Doughboys - Alamo Drafthouse with Drew McWeeny

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Drew McWeeny (@DrewMcWeeny, Formerly Dangerous) joins the 'boys to talk movie theater experiences, the state of the film industry, and working as a projectionist before a review of Alamo Drafthouse. Plus, they Snack or Wack the famous "Tom Cruise Cake."Watch this episode at youtube.com/doughboysmediaGet ad-free episodes at patreon.com/doughboysGet Doughboys merch at kinshipgoods.com/doughboysAdvertise on Doughboys via Gumball.fmSources for this week's intro:https://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/corgs/sony.htmlhttps://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/1-10.htmlhttps://www.androidauthority.com/playstation-history-1220628/https://www.wrdw.com/2024/06/12/sony-pictures-acquires-alamo-drafthouse-cinema-dine-in-movie-theater-chain/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/12/business/alamo-drafthouse-sony-pictures.htmlhttps://drafthouse.com/about/historySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is a HeadGum Podcast. Want to watch this episode? Check it out on our YouTube channel at youtube.com slash doughboysmedia. Hey buddy, it's the burger boy. That's Garçon de Hamburger in Canada's second official language, French. I say that because the Doughboys are coming to Toronto, live! Sunday, September 29th, me and Mitch will be at the Danforth Music Hall reviewing Canada's signature chain, Tim Hortons with our guests.

How about this? Twisted Metals, Stephanie Beatriz and Toronto's own, Elena Johnston. Doughboys live in Toronto. Wow. Doughboys live in Toronto. Weiger, Mitchell, Beatriz, Knife, Hortons. Get your tickets at BirdFuck.com or BirdPluck.com. September 29th, Danforth Music Hall. Be there! In 1946, amidst the American occupation and reconstruction that followed World War II, former missile engineers Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita partnered to open the Tokyo Telecommunications

Engineering Corporation. A small struggling company for its first decade of existence, it was a partnership with an American firm that led to its breakout product, a handheld transistor radio marketed in Japan under the new brand name Sony. Over the next half century, Sony would innovate in the consumer electronics industry in both Japan and globally introducing and or popularizing the pocket calculator, the color television, the Betamax VCR, and the iconic Sony Walkman. And then in 1988 Sony once again made a momentous business move in the US, this time acquiring American companies CBS Records Group and Columbia Pictures, migrating from electronics into music and movies before

it was all just a smear called content. In 1995 the company merged electronics and entertainment with the introduction of the Sony PlayStation which would realign the video game industry by finally dethroning sector kingpin Nintendo. In 1997, just as Sony scored a coup by publishing Square's Final Fantasy VII as a PlayStation exclusive, two graduates of Texas' Rice University, Tim and Kerry Leigh, opened a single-screen movie theater in Austin. With little aspiration beyond screening films while serving food and drinks, the Picture House became a mecca for movie buffs, known for menu offerings themed to its exhibitions,

and soon grew into an Austin-area fiefdom of cinema and cuisine. After successfully expanding across the Lone Star State, in 2009, the company opened its first outlet outside of Texas, and today has a presence in two dozen regions across America. But in March 2021, weighed down by the COVID pandemic and mismanagement of its aggressive expansion plans, the burgeoning chain was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

To paraphrase a film that might be exhibited alongside astronaut ice cream and a Tang cocktail, Austin, we have a problem. The solution came when Sony ventured into yet another new business. In June of 2024, Sony acquired the struggling company in its nearly three dozen locations, entering into theatrical exhibition for the first time. To quote another Austin-related film that might screen along with mini meatballs and a fat bastard IPA, yeah baby, yeah. And so, just as movie theaters have endured for over a hundred years amid ever-shifting economic realities and crises big and small, so too will the nation's now seventh biggest theater chain endure under

the stewardship of the former Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. This week on Doughboys,, the podcast about chain restaurants. I'm Nick Weiger, along with my co-host, a man who CCs pizza on every email, the Spoon Man Mike Mitchell. Geez. Jeffrey sent that in, rots at birdfuck.com. Yeah, Melee and I were talking before the show. These roasts are gonna have to be like a page long

at some point, it's just getting longer. We had a discussion and I might retire the roasts. It might be time to retire to sunset the roasts. I just feel like we're getting a lot of like, Lies, we're gonna cave. sure, yeah, we'll throw that, we'll use that one, I guess. That's our best option this week. Our listeners are being so unfunny,

you have to retire the roasts. Oh, look, a man who sees these pizza on every email is well-crafted. It is a bit of a mouthful, it's a bit of a long road, but I, you know, salute to Jeffrey for coming up with that. That's a unique angle. I just feel like a lot of the obvious ones

have been taken at this point. So people are really straining to come up with something that's been unused. You said you're gonna, what was your wording? You're gonna end the roasts? Yeah, like sunset the roasts. Maybe time to retire the roasts at the end of 2024. We're going to Kismet or Reticerty Day.

I got the same plan, my man. I'm gonna retire some roasts myself. I get what you're saying. Wags, before we start, you flipped out on me, made fun of me very bad. I was checking my mic and you mocked me. Yeah. We're having fun. I was just being playful.

I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. I'm too stressed. I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. I'm going to Vegas tomorrow. I'm going to Vegas me. Yeah, we're having fun. I was just being playful. I'm going to Vegas tomorrow, I'm too stressed. I'm going to Vegas. And you were working this morning,

you got a lot going on. I did, I was at a table read this morning. I'm gonna put a lot of dough boys bank account money on black or red, what do you say, Wags? I would vote, I feel like you've already done that bit when you, when we were at the casino in Foxwoods and you put $500. We gave Emma $500. Well, you gave Emma $500 of company money.

It was supposed to be $100. You gave me $500. What fun is $100? I'm just trying to think of like a world where I do a $500 bit without checking with you first. You would be mad about that for decades. Wait, I think that means you have one in the bank that you can use that.

Oh, I just have that at my Lou at my disposal when I want to, okay. It's gotta be a bit, and you have to waste the money. Yeah. You can't buy yourself some sort of Minion plushie or whatever the fuck you're gonna do. And then your employee's cash is wasting the money though, just so you know.

Okay, all right. Yes, you can spend it on Emma and Amelia if you'd like. Okay, great, well that's an option. PlayStation 5, another option? It'd be a funny bit. Studio could use one. Yeah, Studio could use one. It was a great, the show loved it.

It worked in the show. It was worth the $500. Yeah, it was worth a light chuckle. The cost of whatever 20 tickets that we sold that show. No, it was fun. I have nothing to get. Where was it? Was that at Foxwoods? That was at Foxwoods, yeah.

I might have never gambled before. That was the first time I had ever gambled was with that chip. Come on, how fun is that? I mean, you lost and we were very mad at you. You've been getting- It is fun. You're kind of Vegas-pilled at this point. I feel like you and Mike are going all the time and having fun.

Yeah. We have friends that are like super Vegas-pilled. They get married there, they love it there, they're there all the time. And then the first time we went for their wedding, it was my first time in Vegas, I are going all the time and having fun. We have friends that are like super Vegas-pilled. They get married there, they love it there, they're there all the time. And then the first time we went for their wedding, it was my first time in Vegas, I won almost four grand playing Let It Ride, so I am addicted now. Damn, wow, okay.

Four grand. Pretty good. Play Let It Ride, it's a good game. Table game, not competitive. The way you, to approach it that way with Vegas is like, I'm gonna just spend a hundred bucks and then if you win a lot of money, you're good to go. Yeah. Yeah. I can't, I, if I, I'm gonna, I have a set amount of money

that I will gamble while I'm there and it's not a lot. That's how we do it. Yeah. You set a budget when you blow it, it's gone. Yeah, exactly. And just think of it as spent money. Yeah. It's, yeah. By the way, I was talking table games.

I have a table game we're gonna play later when we order Kismet rotisserie. Called Finish My Portion. I thought you were gonna be like playing with like a, it sounded sinister. Oh, like I was doing a like a jigsaw sort of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Playing with your food basically, yeah. No, I don't play with my food anymore.

Yeah, I would hope not. I left that behind. Yeah. It's kid stuff, I don't do that anymore. Yeah, you would hope not. I left that behind. Yeah. It's kid stuff, I don't do that anymore. Yeah, you're 43? Yeah. Are you 43? I turned 43, yeah, yeah, I'm 43.

That was my last birthday. Ooh, sounds like in August we're about to have a 40, a double four. I am gonna be, I'm gonna be four four, the big four four, big milestone. Well, well, well. That'll be my last double number birthday. So long, 55.

Yeah. Emma, let's hit him with a drop. Coming soon to a theater near you. What will you do on the last day of school? You know what I'd do. It began on a quiet summer afternoon when a teenage prank got out of hand. Cool, do hot salad. Under the cover of darkness, he carried out the most horrifying mass murder on record. You can hear all my organs.

Ever since that night, no one has forgotten his name. I'm the murder boy, Nick Weiger. Now, it's coming. I start jacking off. All right, the drops are still good. Drops at Birdfucker are gone. They're pretty good still. Hey, Spoon Man, I've been listening to the show

since late 2015, and I'm 80% sure this is the first time I've submitted a drop. Wow. 80%. Love the show. Kevin, thanks Kevin. Thanks Kevin. PS, if you never tour again

and never visit St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis, St. Louis? I think it's St. Louis, but you can say St. Louis. St. Louis, St. Louis. To review Emo's Pizza, then I urge you to at least try the local dessert gooey butter cake, which is as decadent as it sounds.

Here's a link to a pretty easy recipe I use when making it myself. I have had gooey butter cake, and I've also had the gooey butter cake ice cream flavor that I can't remember which of these artisan parlors had. I think it might've been a Jenny's, yeah. And I do like a gooey, but I have not had like an official,

like a St. Louis version. So that would be interesting. I got a joke for you. Yeah, please. What's Far Scum's favorite ice cream shop? What is it? Jenny's. Yeah.

It's pretty good. It was good, yeah. By the way, we should point out that Emma, our MVP, might have recovered a lost episode seconds before we began recording. Oh, fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. We'll see if it happens.

But we have something that we recorded in the bank that the hard drive got corrupted. She may have done a successful recovery. So hopefully this all works out. It was funny that you've worked so hard on this and you've done a great job, but it was funny when you were like, I think we lost video for this episode,

and my first reaction was like, who cares? That was kind of, look. There were no doubles in the recent past with waveform instead of video, then we did it. Wow. I think we lost audio, which we had before. We had lost audio, yeah. We only lost like one or two episodes, right?

We lost one episode, and it was when we had a guest engineer. And we only lost half of that episode, if I remember correctly. The food review remained, but it was like the first half got corrupted. Yeah. And then, man. I was with Jordan Morris, good friend of the show. I hate when they get corrupted. I know it was probably a very funny first half, I'm sure. And then we haven't released one episode.

We deleted one, yeah. Yeah, we did, yeah, one's been deleted. Is it deleted? From everywhere anyone else can access it, I have it. I like that. I like that it's still alive somewhere. I'm hard-driving my closet. I like that.

Emma said that with a- It's the museum of podcasting. Yeah. The lost episode. Emma said that with a layer of like, I call this leverage. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. The Museum of Podcasting would, there's gotta be some sort of podcasting like academy at some point, right? I'm sure. What, like a school? I'm sure there already is. So it's something that probably already exists

and you probably already take online podcasting classes. But I'm saying there like a school. I'm sure there are things that you probably already exist You probably already take online podcasting classes I'm saying there's gonna be I'm saying there's there's gonna be like, you know, like a you know, like the motion picture Academy or whatever the fuck yeah, like the Academy Museum. Yeah the Academy Museum or like the basketball Hall of Fame Yeah, dude does podcasting go. I think probably it's at a certain point They will decide like that's just a way to some town will decide like, that's just a way to, some town will say like, hey, this is the way we can get tourists to come here. Are we gonna get in or what? What the fuck's the deal?

Honestly, it might be Austin, who knows? That feels like a kind of move that Austin would make. Man, it will be Austin. The Roganverse is over there. Right, right. So that's one possibility. That's obviously its own ecosystem, but I think there could also be, you know,

just some random town. Like, what's a Canton, Ohio is where the football hall of fame is where the football hall of fame is, NFL hall of fame, right? So sometimes that just happens. I think bringing up Austin is a great segue to bringing in our guest in the theater that we're talking about.

Wow, Mitch, this was unintentional, but you're right. This kind of worked out from formerly dangerous in the last 80s newsletter, our friend Drew McQueenie is here. Hi, Drew, good to have you, buddy. Hey, thank you, man. Very good to be here. Thanks so much for making time. This is overdue.

And I will say, in our defense, we were talking about this while we were waiting for Mitch to arrive at the movie. And the Alamo Drafthouse... Hold on a second now. I was on time for that movie. You did make the showtime of the movie. That is correct. We... I made it into the showtime.

Yeah. We were walking in it into the showtime. Yeah. We were walking in and the first trailer was playing. Yes, yeah. So we were on time for the movie. But 2019 is when the Alamo in LA, the one LA location in downtown LA opened. And then obviously movie theaters got very weird

for a few years. And so it became a thing that was kind of off the table for us, unfortunately. Yeah, and it was right as it finally opened. And I am an old-school Alamo fan. Right. I started going the year they opened in Austin. Wow. So was it 97s?

97. And went to events down there, went to the early Tarantino festivals where he would come in and program for three weeks and just bring his own prints. That's so cool. And I loved that scene. And I'd really never seen a revival scene like it. I liked the LA revival scene.

Yeah. New Bev and stuff like that. They were certainly great. But it was just a very different, rowdy sort of community that popped up around the Alamo very quickly. And that first location was just kind of magic. Yeah. I don't, we did not go to the first location when we went to the Alamo in Austin.

No. Which was, that was when we were on tour, maybe 2017 it sounds like. And that's my only Alamo experience outside of LA. That was my second visit. Okay. Because my first visit was me and John Ennis seeing The Force Awakens. Oh, right. At Alamo Drafthouse.

