Kermode & Mayo’s Take - Ben Whitehair, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, The Beanie Bubble & Talk To Me

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

With Mark and Simon setting off on their rip-roaring canal cruise, this week’s episode sees favourites Rhianna Dhillon and Anna Bogutskaya take the helm of the good ship Take. Rhianna chats to SAG Executive Vice President Ben Whitehair to find out more about the strikes, including what actors are fighting for and the wider implications for the industry. Anna reviews ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’, the star-studded, Seth Rogen co-penned, computer-animated superhero outing, which sees the iconic Turtles set out to be accepted as normal teenagers through acts of heroism; ‘The Beanie Bubble’, a comedy drama about the meteoric rise in popularity of Beanie Babies soft toys; and ‘Talk To Me’, a freaky Australian horror about a young woman who becomes embroiled with the supernatural following a séance with an embalmed hand. Time Codes (relevant only when you are part of the Vanguard): 13:58 The Bear Season 2 Review 23:14 Box Office Top 10 38:19 Greta Gerwig Interview 53:10 Barbie Review 01:01:42 Laughter Lift 01:03:32 Oppenheimer Review 01:14:05 What’s On You can contact the show by emailing [e-mail] or you can find us on social media, @KermodeandMayo EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/take Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! A Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts To advertise on this show contact: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Holt Renfrew is sharing joy for the holidays with gifts for everyone on your list, and maybe even a special treat for yourself, too. Discover the new collection for Burberry by Daniel Lee. Add some ambiance with Louis V. Home. Give Gorpkora try in Solomon's sneakers, and so much more. Whatever presidency pick, we know they're going to love them. Visit a store today or shop at HoltRenfrew.com. Hello and welcome to Kermode and Mayo's take.

Although of course it's not Kermode and Mayo. It's Dylan and Bugatskaya. How you doing Anna? I'm so good. I'm so good now that we're sitting opposite each other on life as well again. It is Barby and Oppenheimer in cinemas, we're in the studio, we've got coffee, we've got treated to cross-arms. No, four. Don't tell anybody. What a if it was. It's been a pretty massive week for cinema generally. And I feel like I haven't heard people this excited about actually going to the cinema for a very long time.

There is no talk of, I'll just catch this when it's on the streaming. I've not heard a single person say that. Also, every single screening has been sold out. The people who have not seen either Barby or Apronheimer is because they can't get a ticket. Wow. Which is extraordinary.

I love to see it. Also, I live on a street that's directly opposite a cinema and an independent cinema. And every time I walk out or go back home in the evening, I see periodically a line of people around the corner just viewing up to see probably Barbie. I think they're mainly screening Barbie. So, do you think this is what it was like to be a live for the first owls or or exorcist? Or, well, you know, we also saw this a lot with the first phase of Marvel

movies, you know, when going to the cinema to see something was a cultural touch point. Yeah. When you, you know, I imagine this as well with the original release of Fatal Attraction or the original release of like Dracula in 1931. Yeah. People going absolutely crazy for a movie. The movie's been the place to be. Yeah.

And you're so far into the moment that it's invaded your clothes. I love your Greta Goig's pink t-shirt. Two pinks. Two pinks, pink on pink. Yeah, I always had to dress thematically for today's episodes. Yeah, I am dressed as a mushroom cloud. So that was a couple weeks ago.

But no, I did buy this t-shirt in a fever craze at about one a.m. As soon as girls on tops put the pre-sales on the website. I was like, I need to this in my basket right now. I really enjoy how that has sort of become a cult onto itself because I was down in Brighton judging a short film festival this week. And I saw a woman with Pam Grier t-shirt in the building

that I was judging. I didn't know her and I wasn't going to know her. She was a stranger. And I was like, oh my god, wait. And I just lifted. I didn't know her, and I wasn't going to know her. She was a stranger, and I was like, oh my God, wait, and I just lifted up my jumper to flash her my own t-shirts, which was, I think my Laura Dern little women possibly. I have a hole, this is not even a joke.

I have a hole drawer that is just full of cross on top, C-shirts. This is not sponsored. They don't send them to me for free. I've spent a lot of money on my sea shirts. I just love to be celebrating female filmmakers. I like pink-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub-cub in depth for a little while, you're gonna have to subscribe to take three if you want to hear that. But what are we gonna talk about and take one? So we've got a pretty varied roaster of movies coming out this week. I'll be talking about the horror film talk to me, the Beanie Bubble, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Muth Mehm.

Whoa, what a mouthful. I'm intrigued to hear your take on this. I'm also gonna be talking to Ben Whitehair, who is the executive vice president of SAG Afterer, because of course, this week, next week, we're probably not going to be able to get any guests on, and we got Ben on to tell us why that is. And I sort of feel like SAG SAG Afterer has become

almost like a buzz term, and maybe people don't know the depth, the ins and outs. So we kind of got him to tell us from a layman's perspective. So do listen out for that. Plus, I think Mark and Simon are actually going to be dropping by at the end of the day to update us on how they're getting on with their barge trip.

So do stay tuned to hear the latest from the grand year yet again, Al. And then in take two, we've got at least an extra hour of this rubbish, which is bonus reviews, including Malfke, the Forest Song and the Virgin Suicides, the 4K Restoration. One frame back is inspired by teenage mutant Ninja Turtles, so we're taking a look at films that include reptiles, which is such a great idea. And then you're going to have another stab at pretentious moire, Anna.

So would you say that you are a pretentious kind of critic? Yes, and apologetic, Lisa. You absolutely are. I'm a pretentious kind of person. I'm so glad that you do not pretend. I think I'm so aware of that. Take three, you're gonna get our full unadulterated opinion on barbenheimer

and do support us via Apple Podcast or head to extratakes.com for non-fruit-related devices. a lot of people have been interested in about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest about the latest up and be LTL I think it's been about eight years, S-D-E, B-A, and M-A in film. The clock has struck midnight and I appear to be in the first stretch of one of my occasional sleepless nights. My phone buzzes on the bedside cabinet. Two new episodes of Camo de Mayo's take are available, toads and maize. So I pop on take one first, apparently an avant-garde approach to the listening order now, but there we go and I settle in for a bit of wittering. The first voice I hear is that of Simon, but something is wrong. There is too much gusto and inexperience in his voice, not to mention his flagrant disregard for the ongoing joke about not watching Jeremy. My concern, however,

is short-lived when it's revealed that this was not Simon Mayo, but simply the entity following instructions by the tip-top production team. All is good again as the reassuring discussion about AI's inferiority to your good selves goes on. That is, until the voice of Mark Hermode morphed with none other than Michael Gove shatters any hope of even a short nap tonight. It took most of the rest of the take for me to re-aclimatize to Mark's real voice. Any algorithm that takes a creative swing like that is really a danger to us all. Aside from that, keep up the good work,

down with all things and up with all the stuff. Tomas, in Belfast. Can I just say, I have also listened to this. I know that we're going to be doing this for a few weeks over the summer. I would just like to put it on the record and I'm turning to look at the producer of the show. No AI versions of our voices please. I have enough.

No promises. No promises. No promises. It is, it's, it's weirdly creepy. I listened as well. Yeah. And it is bizarre. There were just no breaths in AI because obviously robots do not need to breathe. Yeah.

It's so strange. I dare I to replicate my unplaceable actions. That's such a good point, actually. I would love to hear that. Next email saying, hello, I was listening to an old-ish episode of The Take Last Night helps me sleep. I feel like people often go to sleep to the take. I always, I always every night listen to podcasts when I'm trying to fall asleep.

I listened to The Famous Five, which I just got an email today about the casting announcement for Nicholas Winding Reffens, BBC series. You told me about this. I've never even heard of that. The Famous Five is an iconic British institution, in a blightin series about four children and their dog Timmy who go off on lots of adventures and it was the sound of my childhood because I had it on audio book then and I now have it on audio book to go to sleep. That is so sweet! Yeah, I do excited about the announcement.

