House of R - ‘Ballerina’ and Our 10 Burning 'John Wick' Questions

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Mal and Jo are back to go through the latest installment in the John Wick universe, ‘Ballerina.’ They discuss the film’s box office results, break down what changed in the extensive reshoots, and talk about the future of the 'John Wick' franchise and whether it can survive without Keanu Reeves. Next, they each come up with five burning questions about ‘Ballerina’ and the rest of the Wickverse. (00:00) Intro(05:45) Opening snapshot(08:45) Box office results(25:32) What happened during the reshoots?(32:12) Our history with the Wickverse(42:38) Burning questions(43:59) Timeline continuity issues(55:43) Training dogs to attack the crotch(58:33) Is it time for the Continental to change its policies?(01:05:16) Is Evanescence's "Fight Like a Girl" the worst needle drop?(01:10:18) How much of a city in the Wickverse is made up of assassins?(01:15:42) What about the rest of the children at Hallstatt?!(01:17:15) Will the Director and Ruska Roma look to recruit at Hallstatt?(01:24:45) Accent corner with Joanna Robinson(01:28:13) Who put the hit on Eve?(01:39:35) Letter grades and final reaction Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna RobinsonProducers: Jessie Lopez and John RichterSocial: Jomi AdeniranAdditional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiara.com. So welcome back to House of Ar. I'm Joanna Robinson joining me today. Is that blood gushing out of her toe shoes? It's Mallory, Rubin. Hey, Mallory, how you doing? Just thinking about you, thinking about the ballet, thinking about the ballet, thinking about the ballet. Baba Yaga, thinking about the time that we saw this movie together. We did. We did do that. What a treat that was. What a treat that was.

Hello. Hello? We're here to talk about the film Ballerina, which debuted this last weekend. Yeah. To moderate success. And we will talk about all of that. And it is part of, of course, the larger Johnwick universe. So Mallorna went to go see this movie together this weekend because I was in L.A.

It was Halo's birthday. And the Halo's like, hey, you know how I want you to celebrate my birthday? You should go see Ballerina, the John Wick movie starring Anna Darmus. And see it we did. And so we thought we would chat about it for a little bit, chat about the John Wick franchise for a little bit. And just give you like a little action, bright and breezy action episode here at the top of the week. We've got some questions about ballerina and John Wick that we thought we would ask each other and see if we have any answers for each other when it comes to that. Before we get into that,

yeah, let's talk about program reminders. Okay. Later this week, and it's very exciting. It's our summer hype meter. It's time for the summer hype meter. Mallory, are you excited? How hyped are you for the summer hype meter episode? I'm always hyped for a hype meter episode.

I love a hype meter. I love a hype draft at the beginning of the year, despite consistently performing pretty poorly in them. And then I love every seasonal hype meter. I love the opportunity to look ahead to what we're excited about and what we're anticipating most, what the bad babies might be anticipating the most. I love, you know, the whole thing is a shared tradition, but I love the traditions inside of the tradition, including that I do not believe we have a single time adhered to the actual definition of the season. Not once.

You know, what is time? This might be like one of the closest season stretches that we get to, but it won't be exact. We'll see. So that's coming later this week. If you have things you're hyped for this summer, we'd love to hear about them, Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. And then we've got some exciting. We'll announce this in full on the summer height meter episode later this week.

We've got a bunch of fun stuff cooking for this summer that we're really, really excited about in terms of like little mini-series that we're doing and stuff like that. Mallory wisely told me to save that for later in this week, but I'm just very excited about it. So I just wanted to let you know I'm excited about our summer plan. and I can't wait to talk about them on Thursday. So that is what's coming from us later in the week.

The Midnight Boys, Who Pugh, will also have their ballerina reactions up this week. They saw a ballerina as well. Mint Edition crew is circling how to train your dragon. That is something that they are interested in. And then next week, the Midnight Boys are doing a Midnight Court Superman versus Fantastic Four. So their own sort of like debate about what's coming this summer. Okay.

Miley Riven. Yeah. How can folks keep track of all of that? And perhaps, I don't know, if they missed your incredible performance on the Big Pick 2000 movie draft last week or anything else that they might want to keep track of. What do you think? I'll keep it simple. Follow the pods. Why not?

Follow House of Ringerverse. Follow Big Pick. Follow whatever you want on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And while you're at it, follow the Ringervverse YouTube channel because you can watch full video episodes of House of R and the Midnight Boys Pew Pugh on Spotify. You can watch full video episodes on the Spotify app

and on the Ringervverse YouTube channel. While you're at it, follow the Ringervverse on the social media platform if you're choosing and send us your emails. The inbox is always open,

Hobbits and Dragons at gmail.com. Spoiler today. Yes. All of John Wick. That's right. John Wick 1 through 4, ballerina from Poland

from the world of John Wick. And I don't have a this plan, but comic books, I think, are on the, like, all the extended, the continental television show, anything. A TV show that I don't think either of us watched, like, all of that. I started it. Oh, you did? Nice.

Okay. A TV show that Mallory started in the last two days. Yes. And those episodes are long. There are only a few of them there, many. Meaty, hefty. All right. Well, I can't wait for your continental-based questions.

And so, yeah, everything for the Wickverse is on the table here. And that is my spoiler warning. Should we go now to our opening snapshot? Let's do it. I apologize. I miss title this because I believe it is from the world of John Wick, Colin Ballerina, not the other way around.

A very, very easy to comprehend title for this film starring Anna Darmus as Eve Macarro. Do you think that Colin, a John Wick's story just felt like off limits because of a Star Wars story? I don't know. I think they wanted to get, for SEO, they wanted to get John Wick.

want John Mc in the front. Yeah. Yeah. It's not how I would have gone, but I, you know, I don't make movies. I just talk about them. On an Armist stars is Eve Macaro, a ballet dancer slash assassin who had a traumatic thing happened to her in her childhood. Her father died and basically we see her on a revenge mission against a befuddlingly

accented Gabriel Byrne, you know, and John Wick pops in here and there. to give her advice, fight her, and defend her along the way. So that is what we were talking about here. We've got some characters we've seen before, including Angelica Houston as the director, Ian McShane is Winston-Scott, the late great Lance Reddick in his last on-screen performance, posthumously released.

It was wonderful to see him, and then just like, he's lovely in this movie, and it was, you know, he's not in it much, but when he's there, it's great. And it just reminded me what a loss it is. So great to see him. So it was directed by Len Weissman allegedly. Len Weissman directed the best known for the underworld franchise

and for somehow managing to marry Kate Beckett's Sale after directing her in the underworld franchise. Good job, Len. Per rumors, and we'll talk about the reshoots and the rumors thereabouts. Also kind of directed by Chad's to Hells. who directed the other John Wick movies. So the provenance of the directorial efforts here, a little questionable. Screenplay by Shea Hatton, and this is where it gets a little interesting because Ballerina was a spec script that Shehaden wrote.

Shehatton from Oakland, California, shout out Bay Area. Ballerina was a spec script that he wrote years and years and years ago, inspired by the John Wick 2 trailer, fun inspo for a movie. And basically, based on the strength of that spec script, got hired to work on John Wick 3 and John Wick 4. So he's accredited screenwriter on John Wick 3 and John Wick 4. And in making John Wick 3, they basically backdoor piloted ballerina into John Wick 3 Parabellum. And that is something I discovered when I watched John Wick 3 for the first time after I saw ballerina. And everything made much more sense to me.

But there's also a bunch of other writers. are credited by the WGA and it's just sort of like always interesting to think about how many writers may have touched a particular project. Anything, what do you want to tell us about opening weekend, Mallory, and how are things looking for our girl ballerina? Your girl Eve, your favorite cinematic character all day. Let's talk box office. So we've opened to 50 million.

50 million opening weekend on a 90 million budget, 24.5 million domestic. Usually we record early Mondays for movie pods, but we're on Tuesday morning here. So these numbers feel like the numbers. Yeah. So that is, Joanna, that is, how would you assess that box office performance?

I would say it's being characterized as not successful by the people. who talk about box office performances, especially when you consider, like, a 73.8 million domestic opening weekend for John Wick 4, you know, watching the, like, budgets increase and then the global box office increase as the Johnwick series has gone on has been really interesting, an interesting experiment around looking at the box office performance here.

It's not a great opening for ballerina. And it will really depend. I think word of mouth will depend. You know what I mean? And we can talk about sort of how the audiences are feeling about it, but does it hold steady and just sort of like steadily burn through the summer? Or does it just drop off completely and then it will be kind of a disaster, to be honest with you? The fact that, you know, John Wick started as a someone low budge,

nobody saw this coming, quirky sort of action movie, starring Keanu Reeves, who at that time in his career was not doing well. and it sort of remade Keanu Ree's career. So watching the budget grow throughout the John Wick franchise, but then watching something like John McFour, a movie I actually really, really liked.

Co-starring Donnie N, Heriotisanata, had this real global appeal to it based on all the actors that they brought in for that. And so that one did gangbusters at the global box office. Just like a huge smashle of it. Number four. So the question that the franchise faces right now is like, can it

be something without Keanu Reeves? That's the question that the Continental show was asking, and that's the question that the baller in a movie is asking, even though John Wick is in this movie, definitely, and heavily featured in the promotional material.

But the attempt to do a spin-off movies and TV shows is like, how much can the Wickverse grow and sustain beyond the star power of Keanu himself? What's your sense of that just based on where we are right now? now, Mallory? I think that the appetite for the Wick verse is sincere, but also inextricable

from John Wick himself at this point. And so I think even with Ballerina, it's difficult to assess because he, like you noted, was so present in the marketing material. It was clear. He was going to be in it. It was clear. I'll spoil for you that one of my questions today is a timeline question. I've got a lot of this. Yes. A lot of I've got the whole mind, but I considered it. Absolutely. Yeah, I assumed you just knew I would be bringing this on us. The BB was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've got some questions there. But it was even marketed as a like, you know, parablem-adjase story that was going to overlap with prior Wick canon.