That was my first experience with it. And that was also in Austin? I think it was Austin. Cause you were working on, you were shooting something remotely. I'm not sure if it was the original theater, but- No, it was closed by that pointer. And the original was downtown.

It was downtown. It was just a single, it was a single screen. And it, I mean, it really would not pass fire code by today's standards. Like the sound on the side was muffled by hay bales in the walls. It was a very sort of built by hand theater that Tim and Carrie League put together.

And they had their first couple of menus where they experimented and just tried the idea out. Like, how do you even program food for theaters? And it was just interesting to see that place evolve. And when it caught fire, it seemed like an idea that was gonna go everywhere very quickly. Yeah, and I feel like we saw a lot of imitators and some of them are still around,

but like, you know, certainly even AMC has their AMC dine-in, which I think is that there's been less of a focus for them, but that's what comes from the Alamo. It's that sort of world where like, I support AMC because it's, we've talked about this before, why it's like when you're like, I'm rooting for local chains, because that's like what now what the world is.

But I do go to AMC, but when it comes to like the dinner theater at AMC, I'm like, I don't wanna go to an AMC for that. No, it's not the same there. It's a very different experience and it feels a lot more cheney. And I know that odd that I say that in a, understanding the Alamo Drafthouse is also a chain,

but it still has the kind of feel of like, oh, this feels like a unique sort of spot, you know? Were you living in Austin at that? But did you ever live there? No, I was just working on a website that was based in Austin. Yes, right. And so that's why I started going there was just because they were covering local events

and I started to go in for them. And that, yeah, you got, and you guys would have festivals there. We did. We had the Button-Nomathon, which was every December and was a charity event where we program movies for 24 straight hours. Yeah.

And I would read the rundown of the Button-Nomathon when I was younger to see what movies played. And there would sometimes be movies that weren't released yet. Yeah, we did a lot of early screenings, a lot of older screenings. I got to play something of mine at one of them. That's really awesome.

It was awesome. And that festival truly was. You would have people like Guillermo del Toro came to several of them. In fact, the first time I met him was watching Phantom of the Paradise. Wow. He brought his print.

He sat next to me and leaned over and said, if you can sing along to this movie with me, we're going to be best friends. And I was like, what a great way to meet somebody. Could you sing along to it? Yes, I love Phantom of the Paradise. Wow. Wow.

But it was just kind of a magical place. So to see them try and expand and reproduce it, even within Austin, it was a question, can you do other locations for the Alamo and still have it be the Alamo? Yes, we were talking about this, we were talking about, and we'll get into this more, but we were talking about the success of that theater

and how it was doing like a month back. And it has just recently been sold. Yes, as of this recording, it was just bought by Sony for an undisclosed amount. When we decided to do this, it was still kind of a question mark. Exactly, right. So that news is interesting.

We'll see what happens. It's very much breaking news as of this record, but this episode will come out later. I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna tip my hat a little bit, but I- For our audio listeners, Mitch physically tipped his hat. I did tip my hat. And if we lose this video episode, that's the kind of thing we won't have. I'm gonna tip my hat a little bit, but I... For our audio listeners, Mitch physically tipped his hat. I did tip my hat. Literally.

And if we lose this video episode, that's the kind of thing we won't have, so. Which by the way, is always, I always say this. It's the wrong, it's the wrong saying. What is it? It's show my hand. Tip my cap, show my hand? I'm gonna show my hand.

Yeah. I mean, I really... Wait, what are you doing, I guess? I'm about to say some thought. Like I really do like those theaters a lot, despite seeing Force Awakens there for my first movie. Yeah. Um.

Yep. The trauma, you overcame the trauma. I overcame the trauma of seeing Force Awakens there. Also I saw- What did Ennis think? Ennis was so funny to see that movie with, because Alamo has like a strict like, no talking, don't text, which I love, by the way.

But a trailer during The Force Awakens, I think it was Terminator, I don't know if it was Genesis or whatever it was, there was a trailer for maybe the last Terminator. I think it was Genesis. I think it was Genesis, and the trailer ends, and then John Ennis goes, ha, so loud!

And I was like, oh my God. This is so fucking embarrassing. I was like, and I was like, I couldn't, I was like so, so, so loud. Yeah. And I was like, I mean, it was funny that he laughed at it. It was like a dead, quiet theater. No one responded to the trailer at all. It was really funny. And then afterwards, he was

like, we both were like, yeah, we didn't really like it. It was like the end result of it. But I liked going to the, it was a cool place to see a like a movie like, like a huge movie like that too. And, and that was the first time I went and I loved it. And when we were getting one here in LA, I was, I was really excited about it. But Drew, before we get into your movie, man, you know more about movies than anyone I know. You're a walking encyclopedia. Well, thank you. And he's a walking dictionary. Um, fucking much more boring. But what do you usually snack on when you're at a theater?

What's your go-to snack outside of Alamo? Right. We'll exclude Alamo from this. I am, if I snack at a movie theater, I like popcorn. I'm a very traditional popcorn guy. My first job, my first real job was, I was caddy when I was like 14, 15. And then the day I turned 16,

I started working in movie theaters. Wow. Because I just, I wanted that access and very quickly learned to be a projectionist. This was in the eighties. And I was a projectionist. I managed theaters. When I moved out here,. This was in the 80s. And I was a projectionist. I managed theaters. When I moved out here, I ran theaters in Sherman Oaks.

I did trade screenings and test screenings. And had to meet everybody that way. So theaters are something that I love and think about. And how do you make them great for audiences and things? And the snacks, the traditional snacks, I think, are traditional for a reason. I kind of live popcorn with candy shaken into it. Yeah. What kind of candy?

M&Ms or Reese's Pieces. Sure. I mean, those are the best ones because they're little and they get all the way through. And yeah, that's, that's always been my sort of main theater snack. I feel like that's such a norm now that they are like near, like, I feel like there's candies that are marketed that way to just put It would think so or yeah But I I always I keep them I keep them set like the offspring sure I keep them separated

And I but I do like the salty and sweet I like going back and forth But mostly popcorn for me popcorn and butter and a large coke wise how can you beat a large coke at the theater? Yeah, I do love a big soda I always say I'm gonna get a big soda every time I go to the movies. But I will very oftentimes off for the zero. I'll do the zero because that's a lot of, I mean, we're talking what, 600 calories?

That's my choice, yeah. Like the zeros, especially these days. If you're seeing a big, hey, if you're going to see a Mad Max movie. I'll you're seeing a big, hey, if you're going to see like you're a Mad Max movie. I'll treat myself with a Coke, like a Cherry Coke heavy sometimes, you know, but it just depends on the situation. We both felt the same way.

We're, I feel like we've gone back and forth on the freestyle machines, but they kind of bum me out in theaters now. I like the old, I like the spigot. Have you tried the, like the, have you seen the new freestyle machine? No, I don't. Because I think the new art has,

which is a, you know, a single screen movie house and LA shows a lot of indie movies, but they have one of the new freestyles. And that one is, it's like, it's just a little better. It's like a little, like- Give it to me straight. Does it suck you off or what? Tell me, give it to me wise.

Excuse me, I think the machine's, the freestyle machine's broken. It's not sucking me off. Who do you want to be sucked off by? Cool Spot or? I couldn't think of another soda mascot. There aren't a lot, I guess like the star. The seven up guy.

Yeah, seven up guy, yeah. The polar bear? Oh, the polar bear. Go polar bear. There you go, that's pretty good. Santa Claus. Santa Claus. You know what? I'm going Santa Claus.

Coke Santa. That's the move. Ha ha ha ha. Ooh, my dick smells minty. If Santa sucks you off. You think Santa has minty breath? He has candy canes. Oh, I guess so.

But he also sometimes has cookie breath too, I feel. So maybe your dick smells like a cookie. Look, these are both good things. They're both very good. Look, when you're getting sucked off by a mascot, soda mascot, from a freestyle machine, your dick's gonna smell like something. It's probably gonna smell good.

Just a given. It was embarrassing for me. They're like, I think you have to use the junior freestyle junior, um, snug fit freestyle machine. All right. It got, we've got a little lost there. All right, we've got a little lost there. I still like straight from the spigot. And I get that.

Yeah, the classic fountain. I mean the old Cope boxes where they have the bags of syrup and the straight out of the fountain, that's still genuinely the theater soda that you kind of think of. That's what you want. That's the ideal version. Yeah, and I feel like we've talked about this wise, but a cherry coke is gonna hit so much better when it's coming out of straight

Out of that spigot instead of out of the freestyle machine dedicated cherry coke spigot is great I love that there used to be a ruby o's that had a dedicated vanilla coke spigot Which I was like you never see that at a fountain. Yeah, that's like that was a that was a you know Do you know who had a cherry coke spigot a spigot? Who spigot spigot spigot was um We should be gonna stop saying spigot Spigot the place that had a cherry coke spigot was the arc light Sure, which is supposed to reopen, and I loved the Arclight.

I loved that theater quite a bit. Not saying anything about who ran it, I don't know. There was always rumors that it was run by Scientologists. I don't know if that's true. I think the Plaza was owned by them, definitely. The Plaza was owned by them, OK. That's what I think. I loved that place.

That, to me, was like, you're gonna go see a movie opening weekend and you're gonna see celebrities there occasionally and sometimes a celebrity's gonna come in and introduce, that happened to me with Iron Man. That's fun. John Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. came in and they introduced the movie and it was fun. Man, the Dome was my favorite theater for a lot of years.

Dome is so cool. When I first moved to LA in 1990, that was one of the first theaters I had to go to. That and the Chinese were like must stops. And I loved the Dome. I saw so many things. I loved when they would do the 70 millimeter festivals and you get like Apocalypse Now and Lawrence of Arabia

and those movies, unreal place to see those things. You know one of the first movies I saw at Grauman's Chinese Theater? What's that? On my birthday, you know this, The Departed. Oh, that's right, I do know this. On my birthday, one of the first, the first year I was out here, basically.

And you're right, like the arc light would be a lot of, like the week and the doors opened. We went to the first Friday night screening and that entire theater was filled with people who had been extras in it and celebrities who wanted to see it. So we're sitting behind the red hot chili peppers and in front of a row of people that were at one of the whiskey scenes.

And it was very interactive. It was a really crazy way to see that film. What movie was it? I'm sorry. The Doors. Oh, The Doors. Oh, wow. Oh, that's crazy.

So it was like opening weekend of that, and half of LA had been in that movie in some form. So it was... That's so cool. Yeah. Do you remember the movies when you first started working at a theater? Because that was... Oh, yeah. Do you remember what was playing when you were there?

Oh, yeah. I love that. What was it? Oh, Summer of 86. So it was The Fly. Wow. It was Aliens. It was Big Trouble in Little China.

Oh my god. It was Club Paradise that summer. Like that summer was a really fun summer to be in a movie theater. That's insane. Yeah. It was great. And we did employee screenings for all those. So we saw Aliens three nights before it opened. That's crazy.

And spent three days telling people, oh my god, you don't know. Oh my god. I mean, it's probably possibly my top 10 favorite movies. I love that movie so much. I just, it's funny to think of the ones that opened when I was there by comparison. Osmosis Jones, the Planet of the Apes remake by Tim Burton. The Tim Burton one.

The Tim Burton one. With Lincoln at the end. Honestly, this is one of the better ones, American Pie 2. There you go. But I mean, comparatively, what the fuck went wrong? I mean, in 15 years or so, we're still going through it now. And I wonder how you feel about the state of movies.

I think we talk about it all the time. We talk about how the industry is dying and movies are dying in a way. Bad industry, but I feel like we've had some good movie years recently, and there's still a lot of stuff that I enjoy seeing. You're very positive about it. I'm not just, I mean, like, I'm not trying

to put a positive face on it. Like, I'm seeing stuff that I enjoy, so, you know. I think you have to work harder to find it. Sure, for sure. There used to be a monoculture. Like, things would get released, and everything was sort of in the mix for sure. There used to be a monoculture. Like things would get released and everything was sort of in the mix for everybody. Like, and it felt like people went and saw art house stuff,

people went and saw mainstream stuff, people were, especially in the 90s when I moved out here and was first managing in theaters. Everybody was fairly adventurous. Like it felt like people would go see everything and try things. And it just felt like theater going was a cultural thing. Sure, yeah.

You would just go to the movies. Right. And I think now people go to a movie. Like, if they feel like they're gonna be left out of the conversation about Avengers Endgame, they have to go see Avengers Endgame or everyone will talk about it. But they don't just go on a Friday night and go,

I don't know what's playing to Freddie Murphy, which is what it was like very much when I was. Yeah, when I was younger, we'd be like, let's go to the movies. Right, we'll figure it out. And then you kind of figure it out when you got there. But I mean, this is also like, we're just, we're sounding like dinosaurs

to a lot of our younger listeners, because like I remember looking in a newspaper for show times. Of course. Stuff didn't used to be online, so it's like, I just have a lot more options now and a lot more information. And that's where I think it becomes more about like really having to go look for things.

Yes, right. You have to find the stuff that you're interested in. It's out there. I think there's plenty of great stuff being made. For sure. But it's so much harder to have the same experience as somebody else. Yeah.

Because everybody's soaking in their own, like what you're watching on streaming and they're watching at their own pace and some people binge and some people do week to week. It's crazy. Nobody's having the same conversation. Streaming is, it's stupid of me to always make fun of Amazon and Netflix and Peacock,

which I am in a show that's on Peacock. You work for all these networks. But from all those places, honestly, I mean, in the nicest way possible, I love TV shows. Yeah, in the nicest way possible, I love TV shows. Yeah, in the nicest way possible. Go fuck yourself. I love TV shows that are on these.

But to me, it's that sort of thing of release movies in theaters and then put them on your streaming service afterwards. There's a huge value. There's a huge value to that, not only financially. And every studio will tell you a movie that plays in the theater and then goes through streaming releases always does better. Yeah.