I cannot wait and it's such a weird thing because it's so old-fashioned. But I love it so much. So anyway, yeah, I listened to film a five-view listen to podcasts and Penny listens to the take to go to sleep. So she said, when you were talking about checking things that had turned up before you leave the house, it reminded me of a time I didn't do that. A few years ago, my husband got some tickets for us to go to a free preview screening of no where boy at the view in Sheppard's Bush. Off we went, got ourselves comfy, good central seat, settled down to enjoy the film. It was about to start when I remembered that I'd put a pan of beetroot on the stove for an hour before we left and I didn't remember turning it off. Oh no, the beetroot, I cried out. It's really hard to do this without sounding like Alan Bartridge.

We left, rushed home as fast as the bus would let us and came into a house wreaking of burnt beats. The pan had oil dry and the beetroot was black, but at least the house hadn't burned down. We've never seen no web boy even on the jelly, and we never leave the house now without checking that nothing has been left on the stove. This is from Penny. She's saying, PS, going to Oppenheimer this afternoon, did Barbie on Saturday,

couldn't face them on the same day, unlike our son and daughter-in-law, who both went on Sunday and sat through Oppenheimer in their Ken and Barbie costumes. Oh, I love those. I love that they went in costume. Like full costumes, it sounds like. Dear Holly Rude and Balmoral,

hello from the Texas chapter of the Vanguard, third time emailer. There has been a long running theme of songs that make you emotional when listening to them as you'll recall this started when Mark became emotional thinking about a song since this is ostensibly a film podcast I'm really like the use of the word ostensibly there what is a movie that makes you emotional just to think about whenever moonlight comes on or I start thinking about it, I have to mentally change subjects before I start to tear up remembering the beauty and the pain of such a remarkable film. What is that film for you?

What's such a good question? I get quite teary thinking about sense and sense penalty. You know what, and it's not because of Barbie, but the first film that came to mind was Greta Gouric's Francis Ha. I've only seen it once. And you know what is because I had such an intense reaction to it when I watched it. I think I felt very connected to Francis' character. I think I watched it in the cinema when I came out. I was living in Madrid. I was like 23 or 24. Very frustrated with life and kind of impatient for things to start. And I was just glued to the seat. I remember going to see it with my partner at the time and him just not being able to get me to stand up from the seat. I was weeping. And then I had a

similar experience with Lady Bird. Maybe it is a critical or a right thing. But with Lady Bird, it just hit me in such profound places. And I've watched a few times and every single time it hit me that way too. How? Wow. And I can't really talk about them that much more because then I will start crying.

Because you're all going to start crying. I had a similar reaction, weirdly to watching Tully. Oh, with Shully's Theron. Oh, I was thinking of what to do from what? I was thinking of Tully. You thought of Tully, I was thinking, Rihanna, what?

No, Tully. And I couldn't leave the cinema because I was crying so hard. And I don't know why. I still do this day, don't really know why. Anyway, Dana, this is from Dana Talbert, who is not related to Hannah, who says, down with movies, intended to be two parts and uptelling a concise, moving story

in under two hours here here. Don't forget you can email us correspondence at kermotomeo.com. So our first review is talk to me and this is a film that I have really managed to avoid because I am terrified of the trailer alone gives me horrendous goosebumps. Do you wanna tell us a bit about it before we go into the trailer? I think you're right about avoiding this one. Really?

I think I even told you, I think there's gonna be maybe a bit much, but I would love for you to see it, because it is, I genuinely have not been so excited about an original horror movie in a while. Okay. This is the debut feature by twin filmmaker brothers, Danny and Michael Philipo, who really made their name through a very popular YouTube channel. And this is

their first foray into movie making. It's super young, right? Very young. I think they're under 30. It's incredibly young. No, they're fine. If they were under 25, it would be sick. And they've made an incredible movie. It's sickening. It's really fun. It's really good. I've watched it twice now. I've watched it on the screen. I've watched it in the cinema with people. It is genuinely scary.

So give us a top line, and then we'll play a little clip. It is about a group of teenagers in Australia who start playing around with a hand that allows them to connect with the spirit world. And then something goes awry. They open a door that they can't close. Oh no. You can imagine the rest. Let's hear the trailer. What did the hand feel like?

It felt amazing. I could see and feel everything on the other side. Oh, my mom. She was trying to reach out. I'm going to here. Still been seeing stuff. You mean seeing stuff? What if we opened the door, but we didn't shut it. Oh, my God, they fall in love. I like it.

They're not gonna stop. No, they're not gonna stop. Oh. No. No. No. I mean, those echoing screens will echo around my brain for a very long time. I'm actually really glad you brought,

bring up the sound, because it was one of my favorite things about the film. I genuinely think it is such a fresh take on the Ouija board storyline. You know, we're all familiar. I think it's a teenage ride of passage from many, many people around the globe of playing around with the supernatural, you know?

And there's variations on how you do it. And the Philip Rebothers created a genuinely original new take on how teenagers can connect with the supernatural. In this case, it's sort of a mummified hand that they have to hold and ask the spirit world or you know, a spirit to talk to me. And then essentially get possessed momentarily during a minute and a half by any spirit

that they randomly come in contact with. And obviously this is a family premise, especially for teen horror movies. Stuff starts happening, something goes wrong. And what they really smartly do, and I'm really impressed by it as debut filmmakers as well, is that they choose to focus on one lead character on me, who we see in the trailer, played really beautifully by Sophie Wilde. And we kind of, as much as we meet, oldies kind of teenage fun and brutal in the way that only teenagers can be characters,

we then really zero in on her experience and her connection with the supernatural will so that her mom has died so she's grieving or trying to process death. And then obviously I don't want to say what happens next. It is genuinely scary. It is spooky. The sound design is magnificent. When I watched it in the cinema, I kept turning around to be like, is someone making a weird noise behind me?

Oh, really? And then realizing that it was the sound design. So I, something that I definitely did not pick up when I watched it first on a screener. So it's one of the reasons why I would encourage listeners to go and check it out in a cinema. It is a full-blown horror experience. So kind of fair whether horror fans do you think this works or would you recommend it for more die-hard horror fans? Do you know what for both for different reasons?

For the overhead fans, it's going to be a fresh take or a really familiar concept. It's gonna be genuinely an original movie, not a sequel, not a reinvention, not a recoil, or a remake or anything like that. And it's fun, it's interesting to see a new concept and a new voice and horror film making come to life. And for more lightweight horror fans or people who don't like horror, it is spooky.

It's genuinely scary without going down the let's Do 7 Jump Scares per minute. Kind of rude. Is it jump scary though? It's got a couple of jumps. Okay. But I use the word spooky very deliberately because it builds atmosphere very well. It is eerie, it is creepy, but also it does not neglect the fun element of being a teenager that's playing around with forces

that they think they can control, but they can't. Like this sort of light is a feather, stiff is a board, where you would use to do at our friend's house. So it has that thing, there's a montage in the movie, which is genuinely so fun and so demented and involves talking to spirits.

So I think they really, maybe because of their youth and kind of their inexperience, they've thrown so much of that energy That very YouTube TikTok kind of social media kind of wild editing energy into the film and that gives it this real intense rhythm That works really well and I think the balance of the film Will work especially for more lightweight horror fans or anti-horror people, where you get a respite, you get a little bit of breathing room, you get a character that you can connect with, and you get genuinely a spooky atmosphere.

I'm getting sort of Candyman original vibes from this. Ooh, that's a good comparison. I don't mean in terms of content necessarily, but just all the things you were talking about, kind of take all the similar boxes for me. I think like original Candy Man and the craft. Oh, I love that combo. Maybe you will love it. Oh, maybe I will.