And even though the total runtime for John Wick in this movie is quite minimal, he's here in the film. There's no denying it. I think like the question of when the Continental show was announced, I personally, was quite interested in that. I think the lore and mythology around the Continental as an enterprise, but also more like a concept and as this glue guy in the criminal underworld in the Wickverse was really fascinating to me. And my sense, again, coming to that show quite late, because the reception of it was so poor in real time. I don't, I've watched two of the three episodes. I do not feel like the response tells me much about people's enthusiasm.

for learning more about other aspects of the world. I think it was just about the execution of that particular show. I thought that the hedge in ballerina was actually quite smart. Like, give people enough John Wick to build that bridge to show what the, again, I have a massive timeline continuity question coming your way shortly, but put a bit in that. Just in terms of sheer concept and intent. Yeah. I think giving us enough, obviously, it's not just John Wick, right?

Like Winston is here. Sharon is here. the New York Continental is here. Again, I have some timeline questions. The Ruscaroma are here, et cetera. There are a lot of familiar touchpoints in the world, and also we are introducing a new, not just a new protagonist,

where we could get an entire series built around Eve, built around this ballerina character, but also then other characters, Daniel Pine, etc. Certainly the cult seems like something that the Weiderwick universe intends to explore further and play with. We have an interesting amount of, information introduced and glimpsed and then a ton of questions, a ton of stuff that we don't

yet know and could find out in future films. So we get to simultaneously connect and also expand in a way that I think allows this version of films to exist not in place of John Wick. Obviously, the John Wick 5 murmurs are unavoidable, and that's a movie clearly we're going to get. I mean, but in parallel track, right? Question mark about John Wick 5, because Keanu has said, I'm not really sure my knees hurt. And my guy is 60. So he's like, I'm not really sure. They definitely want to make, you know, Lionsgate is like, please, dear God, do you see the numbers on John Mc4? We want to make John McFive. And Chats-Tahelsky has been like, we're working on the script, we're working on the script, we're working on the script. We want to make it happen. But like, they can't make it without Keanu. No, no, no. And Keanu, I think, is unsure whether or not he wants to make another Johnwick movie.

I'm going to call this a sure bet. If I were a gambler, which let me be clear, I am not. I don't know how, and I don't understand it, and I won't be trying it. I would say that John Wick 5, starring Keanu Reeves, as the titular John Wick, is to me a sure bet than a future mission of possible film. It just feels like an absolute lock. If he needs time to ice the knees, take it, take it, my guy. But I feel like we're getting that movie.

You could be right. Um, Keanu has just made some interesting choice. Like, his choices are not always as driven by the same things as other Hollywood choices, I would say. And so like, your average Hollywood star, I would say yes. Kianu is like making waiting for Godot with Alex Winters on Broadway next. You know what he mean? Like he's just making more interesting choices. So I would like to see a John Wick 5. Again, I really like John McFour. There's talk of like a Donnie Yen, Kane. spin-off. There's like all, you know, all this stuff that they want to do. The thing that I think is tough about expanding the world of John Wick is the magic trick of the original John Wick and the, and the franchise is, is Keanu, is the fact that Keanu himself can do so much of his own stunts, so many of his own stunts. He definitely has, I mean, I'm not, I'm not here to spread the stunt department on the Johnwick movies. Obviously, they are booked and busy and working. But there are so many shots that you can tell it's actually Keanu there. And it brings a

level of how is this happening to a human man. Now, there is like a loony tunes aspect. I have this sort of slated for our question section. We know that the John Wick universe is like bananas. Similar to the Fast and Furious universe, things happen to these allegedly human mortals that, you know, John Wick falls off a building and like his multiple times. Back seemingly breaks on a balcony and then he's fine. It's fine. So, you know, but you still see the cost of, there's so many sections of these movies, all of which the first three take place over the span of one week, question mark, where John Wick battered and

bloodied is like limping. And, you know, so it's like a human. The limp run is my favorite signature move. It's like a human man. It is Keanu himself often, though not always obviously. And that's the pleasure. And that was like, you know, we'll talk about our reactions to ballerina, but that was one of my like main notes for ballerina is like it's a different prospect entirely with what we're seeing with Eve. That's a, it's a different thing. And it doesn't mean it's not something I'm interested in. But it's like sort of similar to watching Atomic blonde where, of course, Charlize had a stunt double every time she pulls up. the like mask over her face.

You're like, that's someone else. But that was a similar sort of like, because these are films made lovingly by stunt people, this is a, this human body, this movie star, this moment. And so, am I interested from an IP standpoint of developing this world? The Continental is so evocative.

We, um, yes. But I think you can't, you have to really execute. on it if you don't have Keanu at the center of it, I guess, is what I would say. Yeah, he's not, no, no doubt. He's the secret sauce in a way that is like simultaneously measurable and intangible and impossible to describe. I do think like, I love Ian McShane. He's just such a personal favorite that I've always drawn to Winston. And again, that was part of why I was intrigued by the premise of the Continental Show, more so than the execution of it.

But Young Winston, what a fascinating concept. I think the idea of like a Kane movie starring Donnie N is riveting to consider and would be awesome. And, you know, we got the, again, we said spoilers for all the movies, but like the stinger at the end of Chapter 4, I was like, now. I need it now. And the idea of getting that, maybe if we're so fortunate, should we be so blessed getting John Wick chapter 5 one day? And then continuing to, you know, I think it's like a calibration thing. because on the one hand continuing to explore which figures, like central figures could,

could approximate that, like, feeling and that energy without, like, diluting too heavily where we're just introducing so many titular assassins that suddenly it's like, wait, but like the Bobbyaga was the Bobbyaga for a fucking reason. And everyone knew it is a really interesting challenge and certainly, particularly in the context of the IP era, where the goal is always, like, more, more and more.

It's going to be a fascinating one to watch. The response so far, sort of as we can measure it by these numbers that show up on these various websites, it seems like critical response, not super great, not in the basement, but, you know, sort of mixed. 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, 59% on Metacritic, which is not super great, but certainly better than the last time we checked on some of these numbers, which was like Captain America, Brave New World. but 93% audience and Rotten Tomatoes, 6.5 audience of Metacritic, which is actually pretty good, and A-minus Cinema Score, which is just right on par with the other John Wick movies. So, like, audiences didn't turn out in droves to see it, but those who saw it seem to have had a pretty good time.

Having fun at the movies. So, you know, barring other things coming to steal our attention, this could have some, like, on it. Anecdotally, I will say that, like, a friend of my, my book co-author, Gavin Edwards, his son is like a huge cinephile, big picture fan, like, all sorts of stuff like that. And he's like, we went to go see the movie together on Friday and then he went again on Saturday, like right away. I wanted to go back again.

Love it. You know, Gavin was mixed. His son was like, all in. And so, like, you know, it's, it's hard for me to do. tell which way this is going to go. Honestly, like, I don't have a great picture of this. You and I were in the same movie theater watching this side by side. I got to hear you cackle every time someone turned to goo. Yeah. What's your sense just sort of anecdotally talking to people and like based on the temperament or theater and stuff like that? I wonder if it was hard for you

to get a gauge on other people's reactions just because I was cackling in your ear. So, not that all. It was just on like very, whenever a grenade went off. Yeah. It was grenade central central actor. Yeah. The signature move of exploding people by shoving grenades into their mouths

really got me. I got to say I was having a good time. Genuinely, a very high point of the movie. It's really fun. Yeah. It seemed like people in our theater were having fun. Obviously, you know, whoops and cheers anytime John Wick appeared. And when their were like either particularly awe-inspiring action stretches and sequences where the choreography

of a given set piece really got people. It seemed like people were quite wrapped. You know, the Franks Hunting Lodge, may I be Frank, Franks Hunting Lodge? That guy chuggled at that too, and then you made fun of me. No, no, the whole theater laughed at that. The whole theater. People were really into that. People were really into that. Yeah. That stretch. And then obviously there were other stretches where there's like the laughter at something you see. in a John Wick movie that is like, it's the laughter of appreciation, right? It's like, I can't believe they just did

that thing to that person's body in that way. You know, the, oh, the John Wick franchise is a franchise that will use a library book in this fashion kind of a thing. So it seemed like people were having a blast. We went on a Saturday afternoon, so we were in a packed theater.

It was popping. This is where I revealed to you something that you do not yet, no. which is that I went to see the movie again, specifically to check one thing. Actually, two things. They both involve hands. Do you know how unsurprised I am?

I was like freaking out about a timeline thing, and I was like, I have to go check something. Oh, to check his finger. The two things, the director's hand, whether there were the scars from the plate of the director's hands, there aren't. Stay tuned for more thoughts on that. And then the miss, I was like, was John's finger missing, which it is.

At the end, but not. Not at the beginning, but at the edge. Right. Yes. In the climax, it's gone. So that's post-elder. And that was a more muted theater-going experience, I will say. Can I tell you how I'm surprised I am with this? Because, you know, behind the curtain, we bought three tickets for the showing.

Your husband Adam was like, maybe going to go with us. It wasn't clear, but we were like, just in case, let's buy a ticket for Adam. Adam decides, like, last minute he's not going to go. And I think while you were, like, getting your hoodie or something like that before we left, he was like, you know, she's going to want to see it again. So I'll go with her then. That's what he said to me. He's like, she's going to want to see it again. So I'll go again. Yeah. And he knew that would not be Halo's birthday that second time. So he was like, I'll go with her that. I was like, okay, Adam. So I am not surprised because I was forwarded by your beautiful spouse. I got a look for the finger. I have to check the finger. So people, that was a more muted, more muted showing than the one we had gone to. But it also wasn't midday on a Saturday. So when did you, when did you guys go? Monday evening. Monday evening. Okay.

Interesting. Okay. Something that has been sort of swirling around, sort of flavoring people's reactions because I, I spent many hours, as I want to do sometimes on the Reddit boards, just like clicking around and sort of seeing how people feel. That's a select, you know, the people who go to the R-slash-John-Wick subreddit, like that's a select group of people, you know, whatever.