Even if it didn't do well in the theater, it just does better by virtue of the fact that it was a theatrical movie. Yeah. And I think, you know, we were talking the other day about, I Saw the TV Glow. Oh, yeah, yeah. Love that movie.

Which people are talking about, and I think really kind of became a conversation and would not have happened if it was just on a streaming network that you could easily not have. If it was just dumped on Hulu, I don't think it has any of the conversation behind it versus having a theatrical. I saw that on streaming. I also wouldn't even like it as much as I did when I saw it in the theater. I would just kind of be like, whatever. It does take something away. Something is lost in translation, I think. But to your point about the absence of a monoculture,

there is though something of a monoculture. It's just concentrated at the very top now. It's like there are, it's like you mentioned Avengers Endgame and it's a great example. That's the kind of thing like a lot of people like, well, that's the one movie I'll see this year. Top Gun Maverick was the same thing. Well, that's the one thing that'll get me theater.

Avatar, The Way of Water, I feel like maybe was that to a lot of people. And so, and it's the same thing. Well, that's the one thing that'll get me theater. Avatar, The Way of Water, I feel like maybe was that to a lot of people. Yeah. And so, and it's the same thing with Celebrity. There's a few extremely famous people and then a lot of other people who are like, you know, at various building levels, yeah. And yeah, need a podcast or survive, basically.

I mean, I was just saying this. I was talking to actors today that were like, that do podcasts and it's like, that's how they supplement their income and see with podcasts. Um, what, so, but what do you think is the issue there? Is it the fact that all these studios are making these multi-million dollar movies every year? They're like, they're, they're, they're, it's like too much

at the top of them are not making as much. It's just a cycle. And I think right now we're, this is the same cycle that played out at the end of the sixties where the studios didn't know how to make anything except giant bloated movies with movie stars. And then Easy Rider happened and everything breaks. We're gonna break, like the industry is breaking. And I think what will happen is a lot of invention

and a lot of people will take advantage of the breaks and figure out ways to get things distributed. I think we're coming towards that. I definitely feel like that happens every so often. The 80s led to the 90s and the 90s were very much an independent explosion of, okay I can't do the 80s again. Yeah. I need something else and I think Marvel has raised a generation that is now getting to be like 19, 20, 21 years old and they're all going, cool, I'm done.

Can I have something actual now? Can I see something? I think there's a real hunger. Just talking to my kids. Like, I feel like they grew up watching all this IP stuff, and they're done. They don't want it anymore. They really are, they feel like we

had that for our whole lives. Right. And I kind of blame our generation more so for those movies, because of course, kids are going to like those movies. But then we liked them a little too. I think the adults that couldn't grow up a little bit liked them too much.

There was some adult baby issues. I'll be honest. I think part of it was we waited so long for the tech to catch up to make comic book movies look good that when it happened, everybody went insane for a little while. Like they look great. And then they all made the same movie 800 times.

Right. It's just crazy thinking of like, just like mid budget movies, smaller movies. And that's all that stuff. Me too. I miss it so much. And then it is that sort of thing of like, don't get me wrong.

I like 824, but then it is, it does feel like it's such a, such a thing of this is an eight 24 movies. This is an independent movie or whatever. And like to get in this club, you gotta be really cool. And I'm like, I don't even need that. I just need independent movies that are lower budget or mid bid budget that get released in theaters. And there's not besides a 24. What is there that does that? It's like and there's not, besides A24, what is there that does that? It's like, there's almost nothing, right? No, I think we're gonna start seeing a lot of filmmakers

who trained on YouTube and who trained in sort of that kind of technology. I think we're gonna start seeing those guys break soon. Again, I feel like it's a cycle. I feel like everybody's fatigued. Yes. Everybody is tired of what we've had for the last 15 years. I was really mad about it for a few years. You probably noticed on the podcast

that I was pretty pissed off about it. We talked about, what's the force, last Jedi. I think that was the first time I ever. Oh yeah, that was the whole thing. That was when you guys were talking about the last Jedi. And you're a hard person to debate with. You can speak a sentence. You're very knowledgeable.

You know movies. But I wish I could go back and debate that again. I still, I mean, Star Wars is also- I wish I could go back and convince you that it sucks. I'm going to win next time. Yeah. That's my like, Christmas carol is me realizing that I should have said things sucked more in the past.

There's still time. I think that, but I do think with a lot of, I think we overdid it with Star Wars, I think we overdid it with everything. How can you say that when you're in front of an Unkar Plutt action figure? You think we overdid it with everything. There was a- How can you say that when you're in front of an Unkar plot action figure? I think we overdid it with Star Wars, Mitch. You're right, Wise.

Mitch, I think what you're trying to say is the amount of Star Wars we got, maybe Disney should reduce that to one quarter portion. They want to make doughboys action figures? Lob that one over there. They want to make doughboys action figures? Lobbed that one over the head. It's like Mike Feist and challengers. They want to make a doughboys.

We're talking to someone about doughboys action figures. Yeah. And they sent us mockups and it was our clothing, but they were just too in-car plots. They were just on in-car plots. Yeah, they clearly reused the bodies. It's like, OK, you guys overordered the bodies. Did either of you use movie phone?

Cause I used to call it movie phone. It was, I wonder if the numbers still act. It was like 777 film, right? Or that was one of them. I think so, yeah. And then you would call, like, this is one of those things to explain this to our Zoomer listeners. They'll be like baffled.

But yeah, you would fucking, you would call a number on your landline phone and then a recorded voice would be like, this is- They're not that dumb, by the way. I don't think they're dumb. I just think they're like, like if you grew up with the internet, the idea of doing this would feel like a complete novel. Yes, like why?

Yeah, why would you do that? But you couldn't like just go, just log onto a website or an app and see what the movies that were, that were playing. You had to call a line and then a recorded voice would say all the movies that were playing in your zip code. We call 1-800-OK-SOTA for jokes.

We called, we called 800 numbers for jokes. You don't get it, you zillennials. You don't get how it was. It was hard, Nick, you're right. It was hard. And that's, that is, I think that's how I, besides the newspaper, that's how I would look up movies quite a bit.

I gotta tell you guys, my first job was at a movie theater. Wow. And I was a recorded voice for the theater. Wow. Oh yeah, you'd have to do those. Do you remember the movies that were playing around then? I mean, it was anything between like 2004 to 2007 I

Would do the movies that I remember if you like to see dawn of the dead remake Star Wars episode 3 I definitely did Star Wars episode 3. Oh, yeah, I think war of the world. Yeah See this guy knows I was actually early with the Dawn of the Dead remake. I think it's 2003 maybe. Did you have an... Might have been four. Did you put on an affectation when you were reading it?

Like, did you try to be movie guy a little bit? I would, like, kind of do it like, like, thank you for calling Sunstar Movies. There you go. These are the, you know, the movies that are playing for this week are, and then Star Wars, episode three, Re know, the movies that are playing for this week are, and then Star Wars, episode three, Revenge of the Sith. That sounds like...

Pg13. We have a little request. Could you speak in that voice whenever you talk on the podcast, please? Sure, you got it. There are a lot of, like you were saying, there's a lot of great, I went to Vidiots the other day. I was supposed to go see The Wall with Casey, but I- Did you go see it? Yeah, I went to go see it.

It was my first time seeing The Wall. Yeah, what'd you think? How was the print? It was digital, unfortunately. It's almost impossible to get hold of at this point. Wow, I didn't know that. MGM, it's music rights stuff. Oh, sure, okay.

It actually, it seemed like a Blu-ray rip or something. Like there was like a little- Timecode. Bug on the corner that was like DVD something. And every time that popped up, everyone kind of chuckled a bit, but it was really fun watching it. I mean, see it however you can see it at this point.

We went to see, because when they brought Oldboy back to the theater, Natalie and I went to see Lady Vengeance in a theater, and they, like, the movie started and it was the Blu-ray, like, menu screen that was up projected. I was like, well, all right. Old Boy seen Old Boy.

I, uh, I, uh- Wasn't really into this movie till the ending. I, uh, I've noticed that at AMC, the prime AMC or whatever, I'll stay through the credits. And then at the end, I'll see a Microsoft Start icon in the corner of the screen. Oh, sure. That's wild.

And you're like, oh, it's all just a program, I guess. Digital projection was way after me. And I kind of missed the idea that there's a human being up there who can fix things. But also film was a fucking nightmare sometimes to handle. I've had prints melt down and fall off platters. And then it's just a meltdown. You don't know what to do.

While you were working as a projectionist, what do you do in that situation? We've had brain wraps where the thing gets completely wrapped around the center of the thing or around the projectorist. Oh yeah. What did you do in that situation? We've had brain wraps where the thing gets completely wrapped around the center of the thing or around the projector pieces. So you, you, you, and then you just have to turn everything off, take everything out of the projector, put it back on a platter and then start over. And it's just, it's an hour, hour and a half long process. Wow. So we're talking refunds for everyone

who's in the theater. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Nobody's seeing that movie that night. That's wild. So you, you, you. So when did you move your way up to projectionist? How long? Very quickly, like, 87 I started, and did that all the way through 92. Vidiets will do a great thing where it marks usually what is on film, right? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, which is cool. They do that, I think, at most theaters around town. Well, that's what the Vista is very good about now, and the new Bev, and they're great about 16 and 35 prints, almost exclusively, or the Vista doing 70 now, which is awesome. That's rad. Here's a question for you, working as a projectionist.

Did you like- Did you ever make funny hand things? Of course. That's what you're gonna ask. That was gonna be my question. All right, perfect. No, like, are you, cause you're running these movies all the time,

like are you fully locked into the movie each time, or do you have like a book you're reading? What are you doing to occupy yourself? When I started, I was at an eightplex. Oh wow, okay. Every projection booth service two theaters. So you would have a projection booth on either side. And so I'd have to run from booth to booth

and do all eight movies. So you're pretty active the whole time. And then you're just walking back and forth and checking. Wow. So you'd walk in, stand in the theater for a few minutes, make sure everything looked and sounded good, and then just circulate. So no, you almost never watch the entire thing.

But you would look through a lot and catch people doing things when they thought they were being unobserved. Oh, wow. I saw so many things in the 80s in movie theaters. Yes. Nick? Nick. Like at the end of Inside Out 2.

Oops. You can see that. It's a, yeah, that is why I did, I did like, I've said this on the podcast, I probably like five times at this point. So, but I'll just say it again, cause we're in this territory. My friend who worked in a movie theater,

there was someone who was a guy who was jacking off in the front row of a packed theater. And the movie was a Les Miserables. Oh my God. Oh my God. It was Russell Crowe singing. Yeah, I am Javier. He's like, that's it. Oh, yeah.

That's it. I have a question for you. As a projectionist, was there ever a time where the Gremlins tried to take over the projection room? We'd be surprised how often. Yeah. And did Hulk Hogan save you after that or no? Only once.

Ha ha ha ha. I love, I wonder what year Gremlins 2 was, but that's what I saw. That was 89. 89. Yeah. I saw that in theaters. Hey buddy, can you name every single subscription you have?

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We should start talking, because it's interesting today. We got to talk about a movie a little bit and our experience. I don't think we need to spend too much time on the movie. We obviously can talk about it if we want, but I think the focus here, this is a food podcast, the focus here, and we don't need to be talking about Inside Out 2, like when's this episode coming out,

like two months after it was released and relevant. I'll just say this. We had a lot of options of things to say. There was a chance we were going to go see Do the Right Thing, which would have been so much more- I really would have wanted to see Do the Right Thing. I wanted to see it too. The timing, like, the timing didn't work out. It wasn't showing that the one night we were all available.

Exactly. But that would have been awesome to see. This is your favorite movie of the 80s. Is that correct? It is. And I'm like, the newsletter that I do, I'm reviewing every film from the 80s in order, anything released in the United States.

Yes. And so it's like 2,800 movies or something like that. And yeah, Do The Right Thing is my favorite film of the 80s. Wow. Did that ever And yeah, Do the Right Thing is my favorite film of the 80s. Wow. Did that ever, like, at what point did it settle in in the number one slot? I didn't like it the first time I saw it.

I saw it in the theater that summer one time. When was it, 89? 89. And it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It riled me up. I didn't know what I thought of it. I walked out of the theater just upset and then spent a week talking to a friend of mine about it,

went back and saw it the second time. And the second time I just heard the music of it. Because that film maybe has my favorite Spike Lee screenplay. Every single character in that movie is musical. And I just love the sound of that film. I love everybody's performances. And yeah, I think ultimately it is the film that maybe says the most about the end

of the Reagan era in America. It's kind of a, yeah, it's like, it's a totemic American film. Absolutely. It's a, and, but it's like one of the things that's like- I just feel so bad for that guy in the bird jersey, the Larry Bird jersey. Is that the wrong takeaway from the movie?

Probably. But this is one of those things where it's like, this is a big check mark in the pros column for the Alamo draft house that they are constantly having like rep screenings like this. Cause Natalie and I were like looking at the calendar and just like, we should try to go see, do the right thing.

It also didn't work out for us, but like it's awesome to just have the opportunity to go see that in the theater. We're doing Purple Rain in a few weeks. Oh, that's rad. Which I'm, and they're doing the Purple Rain party, where it's like they hand out, you know, guitars and ridiculous.

Like, but it's, I just want to see Purple Rain in a theater for the first time since the 80s. So here, I'm going to say this. We're going to just talk about an issue you have with Alamo up top. Yes, sure. Is that Wiggs thinks that the food is distracting. I am really, specifically the food,

I am really disrupted by people crossing my line of sight, which the servers have to do by necessity. And I think that they usually do a really good job with it. They usually do a good job, but it is a thing that to me is an eye draw and it's a little bit distracting. And I like to be really locked in when I'm watching a movie in a theater.