Maybe I'll have to watch it. So still to come, we have what? Got the beanie bubble with a star-studded cast. And let's see how many times I can say this without muddling my words. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Mayhem nailed it. First time we've also got Ben Whitehair of course talking all things, Sag Afterer and Strikes and we'll be back before you can say Teenage Mutant Ninja...

Happy Nord Christmas. Protect yourself whilst Christmas shopping online and access all the Christmas films from around the globe! Plus, when you shop online you'll have to give websites your card details and other sensitive data like your personal addresses. Those websites should already have their own encryption built into their payment systems, but to be on the safe side you can use a VPN to ensure that all data coming to and from your device is encrypted. Even if you're using an unsafe Wi-Fi, you'll still be able to shop securely with a VPN.

And you can access Christmas films only available overseas by using streaming services not available in the UK. To take our huge discount of your NordVPN plan, go to NordVPN.com slash take. Our link will also give you four extra months for free on the two-year plan. the Let's get started to let you know that the new season of the Crown and the Crown, the official podcast, returns on 16th of November to accompany the sixth and final season of the Netflix epic Royal Drama series. Very exciting, especially because SuperSub and Friend of the Show Edith Bowman hosts this one. Indeed, Edith will take you behind the scenes, dive into conversation with the talented cast and crew, from writer and creator Peter Morgan to the Crowns Queen Elizabeth in Melda Staunton. Other guests on the new series include the Crowns research team, the directors, executive producers

Suzanne Mackie and specialists such as Voice Coach William Connaker and propsmaster Owen Harrison. Cast members including Jonathan Price, Selim Dor, Khalid Abdullah, Dominic West and Elizabeth the Bikki. You can also catch up with the story so far by searching the Crown, the official podcast, wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe now and get the new series of the Crown, the official podcast, first on November 16th. Available wherever you get your podcasts. So in at number 18 in the UK, not charted in the US is the secret kingdom.

In the UK at number 16, it's my name is Alfred Hitchcock, again not charted in the US. Really loved this documentary by Mark Cousins. It's just because I studied Hitchcock at uni and it just gave a completely like new fresh perspective. It was not interested at all in the sort of sociological aspects or about really him as a person. I think there are plenty of documentaries that have been made and should be made about that. This is about his camera angles.

Oh, I love the more cousins. To know that I'm a genre of film documentary maker. It's incredibly satisfying. And it does a really good job of bringing in, I think, you know, fans who might not have seen every single Hitchcock film but have seen like the biggest ones, but also reminding us that there are some earlier, really smart movies as well, where you can see some of his like flashes of brilliance at the very beginning. So yeah, I would really

recommend checking out my name as Alfred Hitchcock. The UK number 10 and US number 21 is the Super Mario Bros. movie, which I feel like we covered last time we were in. We did. Which is crazy that this is still around. I know. I mean, I quite enjoyed it, but it's... It's kind of impressive that it's sticking around in cinemas to be honest. The power of like family movies. Good for cinemas everywhere.

At number 9 in the UK, number 18 in the US, it's Ruby Gilman, teenage Kraken. A lot of kids' movies actually, I guess we are firmly in some holiday territory now. UK number eight, US number 11, it's the little mermaid, which fun, but not as brilliant as the original, because nothing ever could be. UK number seven, US number eight, Spider-Man across the Spider-Verse, which was I think one of the best films I've seen this year. Oh, I need to go see it before I at least a cinema. It's just excellent.

I mean, a real, it definitely part one of two, which was, we didn't realize and was quite frustrating, but excellent, excellent movie. That is very frustrating. I'm sure we'll come to this when we talk about mission and possible, then reckoning, but I am not on board this very present trend in Hollywood movies.

I've just dividing a film into two when separating them on by a year. I sort of feel like with a trilogy, you don't need that. You can wrap up a story. You came number six. You asked number six. It's insidious.

The red door. I've not seen this. I have not seen this either because there was a policy of not screening it to critics and I haven't not been able to go to it in cinemas. Fair enough. It's just a shame because I love the insidious movies, Annelof Patrick Olson, good for him for making his directorial debut. I wish I could have seen it.

Ha ha ha ha. UK number five, US number five? It's Indiana Jones and the dial of Destiny. I have fun with this one. It is fun, it is fun. We have an email, we have Der Obi-Wan and Anakin. I recently went to see Indiana Jones and the dial of Destiny at my local cinema.

On the whole, I thought it was a good movie, but a bit out of place in surreal for an indie movie. Obviously Indiana Jones not an independent movie, because it certainly is not that. The bits about time travel were an example of this. I know that we've seen melting Nazis and people getting their hearts ripped through their chests. But Nazis in the 60s wanting to go back and kill Hitler was a bit extreme. Toby Jones was one of the main things that made this movie stand out for me as he is amazing in everything he does. I feel like Toby Jones often plays quite similar roles. Yeah. Like, like him a lot, but for me, the standout was Phoebe Wollapbridge.

Interesting. So you see, I have kind of mixed feelings about it, but let me caveat this before the PWB hive come for me. I love Phoebe Wollabridge. Big fan of her work have written extensively about Fleabag in my book, like very, very big fan, maybe number two or three on the fan club. However, I, one of the things that really worked for me about this movie, and I should caveat, I did not grow up with the Indiana Jones for some reason. So I came to the most and adults. So a bit of the wonder is missing from me. But that's a me problem.

That's not a film or franchise problem. I love the kind of character that she plays, the kind of really spunky broad, you know, the sharp tongue sort of mischievous personality that she plays. There was, I don't think I fully figured out, I've only seen this film once. What it is that didn't quite work about it for me. I think it might be the action things. I think I just don't buy Phoebe as an action star.

Like the bits of the film where they start going into sort of mission impossible territory. Yeah. I was a bit like this is not the strongest suit of this kind of character, of this kind of performer. It's not a supernatural fit, is it? It's not so much the supernatural elements because I kind of disagree with the list of it.

I'm in a super, it's not a very natural fit. I feel we will at bridge doing it. So like action, I agree. I really outweigh. I see hers in action star. And I don't mean this respectfully at all. I think there is, you know, there's an element of what the personality is, what the physicality is of an actor and what we expect from them. They can surprise us.

But I just did not really buy that from Phoebe's character in the film. That was the only thing that kept taking me out of it. Interesting. So James has gone on to say, as with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I thought that this movie was made to get more money after the success of the first three movies, and it relied on an all-star cast, which was fabulous, and some cameos from characters

that appeared in previous movies, which was also fabulous. But nonetheless, it was really nice to see Harrison Ford with his whip and fedora again. Dinkity Donk, hello to Jason Isaacs and Toby Jones, Down with the Nazis, apart from ones played by Mads Michelson, poor Mads in this, poor old Mads, and money grabbing from companies, that's James from Ishia. So you can number four, US number seven, elemental,

number three, US number four, it's Mission Impossible, dead reckoning part one. This is good. Dear your mission and should you choose to accept? LCL, STE and so on. My wife and I are long time fans of the Mission Impossible series. And so with the release of Mission Impossible,

we decided that it was time for our first cinema trip for four years, what with the global pandemic. I remember that. A relocation, family health problems, and the birth of our first son Ted, it's been a bit tricky to find the time. However, last weekend, we dropped him off with his grandparents and had as wonderful a time as we'd hoped,

taking a couple of hours for ourselves and immersing ourselves in Ethan Hunt's latest scrape was like a hug from an old friend. Even for hopeless mission impossible, apologists like us, dead reckoning isn't as good as the impeccable fallout. It took a bit too long to get going and had a plot even less essential to the enterprise

and normal, but frankly, that couldn't matter less. The handcuffed car chase through Rome was a brilliant reminder of how action and comedy go hand in hand. A certain train-based sequence was a nightmare of escalating tension, and everyone involved seemed to be having a blast. While the Bond series continues to get more and more self-serious and caught up in dealing with its baggage and mythos, the makers of

the Mission Impossible films have leaned into what makes their series great. More ingenious set pieces, and you can shake an improbably accurate robber mask at, a great cost fully committed to the premise. And more importantly, a sense of its own ridiculousness while still taking it seriously, fewer psycho dramas and more dodging grand pianos in mid-air. Love the show, Steve, and Hello to Jason Etowel.

