeah whatever he does his thing right uh syndrome dies in a absolutely horrible fashion as we mentioned yeah uh but um and then the the underminer who's all incredibles too right yeah

yeah right i don't know yeah or he was just a tag on one no he's in it he's in two he's in the trailer two opens with that fight oh interestinger I do like Mirage's turn yeah me too I think she's got so much more of an arc than any other movie would give her very trope

Bond trope it's a good syndrome thing though where I'll crush him like you know right that's great like snapping a twig but also it's like

she realizes that her morality is more in line with Mr. Incredibles than syndromes when it gets to the kid thing you also have to think at the moment when he

doesn't call the missiles off on the plane, he doesn't even know the kids are superheroes. Like he thinks cut and dry and murdering. No, that's why that scene is so fucking cold-blooded

and so good and makes me cry. Right. But yeah, let's play the box office game. Okay. I don't know, unless there's some other...

Is that the segment you were queuing up in? Is there another segment I do? Okay. So I tried to guess the box office of the week and the movieuing up in? Is there another segment I do? Okay. So I tried to guess the box office of the week and the movie came out. Oh, man, this movie opened huge. Huge.

Jeez. Because it was a big deal that every Pixar movie had out-opened the previous one. And they started promoting it like two years before it came out. They did. I remember seeing that little teaser like really early. Was that teaser in front of Nemo or was it in front of... It was in front of Nemo, which is like a year and a half.

It was in front of Snow White. Right. Yeah, that's where it was. It was fucking early. Was that teaser in front of Nemo or was it in front of Snow White? It was fucking early. They were like, we don't know what this is, but we're going to do it. They were like, superheroes? That's like real fresh. I don't know. The first teaser for The Incredibles. I'm not going to say it.

At this point, it's too sweaty. It was going to take a real long walk to get there. All right, forget it. First teaser for The Incredibles, Brad Bird's sonogram that's okay fine fuck me wow sweaty i said it was sweaty sweaty that thing is like fucking malaria that thing is sweating all of its body weight off but it it's big and it's wet, so Ben probably loves it. Not that big. No. It was a big idea. It opened November 5th, 2004. Great day.

It was a good day. That was a good day. That's one of your top five days. Oh my god. November 5th, 2004. August 3rd, 2009. Which is that? Just a great day. Just a good day.

Ice Cube's good day. I had a weekend in 2001 that kind of blended together that I love. Okay, so you count that as one day rather than counting each of the separate. Because I didn't sleep. Okay. So then, yeah.

It's only a new day when you go to sleep. Incredibles. I remember I saw this at a press screening. I reviewed it for my college newspaper. Wow. In Newcastle. Thank you. Let me just pick Becky's jaw up off the wall.

$70 million, Griffin. Huge. Tell me what number two was. Number two. In 2004? In 2004. It's been out for a week. So it's been an October picture.

And it will be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Doesn't win. No. Does it? Does win another Oscar. A performance Oscar. Is it Ray? It's Ray. Ray. Wow. You're a loser. That's why we play this game. Fucking loser.

You were also 9 in 2004. 2004 was when I or well I taught you in 0305. Right. Yeah. So you were 14 in 2004. I was 15. Free well I taught you in 03-05 right yeah so you were 14 in 2000 free information did you see Ray?

yeah I saw Ray it's a bad movie yeah not too good yeah not too good no I haven't seen it since then I haven't either

I have no desire to ever watch it there is that good Mulaney joke about him he's amazing and it is terrible right

it's such a bad movie where his date said I could have done without the whole brother dying part he date said, I could have done without the whole brother dying part. He's like, well, so could have Ray Charles. If you ever do

want to do a podcast about the Quvenzane Wallace revival of Annie, I have done a three and a half hour show about it. So I have a lot of expertise

about that. Is that a Will Gluck picture? Yeah, it was a Jamie Foxx connective tissue moment. Of course. I can't believe how boring this that. Is that a Will Gluck picture? Yeah, it was a Jamie Foxx connective tissue moment. Of course. I can't believe how boring this is. It was a horror movie. People love this shit.

The Grudge? Yes, The Grudge. What's wrong with you? I remember. What is the noise? I don't understand how you're so successful now. You're so annoying. Great question.

I can't believe someone was like, let's give this guy a major tv job i mean i remember when you got hired for the tick and i was like what you're like really they have to talk do they know they have to talk to him all the time he's gotta like show up places yeah they're gonna have to talk to him and he's gonna have to talk to other people and he'll keep talking it's like i see that it'll be the premise of the show that he has conversations with people to talk to him and he's going to have to talk to other people and he'll keep talking I promise you that it'll be the premise of the show

that he has conversations with people yeah alright number four another horror movie they're trying to buy me up so if the grudge is the sort of

the tail end of one wave of a genre in Hollywood it's Saw it's the first Saw yeah exactly the beginning of another I don't even need clues

I remember this this time period very vividly great then tell me number five well now I mean now I I guess i guess i will say you were like in the prime of your knowing what the hell's going on in movies he's not getting laid this is it oh box up his charts were you dating anyone at camp ever yeah wow when and when or after i was after i was 2003 i dated a girl who colin beckett called lady griff i remember that which probably is but that was when he was doing colin beckett yes yes

do you know colin beckett i do yes uh that's a conversation we can have off my colin beckett was literally my best friend when he was 17 and i was 23. We have to talk about it, but not on mic. Number five. It's a new movie. It is a movie that doesn't exist. It's a movie that doesn't exist. What genre? Oh, it's a tricky one. Romantic comedy

slash drama? Wait, is this 2004 still we're talking about? The number five movie of 2004, romantic comedy. Oh, this weekend. I know exactly what it is. The number five, this weekend. I know exactly what it is. The number five of this weekend. I know exactly what it is. Because I remember, this is how insane my memory is. Would you agree that this movie doesn't exist?