Like a hundred percent. That is, there's no getting around the fact that you're gonna have people going back and forth from Fields of Vision. Yeah. I would say- And it's a real, like if you can't stop looking at them, it will make you crazy.

Yeah. I have an argument though, that does, sure, there are servers that are coming in and they're bringing food, but I think that in a regular movie theater, you get distractions that need to away with people leaving. And at Alamo's, you are not going to get cell phones and you're not going to get people talking.

No, that's true. Those are positive. They do throw people out. In fact, at our movie was one of the only times I heard, there was like someone on the road behind us who was kind of talking a little bit during the movie. I never experienced that at Alamo. People people like get the boot and I love that I like I've been in so many movie theaters and I think people diss it

but I think it is split when I like have looked at our reddit about this before but like I will I tell people to be quiet and If they're doing something, like anything at all. What is a subreddit split about? I think some people are like, you shouldn't tell people to be quiet. I'm surprised how many people are on the side of, I paid to get in, I'm gonna do whatever I want in a movie.

Yes. Yeah, interesting. And I think that is a newer thing. It's like, if you are on your cell phone, stay at home. You don't have to come to a movie theater. You don't even like movies. I mean, look, that's maybe extreme, but it's like, don't take your fucking side. I remember I told when I was seeing, what was that?

Once upon a time in Hollywood, I was sitting next to someone who was. And I felt bad because they were enjoying the movie, but they kept turning to their friend and telling, like commenting on stuff. And I had to turn to him when I was like, Hey, excuse me, can you please stop talking? And she looked at me like I had told her that I wanted her parents to die. She was like, she just stared me down and I was like, you're the one who's in the wrong.

And I'm not trying to be a rule follower, but you're at a movie, you're supposed to watch what's on the screen. And that- No, that's just courtesy for everyone else, yeah. And people don't understand, they become part of your experience. Right.

Permanently burned in. I remember people who talked in movies 35 years ago if they ruined a movie. The first time I saw Robocop, the dude behind us had to explain it to his brother the whole way through. So we're getting, that says arrest mode, because he's in arrest mode now. Loudly.

For the whole film. It was incredible. I kind of want to see a movie with this guy. That sounds fun. That's like Buster Rhymes when I saw Glass. I loved it though. But yeah, literally like that's in my head when I see Robocop permanently.

Yeah, I get that. I mean like that. It's funny that you have a Robocop story because a day I went to see Robocop cause they were just showing it in a theater again. And it was fucking awesome to see the theater, but love that movie. But there was a guy there and he was one of the guys

who was like trying to do quotes from the movie, but he didn't know them quite right. And so he's like, you know, he'd like it, like it's like body grew up there and he's like, bitches get out of here. Like I would just like say the line incorrectly and everyone's like, bitches get out of here. Like I would say the line incorrectly and everyone's like, what the fuck? And then at a certain point people are like,

hey man, shut the fuck up. And he just went, suck it. He told her to suck it. He told her to suck it. That guy rules too, honestly. You know what? I almost give someone like that more of a pass than someone who's just looking at their phone or like, yeah.

Yeah, no, okay, at least you're engaged. And the other thing I was gonna say is I also. But shut the fuck up. They have rowdy screenings. They have actual designated rowdy screenings of things. There's certain contexts where that's part of the fun bit. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's also mommy and me screenings

that Wagyu and I are always trying to get into. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. They're pretty strict about those policies. Yeah. I did dress up as a baby, you tried to take me. We tried to sneak in that way once. We both lined up at the junior freestyle machine.

So the thing I will say is, I understand that. Where I try personally to be a little bit less of a crank is when I see young people at theaters, I'm just happy to see young people there. And so, like... I am too, but that maybe turns me into the most crank. Right, but I don't know. Like, I go, we went and saw the...

a boy and the heron, and like, there was like a group of like younger, like, you know, teenage girls who were there like watching this animated movie in a theater, and like, they were like, not to an annoying girls who were there, like, watching this animated movie in a theater, and, like, they were, like, not to an annoying degree, but there was, like, some light conversation between them, but they were getting engaged in the movie, and I was like, I'm not gonna yell at these kids, because, like, they're going out to see a fucking animated theater.

Yeah, disrupting you. Yeah, and they're not really disrupting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd yell at them. Shut the fuck up. Talk about it afterwards, you fucking idiots. Talk about it later. I think there's a certain, but also like where movie theaters are and how many people are

just opting not to go to movies at all. Like we had an employee who worked with us for a long time, our good buddy Yu Song, who has seen fewer than 30 movies over the course of his life. There are young people who just like avoid- That's his fault, Yu Song. That's your fault. Go see movies, you weirdo. No, it's definitely not a first choice for a lot of people. Yeah. And I think the second screen thing is real. People would rather be somewhere where they can have this screen open

and have another screen in the background than be somewhere where they're told not to. That's a foreign thing for me, because part of what I like about going to the movies is that I don't have to look at my fucking phone for a while, but I but I get that's a generation. I'm so bad at watching movies at my house I get so distracted that I am now just trying to go to the Vista that's showing something I haven't seen I'm like and even if I've like bought that movie on Apple I'll leave whatever movies I still am gonna go and watch it at just so I can concentrate on the movie always run

There's movie see movie in theater, but the one thing I'll say for you Mitch Put your phone in the other room when you put a movie on. Smart man. You just gotta look at it. Smart man. Look, if I'm at a theater and you're talking, Crank isn't gonna be just up on the screen if you catch my drift.

We're seeing Crank. If we're seeing Crank, we're seeing Jason State the movie, Crank. It's not gonna be just on screen. I'm gonna be in Crank, too. You see it in IRL as well. Oh, I thought I was just seeing Crank on the screen. No, you're seeing just on the screen. I'm gonna be a crank, too. You see it in IRL as well. Yeah. Oh, I thought I was just seeing crank on the screen.

No, you're seeing it in real life. No, you're gonna see me crank off in the theater. No, wait, hold on a second. Mitch and I are cranking off next to each other. That is a good way to make things. That's what you get for talking. Good lord. You should shoot that Alamo trailer. Ha ha ha ha.

If you talk, you text, he cranks. Ha ha ha ha. The celebrity, those are fun. The celebrities are fun. Those are a lot of fun. I like it. We had a friend that would go to film festivals, another critic with us.

And if somebody did that in a film festival screening, he would loudly, in a quiet theater, go, have you no shame. Rocks. Which was the best. The best. That always got somebody's reaction. Yeah. Yeah. That's insane.

Like the idea of doing it in that context using your phone. I can't believe that. Yeah. And I love that Alamo really lays that on. So anyways, we saw Inside Out 2. We saw Inside Out 2. Alamo's Tra Draft House Cinema, just a little bit of context for it, as we said earlier.

It began in 1997 in Austin. Full service food and drinks during movies. I think this isn't enough communities where people are aware of it, but just in case you aren't quite clear on what it is. Menu items are often themed to screenings, as you touched on, and there is a code of conduct, which was also touched on, which prohibits talking,

texting, and late arrivals, which made us very nervous. There are 36 US locations, the plurality are in Texas. I was on time. You were- I was on time, what the fuck? We were sitting down during the first trailer, it was fine. The company was purchased by Sony in June of 2024, and Mitch, this is the thing we talked about during Pank,

if we go on the road again, we're going to Omaha, Nebraska. There is an Alamo Drafthouse in Omaha. Nice. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. All right, we're gonna go. Just saying, I'm just saying.

We're gonna hit on some of the weird spots if we tour again, we're gonna go to some weird spots. I mean, we'll lose money. We'll go to Omaha. We'll go to Omaha for Alexander Payne. Okay. Okay, so this is- For Alexander Payne. So here's, just to talk about what Drew and I experienced. We're sitting outside, we're waiting for Mitch to arrive.

Five minutes before showtime, movies at 7.30, Drew and I get a text that reads, I'm Yee from Mitch. Y with four E's. Well, he's ye. Relax. Were you pulling into the parking structure when you sent that?

I was pulling into the parking structure. Look, we got to talk about this part of Alamo. You and I agree, and Drew, I think you agree too. The location is not great. Specific to the LA one is an odd spot. It's in downtown LA, which is not the, you know, like a destination necessarily, unless you're going to see a concert or a sporting event.

And then it is in kind of a dead mall that you were pointing out. Yeah, it's a weird dead mall with like, there's a Macy's, but then everything else in that mall looks like a fake store that they had to put in a movie because they couldn't clear any real stores. Yes.

And you can't imagine anybody using any of them. And it's also adjacent, Mitch, to the very strange downtown food court where you and I and Griffin Newman from the Blank Check podcast went to Zabaro. Which is weirdly a better mall. It's weirdly a better mall, but they're both kind of like, they're not hot spots in the city. The one advantage of the Alamo Drafthouse,

the downtown location, it is directly above a train station. The Metro Center train stop is, which is like a big train station, it's like right upstairs. Until you see silence and the chairs are shaking as you watch silence. How's that? That works out for you?

Well, it is on the third floor, where you're not really getting the shape from the subway. I mean, you don't hear anything, to be clear. Well, and I've gone to a lot of movies at this location with Mitch. Yeah. And so frequently, I will get that text about two minutes before showtime.

Got it. I'm here, is the elevator working? Which, by the way, is a very real concern. Which is a great question. Because, and this is a part of the issue, Weiger, if you thought that I was late for that, that was probably, with Drew, the earliest I have shown up. It was great.

Luxurious. I show up, I always meet you in the theater almost always. But before the movie starts, might I add, I always make it on time. You did make it on time. Yes, he did. I was on time. But I'll say this,

that it is so complicated going from that parking garage if you don't use that elevator, which is why I always ask Drew if it's working. So one thing is that that elevator's on the fourth floor. They now don't let you get off on the fourth floor. You have to go up to the fifth floor. I went up to the fifth floor. It was, I think because of Alamo, honestly,

the fifth floor had not a lot of parking. So I went up to the sixth floor. As I was going up to the sixth floor and getting off on the sixth floor. I nearly ran into a car. I realized I went up the wrong spiral, which was, which was horrifying. And also by the way, I don't know how I was allowed to go up there. And I was like, it was like a sort of thing where I was like, man, I just did not even realize that that's what it was. And I'm sure that this must happen to it. But it was like, it was very close. I parked in there. I went down to the fourth floor, took the Alamo elevator.

But if you don't take that elevator, you have to go downstairs into this confusing mall. Right. Which when I first was going there, I have a handle on it now. I got confused like four different times. It's like so you're like, where is it? You can't really. It's, it's a few levels up so you can't really see where it is. It's an open mall and like, you're just trying,

it's like a Waldo, it's like a little Waldo world or whatever, it's fucking, it's frustrating. That parking structure is really, really daunting. When I've gone with Natalie, you know, we've driven before and yes, it is a, it's just a, it's like confusing and disoriented. I genuinely get motion sick going up those spirals. Yeah, my girlfriend has to close her eyes,

like just do that when you're driving. Oh yeah, she can't take it. Whereas both of my kids, now that they are driving, that was the rite of passage. I'm driving to the Alamo, I wanna do the ramp. I wanna do the ramp this time. Like both of them were so excited to do that crazy spiral ramp. I'm like, what is this, the Book of Saw?

This spiral is so scary. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah, who did it? Yeah, what is the Book of Saw? That's what I'm thinking while I'm going with that spiral. Who designed this place? MC Escher? That's his name.

Yeah, that's correct. Well done. It's my favorite DJ. Okay, so yes, the actual location, this is about specifically the LA Alamo Draft House. I hear it's a problem chain wide though. I hear some of the New York ones have some odd locations.

I think a lot of it is they look for space that they can convert. And these aren't necessarily theater spaces in the first place. So they're in stranger places. Just think of how much, I'm just thinking of, I've been to Vidius, which I love, and Vidius is a great spot.

And now I've been just a couple times. I ditched Casey once. I was having a colonoscopy. That's why I was having a colonoscopy. That's why I was having a colonoscopy and I was afraid to go and shit my pants during the wall. That was a real fear. So, but if you think of Alamo being out in whatever, Eagle Rock or Glendale or Pasadena, having space, it's like, I think it would be a huge hit. If you put Alamo Drafthouse in Pasadena, having space, it's like, I think it would be a huge hit. If you put, if you put Alamo draft house in Pasadena, I'm like, that's like, it would explode.

I think people, and it's just downtown was that spot. Downtown was not the right spot, which is frustrating. I think they're opening one in Highland Park. That makes great sense. There's a theater in Highland Park that recently closed and I heard that Alamo picked it up. They'll kill. That would make more sense.

I'm hoping if Sony puts some money behind them, I'm hoping they expand because it's still like less than 40 locations total. Yeah, I think there's 36 right now. There's one in the Seaport in Boston, I believe. I walked by it last time we were there, Mookie Mike and I walked around the Seaport and ended up at Legal Seafoods and we walked by it

and I was like, whoa, there's an Alamo here. Nice. It looked nice, it looked like a genuine theater, I didn't go inside. And that's like, I mean, I feel like that's probably a decent spot. Probably. Parking is bad in Seaport.

That was like basically a parking lot when I lived in Boston, the Seaport, and now it's all built up, but it's a very popular place to be now. I think that's a better spot, but it was, when I was looking at times there, I was just gonna try to go see a movie there and it was very strange time.

It was like just opening up last time I was home, but I wanna visit next time I'm back there. I think there's not a ton of brand awareness either in Massachusetts. I don't think they know it as well. There was an Arclight at TD Garden, home of the 2024 Boston Celtics Championship team. And there was an Arclight there,

and I think people had no idea what Arclight was either, really. And then that one was, it was like barely open. I feel like it was open like a year or something. It's a weird time to be opening new theaters anyway. I think it's definitely more of a gamble now, and it feels like you've got to work harder, which is why I think they do the rep screenings and the extra stuff.