Will. Thank you, Will. And number two in the UK and the US, you've guessed it. It's Oppenheimer. Diffurme and Boer. Oppenheimer was a fantastic cinema experience and walking out of the screening in a day's bone still rattling into a bricks and rizzy. Lobby full of seemingly hundreds of people

dressed head to toe in pink, roséed up to the eyeballs on Friday night was also quite something as the cinema gods intended. Killian Murphy's performance was electrifying and the scene running up to the Trinity test was incredibly tense. That was there incredibly not mine incredibly. In the way that Nolan does best copying from interstellar the thing of the tension being caught with a vast explosion happening that nobody can hear.

I feel like Nolan uses, sorry, this is me now, Nolan uses silence in this film to such great effect. However, I agree with Mark. I'm going back to the email. I agree with Mark, the center of the story

felt slightly off the mark. While it does feature the crosscutting, tiny, whimy stuff we've come to expect, I maybe thought we'd get something even higher concept than this, given the vast array of quantum physicists on show. They are just actors, though. In past films, thinking particularly of inception, interstellar, and Dunkirk, all of which I loved, the cross-cutting time jumps intersect in a way to reveal the heart of the story.

In these past films, this has been something of a global or even cosmic significance, in Oppenheimer, while the awful weight of the bomb on both the world and on those who made it is an important part of the film, the focus of the intercutting storylines end up revealing a story about nuclear policy and administration in the 1950s. This just seems less significant than the bomb itself, or the moral questions of the bomb's creation, so it seems a misstep to centre the plot in this way. Additionally, with the audience of the benefit of hindsight, there was not, or at least hasn't yet been, a global thermonuclear war, which gives the outcome of that 1950s struggle less import. All in all, very glad to have seen the film in 35 mil, but it's not Nolan's best in my humble opinion. That's from Alex in South London.

That last line that you've written reminds me of my dad when he came out of the King's speech only to say that it was a bit predictable. That was my dad's takeaway. Yeah, you know, that is a good point. We haven't lived through. We knew one of the crux of the issues that was surrounding the film was whether or not the whole world would go up in flames. You can say that about any historical film or any biopic we know what happened. And I think this is both, they didn't crucially. No, well arguably did they, we could philosophise about it and say maybe they kind of did because are we on the brink

of another new clue or fun new clue work? Probably not to get too intense so early on. But probably, it's always on our minds. So we're going to give our proper takes in take three. What is your sort of top line on Oppenheimer though. I think one of the greatest interests and one of the greatest downfalls of this film is its own concern with the weight of genius. And I have many more things to say about Oppenheimer. I will just say in a top line way, I am not the biggest Christopher Nolan fan. With some exceptions, the prestige is one of my favorite films of his over. I really love the dark night as does everyone else. But openheimer, I was trepidaceous because I have not loved the previous few that he's made. But I greatly enjoyed it. I greatly enjoyed it

both as a historical drama. And as a as a biopic that was trying something very different to what the formulaic biopics usually have done, especially in the last five years or so. But I'll have much more to say and take three when we do our un-rated, unlimited, barbed-hymn special. Fantastic. I have to say, just as a vehicle for Killian Murphy, being recognized as one of the greatest actors of our time. I am so here. Just his face in close up in 70 million IMAX. Just that on my baby. It is. Do Fat Man a little boy, LTL, a second time emailer?

I'm going to take Fat Man. Just as George is famously knocked about the shark, Oppenheimer is not about the atomic bomb. It's about hats. Director Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is not about the atomic bomb. It's about hats. Director Christopher Nolan puts Oppenheimer played wonderfully by Killian Murphy in his trademark pinched front fedora, and he looks great in it. Did you notice that none of the other lead characters get to wear any hat? Einstein is awarded a smoking cap, yes, but all the physicists and top army personnel

working away in the New Mexican Sun are bare-headed at a time when wearing a hat was a normal feature of men's style. The key comes at the very end, no spoiler, when someone dons a hat to accept their doom. Oppenheimer has, of course, been doomed from the start. I love this. This is great. It's so minute, I love this. This is great. It's so minute. I love it. It's a great film. Yes, long and complicated and a bit redulent of tinker Taylor's soldiers by it with so many men talking in rooms, but Nolan does justice to a complex and vital story. Love to Jason, Klaus Fouche,

and any other member of the British Nuclear Establishment, cheers Mark McCurgow, who has got a PhD in nuclear physics from the University of Birmingham a long time ago. So he knows what he's talking about and he's talking about hats. I love it. I'm really glad that he's not coming in. He's not like us. I can you possibly hazard a guess at what has taken

the charts by storm, both in the UK and the US? It's a big domination. Dear Ken and Ken, as you say, Mattel have had their cake and they eat it with this film. For example, I purchased the I am Canough multi-themed. Oh God, I want that. Who do you have to watch? This was a really great film though. There really is something for everyone.

The first 15 minutes were pure chaos and gag off to gag. Chaos is right. I think that's a great, it's such organized chaos in this film. The screening I was in was definitely an advert for going to the cinema. The atmosphere was electric beforehand, and I was worried that the very loud and chatty crowd weren't going to quiet down before the film started, with cries of, hi, Barbie, bouncing back and forth between pink-clad cinemagoras. Thankfully, they did, and there were so many jokes in the film that they probably wasn't

time for people to chat. Most people were laughing throughout. Will Ferrell seems to be less out of the discussions, but I really enjoyed him being a quintessential Will Ferrell character. Not for everyone I realise, as the dopey CEO, but rightfully, Margot Robbie is recognised as a fantastic lead actor, perfectly able to change between a plastic full smile, a real smile, and the surprise at having real tears. I could continue for pages about every line that I found funny, but I think I need to watch it again to see what I missed. Definitely rewatchable, and it's essential to see it in the cinema with a large audience. Tinkety-Tonk, etc. And that's from Andrew Griffith.

I think, again, this is something, I'm getting the vibe that you loved, Barbie. Are you getting the vibe from my Greta Gerwig pink company? That's what I'm getting in love for. I love Barbie. I loved Barbie. I have a lot of thoughts on Barbie. Some of them are kind of AK,

some of them are kind of complicated because of the whole Mattel, you know, situation, which we should not ignore. I think it's valid to discuss that without, you know, insulting the film. I just wanna echo what you said. I love Barbie as a film of contradictions. It should not work, but it works.

It's organized chaos. It's emotional artifice. It's so completely unpredictable while completely fitting a brief of what you expect. Sort of a Barbie doll come to life movie to be. It is genuinely a stroke of sort of genius and it's it's high fam cinema. It's high fam cinema, baby. And I love it.

I love seeing the pink I love seeing all the cinephile references to it. And it is funny. It is one of the funniest films I've seen recently and like you say, like my screening was, it's up-roarious. And I thought this is proved to be a very divisive movie. We're going to get into it later and take three. I would say people seem to be taking it incredibly seriously for a film that is not maybe supposed to be taken, particularly seriously. And that surprise has been taken so seriously. Interesting.

