Cinepals - FALLING DOWN Reaction & Review!

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

Kristen & Micheal watch "Falling Down," which follows a frustrated and unemployed man as he experiences a psychological breakdown, leading him on a violent and chaotic journey through Los Angeles, confronting societal issues along the way. This film is directed by Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever & The Lost Boys) & it stars: Michael Douglas (Wall Street & Basic Instinct), Robert Duvall (The Godfather series & Apocalypse Now), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan & Hannah and Her Sisters), and Rachel Ticotin (Total Recall & Con Air). You can watch the cut down reaction to this movie (and many others) on our YouTube channel https://www.YouTube.com/@Cinepals and the full length reaction is available on our Patreon page https://www.Patreon.com/JabyKoay SOCIAL MEDIA: ~CINEPALS~ YouTube: @CinePals Instagram: https://instagram.com/TheCinePals Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheCinePals ~KRISTEN STEPHENSONPINO~ Instagram: @Kris10Kesp ~MICHAEL~ Instagram: @booseisloose 

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Talkspace.com. Senna. Pals. Hello, everyone. This is Kristen Seversipito here. Going live with Michael Boost. Hello, hello. I wanted to give it like a news anchor,

reporter, journalist, kind of vibe today, because today we have a tree for you. We are watching Falling Down. And Down. Because Langemerich is falling down. Falling down. Let's go.

Damn. That was a sad film. Okay, I feel sorry for him. That was a tough one. Oh, my God. It's kind of hard to make him a full villain. No, no, he's definitely like a tragic villain. Yes.

He, like, it wasn't his full. He had a sickness. Yeah. And he had PTSD, clearly. He clearly had some very serious mental health issues. Yes. Yes. But it seemed like, well, he was military. He's former military. Well, he wasn't former military.

No? Well, when you went to the house, the mom had all the military photos and stuff. Was it? Yeah. Those were all from his dad service. Well, you still have military background. And then he's also building missiles. Yeah. So if he's building.

No, for sure. You know, I don't know. Like, I see what you're saying. There's a lot of trauma that comes with, even coming from a military family or being in the military or being somebody who works with armed weapons. in some shape of form. Yeah. I feel like there's always something

that can tweak you. And it's, I almost, this is like a heartbreaking, tragic thing because I also feel like throughout the film, he didn't necessarily, he didn't kill anybody who wasn't a bad guy.

No, that's true. Which is interesting, right? Because normally we watch films and you're normally killing some good people. And even with, even with, the villain, yeah. Even with the civilians and stuff,

he didn't touch one person who was not a bad guy. Even then, he only, like, full-offed one person, and it was the guy from the military surplus store. True. He didn't end anybody else. That's right. He didn't off the other guys.

They did that on their own. Yeah, they did that on their own, and he even just, like, popped one in the leg after the car crashed. Like, they did that on their own. He didn't actually end anyone. And that guy that he offed was horrible. It was awful. Like, that guy, like, you know, I think he did a service to,

That was the vigilante work right there. This film's kind of twisted. I think that's the entire point. It's like it's, it's showing how, you know, unfair life is. And, you know, you run the rat race. You do your job. You do everything you're told to do. And then, you know, you still get downtrodden.

You still get knocked down over and over again. And, like, you know, how far is too far? How far does a rational man need to be pushed before he starts doing irrational things, right? I think this is also a very, very good message about the importance of mental health support in our country and the importance of mental health care because he clearly had some, you know, anger issues or psychosis that went undiagnosed or untreated. and that resulted in, you know, his firing and a cascade of divorce and losing his child and getting fired. All of these things compound to someone who is potentially already unstable into something terrible. So if you don't have that mental health support system, that's how you get that, like, perfect storm of someone losing their mind. I could see how you would be scared of him.

I don't think he was going to kill his wife. I don't think that's like his intentions, but however, it is still very scary. And I know he did say that threat in there, but from what we saw and stuff, it just, it seemed he just really loved his family and he just needed a place where he felt at home and loved. Like, he was trying to chase this love and that feeling of just being safe and content. Chasing that fantasy. Yes. And I feel like it's interesting how it all. started with that heat, right?