And they're really trying to make it of value. I know right after the pandemic, when they were trying to get people back to the theaters, they made private rentals very cheap. Okay. Because I did my oldest son's 16th birthday at one. And it was really affordable. And we just programmed a movie and he brought 15

of his friends and they watched The Thing. That was awesome. That's awesome. It was great. Like what a cool way to have a birthday party. I think they're a little more expensive now, but still I think they're exploring all of these ways to try to make the theater more community minded

or get people back in. It's kind of important. Which I love about it. And a funny thing about going there now is that when we went to our movie, the tables are a little bit more worn now. You're seeing it be a little bit more rundown, which by the way, if the Arclight opens again, they need to update their seats. You know what I mean? And now you're starting to feel the age a little bit at that downtown location. But I'd say comfy enough seats.

I think that the setup works for what it is. If you want to look at a menu, you put it under, for people who haven't been there, there's a little light under the table and you hold on this, not distracting. No, no, no, that's really well done. You can read it. Yeah, that is well done.

No, that's not an eye draw that doesn't like to, you know, make the theater seem all super illuminated or anything. Still feels like a dark theater. And I think the ordering is very well done too. There's a button that you push and you put a card. The buttons are newer, right? Yeah, the buttons were a recent addition because I think they had some problems

with people putting a card up and then it not getting seen. Sure, yeah. And so they quickly added the buttons and now there's a little call button. You put the menu order up and they'll come get it within like four or five minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We, honestly, weirdly, I thought that they stopped service

a little early for our movie. I thought they did, which is why we'll get into that. But anyway, so we bought three seats. This was another kind of simmering subplot here. We bought three seats, only two were together. And so, and there was two seats. This was another kind of simmering subplot here. We bought three seats, only two were together. And so, and there was two seats. There was a woman sitting there and then another empty seat, which was the third one we bought.

And we'd kind of prepared for this. And I went in and I talked to her and I said like, hey, do you mind switching whenever? It's totally cool if you don't want to. She was so nice about it. She was so happy to move over. It was great. She ruled.

She was having a blast. And she was having fun watching the movie. I felt bad at the end was she's like, what do you think. It was great. She ruled. She was having a blast with the movie. And she was having fun watching the movie. I felt bad at the end when she's like, what do you think? It was great, huh? And I was like, uh-huh. I just, I lied. But I will say, she also was like,

who played Mindy Kaling? Because she noticed, she clocked that something was off about the voice casting, which was a whole like, Pixar being cheap and not wanting to pay for Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling. Which look, I know that Mindy Kaling and Bill Hader have a lot of money. Yeah, sure.

But it's also- We know who has more money? Fucking Disney. Fucking Disney. And that's, I mean, that was a thing that really bothered me. Exactly. It's weird. For a movie that is, the first one was how old? Nine years ago or something?

Yep. Eight or nine years ago? It's like, I was saying this, is that when I was going in there and trying to, like I saw Inside Out 1, and trying to like recollect what I remembered from that movie. Right, cause this isn't the kind of movie where you're like watching a lore video before you go see the sequel,

to like remember, oh yeah, what happened in the first Dune movie? I gotta do my homework. It's just like, oh yeah, Inside Out 2, I'm sure they'll- Yeah, her emotions run around in her head. Exactly, right, I get it. But you are kind of trying to track like, wait, who is that?

Which one was that? Just not having the characters back. First of all, that sucks shit, fuck you Disney. That does suck, yeah. And you should pay your actors. But it's that sort of thing of like, anything that I can grasp onto from the first one, now there's these changes and I don't,

it makes me more lost in the movie. I'm unmoored a little bit because my connection to this character was through the actor and now that connection is severed and so now I have to relearn who this is. Versus like Lewis Black is anger, got it. I'm just clocked in. Yeah, yeah, agree.

Anyway, so, but we saw the movie, I didn't love it, but I did have a great time with the food. So I've been drinking a lot less lately, but I did treat myself to a Marg here. I got their watermelon mezcal margarita. I was hoping they'd have some sort of boozy thing that was themed to a recent release. And that is what you got, Mitch,

but it was for, it's for an 80s movie. It's for Vampire's Kiss. It's for Vampire's Kiss. The Transylvania mule. I'm trying to pull up the menu right now. Yeah, I should have everything here, but so let me know if you need anything. Yeah, I got that, which was basically,

it was like a mule, basically. It's vodka, raspberry gum, which I let me know if you need anything. Yeah, I got that which was basically it was like a vodka raspberry gum, which I don't know what that is exactly top hat ginger beer cranberry lime and cherry Wait, what is it? What are what are mules? What are they? What are the what is the full name of a mule? Moscow Moscow mule. Oh Right use whiskey, right? Yeah. I thought that was a pretty tasty drink. They do they do good They drinks are great. I like really decent cocktails down down there they also I think they were one of the first places that I remember seeing boozy milkshakes at yep and I'm not like a boozy milkshake guy but but I was like cool I've been like I remember back in the day thinking that was

cool I thought about getting one because I just never get them, but I was like, I'm gonna get the Rumblies from a milkshake. So I just decided not to do it. Well, I did that for you anyways. Yeah, you got a milkshake. I got a milkshake right there. The margarita, I will just say, it's just, it's a watermelon puree, a miscal,

lime juice in a salted rim, and I thought it was really tasty. I've had success with the cocktails that I've had there. They do have a very long, it's the draft house, so they do have a very long beer list, including some NA beer options, which is great to see. The Transylvania Mule. Transylvania Mule.

I like it. I liked all the, Wags and I actually both said this. There's a 1989 pint glass, and we both wish we got one. I should have gotten the 1989 pint glass. This summer, they're doing 99, 94, 89, 84. That's right. Those are the four programs and they did shot glass or pint glasses for all of them.

And yeah, they're great looking. 89 is a good one. I want to get that 89. When you're going through the 2800 80s movies that were released in America, do you have like an ultimate ranking? Or are you listing them all out by numerical value or do you not go that deep into it?

I recently did a project where I went through my life, 1970 to now and did my top 30 movies for every year. Just to kind of try and figure it out. Cause I- That rules. At this point, have seen so many. Yeah, sure. And yeah, looking at the 80s, it's not what I would have thought. Like when I really weighed everything,

yeah, it's a great decade. It's a fun decade to write about. But I think my attitudes towards a lot of those movies have changed over the years. Things that I canonized when I was little, I go back now and definitely have a different perspective on. Yeah, for sure. What about just the drink that inspired Mitch's cocktail,

Vampire's Kiss specifically, the movie that inspired that drink? Terrific Nicolas Cage performance. Like it's a crazy little movie and it's when the cage was still kind of a new presence. And that was the run like Birdie and Moonstruck and Vampire's Kiss. And it was just every time out, this guy

is going to do something insane. And I'm totally down for what it is. I love that performance. He settled in though. Yeah, oh sure. He got super normal later. Look, I'll say this. Transylvanian Mule, decent name.

I didn't get it, but Pizza of the Future could have a better name. Alamo, if you need some menu writing, we got Wiggs here. He and I could- This is what I do, yeah. We could do this, we could do this. If you ever need help, we're down to do it. That one was specifically Back to the Future 2.

And if you remember the movie, it's literally a half pepperoni, half green pepper pizza. I remember that, but you know what's so crazy? It says inspired by Back to the Future Part One, which I did wrong. Wrong. That's what I was like, wait a minute, that's wrong. They don't have future pizza.

You can't make that mistake with all the nerds that are coming to your theater. They know, they know. God, how often do they fucking actually eat about menu items? Oh, sure. I mean, right now. I always did want to eat that pizza,

so I think that it was a great choice. And Wise, I got another thing from that menu. So this was my main meal, but we should get to the appetizers first. I'm jumping ahead. Yeah. Your Coke Zero, was that hitting? Well, I love that they have Coke Zero.

Me too. Because that's my preference. I don't like Diet Coke. I think they're totally different drinks. Yeah, I agree. And so if a place has Coke Zero, I too. Cause that's my preference. I don't like Diet Coke. I think they're totally different drinks. Yeah, I agree. And so if a place has Coke Zero, I become very loyal. Like, thank you.

And yeah, that's every time. I got a Diet Coke too, which they have Diet Coke as well. And I like Diet Coke. And I'll say what I like about it is that popcorn and drinks are bottomless. Yeah. They're bottomless and they also come in a proper like receptacle. Like you got like a proper cup,

it's not a disposable cup and it's a big bowl of popcorn. I like both those. I like having a cup with some heft to it. I think that rules. Eating, getting a second bowl of popcorn is not easy. I've seen movies with you where we've done it, but on the second bowl, I'm like dying. Yeah.

But it's a big old bowl of popcorn with real butter, clarified butter. Yeah. And it's fantastic. The popcorn there, I think, is really, really good. They also do a couple of variations. They do the Parmesan popcorn. Yes.

And they do the churro popcorn. Which I've never had. I've had the churro popcorn with you, and it's fantastic. It's awesome. Just cinnamon sugar, and then these hard churro popcorn. Which I've never had. I've had the churro popcorn with you and it's fantastic. It's awesome. Just cinnamon sugar and then like these hard churro pieces that are, yeah, that's a great one. That does, it looks good. It looks like an indulgence.

I would look, so I'm famously a popcorn skeptic, at least famously in the context of this podcast. I have had Alamo popcorn and I do like their popcorn. So I will say that that's like, I think maybe it's just being in a bowl is enough for me. No, it's the fact that they pop it. Like as somebody who worked in theaters for years, AMC was my first change.

Like all that stuff gets popped in advance, it's put in bags, like half the time you're getting popcorn from yesterday. And like, so it's not the same thing at all. And it's all done with the fake weird butter and the weird like corn syrup stuff. That's a big difference. It tastes different. It is what you think of as popcorn.

Yeah. Yeah, no, it's great. And the fact that you can refill it is like... Pretty appealing. It's... I know that like at AMC if you get a big bucket, but this is the only popcorn you can get there and it just is a better popcorn. It tastes real. Like... Either of you ever do the thing where you find,

like you go to a theater that has the refillable popcorn bucket and you find the discard, like someone's discarded like large popcorn bucket and you get the free refill. No, what the fuck, no. You ever did that? You did that? I did that one as a teenager, yeah. You fucking piece of shit.

Yeah, my friend would like find like a large popcorn bucket in the trash. You will move back in the 80s and 90s if you wanted to theater hop, was as long as you bought something from Concession or checked in at Concession, they wouldn't kick you out. Because if you're walking around with Concessions, they're not throwing you out of anywhere.

That's a great point, yeah. You fucking scumbag. I got bad news for you, Wags. Those bowls that they put them in, they're metal bowls, so you can't pull your famous popcorn trick. Um, unless you have a really strong power tool. So, okay, we didn't, we didn't, we opted not to pop though. We got chips and queso.

We did not pop. We got fried pickle spears, which was a wreck from our friend of the show, Eva Anderson. And so those were our starters. Here's one thing I will say, because I don't eat pork anymore and I try to eat less meat in general. A lot of quesos have added like, you know,

they've got chorizo or something in them. This is a vegetarian queso. And I think it's quite a yummy queso. You can add beef to it if you'd like. But they only recently did that, I think, because I didn't realize you could add beef to it. And then that's my younger son's go-to there, is the chips and queso.

And when the waiter the last time asked him, or the server said, do you want beef in there, he was like, I'm sorry, what? You can do what? And he did it just because he's like, yeah, I think so. Put it in. Didn't even realize it was an option. Yeah.

I think that queso is, I've had it before with you. I think that queso is really fantastic. I'd be curious for people who are, you know, for Texans, how they feel about their queso. I would imagine if you're doing a queso in Texas, you know, you better make sure you do your homework on that because people are pretty picky about it. But it feels like for me as a guy who's not an expert

on Tex-Mex food, but it's enjoyed it when I've had it, it feels like a good representation of queso. I think it's a really solid queso. And it's one of those things that's pretty reliable there. Like I think that's true of most of their food is it's consistent. If you get it one time and then you get another, it will be the same thing.

And their queso is pretty predictable. The other thing I like about it is that I'm a nacho guy over, again, this ties into my popcorn skepticism, but it feels like, oh, not nachos, I get chips and queso. It feels like you're doing something kind of fun and out there, you know? Well, I know Mitch has seen this a few times.

Sometimes all I want is French fries. Oh, sure. And just getting a basket of fries there, I think is terrific as an alternative to popcorn or a full meal or something, because it hits the salty and the sweet a little bit for me and it's a really nice alternative. Yeah.

The fried pickle spears, there's another thing I'm generally skeptic of. I thought they were really well done. They were well done. I did pull one, one of the pickles did come out. I had two of them came out of the crusted, you know what I'm talking about? That's not ideal.

That was burning the shit out of me. But I also, it was like, I ate them like, that pickle I ate within like seconds to coming to our table. I had to let it cool down a little bit, but I thought, well done. I thought they tasted good. I thought they did a good job. They had like a, it didn't taste like I was at any bar USA

and eating pickle spears. No, yeah. They were well done. They were like a cut above what you might get like a Chili's or something like that. Yeah. You know, not to throw Chili's under the bus. I think it's easy to just order the same thing every time.

Like I have my standards, my things I like. So I have never tried those at all. Oh wow. And I thought they were great. I thought they were really tasty. And it's not something that I would have had on my radar. We took some friends recently, did the vegan cauliflower buffalo.

And I was shocked by how good they were. Like that's something that you can do really crummy versions of it. Like a lot of bad versions of it. I thought theirs was delicious. Like it really was like a wing. What is your go-to? And is that what you got to when we went to Inside Out 2? No, normally, like I said, normally,

if I'm just doing like an app or just something little, I'll do French fries. You just fries, yeah. Or the churro popcorn sometimes. But if I do the whole meal, like I'll wait and I'll get fries with whatever the thing is. Got it. And is what you got,

because you got the grilled chicken club and you had a clutch substitution, which was a sub in the fried chicken for it. Is that like kind of your go-to sandwich? It's one of them. I really liked that sandwich. And the move there is you order the grilled chicken club sandwich,

but you have them put the fried chicken breast on it. Yes. And because their fried chicken sandwich, not great. Yeah, I was looking at their fried chicken. But the fried chicken is a really good, cause their fried chicken sandwich, not great. Yeah, I was looking at their fried chicken- But the fried chicken is a really good piece. Their fried chicken sandwich has some, it has like Brussels sprouts on it.