But the main action I saw was people saying, I thought this was going to be a disaster because of all the reshoot rumors I heard, but it was surprisingly coherent and I enjoyed the action set pieces. So we're grading slightly on a curve, which is fine. Like, we're all always grading movies on a curve. There's something wrong with that. But I think, and this is what we're going to talk about next, the sort of rumors that were swirling around about the reshoots, this can either help or hurt your project. Often it hurts your project. People skip the movie altogether because they hear the.

rumors that there were extensive reshoots and stuff like that. Certainly the last time we talked about extensive reshoots was around Captain America, Brave New World, and that's a film that I, if I'm characterizing, our takeaways correctly, felt like we could feel all of the cuts and the scenes in a way that really the movie didn't hang together for us. This, I think, was a much more successful effort, though. You could still feel some of the snips here and there, but like I was, it didn't feel like a Frankenstein's monster of an assemblage.

What I can get into details about the, you know, what we know about the reshoes. Okay. So last year, the rap puts out this report that, you know, several months worth of reshoots and that Len Weissman who directed the film initially is sort of pushed aside for Chad Stahelsky, who was the original John Wick director. And Ian McShane gave an interview last year where he said, for the health of the franchise, that was his phrase,

for the health of the franchise, they brought in Chad to do a bunch of three shoots. Now, both Chad and Len in the promo tour for this movie are telling a different story, which was just, it was a couple weeks. And when we showed the original cut to the studio, they loved it so much that they wanted to add things we had had to cut from the script

and give us more budget to do so, which does not feel true to me, based on some things we know. Oh, man. First and foremost, I would say the biggest thing acting against this sort of like, we just added some whiz bang pop

because the studio liked the movie so much. Yeah. Whiz bang pop is that the official subtitling description of what happens to the arm in the Halstad bar sequence? Yes, yes. That is a whiz bang pop.

David Casamietta of Umbrella Umbrella Academy fame who plays Eve's father in a flashback. An extensive flashback that I would say is like, what, 10 minutes at the start of the movie? It has to be. Maybe more. Maybe more. That's a full set piece. Was not cast until the reshoots. Sharon Duncan Brewster, who plays Eve's mentor, was not cast until the reshoes, which means all of the training sequences that happened with that character did not happen until the re-s.

Those are significant. I mean, this is like the beginning, like 35 minutes of the movie. Of the movie. Yeah. That's fascinating. Stahelsky said he added all the flamethrower stuff, which by my reckoning is like a third of the entire movie. That went on for so wrong. I will say, it felt a little more compact to me on second. Oh, did it?

Okay. But it is, it is, it's a robust fan. Flamethrower sequence for sure. It's a lot. Norman Reedis's role seems to have. have been cut down significantly. There's a bit of an awkward. He's sort of left for dead and then, oh, no, he's alive.

You know, question of whether or not he was supposed to be a part of the rest of the movie. I think that's the main stuff. John Wick's involvement. I don't, that's unclear to me, actually, because in an interview that she gave to Fallon, like, I think before the reshoots, Anadarmus was talking about a fight with Kianu. So I think, I thought. maybe that entire second appearance from John Wick was added.

I think it was just maybe beefed up. So maybe like some of the sniper stuff and all this other stuff that John does was was beefed up. Maybe he like, maybe in the original cut, he shows up, fights with her and says, you have until this time. Right. You know, and then but we kept checking back in with him

throughout that sequence, right? Where he is, as you noted, in the sniper position. So like, I mean, there are a couple, we get the great like, hey, yeah, you know, he's just one man. I'm back going to be you know he obviously is going head to head with members of the cult at a certain point but most of

outside of the Eve John direct conflict down in the in the snow he's on his own in a way that would be like to borrow a Joeism Gail and Jacksonville Wyomingesque you know like entirely possible that was filmed independent of every other

part of that sequence I still need to get a full answer on that question Anyway. All in good time. Let me just say this. Ian McShane, it's a crowded field of, like, performers who say things they shouldn't in interviews and that everybody else has to walk back. He is an all-timer on this front. Tits and Dragons?

Is it just Tits and Dragons is my single favorite. I'm not kidding. Is my single favorite thing anybody has said in response to getting in trouble for revealing something about their character? They shouldn't. When Ian McShane came back after spoiling something from Thrones and then saying it's just. Tits and dragons. It's just my single favorite thing that's ever happened. Can we say what he's spoiled, or do you feel like you should protect people who are watching Game

with Thrones the first time? I mean, you might then have to come back if you say it and later in the pot. He spoiled the return of a character that was like supposed to be so secretive. And that was just an all-time Indian McShane moment. I was at a stars at San Diego Comic-Con. Stars put on a party for their Ash versus the Evil Dead show and for American Gods. And so there was like a party with like the cast members. This is where I saw Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless, like these two absolute iconic titans who are like nine feet tall walk into a room.

And I've never been like, I'm the tall person. I've never been like so dazzled by how tall and Adonis like these two people were. But E.M. Shane walked in and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt that I'm kid you not. And this was just a couple of years ago, like open down to his navel unbuttoned. And just like all his chest was out. And it was like July and San Diego. so it was unseasably warm.

He's an icon. It was just like he walked in and we were just like, wow. Wow. Ian McShane, a legend. He says what he wants. He wears what he wants. He's Ian McShane. So, yeah.

Genuinely aspirational. So I tend to believe him, though. So for the house of the franchise, they brought Chats to Helski in. Len and Chad can say whatever they want in the promo. I'm sure some of it's been overblown. But there's some evidence that there's very significant reshoots. We're done here. Reishers are no.

Marlary, do you want to I mean, you've already sort of, we know that you love a grin at a mouth move. Do you want to share sort of like your main ballerina takes some feelings and maybe where it sits in the larger Wick first for you? Sure, yeah. I really had fun

at the movie. Like I, first of all, it's always a treat for me to get to see something with you in person. What a thrill. What a joy. What a memory. I had had a very large burrito. It was devastating to not witness. Mallory consumed nine different snacks at the movie theater. A gigantic breakfast burrito that arrived very late.

My old schedule was thrown off. No chicken tendies. No, but I did get the chicken tenders last night. I did go for the, you know, the chicken tenders. Redemption tour. The cherry vanilla coke from the we've got 100 flavors fountain. But I'm sorry that I didn't get to share that with you. I had fun.

I definitely have some notes on the film and some questions on the film. It's part of why I'm very excited about the format that we've chosen for today's pod. I love the John Wick movies. Like, I love them. They're so fun to rewatch. My ranking, we were talking a little bit in real time about our ranking of the films.

And then, like, I was kind of torn on the top. But rewatching it, I do feel very, I feel, I have the courage of my convictions. The fourth movie is my favorite John Wick movie. I really like it. It's not my favorite, I really, really like it. I think it's like exceptionally good.

So I would go four, one. Both of those, I think, are just unbelievable, like all-time action movies. And then, so they're in a tier, and my order inside that tier is four and one. And then I would put three and two in a tier in that order, three and then two. And then I would put ballerina after that, which I think is okay. You know, it's just, it's not as good as the four John Witt movies. I don't think. It's not.

But I still enjoyed it and had fun and would be interested in a sequel and like continuing to spend time with Eve slash the cult maybe. Learned more about Daniel Pine. My guy, Daryl Dixon, always a treat. What about you? I don't know. I felt like Norman Reyes felt like a non-entity to me inside of this. I know. That's why I'd like him to return and be more of an entity.

Not the entity, to be clear. Not the entity for Mission Impossible. well, but and then did you. Norman Rees, who plays the father of a young girl who he has, like, saved from this, like, we breed child assassins cults in Austria. Yeah. Do you feel like he's only feeding her ice cream? It's a great question. Yeah. It's a great question. I did enjoy Winston, like, oh, sweet juice. Yeah. He's got a room service list. I think it's supposed to, like, give us a little hint that there's a child in there. But for me, that was not a hit, but there's a child. Because, as you know, I have a pint of ice cream every night before bed.

So I was like, sounds like Daniel Fine and I would love to hang out. And, you know, we have plenty of adult figures in the Wickverse who have canonical sweet twos, like the Marquis. Like, loved an apple tart, loved to heap sugar into his tiny little, was it an espresso or a tea? I can't say. I'm not sure. I would say espresso. Okay. I think Johnwick, one, exists in a different plane of, like, everything.

It's just so economical, neat, tidy, surprising. I remember when it premiered at Fantastic Fest and everyone who saw it there was like, Johnwick, Johnwick, Johnwick, and we were like, what are you talking about? Like, it came out of nowhere. And again, we were all like, Keanu, okay, sure. And it was just so surprising. The thing with a puppy was so surprising. It's like, the daisy stuff is too painful for me.

It's just like unbearable. Astounding to me. But I would put four next like beneath it easily. And then having just seen three for the first time, three and then two is what I would say. And it's interesting because for you and I, I think, are higher on four than like maybe people. I mean, it was a smashle at the box office. but I think when I was like checking out other people's rankings, they don't tend to have for that high. But I'm just like really?

Yen was like and the whole like staircase set piece. Exquisite. Osaka is exquisite. You know, uh, Clancy Brown is here. Bill Sarsgard and like the most exquisite suits you've ever seen. One of my favorite memories of John McFour. I mean, I was working at the ringer already. And Van, I remember Van being like, that's the most attractive a human being has ever looked about Bill Sarsgaard's suits.

In John McFour. Some great suits. So I really, and like what I think they achieved in John Wicke. Mr. Nobody, great character. Yeah, great character. Oh, I think they achieved in John McFour that they sort of lost the plot on a bit in two and three is like making it all feel a bit more personal again. They tried with three. You've got the plot with Hallie Berry and her daughter.