It's always the heat. The heat and the traffic. It gets into your bones. It's bad. Oh, it's so bad. Trust me, I know. Oh, yeah. I've had my moments where I didn't have AC in my vehicle.

Oh, yeah. And I thought I was going to lose it. Luckily, I had a massive jug of water. And so I put my head out and I'm like, I need it. I need, like, pour it on myself for a sec. And it went, like, went down, like, you know, cool myself down. Mm-hmm. But I have a lot of mixed feelings about this film.

Like, I think it was. It's a thinker. It is. It's definitely a thinker. And I'm just, I don't know how to take it. Like, I don't, I think it was, it was very well done. And it's interesting because through the thing, every time he spoke, I was like, yeah. I agree.

Yeah. Right there with you. Yeah. He's saying, he's saying some very rational things. He's just been pushed to the irrational point where suddenly it feels like the world is irrational. Like, you know, in a perfect world, everything would work the way that he wants it to. But unfortunately, we live in a flawed. world and so he's he's making some very reasonable points he's making some very very

good points oh they were they were so on point and I'm like yeah it's about damn time yep and it's like it's not like he's the only one thinking it no you know what I mean but and that scene with the kid who was like you got to pull it oh my god yeah the kid just knowing how to operate the disposable shoulder mounted rocket was so funny and then they both like kneeled down and it's like it's so cute because I feel like in that moment we saw a child like self of our main character right like what he could be if he'd been a good dad yeah i mean like he was so sweet with the kid and he's in there but he he himself was a child in that moment i feel like after it went off and they were like whoa cool and he was like yeah wow wow wow like and you can

tell like even through the like when he was holding the little girl's hands he's like oh my god sweet did i hurt you i'm so sorry i didn't hurt you you know like he's clearly a good person absolutely He just has mental problems and he didn't know how to control his temper, which is such a shame because I don't think that he necessarily was a bad dad. I think like for him, he just, he wanted to give his daughter something so badly, but he wanted her enjoy it. Yeah. And he was struggling with the rejection of that, which there are people out there who have that. And it's like he doesn't understand that, you know, that sometimes children, they're like, they don't want something. You just got to let it.

Yeah, you just got to roll with it. Like, children will be irrational. And that's, that's kind of just always what it's going to be. And you've got to learn to roll with it. So not being able to take that. It's not a rejection because she doesn't want to get on the horse at that moment. It could be any number of things. She was just scared or.

He, he, for whatever he has going on in his head, couldn't deal with her rejecting. His love. I think a lot of it may have been, it felt like she was, like you said, rejecting his love, rejecting his parentage. And so, you know, in her emotional response to the horse, it feels like he is being rejected as a father. And that can go a long way to exacerbate some issues as clearly seen here. I want to talk about Prendergast, though, as like a foil to Michael Douglas's character. And sort of the interesting, the man who is just calm about everything and is going through life and being like, yeah, yeah, honey. And he's like, taking crap from his wife.

taking crap from his coworkers and things like that and floating through it and being like it's fine it's fine it's fine I'm retiring and whatever and then through his arc of leading to no I'm a cop I'm allowed to stand up for myself and I can piss people off sometimes I don't have to lay down and take it all like both of them kind of had the similar realization

where it's like you don't have to lay down and take it however Prendergast had that realization but was able to dish out and assertiveness within his own means and within his like something that was reasonable and rational in order to set up the life that he wanted whereas Michael Douglas' character who's never named in the film oh no no Bill Bill is I think his name anyway Michael Douglas' character Bill is pushed down and trodden upon and then he breaks and so he doesn't find his assertiveness in in a reasonable way it's interesting

because both characters had pain they're dealing with yeah and I think our cop he had a lot of emotional damage and I think like he is just trying to do the best for his wife, you know he lost his daughter I didn't like his partner constantly saying stuff about his wife either I don't like that like I don't care whether

whether they're out of line or not that's your spouse you love them so it's like that's just beyond disrespectful and I do like that he stood up for that and was like hey I agree you know what I mean I think I think Sandra wasn't