It's kind of like trying some different things. Not for me. I love the other version though, with that substitution. But you know what is pretty good there? And I've had, I didn't have it on this trip. The Royale with cheese is pretty good. And you know what? It's also fun to order, Wags.

It is fun to order a Royale with cheese. So the grilled chicken club with the fried chicken patty, which is what you got, is cheddar, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, lemon, garlic, aioli, and a toasted bun. The burger I got is not the Royale with cheese. I got the Hellfire Burger, because I'm a bit of a heat seeker. But they do have a Beyond Patty there.

So I subbed in a Beyond Patty, and I got that veggie style with a melted hot pepper cheese, caramelized onions, blue cheese, Reaper pepper mayo, and toasted bun. I'm surprised you go with the, the Royale is just a looks better to me. And I've had it and it's very good, but I've never had the Hellfire. Did you like it?

Well, that was the thing. I'd never had the Hellfire. So that's why I tried it. And I did like it. I did, I thought it was quite yummy. That was well cooked. How dominant is the blue cheese? Because that for me is a deal breaker.

Honestly, just having it, and maybe I'm just more primed for more pepper, but I felt it was more blue cheese dominant than spicy dominant. It felt more like a blue cheeseburger with caramelized onions to me, with a little bit of spice. But it was yummy.

I enjoyed it. Shout outs to the, I've had some of the pizza before. I think the pizza is decent. Their pizzas are really good. Their pizza oven was broken. Yeah. Oh wow. Which I heard them say in hushed tones to a bunch of customers.

Oh, that's a bummer. I didn't realize that. We didn't get any pizza items, but would anyone have gotten one if it wasn't? I thought about it. Maybe. Oh really? I like their pizzas a lot. I think they do a really good job. And they'll customize, and they'll mix and match.

Like, they're pretty good. That's the thing. It's a real kitchen. It's not all prefabbed and frozen and then just warmed up. Like, they're making it for you so you can really customize things. Which is, it is hard to eat in the dark. I will say that.

It is difficult if you're getting some of this bigger stuff to eat in the dark. But they do a good job of like, it comes to you pretty early on in the movie. The way that things went, usually I have a game plan there and I know what I'm going to do. And because of that, we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. So even during the movie a little bit, and I was like, oh, I was getting a little distracted by it, but luckily you could get distracted for an hour of Inside Out 2 and not have to worry about what was going on on screen.

Um. I got it, I got it, I know what's going on. Yeah, it was a very much like, oh, okay, yeah, this is happening, sure. Yeah, another phrase about the mind that you've rendered visually, sure it's like, oh, it's the train of thought. Look out! The sarcasm.

The sarcasm, I almost rolled one of my eyes out of my head. Yeah. And we just kept looking up, is the horny character here yet? No, horny-o. Which is a weird thing that's not... A part of puberty is the the weird gross side of puberty, which they can't talk about in a children's movie. Or they tap dance around that one.

They really did, but that's a huge part of it. But yeah, so there's a- I waited for the hormones to arrive. You kind of wait, because, you know, the movie is, it's a 13-year-old girl. Why didn't they just do that? Hormone, that would have worked. That would have been fun.

The puberty alarm goes off and like, yeah, Natalie shared with me a letter boxed review after she saw it. That was just someone saying, where's horny? Because it's like, of all the emotions that a teenager has to grapple with just to not touch on this. But it's kind of like the Monsters University approach, which is another Pixar movie that's like,

it's a college movie that completely avoids drugs, sex and alcohol, which is like. movie that's like, it's a college movie that completely avoids drugs, sex, and alcohol, which is like. Just like our experience. Yeah. Yeah. Uh. Playing Mario Kart or I just all text out. Um.

Yeah, Monsters University, a big monster going through college, not fucking anyone, this makes sense. Um. A big monster going through college, not fucking anyone. This makes sense. Um, uh. I, I gotta give a shout out. Um, uh, I gotta, I gotta give a shout out for something that I tried this.

My, my, and you, you said that it was good. It was one, it was, and it's one of my favorite things I've had there. The hand breaded chicken tenders are fantastic. But we, did we get them at that? I did not get them and I was so close to getting them again. I went with the special, but the 24 hour dry brine fried golden served with scratch made hatch green chili gravy.

And that gravy is fucking good. And the chicken tenders are quality chicken tenders. They come with fries. It's really, they are good. I saw our buddy Alan McLeod Molasses boy and he was talking about the chicken tenders How long do you how long did this fucking interaction take? Was there for a while

Was he was talking of the chicken tender who's talking about knows what's up because it comes it has a little you know I'm a little gravy. Yeah. Oh, I know somebody who loves the fish and chips as well Yeah, really love because they'll bring the malt vinegar to you. They'll do the whole thing, so. No, it's good food. I've enjoyed basically everything I've had there. I think my one disappointing food experience was not even necessarily the food. It was the pairing of food with movie. I saw Mad God, the stop motion horror film. And Natalie and I were sitting in the front row, so we're like right in the middle of

it. And that's a nasty movie. It's a whole bunch of body or a bunch of gross stuff. And I said this in the podcast before, I got like a Cobb salad. So I'm just eating like wet lettuce while I'm watching like a body be dismembered. And I'm like, this is fucking gross.

That's scary. Yeah, it's repulsive. I did the Henry dog, which was on the special menu here. Inspired by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. How can I turn that down? Truly, I mean, I love that movie. Yeah. And I wish we were in there watching it.

It would have been great. Shouldn't it be the Indiana dog? They named the dog Indiana. Yeah. I mean, you're right. They need to punch up the item names. Yeah, that's all right. Maybe don't want to imply that you're eating a dog.

Oh, interesting. That might be too weird. It was not a real dog, Jimmy. Don't worry. You're safe, baby. Not a real dog. Don't worry, interesting. That could be it. That might be too weird. It was not a real dog, Jemmy. Don't worry. You're safe, baby. Not a real dog. Don't worry, baby. It's good.

It was a bacon-wrapped hot dog, spicy carrot relish, lemon garlic aioli, fresh cucumber, pickled jalapeno, buttered bun served with french fries and ketchup. I thought it tasted fantastic. My issue was, and luckily we had a bunch of other stuff, was that it was just kind of not enough for me. I was trying to do dinner. I didn't see that. I needed two dogs. And I just needed probably another dog or a big jumbo dog or something like that.

Yeah. That to me sounds like it should be a big old Frank. But we're bringing up something with Alamo that is crazy to us is that there's no, or at least your son said this, there's no hot dog at the theater. Not by default, no. They need to get a hot dog in there. Get a big jumbo dog. Get a jumbo dog in there. I think that everyone will be happy

if you had a jumbo dog. There should be a default dog that's the standard on the menu. Yeah, I agree. I was also very happy to actually hear you say hot dog in the wild. Like that was awesome. Oh, he is an idiot. But I, and the fries are great. I genuinely enjoyed it.

I got myself a Diet Coke after I got the vampire's kiss. The vampire's kiss was very good. And then why's you tried to order cookies? Yeah, so this is a thing. And it actually happened to my seatmate next to me, the lovely woman who I traded seats with. She ruled, yeah. We show, you're cut off pretty early.

And I was like, you know, they bring you your bill with what, you put a card down the way it works, and then they will bring you your bill to close out before the movie is over. And a lot of times- They cut you off a booze pretty early. Like you were like after like 10 minutes in there, like no more booze.

Yeah, yeah, they cut me off immediately after four Watermelon Mist cow margaritas during the trailers. And then they, so, but they bring that out and then at that point it's kind of like the door is shut on more ordering. So I had a little card that I'd put out there that I wanted to get, you know, an order of cookies.

I was like, that'd be fun. We'll have some cookies. But then they were like, I'm so sorry, service has ended. And they said the same thing to the woman next to me. I was kind of disappointed. There was like 45 minutes of movie left, too. And there was another movie after ours. That's what really confused me. I understand it at the late movies.

Like when you and I go to a 1030, and they close the kitchen at midnight, yeah, I get it. Sure, right. But there was a whole other service after ours. That was a little disappointing. I thought it was a little early to do it. But that's also a lesson learned of, like, I just got to put my order in earlier.

But you know what's funny, though, is that they brought us our receipt, and your sandwich hadn't come yet. And I put up a thing for chocolate milkshake. And the guy came down and he looked and he took it. And he took my, the receipt back. So, and then. I think it was because you had not closed out completely. Closed out completely.

But you, I didn't close out still after that. But you were like a minute later. And it felt like I was like the last. This is like the last. Oh, that could have been it. This is like the last thing I'm going to do for these three old men who are here to see Inside Out 2. I guess they need a milkshake, whatever. That all seem to be sharing their food.

I don't know what their deal is. They're all saying there should be a horny emotion. This animated film about a 13 year old girl. Just close their barrel. Get them out of here. Close them out. Get them a milkshake. Get the fuck out of here.

I got a chocolate milkshake Wags and I actually felt bad, especially when you couldn't get the cookies because I should have gotten a vanilla milkshake. And I liked the chocolate milkshake and you could tell that it was like a nice quality milkshake. But it felt like there was just chocolate syrup in there and I think that it would have been better to try the vanilla. Yeah, you gave me a sip, and honestly, I didn't know what flavor it was until I checked the receipt later. I was like, this tastes pretty good. I didn't realize it was actually- It was just ice cream. It was, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was just ice cream flavor, yeah. Which is, look, if you want to get a milkshake, and you're going to a movie, they got nice quality milkshakes. I like the Oreo one. Oh, yeah, yeah. They have a good Oreo. And they give you one of those thick straws, which I know you like the thick straws. OK.

I know you do. I do like a bubble straw. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I thought it was still decent. I thought our food was all good. Look, like I said, I showed my hand early on. I do like this place. I think it is, like, not the first of its kind.

I know that, like, the dinner theaters have been around for a long, long time. But I felt like it was like, hey, this is the new thing. This is like, they've got a take on it that really works. And I enjoy it. Now there are copycats, of course. Well, and there's a part of it that you've never experienced simply because of when you show up.

But the pre-shows at the Alamo are terrific. I love when they, when you show up like a half an hour early and you're sitting in the theater, they theme everything that you see. And they will find crazy clips from 70s stuff. Like if you go see superhero film, you'll see a lot of the Bruce, the Bill Bixby Incredible Hulk, or you'll see Dr. Strange from the 70s.

Like I love the way they do that and they kind of get you into the mood for a half an hour or so before the movies begin even. And that's cool. Like it's an inviting way to get you warmed up. It's not just the same ads or movie trivia or junk like that. Like I like that part of the experience as well. It's an inviting way to get you warmed up. It's not just the same ads or movie trivia or junk like that.

I like that part of the experience as well. I love how casually just Tomahawk dunked all over Mitch. I know. Like Shaq dunking on Chris Dudley and pushing him over, just walking away. Like Jaylen Brown dunking on Luca. How's that? I do, and they, they sometimes

have celebrities that are like, if you talk, like, this celebrity is going to come and, like, beat you up. And that's, there's a lot of fun stuff. That stuff's fun. I, yeah, I'm trying to remember any, uh, specifically. But like, yeah, with the, I think we saw Sasquatch, Sasquatch Sunset there. They had, like, a bunch of, like, just, like, Sasquatch

content in the pre-show. And that was a lot of fun to watch. And yeah, it just puts you in the mood. I'll say this about to quickly go back to Inside Out 2. Yeah. It does get like, it gets the tear jerk motions, but it was like, my eye here was like starting to water up, but it never, it never hit home. It felt like a movie that was really going through the motions. It felt just kind of like, all right, here it is. This is a sequel. And I said this to you, but like, it feels weirdly elitist. It's about like a family in San Francisco and it feels like a, like, like, oh, this is a young girl who like is going to go to an Ivy league college. And it feels like the picks, the people who work at Pixar is live.

This is basically what we're saying. It's an unfortunate kind of streak that's through a few different Pixar films. And I thought it was just a Brad Bird thing at times, but it is kind of like, no, what makes you worthwhile is being high achieving. And it's like, you know, and Natalie always had the same sort of observation. She was like, it's movies should be about accepting

who you are. Honestly, I think that's what's great about Monsters University, to go back to that. It's like the end of that movie is like, oh, we, you know what, this isn't a great fit for us. We have something else we should be doing with our lives. We shouldn't have these aspirations because it's not for us.

Yeah, just even the hockey being her sport is like the most expensive sport. It's just like these funny things where you're like, you're in the Bay Area, this just feels very much like not the rest of America, you know what I mean? But it's- Your dad's fucking hot. Yeah, yeah.

We gotta look at this fucking doof the whole time. Yeah, why was the dad's fucking hot. Yeah, yeah. We got to look at this fucking dill for the whole time. Why was the dad so fucking hoffs? Not all dads are fucking hoffs. Also, anxiety controlling things through pu- A lot of anxiety. Like, controlling all, like, there was like, there's just like, why is anxiety the thing that's driving, it drives a lot, but it doesn't drive really.

And just reading that, it's clear, like, all the way through production, they wrestled with which new emotions to introduce. And I don't know if they landed on the right. I didn't think they used on We very well. Like, it was. She was sitting out, not doing much. She was like her character.

She wasn't taking part in the movie. It was odd, considering how great that first film was. And it really was upper tier Pixar. Yeah. I think the first one's great. This felt like a rough animatic for a sequel. Like, this is what it will be like. These are all the beats we'll do.