I agree. And what's even crazier is I saw it twice in theaters. Wow. Because my grandpa wanted to see it. Okay, fair enough. Keep in the faith. Did he like it? No, that's a good movie.

He didn't. I overhyped it to him. I saw it the first time. I loved it. Oh my God, what movie was it? It's Alfie. is the jude law remake of alfie yeah in which he betrays omar epps yes why do you say it doesn't exist who the fuck remembers that movie your response you forgot that that was a thing it's not even a movie like if you saw it on hbo this. This is his year. This was Closer, Sky Captain, The Aviator, Alfie.

Cold Mountain had been there before. Or maybe it's this year. Ben has just committed ritual suicide having his watch. Humble brag. Brad Ben has a watch. So Alfie

is the number five movie. I mean, that's, oh, Sky Cab, Lemony Snicket. Lemony Snicket. Those are the six, yeah. And yeah, Cold Mountain the Year Before. Oh, and I Heard Huckabees. That's the other one. He had six films in four months.

And never again. Never again. I Heard Huckabees is a crazy movie. Just thinking about that. Also Lily Tomlin. Yeah. Yeah. How much do you think Alfie grossed total? uh well he was inspired movie yeah just thinking about that oh also lily tomlin yeah yeah how much do you think alfie grossed total domestically me out 12 uh it grows while you're close 13 million dollars god it's so unimportant to know this. God, I hope the tick goes on forever for you.

I really do. Because there's nothing else for you to do in the world. It's like a charitable act. That they're like, give him something to do. No, it's great. Give him a place to show up and things to learn. I love that my campers are wildly more successful than I am. Not true. It's my favorite thing.

Not true. You've saved high maintenance. Oh, please. Not true. It's my favorite thing. Not true. Not true. You've saved high maintenance. Oh, please. I did not. High maintenance is great. You're the Pixar of people. I'm the Pixar of humans. Becky, thank you so much for being on the show.

I had a blast, and I also got to not do another thing today that I didn't want to do. Happy to be of help in that way. Yeah, my pleasure. Do people listen to this podcast? A weird amount of people. How many people listen to this podcast? A weird amount of people. Talk about success that doesn't make sense. Success that does not make sense.

People really like this show. Well, it's super nerdy. I would watch it. Yeah, that's good to know. So if it's on TV, you'd watch it. I would listen to it, but I'm the worst at podcasts. Hey, not true. You're the Pixar podcast?

You have to stop. Okay, I'm done. Thank you so much for being here. It was my pleasure. People should watch all Becky Drysdale shows on Hulu. I know. The Becky Drysdale collection. Please watch the multiple shows that I'm developing that are too expensive to make.

And no one will. That's going to be my that's going to be my legacy. Every Becky pilot would require 20 million dollars worth of set construction. It really would.

They all take place in spaceships or like in the war or Willow. They take place in Willow? They take place in Willow. There's side stories.

It begins with Ron Howard going like and action. It's a workplace comedy in the tavern in Willow? They take place in Willow. There's side stories. It begins with Ron Howard going like, and action. It's a workplace comedy in the tavern in Willow. Oh my God, you guys. All right, we're done. I'm obsessed. Right? We're done. Yes.

Thank you so much for listening. Oh, good movie, by the way. Oh, incredible. Yeah, great. Yeah. After three hours, four stars. B plus? Rewatching it.

I think this is the best superhero film ever made. Because I think it's the most complete thought. And one of the best comedies. Yeah. My other favorite superhero movie probably comes out this year. Which? Incredibles 2. Spider-Man 2.

No, I mean the 2004. But I think I prefer the Superman 2. It's one of my favorite animated movies. It's one of the Spider-Man 2 it's one of my favorite animated movies it's one of my favorite comedies it's one of my favorite superhero movies one of the best

Craig T. Nelson one of my favorite family movies right up there with the family stone and as we said the single greatest turtleneck movie

yeah that's true thank you for listening please remember rate, review, subscribe go to blankies.red.com for some real nerdy shit

if you think this is nerdy the shit that people talk about on reddit this is iceberg yeah this is iceberg shit thank you to Ant Fraguto for our social media

thanks to Lane Montgomery for our theme song Joe Bone and Pat Reynolds for our artwork oh sure and Brad Bird yeah

next week tune in for Ratatouille with two very special guests. Great app, in my opinion. Great, great, crazy app. Thank you to ZipRecruiter and WeTransfer for sponsoring the show. And as always, Cars 2 makes Cars 3 look like Cars 1.

Cars 2.