We have an email here from Charlie and Lucy saying, Dick Hennan Allen, long-time listeners, first-time emailers, some say that tragedy occurs in the gap between expectations and reality. By that logic, Greta Goigs-Barbie is, we think, a tragic film. I'm so sad about this. The least you would expect from this much hyped film is a good time. For us, it failed to meet the six laugh test unlike unexpectedly mission impossible.

Goig on the podcast said this film was for everyone. We are not parents, but we felt Barbie lacked the universal appeal of the Lego movie. Sarah Vine, who is a daily male columnist, thinks Barbie is bizarre and anti-man. We expected, therefore, a modern feminist masterpiece. We got repackaged 1990s ideas, which in our view reinforced rather than smashed

the gender binary. To be fair to the writers, it's hard to see how they could have ever made the film we deserved. It's uncomfortable to see women in pink flocking to cinemas to uncritically absorb propaganda for Barbie. When Mattel inserts itself into the film, it's without nuance or narrative justice. It's impossible to ignore Mattel's complicity in creating and upholding the norms the film pretends to be to critique. Tinkety Tonk and Down With Mattel from Charlie and Lucy, sometimes Suffolk, sometimes London. PS, it was great to have a deserved round of applause to the projectionist at the BFI IMAX before the better half of our barbenheimer double bill.

Anna, what do you think? I have to say, the one line in that that I really take issue with is it's uncomfortable to see women in pink flock into the cinemas to uncritically absorb propaganda for Barbie because the word uncritically feels very patronizing in that sense of, the idea of you're going, if you're excited about a movie that, and you're going to dress up

because you're excited about the film that you are going to approach it with a kind of critical eye. I would just like to say, I've seen this as obviously obviously anecdotal but I don't think it is that much. You see everyone dressed up. If people want to dress up in pink, men, women, non-binary folk, they dress up in pink. It's a personal choice if you want to engage with the barbie fever or not. Nobody's forcing anyone to engage with it. Nobody's forcing people to say, hi, barbie, hi, can't do each other. It's a really anti-fun email, if I'm honest. And what is wrong with people enjoying the act of going to the cinema with what if this was a different movie, if this was an Avengers movie, I don't think those emails would have been sent.

I don't think people have been said, oh, well, you know what, this is an anti-human movie because it's just- This is about superheroes. Yeah, human. It's about mutants, or it's about aliens, or whatever. I think there is such an anti-femininity aspect to our current culture. Anything that is heightened, anything that is extremely feminine, overtly, performatively feminine, I don't think in this day and age, in this level of media literacy that we all have existing between constantly shifting trends, visual language, social media, TV, streaming, cinema,

YouTube, everything else, our understanding is no longer uncritical. We are fully aware that this is a product that's been turned into a movie. I have a lot more thoughts about that in Tick3, but as a main thing, we are aware that this is a Mattel product. Mattel is also another first brand that has now decided to make movies far from the first. They have learned from other people's mistakes, but I'm not here to defend a global corporation at all. But I do think there is this rabid kind of desire to go against the hype, and the hype machine for Barbie has been extraordinary.

But I think if you're just gonna put down audiences for going to enjoy a film and to put down anyone who is embracing a hyperversion of femininity, the implication of that, which I take a lot of umbrage with, is that anything that is hyper feminine, anything that is girly and pink by its association with girlishness and femininity is superficial, uncritical and unthinking.

And that is very stupid. Sorry, you can bleep that. Anna, I love you. Time for an outbreak. This episode is brought to you by Mooby, a curated streaming service dedicated to elevating great cinema from around the globe. From myConnect directors to emerging otters, there's always something new to discover, for example. Well, for example, the new Aki Karri's Macchi film Fallen Leaves,

which won the jury prize at CAN, that's in cinemas at the moment. And if you see that and think I want to know more about Aki Karri's Macchi, you can go to Mooby the streaming service, and there is a retrospective of his films called How to Be a Human. They are also going to be theatrically releasing In January Priscilla, which is a new Sophia Coppola film, which I am really looking forward to since I have an Elvis obsession. You could try Mooby free for 30 days at Mooby.com slash Kermit and Mayo. That's M-U-B-I dot

com slash Kermit and Mayo for a whole month of great cinema for free. Whole Threnfrew is sharing joy for the holidays with gifts for everyone on your list, and maybe even a special treat for yourself, too. Discover the new collection for Burberry by Daniel Lee. Add some ambiance with Louis V. Home. Give Gorpkora try and Solomon sneakers, and so much more. Whatever presence you pick, we know they're going to love them. Visit a store today or shop at HoltRenfrew.com.

So today's guest is the executive vice president of SAG Afterer, which is the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. And what I didn't realize until very recently was that it now includes podcasters as well. Because obviously last time they went on strike, podcasse certainly weren't a bigger thing as they are now. So especially if you're fiction podcasse and if you're behind the microphone and everything like that. So yeah, it's a kind of fascinating organization, but I did want to drill down into exactly what the union was.

So that's what I asked. So Ben, you are the executive vice president of SAG After. So can you just explain for some listeners who might not yet know what SAG After stands for and who the union represents? SAG After is one of the most prominent labor unions in the world. If I do say so myself, and we represent about 160,000 members, we basically represent anybody in front of the camera or behind a microphone.

So mostly people think of actors, but we also represent broadcasters, singers, dancers, a whole smattering of creatives. We also have paid staff, but so frandrushers are president, and I'm the executive vice president. So they were obviously myriad reasons why the union is striking. What do you think was the tipping point? If I were to boil it down, that it's really a message of economic fairness and protecting the very simply put, the wages and working conditions of our members. So many people think of actors in Hollywood

as the red carpets and the glamour and making all kinds of money, but the truth is that actors are the original gig workers. It is a middle-class profession, the vast majority of our members, like so many other places in the economy are middle-class. And if you go to a film set, if you go to a television set,

it looks, I grew up on a ranch, I worked construction and pick up trucks and heavy machinery and all of that and that is what a movie set looks like. That's what a TV set looks like. You've got blue collar workers just trying to make a middle class living and pay rent and support their families.

So I think this is so interesting. That sort of misconception that people have because just thinking about, you know, Barbie and Oppenheimer, they see Ryan Gosling and they see a Nolan movie and they think there is so much money, but actually it would be really great to understand what the kind of world looks like for like you say, job being actors.

Other than the people at the very top, the top couple percentage of actors, everyone else, we are spending most of our time in any given year looking for work. You know, you would be considered massively successful. Like your career is going great if you're booking a handful of meaningful jobs a year. And so, you know, your average performer is stringing together a, you know, a couple lines here, maybe a bigger role on this TV series here, a day on a movie here, and you're gigging, you're jobbing to bring together enough income to hopefully support your family,

and to put it simply, the vast majority of our members don't qualify for health insurance through the union, and the qualifying amount to do that is about $26,500 a year. And the vast majority of our members aren't even able to do that. So that is why we are striking. We are saying, hey, we simply want to be paid a fair wage and to be able to have protections

for the work that we're doing that is what is able to allow these companies to make billions of dollars. So you were already kind of talking to the AMPTP and these talks kind of broke down and that's when the strike began. So could you just tell us who they are? Yeah, so the AMPTP is basically a group of producers. you can think of HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Disney, right? The big players, but technically there are hundreds of corporate entities that are part of the AMPTP.

And on their side, they all agree, hey, as part of the AMPTP, we will then have the AMPTP go negotiate with the different unions and guilds for the contracts covered by that. And predominantly, again, just to be clear, we're talking about the TV film and streaming contract, which is what most people will think of, but there are still many other contracts. So the AMPTP is basically the group of producers and studios who we negotiate this contract with. So one of the topics that keeps coming up time and again is concerns surrounding the use of AI. And, you know, we've seen a rise in the worry around AI in all different areas of life.