coming at it from a place of disrespect. I think she was crossing lines for me. Like, you know, you know when you've got that friend when you're in a relationship and you've got that friend that's like, he's not good for you girl, like, like, X, Y, Z thing, you've got to have this conversation. Sometimes you need that outside voice of a relationship. So I don't think she was

necessarily disrespecting his wife. She was just being like, man, you got to understand that you're making huge sacrifices for her and there's got to be a line. Whereas the other guy, the like, uh, asshole cop definitely crossed the line. I don't know. I think she's still crossed the line. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to

disagree on that one. Okay. All right. I'm going to disagree on that one. I think she crossed the line and I think like, it's okay to voice your opinion, but you got to do it in a certain way because for me, she doesn't know the damage they went through. She doesn't know the hurt that his wife's going through. We don't even know. Right. You know, she's still

with her own loss of imagine having a child and your stay at home mom. No, I totally understand. And then it disappears. You're going to be freaked out. Now it's quiet. Your life changed. Oh, yeah. Like, and then you're also, now you're terrified. Your husband is going to die.

You know what I mean? Like, she had her own problems. Oh, yeah. And I like, there were problems. And I just liked that her husband was aware of that. But he, and he took it to him. And then he was like, yo, you got to stop. You know, so I like that he finally, like, said something and stood up to it.

Right. But I do think that they have, like, clearly most, most families don't stay together after a child dies. That's true. So for them to still be together, there's got to be something. and I don't feel like that's someone's place to tell you how you should and shouldn't handle your own relationship because they only know it from the outside.

They don't know both sides. They will never understand your relationship. It's another business. Counterpoint, sometimes you need that outside perspective because you are too close to it. Yes. Right? I'll give it that.

I think part of what got our detective friend or guest to tell his wife, you know what, honey, I need you to shut up. I'm doing something right now. Like, cool it. Is Sandra's voice being out there like, hey, you got to either pick your job or you got to pick your wife.

You can't do both. And he was kind of living in the in between where he's retiring, but he doesn't really want to because he wants to stay being a cop. Okay, I give you that one. But he's also like holding off as long as he can with retirement and doing his last day and not like coming home.

And so I think Sandra was really the push of like, man, like you got to make a choice. You got to pick one or the other. You've got to tell your wife that you want to be a cop or you just got to retire. like you don't you can't have your cake and eat it too you gotta have one or the other and so i think i think sandro was coming from a respectful point where she was giving him a little bit of tough love but i don't think she was overstepping in my in my personal opinion she called him

her his wife a bitch so i you know what i might have blacked that part out but for me i'm like the only one who's going to call my if i'm if i'm in a relationship and i'm married somebody or whatever nobody's calling him a bitch or anything other than me okay if it comes out my mouth that's one thing Even if I said it to you, it better not come out of your mouth. Because I can say it, but you cannot. That's all. That's all. And I'm just more of like, you can give your opinion.

I just didn't like the way she did it. That's fair. I do think that, yes, you can get help and, you know, get your other people's opinions. And you're like, yo, it's kind of rough. And obviously, she had her moments where you're like, yo, she's crazy. Like, she's whatever. She definitely is also dealing with some mental health issues that could use some help. But for me, I see.

sit there and I'm like, we don't know the other backstory of that which made her get to that point. So I like to try to like even if it's like, I don't know, like benefit of the doubt, so to say. I like to give the benefit of doubt to people. Just like our main guy, right?

I don't think he was a bad guy and the part that hits me and I thought was so sad was at the end when he said I'm the bad guy. Yeah, yeah, where he's realizing like, oh man. So I just have so many mix. Yes. And like I just feel like this is It's very realistic in more ways than one with this film

because I feel like we all have been somewhere, like at some point felt some type of way about all of this. And that's why I think I'm like, I'm so confused on how to feel. The only thing that I'm 110% down for is that one guy dying who's just like an absolute despicable person. I had to have that one guy. And the other guy getting punched in the face and the cop

and then his boss getting the FU to him. Yeah. Those are the, those are the, the three good moments of catharsis. The three movement, the movements or whatever in this film that I was just like 110% down with everything else. I'm like, I'm so confused on where to stay, where I stand, how I feel. I feel bad. Yes, this is wrong. Like, I don't believe in damaging people's property.