And you've got, you know, the Winston John, you know, assigned to Killie. other sort of tension and all of that. But I think that like, um, the personal stakes of four made it feel really central again. So yeah, it's all of that. And then it's ballerina. And then it's, uh, the Continental show I still haven't watched. I'm so uninterested. It is below. Yeah, that's last. You can never find out last. Um, and in terms of like, I had a fun, find time of the movies I loved going with you. Um, I do think a lot of the action set pieces worked pretty well. Though I was, here's what I will say. Um, I don't think. it ended up, it's not in my final list of questions, so I'll put it here.

Okay. Why make the whole ballerina set piece, the whole ballerina premise, and not have, like, her ballet training connected to her fighting style? I asked you this sort of like outside the theater, but I was, and the person I invoked was River Tam, a character in Firefly, who has this, like, astonishing, balletic way of dancing of fighting that was just like so mesmerizing and so different and so um eve has to get quite creative with grenades and plates and ice skates and all these other things because as she's told by her cast for the reshoots mentor um she has to fight like a girl because you know

she's so much smaller than her opponents um but i i just wish that i had seen like that they had decided to go with like a sort of graceful, more dance-centric fighting style than what they wound up with, which was something in between. It was like, it was more like inventive, which is great. Yeah. But like she has to be McGiver essentially and make weapons out of whatever she can find. But it's not the sort of like my body can take all the hits in the world, a bruiser approach of John Wick. And it's not the like sort of I'm an elegant swirling, slicing menace that I would hope for something. where they train these women to be ballerinas for why? I don't know. That's a question I have. That is not in that I smuggled here. I love it. This is going to be a smuggle fest today, I feel.

And it should, you know what? It should be. Great question. They're, you know, early-ish in the film, the minus 11 sequence, the ice club. Yeah. Got some questions about the ice club. Not my formal questions, but again. I've got some questions about the ice.

ice club. There's like the open, like when the first fight is about to begin, there's that opening swipe of the, the sweep of the toe in the ice. Very like, okay, here it is. The balletic training. And I thought that was priming us for that to be like very recurring. And, you know, I think a stretch like the, again, I laughed a lot, very fun and cool, ice skate sequence of a little, the little mini ice skate.

You loved ice skate. You loved it. He loved the ice skates. You know what's smart in a John Wick movie? Yeah. Make the floor white so that we can see all of the blood. It sprays everywhere. This is a stroke of genius.

And that, you know, both because it's on the ice, but because we're in an ice skating kind of headspace, that was a little bit more. We're swinging and we're twirling. But yeah, it's, I agree with you. That could have been ratcheted up and maybe will in future. installments. Yeah.

I think the sequence where we watch her walking out of a place where she has previously walked her way through and killed all these people. Picking up all the knives. Yeah. Delightful. Picking up the knives. Great. The body in the elevator. The getting into the car that had been crashed into the wall.

Like all of all of that stuff I thought was like really fun and funny. And great. I thought that was great. I have, here's my main issue with ballerina and why it's actually pretty low on my, I would like to see more of this list. Because I would much rather get a cane spin-off. I would much rather we get some knee surgery for Keanu,

like whatever we need to do. We both agree that Anna to Armis is one of the most beautiful humans alive. It's insane. Just like so beautiful. It's crazy. She's stunning. Yeah. I find her deeply uncharismatic.

And I've had many films to, amass this opinion and sort of like see if I'm wrong and I think I'm right and um or at least for me for my taste it's it doesn't really I don't find her that compelling so beautiful to look at um not in a way that like I don't know how Keanu gets away with it where like he can just say yeah and I feel it you know like he's the signature move it just um it doesn't work for Anna in my opinion So that is my main bumping point with ballerina. Right. Where I find myself.

Totally fair. Should we get to our questions? Let's do it. Let's do it. Okay. So once again, let's preface this by saying, we didn't want to get on here and just pick Nits. But the main thing we did when we walked out of the theater is we started asking each other questions. Or at least I started asking questions.

I think Mallory had some questions too. And I was like, is this the fun way to talk about it? We're going to ask some questions about ballerina and the larger Wick first. Anything's on the table. A way to celebrate sort of the daffiness, goofiness of this franchise. Once again, I understand that John Wick is a Looney Tune Meets video game sort of world. So we're not going to say. Want to support your gut health?

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How did John Wick survive? Obviously, getting his back broken. Don't worry about it. It's just John Wick, maybe. Forget about it. But what other questions do we have that we want to check in on as a pertains this franchise?

I do have a timeline adjacent question. So maybe let's start with your timeline question. and then I will throw in my adjacent question underneath it. Okay, so I would say this is my most like serious actual capital Q question. I have then, I'd say a mix from here of like vibes questions

and a couple actual like plot questions where might we be going in the future, but it's a, this is the most intense. Okay. Can we, despite that preface, how can we reconcile the timeline questions with John Wick himself, with our beloved Babiaga. I will run through some key details

and aspects of this question, and then you chime in on whether, uh, whether, uh, this is just okay and something I should move on from, or whether this is something you have been noodling onto. You wouldn't be you. I love a B, B, B, Y. Okay, here is,

and let me also say as like a, a preface, entirely possible I'm missing something, entirely possible I'm forgetting something, entirely possible that there is an actual answer and explanation for this. Or there is an answer and explanation for this. And so let's just talk it through. You know, let's just talk it through as our pal David Jacoby says. Like, no bad ideas in a brainstorm.

I'll throw it out there and see what everyone thinks. Okay. Here's what we know. Ballerina, the film Ballerina, includes an expanded but direct sequence from John Wick, Chapter 3, Parabellum, which is John getting his ticket torn with the Ruscaroma, the director, in exchange for passage to Casablanca.

Now, we recall from Johnwick Chapter 3 Parabellum, John is, at the time of the ticket tearing, excommunicado. The director will be punished for helping him. I'll come back to that in a second. Okay. Here's another thing that we know. It is explicitly stated in this movie

with words on the screen. Two months past, from that until basically the rest of the action in this movie. The director sends John, this is just another fact, an orphan of the Raskeroma, after Eve, an orphan of the Raskeroma, and John arrives in Halstott to participate in the climax of the movie. Those are the facts.

Now, I would like to present with, to you, some additional timeline markers across the franchise that orient us, but alas, also disorient us. Set us a drift on a sea of lack of content. do it. Okay, go for it. John is missing the finger. He is missing the ring finger in the Hallstott sequence of ballerina, meaning definitively and undeniably, and again, I went back to see the movie a second time to look at his hand. The climax of ballerina takes place

after John went to see the elder in John Wick, Chapter 3, Parabella. That is where he cuts off the finger and offers it up in exchange for the bargain that they make in that scene. The director does not have scars on her hand in the movie Ballerina. I have a counter for you for that. Tell me. Somehow, between the events of John Wick 3 and the events of Ballerina, even though some of them take place concurrently, the film legend Angelica Houston has had so much plastic surgery on her face. Could she not have gotten plastic surgery on her hands? I feel like that has to be the case then because, sure.

There's actually no watching the Asian. Watching ballerina, I was like, and I told you, I had recently seen another thing with Angelica Houston where I was like, when did Angelica Houston do this to her face where she looks something like a Muppet? And then I watched John Wick 3 afterwards. I was like, see, her face still looks pretty normal in this one. Like she's had a procedure too, but like this is a face of a, now she's just like ballooned out with filler. Anyway, point being, perhaps it's plastic surgery in the hand.

What is your next point of order? I am not an expert on hand plastic surgery, but if that's a thing, then maybe, maybe that's the answer and maybe that would be why the scars are not visible. Because if it's not that, then here's what the absence of the scars on the hands implies. It implies that this part of this movie takes place before the adjudicator and zero. punish the director by stabbing her through the hands. And that just doesn't, to be blunt, does not make sense or track because sequentially, in John with Chapter 3 Parabellum, the hands are cut before John loses his finger. So that just doesn't work and is incredibly confusing.

Okay. Yeah, sorry, go ahead. Keep going on. No. More hand thoughts, scar hands? No. Just like, we have to ask, like, what is the status of their, of the director's relationship? This is, okay.

This is, okay. So here's some other. Timeline markers. This is a really big one, I think, in terms of placing the events of this movie and it's just a clear, like, parameter. And then we consider where the relationships are inside of that parameter. The New York Continental is standing at the end. Again, spoilers for the other movies. The New York Continental is standing at the end of this film, meaning this all takes place before the Marquis blows up the New York Continental very early in Chapter 4.

Similarly, our beloved Sharon is alive. the end of ballerina, meaning, again, this all takes place before the Marquis kills him very early in Chapter 4. So I'm thrilled that John Wick is here to be clear. I'm glad he's here. But this basically means it cannot take place pre-elder visit in Chapter 3 because the figure's gone. It can't. After John cuts his finger off at the elders, he goes back to New York under the Elder's orders to kill Winston. He battles zero and zero students and route to the Continental. And then there's the whole sequence at the Continental at the end of the film. Ending in, of course, Winston,

shooting him to appease the adjudicator, knowing John will survive, which he does. The Bowery King, shout out Manzukas, friend of the pod, friend of ours, TikTok man. Talk, John, Wayne. Tick-Tock. Scoops him up, shelters John to heal. So, okay, did he,

then we ask, when could this have happened? When was there a day, half a day, in that stretch where this could have happened? How do we make sense of it? Did he swing by Halstatt before going back to New York? That's- Which seems impossible. That's Keanu's answer in interviews.

Between killing the elder, a different elder, in the beginning of John Wickford and the destruction of the hotel, John Wick took a detour to Austria to help Eve. So, okay. That's just, sure. I'm just saying Keanu's answer. It doesn't make sense to me, especially since, I believe John McFour, too. takes place like six months after John Mc3, whereas this is supposed to be only like two months after the- He's the most wanted man in the world at this point.

Yeah. The most wanted man in the world at this point. And the director, this is where that relationship question that you're noting really surfaces, because on the one hand, they have a long history. So it's totally plausible to me that, like, that history would be called upon. But post-ticket-taering, post-punishment from the high table, while John is the subject of this worldwide manhunt that will lead to the sequences in Osaka and beyond, she calls him up risking future punishment after what just happened.