But it didn't feel like a film really. Yeah, riding the emotion balls back. You were saying that after it's kind of like some strange stuff. My big issue is just with the, like, and all these things, I agree with all of them, but my other big issue is that I just don't think it's a great sports movie.

So for something that's so centered around sports, it's like, I don't know, there's all these sports movies tropes you could kind of run with. If you want to have just a very simple skeletal narrative to string together all the internality of the character, but it's just kind of like just there. Yeah, it's low stakes.

It's like even early on they're like, this is a practice, who cares? So you're like, okay, well, whatever. What's up everybody? It's your boy, The Spoon Man, and I want to talk to you about Helix brand mattresses. That's right, you know I love them. I've had a Helix for god, seven years now?

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Do it for me, the Burger Boy. We should get to our thoughts on Alamo Drafthouse, the chain. So, Drew, you know the podcast, but just to recap, we will each go around, give a closing argument, if you will, and give it a score from zero to five forks. You're our guest. Seated to my left, we'll begin with you. Overall, I think that this chain is trying to make the theatrical experience special. And that is something that I am 100% behind. I think they have some weird location issues in some of their places. I wish they had a little bit more variety in the menu on a regular basis.

I like when they do the specials. I wish they rotated more things through. There are things that they've done in the past that they did well, I wish they'd bring back. Overall though, I think it is about what I would want from this experience. The only way it could really get better is if you had more room, bigger screens, a couple of 70 millimeter, make a deal with IMAX.

Like there's ways you could improve it. So I'm gonna go four forks. Because I, there's ways you could improve it. So I'm going to go four forks. Wow. Because I think there's room to make it great. But I think as it stands, it's a really good theater experience. Four forks, good score. Mitch, what do you think? I think that's a great score. And like I said, I mean, I think people have saw this model.

And I mean, there's, look, there's dinner, theater, places like we said. I remember when I first heard of it back in like the eighties or nineties that like down in Cape Cod, there was a place where you could see a movie and get dinner. And I was like, holy shit, that's crazy. Um, but I think that this place does such a great job with it. And a lot of place, like new newer places have kind of taken that model of that, that draft house has, and they've tried to copy it. Uh, there's a place in Glendale. Have you been to that, Casey? Have you been to the place?

The Look Theater? Look Theater. I know of it. I haven't been there. I'm not much of a dinner theater movie goer myself. Sure, yeah. I get that. I get it. And there's a, in New York, there's a couple that... Yeah, we talked about those with Griff and we've talked about those with Sims. Like Nighthawk. The Nighthawk. I'dhawk. The Nighthawk.

I'd love to get a Nighthawk, it sounds cool. Yeah. Well, and I get your point, Casey. Like if you're going to see Dune and you want to see it in 70, like the Chinese 70 is one of my favorites. I like that screen a lot. I will go for certain things to a giant screen

because I want to get lost in it. Yeah. But for a lot of movies, I'm good with this version of it. Yeah, say- For sure. I'm good with this version of it. Yeah. For sure. Say, I kind of love this place.

Again, my first experience it was, Force Awakens, which is a bad first experience, I guess. But you could just tell the magic. And that wasn't even the original. Like when I was going in there, it's like, oh, this is not only a place like, it's like, and it feels like the same way with the Videots or any of these kind of like Vista or any of these places, where it's like, this, this is not only a place like it's like a, and it feels like the same way with the video, it's or any of these kinds of like Vista or any of these

places where it's like, this is a community where people love movies and they really care about movies and you can feel that when you're in there. And I think that the food is really well done. And I agree with you. There are some, some shortcomings that they could get better with, but I can't go below four forks. I think it's four forks. And I think there's some version of this.

If they do it in Eagle rock or whatever, that could be a five four theater, but I, I, I think it's Four Forks, and I think there's some version of this, if they do it in Eagle Rock or whatever, that could be a Five Fork theater, but I love it. And if you're gonna, if I get not liking dinner theater, but for a place that has dinner theater, you're not gonna get distracted, there's not gonna be people talking or cell phones or whatever, and you're gonna get good food, it's a Four Forker, it's great.

I think I'm more on Casey's page here. I think we're more the kind of like, our movie watching experience I think is more like, that's more what I'm looking for. Like I wanna be kind of just like locked in and sitting in the theater and just kind of immersed, right? That's kind of what you're going for. That's kind of your ideal, yeah.

And so like, for instance, where we saw Zodiac back when we were doing Mank, when we saw that at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, which is like, you know, this rep theater, like, just like sitting in an old movie house and just watching, like, that's what I'm looking for. That's a great theater. That's a great theater.

And if I was gonna see Do the Right Thing, I'd rather see it at a venue like that than see it at the Alamo. But it's awesome that Alamo will show movies like Do the Right Thing, and it's awesome that Alamo will show movies like do the right thing. And it's awesome that they're continually programming things. And it's not their fault that you're a distracted little bitch either.

That wants to go to a- Fair point. Yeah, no, I can't argue with it. I'm a distracted little bitch. What's that? This is my payback for you when we were doing mic checks and you fucking mocked me. But you and Casey sit at the end of your cup of water, fucking pour the hell out of everyone. They make sure that people are not talking or using their phones.

That I love. That's huge. When I'm making check marks in the pro column, those are big check marks, those are big positives. And honestly, I probably am, despite me saying that, yes, it's an eye draw, I don't like people crossing my field of vision when watching a movie. I wanna also say that's,

and the staff is usually always great. They're great about that. They're great about, but you know, again. They're film fans, like so many of them are film fans. Just for me, individual, like me specifically, I get distracted by that motion, I get distracted by that motion. I get distracted by just like bodies being physically, you know, walking back and forth in front of the screen,

even though they're a very good job of, of seeming invisible. Oh boy. Hold on, let me fin it. Let me land the fucking plane before you jump down my throat. It's going in, man. Also, I just, can I, can I give one last shout out to this?

Cause we didn't talk about it too much, but like there's a bar there and there's karaoke. There is like, they're trying to do the community thing a little bit there. Drag queens bingo on the weekends and all sorts of stuff, trivia nights. Was there VHSs and stuff too? Or there's like-

You can rent DVDs there. They have a pretty interesting rental library and it's free if you're an Alamo member. Which you are. Yeah. This is what I was going to say is, that's part of though what I really like about it, is that you go and it feels like a fucking picture house.

It feels like this is a movie theater. You're walking by, there's old like gigantic like Italian movie posters and old like, you know, John Derek Westerns, you know, like there's all this stuff for these, for old, it feels like just like a love letter to movies. I know that's a cliché, but that's kind of like how it feels just to be inside of there. It feels like there's a love of cinema that's behind everything. I love going to the movies. I love movie theaters. I've

talked about my own personal movie theater journey on this podcast, which is very personal to me, which is that I was having a lot of claustrophobia and anxiety issues with theaters for a long time, was staying away from them. And it's a thing that I feel like I'm largely on the other side of and it's a thing that I can enjoy doing again. And so when I go to the, when I go to the, like, it's like a thing that I love to do, is to go to the movies. And I will say, despite the minor distractions that I feel when I'm at the Alamo, I think the food quality is really great. I think the movies they program are great.

And I think that everyone there who's behind it is someone who's a lover of cinema. And I think this chain, at least by virtue of its overall philosophy, achieves what it is trying to do, so it belongs in the Golden Plate Club with a four-fork score. Four forks for Alamoar Draft Packs.

And a bonus point for the weird unisex bathrooms. I do like the unisex bathroom. I do too. Because there's like a little cubby hole for urinals, but then there's also, this is, you know what, we should have brought this up. Thank you very much for bringing this up, Drew. Floor to ceiling stalls.

How great is that? Just little private rooms. Exactly. I'm in there all the time. I love it in there. What the fuck? There's a urinal room. Yeah.

And then, like, I've told you before that, like, the unisex bathroom sometimes, I just, my fear is leaving a bathroom after using it. And, like, there's a lady there. And I'm like, it stinks in there. You know what I mean? Like, that's so. You don't have to say that to them.

I know, but it just comes out usually. You walk out and you say, the person before me was a sociopath. Yeah. But I think that they do a really good job with, it feels like a bathroom of the future. It does feel like a bathroom of the future. It's very well done.

Yeah. And the building is weird, but inside there, it is cool when you're walking out. Yeah, I love the vibe in there. I love the energy. Hey, congratulations to Alamo Drafthouse for Forks. Hopefully, things maintain or improve under the new stewardship of Sony.

Yeah, I just hope Sony puts money behind it. And they're serious when they say they want to keep it, the Drafthouse. Yes, for sure. Hey, that was our review of Alamo Drafthouse. It's time for a segment. We've got a food stuff. We're going to decide if you should put it in your mouth. Yes, for sure. Hey, that was our review of Alamo Draft House. It's time for a segment. We've got a food stuff we're gonna decide

if you should put it in your mouth. It's snack or whack. And Drew, you brought us a real treat, which Emma's gonna bring out now. You brought us the Tom Cruise cake. I think that's the official name of it. Wow. Yes. Yeah, I've heard of this.

I'm sure you guys have heard of this over the years. For sure. That every year he has a mailing list. And if you're on the mailing list, you get this cake from Dones Bakery in Woodland Hills. Wow. And it's become a hotly sort of everybody wants one, everybody wants to be on that list.

I realized I'm probably not going to end up on Tom Cruise's mailing list anytime soon. And so for Father's Day this year, Gold Belly lets you order directly from Doane's Bakery and I had one delivered. That rules. I have the description from Gold Belly just context for what this is. The famous Tom Cruise cake is a one layer bundt cake made with coconut cake with white chocolate chunks. The round cake is slathered in white cream cheese frosting and coated with heaps of

coconut flakes. Yes, at Doane's Bakery in Woodland Hills and it contains coconut cake, cream cheese frosting, toasted coconut flakes, and white chocolate chunks. Tom Cruise sends the cake to his loved ones for Christmas, including famous Hollywood celebrities and former film co-stars. They have a partial list on the site of some of these people. Angela Bassett, Henry Cavill. Wow. Kirsten Dunst. Wow. Jimmy Fallon, John Hamm, Graham Norton, Rosie O'Donnell, Courtney B. Vance, Miles Teller, Renee Zellweger. We gotta get on this list.

And I am not on that list. I'm almost 100% sure. So this is what the stars feed to other stars, and we're gonna eat it here on the podcast. Let me open this up. I got the need. Well, I realized I had it at the house and I had to bring some.

Like, yeah, I love this. You guys have to try that. No, this is awesome. This rules. What are you gonna say? I got the need. The need for cake. I thought what they were gonna say.

You're not doing the need to feed? Yeah, the need to feed. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! The need for cake is maybe better. It's maybe better. No, it's good. I like it. Drew, how should we do this? Do you got to tell them, Cruz? Just pop on the plates. How about, show me the cake.

That's pretty good. Yeah, we'll plop this down. Show me the cake. That's, that's pretty good. Yeah, we'll plop this down. All right, so it looks like this is maybe subdivided. Uh-huh. I just put them in there so they wouldn't get stuck together. Do you, I can do the distribution.

Yeah, sure. While I'm doing this, what are some of your Tom Cruise, like first off, where does Tom Cruise rank in your pantheon of movie stars and what are some of your favorite performances of his? I like Tom Cruise. I think he is a guy who makes it very easy to make fun of him. I think he has had his moments that are undeniably insane

in public. Sure. But I also think he is truly one of our last great movie stars. I agree with that. Wiggs, this is ridiculous what Wiggs is doing right here. I've never seen someone struggle with a piece of cake. Thank you. And growing up, like I've watched him become a movie star as I was a movie viewer.

So like I remember Taps in the theater where he shows up at the end of Taps and he has like three great scenes. And I was like, whoever that kid is, he's great. And a couple of years later, Risky Business was a big deal when it landed. And that was a huge moment. So watching him develop in the 80s was kind of exciting. And I really loved the run he had with directors

like Scorsese and Barry Levinson and doing stuff like Color of Money and Rain Man and Born on the Fourth of July. I think he was on fire at that point. And I think his Mission Impossible series is maybe the great movie star franchise that exists now, where it's entirely every time, I want to see if Tom Cruise dies.

Yes, I am a, look, Mission Impossible Fallen is my favorite movie. I love Tom Cruise. It's so much fun. I love that movie. But yeah, I am a, look, Mission Impossible Fallout is my favorite movie. I love Tom Cruise. It's so much fun. I love that movie. But yeah, I don't know. I think he's one of those guys who have come to appreciate more just because like it's so hard to have staying power and just to have that much presence

and charisma and then what he uses with his star power in terms of just getting movies made and in theaters. I don't love every film of his. I think he's had runs of stuff like Lions for Lambs and Valkyrie, where you're like, I don't know what he's doing. The mummy is a huge disaster. But man, when he connects with a piece of material

and you get a Top Gun Maverick, it's still kind of undeniably amazing. That's the vest. Hey, respect the cake and tame the frosting. Very good. Little Magnolia. I love that. Yes. Wait, is there anything I have to say about this cake?

Yeah. You complete me. This is really good. That was good too. Okay. Thank you. This is very good. I tell you, this lives up to the hype. It's really good. It's that was good too. Thank you. This is very good. I tell you, this lives up to the hype.

It's really good. It's really yummy. Yeah. Oh my God. And the one cake, I took it to a friend's house on Sunday night for Father's Day. His whole family had it. My whole family had it. We brought it back.

They had it again another night. Yeah. And then there was still stuff to bring. Like it's a big cake. This is this is if you if you told me like, this is the ingredients of this cake, I'd be like, eh. You wanna try this cake? And then, oh yeah, sure.

When you actually eat it, it is, it's fantastic. Wags, Wags is gone. Ice is leaving. Yeah, white chocolate coconut would not be something that automatically I went, well, I've gotta have a white chocolate coconut cake. In fact, I wouldn't want it normally, but that is a very, I mean, just makes sense.