But how do you and the union see AI adversely affecting Hollywood and the acting profession as a whole. What the union is standing for is informed consent and compensation. So we're not saying AI is unequivocally bad. We should stop technology, don't let any of this happen. That's not what we're saying. And I think, frankly, it would probably be a fool's errand to do so. But what we are saying is, hey, this is not inevitable. And don't let multi-billion dollar corporations convince you that, well, it's just going to happen,

no matter what. And it's going to be where we can't control it. Yes, we can. The same way that we shape everything else. That's why we have laws and regulations. And the unions are why you can't hire a six-year-old to work in your factory. It's why we have weekends.

It's why we have all kinds of protections. But so AI, the threat of it is to replace rather than augment the workers. And so what we are saying is, hey, if you want to take my image and likeness, if you want to take my image and likeness, if you want to take my voice and you want to create a digital replica and you want to be able to use that, that's fine. If I have informed consent, I know what I'm agreeing to and that you pay me accordingly. Which all sounds incredibly reasonable. So what is the issue? What are you coming up against? What are the AMPTP saying to kind of combat this?

Well, we're coming up against as well. It's just too new. We don't really know. And sure, we'll give maybe some protections there, but it's just too soon. There's no way for us to know. And we would really, we AMPTP think it's reasonable to scan a background performer and take, pay them a day rate, less than a couple hundred bucks and then use their image and do whatever we want with it. And we don't want to have to come to you. We don't want to talk to you. We don't want to have to get their permission for anything.

Gary Clark, one of our listeners has asked, given the lengths that studios will go to an order to kind of avoid paying a lot of stuff, including residuals, what confidence do you, does the union have that any agreements eventually will be reached and honored? I'm ever the optimist, and I think. Someone's got to be.

Uniquely, these businesses cannot exist without us. Literally, if you do not have performers, you eventually will cease to exist as a company because that is literally what the company is. Movies and television and entertainment. Like that is what they are selling. That is why people pay a subscription.

It's why they pay their cable bill. That is literally the reason why. So without that, they are unable to continue to exist. So I do believe that we will reach a point where we will get to a fair contract. I hope it's sooner rather than later. We have been ready. We said on day one, we are willing, able, ready to come back to the table and have conversations as soon as they are willing to have, you know, meaningfully engage in these really key issues. And I think the other thing that has changed is the way the industry works. So 20 years ago, you make a movie, it goes in theaters, and then maybe it plays on cable. You know, for a television show, it gets made for a network, and then it re-airs.

And all of those things that are happening simply put, the creatives were getting residuals when all of that happened, right? Every time it came on television, again, you were getting paid, meaningful money, and you relied on that in order to have a career. And with streaming, the model itself changed very dramatically where the shows are not re-airing on network. They're either starting and staying on streaming or they air once on television and then go to streaming.

And it can get very complicated, but simply put, the residual structure, the amount of money we get in residuals is very different in these different models. And so what we're saying is, hey, you the companies changed the business model. You didn't check in with us. That's fine. You thought you have a different way to make billions of dollars great.

It's working. They're making, last year, the biggest studios collectively made $10 billion in profit with $80 billion in revenue. Mind you, a lot of that revenue, they're reinvesting, so those could be profits. They're making money, and they changed the business model. We're saying, hey, that's all well and good. We just need to update the contract based on the new business model. That's it. We can't operate on a contract that existed when literally streaming didn't exist.

So if the model does then change to include people getting actors, et cetera, getting more money up front than instead of residuals on the streamers especially. Does that mean for people listening at home that their Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions are gonna go, how do you think that's going to affect people who are consuming this content? I believe that large corporations have dramatic incentive to blame us for those costs going up.

Right? If they have an excuse where they go, oh, it's not that we actually want to buy back shares of our company and expand shareholder profits. Let's just say that it's the creatives. Let's say that it's them. That's why we have to raise your subscription prices. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Then they'll get mad at them. The truth is these corporate CEOs are making hundreds of millions of dollars. I don't see them offering to take a pay cut.

The last offer from the AMPTP would pay actors less money. We would get a 5% pay decrease in real dollars than we made three years ago. So I guess one of the big questions that we sort of noticed, certainly last time there was a writer's strike, you know, there was a kind of cutoff with projects that used to be long running suddenly to season, which was shorter. So we really kind of felt the the writer's strike. So does this strike across both yours and the writers? Does it mean the projects are going to be pushed back? Or does it mean that there's going to be just like an absence of content

for a few months or years because of the strike? It's challenging to predict in some way. There are certainly projects that people have already filmed that are, you know, completed. Eventually, if the strike continues, you will see content both disappear. You're not going to have the next season of something. There are, you know, films and television shows that are in the middle of filming that can't keep going right now that are not going to air. You will see less and less content. And as you know, wonderful fans and consumers of entertainment, the, well, we're all used to of, hey, there's a new movie on my streaming platform. There's a new show that I can watch on television, that I

that I can get that, you know, every week, there's more amazing content coming out. And I expect the next thing. And, you know, all of that, that will stop. It's content coming out. And I expect the next thing and all of that, that will stop. It's already slowing down. And then that will come eventually to an end. You cannot make new content. You can only recycle old content. And so for anybody who wants new movies to come out, who wants new television, who wants the next seasons of things, who want a sequel of your favorite movie, who want your favorite filmmaker to make another movie in order for that to happen, we need to get to a fair deal. We've got a really nice question actually from Emily Lynn, who's asked, what's the best way for movie and TV fans to support the strikers?

And I suppose especially here in the UK. These are great questions by the way. You have fantastic listeners. The best way to support, there's a number of things you can do. And certainly, for our union siblings, both in America and across the globe, Sagafra is a part of FIA, the International Federation of Actors. I've been involved with that, so it's the performer unions from across the globe, British equity, but all over the world. As much as one legally can to not cross the picket line and to be in solidarity with us, we do the same thing and do everything we can to

support the unions across the globe and to support, to me, it is a global community of performers. But also sharing about it on social media letting the Public know the community know because these these corporations really do respond to their consumers and you all are Some of their most valued consumers. You are the kind of people who they go. Oh my gosh. We deeply want these Consumers to be happy especially, right? You all are the people out there talking about movies and television, getting your friends to go to the movie and watch this new thing and writing about it online. So great, we love that.

Big fan as an actor, love you. And to use those platforms that you have, even if it's just with your family, even if it's around the dinner table to talk about these issues, even just learning more, just listening today, I deeply appreciate the time to understand, hey, yeah, the things that bring me joy when I watch film and television, when I watch these movies, what is going on in the lives of those people that are making them? It means a lot. So the more that you can share, anybody can go to sagafterstrike.org.

We have information to get education on what's happening, things you can post and share on social media. And truly, for anyone who goes, yeah, that's not enough. I want to do more. You can donate the sag after a foundation, sag after a dot foundation, or the entertainment community fund. These are nonprofits that are set up to support artists, whether it's in times of COVID or in times of a strike and it, $5, $10, one pound, whatever you got, any of that money helps the people who need it the most who are saying, you know, we are striking for the economic fairness that is going to impact all over the global economy. So anything you can do to support

people being able to get that assistance if they need it in order to sustain a time when we don't have the amount of work would be incredibly appreciated. Then you have all of our support and we wish you the very, very best and I hope it all goes to plan and that you do get what you want because my god, you deserve it. I deeply appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. Metrolinx and cross links are reminding everyone to be careful, as Eglinton Cross Town LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert, this trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals, be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do signals. Be careful along our tracks

and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. Your business has grown fast. From opening your first location to planning an expansion in no time. And with your business platinum card from American Express, you can access spending, power, and payment flexibility to fuel your growth.