And he says yes and goes to this setting where all of these people would then know where he was. Your hand plastic surgery is still healing. You don't want to get cut again, man. No, it makes, it just like clearly makes no sense. Yeah. I have, here are my further John Wickian. questions. Okay. Something I discovered on the Johnwick subreddit is a very extensive post from someone who went through and figured out exactly how much time has passed in the Johnwick franchise. And it stunned me to learn that the first three movies take place over three weeks. Yeah. I mean, that's stated by the adjudicator, right? In the, yeah, per week's movie.

Yeah. Yeah. That's insane to me. There's a lot of global travel for that to be the case. On WIC have a teleportation device. That's my first question. Because it's not just like, how do you, I'm a wanted man, how many passports do you have, surely a million, how do you get in and out of various countries, but also, yeah, just time spent hopping around the globe. So are we teleporting? And I'm unwilling to accept it.

If you reveal to me that in some slick neon lit gleaming and, you know, neofuturistic building somewhere in New York, there's a teleportation. device that Johnwick uses to get around the world. I'll believe you. It's fine. Probably couldn't be using it when everyone was looking for him while I was excommunicado. Well, maybe they've got a funky one in the Bowery. I don't know.

Also, we're using flip phones and old computers so they can't be hacked. That's the other thing. This is a question I was going to ask, but I didn't. But like, this, so for that all to be true, three weeks and then a couple months and then it's John Wicor. And then Ballerina just like slips in sort of right in between the cracks of three and four, allegedly, but it doesn't, but it does. That means it is 2014.

These movies all take place in 2014, maybe 2015 at the latest for John McPour. The cars have moved beyond the timeline of the film, for sure. They've missed so much. There's so much they haven't experienced. Eve Macarro has several

Taylor Swift albums behind. You know what I mean? There's just a lot of real strong cultural connection that these characters don't have. I just thought that I would put that out there in the world. Also, not that I need to watch him do it, though, maybe I would enjoy it. How many showers do you think John Wick has had over the

course? How bad does John Wick smell over the course of these movies? That's the question. You know, we have a memorable shower scene so that we can really like linger on the backtap, which of course is backtack cannon central to the new film. So good to have that context. But in

general, I have the hygiene question is a great when I often wonder about food, sustenance. You know, it just must be It's obviously clearly exhausted work and like you need. Do you think he's on the soilance? Like what is he doing? Perhaps. Yeah.

Like how are we staying hydrated? One of the moments in chapter four that I really love is when Mr. Nobody breaks up the drink at the end on the bench and gives us pups them. But you know, we're rarely seeing John stop for a bite for a notch and the end of beverage. So yeah, the travel question, that's part of why that ticket tearing passage sequence is so notable is because it actually is like, I need you to help me get from place A to B, which is not something that most of the movies focus on at all. He's just like, bumping around.

Yeah. On the travel front, we should just say quickly while we're raising, just questions, you know, inquiring minds on or no, it's fine. Just questions. We really have some questions. If anyone is like, oh, well, what about could it have been when he was in Berlin in the fourth movie because that's so close? And also could it have been after his ticket was mended?

And, you know, he needed to get the crest so that he could challenge the Marquis de the duel. Could that have been? Because he gets there right away. It's like by, you know, right, by midnight, that would explain the director being willing to call him. But no, that simply cannot be, and let's just say it explicitly, because the continental is already in rural. It just can't, it can't happen that far into chapter four. And so we have questions.

And so it doesn't make sense, and that's okay. We bench the space time continuum to allow some pearl jam in The Last of Us and to allow John Wick to be where they needed him to be when they needed him to be there. for the health of the franchise. For the health of the franchise. Okay. Great stuff. Love it. That was sort of a combined one from us.

Do you want to go again or do you want me to go? Go for it. Okay. Two of my questions are John Wick 3 based because I did quite recently watch this film for the first time. How long and using what meaty treats do you think it took? Hallie Berry to train her dogs to bite dicks almost exclusively. Thank you for asking. Thank you for asking.

Yeah, you're welcome. This is for you. You know, I swear, this is like part of my process for this pond. Not the how do you train a dog to bite a dick. I did not look into that. Nor do I intend to. However, I was, as you've already discussed thoughtfully on this very podcast, fight like a girl was like a key part of our initial journey here with Eve.

And I was thinking there's a lot of dick attacking in this movie. And so I was like, huh, is that part of, but no. Because if we pan back across the prior films, attacking the dick is just a central part of the canon across movies and characters. It's a go-to move. You've just noted that it's a big part of Sophia and her pups. The dog's, Mr. Nobody's dog. The dog bites dicks and then she shoots him in the dick, is my understanding of the-

There's some shooting of the dick. There's some stabbing of the dick across the films. And of course, yeah, Mr. Nobody does this too with his wonderful pop. Right. Just shouts and nuts and then the dog bites someone in the nuts. And then Mr. Nobody will shoot that person in the head because it is a John Wick film. So how do you train, whether you're Sophia or Mr. Nobody, your dog to bites a buddy in the nuts? I don't know. I think it's a great question. And this is why you were one of our leading scholars and journalists.

Yeah. Well, okay. So my question is like, do you have a series of like dummies and you've attached like snowsages to their groin area to like train the dog that like that's where you want to go first? It's like go straight for the crotch. Right. Right. But also they have to be able to separate friend from foe. Like, I was. really astounded. Watching that sequence, which is a great sequence in John Mc3 in Morocco. Those dogs are biting everyone, but John Wick, John Wick's dick is safe. Thank God. Yeah. So, yeah, how do you, how do you say, that's a friendly dick, don't bite it? Like, I don't know. I have a lot of questions about dog training, but this is my main ones. Like, it's quite dick-centric in this particular case. Some really intense dick-moling for Bronwick. Only get better from here.

So we're going to come back to Braun. Let me assure you. Okay. Okay. Great stuff. What's your next question? Okay, here it is. I've got some continental stuff for you here.

Does the continental need a stronger policy, like need a better rule book regarding no business being conducted on the premises? Because this rule, which is designed to ensure secured sanctuary, right? If you have secured sanctuary, you are safe. You put a hand on the lowest step, you are safe. Exactly. Is violated. And let me be clear here in every single John Wai property, single one.

Now, you might say that's nothing. Think of how many Continentals there are and think of how many members of the Wick v. Criminal Underworld are in a continental at any given moment in time. We are seeing something that is exceedingly rare when somebody violates that. However, I would posit in turn that, again, we have seen this in every single Johnwick and Sommet. The first Johnwick film, of course, our beloved Miss Perkins.

Could not care less than their business is supposed to be by the way. What a great character who should have survived so she could have had her own spin-off. Honestly. That would have been great. Ms. Perkins was a fucking badass. Also, the conversation with John and Sharon

after the Miss Perkins attack is like, do you need a dinner reservation? So that's kind of an interesting like, oh, well, you didn't do this. Somebody did this to you. But like, we understand that you might need to something in turn, all sorts of loopholes inside of the no business. Okay, John Wick 2, obviously, how does everything happen that sets up the events of the next

couple films unfold? John didn't, wasn't in the mood for a bourbon. He shot Sandino in the head at the New York Continental. That's a pretty big violation. Johnwick 3, zero, zero students, John, everyone, Sharon. It is just full on war in the New York Continental after it is deconsecrated. allowing this battle to unfold, which brings me to John Wick 4, where there's once again a full-on battle at the Osaka Continental after it is deconsecrated. So it's like, you have sanctuary, you're fine until someone walks in and says, this place is deconsecrated, and then we can just kill everybody.

And then at ballerina, all of the goons, three people, all it took was the Daniel Pine bounty going from $2 million to $4 million for them to be like, fuck the rulebook. I'm attacking. This is not an effective rule book, if that's all it takes. I'm sorry. There are bounties at $4 million all the time in the Johnwick universe. I will say, actually, like, there's a leaderboard. Yeah, it's pretty high. It's very high.

Like, that's very high. Like, when they put the bounty on Eve at the end of Ballerina, like, that is. Yeah, 5 mil. Crazy high. That's another continuity question that people had, where it's just like, sure, bounty's 5 mil. So when we see the leaderboard in Johnwick 4, if the events took place when Keanu said they did, she should have been on the leaderboard at the top of the leaderboard.

It's a great note, folks. It's another timeline question. Also, Joanna, things are, I will tell you happening. Violent things are happening all the time at the New York Continental. The television show The Continental. I think the 1970s Continental didn't have that rule yet, I think is. No, there's rules. There's a red light that can go on, but it's still, there's a violation happening of a code.

As I've mentioned a few times, I have not seen this show, but that was like something I... They need another rulebook. They need another rule book. The deterrence are not working. I don't have a great answer for you for this, obviously, like quite clearly you were right. But also, I would say maybe a strange and unusual shit happens when the Babiaga is in town. And so, like, maybe everything's fine until John Wick or Eve Macaro gets involved. And then shit goes crazy. So, you know... Okay, I don't mind it. So, like, if one of them checks in, you should probably just check out.

I like this. This is a, you've answered. You've solved it. Okay. We don't need a new rule book. We're good. I would like to hit you with a smuggle. And this is just not a, not a question, but just like an opportunity for us to express some passion for travel and real estate.

While we're on the continental front, I'd like to ask you, now that the Prague Continental has entered the chat, which Continental is officially your favorite continental? Is it Osaka? It's Osaka. Yeah. Has to me. No offense to Winston and the New York Continental, but it's pretty low on the list. Obviously, Osaka. Now, it is deconsecrated.

So that's tough. But in our brief time there, I mean, the cherry blossoms, the bamboo, the water features. Absolutely beautiful. The architecture was breathtaking. Koji, RIP, Akira. Like, just, I wish we had spent more time there. That was funny. I'm going to say that Prague has moved to number two on my continental power.