The guy is good, the guy, he's good, he's undeniably good. He's even good at food, damn it. He's good at, which it seems like, Tom Cruise seems like a guy who was. I have trouble believing he ever ate a piece of cake. That's kind of what I wonder too. I'm like, Tom Cruise does not seem like a- Was was... I have trouble believing he ever ate a piece of cake. That's kind of what I wonder too. I'm like, Tom Cruise does not seem like a... Was he recommended to him?

Apparently it was a thing that he started doing when he was dating Katie Holmes. Yeah, and I think Gold Valley said where, who supposedly introduced him to the cake. But there was a clip, there was like a photo or a short video he released of him with like a big bowl of popcorn, like just saying like popcorn in movies, nothing better, something like that. Some sort of very generic feeling caption on his social media.

And our buddy Charles Ingram was like, this man has not eaten a carb in 20 years. Do you have him sitting down with like a huge tub of popcorn and eating all this? No way that's happening. But God bless him. I love that he's a movie psycho. Casey, Emma, what do you think of that cake?

That's fantastic. It's really good. It's really good, right? I like would eat the whole cake myself. Yeah, I love coconut. That's the thing. Me too. So like, it's like, this is what a coconut cake is really hitting. But I don't like white chocolate usually. Me neither. Do you see this white chocolate in there? I love, that doesn't, that love coconut. That's the thing. So like, it's like, this is what a coconut cake is really hitting. But I don't like white chocolate usually.

Me neither. Do you see this white chocolate in there? I love that. That doesn't, that's great. It tastes more like just like frosting. Yeah. It is, yeah. We were saying that when you were-

But not heavy, like it doesn't- No. I'm not a cake fan. That's the thing. I like pie. If I'm talking desserts, I'm more pie or ice cream more likely. Cake is never my first choice. This might've changed my mind a little bit. This is a good cake. Yeah, I'm more pie or ice cream more likely. Cake is never my first choice.

This might've changed my mind a little bit. This is a good cake. Yeah. I'm wondering if I'm, am I more cake or pie? We've definitely talked about this before. There, the thing is like, I, when I have a good cake, I'm like, fuck, I like cake and this is one of those, you know? I think I like cake a lot. I might be more cake, but I do like pie.

I've, and honestly speaking of coconut, coconut cream pie is one of my favorites. Yeah. We were saying when you were gotten that this is this, it's like,. And honestly, speaking of coconut, coconut cream pie is one of my favorites. Yeah. We were saying when you were gone that this is, it's like, if you listed the ingredients to me, I was like, I wouldn't be like, oh, I need to try this cake. And then-

To Emma's white chocolate point, yeah, for sure. But eating it, it's like, oh, this is, it's so much, it's better than the, I don't know. Some of the parts? Some of the parts. Yeah, heck yeah. It all comes together. That's great, that's a definite snack for me.

Can you put that into a Tom Cruise quote, please? Uh, well, you already did, you complete me. Yeah, you're kind of, I'm- I think we're tapped out, are there any more? I guess not. I guess not. Hold on, let me look for some quotes real quick. I'm trying to think of any quotes from Mission Impossible, which is kind of- It's not like a super-quotable

movie on the need for speed. Yeah. Yeah. Ketridge, you'd never seen me eat cake. There we go. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. You've seen me eat cake. That's pretty good. I'm excited for the last one of all the Mission Impossible's of like the new era was like a little further down my list. It wasn't my dead reckoning part one. It's still so good for like it's that funny thing of like this isn't my favorite Mission Impossible and I was a little let down but it's still like one of the better movies of the year that I saw, I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

You're rating it versus the Mission Impossible franchise. I can watch him and Haley Atwell Oh my God. do action scenes together for, yeah. They, I feel like they shouldn't have, the breaking it into two parts was a little complicated. Yeah. I think that was a COVID move more than anything.

Yeah. I think all of everything right now with him is still a domino effect from COVID. Like, both Mission Impossible's got screwed up by it. I remember when we were filming Tomorrow War, and one of the producers was, it was Sky Dance. So one of the producers worked on Top Gun, and I was just asking questions.

And when I was going there to shoot Tomorrow War, because it was done, basically. And when I was going there to shoot Tomorrow War, because it was done basically, and then I remember them just holding on to that movie for so long and I thought it was so cool that they were like, we're not gonna release it. And then of course it fucking killed. Well that's the other thing about Inside Out too, whether we liked it or not, it's irrelevant,

because oh my God, what a weekend it had around the world. It did, it did good. I'm happy that it made money. I'm happy that people were going to the theaters. Disney is one of the few places I can root against, maybe, but I agree. People going to the movies is a good thing, so. I got one, Mitch.

All right. If you can just do the response here. Sure. So I'll say the first part, and then I think you can figure out what the second part is. Okay, all right, let's hear it. I want the cake. You can't handle the snack. Perfect.

There you go. Yeah, snacks all around, right? Snacks for snacks over the producers' ass. Snack. Thanks so much for bringing that to you. That's awesome. Just take a rest, reevaluate your feedback, let's open up the feedback. Today's email is from Ethan M. Ethan writes, Ethan. Ethan. Wow.

M not H. M not H, yes. Hello, boys of the dough and ladies, et cetera. Movie tie in popcorn buckets and specialty drinks and things of the like are all the rage right now with Deadpool and of course the Dune ones, two winky emojis. All right, calm down buddy. I was wondering if y'all had a favorite. I saw Mitch's favorite Star Wars in Biloxi, Mississippi, shout out Carl Tart, and the

theater there at the mall had a Yoda cocktail that was one of the best I've ever had. Love you guys, kiss kiss. I want to know what was in that Yoda cocktail. I want to know what was in there too. So what's our favorite movie tie-ins? Yeah, if there was a fun movie tie-in, either a snack or a drink, if there's anything we can think of.

This is maybe a tough one to generate on the fly. I'm trying to think through my memory. Did you see the Despicable Me 4 popcorn blinding? I did see that, that's fun. I thought that was a really clever one. It's the baby bjorn full of popcorn. You're gonna wear it, right? You're gonna do it?

Yeah. He's a popcorn skeptic. I mean, come on. I think it is. That is a lot of fun. I do like that one. I think people will have fun dressing up with that thing on. I saw when I saw the spy family movie, The Code White, they had like a commemorative popcorn bucket. I'm like, I'll get that. And it was like the cheapest fucking flimsiest piece of shit.

I was like, this is such a bummer. This is just like the crappiest plastic bucket that just has the logo. And I think it was just printed onto it and it was a sticker on the outside. So it's a bummer when they do that. You want them to do the Dune. You want them to do the Despicable Way 4 where they put a little work into it. I'll go back to say this one. It's more, I think, tied into the cartoon show, but Ecto Cooler we like.

Ecto Cooler's a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. It was green like Slimer, but it tasted nice. I'm trying to think of like specific tie-ins. Sandwiches are like things that were like, this is the whatever sandwich, which we've talked about this before. The rodeo burger at Burger King was first,

wasn't it, came out with the small soldiers. Yes, that was a good burger that's endured. And they stuck around. They don't call it the small soldiers burger anymore or whatever, but they should. I still remember. I still have in my house some of the old 1970s and 1980s Burger King glasses.

Like the glasses. True, that was the exact thing I was going to say. Eight pounds each. And they were painted in lead on the outside. So I'm sure I've got things that are terribly wrong later because of them. But those glasses were great, man. I loved that kind of collectible stuff when we were kids.

And it felt like they went more all out. That's one thing that's changed. Even with marketing now, I don't feel like you get the blitz that we used to get. Where it's everywhere. Where suddenly there's a great, you know, Phantom Menace, you bring up Phantom Menace that summer, you could not pick up a product or go to a restaurant or go anywhere without a Phantom

Menace something. You know, I loved it. It made it really feel like an event. And of course, there's others on that note, specifically, I feel like there was like a Jar Jar Pez dispenser or something. Do you remember that? Like a tongue in it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, there was, episode one, I feel like there was, that was...

That might've been the pinnacle of it's every way. It was every Pepsi machine, right? Like it was like, it was... Pepsi, Pepsi, so all the restaurants, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, all that, they had all the time. It was crazy. Yeah. Do you have a specific menu, movie tie-in that you remember?

Well, here's the thing. That was a big one. And then I just want to give a shout out to the Casper at a Casper, the Friendly Ghost movie, the Casper movie at Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut did weird puppets. There was a Casper puppet. Oh, yeah.

I had one of those. And then there was another one. I've talked about it before on the podcast, but they did like weird, I think stuff that you could like put on top of your drink. You know what I mean? Like a cover for your drink. But Nick, sorry, but I just asked you that question. Oh no, I was gonna just say,

and this is a pretty obvious one, but the Hobbit menu at Denny's was so fun. It was that real. And it was like, they only did it for the first two movies. I'm really bummed they didn't do it for Battle of the Five Armies. But it's really like, the theming was so great. And also just like, hobbits love to eat big breakfasts.

So it's perfect. It's really smart. Yeah. Like, anytime you can have an experience that kind of expands the movie a little bit, I'll bring this all back to Alamo Drafthouse. When we did a button-um-a-thon one year, it was the last year I was with that site,

and it was the year that we showed an early screening of The Curious Case of Indium and Button. Wow. And so that movie played, and in the middle of the movie, without announcing anything, they came out, and in front of everybody, put a shot of vodka and a spoonful of caviar. Because there's that whole sequence in the film

where Tilda Swinton teaches him how to drink vodka and eat caviar. So we got to that scene and they told you, do the shot when she tells you, do the caviar when she tells you. And for anybody who's never had that experience, you've never had that sense memory of that weird buttery taste and then the vodka and the way it distilled. Now all of a

sudden, anytime you watch that movie, I get the sense memory of that exact taste and moment. And that's a great thing if you can do that. Like really do something where people then have that memory tied to it forever. That's awesome. That rules that that yeah, that's fantastic. Also, we should shout out past Patreon guest, Matt Singer, who is kind of the archivist of all of these. Oh, yes, yeah.

Matt's the king of this. I look forward to every horrible tie-in he has to eat. I forget the last one he was eating. It might've been a Despicable Me Pink Berry or something like that. Oh, it was the if menu, yeah. The if menu sounded nauseating. I loved every word he wrote.

I just looked at it. I looked at Reddit. Not our Reddit, but a Reddit for this. And they talk about episode one was the soda cup toppers from Taco Bell, which I now am like, OK, yeah. They were all the Pepsi cans. But one that they brought up that I forgot about was The Simpsons movie.

They turned 7-Elevens into. Yeah. Oh my god, that was so awesome. And that was a lot of fun. Yeah, because one of the ones... And they did the pink donuts and stuff like that. That was great. There were some full transformations to Quickie Marts. And one of the ones on Sepulveda was one of the flagship ones for that. And that was a really cool sort of installation I remember waiting in line for. And they were out of, what did they run out of immediately?

Was it Buzz Soda? I can't remember. I think yes. Like they all just got mobbed. Right. It was like when Fat Sal's did the McDougalls from coming to America. Oh yeah.

That was great. We went to that. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, we did, yeah. With our buddy Dave Schelling. I should also just note while we're talking movie tie-ins and fast food restaurants,

I've told this story before, but Taco Bell had a tie in for the movie Congo, the Michael Craig movie. And I was so hyped for that movie. I could- I'm sorry. I know, this is a thing. Oh, I know this story. I had the Congo watch I was wearing. It was the Congo watch from Taco Bell. And I go to see Congo and I'm like, this movie's a good... It's the Jurassic Park guy and it's got Bruce Campbell and Ernie Hudson.

This is gonna be a fucking home run. I'm so excited and I saw the movie and I hated it. It was so bad. It was the first time I remember just being crushed by a film. Amy, angry. It's a horrible movie. It's a horrible movie. Yeah. Yeah, the bad talking ape, the guy in the ape suit.

And then I went outside and I was waiting for my dad to pick me up and I sat in gum. And. That is a day. It's still the worst day of my life. Yeah, yeah. That'll just live with you. Yeah.

Didn't the movie, Happiness, have like a tie-in with hood milk? Jesus Christ. If you have a question or comment about the world of chain restaurant, you can email us at feedback at birdfuck.com or leave us a voicemail at 830-GO-DOE. That's 830-463-6844. And to get the Doughboys double our weekly bonus episode plus our entire pre-2018 back

catalog, go to www.FeedBagAtBirdFuck.com. Sorry, I'm a disgusting monster. I forget. Slash Doughboys. Our producers are Emma Erdbrinker, associate producers are Amelia Marino, our engineers Casey Donahue, and our video editor is Mike Dorfman. Our guest, Drew McQueen. Drew, thanks so much for being here.

This is so fun. Thank you, guys. This was awesome. This was exactly what I hoped it would be. I had so much fun doing it. What a treat. Yeah, people should check out your newsletters. Formerly Dangerous, the Last 80s Newsletter, Drew McWeeny dot Substack dot com or the Last 80s Newletter dot Substack dot com. Awesome. I'm signed up for that newsletter.

It's great. People should check it out. Check it out. And hey, that'll do it for this episode of Doughboys. Until next time, for The Spoon Man, Mike Mitchell, I'm Nick Weiger. Happy eating. See ya. Hey, buddy. Want Doughboys merch? We're talking hats, shirts, sweatshirts, patches, glasses, all sorts of stuff, aprons. It's all available at kinshipgoods.com slash doughboys. That's kinshipgoods.com slash doughboys. Sources for the intro are in the episode description.

That was a head gum podcast. Hi, guys. I'm Ago Wodim. Check out my new show, Thanks Dad, now on head gum. I was raised by a single mom, and I don't have a relationship with my dad and, spoiler, I don't think I'm ever going to have one with him because he's dead. But I promise you that's okay because on my new podcast I sit down with father figures like Bill Burr, Kenan Thompson, Adam Pally, Hassan Minaj, Tim Meadows, Andy Cohen, and

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