That's a big no-no. However, like, I was being a butt head. And it's like, it's so hard when you have two dicks or you have a dick. And then you're like, yo, let me put you in check. But then you're like, ooh, that's too far. Yeah. Yeah. And then you're like, how far is too far?

Exactly. And then I'm just like, I don't know how I feel, but it's a good film because like you said early, it's a thinker. It forces you to question. And I'm just like, I'm just like, this film makes me feel sad. There's a lot of moral gray. In more ways than one for almost every single, for the characters. Yeah. I feel sorry for the cop.

Okay. I feel sorry for a main character. Yeah. I feel sorry for his family, his daughter, his wife. I feel bad for the cop's wife. Right. It's a real life story, you know? It's like a life isn't all happy in rainbows and everybody gets the happy ending.

Yeah, it was like... Not everybody's life is like perfect from start to finish. You know, it's a real life film. It's about real people with real problems, push to an extreme. Yeah, this one did not make me feel happy in any shape or form. And I will definitely not watch it again because it makes me kind of feel depressed. And it makes me feel like, damn, the world sucks. But there's so much good in it.

but this just showed all the shit in the world that I don't want to watch it again. But it was worth the watch. Oh, yeah, definitely worth the watch. For sure. I'll give it that. It's worth the watch. I think it's a great film.

But damn, it's dark. I'm just a colorful butterfly. I'm like, I'm a unicorn that's like flying in the air with colorful colors. Everything's bright and happy. And then every once in while you get a storm coming and hits you, you know, and zaps you for a second. And then you're like, can I come back out? Moving on?

I just like, uh, I may have a, I may have a lot. I may have lost some my unicorn power. My unicorn is like a little broken, but I can put some glue on it. I got to recharge the horn. It's dry. It's dry now. Can it come out and play? Like, I can't help it.

I don't like movies. I got you. I don't want to focus on the bad. And this makes me go, not one thing you said in here, sir, was wrong. And I'm like, damn it. Yeah. And I'm like, ugh.

Big oof. I know. I'm like I just think I think it's a really excellent commentary I think ultimately it's a very very excellent commentary on life and the unfairness of life and again you know how far is too far to be pushed how far until one snaps and if someone snaps are they truly a bad person yeah guys don't watch this if you're about to go to sleep you won't have happy dreams or happy thoughts nope don't do that watch it like in the daylight when you can like watch something funny or you're going to go have a great day at a party or something afterwards

so that you're happy because this really depressed me and it hurt my soul my heart and other than that though it's a great film it's a great film it's a great film it's solid and we'll get christen some chocolate as soon as we're done here don't you worry we'll take care of her this is solid film all around it's a good film it's a really good film i'll give it a clap slow one but it's a good film it's a good film but clap. But you guys, let us know your thoughts. If any of you say one thing about me saying it's not a happy film. She's going to go Michael Douglas on you. I'm going to sit there and I'm going to be like, oh, she's blah, blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no. Leave me in my heart

alone, okay? Leave my butterfly, like, rainbow, like beautiful colors of happiness. Only non-Christmas. related discourse in the comments. Yeah, unless you agree with me, just be like, Kristen, I agree. I see you, girl, I see you. And I'll say, thank you. I love you too. Send me some happy thoughts in the comments, you guys. Tell me funny stories.

That's what I want. Comments for the first time say, yo, this is a dark film, but hey, I got a funny story for you. Give us some jokes. Give us some funny stories, maybe some embarrassing ones, things that are going to make people like smile when they read the comments and go, yeah, I see you. But guess what? Let me tell you a really great story that will, like, uplift you, okay? Do that for me.

Thank you. I'm Kristen Steff as a Pino. I'm Michael Boose. If you haven't hit that subscribe button, bell icons, all notifications. Please do so and upvote this video. Thank you so much for your love and sport. We are out and we'll see you next time. Bye.