I thought that structure was gorgeous. I know why. I know why. They're robust ice cream offerings. If I hear that I can have ice cream delivered to me via room service, I'm pretty much set. And if it is being delivered to me in a room with a fun slanted window and beautiful green marble. And they, as we know, because the remote was changing the channels actively when it was being used to break someone's jaw. John Wick.

Not John Wick's jaw. Just John Wick. They've got Buster Keaton. They've got a number of things that you can watch. They've got lots of channels to watch. So prox number two, I'm going to say New York is third, just in the middle. And then Rome and then Casablanca. Because we didn't see enough of a Casablanca.

I would put Casablanca number two personally. But like something I didn't see enough. I'll remain open. Here's an asterisk. Yeah. We didn't talk much during movies because we're polite people and we don't talk during movies. But when they did the establishing shot of Prague, did I not lean over to you and say,

should we go to Prague? And he said, I've always wanted to go to Prague. So the fact that's number two on your list is not wholly surprised me. I've always wanted to go to Morocco. So I think Morocco number three. too on my list and then probably yeah. And nothing against the Rome Continental seemed great. Julius

I will say, genuinely one of my favorite moments in all of the John Wickley is when Julius, the manager of Rome, greets John and says you know, I'm paraphrasing. Tell me one thing, John. Are you here for the Pope? Incredible. Just an absolutely incredible moment in the history of film.

And I've always wondered, like, what if the answer to that had been yes? I mean, it wasn't. It was no. But what if it happened? Yes. The question is which Pope? American Pope? I don't know. Okay.

Got to put us in the timeline. And you know what? Actually, Rome maybe should be higher on the list because that stretched in Rome in Chapter 2, where we've got the Somalié, which is just about the weapons, the tailor, the seamress, the cartographer. Great shit. All good. Great shit. World building wonderfulness.

Here's my nice question to you. What do you got now? We saw a ballerina together. We did not talk to each other through most of the movie because, again, we are polite people. But I did out loud with my own mouth when the credits roll said, oh, brother, when we got the Evanesses Fight Like a Girl song that played over the closing credit.

So I want to ask you, is this one of the worst needle drops of all times? Now, I do think Evanescence was the right mood. I think Evanescence is a great choice. But when the lyrics are, tell your lies, yeah, you can run your mouth. But can you fight like a girl, fight like a girl, and take this. this world. You swallowed your fate, stone cold, feed the snakes, hold that fire, say my name. Baby, can you cry? Can you fight like a girl? I hated when they had the line earlier in the movie you got to fight like a girl. And I hated this song so much. I'm on record as hating that

I'm just a girl needle drop in Captain Marvel. I am now 100% at peace with that because this has displaced it for me. I hated this song. It really annoyed me. So is this one of the worst needle drops, or did you love it? Were you viving with it? No, I'm aligned with you on this one. I thought this was unfortunate.

I think we don't need to knock the Captain Marvel needle drop down the list. There's room for both at the top. They're both really bad. They're so bad. What I will say about, so learning that Sharon Duncan Brewster's character, Nogi was added. So all the training, lecturing and stuff like that was added. When we were watching that sequence in the movie, I was like, this all feels like it's in here to preempt any complaints

online that she's a Mary Sue and she fights too well or how can she go toe to toe with John Wick? We should say, John Wick is like kind of toying with her. Like, he's not trying, like, he could easily take her. So that's not really a question. But like I feel like nowadays in movies, whenever there's like a female protagonist who can fight, there's always, you know, we've got it in last of us. We have to see Ellie training before she hits the road. Like, you know, we have to like, see them training so that they're not like, how can Ray do that all of a sudden so far? You know, so it's just like, it all felt very much that. But can you fight like a girl is just like, I think the wrong note to hit at the end of this movie. So yeah. I'm with you there. I did enjoy the

training sequence because I tend to enjoy a training montage and I thought the paintball stretch looked pretty fun. No, I like I like a montage. It was more like everything that was said. It was less like watching these people get flung around. Though I will say, you watch a second time so you know better than I did. I'm probably not. In the in the in the I was just on finger watch and I had a scar watch. You're often on finger watch. I find. So like it in John Wick three when he goes to visit the Romer-Ruska. Yeah. And and and and And he's seeing them train in their blue and red outfits. Yeah.

They're in little, like, shorty kimonos. And so, like, their legs are out. My memory is in this movie, they've got full-blown pants on. Yeah. I missed the little shorts. I thought the little shorts under the kimonos in, or whatever you call, it's not a kimono, obviously. The little, like, martial arts jacket. I'm sorry.

Please don't fire me. I'm not a martial artist anyway. I thought that was, like, a great look in three. and I felt like it was a downgrade in ballerina. Here's the thing, though. Both of those sequences in Chapter 3 and in ballerina do feature peeling, bleeding toenails. Yeah. So you had that at least.

And that's a comfort. I will say that. Actually, a follow question I have. Is the ballerina that we see in John Wick 3, even though it's played by a different actress, and we do see her face, do we think that's supposed to be, Eve? I think the tattoos are the same. You know what I mean? Is the tattoo inscription the same?

I think so. It is? Yeah, I think so. That would be the tell, right? Because they all have different tattoos. Yeah. So if the inscription across the top of the back matches, then that would be the tell. Actually, this was not one of my five questions, but now that we're talking tattoos, do you think, does everyone get to pick?

Does every member of the Risk of Roma get to pick their inscription? Like, did John get to say, like, fortune favors the bold will be mine? And did Eve get to say light in the darkness will be mine? Obviously, I'm giving me English translations here. Or were those assigned? It's a great question. I don't know. I don't know.

Me neither. Me neither. What's next for you? Okay, here you go. Much. Of any given city or ten. in the Wickverse is made up of assassins. Like, this has always been a question of mine in the Wic films.

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Kohlhauser, Kelly Riley, Annette Benning, Annette Harris, now streaming on Paramount Plus. Right? Like, so I would say in the New York stretches, in particular,

this is obviously always top of mind for us watching WIC films, particularly during the excommunicado stretch, of course, because basically any time John goes anywhere, whether it's through a subway station or into a public library,

there is an assassin waiting to attempt to execute the contract against him. Obviously, like, something like the genius of the Bari King operation is like this idea that it's, they're hiding in plain sight. They're all around you. You don't even know they're there. The people you're not looking for. The people you're not paying attention to. Like, they're also.

By the way, not that I'm surprised. Jason's great and John Wick, great. Not that I'm surprised at all, but like... He's the best. He should have had way more screen time. Yeah, it was fantastic. But there's the moment when the Inducator like hands him her umbrella to like hold for them. Incredible moment.

And he's just like, I guess. It's like it's a pretty great. Great shit. Yeah. This is kind of a question everywhere in New York the most, but it was also then very keen in the Paris stretch where it seemed. that every third person John Wick fast was a trained and highly lethal, the ultimately unsuccessful assassin attempting to kill him in the Arctic Triumph of the stairs anywhere. He might have gone in Paris on his way to challenge the marquee in the dole.

But despite this always having been a question, a full-on mountainside cult community where every single person who resides there, every single person, including the children, is trained to kill, is just obviously like another level. I mean, the mom and daughter at the pub who even then the mom grabs a shotgun and you're like, oh, it's everyone.

I know you have, I believe you have some questions coming on the children later and I do as well. So then it made me think how many other murder village groups like this do we think there are? We're just every single inhabit of a day. is a trained

hitman. Now, and like the Chancellor's Colt is described as, okay, in contact with, right? Like, the Chancellor and the director have met. There's a necessary truce between those organizations, like with the Colt and the Ruscaruma.

But, like, they're able to use the Continental. We learn that in the movie. But also they're described by Winston is like clearly separate, right? Not abiding despite being able to use the Continental by the polite rules of society like everyone else. They don't follow rules, but we let them use our,

heavily rule-enforced hotel. Well, again, maybe this is part of why the rules are never adhered. It's just a note and they're free to take it or not. And then that made me wonder, like, I guess this is a smuggle question, but this is more just, I'm wondering if this will be clarified in future films. Like,

is the cult under the table? Because kind of like everything is under the table, but also then it doesn't really seem. I feel like they're on an adjacent table. And this is just like an uneasy truth. So not under the high table with the 12 seats formally. I don't understand why we're so scared of them. Because like, no offense to Gary.

real burn, but like John Wick makes like fairly easy, like, you know, he cuts through this town pretty quickly. Here's my Halstot question. Halsda Austria is a real place. I actually answer my own question, but I'll just like spiral it down. At first, one of my questions was, do you think the Halsstrat Austria Tourism Board has a case to sue Lionsgate over the fact that they're idyllic, and it looks beautiful. And the real Hustadt-Australes. Australia. That's what it looks. It's just gorgeous. On a hill. It's beautiful. Yeah. But in my in-depth research, aka. looking up Halstead, Austria on Wikipedia, I found... Not a commune for... Well, murder cults?

I found that they are... They're... What is it? What is it? It's an area of over-tourism, which means they have way more tourists than they can handle. So maybe they're, like, delighted to have a deterrence built in of, like, we are the murder cult town from ballerina, Joanna. I got to tell you. A John Wick story. You want to go to Hallstone. I am going hard the other way on this. The conversation that Adam and I had driving home was like, what do you think the property values are? Like, go to Hallstead. Okay. How hard would it to be rebuilt? Put in these stone and wood structures. Let's do all of my Hallstock questions. How much, and I ask you this outside the theater, but I'm going to ask it again for the general public. How much do you

think their entire economy is based around ballerina music boxes. Is it Icegate and Ballerina music boxes that's like our main exports from Halstatt, Austria? Can you use those music boxes to barter for other goods? I have some questions about this. Also, and this is the main question, Eve leaves with Ella, Pine's daughter. Yes. Safe and sound, don't worry, they are not going to turn you small, adorable child into a child assassin, leaves town. As far as we know, she and John are just like, bye to Halstad, leaving behind just an entire school full of children who are being trained to be assassins. Fuck them, I guess. Question mark. Okay. Their parents made their choices. I don't know. And they're all dead now. I don't know. So like, obviously this could set us up to a Last of Us-esque

thing down the line of sort of like the children of Halstott rise up to take their revenge on the people who cut through their town low those many years ago, perhaps. But I just like, why save one child when you can save all the children? I have questions about that,

about the future of these children assassins. So I knew this was going to be one of your questions because we talked about this in the wake of the movie. So I have prepared a, my next question is a sub-question to your question. It's related. I think you're asking. asking the important things here, what happened to all those kids? I mean, the dude, the dude who walked by, the little kid who walked by the car, who he almost hit. And then he like, points the gun, his handgun. And then obviously when we see the school and they've got the targets at like the school yard. I mean, the mind wanders with what those kids are up to now. Here's my follow up question to your question. Will the director and the Ruska Roma slide in to? to recruit. Because their whole thing is orphans. The whole thing. They love an orphan.