Sarah, the contractor's here with the plans. American Express, don't do business without it. Terms and conditions apply as at mx.ca slash business platinum. To Ben Whitehair for chatting to us this week, because I felt like he answered some really burning questions that have been going round. And also I looked up, so, you know, he said that the majority of their members can't afford to don't even get health care because they earn less than the limit. And the limit just in pounds is just over 19,000 a year. And they're not even earning, the majority of them

aren't even earning that. So just, it's always just something to think about when we think about movie stars, we have to remember they are incredibly different from the majority of the movie stars. And there's actors. I would communicate. Don't necessarily earn, you know, the millions

that get announced as actor salaries. Those are very much the exception to the rule. Absolutely. It's just those buzzwords that we hear that we associate with money. And how wrong we often are. Also, it's lucky that the listeners to come out of Mayo's take do come for come out of Mayo and not the guests

because I reckon they might be a little bit thin on the ground over the next couple of months. But that's okay. Absolutely. Okay, Anna, are you ready to pop the Beanie Bubble? I'm ready to pop your Beanie Bubble. Okay, let's do it. Yeah.

Tell us what the Beanie Bubble is all about. Well, I don't know if the Beanie babies were big in the UK. They were big, they were big. Okay, great. I had a cockatoo that was, had my birthday, like it was big. Wonderful, they're not big in Spain, so I. Okay, very much commented.

I knew what the Beanie it was big. Wonderful, they were not big in Spain. So I very much commented. I knew what the beauty bubble was before the movie. It's got a star set of costs, including Zac Alfanacus, Sarah Snuggles with bags, Geraldine, Vist Van Atheon. I hope I'm not mispronouncing that. But it is very much a story of the rise and fall of what's called the beauty bubble. This very brief but very intense, very lucrative obsession with the beanie babies, the small stuffed toys as a collectibles item.

It's also about, isn't this exciting for a movie, the rise of e-commerce? It's about creating resale strategies and online marketing and B2C communications through forums and web pages. Fascinating stuff, right? Well, let's hear a clip from Geraldine Viswanathan, who was one of the integral parts of how this all started. We really should start a tie web page. What's that? We can make a place that anyone who wants to know anything about beanie babies can go to.

Place WE can troll. Completely. And we'd probably be the first business to make one for our customers, because no one else is using it that way. Most web pages are just boring, academic stuff, and phone directorates, but we could make ours fun. Different. Sparkly.

Sparkly, I like that. Oh, pink, give your Barbie. Or both. Or both, sir. So Geraldine Viesman, Nathan, I knew from blockers. Save. And I remember thinking she was so brilliant in that, because it's so rare to have like a sort of young Asian actress

who is given really funny roles and really small roles and it's nothing to do with her ethnicity and I really appreciated her and blockers for that reason and then seeing her in this she was by far the best thing in the being that I couldn't agree more I think she was the the funniest character in this the lightest performance as well the most frustrating story line to you because she's so brilliant and so forward thinking. And she is based on a real woman who is dubbed again, the mother of e-commerce or something like that. Or, you know, one of the creators or originators of e-commerce as we're all dominated by

that now. But this is not a good movie. Well, that really will be bust in the Biny Bubble. Yeah, did you enjoy it? Was that good for you? That was good for me, thank you. That was exactly as I was expecting it to be. So my main problem with this movie is that I don't think it knows what it wants to be.

There is a trend right now of essentially movies about products and movies about marketing, right? And movies about the act of selling, which is quite interesting in and of itself. Because it just came out, right? That felt like there's blackberry, there's air, Barbie even, you know, we could have a whole conversation about that, but the beanie bubble is so unbelievably dull visually, which is shocking considering that it's about very colorful plush toys. Yes. And it does act so easily enough to work.

And it does act so easily enough to work. Exactly. And at the center of it is this big huge personality of Thai, who's played by Zachary Fnackas, who is one of the founders of the company that makes these toys. And I don't think it has decided what it wants to be. Is this sort of like a failed girl boss story because all the female characters in this film, all fail, and are all messed about by Galvanacus' character. And so it's kind of a really disappointing story to watch, especially

nowadays, where I'm kind of really done with stories about mediocre men. Well, this was sort of failing. This was the weirdly frustrating thing, because if the point was supposed to be about all of these, because you have these three incredible women, including Elizabeth Banks and Sarah Snook, and we obviously have very high expectations for Sarah Snook post succession, and they just sort of made her a girlfriend and a mother.

What does she actually do for her career? We barely see that. And that was, I think, that was the worst thing about this, is that it was sort of packaged as pretending to be one thing and actually was so far from that because Ty, this sort of overbearing character, was still the centre of attention throughout. And we were just having to watch how they all tied into Ty. And I suppose it would have been really fun to see the same movie, but without but tie as sort of this enigmatic presence that we may be just here in the background. I think

the same film could have been made with all of them at the forefront in a very, very different way. I completely see what you mean. It sort of pitched as an inspirational, what really happened, kind of story, but it plays out completely differently. It's very dour, and it's quite boring. It's boring visually. There's no really interesting characters with the exception of Geraldine's character, which does kind of really stand out, I think, because of her strengths as a performer.

But by the end of it, I was so bored, and I just think in the hands of different filmmakers, you know, when I think it's quite, it's just fun, fun fact, that this was directed by one of the daughters, co-director by one of the daughters of Al Gore. That is so random. That is so random. And also the lead singer of Okay Go.

Who is her husband? This is a real class. What? I know. And I can't handle this. It doesn't really bring anything to the movie. If the movie doesn't really have that much to it anyway, it is a footnote in the strength of marketing movies that we're getting.

And to be honest, I wouldn't really recommend making time to watch it only if you're extremely hungover one day. I feel like you have really brilliant, comedic characters, and you have made the least funny movie of all time. It's, and there is one line at the end, which is just pure exposition, where you have one character explaining to her a parent best friend, everything that's happened in the past few months, and that's going to happen into the future. As if you wouldn't have had your best friend with you

through that whole period of your life, it's just incredibly lazy writing. And so really terrible editing. There's one scene in particular where I think they saw muddle different times and they think they're being clever but it just becomes confusing. Have we actually mentioned that?

That there is these three different time lines and they intercrossed and I suppose in a way that all one is the open-heimer does, but open-heimer does it so much better and although it still can be a bit confusing it feels so unnecessary in this film that yeah you're right they're trying to be clever in fact they come across as lazy and not very good at their jobs. No I don't think it's a very good film. I think it's time for some laughter. A-ha!

A-ha! Are you gonna burst my laughter, lift bubble? A-ha! A-ha! Try to keep a straight face for this, because it's the ads in a minute. But we are in the laughter lift. Why did Barbie go to a yoga retreat in Australia?

Why? She heard all about the kangaroos. No. Hengaroos. No, Hannah. K- No, Hannah Talbot. Anna, Anna.

Did you see the newspaper over the weekend after Barbie died of a drug overdose? Jesus. They printed a barbituary. No, no, no. Okay, well, Anna, that's kind of great, but also terrible. printed a bar bituary. No! No! Okay, well Anna, it's kind of great but also terrible. Quite any yourself? Absolutely none.

Okay, what's still to come? Oh god, you have to complain. Call me off guard. What is still to come? We still have the teenage mutant Ninja Turtles. Meet Mayhem Reveated to come. That was the smoothest thing I've ever seen. We're gonna be back after this,

unless you're a Vanguard Easter, in which case we'll be back after this sting. We've got an email from Tim who says, Dear person who did not do a physics degree and other person who did not do a physics degree. It's not the pressure of the water above you which pushes you down. What pushes you up or keeps you afloat is that your body is less dense than water. What the pressure does as the diver in the documentary, the deepest breath explains pretty clearly, is to compress the air in the documentary, the deepest breath explains pretty clearly, is to compress the air in your lungs. This means your body gets smaller and more dense. At some point,

it gets dense enough that it's denser than water and it starts sinking, which sounds nice until you realize that you now have to actively swim back up to where the air is. Did any of that make sense to you? You don't have meme of the dog that's looking to space and numbers start floating around its face? That was me just now, life, recorded in HD. Just looking at how they can see numbers floating around me.