Is like, okay, so we have a scene. You could just like picture Angelica Houston like sweeping in and saying children of Halstatt's come with me. Sadness isn't enough. I need pain and you've got it. You've got it. Come on. What percentage of Halstead Austria do you feel like was wiped out by? this visit from Eve and John. Good question. Whether they were roasted and toasted by a flamethrower gun that we have questions about the mechanics of those flames or like, but again, that's under the looney too umbrella. I'm not that worried about it. But what do you think? How many, how many of the people that John and Eve killed were parents of these child assassins?

So many. I think basically everyone, my understanding is that basically everyone who's there is like I was trained to be. an assassin elsewhere and I'm like here now to raise my family. So I think like they all right. It's like a bunch of families. Yeah. And they killed many of the parents. So I think not all.

Put a pin in that for a second. This will come into play with my last question that I have. But before I get to, I think a person who might be alive, which I'll hit you within a minute. And by eye, I mean the internet and the people making the movie who are talking about it in interviews just to be clear. So I think that like one of the. questions that people seem interested in

in the wake of the film is like, could the remnants of the cold be like the next big thing beyond this movie? Like is there, and that gets to again, the question of like if they're not under the table, maybe that's helpful because, so here's a

quote from an empire interview with Chad, with Chad Stahelsky, quote, the saga of John Wick was pretty rap. up. So the only way to do a five is to have a new story that involves John Wick. It's not a continuation with the high table. John dealt with his grief. It will be really different and everybody

will see the trailer and go, holy fuck, I got to see that. End quote. He's probably right. If they put out a trailer for John Wick five, most people are going to watch it and say, holy fuck, I got to see that. But so like that seems, and could things change? Sure. Like, very clear, and I would say this is the right impulse. We did the high table thing. We're done. We need to move on. So then that would indicate, maybe it's something else entirely, but like the idea that the cult could be the germ of that. Possibly? Sure.

I don't need it. But then I don't think the director can take all the children. The children have to stay there and continue their murder village. You know, and I love that you really want to go to murder village. I love that you're calling a murder village and you want to go see it. Do you think then that whatever this thing is, should be called from the world of John Wick

colon murder village. Is that what you're pitching right now? Why not? Okay. Now, I think the fact that the franchise is John Wick, Johnwick Chapter 2, John Wick Chapter 3 dash Parabellum, John Wink Chapter 4 is borderline sociopathic

and just should not have been allowed. So I would love some title, continuity moving forward. That said, while Parabellan is the outlier, I do you think that's a sick movie title? It is. So I would like lean into that a little bit more. And Murder Village, does it stem from a key phrase, you know, to, if you want peace ready for more, I'm paraphrasing, I believe it's something like that.

It is. I don't know that Murder Village has similar roots in a phrase of note like that, but we can workshop it. We can workshop it. So what do you think? Do you think the director is going to go recruit the kids? Because like, okay, so John, we know we should just say is an orphan of the tribe, right? we don't know yet who John Wick's parents are.

I will say this has been one of my recent discoveries now that I've entered the Continental Hive. Huge theory about a couple characters in the Continental being his parents. Oh, fun fact. Which, should I say it or not in case it's so few people listening to this have seen it? It's not confirmed, to be clear. There's just a very popular theory. There's also the, like, question when Winston at the end of John McFour puts his hand on the tombstone, you see the tattoo. and then says son.

Son now does not mean anything to me because you can call anyone son. But, you know, is Winston his dad, for example? If you don't want to hear the theory, it hit fast forward twice. The theory is it's Winston's brother, Frankie. And so that would make Winston his uncle. That Frankie and Yan from the Continental TV show

are John's parents, which I think would be actually really interesting for Winston to have a blood tie but not actually be his dad. Spoiler. And again, it's not a spoiler because it's not a no thing. It's just a theory. But like, I don't know if you don't want to know that those are characters from the show. I'm glad you mentioned Winston in the tattoo because I think it's possible that if somebody missed out or forgot about that, you'd see ballerina and you'd be like, why is Winston showing up and taking Eve to the Ruscaroma?

But that tattoo implied that he had a prior connection to that group. By the way, I am always listening to you and paying attention, but I also happen to do some tattoo research and that is not the same ballerina, different tattoos. So don't worry about it. Different ballerina. And I guess all ballerinas of the risk aroma are forced to do that exercise where, I don't know, do you think the director perforates their toe shoes? So the blood gushes out of the bottom of it because that's not a lot of blood, that's not what toe shoes. You could fill your shoe with blood if you're a ballerina that can happen. But it's not then going to like gush out all over the stage.

So the fabric holds the blood. There's not just fabrics. There's like layers of like cardboard inside of your toeshoes. It absorbs the blood. Yeah, yeah. Unlike the plastic bag that Eve was holding the severed hand in, when that iconic New Yorker woman was like, ma'am, your bags leak in. And she's like, thank you. It would hold the blood better than that plastic bag is what you're saying.

I think, yeah, a good toe shoe. Now, again, if the director just for shits and gigs likes to poke holes in their toe shoes so that they have to slip around in their own blood on the stage, I wouldn't put it past her. She's a sociopath. One more thing on the, will the director recruit the Children of Rutter Village front? let me just throw this out there. On the like conspicuous lines and moments in the film front. Does she know her parents are? Well, she knows the location.

I just thought they made such a point of her saying to the chancellor, well, I'll send someone, but you got to tell me where you are. And don't worry, I'll do nothing with that information other than send this one help for you here now. That's it. It's like, she knows where that place is? Yeah. Is she going to do nothing? with that?

Seems unlikely. I like the idea of her child snatching. From the world of John Wick, colon, child snatcher. Sounds great to me. I mean, it's their whole thing,

recruiting the orphans, and then being like, yeah, sorry, Tatiana had to go. She only had sadness. I need pain. Wild stuff. But it's okay, because now she's just a ballet dancer

and that seems like a better existence, to be honest with you. Okay. I mean, crushing it. Crushing it on the theater scene in New York? Here's my last question. Hit me. Does anything capture

the continental global appeal of the John Wick universe better than the absolutely garbled, mish-mashed accents that we hear from Jerome Flynn in John Wick 3 and Sharon Duncan Brewster in from the world of John Wick, Colin Ballerina. These are, there's a lot of accent work happening. Gabriel Byrne is the shock at a century to me that you waited this. long to go to Accent Corner. It's my last. It's my last hurrah. Gabriel Byrne is doing his own very

special thing in this movie. Don't worry about it. I actually really love Angelica Houston's cartoonish Natasha and Boris Russian accent. I think it's hilarious. I think it's great. Sharon Duncan Brewster is like, who a very talented performer is swinging all over the accent map inside of this.

Like, I don't know. They hired her and they're like, you're from Africa actually know you're Russian now. I don't know what she was doing. And then Jerome Flynn that's one of the worst accents I've ever heard of my entire life I was looking up where this character was supposed to be from

and the internet was like Italy question mark because his name is Barada not to be confused with the cheese and spelled differently but like it sounds almost Dutch to me I don't know

what good old brawn and Blackwater is doing with his accent work in John Mc3 but I was delighted when he got bit in the dick for the crimes against my ears that was his accent.

Also for shooting a dog. But yes, and for the accent. Equally heinous. Equally heinous acts. Same level, honestly, of a violation. Not to be confused with the cheese is going to stick with me for a while. Thank you for that. Incredible stuff.

Oh, man. Yeah, the accents are a journey. I mean, even, you know, going back, we love Alfie Allen. Going back to the first movie, like, there's some wandering accent work there. For sure. I don't know what it is. There's something about a cartoonish Russian accent that I'm usually just like, that's fine. Whatever you're doing over there, that's vaguely Slavic, that's fine.

But some of these other ones. I love Alfie Allen and Johnwick. I think he's great. Fantastic stuff. Would you ever go, I mentioned the clubs earlier, would you ever choose to go to minus 11 an ice club instead of the Red Circle, a hot tub bathhouse club? It's definitely a hot tub club over ice club. Imagine going to the ice club?

I've got friends who love a nice situation. Because there's like, you know, you can do like various sonnas treatments, and one of them is like you can sit in an ice room. Could never be me, but I know people who love it. A treatment? Sure. Yeah. A night at the club.

Let me be clear. Not a thing that I know anything about or have like ever done or intended to do. What do you do some really nice outerwear? want to show up. You're like, look at this tremendous fur coat. Eve, yeah, Eve had the floor when she walked in, which struck me as quite practical, given the temperature and that, but obviously impractical, impractical for combat. But it just, I'm like, do we have, like, do we need to be worried about frostbite? Like, what sort of, like, ice burns do we have from the contact between, like, the thigh and the ice floor?

This is, to be clear, not my actual question. I know. But it is on my mind. It's up there. It is on my mind. What's your last question? My last question is an actual plot question and a canon question about the movie and where we might go from here. Okay. Who do you think placed the hit on Eve? Who opened the contract on Eve? Because this is an open question. And you noted the $5 million is like a hefty price tag.