Little formulas, I do not understand. It sounds terrifying. It sounds like a horror movie too. It does sound like a horror movie. I can't wait to see it. What I also hope has got elements of horror in coming up, which is, and as a teenage mutant ninja turtles, mutant mayhem review, and I want to start with a clip because this made me laugh so much, and I think it's such a great entry into, I think, what this film is going

to be about. So let's listen to that. Master Spinner has given us a very important mission for tonight. The target is across the street. We must use stealth and cutting to infiltrate the human world and retrieve... Go, Kurt! Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go Okay, what else are you getting? Four quarts of non-femilp ice cream. Rich and veggie. And a party-sized bag of cool-range Doritos. I like cheese balls. He was very specific about the party-sized. He underlined it twice.

All right, Donnie, you're on toiletries. Raff, you're stocking up the pantry, and Mikey, you're on junk food. And, sirs, remember, don't let any human see you. Because why? Humans are the demons come of the earth. Avoid them, don't say hi. They must have heard that which is different from them to interact with them is to die.

And hey, I know that's objectively prejudiced, but that's what Dad taught us. That's so, so brilliant. It's such a funny line. It's such a perfect encapsulation of what this movie is. And all of the turtles sound like kids. Yeah, which is brilliant because of course they are. They're teenagers. They're teenagers. They're teenagers. Listen, let me tell you, you haven't seen this one.

No, I haven't and I'm really sad about it. So I, I was sniffy about this going in. I had not seen a trailer because you're pretentious. Because then we come to the subway. Yes. Uh, and I was humbled. I was humbled instantly. It was amazing.

Because oh my god, I loved it. It is so much fun. It's literally God. I have not stopped listening to the soundtrack since watching it earlier this week. Here's on the soundtrack. It's like very old school and new school hip hop. It's got Dr. Dre. It's got Gucci May in it.

It's got DMX. It's got a little bit of DMX. Excellent. It's a good stuff. Scott Gucci Mane, Scott DMX, Scott, a little bit of DMX. Excellent. It's a good stuff. It is the retelling of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle story. They're origin story, they're quest for belonging, they're meeting with April O'Neill, the journalist who is also a teenager in this version

and is played or voiced by Ayua DeBerry from the Bear, who's wonderful. It's got an absolutely stacked voice cast. You know, it's broken as in this. The South Rogen is one of the screenwriters and also producer in this film. It's got very much the South Rogen Evan Goldberg.

Okay. Prince, all over it. It's very much your sense of humor, very sort of, you know, almost nostalgic, throw back to the 80s and early 90s. You can see that in the music as well. You can really feel it. I recommend finding that spot if I list if you can. It's got a really wholesome vibe to it. Like you mentioned, they sound and they feel like teenagers making April a teenager also really, really works in the story and the animation style.

Now, if somebody does what I did not do, I did not watch any trailers before going to see it. I loved the almost felt-to-pen style of the animation. It worked beautifully. It was sort of something that, sorry, let me say that again, it was something that worked well with this almost nostalgic 1990s know, 1990s or late 80s feel to the rest of the movie. But if people haven't seen the film, sorry, if people haven't ever come across anything

to do with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, can you just give us like, what is it? So there is ooze that is green, that these baby tortoises interact with and they grow and become humanoid mutants who are growing and their teenage boys. They are adopted by a rat who also gets mixed up in the ooze and the rat becomes their father figure voiced by none other than Mr. Jackie Chan and then there is another set of mutants who also were created in the same lab, interacted with the same ooze, including a super villain, which is a house fly. There's been made into a giant mutant, a villain called Superfly, voiced by Ice Cube. That's great, Godstay.

Then there's Natasha Demetra, there's John Cena, there's Paul Rod, everyone is in this. And they're all playing a different kind of mutant. Uh-huh. It's, I don't want, I don't want to spoil the different kinds of mutants. I get it in this, but it is truly glorious. I think that it works for both kids and adults. Genuinely, there were some kids in the screening

that I went to, the first screening I went to. I would love to know what they thought of this film. I think if you are familiar with the teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles. No, you go that wrong. Teenage Mutant Turtles. You're familiar with them. It will work for you because it does feel like a really interesting fresh take on the familiar property. The same time, if you've never heard of them, it gives you all the beats of the story, the origin, their powers, their names, what they're like, and also it refreshes it.

When really, it is really rooted in that era in the late 80s and 90s. It's really rooted in New York City and that culture. But then again, it works, I think, for everyone. And that's a really difficult task to accomplish for a film. And obviously one of the main issues with Barbie is that, you know, who is the audience? And does it do that thing where they make adult jokes that go above the head of kids in this film? Or is it genuinely like kids like the Lego movie work we can kind of all, it's a leveler? it genuinely like the Lego movie work, we can kind of all, it's a leveler.

I think it does have some jokes that will go up of the head of kids. I don't, again, I'm not a parent, so perhaps I'm not very good at judging what works for kids or not. But it strikes me as though it will, it will help. It will help adults watching this movie and tap into that nostalgic funny bone, but it will still hold some enough that it will work for kids. And who is your favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle? Oh God, I did not even think about this. I want to say Donatello, but there is one, I can't remember why it just came to mind, but

there is one turtle in this movie, which has very funny rage issues. And I loved him. He's the one with the red bandana. Okay. And at one point, he needs to, at one point, he needs to activate his rage and just goes for Zerker and flips over a truck and I can see why that appeal to you. I thank you. Thank you. I'm glad my essence comes through. But there is the other turtle just says to him, oh man, that's great, really handy for our task at the moment to save the city, but also please go to therapy. OK, I already love this movie. Time for this week's listener correspondence now.

Email yours to correspondenceatkermodomeo.com. Let me entice you to some film adjacent improvisation. Improv the Dead will be improvising a brand new of the Dead Zombie movie on the second and third of August at 7.30pm at the Henan Chickens in Islington as part of the Camden Fringe in London. It's going to include Mind Violence, Zombie Death, Fake Blood and Lots of Silliness. Bi Bioticits now at tinyurl.com, slash Camden Zombies, or find us on the Camden Fringe website. Hader Birdia Dead Mule tells the story of Norman Clements, my grandfather, a royal Irish fuselier. His time in the front line during World War II and the subsequent attempts

to reconnect with the family on returning. It's a one-man show, and I'm at the Plezans for this year's Edinburgh Fringe, from the 2nd to the 27th of August, and the Cinematic Connection, the Action Takes Place, and the Autonic Cinema Building in Banger, Northern Ireland, at one stage, Ireland's largest cinema. Come watch us, Plezans Theatre, this August, and you might even learn how to bury a dead mule properly. Well, that's a skill that I would never have picked up anywhere else. That was Timothy asking you to come to his fun movie-themed improv show at the Camden Fringe, and Richard shouting out his intriguing one-man show, The Edinburgh Fringe.

Send your 22nd audio trailer about your event anywhere in the world to correspondenceents at kermodameo.com. That is the end of take one. I've had a brilliant time Anna. Thank you so much for joining me. I will see you next week because we're back again. This has been a Sony music entertainment production. The team was Lily Hambley, Ryan O'Meara, Gully Tickle, Matthias Torres, Teddy Riley, Beth Puckin, was the assistant producer, Michael Dale wrote the guest notes. Hannah Toolbert was the producer and reductor at large, and Anna, why has been your film of the week? I'm really tempted to go over the turtles, but it has to be talked to me. Nice. We will be back for take two, and we've got our barbenheim special in take three, so please do join us for that.

But if not, we'll see you next week. Thanks very much. Bye, beautiful.