There's also just the like widening of the eye when the call, when the contract is open and the hit is ordered. And I took that as like a, because it's in the response to like the confirmation number part. So it's like about who is calling that leads to that facial expression and response. I thought it was, oh. But it can't be to the amount because that hasn't been stated yet. I think it was about the like who is placing the call more than the amount. But I'll have to go see it a third time to know for sure. Okay.

So I would say there most people seem to think it's someone associated with the cultists that we should know. It is I think at least possible that it was the director who ordered the head. That would be my number one guess. That would be my lead actually seeing the movie because I think we linger on, we linger on the director. And then we go basically like immediately, you know, that I hit. And obviously, like, you know, there's the prior, like, but she's family and the director's basically like, tough shit. So, you know, we know that the director is thinking about preservation of her family and her operation over the individual members inside of it. So the director, I think, leading candidate.

it. It seemed like most of the internet thought it was someone associated with the cultists, which I was surprised by because when we left, Adam was like, it's definitely someone with the cultist. And I was like, wasn't it the director? So I think this is an interesting debate. Do you feel like the cultists have that power to put it that bounty out? Um, maybe that could be part of the like, oh, like we haven't heard from you guys in a while. But I think this gets to the question of how associated are they with like the larger machine here? Okay, could it have been Eve's mother? I would like to share a couple of quotes with you.

Oh, tell me. Director Len Weissman, who may or may not have actually made the movie, as you previously explained. Made at least some of this movie. But I will refer to him as the director of the film for the purposes of sharing these quotes. To Brian Truitt, USA Today. Quote, for those looking for a tease of where Eve could go next, director, Len Weissman says to pay attention to the bounty on Eve at the end of the movie. That was, quote, a Keanu idea, the filmmaker says, and it speaks to, quote, the spirit of the consequences behind this world.

But, quote, it's ambiguous who put that contract out. End quote. And while the audience will have to wait to see who that mystery person is, quote, I have my fun, really dark ideas. second quote to throw your way from Big Wen here. This is to Entertainment Weekly. Big Len. To EW's Sydney Bucksbaum. Quote,

At one point, I had in the script that she meets her mother, and we never got there. We were maybe going to shoot the scene, but that's always something that we hear. Her mother's dead. But in this world, you never know who's really dead. I mean, there was an element of. When Eve does get the contract on her at the end, we don't necessarily know for sure who put that contract on her. Again, this is a quote from the director. And if that path led to that, maybe her own mother put the head on her, that would be brutal, end quote. What do you think? I mean, I guess that's Len's theory. So it's a fine theory. Len is saying in general, theory, I speculate it's an open question. So that's fun. But also he's like, but what if it's the mom? Okay, first of all, there was zero down in my mind that her mom was still alive.

Like, of course her mom is still alive. For sure. Like, of course she is. This is very ALEAS season two. Shout out Lena Olin, always as Sydney Bristow's mom. A Russian operative. I mean, it worked really well in AILIA season two. So if you just want to do AILIA season two, but make it John Wick, I will happily show up.

You were asking me about schools of Child Assassins. like, well, that's just alias. They did that on alias. And if they want to do mom working against you, but for you, with you, against you, question mark, constantly, I would watch it for sure. Five Mills, a lot. That's a lot. Who would you cast, is Anna Armas's mom? I have no idea. Okay. Who would you cast? It's a great question. Someone stunningly beautiful. Yeah, the most beautiful person that has ever existed, but is the right age demographically. It's interesting. The sister's a very handsome father as well. Oh, yeah. I thought David Kustaneda was like really good in this.

Same. Which would have gotten more. Reddit seems to have hated that whole action sequence, but I like a smoke grenade. So I had a fun time with it. Red smoke. Well, it was just like, it was just funny. Here's what's happening with the reshoot thing. Basically everyone's like the part of the movie I didn't like that was obviously originally

there. And the part that I did like, that's obviously a reshoot. And I'm just like, it's not that clear. If they cast David Kassaneda during the reshoot, then all of the opening stuff is Chad's Nels. And if that's true, then you can. can't disavow that fight scene. I quite liked David in all of that. I thought the sister stuff was really wasted in the movie. So yeah, if they want to do something, she could have other siblings.

And if they want to do something, half siblings, if they want to do something with a mom, they should do it. Love that. Oh, my wonderful. Sounds great. Those were my questions. I can't believe you didn't ask about the flamethrowers. I know we do. We sprinkled it in. It's loony too. Okay, fine. This is not okay. The Flamethrowers, the everlasting gobs are tanks that are on those flamethrowers, fine. That's fine. Yeah. Tommy could have really used it against the blotter, as we said in real time. We did.

Yeah. Pals. Do you think those tunnels in Halstead, Austria, once again, a real place that you can go visit their famous for their salt? Do you think those tunnels were coated in petrol? And that's why they all, like, lit on fire. Like, stone is lighting on fire. again, it's Looney Tins, it's fine. That guy's, that henchman's, his name

is Dex, I believe, his foot gets lit on fire and we thought it would come and back to play, but it doesn't. It's just a thing that happens. Mallory made a Harry Potter comp with like the two flames sort of... Yeah, the water. The water and the flame.

The water and the flame was just like, I throw up on Cadabra, you throw expelli arms. It's so long. Like, you said it blew by. I feel like she's slowly pressing forward with that, the world's strongest fire hose for so long. Anyway. Ballerina. Do you have any commentary on the hair, not catching fire?

Obviously, the jacket is, how does she still have her hair? Oh, Targaryen blood inside of the ballerina. You love to see it. Here's my suggestions. Chad Stahalski, when he was doing reshoots for. this movie, I think it resulted in him either like losing, I don't know exactly what happened with the custody of the Highlander movie with Henry Cavill. I think it's gone to Amazon now. I don't know if Chad's still

involved, but the implication is that he had to put that on pause in order to help with the reshoots to this movie because Lionsgate was also supposed to make Highlander. Now they're not. Do we think there's a way in which we could have a John Wick Highlander crossover? Because I would be quite excited. It's a real alien versus predator situation. and I would enjoy it. What do you think the weapon of choice would be in that crossover? Well, Highlander is always sword.

So, you know, we've got a lot of sword play across John Wick, but like not as much, it's not as much room for the grenade action. It's true. It's true. And as previously mentioned, a lot of people are exploded with grenades in the film Ballerina. And it was memorable. Does that, so the way do you kill a Highlander and you take their powers by cutting off their head, do you think it still works if you explode their head with a grenade?

With a grenade? Yeah. Probably. Did you have a favorite grenade exploding a person moment? It's a tie between the guy she... The table and the hanging. The dangling. The joy in the table moment is the way in which the visual effects or whatever, you know, because she's got a thing like stretched hot around him and then he explodes and whatever, you know,

the grenade belt then like falls forward with her. That was cool. because you're just like, yeah, because that guy's goo now so there's nothing holding that grenade belts up anymore. Gone. And the guy previously who she'd put behind the metal door and had shoved the grenade dismount and then he's exploded through and the wall, the wood wall.

He's also gone. Just paced, just missed. Gone. Pink mist. The guy in Hallstad is duct taping the grenade to his face dangling with the rope and then as everyone looks like the guy in the eye looks through everyone.

Yeah. Mist. Spray paint. What do you think is happening? Here's a question. Okay. What do you think is happening? What's the state of Eve's hearing after the events of this film?

She's like within inches of multiple explosions. A question Reddit had a lot of thoughts about. Yeah. Does she have earplugs that we just haven't seen? Flame retardant hair products and ear plugs. She needs a cue. Like I know that. that they have like Somalis and stuff like that.

And I know they've got Taylor's and so like that. But I think they need more gadgets in the, in the John Wickverse. They need a cue. What is Ben Wischaw doing? Can he come over in? Oh my God. What a dream that would be.

What a dream that would be. Ah, boy. Great stuff. All right. I think we did it. Yeah. Yeah. The eye survives, right?

I feel like the eye survives. The character, the eye in Hollywood. Stott. I would see more of him. He's in the life aquatic with Steve Zizu. I like that guy. I would love to see him again. Okay. So the eye? Yeah. Eve's definitely a living mother who potentially ordered a hit on her own child and like dozens and dozens of murder children. Murdered children. Sounds like we have a second movie. Okay. Well, that has been our journey through the John Wick verse. Will Mallory continue watching the Continental Mallory? Yeah. Oh yeah. I've only got I mean, it's only three episodes.

Again, each episode is the length of a movie. But I only have one of three left, so I will be finishing my journey. I can't say I recommend the show, which is unfortunate. Too bad. But there's some fun stuff in it. There is some fun stuff in it. And then also some stuff that is. If they did another season, is it one of those things where you watch the first season,

you're like, I could see the good show here. I would like this to get a second season because, like, they could really figure it out. Okay. Yeah. There was stuff to work with. sure. Overall grade, what's your final grade on ballerina? Oh.

We don't do grades, but like a letter grade. Whoa. Like a letter grade. A letter grade. A letter grade. A letter grade. A house of more. Let's see.

So I would say that John Wick four and John Wick one are A pluses for me. Oh, wow. Like A pluses. Okay. I would say that three is like an A minus and two is a B plus. Mm-hmm. so I will give ballerina a B minus. It's a B minus.

It's a border between B and B minus. It's a B minus. B minus, but probably B minus. And we had a fun, fine time of the movies. Mallory cackling around people turning into goo. Is it a great movie? No. Do I probably want to rewatch it?

Not until there's the next one. But it is a movie we saw, and it's a movie that exists. Thank you to Mallory Rubin. Thank you to you. You're my Baba Yaga. Oh. It's only one of you. A creature of myth and legend.

Yeah, terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying, right? No, awe-inspiring. Oh, awe-inspiring. Okay. Deconsecrate your continental in advance of my arrival. I'm Joanna Robinson.

Thank you to all the folks worked on this pod today. Jesse Lopez, John Richter, Arjuno Ranco Pal, and Jomea and Dineria Diner on. Lots going on in Los Angeles right now. Our thoughts are with everyone down there. and thanks to our team for working on this pod today. And we will see you later this week. Bye. All pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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